RACE REPORT

Dublin uneven, U20 and Senior cross country was held in the grounds of City West Hotel, Dublin. This was a stunning venue with many thanks to City West for the use of the facilities. The course was picturesque and also had everything you would wish for a XC venue. Dublin County Board have found a beaut of a  location that may be used for national events. It has all the attributes required to host a national. 

Dublin underage has exploded over the last couple of years with participation rising for every event. Huge credit must go to Cecil Johnston and his team for preparing the courses and securing the locations to deal with the high numbers taking part. Just over 940 registered for today's event. 

The chipped timed races were the combined U19 & Junior Races along with the seniors races. Clonliffe Harriers had a great day of success with Emily Bolton winning the women's Junior race. Emily is still eligible to run under 17. Emily is a great up and coming star to keep watch for. Lorraine O'Connor of Clonliffe was 2nd and also the U19 winner. 3rd Junior and 2nd U19 was Blackrock A.C.s Holly O'Brien. 3rd U19 was Saoirse Fitzgerald of Lucan Harriers. Clonliffe were 1st U19 and Junior teams followed by Lucan Harriers and Donore for both U19 and Junior races. 

The Men's Junior race was won by Sean Quinn of DSD A.C. with Louie Woodger of MSB A.C. in 2nd. In 3rd place and also the first U19 was Ryan O'Neill of Rathfarnham WSAF. 2nd in the U19 race was Matei Ursahci of Clonliffe harriers. 3rd place was Sean Cronin also of Clonliffe. The team winning order for both races was Clonliffe, Donore and DSD. 

The senior women's and men's races were low in attendance but some very talented athletes were on show. Emma McEvoy of DSD A.C  was the one of the outstanding performances of the day winning by a big margin to take the title. In 2nd place was Orla Duffy of DCH followed by a train of DCH athletes. 3rd place was Edel Monaghan with 4th and 5th also DCH athletes. This is how to pack and win XC team events. DCH had from 2 to 5 placings making them deserved winners. DSD A.C. were 2nd and Raheny Shamrock A.C. were 3rd. 

The men's race was a great watch for spectators. All the lead runners were packed together for a large part of the race. From early on it looked like Clonliffe's to lose, however, DSD made some ground later in the race. As that battle was going on it was Rathfarnham's David Scanlon who finished very strong to take the men's title. We had a great finish among the top men. Stephen Cashin of Clonliffe was 2nd only 3 seconds after the winner and in 3rd place was Eanna Moynihan O'Bradaigh of DSD. The battle was on for the winning team. Who was going to be crowned club team champs? Clonliffe did win by just a 4 point margin over DSD. Rathfarnham were the 3rd team. 

Another great day for Dublin Athletics. The Master and intermediate champs will be in January. Check out all the race stats, results and videos below.