National Intermediate/Masters Cross Country 21/02/10

brutes1

Not long till this race, cross country is back!, Anyone know anything about the course ( Lough Key Forest Park, Boyle), or whos running, Watched this from the sidelines last year, was a cracking run from Sean Hehir in the Inters to win. Im sure the standard will be as high as ever, hopefully the relatively central location will ensure a good turnout.

aburke

Hi Brutes [what happened to your old account?]
I'm in.
15mm spikes ready to go.

brutes1

The lads may need 18mm spikes by the sound of things, lots of races on before hand ! I make it 13 races before the mens inter ....(Dunno aburke where its gone)

Map of loughkey, not the course map!

http://www.loughkey.ie/documents/loughkey.pdf

meathcountysec

Looking at that map, last year the races (all juvenile) were in the open space adjacent to the viewing tower. As a result of heavy overnight rain, and a burst watermain, the field was adorned with water features;)

robinph

I'm game for giving this one a go... do we have a Boards AC team for this?

Seres

brutes1 wrote: »

Not long till this race, cross country is back!, Anyone know anything about the course ( Lough Key Forest Park, Boyle), or whos running, Watched this from the sidelines last year, was a cracking run from Sean Hehir in the Inters to win. Im sure the standard will be as high as ever, hopefully the relatively central location will ensure a good turnout.

train there all the time , perfect location , course is flat and ground not too bad to run on as far as cross country races go , they used to have a hill round the tower but since the park was developed thats gone.
A local commitee were measuring the course 2 weeks ago , bout 7/8 of them , i think they are anxious to get distance accurate because of the confusion in coleraine , think also they are trying to get a 1500m loop measured , will be a bit of a stretch !

mrak

Hi - what's the story on o35s - thought they weren't vets this year but have seen some forms with them classed as vets. (trying to get out of the longer intermediate race if I can at all ;P)

brutes1

Link to the rules

Still V35 per this for Masters - 7k !!

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/masters-cross-country-2010.pdf

You could always run the inter though, im sure theres no rules against it if your V35 plus??

runnerboy

i contacted the aai and they say that the 0/35 rule stays in place until congress meets in april and even then it has to be passed by majority vote to scrap this age group. i know which i am running 7km all the way. should be a good race peter matthews is 0/40, morwood from belfast pauric mckinney, colin roberts and mick traynor and i heard barry minnock could be eligible for the 0/35s.

brutes1

Wouldnt blame you for runnin 7k not 10k in the muck!. Masters last year was a great race between Morwood and Mckinney, most of the top 20 masters would still beat the young lads hands down, its probably right to move the category back to over 40 long term though. Anyone willing to forecast the intermediates??

runnerboy

its a case of who is eligible for the intermediate. i think rory chesser is eligible but he might have won a medal on the track. think mike mulhare is eligible as he hasnt a senior vest so would be the favourite. sergio cibanu is eligible as he only won a marathon title so would be in the mix. scullion could from the north if he runs. theres always a surprise entrant because no one knows until race day who is eligible and running. tom fitzpatrick could be an outsider for the title. any other ideas who will race

brutes1

Id say a lot of last years top 20 are still eligible plus the likes of mulhare and coughlan ?? , very strong field up the front usually,

last years results
link
http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/Intermediate%20Men%20XC09.pdf



Anyone have a course map/lap maps yet..

surfjunky

Great (if cold) weather for this race yesterday, distance was well short though, I'd paced myself for a 10k but I'd say it was 2 if not 3k short. Bit of confusion too regarding how many big laps were required, one official was calling out 7 more laps after the first, which wasn't accurate. To be honest though it didn't make too much difference to me as I was just hanging on for dear life after the first two laps. That long slow up hill was a killer but enjoyed bailing down the other side! That activity centre was great for a pre-race performance enhancing coffee! Glorious location overlooking the lakes. Some good pics of race on racepix365 http://www.racepix.com/National-Intermediate-XC/racephotos/221/