National Masters and Intermediate Cross Country Report

Report by Florence Curley

It was a day to remember for all participants and supporters at the national masters and intermediate XC championship in Clarinbridge, principally for the amount of mud everywhere! On the bus West as blizzards gave way to blue skies and snowy fields, the course looked pleasant enough from a distance …until you stepped onto it …

After the juveniles finished, first up were the master ladies and M65+ men over 4K, 2 big laps. There were some drags and downhills but what was missing was any sight of green grass, the mud was relentless and ankle deep from the start so getting a fast pace wasn’t a priority, staying upright was! Our 5-strong team (some were on loan to the inter team and we were depleted with some injuries and absences) battled bravely, Karen Behan and Anne Curley finished 85 and 86th, Anne has been unable to compete at cross country or any shorter races due to her ongoing injury and the atrocious ground was a real test today so she was happy to finish and be part of the team again, Julia Hackett had a solid run to finish in 94th, unfortunately Florence Curley lost her left shoe twice in the muck, and slipped way back as a result eventually finishing in 127 and Angela Eustace in her third cross country race of the season in 132nd. Barry Potts unfortunately also lost a shoe and slipped a long way back so did not medal in M65 the way he frequently does.

The master men then had to tackle 7k of the now very churned up course. Thanks to Des Gill’s enthusiasm and team spirit, there was a Donore M50 team in this for the first time. First Home was Tom Fagan in 174 with Des next in 210, Frank McNally was 221st and wrote a great account of it in the Irishman’s diary in the Irish times a few days later, Lou MCCurtain though on antibiotics finished 234th and unfortunately Arthur Connick had to pull out, the team finished 9th and this team will be back on the road for the national relays.

The intermediate women faced 5k and youngest member of the team Niamh O’Neill went out hard but held her place and tackled the gruelling course Brilliantly. Where others faded and some of the pre-race favourites dropped out, Niamh had her best ever race and finished a magnificent 8th, Maura Kearns, experienced in this race over the years first medalling in 2010, stayed off the early pace and worked through looking very comfortable throughout, and she can always rely on her withering finishing kick finishing 15th. not far behind was Kim hickey, always a tough competitor with great endurance and she finished strongly in 18th. It was looking good in the team shakeup and it was crucial that next scorer Audrey Gahan passed as many as she could, and she did that to end giving it everything to finish 30th. In only her second ever cross country race Ariana Ball ran very well into 39th again battling to the end.

After scraping off a lot of Galway mud and an anxious wait, there was jubilation when the Donore inter ladies were named bronze team, 6 points ahead of St Senan’s. After a disappointing season for this hardworking team, it was great to finally come up trumps with a national medal in the last race of season.

Coach Willie Smith was justly proud and there was welcome support too from Mary McDermott and Ann Woodlock out on the course, she will be back competing soon we hope!