Munster Novice Cross Country 2013, Limerick Racecourse
Not feeling tired after late to bed last night which was a good start. Plan earlier in the week was to use Robert Purcell as my target based on his run in Dublin last weekend. Then before the race when warming up I decided that being 1st Kerry representative (not Kerryman!) would be my goal, so had to watch George too. There was also a lad called Joshosh in the race running for Cork but didn't consider myself in his league.
Race started fast, followed Rob for a few hundred metres, then went in from of him before we crossed from the start chute on the course proper. There was a group of lads near the front with plenty of red singlets, one lad off on his own on a suicide mission that most definitely failed.
I was towards the back of this group with Joshosh at the front. The field then started to split a bit on the 1st of the big laps. I hung onto a couple of Limerick lads with a Cork lad also around, from Togher. The Cork lad was company for the entire race. The pace was fast, would I last? The Limerick pair did a bit of pace setting at times. We were also joined by a St. Finbarrs lad from in front. I was keeping an eye on positions and reckoned I was top 10 at the end of the 1st big lap, 2 to go.
Was wondering if i'd gone out too hard, and was I going to suffer later. Worked at it, support from around the course was good, some Kerry folk, plus Liam O'Brien gave me good encouragement. I also took encouragement from people cheering on the Cork lad next to me, little did they know that under the Ríocht singlet was a proud Corkman.
On the 2nd lap I definitely noticed that i'd the advantage in the sticky bit by the tents and on the downhill lefthander. Decided not to push too hard on these advantages to save some energy. Felt like we were moving fast on the flatter sections by the road too. During the 2nd lap coming back up the hill a fit looking West Limerick lad came up and tried to get ahead of me, stuck with him and he faded away again.
And then onto the last lap, just under 2k of pain ahead. Felt like it was going to be a tough lap as there were lads hovvering behind me, like a pack. I did up the pace on the sticky section just for the fun of it, and to see what damage it'd do. I felt comfortable in it, also being 1st through meant i'd choice of running line. Still stuck with the Cork lad, and was on his shoulder heading back across the road for the lower section for the last time. On the lefthander I pushed on a bit to see what I could do. Was rejoined by the Cork lad and could see that we'd a gap to the next lad behind. Made a move on the middle section coming back and then pushed hard into the bend at the end of it. That opened me up a nice 5m gap to the Cork lad. Felt surprisingly good by now, at a higher pace. Well feeling good was still painful, but manageable. Then sensed the Cork boy was upping the pace so I did likewise. No way was he beating me. Across the road and sprint the last 100 to the line. Knew i'd raced when I finished.
I had been counting those ahead, including a great run by Joshosh to finish 3rd overall. Superb running by him. I honestly expected i'd be a good bit behind him rather than 3 places. I was 7th across the line but 6th novice, one of the lads ahead only counted for U23, Joshosh 2nd U23, fantastic for him.
Was very happy with my race. Didn't expect this kind of result at all, but will do me a lot of good starting into the dark nights next week with this sort of result to build on. Also 1st of those running for Kerry clubs. Only downside was not having HR data to gauge my effort for the race.
6th out of 93 in the Novice.
Ríocht were 6th team, 10 points off 5th.
County not given a place for some reason but we'd have been 4th, 1 point ahead of Limerick!
Results