National Cross Country Championships 2018 & weekly Report

Conditions were cold and dry but favourable for last Sundays Athletics Ireland Juvenile (even ages) & Junior/Senior Cross Country Championships which were held on the purpose built cross country course at Abbotstown in Dublin.   Despite a week of heavy rain and advance warning to bring wellies and come prepared for mud, the course was in excellent condition, a far cry from the cross country courses that our athletes are used to running on in Cork & Munster  and of course such a good course lead to very fast running.   

In the underage ages, Fionn Harrington and Sean Lawton were first up to represent the Club in the boys under 14 3,000m race on a course which was relatively flat with a few minor hills.  They took to the start line wearing the blue Munster singlet with 152 other athletes. Both had great races with Sean finishing in 19th position overall and Fionn, despite a poor start, worked his way methodically through the field and finished in 38th.  Sean was the second scorer for the Cork team and helped them win the County team bronze medals and he was also the 5th placed scorer for Munster also winning the provincial bronze team medals.     Fionn was the 4th scorer for Cork also winning a County team bronze medal.   Aoibheann Lawton was next up on the start line in the girls u. 16 3,5000m race.  128 girls took to the start line on what was a very fast competitive race.  Aoibheann had a fantastic race finishing in 41st position and helping Cork win the County team gold medals, being the 5th place scorer.    Congratulations to all three on their National Provincial and County medals.   

Michael Harrington also had a very strong run in the last race of the day lining out with the cream of the crop of Irish athletes in the Senior mens' race covering a distance of 10km.  He finished strongly in a great time in cross country running of 35.05.

Results of u.14 boys race here

Results of u. 16 girls race here 

Photos here

Next weekend sees our athletes compete in the Munster Intermediate and Juvenile B Cross Country Championships which will be held in Riverstick at 11:30.  Best of luck to all taking part.   

The Club held their A.G.M.  last week and great numbers were in attendance and an enthusiastic committee is now in place and it is all systems go for 2019 with upcoming Registration Nights being held in Durrus Hall. More info here

The Club intends to hold a Couch to 5k running program in the New Year.  This is for beginner runners or lapsed runners.   This will start in the second week of January meeting every Monday and Friday at Durrus Hall at 5:45 p.m.  You do not need any running experience to join this group, however it would be helpful if you were capable of going for a brisk walk for at least half an hour.    More info to follow. 

Juvenile training will move indoors next Friday week when we will commence our Strength and Conditioning training.   More info on this later. 

DURRUS A.C. REGISTRATION NIGHTS FOR 2019

Durrus Athletics Club are holding their annual registration for 2019 on 

Friday the 7th December at 5.45 - 7 pm & and Monday the 10th December 

at 5.45 - 7pm at Durrus Community Hall.  

The club caters for mini athletics; 4 - 7 years old; Juveniles; 8 - 18 years old and

adults (all levels beginners to advanced).   

Get your New Year off to a good start and join our new 

** COUCH 2 5K PROGRAM STARTING JANUARY 2019 ** 

(This is a walk/run program suitable for complete beginners every

Monday and Friday at 6:45 pm) 

New members welcome.  Come along and have a chat on the registration

evenings if you are interested.

Any queries contact Mike at 086 8567179 or Annie on 087 9309807 

Golden Girls at Clarecastle

Clarecastle in County Clare was the venue for this years Munster relay and Munster Masters cross country championships.   As the song goes "It's a long long way from Clare to here ...." and it certainly was a long trip from West Cork to County Clare but it was a worthwhile journey for the athletes especially the girls under 16 team of Aoibhinn Lawton, Caoimhe Cotter, Ellen Collins and Rebecca Harrington who were crowned Munster champions, having also recently won the gold medals at the Cork championships.  Beibhinn Horstmanhoff, Lily Collins, Chloe Hegarty & Eva Leahy also competed strongly in the relays in the girls u. 12 category having recently won bronze at the county level, but they were outside of the medal placings on this occasion.   Michael Harrington competed in the masters men combined races over a distance of 7km on what was a typical challenging xc course. He finished in a super 5th position overall and was the overall winner of his age category o.45 and also secured a gold medal with the  Cork team being the second Cork athlete over the line.    

Results here

Away from the green fields and running in the mud were club members Carmel Nash and Jim Tobin who took part in the Skibbereen Athletic Club road races.  This year Skibbereen Athletic Club changed  the event from the annual 10k and replaced it with both 5 and 10 mile races which proved very successful. Carmel participated in the 5 mile run and Jim in the 10 mile.   

Results of the 10 mile here and the 5 mile here and Report here

An exciting weekend of cross country running lays ahead with the Athletics Ireland National Cross Country Championships (Juvenile Even Age & Senior) being held in Abbotstown, Co. Dublin.  Best of luck to our four members who have the distinction of taking part ; Aoibhinn Lawton, Sean Lawton, Fionn Harrington  & Michael Harrington. 

More Info here 

*** Reminder that our A.G.M.  will be held this Thursday night at 8 p.m. at Durrus Community Hall and all members are encouraged to attend ***  

Munster Uneven Ages XC, Co Tipperary

Two Mile Borris in County Tipperary was the venue for this year's Munster juvenile uneven age cross country championships.   Well done to Sean Lawton, Fionn Harrington and Aoibheann Lawton who took part, all running out of age, in what were tough weather conditions, being wet, windy and cold.    Despite this, all three athletes put in excellent performances.  

First to run were Fionn and Sean in the boys under 15 3,500m race.    Sean had another impressive run and finished in a fantastic 5th position overall, securing an individual medal and also being the first Cork athlete over the line helping the Cork team win the silver county team medals.   Fionn also had another good solid run and finished in 22nd place overall and he too was a silver medallist on the Cork team.   Both Fionn and Sean have qualified for the All Ireland uneven age cross country championships.    Aoibheann took part in the very competitive girls under 17 4,000m race and had an excellent run finishing in 14th position overall and securing qualification for the All Ireland championships representing Cork.     

Next XC event is the Munster Relay XC Championships which will be held next weekend in Clarecastle.  Best of luck to our three teams participating.  

Results here 

Photos here

Jimmy Tobin was running on the roads again this weekend, taking part in the Eyeries 5 mile road race in Beara.   Well done to Jimmy.  Results here

Medals galore at County Cross Country Relay Championships

It's not every day that all the teams representing the Club taking  part in a County Cross Country relay championship come home with medals, but such was the case today.     Three teams took part in the Cork County Juvenile Relay championships held today in Castlelyons.   The course was a flat course in great condition making for very fast running.    It was a great achievement for all the athletes today to win at these championships

There was something very special about today's relay races as it brought out the best in every athlete and  they all dug as deep as they possibly could from start to finish.   Every athlete had a distance of 500m to cover, being one lap of the course.    

First to run were Eva Leahy, Lily Collins, Chloe Hegarty and Beibhinn Horstmanhoff in the girls u. 12, followed by the boys under 14 team of Darragh O'Brien, Sean Lawton, Colm Hegarty & Fionn Harrington and finally our girls u. 16 team comprising Caoimhe Cotter, Ellen Collins, Aoibheann Lawton and Rebecca Harrington.     The girls u. 12 team all ran to their best and were justly rewarded winning the County bronze medals.  The boys u. 14 team all ran so well and were clear winners of the gold medals.  The girls u. 16 team were also in superb running form today and they too won the County gold medals.    

If you were to pick out a star athlete running today for the Club, you could not pick one as every athlete gave 100% and more!!!    Well done to all who took part and who have all now qualified for the Munster Relay XC championships.   

Michael Harrington competed in the Masters Men race which was held after the juvenile races, covering a distance of 7km and he had a very strong run out with the front runners, finishing in 3rd position overall and winning his age category.    

Away from the cross country scene, Jimmy Tobin, a regular on the road racing circuit, was in action again recently, taking part in the Dromtrasna West Limerick 10k.   Well done Jimmy.  

Results from the Cross Country here 

Photos here