Fionnuala McCormack wins Cross Country race in Brussels

After finishing 5th in the recent European Cross Country Championships recently, Fionnuala McCormack was back in action last weekend. At the IRIS Cross Cup in Brussels, she broke away from the field to take the victory.

As cross country races go, this is one of the most prestigious on the European race calendar.

In a post race interview, Fionnuala said...“Two consecutive victories in Brussels, this cross suits me. I had a bad day at the Euro Cross and I wanted to take over.”

1 26 MCCORMACK-BRITTON FIONNUALA 84 IRE sen NA 19:28
2 1 CARTON LOUISE 94 BEL sen ACME 25 19:46
3 20 WEIGHTMAN LAURA 91 GBR sen NA 19:46


The results are HERE

Fionnuala Britton finishes 3rd in Lotto Cross Country in Belgium

Fionnuala Britton was in action on Sunday the 21st of December at the Iris Lotto CrossCup in Brussels which sported an international field of athletes.

Going head to head with a bunch of Kenyan athletes in the senior womens 6000m race, Fionnuala managed to out sprint one in the home straight to finish an impressive third.

SENIORS DAMES - SENIOREN VROUWEN             6000m           
1 CHEPNGETICH SHEILA        KEN    sen    NA        19:57
2 KIPYEGON FAITH    94    KEN    sen    NA        20:12
3 BRITTON FIONUALA    92    IRE    sen    NA        20:34
4 NENKAMPI PERINNE        KEN    sen    NA        20:35
5 JEBET RUTH        BAH    sen    NA        20:55
6 KOSGEI CYNTHIA    93    KEN    sen    NA        20:59
7 KOSTER MAUREEN    92    NED    sen    NA        21:00
8 CARTON LOUISE    94    BEL    sen    ACME    25    21:02
9 DEADMAN LAUREN    84    GBR    sen    NA        21:24
10 HEWISON KATIE    85    GBR    sen    NA        21:26

Full results HERE

This is the same position that Fionnuala achieved in the same race in 2013....previous post.

Fionnuala Britton finishes 3rd in Lotto Cross Country in Belgium

Fionnuala Britton was in action today at the Iris Lotto CrossCup in Brussels which sported an international field of athletes. Having led for much of the womens 6,000m race, she was just passed at the final bend and at the line, she finished in 3rd place just just one second.

SENIORS DAMES - SENIOREN VROUWEN             6000m           
place    number    crosscup number    name    born    country    cat.    club    crosscup points    time
1        36    HASSAN SIFAN    93    NED    sen    NA        19.38
2        15    AYELE ZEWDNESH    93    ETH    sen    NA        19.43
3        14    BRITTON FIONUALLA    84    IRE    sen    NA        19.44
4        4    BELETE ALMENSCH    89    BEL    sen    VAC    25    20.16
5        40    SCHLUMP FABIENNE    91    SUI    sen    NA        20.27
6        31    KOSGEI CYNTHIA    93    KEN    sen    NA        20.33
7        48    RUSSEL LORNA    90    GBR    sen    NA        20.39
8        21    RICHARDSON CHLOE    93    GBR    sen    NA        20.40
10        22    FELTON RACHEL    79    GBR    sen    NA        20.45
11        19    KERSEY GEMMA    92    GBR    sen    NA        20.57
17        27    HOSKER-THORNHILL EMILY    92    GBR    sen    NA        21.26
18        28    LAKE IONA    93    GBR    sen    NA        21.28
22        26    PARRY-WILLIAMS JESSICA    80    GBR    sen    NA        22.01
24        24    ROBERTS KATE    88    GBR    sen    NA        22.09
26        23    RAINWEDD PRICE    88    GBR    sen    NA        22.30
28        25    PARRY KATIE    87    GBR    sen    NA        22.48

Irish athletes Paul Robinson, Mark Englsh and Laura Crowe in European races this weekend

On Friday evening the 6th of September, Paul Robinson finished 3rd in the mens 'B' 800m race at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, Belgium. His time of 1:46.06 was only 0.2 seconds his personal best.

800m B race in Brussels
1 JOHNSON Brandon USA 1:45.45
2 CRONJE Johan RSA 1:45.85
3 ROBINSON Paul IRL 1:46.06
4 RIMMER Michael GBR 1:46.19
5 MANZANO Leonel USA 1:46.31
6 JAMAA Samir MAR 1:46.70
7 BENEDETTI Giordano ITA 1:48.15
8 VAN DEN BROECK Jan BEL 1:49.43
9 BALHAN Pierre BEL 1:50.30

On Sunday the 8th of September at the IAAF Challenge in Rieti, Italy, both Paul Robinson and Mark English were in action. In the mens 800m race, Mark English finished 4th in an impressive time of 1:44.89, just five one-hundredths of a second slower than his personal best.

Rieti IAAF World Challenge (ITA)...07-08.09.2013 - B
800m MEN :
1.    Musaeb Abdulrahman BALLA    (QAT    )    1:43.93 PB
2.    Edwin Kiplagat MELI    (KEN)     1:44.49    SB
3.    Brandon JOHNSON    (USA)     1:44.55   
4.    Mark ENGLISH    (IRL)     1:44.89   
5.    Tamás KAZI    (HUN)     1:45.37    PB
6.    Michael RIMMER    (GBR)     1:46.09   
7.    James EICHBERGER    (MEX)     1:47.07   

In the mens 1500m race, Paul Robinson set a new personal best time of 3:35.22. This was over 2 seconds faster than his previous best of 3:37.66 which was set in Belfast last June. That is a huge jump in terms of performance which moves Paul from 16th to 6th on the Irish all time list. Just to put it in perspective, Eamonn Coghlan is now 8th on that list.

1500m MEN :
1.    Silas KIPLAGAT    (KEN)     3:30.13    SB
2.    Johan CRONJE    (RSA)     3:31.93    PB
3.    Mohamed MOUSTAOUI    (MAR    )    3:32.08    SB
4.    Nick WILLIS    (NZL)     3:32.57    SB
5.    Augustine Kiprono CHOGE    (KEN)     3:33.21    SB
6.    David TORRENCE    (USA)     3:33.23    PB
7.    Krzysztof ŻEBROWSKI    (POL)     3:35.07    PB
8.    Paul ROBINSON    (IRL)     3:35.22    PB
9.    Zane ROBERTSON    (NZL)     3:35.45    PB
10.    Jonathan Kiplimo SAWE    (KEN)     3:40.83   
11.    Abdellah HAIDANE    (ITA)     3:41.96    SB
12.    Miles BATTY    (USA)     3:45.75   
13.    Leonel MANZANO    (USA)     3:48.83    

In the womens 800m race, Laura Crowe of An Ríocht AC set a new personal best time of 2:00.93, a big jump up from her previous best time of 2:02.63 which was set in Dublin in July. This new time now moves Laura from 8th to 4th on the Irish all time list.

  
800m WOMEN :
1.    Caster SEMENYA    (RSA)     1:58.92    SB
2.    Nelly JEPKOSGEI    (KEN)     1:59.40    PB
3.    Nataliya LUPU    (UKR)     1:59.52   
4.    Hannah ENGLAND    (GBR)     2:00.39    SB
5.    Zoe BUCKMAN    (AUS)     2:00.93    PB
6.    Laura CROWE    (IRL)     2:00.93    PB
7.    Anna ROSTKOWSKA    (POL)     2:01.34    SB
8.    Renata PLIŚ    (POL)     2:01.48    SB
9.    Mary KURIA    (KEN)     2:01.90   
10.    Lea WALLACE    (USA)     2:03.13     

With the track season now coming to a close, Both Laura Crowe and Rose-Ann Galligan have both come with a second of breaking the two minute barrier. Will 2014 be the year when the first Irish woman goes sub two??

Usain Bolt runs 9.80 seconds in the 100m in Brussels...Fri 6th Sept 2013

At the Bruxelles Memorial Van Damme meet this evening, the Olympic champion Usain Bolt continues his winning streak with a 9.80 second time in the 100 metres.

100m MEN :
1.    Usain BOLT    (JAM)     9.80   
2.    Michael RODGERS    (USA)     9.90    SB
3.    Nesta CARTER    (JAM)     9.94   
4.    Justin GATLIN    (USA)     9.94   
5.    Kemar BAILEY-COLE    (JAM)     9.98   
6.    Jimmy VICAUT    (FRA)     10.03   
7.    Kim COLLINS    (SKN)     10.07   
8.    James DASAOLU     (GBR)     10.15   
9.    Keston BLEDMAN    (TRI)     10.19   

Fionnuala Britton finishes 2nd in Belgium in top quality race...

European Cross Country Champion Fionnuala Britton finished an impressive second place at the Iris Lotto CrossCup in Brussels, Belgium on Sunday 23rd of December. Facing a number of top class athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia, Fionnuala held off most of the field to finish in second place, just three seconds behind the Ethiopian athlete Ruit Aga in first place.

Senior Women...6,000m
1. Ruti Aga (ETH) 20.48
2. Fionuala Britton (IRL) 20.51
3. Elini Gebriwoth (ETH) 21.20
4. Caroline Chepkwoni (KEN) 21.24
5. Veerle Dejaeghere (BEL) 21.31
6. Cynthia Kosgei (KEN) 21.35
7. Emily Stewart (GBR) 21.37
8. Barbara Maveau (BEL) 21.45
9. Almensh Belete (BEL) 21.58
10 .Fabienne Schlump (SUI) 22.00

The race also included European U23 champion Jess Coulson of Great Britain, who had beaten Fionnuala at the IAAF Cross Country race in Spain in early November.

In a post race interview, Fionnuala Britton said that she was thrilled about her second place finish.........."I love to run on this course in Brussels and the rain and the wind did not disturb me too much. I had a bad start and I needed to do some effort to get to the front of the race. I was in contention all the time although I didn’t feel very prepared for this race. After winning a second consecutive European title, training doesn’t get the focus that it usually gets."

Fionnuala Britton’s next race will be the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country on the 5th of January, followed by the Antrim IAAF Cross Country on January 12th.