News Item
Karen Alexander Wins AAI Award
Wednesday October 19 - Gerry Brady
UPDATE Congratulations to Karen Alexander who was selected for the best mountain running performance of the year. Deirdre Ryan (DSD) was selected as the Athlete of the Year. Dundrum South Dublin (DSD), who are a nursery club for some of our best young mountain runners, was selected as club of the year.*********************************
The annual AAI awards will be announced on November 12th. The awards are primarily a means of recognising outstanding performances by Irish athletes in international events. Three athletes have been nominated for the mountain running award:
Killian Mooney (Dundrum South Dublin)
Gold medal in the British and Irish under 16 mountain running championships in Wales
The 2011 British and Irish under 16 and 18 mountain running championships were held on an up and down course on Moel Eilio in Llanberis Wales. From the gun the English and Scottish runners surged to the front. Killian Mooney (DSD) bided his time until the steep climb and then broke away on his own to win by 43 seconds in an impressive time of 25:15. He was followed home by three English runners. Killian led the Irish team to silver medals behind England. This was the first occasion that a runner from Ireland won the under 16 race and only the second ever individual Irish winner. Clare McCarthy (DSD) was runner-up in the corresponding girls race and both runners will hope to be on the podium again in June 2012 when Ireland will host the International Youth Cup in Glendalough.
Brian MacMahon (Clonliffe Harriers)
22nd in European mountain running championships senior men in Turkey
The 10th European mountain running championships were held in Bursa in Turkey in July. Athletes from 26 countries participated. Brian Mac Mahon (Clonliffe Harriers) finished 22nd overall and led the Irish team to a 10th team placing. He finished within 8% of the Turkish winner and his performance added to a very consistent string of performances in World and European championships over the last four years.
Karen Alexander (Sperrin Harriers)
Silver medal in the World mountain running long-distance challenge in Slovenia
The 8th holding of the World long-distance mountain running challenge was held in Petrovo Brdo Slovenia in June on a challenging up and down course. The race was held over 37.5 kilometres with 2,500 metres of ascent and 2,500 metres of descent. Runners from 13 countries participated in the womens race. Karen Alexander (Sperrin Harriers) worked her way through the field from 16th at the 10 kilometres mark to 8th at 23 km and 2nd at 30 km. She finished strongly to pull back over 3 minutes on the leader on the final 7 km of descent. Karens time was 4:16:21 leaving her around 8 minutes behind the winner and 3 minutes ahead of the bronze medallist.
Forum Messages
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Colm Hill | Oct 28, 2:13PM | 3 pretty good nominations, however, I feel as if there was one glaring omission Eoin Keith (Boards) 34th in the UTMB |
| Gerry Brady | Oct 28, 7:43PM | It was certainly a noteworthy performance by Eoin especially given the long spell missed through injury. Other contenders included Kevin Dooney (11th in the European junior mens race) and Clare McCarthy (8th in the International Youths race and 2nd in the British and Irish under 16 championships). The UTMB and the IAU Trail World championships dont fall under WMRA or IAAF jurisdiction even though the IMRA Constitution includes responsibility for organising trail running events. |
