Sunday 12th of February saw Dunboyne AC athletes on the move again. This time they made the trip to Waterford IT which hosted the National Masters Cross Country Championship. The crème a la crème of masters cross country athletes were all in attendance, competing for individual, team and county honours.
On a bitterly cold day, the course was very testing. There were plenty of big hills all around the course and it seemed to be uphill more than downhill for the most part. Conditions underfoot were mixed, parts of the course very cut up after the large volume of juvenile athletes who had competed over the course beforehand.
In the women’s race Dunboyne AC had Emelia Dan, Clodagh Dunphy, Claire Ni Fhaircheallaigh, Heather Harold and Sarah Meegan all competing in the huge field of athletes from all over the country. The overall race was won by Rosemary Ryan from Dooneen AC who represented Ireland in the 5,000m at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Such was the quality of athletes on show in the field of over 200 starters.
Ladies Captain Emilia Dan ran a storming race, well to the fore throughout and finishing a fantastic 6th in her category over this tough course. Heather Harold also put in a very good showing battling all the way to the line to finish 33rd in her category.
A very impressive Clodagh Dunphy was 21st in her ultra-competitive category. Not far behind her was the Claire Ni Fhaircheallaigh who (returning to form after being out on baby duty) crossed the line 29th in her category just ahead of Sarah Meegan who ran a strong race to finish 30th.
Unfortunately the club and county team were out of luck finishing outside the medals at this national event but all our women ran brilliantly and did the club proud on the biggest stage.
In contrast to the women, Dunboyne AC unfortunately had just one men’s representative competing. The prolific Keith Eglington was left to fly the blue and white on his own on the day but that didn’t deter him as he attacked his race with great gusto. In a very fast race of over 200 athletes, which was won by Michael Harty from East Cork AC who recently completed an altitude training camp in Iten, Kenya, Keith equipped himself very well. He battled throughout the race to finish well up the overall field and 46th in his extremely strong category. Well done Keith for representing the club so well at this National event.
