Alex Robinson was the only EDAC junior representative at the Uneven All Ireland Championships in Navan at the weekend. Anna Gardiner wisely chose to rest her legs for the European Cross-Country Championships in Belgium next weekend even though she is the reigning Ulster Champion and would have been the one to beat in her age category. Alex had gained his place on the Ulster team two weeks previously by placing eleventh in the U15 age category in Donegal.

The venue was thankfully not far away around the grounds of Navan racecourse but the icy, foggy conditions on the roads travelling there raised their own issues. By the time he arrived at Navan the ground had thawed. The course for Alex was 3.5km long made up of two one-kilometre loops followed by one longer 1.5km loop. The ground was mainly dry but the long grass created a different challenge from the mud from previous weeks. The start was uphill before a sharp right-hand turn. The course then had a short downhill section before returning to the start location uphill. This loop was repeated twice before the longer 1.5km loop which took the runners further out. This also meant the return stretch to the finish was a longer uphill grind.

Bends on cross country courses add extra jeopardy when runners try to take the best, shortest line when changing direction so tumbles tend to happen there. Alex was lucky to avoid a tumble firstly at the start when he managed to jump over one faller. Another near miss on the first lap unsteadied his pace but he settled well moving up the pack. On the final lap, before disappearing from view, he was sitting in 13th place. The finish of the race saw the front runners spaced out with the winner finishing in 11.49. When Alex came back into view he was in 15th place out of 146 runners and maintained this place until the finish crossing the line in 12.27. In fact he was given the same time as the runner in 14th and only 8 seconds from gaining an all-Ireland top 12 medal. A fantastic result for Alex in the All Irelands and extra credit to him when he found out that he placed 4th for the Ulster team an improvement from 11th at the Ulster Championships. Congratulations also go to the other local runner, Fahlin Murphy McKibben from Newcastle AC who placed 31st in the same race.