Cork County Cross-Country Championships 2020
Going Up The Country
October 2020
At a virtual meeting of the Officers of Cork Athletics County Board, this evening, Wednesday September 2nd, it was decided to go ahead with the Cross-Country season, with all County Cross-Country Championships taking place at the Board's grounds at Slieveroe, Riverstick.
Given the ongoing Covid pandemic, and the continued fallout arising from it, very detailed planning will be necessary to ensure that the Championships go ahead ... AND go ahead safely. Hamish Adams, Athletics Ireland CEO, attended the virtual meeting and said that Athletics Ireland has prepared a Cross-Country Protocol, however this will not be released until after the next Government Guidelines update, due by September 13th. The protocol will not be released before then as it may need revision following the Government update.
It is likely that the regular Cross-Country format(s) will be changed for the 2020 season, given the current 200 person limit on site. The races themselves are the easy part, the devil is in the detail of the, literally, hundreds of issues and problems that need to be addressed and solved, from numbers on site, toilet facilities, contact tracing, (probably) ensuring that the site is cleared (as far as practical) following each race. There will be no gate charge, to minimise contact, and maximise social distance, and it is planned to have chip recording of positions ... this will elimate the regulary queues that for at the end of Juvenile XC races, in particular. Chip timing is likely to be used for adult races (only) - Juvenile races position only.
At this point in time, only dates have been decided, as the Board needs to look at all the options/formats, to minimise numbers on site at any one time, and, at the same time, ensure that all ages and categories have their day out over Cross-Country.
Details will published as soon as finalised, however, at this point in time, it is not possible to say which particular Championships will happen on which day - just that the Championships are going ahead ....subject, as always, to the ever-changing Government, HSE and AAI Guidelines...and the vagaries of Covid-19.
Cross-Country Dates 2020
Cork County Cross-Country Day 1 - Sunday October 4th, Riverstick
Cork County Cross-Country Day 2 - Sunday October 11th, Riverstick
Cork County Cross-Country Day 3 - Sunday October 25th, Riverstick
Cork County Cross-Country Day 4 - Sunday November 1st, Riverstick
Day 4 is a provisional date to cater for "overflow" from previous dates
Going up the Country - Canned Heat
