Celtic DCH

From the seaside town in Oropesa, Spain last weekend we set out for the almost landlocked county of Kilkenny today. Kilkenny known as Ossory in ancient times was the seat of the high kings of Leinster and many a powerful Archbishop to boot.  Gowran, our venue today lies in the heart of that county and is probably best known for horse racing and the home of the Thyestes steeplechase won in previous years by Arkle and Flyingbolt, two of the best national hunt horses of all time.

We travelled with a strong team confident of victory and with justification, because we were the title holders and had won the previous 10 championships held in Ireland and unbeaten since February 2021. Statistically the longer a team remains unbeaten, the more likely they are to lose. On that basis we took no chances and planned accordingly.

The event was excellently organised with great parking adjacent to the team area, good facilities on site and a well-marked course. The running surface was smooth parkland, dry as a bone with testing hill on each of the two laps. Spikes were barley necessary. The field was a little smaller than expected but populated with high quality athletes.

Avril controlled the race from the gun and was content to share the lead during the first lap until cutting loose on the final 2000m. Sorcha produced an excellent run and was always prominent in the second group while Sinead and Aislinn ran together passing people while moving towards the top 10. Aoife Ni and Ellen both started conservatively and worked their way through the field. Aoife D and Orla ran good determined races finishing strongly.

Our team places were Avril 1^st, Sorcha 8^th, Sinead 10^th, Aislinn 12^th, Aoife Ni 15^th, Ellen 23^rd, Aoife D 43^rd and Orla 51^st. Our team score was a winning 31 with Avril and Sorcha also securing county medals with the victorious Dublin team.

So we end the domestic cross country season in possession of the nine cross country titles on offer, won over five months over all conditions from heavy mud, snow and ice and parkland. As the announcer stated some athletic history was made today that it is unlikely that the will be replicated for a long to come. 

So far so good.

A heads up to all that on Tuesday night 21/2 we will be finalising our relay teams for Sunday 26th Feb . All athletes including the older group are to come toNIA at the early time of 7.15pm. We will be looking at all age groups as new athletes have joined and we want to give everyone a chance .

Sat 11th Feb Dunboyne track 10am sprints group and all others born 2009and older.

Sun 12th Feb anyone not competing in NIA today meet at 11am at the HITW.

Tue 14th Feb HITW 10.30 everyone
Thur 16th Feb HITW 10.30 everyone, no
Evening training this week.

Parents please watch out for updated program for Sunday in NIA which will
Be on the club website shortly

Its hard to believe that its exactly 40 years since we first competed in this championship which were held in the medieval town of Viterbo, located approx 60 miles north of Rome. In 1983, only the second iteration of the event, we were represented by Deirdre Nagle, Louise McGrillen, Greta Hickey, Ailish Smyth and Siobhan Treacy. At that stage our club had a powerful womens squad and much to the surprise of the other clubs we finished in 2nd place to the local and heavily sponsored team “Fiat SubLazio Formia”. 

This began a run of fantastic performances which yielded 2ndplace again in 1984, winning in 1985 and 1986 with a string of high places until our last appearance there in 1992, where Frances Murphy, Catherine Smyth, Louise Cavanagh, Margaret Sweeney and Ailish Smyth flew our flag. Despite valiant efforts we didn’t win the national championships again for 30 years.

The event has undergone significant change since we last competed and today only four runners per team run, with only three to score. Two clubs per country are invited, each of which may invite a guest even up to Olympic championship standard to represent them. Hardly conducive for club building. Having said that the event was extremely well organised by the local club, accommodation was excellent and the food top notch. Fantastic live streaming was provided largely using mobile drone technology. Oropesa is effectively a summer holiday resort which was effectively a ghost town at this time of the year.

If Irish cross country is denoted by mud, hills, wind and rain, Spanish cross country is famous for tight twisting and turning courses on arid land and sand with artificial jumps on each lap. Imagine a course designed in a seaside park only 50m wide and perhaps 1500m long, bounded in by the sea. This was the Balearic section of the clear blue Mediterranean, no Kavanaghesque snot green sea.

Our team comprising of Cliona 32nd, Edel 40th, Avril 51st and Faye 66th(Aoife Carr competing for her Scottish Club took 61stplace) acquitted themselves well and finished in 12th position.Places were hard to come by and had to be fought hard for. The experience will stand us in good stead in the years to come. Our team and supporters demonstrated the club spirit which we are now renowned for.

We flew home through a beautiful evening sky, crimson setting sun to port and grapefruit rising moon to starboard. Then we were diverted to Belfast, dogged by drone issues at Dublin Airport and that’s a story for another day. How I hate drones.

The Leinster schools cross country were held in Santry today in perfect conditions. First club member into action was Megan who was aiming for a top 30
Place and she nailed it in 27th. Erin, Aoibhinn and Aimee were ranked well below their 7th place in the junior girls race and should be very happy with their race today.

Goda Cliodhna, Clare and Ash were a little disappointed with their team
Placing in 3rd overall in the senior race but potential there to improve on that in the Nationals. Christopher finished well above his ranking in the senior boys race. Well done to all.