The All-Ireland School Cross Country took place on Saturday in a very cold, windy and wet Tymon park in Tallagh, Dublin. Saturday’s event drew just under 1,000 athletes across the eight races, representing schools from all 32 counties.
Two EDAC athletes, on this occasion representing their schools ran; Alex Robinson representing Down High School and Anna Gardiner representing Assumption Grammar school.
It should be noted that both runners needed to be in the top 15 in their Districts races to qualify for the Ulster final where they again needed to be in the top 15 finishers to qualify as an individual. It was therefore a huge achievement to get to the All-Ireland final in the first place.
Anna ran in the 3.5km senior girls race and was defending the All-Ireland title she claimed last year. She went out strongly and was well clear of the next three runners following her at the start of the longer second lap. As the race continued she stretched out her lead and pushed hard for home on the final long muddy stretch in the end finishing comfortably clear in a time of 12.59, 18 seconds in front of second place Lucie Foster from Down High School. She was again crowned All Ireland Senior Girls champion in her last ever school cross country race adding this title to her growing list of achievements for this year. Well done Anna!
Alex ran in the Intermediate boys 5k race which covers years 11 and 12. Being one of the younger runners in year 11 and recovering from a cold which limited his training in the week previously he appreciated that it would be a very tough race. The course was fast but the ground was very heavy from a lot of wet weather. Alex’s race was made up of one short 1k lap, followed by 2, 2k laps so there was plenty of opportunities for supporters to cheer him on. Unfortunately he got a stitch at the start of the first longer lap which really hampered him. In the end he finished 66th out of 110 runners. He was very disappointed with this position but finished in a very respectable time of 18.46, a time most runners would be delighted with in a road race, never mind a muddy cross-country race. He should get some consolation that running young in an age category can make a huge difference at this level and be reminded that he placed 13th in the All- Ireland club race in December when he was in a better age category.