Mageean fails to get tactics right

ATHLETICS:AS CROSS country achievements go the sight of Serhiy Lebid winning a ninth European title in Albufeira yesterday might never be surpassed, but in the meantime there were some encouraging performances by Irish junior athletes to suggest that someday they too might win titles of their own.

At 35 Lebid certainly shows no signing of slowing down, as the powerfully built Ukrainian runner timed his finish to perfection to win by three seconds from Spain’s Ayed Lamdassem. Joe Sweeney from Dundrum was the best placed of the Irish, coming home in 21st and leading the Irish team to a decent seventh position, with similarly honest runs from Mark Kenneally (35th), Mark Christie (42nd) and Gary Thornton (44th).

But there was no denying the medal hopes of 18-year-old Ciara Mageean in the junior women’s race – and in the end she was left wondering what might have been. Mageean almost certainly paid a price for failing to get herself in amongst the leaders in the early stages, and although she came through determinedly to finish seventh – two places better than in Santry last year – there was a definite hint of regret in her voice afterwards.

“I was trying to get a medal,” she said. “The race started pretty fast, and a wee bit of a gap developed. I wasn’t able to fully grasp that, and I feel I had a wee bit more at the end of the race than I should have. I should have been absolutely flat out shattered. But I’ll still take some positives. I improved on last year, and still have next year to look forward to. I think you have to get to the front earlier, and try to maintain that. I should have positioned myself further up.”

Indeed Mageean is still young enough for the junior ranks next year, and can perhaps take some inspiration from the race winner Charlotte Purdue: the British junior was third three years ago, second in 2008 and missed last year with injury, but made no mistake yesterday when destroying her rivals over the last lap, winning by 17 seconds from Serbia’s Amela Terzic.

Two of the Irish junior men – Shane Quinn and John Travers – adopted opposite tactics to Mageean and put themselves in the medal hunt from early on. It made for exciting running, but unfortunately they both faded over the last lap – with Travers first dropped back to 25th, while Quinn held on for a still very commendable 12th place. As a result the team also finished well in fifth, behind Great Britain, Portugal and Russia.

Quinn’s result is most encouraging considering he’d missed most of the last two seasons with illness. He only lost his top-10 position in the last half of the final lap, but there was no question he’d given his all, and in that regard can have no regrets. Sara Louise Treacy was first home of the three Irish runners in the women’s under-23 race, finishing in 28th position, with victory going to Meryem Erdogan of Turkey.

17th European Cross Country Championships, Albufeira, Portugal

JUNIOR WOMEN: 1. C Purdue (GBR), 12:42 2. A Terzic, (SRB), 12:59 3. E Gorecka, (GBR), 13:00 Team: 1. GBR, 23, 2. Germany, 53, 3. Romania, 64. Ireland, 10th, 184. Irish: 7th, C Mageean, 13:16. 40th, L Behan, 14:10. 66th, A O’Donoghue, 14:41. 71st, F McKenna, 14:49. 72nd, E Mitchell, 14:52

JUNIOR MEN: 1. A Merzougui, (ESP), 18:07 2. N Cerovac, (SRB). 18:07 3. R Pinto (POR), 18:09 Team: 1. GBR, 62, 2. Portugal, 74, 3. Russia, 83. Ireland, 5th 120. Irish: 12th S Quinn, 18:31; 25th J Travers, 18:45; 41st P Robinson, 19:06; 42nd E Jennings, 19:07; 67th K Dooney, 19:26; 74th D McBrearty, 19:38

UNDER-23 WOMEN: 1. M Erdogan (TUR) 20:08 2. L Jordan (ESP) 20:17 3. E Pallant (GBR) 20:28 Team: 1. GBR, 47, 2. Russia, 49, 3. Ukraine, 65 Irish: 28th S Treacy, 21:34; 40th B Woods, 21:58; 46th B Treston, 22:13 UNDER-23 MEN: 1. H Chahdi (FRA) 24:11 2. F Carvalho (FRA) 24:14 3. Y Nikolayev (RUS) 24:15 Team: 1. Ireland, 60, 2. France, 78, 3. Spain, 79. Irish: 11th D McCarthy, 24:46; 13th B O’Neill, 24:47; 16th M Mulhare, 24:53; 20th D Rooney, 24:57; 34th J Coghlan, 25:14; 75th C O’Lionaird, 26:12

SENIOR WOMEN: 1. J Augusto (POR) 26:52 2. B Uslu (TUR) 26:57 3. D Felix (POR) 26:59 Team: 1. Portugal 19, 2. GBR 65, 3. Spain 72. Ireland 6th, 132 Irish: 4th F Britton, 26:59; 35th E Lee, 28:48; 46th S O’Doherty, 30:55; 47th K Harty, 31:21; H Murphy, DNF.

SENIOR MEN: 1. S Lebid (UKR) 29:15 2. A Lamdassem (SPA) 29:18 3. Y Elkalai (POR) 29:19 Team: 1 France 31, 2. Portugal 35, 3. Spain 58. Ireland 7th, 142 Irish: 21st J Sweeney, 29:51; 35th M Kenneally, 30:24; 42nd M Christie, 30:39; 44th G Thornton, 30:44; 57th D Mulhare, 31:35; 62nd B Farrell, 31:59.