Once upon a time cross-country running was deemed a long and often miserable winter slog, marked by bitter wind and icy rain and frequently brutal underfoot conditions.
But things have changed, and a new season opened at the Autumn International Festival at the Sport Ireland Campus on Sunday afternoon under a big warm sun and without a single splattering of mud.
It was also marked by a victory for the new name in Irish women’s distance running, Íde Nic Dhómhnaill a comfortable winner despite it being her first cross-country race “in years”.
After winning her first Irish senior title in the 5,000m on the track in July, Nic Dhómhnaill is eyeing a first cross-country title next month, and possible selection for the European Cross-Country Championships in December, the platform for many an Irish medal success story over the last decade and typically the peak of the athletes’ season.
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Just eight weeks out from those championships in Brussels, Nic Dhómhnaill displayed impressive early-season form, her lack of cross-country experience no hindrance whatsoever as she finished the 6km race at Abbotstown 15 seconds clear of Louise Shanahan, the Tokyo Olympian over 800m, who was also making a return to softer ground.
Nic Dhómhnaill isn’t strictly a newcomer. She first got into running about 10 years ago after moving from Limerick to Dublin. But only now is the 38-year-old schoolteacher and mother of two starting to bloom.
“I really wasn’t sure what to expect, was just sussing out how I felt, didn’t really have a plan,” Nic Dhómhnaill said after a race in which she quickly put herself in front alongside Grace Carson from Northern Ireland, who had finished second last year.
“I haven’t raced cross-country in years, because I was injured, then ran the marathon last year, got injured after that. Then I was pregnant. Cross-country is always different, although conditions today were as far away from cross-country as you can get, really. But it’s still cross-country, and I’m happy with that, all building towards the National cross-country now.”
Nic Dhómhnaill, who is back running with West Limerick AC, pulled clear of Carson around halfway. Carson dropped right back to 12th, as Shanahan called on her track speed to nail second, the Leevale athlete out-kicking Nadine Donegan from Tullamore Harriers.
Nic Dhómhnaill said she drew on confidence gained from her win on the track last July. “Sometimes you don’t back yourself, but if you’ve earned a bit more confidence like that, you can really go for it, see what happens.”
A teacher at Gaelscoil Naomh Pádraig in Lucan, she said the birth of her two young children – Rossa, now three, and one-year-old Darach – has done wonders for her motivation and dedication too, as running helps to bring a balance to her busy lifestyle.
“In a way, all that’s actually higher now,” she said. “It kind of gives me an outlet, outside of work, and at home. There is a lot of juggling, but running gives me the balance. If I didn’t have running, I’m not sure I’d get that balance, because running is a great outlet, if you are a little bit stressed after work, or whatever.
“Running has always been that outlet for me, it’s primarily why I run, just to de-stress. With races too you have that target, and that’s good for my mind, to set goals like that.”
In the absence of Darragh McElhinney, senior men’s winner last year, his training partner Keelan Kilrehill from Moy Valley AC moved himself up one place to top the podium with an equally convincing win – and make it a sort of schoolteacher double.
Just turned 23, Kilrehill finished the 7.5km-race 17 seconds ahead of Pierre Murchan from Dublin City Harriers AC, with steeplechase specialist Finley Daly from Sligo AC taking third.
“I’ve never actually won on this course, so nice to get that out of the way,” said Kilrehill, who is currently working as a substitute teacher in second class at St Fiachra’s in Beaumont.
Along with McElhinney, Kilrehill was part of the Irish Under-23 team that won gold medals at the European Cross-Country Championship staged on this course in 2021.,His next goal, like Nic Dhómhnaill, is to get a crack at a first senior cross-country title.
“I don’t have a race now until the Nationals, so the plan is to get a good block of training in over the next few weeks. Nationals will be even harder this year with the depth that’s there so hopefully I can improve on last year. It’s a big step up to senior this year but I’m looking forward to it and hopefully try to get my first senior Irish vest”.
The junior men’s race was dominated by Niall Murphy from Ennis. Charlotte Penneman from Belgium took the junior women’s race, ahead of India Barwell from England.
