Paul Duffy on lap 1 (all photos courtesy of Andrew Hanney)
Heavy rainfall Saturday had set the scene for true cross-country muckishness as the county’s finest lined up for the most prestigious of the year’s four championships in the discipline: the Wicklow Senior. A fitting warmup for those eager to rush home and watch the Irish in action at the European XC.
Rene Borg on the first downhill
The day started poorly for us with 3 out of our 6 man team being unable to make the start line due to illness and work commitments. This meant individual standings was the order of the day and particular interest was the battle between René Borg and Paul Duffy for who would take the title of Club Champion of the year. A victory to either would decide it in their favour regardless of how well the other ran. Diarmuid Kavanagh – also running – was unfortunately out of the running haven’t conceded a DNF in round 9 but as things went, he could not ultimately have won anyway.
Diarmuid (front) and Rene on lap 1 when field was still closely bunched
MEN’S SENIOR RACE
We had no women’s team this year so all eyes were on the three musketeers. Paul went out hard and gained 100m to Diarmuid and 200m to Rene. He would more or less hold this distance the whole way although he conceded a drizzle of spots to other club runners through the race.
Diarmuid Kavanagh on the second descent
Diarmuid sat in second spot until midway through lap 2 when René caught up. This would be the finishing order with Paul first, Rene 38 seconds later and Diarmuid a further 27s down. All placed in the middle of the field.
| RESULT |
| 1. Joe O’Dowd (Greystones AC) 0:38:31 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 24. Paul Duffy 0:45:47 |
| 26. René Borg 0:46:25 |
| 27. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:46:53 |
Glendalough AC 