The Munster Athletics Intermediate Cross Country Championships were held in Enniskeane in West Cork on Sunday the 7th of February 2016. The numbers taking part however were very poor.
In the Intermediate mens race, there were just 18 men taking part. There were three club teams all from Cork and not one full team from any other county. Cork was the only county to field a full team and obviously won Gold.
1 Darren Molloy Leevale Cork
2 Donal Coakley Leevale Cork
3 Kevin Moore Dundrum Tipperary
1 Leevale 1, 2, 12, 17...32 pts
2 East Cork 7, 8, 9, 10...34 pts
3 St.Finbarr's 5, 13, 14, 18...50 pts
1 Cork 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9...32 pts
In the Intermediate Womens race, the numbers were even lower with just 9 present. The only club to field a team was An Riocht AC from Co.Kerry. Despite the fact that the event was held in Co.Cork, not one club from Cork managed to field a team. Think about that for a second...the race is in Cork, only four women from Cork take part in it and there are no Cork clubs in the team results.
1 Fiona Santry East Cork Cork
2 Sharon Cahill An Riocht Kerry
3 Niamh Clifford Star of the Laune Kerry
1 An Riocht 2, 7, 8, 9...26 pts
1 Cork 1, 4, 5, 6...16 pts
2 Kerry 2, 3, 7, 8...20 pts
The Junior men was even worse with just two present...two...from all of Munster. The only positive numbers were from the Junior Women who managed 18.
It's a bit like the cross country season was over a few months ago and someone forgot to tell the organisers.
The full results can be seen HERE
These championships were planned for the 9th of January last but were then postponed for whatever reason and rescheduled after the All Ireland Championships which makes no sense at all!! This could be the reason of the poor turnout! The County INtermediate championships was poorly attended also. I dont really understand the reason!! People prefer to run a 5k on the road rather than doing a 5k on grass and mud! Much more beneficial to run a XC race!!
ReplyDeleteEnniskeane is a long, long way from any of the other Munster Counties -even a fair trip from Cork City. Completely daft to put it there. It should always be in a location that's as central as possible to all the Munster Counties e.g. somewhere like Mallow would be a good choice.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat separately, I've never done Cross Country race, so I assume that I would need to do the Novice level first? This would rule out a huge number of runners by default. Also, there a lot of runners these days who are non-club runners.
Combine that with the fact that it's often only the top few athletes at each club that participate and straight away you're down to the top 3-4 runners in each club.
I think your point though was that a lot of (whole) clubs were missing altogether. I think a long trip down to Enniskeane is definitely a factor.
"I assume that I would need to do the Novice level first? "....Only previous medal winners would be excluded. As you can see from the rules below, most club athletes could take part.
ReplyDelete"That the following rules apply to athletes wishing to take part in the Munster
Intermediate Cross country Championships
1. Intermediate athletes must be 20 years of age or over on 31st December in the year of Competition.
2. An athlete who has never been an individual medal winner at Munster or National
Intermediate Cross Country Championships.
3. An athlete who has never been an individual medal winner or a scoring member of the winning club or county team at Munster or National Senior grade A Cross Country C/Ships.
4. An athlete who has never been an individual medal winner or scoring member of the winning club or county team at Munster or National Road Championships.
5. An athlete who has never been a member of a Senior International Team.
6. Status of an athlete will not be altered during a Cross Country season (September to April)other than in the case of an individual win."
Think its been said here before that the intermediate level is neither here nor there. My personal experience is that "intermediate" is intermediate in name only and in practice the level of the competition is lower than the novice. I've certainly seen runners not having an impact at novice level and coming out with team medals and individual medals at intermediate. which makes no sense as such because of this I think people don't really have an interest in the intermediate because they know really that it is the lesser competition than that novice. If it was to be restructured in some way that the competitions actually reflected the level it would probably get a better turn out.
ReplyDeleteAlso Enniskeane is a poor decision for a location as said already its a handy trip from cork city even. But places like Dungarvan (4 hours round trip), Thurles (4 hour round trip) and Ennis (5 hour round trip) noway people are going to travel realistically.
I once attended a cross country race in Cork where my daughter was running and the quantity of cow dung present that day made me say to myself there was no way I was ever going to run a cross country in my life. This was mentioned year or two ago in a post and the amount of grief the contributor got for mentioning this made me realise why it is never mentioned. I'm sure the quantity might well have been a once-off but we really don't know what the field is going to be like until we turn up.
ReplyDeleteThe x-country season starts in mid October, it's now mid Feb. These types of races are tough and the season is long. There are alot different races, most of which involve a bit of travel. Think club runners are just tired of it by this time of year.
ReplyDeleteThink the intermediate category should be dropped or included in with senior races. At regional and national level. Very low numbers in Inters in Dundalk. better off merging Intermediate and Intercounty and giving Inters/Seniors one decent race post Xmas in Jan at national level.
ReplyDeleteAlso I think Indoors takes a lot of bodies away from XC at this level, there has been an explosion in indoor events . XC is huge in UK post Xmas and is great competition and a bedrock for the distance runner and club runner in my view, not sure if the will is there anymore among AAI or the athletes though to promote or partake ?
As far as I know in the UK county championship can be entered by anyone too? don't need to be a club member, a move like this might get a few more involved.
ReplyDeleteNeeds a rejig or a promoter to get it up and running again though as suggested already
I agree,the intermediate grade seems to be failing badly even though the novice and seniors events are holding their own. Allowing it to peter out without any intervention or attempts by the governing bodies to arrest the decline seem to indicate a lack of interest.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this indifference has been felt by the athletes.
Either way a programme of promotion of the grade or abandonment is surely better than the turnout last Sunday.
The entry levels in the junior events also indicate that the future does not bode well.
I'm writing this as a concerned XC runner not to have a go at anyone in particular. It appears without some nurturing XC is on a slippery slope to decline.
Yes I agree with most here. XC needs promotion. AI push Indoors and their road races and others and dont even announce XC entries are open . Needs to be promoted. And some leeway /free space given in calendar for XC post Xmas . Think that the season should prob be complete early Feb with Masters and give the Inters/Senior intercounties an end Jan date and put up a prizefund like British Cross or the IAAF races . I cant see the Inters and Intercounties continuing next year as is . They will fall or be merged . XC is the base for distance runners and ideal marathon training .
ReplyDelete