Athletics Ireland has named a team of six athletes for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark on Saturday, March 30.

Two-time European Cross Country champion Fionnuala McCormack headlines the team that will be competing in Denmark later this month.

At the 2013 World Cross in Poland, McCormack was the highest placed European finisher in 14th place.

Sara Treacy, who recently finished third on the roads at the Trafford 10k, joins McCormack in the women’s selection.

For Treacy, it will be her first World Cross Country Championships as a senior athlete having previously competed as a junior.

Kevin Dooney and Sean Tobin will represent Ireland in the senior men’s event.

At the 2018 European Cross Country Championships, Tobin was the highest placed Irish finisher in 10th place.

Photo: Andy Peat

In Tilburg, Irish national champion Dooney was next across the finish line for Ireland in 26th place, vastly improving on his 51st placing at the 2017 event.

Darragh McElhinney, who recently broke the Irish junior 5000m indoor record, and Jamie Battle have been named in the under-20 men’s selection and complete the team.

Irish team for the World Cross Country Championships

Senior women: Fionnuala McCormack and Sara Treacy

Senior men: Kevin Dooney and Sean Tobin

Junior men: Darragh McElhinney and Jamie Battle

Meanwhile, Great Britain also named its team on Tuesday (March 12) and it can be found here.

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Sara Treacy of Dunboyne AC finished a strong seventh at the Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza in Elgoibar, Spain on Sunday (January 13).

The women’s race was dominated by African-born runners with Hellen Obiri of Kenya the winner in 24:39. European champion Yasmin Can was over a minute behind in fourth place in 25:44.

England’s Kate Holt and Lily Partridge were fifth and sixth, with Treacy next in 27:08 over the 6.6km course.

A day earlier, Irish junior cross country champion, Darragh McElhinney ran the first leg for the Europe junior team in the mixed relay at the Great Stirling XCountry. Europe proved best of the junior teams beating USA by three seconds. A full report can be found here.

In the open 7km in Stirling, Laura Shaughnessy of Dundrum South Dublin AC finished seventh overall and first woman in 30:07. Brian O Murchu of the Irish Mountain Running Association finished third overall in 29:08, with Brian Byrne of Sportsworld AC sixth in 30:07 and Niamh Devlin of DSD 17th in 31.28. No Irish ran in the international races.

Cross Country

Dublin champion Mitchel Byrne of Rathfarnham WSAF AC won the Leinster Intermediate Cross Country title in Gowran, Co Kilkenny on Sunday (January 13).

Byrne was an emphatic winner of the race in 26:23, with Sean Doran of Clonliffe Harriers over a minute behind for second and Mick Fogarty of Ferbane AC third in 27:36. Tullamore Harriers proved best of the teams ahead of Raheny Shamrock and St Senan’s AC, while Dublin took the county medals.

Winning the women’s title in 15:09 was Lisa Madden of Sportsworld AC, who just held off Nadine Donegan of Tullamore Harriers for victory, with Linda Conroy of Mullingar Harriers a close third. For the team title, Raheny Shamrock beat Rathfarnham WSAF, with Mullingar Harriers third and Dublin the county winners.

Winning the men’s masters race was newly crowned Dublin champion Rossa Hurley of Donore Harriers. Tom Lupton of Portlaoise AC was second in 20:05 and Karol Cronin of Sportsworld AC third in 20:06; Sportsworld also took team god ahead of Newbridge AC and Portlaoise AC.

First M55 was Mick Byrne of Parnell AC, who was also the fastest man over 50. Martin McDonald of Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District was back in familiar territory after his family’s notable outing in the ‘Ireland’s Fittest Family’ TV show, and finished first M60. Best of the M50 teams was Mullingar Harriers, with Slaney Olympic second and Raheny Shamrock third. Dublin was first M35 county; Wexford took the M50 title.

In the women’s race, victory went to Michelle Cox of Newbridge AC. Noreen Brouder of Sportsworld AC was second and Kate Purcell of Raheny Shamrock third. Jackie Carthy of Kilmore AC was fourth and first W45, with Niamh Richardson of Kilkenny City Harriers first W50, Mary Watters of Navan AC first W55 and Mary Galvin of Tullamore Harriers first W60.

Sportsworld were first of the W35 teams with Dunleer AC second and Raheny Shamrock third, while Mullingar Harriers proved best in the W50 category. Dublin was first W35 county and Kilkenny City Harriers best W50 county.

North Belfast Harriers, led home by defending champion Mark McKinstry, made it a clean sweep at the Mathieson Cup Cross Country held in windy conditions at the City of Belfast Mallusk Playing Fields on Sunday.

Photo: North Belfast Harriers

Finishing second and third behind McKinstry were his team mates John Black and Conal McCambridge, with – no surprise there – North Belfast Harriers taking the Mathieson Cup as winning men’s team.

RELATED: Mark McKinstry believes in keeping a healthy perspective in running

With just two rounds to go in the Northern Ireland Cross Country League, this could well move them up the rankings from their current third place. North Down lead with Willowfield Harriers second.

In the women’s race, Sinead Sweeney, who is currently between clubs, was the winner ahead of Sarah Lavery of Beechmount Harriers and Jodi Smith of North Down. Acorns AC picked up valuable league points as the winning team, which should ensure they finish in the top three at the end of the season.

North Down look uncatchable at the top of the table but Beechmount, Dromore and Ballydrain as well as Acorns are chasing hard.

Michael Kiely of Nypro Ltd was the winner of the Irish Life 6km combined cross country in Tymon Park, Tallaght on Saturday  – the opening event of the 2019 season for the Leinster branch of the Business Houses Athletic Association. First woman was Niamh Allen who finished eighth overall. Next BHAA race takes place at Cherryfield Park on Saturday, January 19.

Indoors

Lauren Roy and Dean Adams produced the fastest times at the ANI Indoor Sprints and Hurdles, held in UU Jordanstown on Saturday (January 12).

In the men’s 60m, Adams, from the Ballymena and Antrim club, ran a time of 6.87 – a record for the venue and not far off his personal best of 6.84.

Roy, from City of Lisburn AC, ran a blistering personal best time of 7.45. Last year, she ran a time of 7.57 for 60m in Athlone before joining the Irish junior 4×100m squad that took silver at the European U20 Championships.

At the opening round of the National Indoor League in Abbotstown on the same day, Matthew Behan of Crusaders clocked a solid time of 8.11 to win the 60m hurdles.

Molly Scott of St LOT AC, running as a guest, clocked a time of 8.41 in the women’s 60m hurdles. Fastest in the women’s 60m were Patience Jumbo Gula of St Gerard’s AC and Joan Healy, running for Leevale AC, who ran identical times of 7.48 in separate races.

Picking up team points for Celtic DCH was Catherine McManus with a time of 7.79. McManus also clocked 56.88 in the 400m.

Fastest men’s time came from Joseph Ojuwumi of Tallaght AC with 6.87 in his second of two races. Both David McDonald of Menapians AC and Israel Olatunde of Dun Dealgan AC were given times of 6.94. In the 400m, McDonald ran a time of 49.77, with Jamie Pender of St Abban’s right on his heels in 49.79.

Leo Morgan of Clonliffe Harriers won the men’s 60m in 7.03. Over 800m, Raheny’s Cillian Kirwan proved the fastest of the men in 1:56.16 with Kevin Woods of Crusaders a close second in 1:56.76. Louise Shannon of Leevale AC was fastest woman in 2:16.30.

Eamon Fahey picked up maximum points for Clonliffe with a 6.87m leap in the long jump, with Saragh Buggy of St Abban’s winning the women’s event with 5.91m. In the pole vault, Yuri Kanash of West Waterford AC beat Irish champion Michael Bowler of Enniscorthy AC on countback with both men going over 4.50m.

Irish decathlon champion Shane Aston of Trim AC was third with 4.30m – a solid performance with the Irish Indoors Combined Events Championships scheduled for next Saturday (January 19) in Athlone.

Junior athlete James Dunne of Tullamore Harriers produced the Irish performance of the day at the Scottish Indoor Open in Glasgow on Saturday (January 12). His time of 1:55.56 for 800m proved the fastest of the day. A squad of young athletes from Celbridge AC, Finn Valley and other clubs as well as Tullamore, had travelled to Glasgow.

Highlight of the NIA Live indoor meet held at Adamstown on January 8 was a time of 1:51.27 in the men’s 800m for Cian McPhillips of Longford AC. Shane Fitzsimons of Mullingar Harriers was second in 1:52.01.

Roads

Alexander Murray of St Coca’s AC produced the fastest men’s time at the World Half Marathon Festival in Donadea, Co Kildare over the weekend (January 12/13). He won the opening race of four on Saturday morning in a time of 73:56. In the same race, Charlotte Kearney of Donadea Runners clocked 88:36 to finish seventh overall and first woman.

Anthony Mannix of Dell-EMC was the winner of the FMC 5km organised by Cork BHAA on Sunday at Little Island in Cork.

Mannix’s time of 15:49 gave him a six second margin on second-placed Eric Curran of Heineken with Jeremy O’Donovan of Eli Lilly third and first M40 in 15:59.

Niamh Mooore of HSE was first women in 18:05, with Claire O’Brien of Dept of Education second and Jennifer Goggin Walsh of Novartis third.

Joe Gough, representing the family company Mileeven, was first M65 – Gough was recently named European Male Master of the Year for his victories in the 800m and 1500m at the World Masters Championships last September.

At parkrun events across Ireland on Saturday, the quickest times were run by Raheny Shamrock’s Mark Kirwan and North Down’s Rachel Gibson.

Kirwan recorded a time of 16:06 at the Marlay parkrun, while Gibson clocked 17:27 at the Belfast Victoria event. The top 10 times across the island of Ireland can be found here.

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The post Sara Treacy begins year with strong cross country performance – weekend round-up appeared first on Fast Running.

Sean Tobin ran a gutsy race to work his way through the field and finish 10th in the senior men’s race at the European Cross Country Championships in Tilburg on Sunday (December 9).

After the earlier races, the muddy course became increasingly torn up in the rainy conditions, but Tobin, who finished 15th last year in Samorin, battled through to take the honours of the leading Irish senior athlete at the continental championships.

After the first 1500m lap, Tobin and Kevin Dooney were together in about 25th place with Kevin Maunsell not far off the pace.

As the race progressed and the soft underfoot took its toll, Tobin moved through the field, picking his way through the mud and staying out of trouble. By 3000m, he was lying in 17th, with Dooney 22nd and Maunsell 37th. At halfway, Tobin was 12th, with Dooney 25th and Maunsell 41st.

Tobin continued to pick off the runners in front of him and was in 11th place at the bell, with just 1300m to go.

The Clonmel athlete made up one further place on the final lap, finishing 10th – an improvement of five places on 2017. His time of 29:22 meant he was just over half a minute behind race winner Filip Ingebrigsten of Norway, who broke the four-year Turkish winning streak when he crossed the line for victory in 28:49.

Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli took silver and Turkey’s Aras Kaya bronze.

Irish national champion Dooney, who has been sharing his journey this year on Fast Running, was next across the line for Ireland in 26th place to vastly improve on his 51st placing 12 months ago.

Photo: Andy Peat

Maunsell finished 34th to complete the scoring three athletes and secure seventh place overall for the Irish team.

It is a good step forward,” said Tobin afterwards. “Coming off nationals I was quite tired and made the most of my recovery in the last two weeks.

“I came out and had a solid performance. I was always trying to be conservative and not push too hard of the bends or slow down too much. It was a solid performance, we’ll take it for now and keep moving forward.”

Kevin Batt was next in 55th place, followed by Irish marathon champion Mick Clohisey in 67th and Damien Landers in 78th place.

In the senior women’s race, Sara Treacy was the first Irish athlete across the finish line in 26th place as Kenyan-born Yasemin Can of Turkey clinched a third successive title ahead of Switzerland’s Fabienne Schlump and Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal of Norway.

Treacy, who was competing in her 10th European Cross Country Championships, was followed home by Irish champion Ciara Mageean in 43rd place, while Michelle Finn was 51st as the team finished 11th overall.

“I love being here I love being at this level of competition,” said Treacy. “It brings out the best in me. I race better with good competition. I just loved it out there, I really enjoy getting stuck in. There was a whole load of pain in the middle of the race but that is normal for cross country or any race.”

Ann-Marie McGlynn was the next finishing Irish athlete in 57th ahead of Fionnuala Ross in 61st and Kerry O’Flaherty in 64th.

The final event of the day was the mixed relay race with the Irish quartet of Paul Robinson, John Travers, Siofra Cleirigh Buttner and Claire Tarplee finishing ninth.

Earlier in the day, Ryan Forsyth ran an impressive race to just miss out on an individual medal, finishing fourth in the under-23 men’s event.

A report from the Sunday morning’s action, including Forsyth’s performance in the men’s under-23 race, can be found here.

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