National Novice XC: Gowran Park, December 12th 2021

National Novice XC:
Well done to our 5 athletes who travelled to Gowran Park last weekend for the most exciting and unpredictable race on the calendar.
Norah was our sole representative in the women's race and finished 84th overall (a big improvement on her 299th position from the 5k she ran the day before).

Our men's team was lead by a resurgent Paul Hartnett. After a disappointed National Juniors in Santry he bounced back almost as good as the bad guys in Home Alone with a superb 4th place overall in 18.59. He was in the lead group the whole way through and gave it everything in the final field to hold off William and Evan Fitzgerald. He also got revenge on Leevale pair Gavin O'Rourke from the county seniors and Tommy Connolly in the National Juniors. An oversight on the County Boards selection panel meant Paul was not on the winning Cork team but the good news is he will be eligible to run again next year at all Novice grades. Well done Paul.

Further back in the pack Stephen held off Donal and his last lap demons to finish 79th in 21.10. Donal was only 11 seconds behind Stephen but in this race that translated to 14 positions. Ollie Smiddy courageously stepped up to make sure we had a team and finished a commendable 178th in 23.32. The team was 12th out of 22.

As mentioned above Norah also ran the Jingle Bells 5k organised by Donore Harriers on Saturday. She ran an excellent 19.20 and beat former teammate Jen Preston too.

Next Up:

There will be no Christmas Night Out this year due to Covid. So instead we are going to attend the Youghal parkrun on Saturday morning (December 18th). The parkrun if you are not aware is a 5k run. You can race it hard or just use it as a jog. Meet time is 8.45am at Claycastle Beach carpark (near the start of the boardwalk). We will warm up with a 2k jog to the start, which is Pobalscoil na Trionoide at 9.30am. The entry fee is free but you do need to register online (https://www.parkrun.ie/register/?section=form) first.

We will jog back down to the cars then and grab a sociable coffee and optional dip in the sea. If anyone wants to join just for the coffee after we should be back in Claycastle at about 10.15am.
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