All posts in CC Championships

The Dublin Novice Cross Country takes place in the Phoenix Park tomorrow afternoon. Their are good teams entered for both men & women. The men`s team includes Sean O`Leary who had a fine run in Blackrock, County Louth two weeks back and the women`s Alannah Cooley. The Novice women run over 4000m with a 1.45pm start, please be there in plenty of time as per captain`s instructions while the men race at 2.15pm, 6000m, to meet at 1.00pm. The championships are held on the Magazine Fort area of the Park, the County Board have asked that all use the official car parks only, and care share if possible. The championships are preceded by the latest round in the Dublin Juvenile Cross Country league.

In the Saturday round up the only Clonliffe athlete we are aware of who raced today was David Brady 11th in the Simon 5 Mile (also in the Park) in 30.00.

Orla McGinley, the Ladies Captain has called a meeting for all athletes with regard to the upcoming Cross Country season for Tuesday next September 18^th @ 8.15pm in the hall of the Clubhouse.

The purpose of the meeting is to outline a plan for the upcoming Cross Country season. The Championship dates are as follows:

October 7^th         Dublin Novice

October 21^st       Autumn Open Cross Country

November 4^th    Dublin Senior Cross Country

November 11^th Leinster Senior Cross Country

November 25^th National Senior Cross Country

December 2^nd    Dublin Intermediate Cross Country

December 16^th National Novice Cross Country

January 6^th          Dublin Masters Cross Country

January 13^th        Leinster Intermediate and Leinster Masters Cross Country

February 3^rd        National Intermediate and Masters Cross Country
Whilst in recent years the Club has been successful in having women’s teams compete at Novice and Intermediate level, for whatever reason, when it comes to Senior there has been a very poor uptake. The Ladies Captain’s aim for this year is to try and get teams competing in all of the above events.  Whilst the thoughts of a Senior Cross Country might be somewhat daunting to some, the reality is that once you tie the spikes and get to the start line you will find that you are competing mainly against the same people whom you have competed against in the previous week`s Novice or Intermediate Championship.  Also bear in mind that in most of the Championships the minimum for a team is only four athletes – surely with a Club of our size and with the number of women athletes, it ought to be possible to get at least four in each race (the exception is the Dublin Championships where it is a team of six)?

Athletes please attend on Tuesday next and show your support for the Ladies Captain and for your Club.

Out West the final Cross Country races of the season took place in Galway in bitterly cold conditions. In the National Intermediate Championships Eoin Taggart had a superb run to place 4th. The team placed 6th: Sean Doran 36th, Joseph Keane 39th, Michael Cassidy 52nd and David Mullen 53rd.

In the Masters Championship the Clonliffe 50 men took team bronze: Kevin Dowling 111th, Kieran Murphy 117th, Jeremy Chapman 134th and Philip O`Doherty 192th. Others: 188th Mick Bermingham, 195th Alex Eustace, 200th Colm Leonard.

In the Masters women the team placed 11th: 48th Siobhan Devaney, 60th Elaine McLoughlin, 77th Maura Matthews, 82nd Yvonne McDonagh. Others: 102nd Sharon Lawlor, 115th Orla Deighan, 158th Anne Lyons.

Apologies for any omissions.

A strong Clonliffe team heads west to Clarinbridge, Galway, for Sunday’s National Intermediate Cross Country Championships. At last year`s championships also held in Galway (Tuam) the Clonliffe team took home gold.

The men’s team is: Adam O’Brien, Eoin Taggart, Sean Doran, Michael Cassidy, Joseph Keane, Patrick Hayes, David Mullen and Alex Gibbons.

The National Masters is also on the programme for Sunday, the Clonliffe M35 plus team is: Mick Bermingham, Thomas Frayne, Alex Eustace and Matt McGuinness.

In the M50 plus category the team is: Colm Leonard, Kieran Murphy, Jeremy Chapman, Kevin Dowling, Fergal O’Shea, Robert Reid, Philip O’Doherty, Tom Monks.

The Master women’s team is: Anne Lyons, Elaine McLoughlin, Emma Cooper, Maura Matthews, Orla Deighan, Sharon Lawlor, Siobhan Devaney and Yvonne McDonagh.

Reminder to athletes that the bus travelling to Galway will leave the stadium at 10 a.m. sharp on Sunday morning. If you are not availing of the bus you must let your club captain know in advance.

The National Interclub Cross Country (incorporating the intercounty) takes place at the National Cross Country course in Abbottstown on Sunday. The Clonliffe Senior Men have been the dominant sport in Irish Cross Country over the past 15 years save for last year when the Clonliffe men were well and truly hammered by a rampant Raheny Shamrocks team who took their club’s first ever National Senior Cross Country title. So disappointing were the Clonlifffe men last year that the team failed to finish in the top three.  Having been stung by the criticism the Senior men will be out in force this Sunday ready for the battle to try and bring the title back to Santry.

It is very much a case of marathon men to the four (pun intended) with the top four in this year’s marathon: Gary O’Hanlon, Sergiu Ciobanu, Stephen Scullion and David Mansfield along with London 26 marathon man Mark Kenneally.

The teams for Sunday’s Senior Men’s Race are:

A: S. Scullion, J. Rossiter, S. Ciobanu, D. Flynn, M. Kenneally, E. Pearce, C. Rooney, G. O’Hanlon, J. Kevans, C. Doyle.

B: D. Mansfield, K. Nolan, T. Sherlock, S. Doran, E. Taggart, K. Lonergan, L. Roarty, B. Flanagan.

The Junior Men will be well in the hunt for the retaining of the Lar Byrne Cup for the winners of the Men’s Junior title with a strong looking team. The Junior Men’s race also incorporates the National U/18 where again there is a strong Clonliffe presence in that particular category.

The Junior Men’s team is: S.O’Leary, E. Gidey, A. O’Brien, D. Lacey, C. Giles, S. Flanagan, A. Cullen, G. Hosseney, J. Hession, S. Cashin.

Boys U/18: E. Gidey, D. Lacey, C. Giles, A. Cullen, B. Guiden, S. Cashin.

There is also a full team in the Junior Women’s race. For the first time in a number of years there are six junior athletes competing, again the Junior Women’s race incorporates the U/18 championship.

The Junior Women’s team is: A. Cooley, A. Fernandez, H. Browne, C. Cooley, A. Warren, T. Loftus.

Also on Sunday there are two strong under 16 teams running in the Nationals. The girls team go into the race as Dublin champions and will challenge for medal positions.  The team is: S. Bateson, G. Cide, A. Hession, A. Sheehy, K. Halpin, V. McDonnell.

The U/16 boys are also looking good on paper, they won Dublin silver at the same venue a few weeks back and will again look to challenge for honours. The boys U/16 team is: D. Carter, D. Buckley, M. Kelly, C. Simpson, E. Foster, A. Neuroth.

The Championships get underway at 11.30 with the girl’s U/12 race.

The Clonliffe interest is as follows:

12.25 p.m. Girl’s U/16 – 4000m (1 x 1000 + 2 x 1500)

12.43 p.m. Boy’s U/16 – 4000m (1 x 1000 + 2 x 1500)

1.00 p.m. Junior Women – 4000m (1 x 1000 + 2 x 1500)

1.20 p.m. Junior Men and U/18s – 6000m (4 x 1500)

1.45 p.m. Senior Women – 8000m (4 x 2000)

2.25 p.m. Senior Men – 10,000m (5 x 2000)

The very best of luck to all of the Clonliffe athletes taking part on Sunday. It will be a great days cross country so please come along to Abbottstown to support the black and amber.

News just in of another excellent run by Aaron Hanlon in the USA. Aaron was 13th in today`s Big East Championships in 25.09.3, averaging 5.04 per mile, and was 2nd scorer for Providence College, 4th team.

On Sunday, the 29th Emer Treacy, based in Caceres, Spain ‘til next Summer. (Clonliffe ran there in a Euro Clubs back in 2006!) finished on the top of the podium following a short course 2k cross country race win.

After last weekend`s Autumn Cross Country and with the Dublin Marathon tomorrow it was a very quiet day on the racing front today. The only Harrier venturing out to race seems to have been prolific racer Sean Doran who finished 13th in the Leinster Novice Cross Country held at Navan Race Course. Anyone else? text 0879599888

This coming Sunday, October 22nd, will see the first big club cross country event of the 2017 season at the purpose built cross country track in Abbotstown. The Dublin Juvenile (even ages) championships will take place from 11.00 am to be followed by the Autumn Open.

There are Clonliffe teams competing across all age groups with strong teams expected in particular in the girls and boys U/14, U/16 and U/18s that will challenged for medals with the additional prize of places in the Nationals at the same venue on November 26th also on offer.

Once the Juvenile championships are concluded the juniors, seniors and masters will be into the fray for the Autumn Open. A great day`s sport in guaranteed and no doubt the Clonliffe athletes would be delighted to see club mates out on the course cheering them on.

Details:

Car parking/traffic can be an issue so allow plenty of time!

Finally the Dublin Uneven ages/ Dublin junior & Senior cross country will take place in Santry, hosted by Clonliffe, on November 5th.