****Dunboyne AC at the National XC Championships, Dundalk 25th January 2016****
Dundalk IT were hosts to this year’s National XC Championships, 4 of our most experienced XC women traveled up to represent club and county on the day in the women’s masters race. The competitive field (250 promised with 217 starters) worried the team as they planned strategy in the car to Dundalk but when it came it the course handled the numbers well and thankfully nobody was boxed in. Emilia started as she meant to go on, driving forward all the time, overtaking, pushing on, denying over takers. She said, after the race: “I gave it 100%. I had done the training, I was fit and I was giving it everything I had. If I felt tired I pushed harder. If I heard somebody coming to overtake me I ran faster. If I felt in pain I pushed on. I overtook so many girls. If there was a group ahead of me I just accelerated and went past them. I gave it 100%” The delighted Emilia finished 9th overall – an absolutely amazing performance from an amazing athlete – one that we should all look to and be inspired by. Well done Captain Emilia.
Next home was Ciara who was determined to have a good race, followed very closely by Norma. Norma was determined not to let Ciara get too far ahead of her and the two girls, relatively new to cross country having taken it up in earnest last year, gave it everything they had. Well done Ciara and Norma! Next up was Róisin who paid the price for an enthusiastic but fast start and struggled over the 4KM course, but despite this Róisin ploughed through, working hard through a competitive field and finished strong to complete the team for Dunboyne AC. Fantastic performances from the former Fit4Life athletes who can now hold their own on the national stage. The trio will no doubt see further improvement next season and continue to drive up those placings in the Dunboyne team. Well done to all of you! The team were 8th overall out of 19 teams on the day.
Individual results
Emilia 9/217 overall, 4/31 in 0-45 category
Ciara:79/217 overall 22/42 in o-35 category
Norma 81/217 overall 31/54 in o40 category
Roisin 112/217 overall 44/54 in o40 category
Next up for the club were the men, on this occasion we had no men’s teams but in the Intermediate race we were represented by Rory Kavanagh, Rory had a fantastic race to come home in 15th place overall in a field of 86 his highest placing in this event to date, well done Rory! XC stalwarts Phelim Glynn, Morgan McDonagh and Derek Finnegan donned the vest once more in the men’s masters race. Phelim finished 49th overall (5th in his age category) in a highly competitive field of 255 runners, Morgan was 77th (36th in age category) and Derek 106th (25th in age category), well done to all our athletes on the day.
As always, thanks to those who came up on the day to support the athletes.
With thanks to Loughlin Campion for these photos.
