Gerry Brady

04 July, 2010

Emmet Jennings was a fantastic ninth place in the junior men. Our previous best junior men’s placing in the Europeans was Michael Dowling in 30th in France in 2007. In the World Junior Colm de Burca was 10th in 1990, and in 1994 Kieran Lynch was 10th and Pearse Hickey 11th. James Speight was prominent on the first lap but lost a lot of places on the climb on the second lap. The team, completed by James Griffin in 46th and Shane Walsh, finished in 11th position. The winner of the Youths race the week before Somez Dag from Turkey finished 7th around ten seconds ahead of Emmet while the Russian runner who was seventh in the Youths race (behind Eoghan Totten and Kevin Dooney) finished 12th.

The junior women all ran solidly to finish in the 20s and ninth team. Niamh Denny improved from 27th in 2009 to 20th while Sinead Cronin improved from 31st to 26th. Claire Brennan confirmed her good form from a week previously in the Youths race by finishing 28th.

Sharon Bird started competitively in the senior women race and although she suffered a little on the second lap she finished in 41st, a performance which augurs well for the future. Karen Alexander came through the field to finish 35th which is our highest individual placing since Beth McCluskey was 23rd in Poland in 2004. Suzanne Kenny and Denise Ryan both worked their way through with Suzanne finishing strongly for 49th place, with her first cross-country season to look forward to, in the colours of Clonliffe, she can expect to build upon this sound performance in the years to come.

Gary O'Hanlon went off with the leaders and looked very comfortable in the early stages. However the climbs slowly took their toll but he held on well for 44th which compares well with performances of recent years where 35th by Stephen Duncan in 2008 was the best placing. Brian Furey, Philip Harty and James Doran will all have benefited from the experience. Philip went out hard while Brian came through well. The temperature had risen to 25 degrees for the senior men and it took a toll in the second half of the race. Interestingly the Spanish winner of the European Masters in May, Vicente Capitan, was 19th. In Barcelona Stephen Duncan and Barry Minnock had followed him home in 2nd and 3rd.

Overall Emmet's performance again shows that there are medals to be won by Ireland at this level. Televising the competition has elevated its stature significantly and the media exposure should mean even higher standards in future years.

Junior women
1. Denisa Dragomir (ROU) 18:28
20. Niamh Denny 21:12
26. Sinead Cronin 22:16
28. Claire Brennan 22:21

Junior women team
1. Turkey (2,4) 6
2. Russia (3,7) 10
3. Romania (1,11) 12
9. Ireland (20,26) 46

Junior men
1. Huseyin Pak (TUR) 33:15
9. Emmet Jennings 34:53
37. James Speight 38:09
46. James Griffin 41:51
dnf Shane Walsh

Junior men team
1. Turkey (1,2,8) 11
2. Italy (4,5,25) 34
3. Great Britain & Northern Ireland (6,13,16) 35
11. Ireland (9,37,46) 92

Senior women
1. Marie Dumergues (FRA) 39:13
35. Karen Alexander 43:33
41. Sharon Bird 45:12
49. Suzanne Kenny 46:47
54. Denise Ryan 49:11

Senior women team
1. Italy (2,4,6) 12
2. France (1,17,19) 37
3. Russia (3,16,20) 39
12. Ireland (35,41,49) 125

Senior men
1. Ahmet Arslan (TUR) 46:14
44. Gary O'Hanlon 53:02
54. Brian Furey 54:18
62. Philip Harty 56:04
70. James Doran 58:18

Senior men team
1. Italy (2,3,5) 10
2. France (4,8,18) 30
3. Spain (9,10,19) 38
15. Ireland (44,54,62) 160