Results and Video from Munster Athletics Juvenile Inter-County Relays, Junior and Intermediate Cross-Country Championships 2016

                          Enniskeane, Co. Cork, Sunday February 7th 2016

This event is organised and hosted by Doheny Athletic Club, on behalf of Cork Athletics and Munster Athletics

Doheny Athletic Club Homepage
Munster Athletics Homepage
Cork Athletics Homepage


Juvenile Results (PDF) on Munster Athletics website
Junior & Intermediate Results (PDF) on Munster Athletics website

Venue

The venue for today's Cross-Country meet was approx. 1 mile north of the village of Enniskeane, and the event was hosted by local club, Doheny AC, on behalf of Munster Athletics, and Cork Athletics, whose turn it was to host the championships.  The courses were relatively dry, with a 'good coating' of surface water, due to the rains of the past few days, but, in comparison to many courses of the past few months, remained quite grassy throughout the meet.   Doheny AC had planned the meet meticulously, with good course layouts, allowing superior spectator views of almost the full courses from anywhere in the arena.  With very limited parking at the course, a shuttle bus, organised by Doheny AC, operated between the field and Enniskeane GAA club, where hot showers were available.

Unfortunately the forecasted weather moved in an hour or so earlier than expected, starting approx. 30 mins before the first race.  The rain and strong biting wind remained 'relatively' better throughout the juvenile relays, but deteriorated significantly during the Junior races and it was pretty unpleasant during the Intermediate Women's race, but worsened during the Intermediate Men's race.  Perversely, conditions abated considerably not long after the finish of the men's race.

The weather kept spectator numbers down considerably, which must be very disappointing for the host club, Doheny AC, who had prepared and planned meticulously for the day, and deserved a better outcome from the elements.

Junior Women

Wins for Rhona Pierce (Leevale AC), Cork and Leevale AC, with Bronze for Carraig na bhFear AC.  Leevale take first four places, taking the individual medals, and winning the Inter-County team title for Cork, and the Club title.

Junior Men

The Junior Men ran a combined race with the Intermediate Women, with just two men, Seamus Gallagher (West Muskerry AC) winning from clubmate Colm O'Mahony.

Intermediate Women

East Cork's Fiona Santry won the Wemen's Intermediate Championship, splitting the Junior men who ran in the combined race, which was run in driving rain, with strong winds.  Cork took the team title, with Fiona Santry (1), Sharon Woods, Mallow AC (4), Clo Fitzgibbon, Grange-Fermoy AC (5) and Eadaoin O'Neill, East Cork AC (6)

Intermediate Men

This race was run in very poor weather conditions, with several runners withdrawing. Leevale's Darren Molloy won from clubmate Donal Coakley, with Dundrum AC's Kevin Moore taking Bronze.  Leevale took the Team title, with Michael Creed (12) and Tomas Kenefick (17), totalling 32 points.

East Cork AC packed well, in 7, 8, 9 and 10 - Shane Harrington, John Hennessy, Conor Tierney and Martin Hennessy - giving East Cork 34 points, just two shy of Leevale.  St Finbarr's AC took Bronze on 50 points, with local Enniskeane man, Alex O'Shea (5) leading teammates Stephen Geoghegan (13), Paddy Barry (14) and Tony O'Brien (18) home.

Cork took the Inter-County Title, with 32 points; 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 and 9

Intermediate Men - Race Report by Leevale AC's Donal Coakley

"Finished 2nd to Darren Molloy in the Munster Intermediate XC in Enniskeane today.

Some experience.

‪#‎Bus‬
Myself and Michael Creed got a nice bus from the GAA pitch where we parked, up to the course.

‪#‎Numbers‬
Arrived at the offices (a tent in a farmers cow shed) to be told "there's no Leevale numbers". This wasn't true, they'd just been taken by the Leevale ladies team.
Turns out the numbers were pointless anyway as they were blown off within about 5 minutes of the start.

‪#‎StartingTime‬
All of a sudden it was decided that the junior men and intermediate women would run the same race. Time for a quick 5 minute warm up, unfortunately Tomas Kenefick had gone for a proper warm up and missed the start.

‪#‎Howmanylapsdoyewanytodo‬
At the starters discretion there was a brief discussion about shortening the race because of the weather. We eventually persuaded them that we wanted to run 8k as that's what the race was supposed to be. I think everyone just wanted to go home.

‪#‎start‬
Fast start off down the hill into a tight corner. I tried to take it out hard but was passed by Darren and Alex O'Shea. I thought this was an unusual tactic for an Ultramarathoner so I just tucked in behind. Good decision. The Alex O'Shea fan club were vocal in their support throughout the race.

‪#‎course‬
The course itself was really well thought out, just a pity that the weather was apocalyptic, sheets of rain, wind and cold. A 2k lap with good hills and some nice open flat sections. One of the better courses.

‪#‎muck‬
Today's muck was different to the muck in Dundalk, while it was mucky it wasn't sticky so you could just about keep the legs turning over. Muck rating 9/10.

‪#‎race‬
I adopted the Chris Mintern patented wheel sucking XC tactics for the race. I sat in behind Darren and tried to pass him on the downhills. In hindsight this was as pointless as a the Social Democrats election manifesto. Into the home straight Darren just kicked away. I never had hope despite finishing within 2 seconds of him.

‪#‎rememberyournumbers‬
The much sought after numbers had been blown away so had you had to remember your name and number crossing the line, otherwise you didn't count. This is challenging after 8k in the muck flat out.

‪#‎GAAfacilitiesarefantastic‬
Back to the GAA pitches for a hot shower after a warm down with Darren. The GAA have good showers.

In summary a great day out.
Leevale and Cork teams finished 1st.
Great fun.

https://www.strava.com/activities/488175498
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1042676004 "

Videos

Apologies - Juvenile Girls Under-10 missed - problems with memory card

Juvenile Boys - Under-10 Relay

Munster Juvenile Boys Under 10 Inter-County Cross-Country Relays Enniskeane Cork February 2016 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.

Juvenile Girls - Under-12 Relay

Munster Juvenile Girls Under-12 Inter-County Cross-Country Championships Enniskeane Cork February 2016 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.

Juvenile Boys - Under-12 Relay

Munster Juvenile Boys Under-12 Inter-County Cross-Country Championships Enniskeane Cork February 2016 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.

Juvenile Girls - Under-14 Relay

Munster Juvenile Girls Under-14 Inter-County Cross-Country Championships Enniskeane Cork February 2016 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.

Juvenile Boys - Under-14 Relay

Munster Juvenile Boys Under-14 Inter-County Cross-Country Championships Enniskeane Cork February 2016 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.

Junior Women

Munster Junior Women Cross-Country Championships Enniskeane Cork February 2016 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.

Intermediate Women & Junior Men

Munster Intermediate Women's Cross-Country Championships Enniskeane Cork February 2016 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.

Intermediate Men

Munster Intermediate Men's Cross-Country Championships Enniskeane Cork February 2016 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.

The latest three video uploaded were taken from the (relative) "comfort" of an animal trailer - one of those 'cow carriage' whatsits, with (animal) eye-level viewing slats...a long way from what you'd expect as a Sky Sports pundit. Unfortunately Cork Athletics budget doesn't extend to providing such luxuries!