Google+ Running in Cork, Ireland: Irish teams announced for the European Cross Country Championships

Monday, November 25, 2013

Irish teams announced for the European Cross Country Championships

Athletics Ireland have announced today the athletes that will represent Ireland at the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on December 8th.

Name Event Club Coach
Senior Women
1 Fionnuala Britton Senior Women Kilcoole AC Chris Jones
2 Sarah McCormack Senior Women Clonliffe Harriers A.C. Gregor Nicholson
3 Sara Treacy Senior Women Moynalvey/kilcloon (Irish), Bud Baldaro
4 Ann-Marie Larkin Senior Women Lifford AC Teresa mcdaid
5 Ciara Durkan Senior Women Skerries A.C. Enda Fitzpatrick
6 * Mary Cullen Senior Women North Sligo AC Ray Treacy
 * Maria McCambridge 1st Reserve Senior Women Dundrum South Dublin AC Dick Hooper
 Sarah Mulligan 2nd Reserve Senior Women Dundrum South Dublin A.C. 
* Update from Athletics Ireland...27th Nov... Mary Cullen (Sligo AC) was named on the team has been replaced by first reserve Maria McCambridge (DSD AC). Cullen’s fitness was being assessed throughout the qualification period however it was confirmed yesterday that she is not 100% fit to compete and unfortunately had to withdraw.

Senior Men
7 Paul Pollock Senior Men Annadale Striders Andy Hobdell
8 Michael Mulhare Senior Men Portlaoise AC Chris Jones
9 Dan Mulhare Senior Men Portlaoise A.C.
10 Stephen Scullion Senior Men Clonliffe Harriers A.C. Andrew Hobdell
11 David McCarthy Senior Men West Waterford A.C. Chris Jones
12 * Joe Sweeney Senior Men Clonliffe Harriers A.C. Jerry Kiernan
* Mick Clohisey 1st Reserve Senior Men Raheny Shamrock A.C.
 Mark Christie 2nd Reserve Senior Men Mullingar Harriers A.C. Jerry Kiernan 
* Update from Athletics Ireland... Joe Sweeney (Dundrum South Dublin AC) was named on the team has been replaced by first reserve Mick Clohisey (Raheny Shamrock AC). Sweeney had hoped to recover quicker from his marathon exertions however he has had to make the difficult decision to withdraw from the team in order to fully recover.

Feidhlim Kelly has a podcast below about the selection. From the start to 21:00..


Press interview...27th Nov...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

what has mary Cullen ran this year?

Anonymous said...

Is Mary Cullen running? Did she run any trial for the x.c?

IACAN said...

A sad reflection on the state of distance running in Cork and the powers that be to see no Cork athlete of any grade on the National teams for the European Cross Country Championships, where are we going?

Anonymous said...

Only 6 athletes can be picked.there are 32 counties.2 Laois brothers 2 from Belfast 1 from dublin 1 from waterford in the men.it would be nice to have cork representation but I don't think any conclusions can be made from it.maybe if we stop putting athletes down and supported them better there might be more cork runners on the team. A Chris jones coaching a few in the team and is national distance coach.

Anonymous said...

Think they have something against maria Mccambridge,first not pick for london last year and now this,strange for one of our best runners!

Anonymous said...

Is Lizzie not available to run or injured or what is the reason for her omission ?

John Desmond said...

Just to point a few things...

1) Mary Cullen was second only to Fionnuala Britton in the Irish team that finished 5th in the World Championships last March.

2) Both Maria McCambridge and Lizzie Lee concentrated on autumn marathons this year. Lizzie finished 9th in Berlin in one of the Worlds major marathon in September. Maria McCambridge won the Dublin Marathon in October. Both would have trained for and peaked for these particular events. Cross Country is both much shorter and faster. The athletes taking part will be following a training programme to peak for this race in December. It's not realistic to expect someone to do both in the space of a few months, not at this level anyway.

Anonymous said...

Re no Cork athletes read the comment fully, any grade, Junior, U23, Senior and still no local athlete,perhaps if some of the blanket coaching afforded to juveniles was transferred to other grades some results might accrue, AAI Registration figures show that only approx 1% of juveniles are progressing on to Junior level.

Anonymous said...

no cork athlete picked because no cork athlete finished in the top 3 in the nationals, seems fair enough. Mary cullen,s selection is wrong it should be on current form not past glories...

Jean said...

"Mary Cullen was second only to Fionnuala Britton in the Irish team that finished 5th in the World Championships last March"

This is not a valid reason for selecting Mary Cullen John. As per the AAI selection policy, selection would be based on performances between
1 September to 24 November 2013. Also, while Maria Mccambriudge did target DCM as her main race, she did run the trail (unlike Lizzie( which suggests in itself that she wanted to be selcected. Even thought its not her main race, she still deserves her place (based on intercounties and DCM performances) over someone who hasnt run in several months.

John Desmond said...

Jean, someone asked the question about what had Mary Cullen done in 2013 implying she had done nothing. Being the second woman on the Irish team that came 5th in the World Champs last March is pretty significant. I'm not saying that that she should be picked ahead of anyone else but it was probably the reason why the selectors picked her.

John Desmond said...

Update from Athletics Ireland...27th Nov... Mary Cullen (Sligo AC) was named on the team has been replaced by first reserve Maria McCambridge (DSD AC). Cullen’s fitness was being assessed throughout the qualification period however it was confirmed yesterday that she is not 100% fit to compete and unfortunately had to withdraw.