Monday, October 27, 2008

Changed times from training

Don't forget 6.00 start on Tuesday night's from now on........

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Ulster champs Pt.1

We travelled to the U.U.J. on Sat for the even age group xc champs.  With gale force winds and driving rain it was always going to hard for our athletes to make an impression. We train our athletes very lightly and with long term goals, principally for the track. This leaves them at a disadvantage in hard conditions on tough xc courses but should, we hope, pay dividend's over the passage of time. Despite this we had hopes of qualifying  a couple for the Irish champs, this needing a top twelve finish. Tiernan Forde, Lorcan Forde, Aishling McAnulty and Katie O'Hare all finished strongly in huge fields in their categories coming home in 63rd,  21st,  90th & 29th places. These races are the highest standard races in Ulster every year and the pace is always blinding fast and relentless and our less experienced athletes will learn from their day out. It's hard to believe that 11 year old Charlotte Rea is now our most experienced athlete and was competing in her third Ulster's and was chasing a place in the Irish champs for the second time. Charlotte has recently started to develop a more competitive streak and went to the line determined to give herself a chance of qualification. 700 mts into a tough 1km race Charlotte was on course and on the finishing loop she controlled her race and came home in an excellent 11th place. This was a tremendous performance full of maturity and aggression. Every time Charlotte competes she learns more about herself and applies these lessons well. A tremendous athlete doing a great job. Last one up was Aislinn Crossey and as usual Ais delivered a sparkling performance to both put herself in a position to qualify and to finish the job off. Ais stormed home in 4th place and left this coach with no doubt that without the wind and muddy conditions a gold medal was a distinct possiblity! All our young athletes deserve immense credit for their hard work as do the parents who give up their time to come and support them. We move on to Donegal for the un-even Ulster's in a fortnights time. 

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Lucy wins again


Sunday morning at the Bush track for the Glenmore AC promoted cross country was on the schedule for just one of our athletes. This was due to the Ulster age group championship next Saturday. Only one but a good one! A cold, miserable, windy morning at the Bush was nothing new for us as we have hidden in hedges out here all summer to get out of the weather! Lucy made her normal electric start and led off the line but unlike the race in Stamullen she was challenged after 200 mts and indeed dropped 10 mts off the pace and looked uncomfortable in 2nd place. Lucy knows how to dig in and rounding the last turn 100 mts from the line she was back in the race and into the gale to the line she was the strongest. Lucy will improve even more from this run and as this was only her 4th event she gains invaluable experience each time she competes. A big thanks to Charlotte Rea for helping with the warmups. 

Friday, October 3, 2008

Sunday Session

At the back of the pool this Sunday for any-one interested.