Maria Storms to Victory in National Masters XC 2014

The Woodies DIY National Intermediate, Masters & Juvenile Development Championships were held in Dunboyne, Co. Meath on Sunday 23rd February 2014. Following all the very wet weather we have been getting, Sunday turned out to be an overcast but dry day for the race proceedings. The ground conditions was wet and very sticky mud, but the course was flat.

A special thanks to Dunboyne AC and Meath county for organising such an event. Everything was very well organised with plenty of stewarding.

23/02/14: Woodie’s DIY National Intermediate and Master Cross Country Championships Results
Inter Women - Team - Inter Men - Team - Master Men Ind - Team - Master O65 - Master Women Ind - Team 

Well done to Maria McCarthy who won the National Masters XC title. This was a 4000m endurance race. The field was made up of some very strong contenders, with the likes of  Eilish Kelly of Raheny who was favourite to win. From the start Maria made her presence know when taking the lead at the gun. After about 1000m into the race the front group of 5 had opened up a good gap from the rest of the pack. The leader changed hands a number of times throughout the race, and it was clear that Maria was looking very comfortable with the pace. With 1000m to go the lead group was beginning to spread, but their was still 3 front runners. At the 500m mark Maria made her move and began to increase the pace, the two remaining runners were unable to stay with Maria's increased tempo and had to battle it out for second & third spot. At the finish Maria had opened up a sizable gap to comfortably win the Womens Masters Title and also take her very first Individual National Gold Medal. Kerry and club so very proud of Maria.

Maria is an active member of our club and has recently completed a number of national coaching courses. She coaches our Fit4Life group and is also part of our coaching team for the Juveniles. We wish Maria all the best in the future and we are sure that this is only the first of many National titles to come.

The highlight of the day had to be the National Masters Mens race. With close to 300 athletes competing it was one of the largest masters fields ever in a very long time. If not one of the largests ever. It took well over 1000m before the large group began to spread out. Competing from our club was George McCarthy. Along with George was Rob Purcell of Gneeveguilla our only representatives from the county. George and Rob did very well and both finished in the top 50. Due to the large entry in this event AAI official were unable to give out the category positions on the day. Results should be out soon.

Well done also to Kenmare AC who had a small group of Juveniles competing in the U13 developments.

Conor O'Brien was 6th in the U13 boys and the U13 girls got Bronze in the team.

Although Kerry had a very small group of atletes competing in the National XC events, they all did exceptionally well. It goes to show the our county has great talent and can mix it well with the bigger athletics clubs around the country. It would be great to see more athletes from the county competing in these events.

Seletion of Photos on our Facebook: HERE
We also have a Flickr account and photos of this years XC are on it Photo Gallery
Selection of Photos courtesy of Ballyroan Abbeyleix AC: HERE
Photos from Lindie Naughton: HERE