Why I'm a little bit cross about World Cross

Aarhus, 2019. Edinburgh, 2008. Limerick, 1979.

Just three of the World Cross Country Championships I’ve heard mentioned in the last 48 hours which had a bigger crowd and better atmosphere than Belgrade this weekend.

But they are just the ones we remember. The ones we were at. The ones that are at the forefront of our Eurocentric minds.

In truth, we could probably have thrown out any one of the previous 44 editions. 

Even Amman in Jordan had a fully kitted-out, all-male, rent-a-crowd.

And Kampala (2017), the one all the cross-country geeks wish they’d been at, probably tops them all. 

Kampala is significant for two reasons. Firstly, it was the Ugandan team, with their flags and enthusiasm, who were at least attempting to bring some noise to the silent fields of Belgrade on Saturday.

And secondly, the crowd in Kampala were mostly local. 

It appears that when Belgrade, admirably, sat down with World Athletics and agreed to take on this task, they obviously discussed how best to get the job done in six months. Engaging with locals or considering that there may actually be some spectators was obviously not part of the plan. 

Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised if the phrase ‘sod spectators’ (or a more colourful version thereof) wasn’t thrown about.

Because they made absolutely no effort to get them there.

Not even the hundreds of local adults and children that passed by the course on their bikes on Saturday. 

They talk about growing the sport, throwing out all sorts of radical ideas that take something away from the sport as we know and love it. Yet we are not doing the very, very basics.

The spectators were treated to a portaloo in 2009

There was nothing on the event website aimed at spectators; not even a mention that the event was free to attend.

There were no spectator toilets, no refreshments, no merchandise. No spectator experience.

We couldn’t hear any of the commentary or announcements. Not the starting gun. Not the national anthems.

We couldn’t get to half the course, and there were large parts that couldn’t be seen at all, including the start and finish.

The big screen (yes, there was one), could only be seen by those special enough to have accreditation. 

Strings had to be pulled so that parents and coaches of medal-winning athletes could make it to their medal ceremony.

Any of those parents and children on their bikes curious enough to stop would have had no idea that they were at the greatest footrace on earth.

Why do we waste precious energy trying to ‘grow the sport’ when we disregard both the serious fan who has parted with their hard-earned cash to be there, or those who are at the venue anyway and might just be inspired if they had any idea what was going on?

Saturday was my level of niche athletics events. I had a great time. 

But this is the greatest event on earth.

And it’s not just about me. 

After so much effort in recent years, and at least three consecutive editions which were in danger of being called spectacles, this is a disappointment. A step backwards. A nail.

Please don’t let it be so.

101 Reasons why you should have attended last summer's Irish National Senior Champs

These are the 151 reasons I shared last July via Twitter on why you should attend the Irish Senior Championships. It turned out to be a pretty memorable championship, and most of these reasons are valid every year! See you all in Santry in later June 2024.

I was going to do a preview for this weekend's  #NationalSeniors, but thought that was too obvious, so instead I'm going to attempt to come up with #onehundredandfiftyonereasons to get your backside to Morton Stadium on Saturday and/or Sunday.

1. At 151 consecutive editions, it is the longest running national athletics championships anywhere in the world. Ever.

2. You might see someone you used to run with at college 20 years ago (I'm being generous). You remind each other of the good ol' days and that unforgettable intervarsities, and you'll both walk off thinking "gee, haven't I aged better than them!"

3. The weather is usually 'fresh' in Santry!

4. It'll get you off the sofa for one afternoon

5. The men's 1500m. Always the men's 15!

6. Waterjumps, especially if it's raining!

7. You won't have to sit through ad breaks!

8. You'll can do your own punditry, and see if you really are all that!

9. 400m heats! With no semi-finals at Irish nationals, the 400m heats are usually crazy (occasionally there are more heats than there are places in the final, so not even the winner is guaranteed a spot).

10. The women's high jump. Four athletes on the entry list have season's bests between 1.78 and 1.81. You try choosing a winner from Lecky, Kealy, Rogan and Rochford (or could it be someone else?).

11. Michelle Finn chasing down her 9th Irish steeplechase title. She already has more titles than anyone else in the event; if she wins her 9th she'll have more than EVERYONE else added together (that's a boast not even Terry McHugh can make!)

12. The men's 800m; always the men's 800m.

13. Not having to sit in an assigned seat; in fact not having to sit at all!

14. The women's LJ featuring the equal 2 second-longest Irish long jumpers ever. Ruby Millet and Elizabeth Ndudi both have PBs of 6.44. Ndudi took the title indoors, but who'll come out on top this time?

15. Getting to watch badass events like the weight for height. You don't get that at the diamond league!

16. The men's shot put. Eric Favors has thrown beyond 19.25 (the current CBP) in every one of his 14 outdoor competitions this year. And on Saturday last he got within 15cm of the Irish record he set way back in March. Expect him to add to his single outdoor title from 2019.

17. Nicola Tuthill. She, like Favors, has been super consistent this year with almost every throw further than she'd ever thrown before 2023! Her recent 4th at Euro U23s is the highest ever finish by an Irish field eventer at that level!

18. Ranking points. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely hate them, but the fact that some athletes still need them to get to Budapest should lead to some 'heroics'.

19. Possibly related to number 18: somebody will blow up and while we don't like to see that, the passion that makes it happen is exactly the reason why we love nationals so much.

20. You'll get to see the reigning #fantasynationalindoors champion (who also happens to be Ireland's fastest man) run the 100m!

21. Relays. Nobody stays for these, but that’s their loss. Don’t miss out on watching @RatoathAC, the Belgium of Irish inter-club relays, doing their thing! #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

22. Olympians. Watch many of them, too numerous to mention individually, compete! #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

23. Witness @fintanreilly cover more ground than all the athletes put together #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

24. Tom Barr, already a 10-time champion, has run 49.something in 7 different countries so far this summer; can he add Ireland to the list? Or is the second half of the season the 48.something tour? #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

25. There’ll be European U18, U20, U23 and senior medallists competing! #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

26. There are at least nine national senior record holders entered. That number could rise as well as fall over the weekend! #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

27. You could get to see Ireland’s fastest barrister zooming down the home straight! #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

28. That one race that you think is weaker than normal and that then turns out to be an unforgettable battle #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

29. A cagey affair. Or two. #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

30. The pole vault. #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

31. The men’s 5000m. Darragh McElhinney won a very exciting race last year. But if both himself and Brian Fay show up, this could be even better. Both would like to sit and kick, but McElhinney still needs B standard and big points for Budapest! #onehundredandonereasons #nationalseniors

32. The men’s 5000m not all being about McElhinney and Fay #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

33. The women’s 1500m. If the top 3 race, it’ll be the highest standard domestic women’s 1500m there’s been in Ireland; if they don’t, it’ll be an exciting battle to see who can snatch a medal. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

34. Because we have no idea who the real star will be! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

35. The fact that there are Road to Paris ranking points on offer too! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

36. The men’s 200m. A big performance could see Mark Smyth sneak into quota spot for Budapest. He gave us fireworks indoors; could we get fireworks outdoors too (where they’re a bit safer)? #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

37. The weather! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

38. Sarah Lavin will be chasing her 8^th national 100m hurdles title. Derval O’Rourke holds the record at 9, but her CBP of 12.95, run with a +4.1m/s wind will be the first of her marks that Lavin will be chasing down. Will she even need a tailwind! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

39. Rhasidat Adeleke! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

40. The lovely new blue track #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

41. I’ll be there! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors #scrapingthebarrell

42. The men’s 400m. There are mixed relay spots on the line. While it may appear obvious right now who’ll be getting those, you never know who could spring a big surprise. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

43. Nostalgia. Particularly if you remember the shed! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

44. Pre-competition nerves, especially if you’re not actually competing! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

45. The women’s 5000m could feature Roisin and Eilish Flanagan, who’ll both be looking for their first national senior title! Roisin has been very close to both the B standard for Budapest and a quota spot; perhaps they have a plan! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

46. All the other potential stories in the women’s 5000m. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

47. The men’s LJ could be every bit as good a battle as the women’s equivalent! Reece Ademola, Sam Healy and Shane Howard are the ones to watch out for, but it’s long jump, so don’t expect it to be a foregone conclusion! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

48. Saragh Buggy. She already has 10 national titles (7 x TJ and 3 x LJ). Not only is she the clear favourite for the triple jump (where she holds the CBP at 13.01m), but she is the third best long jumper in the country this season. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

49. Women’s 100m. Bet you nobody is going to pick that one in #fantasynationalseniors! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

50. The men’s b and c 5000m races. They won’t be the highest quality races of the weekend, but don’t expect them to be any less competitive! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

51. Getting to see airplanes heading out from Dublin airport #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

52. Ikea: either having the opportunity to hit it on the way there, or having an excuse not so spend Sunday afternoon there! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

53. Decathlon (the shop, not the event; multis were last week!) #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

54. Hoping it’s warm/dry enough to sit on the grassy bank! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

55. It’s free in for those under 16; much cheaper and less noisy than Playzone on a Saturday afternoon. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

56. It’s only £10 per day for grown-ups, which is much cheaper and a lot easier than [whatever concert they’re all in a queue for today]. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

57. The 10-lane home straight! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

58. Circuit-level lane packing in the 800m finals! (If you’ve ever watched a world tour gold meet from anywhere in Europe, you’ll know what I mean!) #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

59. Joining the dedicated souls who’ve taken up residence on the back straight stand, and dearly wanting to be part of their community! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

60. The general buzz #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

61. @gabrielkehinde0 might get to interview himself and his fellow sprinters again; you wouldn’t want to miss that! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

62. Someone will win their first national title and doing so will mean the world to them! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

63. You could be inspired to chase your own sporting goal! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

64. There’ll be at least someone trying to catch the action for free from behind the gate in the park (did I mention already how cheap it is?) #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

65.  You’ll get to have that conversation again about how Morton Stadium could really do with a couple of big screens on days like this, preferably showing live field event results. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

66. You can share your opinions on how there’d be a bigger crowd here if you were in charge! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

67. You might get to catch up on some gossip #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

68. The hurling is over. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

69. You get to spot who’s been called for doping control! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

70. You get to sense how everyone thinks they can win with men’s 800m with 220m to go! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

71. You get to sense how everyone thinks they can win with men’s 1500m with 420m to go! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

72. retweet one

73. You get so see some racewalking up close! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

74. The women’s 400m, and not really knowing who’s in what shape until they line up and race each other! It’s not like they haven’t been racing all season, but there’s still the expectation that none of them have quite peaked yet! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

75. Having 151 opinions on who should get the relay spots! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

76. Ciara Mageean. She’s broken three national senior records (800m, 1500m, mile) and won Commonwealth Games and European Champs medals since last year! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

77. Seeing the pure joy on the faces of children who are here for the first time. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

78. Remembering your first time! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

79. Sophie O’Sullivan, and being reminded that you’re old enough to have seen her mum run here too! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

80. Getting to cheer on your #FantasyNationalSeniors team in person #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

81. You might get to see Ireland’s fastest quantum physicist in action over two laps! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

82. The women’s 800m. Always the women’s 800m! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

83. The men’s 110m hurdles and seeing if last year’s record -8.3m/s headwind can be beaten #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

84. The men’s steeplechase and seeing just how close Jayme Rossiter gets to those barriers! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

85. Having a day off ‘listening’ to me on Twitter #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

86. There being at least one finish that’s too close to call, but still being sure you know who got it, from your slightly obscured vantage point near the 100m start! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

87. You might get an autograph or two! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

88. Seeing past champions being honoured (do they even do that any more), and berating yourself, again, for fluffing that one shot you had at a title back in 2010, for example. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

89. The athletes deserve a crowd. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

90. The athletes will appreciate a crowd. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

91. You’ll be missed if you don’t go! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

92. You’ll miss out if you don’t go! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

93. Because three years ago we couldn’t attend! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

94. Your sofa needs a day off too. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

95. You might get to see someone who set their PB in the 1980s compete! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

96. You can’t really get a full appreciation of how complicated the pole vault is until you see it in person. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

97. You won’t have to cut away from the steeplechase at the 2k point to see a foul in the long jump #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

98. You won’t have to cut away from the long jump to watch the steeplechase. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

99. You’ll be reminded of how young you once used to be. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

100. Maybe nobody will notice if you hop on the track for a nostalgic lap after the event is over. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

101. Because the Olympics are less than one year away; there’s no better way to start the hype! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

102. Have I mentioned the men’s 1500m already? It could be magic #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

103. If you cheer the athletes, they’ll might actually hear you. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

104. Someone might (accidentally) as you for your autograph! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

105. You can rewatch all the action on the Player/Youtube later, so you might as well come soak up the atmosphere. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

106. You definitely don’t get the full atmosphere on the telly anyway. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

107. You might get so see some of the rising stars before they head away to the Euro U20s. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

108. You might get talking to somebody more interesting than yourself. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

109. You might see an old friend.

110. You might make a new one. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

111. It’s cheaper than the Olympics. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

112. It’s cheaper than most other sporting events. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

113. There’s no lottery for the tickets. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

114. It might be fine enough on Saturday for a pre-event picnic! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

115. We can argue about the recycling of the 150^th thing! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

116. We can celebrate the lack of recycling the 150m thing! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

117. You might realise you’re not the biggest athletics nerd around. 118. You might realise you are! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

119. You’ll be able to say you were there, did that, and bought the tee-shirt (there’ll definitely be tee-shirts for sale, right?) #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

120. If you’ve written a book about running, you could probably sell a few copies. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

121. You might get to see Niamh Fogarty win her 5^th national senior discus title #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

122. Someone might come from the depths of hell #depthsofhell #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

123. You will hear @FeidhlimKelly shouting for this @dublintrackclub athletes. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

124. Have I mentioned the men’s 8 and the men’s 15? Andrew Coscoran dropping down to the two laps makes both of them more difficult to call, and potentially far more exciting. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

125. The more people that are there, the less windy it’ll feel! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

126. It’ll be less crowded than Dundrum Town Centre at the weekend. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

127. You might get to see Michaela Walsh win her 6^th consecutive national senior shot put title. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

128. You might see Sean Mockler winning his third consecutive hammer title. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

129. Somebody might actually break 15 metres in the men’s triple jump! Three have been very close so far this season, which could make for a close and exciting event. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

130. Nobody has successfully defended their 10km walk title since Alex Wright in 2016. Will it be another new winner: the 6th different one in 7 years since; or will David Kenny add a third title? Come and find out. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

131. Day 1 will be way better than your average Sat at nationals. The 3 women’s track finals should feature the superstars Rhasidat Adeleke (200m) and Sarah Lavin (100mH) and double Olympian and 8-time national champion Michelle Finn (3000m S/C). #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

132. And Nichola Tuthill (HT), Saragh Buggy (TJ) and Eric Favors (SP) should ensure some field event fireworks on day 1, with a potential too-close to call, 4-way battle in the women’s HJ. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

133. Morton stadium always scrubs up well for the big occasion! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

134. You’ll get to see some national U20 and U23 champions crowned too! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

135. You might see David Cussen win this 4^th national title, and thereby become the most prolific male high jumper this century! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

136. You’re guaranteed to see a brand new, first-time champion in the men’s javelin! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

137. You might see a great battle between Grace Casey (2017 and 2021 champ) and Kate O’Connor (2020 and 2022 champ) in the women’s javelin. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

138. Half the 8-man pole vault field have won this title before (including one in the 1980s); but there are at least two others who could win if the stars align for either of them on Sunday! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

139. There will be no final three nonsense. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

140. There will be no repechage rounds. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

141. There will be no hot seats. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

142. You might have to walk a mile to the stadium, but the exercise will do you good. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

143. You could bump into your old biomechanics lecturer! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

144. It’s the last big domestic competition of the summer (masters athletes, I know; don’t @ me!) #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

145. You might get to meet the infamous seagull! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

146. You can join the stampede to leave the stadium at 8.25pm on Sunday! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

147. I’ll make sure the word ‘innovation’ isn’t even mentioned! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

148. The weather might actually be ok! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

149. It will be great. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

150. It will be really great. #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

151. Because I went to all this effort to let you know just how special National Seniors are! #onehundredandfiftyonereasons #nationalseniors

The square peg has evolved: qualification by world ranking mutated to farce

The qualification window for the European Indoor Athletics championships closes at midnight next Sunday, 19th February. The coming week provides the final few opportunities for athletes to gain qualification.

But for some it’s already too late.

For many, the best time to qualify was last summer! And many needed to race distances that they don’t plan to race in Istanbul.

Welcome to the world of qualification by rankings!

It is rocket science

It is anticipated/hoped/feared [delete as appropriate] that approximately half the fields for Istanbul will be filled with athletes who’ve achieved the qualification standard indoors at any time over the past year, or an even more stretching standard outdoors in the same time period.

The remainder of the spots will be filled by world ranking, a system which was not designed with indoor performance in mind. 

Qualification for any championships these days is far more complicated than it needs to be. Qualification for Euro Indoors this time round, even more so.

So let me explain it in simple terms: someone at European Athletics (and/or higher up the athletics food chain) has fecked up!

Major championship qualifying explained

*Takes a deep breath*

World Athletics introduced world rankings as a way to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Their target when setting the standards was for 50% of the field to come from qualification standards, the other 50% to come from world rankings. There was a target number of places for each discipline, so places were allocated to those who had Auto Qs first, and then the quota was filled with the next best ranked athletes.

There was much shock at the initial standards for Tokyo, until athletes realised they could qualify with lesser standards through rankings. And as it happens, shoe technology meant that in some events (especially the longer distances), the original standards weren’t quite as eye-watering as they first appeared, and some quotas were met with auto standards alone. The head scratching over rankings, however, continues.

The 50% thing is still the ambition, and so the standards for the world championships later this summer, and Paris next year, are even stiffer than the carbon-fibre plates that’ll be needed to achieve them. 

European Athletics have followed suit, and used rankings to fill approximately 50% of the fields for last summer’s championships in Munich. And now – horror of all horrors – they’re using them for the European Indoors in Istanbul next month.

World ranking points are gained through a combination of the performance time or distance, the placing in the competition, and the level of the competition, with major championships, and top-level circuit competitions earning more points. Points from and athlete’s best five (field events, and distances up to and including 1500m), three (steeplechase and 5000m, 20km walk), or two (multievents, marathon, long walk) events are averaged to give a ranking score for that individual. 

The rankings aimed to be all encompassing, and so athletes can include up to 1 or 2 non-standard event scores in their ranking. A 100m ranking can include two indoor 60 metre performances, a 3000m steeplechase can include one 2000m steeplechase time, and a heptathlon ranking can include a pentathlon result.

Still with me?

There are numerous issues with the rankings. But there’s one major, over-riding issue with using rankings for indoor competitions that should be causing some blushes right now. You cannot qualify for an indoor championships through the ranking system using indoor performances alone. 

And thus, 60m hurdles hopefuls needed some fast races over 100m or 110m hurdles last summer; heptathletes and pentathletes needed a decent decathlon or heptathlon score, and 3000m runners need at least two 5000m times to their name.

Anyone who missed last summer – through injury, illness, maternity leave, or otherwise – needs to get the rather stretching automatic standard in their respective event – or they have no chance of making it at all. 

But shouldn’t athletes just be aiming for the automatic qualification standard anyway?

That’s a take. But a pretty flawed one.

The powers that be seem pretty set on the 50% thing, so if through some magic bean (or shoe) approach athletes all achieve auto standards, then the standards will just get tougher for the next time. 

Yes, automatic standards, in many cases, are a formality for medal hopefuls, but championships are championships because they contain more than just the medal hopefuls. 

And athletics is so dependent on rounds that they’ve added in a whole extra pointless round of them for the next Olympics. They need more than just the potential medal winners to make an event.

And if we’re talking about raising the standards, the rankings are doing the opposite.

Take the women’s 3000m – a distance, by the way, that medal hopeful Ciara Mageean has not yet qualified for, and if she doesn’t run 8.48.00 or faster at the Irish Indoor Championships next weekend, where she’s unlikely to have any assistance in doing so, she won’t, but I digress. Take the 3000m. The standard two years ago was 9:10.00. The standard this time around is 8:48.00. That’s a 22 second difference. Shoe technology has improved times a bit, so you’d expect the times to improve. You’d expect to fill the filed with athletes who run 8:55 or faster.

But that’s not the case. There’ll be athletes with sub 9 performances who don’t make it to Istanbul, while those with times in the region of 9:00.00 to 9:15:00 will fill ranking spots.

And with some countries introducing their own criteria and B standards, it’s likely that the quota won’t be met in some events.

That’ll be embarrassing.

Rankings were supposed to reward consistency. But it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve run 8:49, if you’ve not run a couple of 5000m races, you can’t make it.

Good athletes will miss out.

But that’s what happens when you use a qualification system that’s not designed around indoor performances (and not fit for purpose at the best of times, but that’s a conversation for another day).

The peg isn’t just square; it’s warped, splintered in a few places, and wrapped up in remnants of the material used to make the emperor’s new clothes.

The hole, I believe, is still round.

Ultimatum

I try really hard not to rage against the athletics establishment just for the sake of it (my Twitter feed may indicate otherwise, but I do actually try). World Athletics, European Athletics, Athletics Ireland... they’re all just a collection of individuals, passionate about the sport, doing their job, right? And the more we complain about the establishments, the less likely the right, passionate, doing-it-for-the right-reason people are to put themselves in the firing line. And so I try really, really hard not to complain about everything they do.

But y’all making it really difficult for me right now.

So here’s the deal.

Stop using world rankings as qualification for major championships. Abolish repechage rounds before we ever have to sit through that particular embarrassment. Get rid of byes at European Championships. Bring back the 50km walk, and don’t even think about that 2x35km mixed relay crap you’re talking about.

Do all that, and I’ll stop complaining.

But whatever you do, please do not use world rankings to qualify athletes for an indoor championships.

Please, on behalf of highly strained blood vessels everywhere, don't ever do that again.

European Cross Country Championships Ones to Watch

Tomorrow the 2022 edition of the European Cross Country Championships will take place in La Mandria Park, just outside Turin in Italy’s Piemonte region. The fields look particular strong across all the age groups, with all 6 individual champions from Dublin back to defend their titles.

Here are some of the athletes to watch out for across the U23 and senior races.

La Mandria awaits

U23 women

The U23 women’s race could well be the highlight of the championships. The top 6 from last year’s race, which included multiple Olympians, are all still age-eligible, and five of them will toe the line in Turin!

They will be joined by the U20 race winner in Dublin, GBR’s Megan Keith, who finished second to Jess Warner-Judd (4^th senior last year) in the British senior trials; putting her among the contenders.

Home favourite, and defending champion Nadia Battocletti, is, however, the one to beat. She won the U20 titles in 2018 and 2019, and was 7^th in the Olympic 5000m in Tokyo. She finished 6^th and 2^nd in recent World Cross Country Tour Gold events in Atapuerca and Alcobendas, respectively.

Yasemin Can is the only female to have won more individual titles than Battocletti at this event, and if the Italian was to win, and the Turk to fail to do so, they would draw level on four titles each.

Mariana Machado won bronze last time around, and the Portuguese champion will look to add further to her medal haul after also winning bronze at U20 on home soil in 2019. She finished 10th in the World Cross Country Tour Gold event in Sevilla three weeks ago.

Manon Trapp was 4^th in Dublin and will be looking for her first individual medal at this level. The Frenchwoman, who has a black belt in Judo, finished 5^th in the 5000m at the European U23 Championships last year.

Ireland’s hopes lie with Sarah Healy, who’ll be looking to improve on her 5^th place last time out. Sarah was an emphatic winner of the Irish Championship/trials in Donegal three weeks ago, and will be chasing down her first European cross country medal.

Not to be ruled out is Battocletti’s Italian teammate, Anna Arnaudo, also a year older and stronger, who finished 6^th in Dublin and won silver over 10,000m at the European U23 Championships last summer. Arnaudo was a clear winner of the test event on this course in November.

Emma Heckel (Germany) won bronze in the U20 category in Dublin. She finished 38^th at the recent NCAA Div 1 Championship. Amina Maatoug (NED) and Yasmin Marghini (GBR) who finished just in front of her in Stillwater also race.

Klara Lukan, last year’s silver medallist, and Izzy Fry, 2022 World University Cross Country champions, are notable absentees. Lukan doesn’t appear to have raced since the spring, and Fry just missed out on making the British team, but is named as reserve.

The team title should, on paper, be a mighty battle between Italy and GBR. With only three to score, and with two major contenders in their ranks, Italy will be looking to retain their title on home ground.

For the Brits, Keith will be ably supported by Marghini, Mid-Ulster’s Grace Carson, Alex Millard and others. GBR won this time title 9 of the first 11 times it was held, but their last win was in 2018. GER, NED and ITA won in ‘18, ‘19 and ‘21 respectively.

Trapp led the France to silver in Dublin and will be joined by Flavie Renouard, the European U23 steeplechase champ, who finished 18^th last time. The three scoring members of the German team who won gold in the U20 race in Dublin also compete in the U23 race this time around.

Danielle Donegan, Laura  Mooney, Aoife Ó'Cuill, Jodie McCann and Niamh O'Mahoney join Healy in the Irish team. Healy, Donegan and McCann were the scoring members of the team that finished 5^th last year.

U23 Men

This race is also almost guaranteed to be a cracker. Charlie Hicks (GBR), Darragh McElhinney (IRL) and Ruben Querinjean (LUX), the individual medallists last time out, are all racing again, as are the 4^th, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 9^th placers from Dublin.

Hicks is the defending champion, and after his recent NCAA Division 1 title, he will start as favourite.

But Hicks has already been beaten by one Irishman this season (Brian Fay finished ahead of him at NCAA West regionals), and McElhinney will be hoping to make that two. McElhinney the Irish Senior champion, would so dearly love to cap off a fine year with an individual European title.

Don’t think, though, that these two are the only ones to watch. In a team stacked with talent, McElhinney isn’t even the only individual medal contender among the Irish contingent, so let’s start with them!

Efrem Gidey won bronze in the U20 race in Lisbon in 2019, and while his progress has been hampered by injury, he is coming off a fine summer during which he finished 6th in the 10,000m at the European Champs in Munich. He was 5^th in Donegal.

Keelan Kilrehill, 6^th in Dublin, and the 2^nd Irish scorer that day, is also a serious contender. He was only 6 seconds off a medal then, and will be looking to challenge his teammates for bragging rights.

Shay McEvoy, who finished 23rd at NCAAs three weeks ago, will be looking to spring a surprise. Jamie Battle (44^th last year) and Thomas McStay (who missed Dublin on medical grounds) complete the Irish team.

Other individual contenders include Querinjean who finished just three seconds behind McElhinney in Dublin. He finished 3^rd in the CrossCup race in Mol in October. Last year he won Luxemburg’s first Euro Cross medal; could he add their first title in Turin?

Magnus Tuv Myhre (NOR) was fourth in Dublin, and is the Norwegian Cross County Champion! He finished just a place behind Gidey in the 10,000m final in Munich this summer.

Antoine Senard (FRA), Aarón Las Heras (ESP) and Zak Mahamed (GBR), 7^th, 8^th and 9^th respectively in Dublin, are also all back. Las Heras was 26^th at NCAAs (Div I), Mahamed was the leading U23 at the British trails, and Senard, who didn’t race outdoors this season, was 6^th in Mol in October.

Pol Oriach (ESP) and Andrii Atamanium (UKR) move up to the U23 category after finishing 4^thand 5^th in the U20 race in Dublin last year.

Etson Barros, 2^nd in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2021 European U23 Championships, is a member of the Portuguese team.

It’s difficult, from this biased perspective, not to imagine the Irish team defending their team title, even on a mediocre day and even without the home advantage; they’re certainly the team the others will have their eyes on.

But the winning margin over the British team last year was only 3 points, and with Hicks, Mahamad and Rory Leonard who finished 16^th last year, all back in their team, it may not be the green whitewash everyone is expecting. 

Some sharp rises and falls will help sort champions from the also-rans

Senior women

The senior women’s race includes the top 7 from the 2021 race, along with a 4-time champion and other in-form athletes. The most interesting element here, however, will be the team competition; on paper a three-way battle.

Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal (NOR) is the defending champion, and will be looking to add to her already enviable Euro Cross record. She already has more individual medals than any other female at this event, having finished on the podium on 8 of her previous 9 appearances.

Grøvdal finished 8^th in the 5000m at the World Championships in Eugene this summer, but was a DNF over the same distance in Munich. She’s run some low-key road races in Norway in the run up to this event.

Yasemin Can (TUR) went into Dublin looking for her fifth consecutive title but, short of fitness, she finished just 14^th. The European 10,000m champion finished 8th in the World Cross Country tour in Atapuerca in Nov (behind Teferi and Battocletti) but won in Sevilla a week later.

Meraf Bahta (SWE), has also been a medallist on multiple occasions. She won bronze in 2014, and silver in 2017 and 2021, but missed Eugene and Munich due to injury. Bahta served a backdated one-year doping suspension in 2018/19 for failing to give whereabouts information three times within 12 months.

Alina Reh (GER) last year added an individual medal to the medals she’d previously won at U20 and U23 level. She finished 2^nd at the European 10,000m cup and 8^th over the same distance in Munich, but struggled after her DNF in the 5000m there. She did, however, win the German trial event recently.

Jess Warner-Judd (GBR) finished 4^th last year and will be looking to go at least one better to add to her medals at U20 (silver, 2014) and U23 (bronze, 2016). She won the British trials in Nov, after competing in the 10,000m at World Champs (where she also did the 5,000m), Commonwealth Games and Euro Champs this summer.

European 5000m champion Konstanze Klosterhalfen (GER) finished just two places behind her teammate in Dublin last year, and has yet to add a senior medal to her Euro Cross collection. She won the Valencia half marathon in October in a swift 1:05:41.

Selamawit Teferi (ISR) was 7^th last year. She finished top 8 in both the 5000m and 10,000m in Munich, and was 4^th (and first European) in the World Cross Country Tour Gold race in Atapuerca in November.

Sweden’s Sarah Lahti hasn’t featured since finishing 6^th in the U23 race way back in 2015 but with wins in Mol and Tilburg already this autumn she must surely be in contention for her first top 10 as a senior.

If Bhata, Mengsteab and Lahti are all on form, Sweden won’t be beaten in the team race. They, however, have little back up and had to go all the way back to 30^th place for their third scorer to take bronze last year.

And if any of the Swedish three falter, Germany and Great Britain, who both have more depth in their squads, will be ready to pounce.

In addition to Reh and Klosterhalfan, Germany has Hannah Klein, a 14.51 5000m runner, and 2:26:50 marathoner Miriam Dattke who won bronze in the U20 race in 2017 and finished 4^th in the Marathon in Munich in August.

Warner-Judd will be supported in the British team by Jess Gibbon and Abbie Donnelly who finished 11^th and 12^th last year, the Euro indoor 3000m champion Amy-Eloise Markovc (who finished 4^th U23 in 2017), and Cari Hughes and Poppy Tank, who’ve previously finished top 10 in the U20 and U23 categories, respectively.

With the withdrawal of Ciara Mageean, 2^nd at the Irish Championships in November, the Irish team certainly look weaker, but they now contain 6 athletes who’ve been on previous medal-winning teams at either U23 or senior level.

Roisin Flanagan and Aoibhe Richards were scoring members of the team which finished 4^th last year, but in a closely-matched team, any 3 of the 6 (Michelle Finn, Ann-Marie McGlynn, Mary Mulhare and Eilish Flanagan being members) could score this time around.

Senior men

Jakob Ingebrigtsen. There, that was easy.

Joking aside, Ingebrigtsen is the defending champion, undefeated in 5 appearances at Euro Cross, Olympic Champion, World Champion, European champion at 1500m and 5000m, and actually still eligible for the U23 race here. But if 2022 has thought us anything, it’s thought us that he is beatable.

As with the women’s race, 7 of the top 10 from Dublin return, though we also need to look elsewhere for Ingebrigtsen’s likely challengers.

Yemaneberhan Crippa (ITA) didn’t finish in Dublin last year, but won silver behind Kaya in 2019 to add to his double U20 titles from 2014 and 2015 and his U23 bronze in both 2016 and 2017. He is the European 10,000m champion.

Aras Kaya (TUR), the 2016 and 2019 champion, was second to Ingebrigtsen last time. He was 3^rd at the European 10,000m cup in May but only 16^th in Munich.

Belgium’s Michael Somers finished 5^th in Dublin, and was 2^nd in the Cross Cup race in Mol in late October.

Isaac Kimeli, also from Belgium, finished 9^th in Dublin, but won silver in Tilburg in 2018, and was the U23 champion back in 2016.

Yann Schrub (FRA) finished 6^th in Dublin and completed the French scoring team that day. He finished 3^rd to Crippa in the European 10,000m championships in Munich.

Nassim Hassaous (ESP) was 7^th last year and has finished top 8 in the four Spanish-based World Cross Country Tour gold events so far this season.

Brian Fay (IRL) was 10^th last year, and looks in good shape coming in this race after recently breaking the Irish indoor 5000m record. He finished 13th at the NCAA Div 1 Champs in Stillwater in November (25 places higher than last year!) and beat Hicks to take the NCAA North-West regional title.

Mohamed Katir (ESP) is an interesting entry. The European 5000m silver medallist and Olympic finalist has undoubtable speed, but is, as yet, unproven over the country. He finished 6th, and best of the Spaniards, at the World XC Tour even in Sevilla three weeks ago.

Emile Cairess (GBR) is another with top 10 potential. His 1:00:32 half marathon in October emphatic British trials win two weeks ago certainly suggest that he’s in the shape of his life. His best Euro Cross result is an 8^th place in the U23 race in 2018.

The race also features 2018 champion Filip Ingebrigtsen (NOR), who, like Crippa, failed to finish in Dublin.

The home team will also have European Steeplechase bronze medallist Osama Zoghlami among their ranks. And speaking of steeplechase, the European champion, Topi Raitanen (FIN) will also race.

Elzan Bibic (SRB) won silver at U23 level in 2019 and bronze in the 2018 U20 race. A win in Tilburg (World XC Tour silver) in November, suggests that while he may be ready to make a mark on the senior race this time around.

German Champion Samuel Fitwi Sibhatu won U23 silver in 2018 and finished 5^th senior in 2019. His teammate Davor Aaron Bienenfeld was 14^th in Stillwater.

French trio Jimmy Gressier, Hugo Hay and 8 Felix Bour who finished 3^rd, 4^th and 8^th respectively in Dublin, will not race this year, opening up the team competition somewhat. The Spanish team, who won silver last time, looks particularly strong, but a number of teams will be in the shake up for the minor medals.

In addition to Katir and Hassaous, the Spanish have Carlos Mayo - silver in 2014 (Jun), 2015 & 2016 (U23), 11^th in Dublin and 13^th in Eugene (10,000m); Abdessamad Oukhelfen - U23 bronze in 2019, and 12^th last year; Roberto Alaiz - 7^th in the senior race way back in 2015 and Sergio Paniagua - 2^nd recently in Alcobendas.

With potential top 10 finishers in the form of Somers and Kimeli, Belgium will look to their third scorer to improve on last year’s 5^th place. Robin Hendrix, 15^th back in 2018, looks like their best hope of making the podium.

The Irish team were just 4 points off a medal last year, and must fancy their chance at silverware this time around. Supporting Fay will be Hiko Tonosa Haso (13th last year), Cormac Dalton and Barry Keane who were just behind Fay in Stillwater, and Peter Lynch and Pierre Muchan, 3^rd and 4^th respectively at the recent Irish Championships.

The British team were only 6^th last year, but cannot be discounted. If Cairess gets anywhere near the medals, then the likes of Mahamed Mahamed (3^rd U20 in 2016), Ben Connor (top 10 2017 & 2019), Jack Rowe (18^th last year), infamous club runner Ellis Cross and Hugo Milner could help them to the podium.

Norway, meanwhile, have not two, but three Ingebrigtsens. Henrik won the U23 title in 2012, and finished 18^th in Dublin. The brothers will be backed up by Narve Nordas, 25^th last year; Jacob Boutera a steeplechase finalist in Munich, and Per Svela.

There will be blood!

A note on the U20 races and mixed relay

I didn’t preview the junior races last year, and I haven’t planned on this year. Some of them are still children, and I always feel they already have enough pressure from themselves, yet alone adding to that.

In the interest of managing expectations, it is, however, worth noting the strength and depth in both races, but especially in the U20 men’s race where all three medallists from 2021 start. There are a couple of Irish athletes with the potential to at least think about the podium, but if there isn’t medals, then it may not be because they’ve had an off day.

And there’s no way I’m going to wade through the runners and riders in the mixed relay. Anything could happen there!

Now, why don't you have a go?

Think you can do a better job at prediction the senior results? Why not have a go at #FantasyEuroCross. Just select who you think will win all the senior medals, and see how you get on.

You can enter here now.

Update: Bhata and Kaya are both late withdrawls.

I cheated once...

I cheated once. 

In a race.

I’m not proud of it.

It happened. And I have no defence.

I also have no way of undoing it.

***

It’s early 2004, and I coming into the second-best shape of my life, if there is such a thing. In a few weeks’ time I’ll make the Irish team for the World University Cross Country Championships (I don’t know it yet, but that’ll be the pinnacle of a protracted but unremarkable running career). I’m at Camp Hill in Liverpool, taking part in one of the Merseyside Colleges Cross Country League races, a low-key, mid-week, mixed-gender cross country series held in various parks across Merseyside throughout the winter. 

I’m doing well in the league. I’ve been mixing it with all but the top lads. I’ve even taking a few scalps along the way. 

But there’s a problem with today’s race. The course isn’t marked out as well as it should be. Someone’s forgotten to place a flag in the corner of a field. The volunteer helping direct the runners is timidly pointing us diagonally across the field to the other corner, cutting 50 or 60 metres off the course each time. 

But that’s fine. I’ve run this course before. I run the correct course. But those in front don’t know any better. They take the shortest route. Every time I start to make ground on the lads in front, they pull away on that part of the course. The competitor in me is a little bit frustrated. But there’s more to it than that. I start to feel a bit of a fool. A little miss do-gooder running the full course when it feels like nobody else is. On the final lap I cave. I follow the leaders.

But those behind me don’t. They’ve run the full race.

I don’t catch any of those in front over the final lap. And I more than keep my gap on those behind (no surprize given that I’ve run a shorter race than them). I finish seventh.

My friend finishes one place behind me. He is furious. He’s sure he could have beaten me today had I not cheated. He knows that I know the course and that I had no reason to cut that corner. But more importantly he expects more of me and I’ve let him down. I’ve let myself down.

I know I had the beating of him today. I’m sure of it.

But neither of us will really know. There is no way of knowing.

It’ll bother me for years to come. In the 2020s I’ll still be thinking about it. I may even write about it then!

***

I can never undo what I did that day. But I can learn from it. Honest and integrity have always been important to me, but in the aftermath of that race, I realised just how important they were, and why. 

But I also learned how easy it is, in the heat of the moment, to make a mistake. How easy it is to justify something, just because everyone else is doing it. And how difficult it can be to do the right thing when it looks to you as if you’re the only one doing so. 

Had there been someone there to disqualify me, I’ve have paid my price, and could have got on with my life. Had there been someone making sure we were on the right track, it would never have been an issue to begin with. All I had was a decent friend to call me out.

***

As I said, integrity is important to me. And I’ve written before about how the doping in sport and the not talking about it breaks my heart. That was a few years ago. Things have changed. We’ve had the introduction of super shoes, the Russians aren’t around, and everyone has been training really hard through the pandemic. Nobody dopes any more.

Wait, what? 

Think about it. 

We don’t need to be fully paid-up members of the ‘they’re all doping; cheating is human nature’ side to recognise that advances in technology or a lack of competition for a couple of summers didn’t suddenly make the performances you watch any more believable. 

“You know what, there’s shoes now that make me go faster; I’ll cut back on the EPO”, said nobody ever.

True, the old yardsticks are not relevant anymore (probably time to move to metres anyway), and we’ve had world records, or second-best performances, right across the track and field events. But the benefit that was denied for so long (why are you not respecting me and my performances; I still have to put on the shoes and run in them), are now being credited with improbably performance gains. And the resultant insatiable appetite for jaw-dropping performances has even allowed throwers – who obviously aren’t benefiting from carbon fibre plates - to make quantum leaps forward unquestioned. 

The performances you watch aren’t any cleaner that those you watched 5, 10 or 15 years ago, it’s just a bit more difficult to spot the dubious ones.

Just the way Seb would have wanted it.

***

And it’s not just that we’ve been gorging on performances which are likely tainted but which seem somewhat less outlandish simply because of their abundance. There’s also the enabling. A not insignificant number of individuals who have doped themselves (and served bans) or who have been involved in doping regimes, continue to coach in the sport. Yes, there are arguments about individuals serving their time and having a right to earn a living. But if we really care about this sport and its integrity, how can we employ doping offenders on six-figure salaries to coach impressionable young adults? Yes, they might get ‘results,’ but at what cost?

And why would anyone who believes in clean sport want to work or be part of a system with a tainted reputation? True, it might be difficult to find a role at the highest level that isn’t in some way linked to doping or doping suspicions, but if we don’t make a stand now, that’s only going to get more and more difficult to do.

For future generations the choice may be a simple one: do performance sport and dope; or don’t do it at all. Maybe we’re already at that point. We’ve got to do something now. And wouldn’t taking a stand against doping offenders coaching be a half-decent place to start? 

Either way we’ve got to show that we still care.

***

If I was a clean athlete, turning out top drawer performances at a serious rate, and people started to question my results, would I be hurt? Of course, I would. But if I was clean because it’s what I believe in – rather than just because I don’t want to be caught – then I’d be f*$king delighted that people still care; that whether or not my performances are clean still matters to people; that there is still some desire out there to clean up this sport and make it a better place for our children. 

While the questions might not make a cheating athlete repent, I’d hope that as a clean athlete any outpouring of actually giving a feck might just help me continue doing what I do clean. That it would encourage me to continue to avoid cutting those corners, irrespective of whether I know others are doing so, or presume that those who are not might be.

We will never catch all the cheats. But, for the sake of clean athletes everywhere, we’ve got to put everything we can into trying. But most of all we’ve got to make it easier to do the right thing by having some actual repercussions for not doing so.

***

I’m grateful to Neil for calling me out that day in 2004. He was right. I know that now. I knew it then.

But I also know I could have beaten him fairly that day.

I just wish I had.

Not so that I could recall it now. But so that I could have forgotten it almost two decades ago.

And so that I could say that everything I’ve achieved in this sport, I’ve achieved fairly.

A vintage year: The 2022 season in five races

It's been a great year! Let's make it last a little bit longer. My five favourite races from the 2022 track season!

No 5. Ireland's fastest women

Women’s 100m final, Irish Senior Championships, Morton Stadium, Santry, 26 June

It was touted as a rare opportunity for an Irish audience to see, live and in-person, sprint sensation Rhasidat Adeleke, the woman who’d re-written the Irish record books already in 2022. A demonstration. The Adeleke show.

Molly Scott, who’d knocked chunks off the Irish indoor 60m record before Adeleke got her hands on it, had other ideas. This, afterall, is the one distance at which Adeleke doesn’t top the Irish all-time list.

Scott, injured early season, had a quiet build-up. Adeleke, jet lagged, was coming off the back of a busy NCAA season where she’d raced mostly over the longer distances.

Could this even be someone else’s day?

The Morton crowd waited.

After a start disrupted by in-field commentary, the 7-woman field were recalled to their marks. Sarah Leahy in two. Lane three vacant. Scott in four. Sarah Lavin in five. Lauren Roy in six. Adeleke in seven. Joan Healy in eight. And Lucy-May Sleeman on the outside in lane nine. Ireland’s fastest women.

Silence, this time, for the start.

And away they went.

Scott, powering out of her blocks, kept the head down. Her arms propelling her down the track. Adeleke was quicker to rise, her long, looping stride eating up the ground. But the Carlow woman was ahead. Driving for that line. Striving not to be caught…

…right until the last stride of the race.

Scott leaned. Adeleke leaned further.

This one had gone right down to the wire.

No 4. Olatunde versus the clock

Men’s 100m final, European Senior Championships, Olympic Stadium, Munich, 16 August

He’d already done so much just getting to the final. The fastest overall, a 10.19 PB and an Irish U23 record to make it through the first round. Second place and an Auto Q in the semi-final. We’d seen what that meant to him. We knew what it meant to all of us. The first Irishman to make a 100m final at a major senior championship. But it meant so much more than that too. Ireland had arrived, and not just at this European Championships.

Just hours after the greatest race of his young life, Olatunde was lining up to do it all again. He’d drawn lane seven for the final, right next door to Lamont Marcell Jacobs, the Olympic Champion. European U23 Champion Jeremy Azu was to his outside.

The twenty-year-old Olatunde got out safely. But Jacobs was pulling clear of the field. It’s the point which so much can go wrong. Olatunde looked to be last of the eight, but he wasn’t being left behind. This was going to be no disgrace. He remained composed. And then he found something. He dipped for the line as if he’d done this a thousand times before.

Jacobs was the clear winner. The title was his. 9.95. An equal championship best.

Zarnel Hughes took silver. He too dipping under 10 seconds.

There had been daylight between those two and the rest of the field.

The moments ticked on slowly as, one-by-one, the times appeared on the scoreboard.

Azu in third. 10.13 PB. Time for the Welshman to unleash his joyous celebration.

Ján Volko, Slovak Republic, 10.16 in fourth.

This was going to be tight.

Mouhamadou Fall, France, fifth in 10.17.

Dammit! Had had let this one get away? Surely he was next?

More moments that seemed like minutes.

And then, there it was: 6. Olatunde 10.17.

The NR didn’t appear on the graphics, but we all knew what those numbers meant. Israel Olatunde, who started the year with a 10.41 best had been running PBs since May and had already picked up Irish U23 records in June, July and August. Now he was the fastest Irishman of any age.

What a stage to do it on!

Olatunde, too, had arrived.

No 3: A game of cat and mouse

Men’s 5000m, Irish national Senior Championships, Morton Stadium, Santry, 26 June

The Irish Championships always seems to throw up a humdinger of a battle or two, especially in the men’s distance races; lads demonstrating just how special national titles are, and what they’re willing to do to get their hands on one. But few 5000m races have ever been as exciting as the one witnessed in Santry on 26^th June.

Twenty-two of Ireland’s best distance runners. Twelve-and-a-half laps of the track. A startlist that actually resembles the entry list that got us excited during the week.

Darragh McElhinney already has 13.17.17 to his name, and the European Championship qualifying mark. Hiko Tonosa is the national cross country champion, a title he won in a sprint finish over McElhinney in the park next door last November. Efrem Gidey, the 2019 European U20 Cross Country silver medallist is back from injury and reminded us of his potential when he finished 6^th in the 10,000m at the European Cup in May. Paul O’Donnell, too, is an athlete in form.

Away they go.

900m in. Gidey takes the lead. The rest follow.

1200m. Gidey increases the pace. McElhinney and Tonosa lead the chase.

1600m. They main contenders are back together. O’Donnell and Jake O’Regan hanging on.

The pace drops again. Pierre Murchan and Keelan Kilrehill reattach themselves.

Halfway. There’s still a group of seven.

3000m gone. Gidey, forever dictating the pace, starts to pile it on.

1600m to go. It is down to just four.

1200m to go. Gidey, McElhinney, Tonosa are bunched together. O’Donnell, again, hangs on. 

800m to go. Three remain. Gidey is still out front, pretty much where he’s been from the start. But he’s not the one in charge now. He probably never was. McElhinney moves out onto his shoulder. Tonosa is tucked in behind them on the kerb. He has shown nothing yet.

700m to go. McElhinney looks impatient.

600m to go. But still he waits.

Still Tonosa shows nothing.

500m to go. McElhinney comes wide ready to strike. He glances to his inside, checking where Tonosa is. Waiting for his move. Again and again he checks. He waits. If Tonosa wants this now, he’ll have to come the long way round. He’ll have to make the first move. Gidey still has the lead.

300m to go.

McElhinney glances again.

Tonosa doesn’t flinch.

280m to go.

It’s time.

McElhinney makes the first move. A fast, decisive one. Out past Gidey. The others respond. Tonosa, too, goes past the young Clonliffe man, in hot pursuit. McElhinney is away. Tonosa follows.

150m to go.

The gap is 3 metres. Tonosa is fighting, gritting his teeth.

The crowd hold their collective breath.

Memories of national cross.

Is there still time for another twist?

100m to go.

McElhinney glides. Tonosa chases.

50m to go.

It’s all over. McElhinney was ready this time. He is not to be caught.

Another title for the collection.

No 2: Sub-2 by two

Women’s 800m, Belfast Irish Milers Club meet, Mary Peter’s Track, Saturday 15^th May

World class female 800m runners is not something Ireland has traditionally been renowned for. But the new generation are cut a bit differently. 1500m runners stepping down. 400m runners stepping up. Two lap specialists finally fulfilling potential. All with a belief they belong here.

It was the first major domestic race of the season and Eamon Christie had gathered some of the best around, arranged a pacemaker, and given them the stage.

Ciara Mageean, the Irish record holder, had just returned for altitude training in St Moritz. She was going to test where her speed was at prior to a summer of championships. But just what kind of shape was she in?

Louise Shanahan had Olympic experience now at this distance and had gone into last winter knowing that she had to step it up a level if she’s going to be competitive internationally. She’d finish 2nd over 1500m at the British University Championships at the beginning of May, and ran 55.88 for 400m at the Oxford v Cambridge varsity the weekend before. Could she combine that speed and strength over two laps?

We were about to find out.

They set out at a brisk but sensible pace, the field gently strung out. Mageean, keen to keep things moving, pulled up alongside the pacemaker 380m in. Shanahan followed. They hit the bell bang on the minute mark. Four athletes were away around the bottom bend: Mageean, Shanahan, Danish athlete Marissa Damink and Jenna Bromell each a stride or two apart. Mageean pushed on. Shanahan, shadow-like, followed. With 200m to go, she’d entered Mageean’s airspace. 100m to go, she pulled level. Mageean fought back. But Shanahan had another gear. She pulled away.

1:59.42 for Shanahan. Negative splits. A new Irish record.

Mageean hung on for 1:59.86.

We’d waited a lifetime for a sub-2 800m runner. Now we had two in one race.

 

No 1: Morton Mile Classic

Morton Mile, Morton Games, Morton Stadium, Santry, Saturday 2^nd July

The gun went. Australian Callum Davies sat in behind the pacemakers. Andrew Coscoran followed. The rest were strung out behind. There was even a fall. A typical paced circuit affair.

Until it wasn’t.

With 650m to go they all started getting involved. Darragh McElhinney was the first to close up and slot in behind Coscoran. Then went Nick Griggs. Cathal Doyle and Shane Bracken followed. With 400m to go Irish athletes filled 2^nd to 6^th place. With 250m they were all queueing up; getting into the ideal position from which to strike. 

Coscoran, the Olympic semi-finalist, and the fastest on paper. Doyle, who stunned everyone in the 1500m at the National seniors the previous week. McElhinney, a 5km specialist, with a lethal kick. Griggs who ran Coscoran close over the same distance indoors. Bracken, the national 1500m silver medallist; he too with a serious turn of pace.

We knew at this point we were definitely in for a treat, and not of the plain jelly and ice-cream variety. This was an assiette à dessert of Michelin quality.

With 200m to go, they were four abreast behind the Australian, each trying to measure their effort to perfection. None of them ready to show their cards just yet. Corscoran eventually pulled alongside Davies with 150m to go. Doyle made his move around the outside. McElhinney was wedged between them at this point, his normally sublime stride looking strained against the shorter-distance men. But he wasn’t giving this one up without a fight.

They were still four-wide into the home straight.

Then Doyle and Coscoran pulled clear. North Dub versus North Dub. Shoulder to shoulder. Stride for stride. Coscoran, first, looked to have the edge. Then Doyle levelled and inched ahead. The finish line was coming, but not quick enough. Doyle leaned. Coscoran dived. Nobody wanted to call this one.

There was a visible buzz around the track. They lads had put on a great show. The perfect finale to the 2022 Morton Games. Irish athletes would fill the podium. Five had run under 4 minutes. But who’d won? Doyle’s supporters were celebrating. Rushing onto the track to congratulate him. He didn’t look sure. Coscoran too was waiting.

And eventually the result appeared. Coscoran had edged this one; 3:57.09 to Doyle’s 3:57.11.

Coscoran looked full of energy. Buoyed by the win, chatting, reliving the dive.

Doyle looked utterly sickened. The sweet smell of victory now the sour aftertaste of defeat.

Andrew Coscoran, here’s your big fancy trophy. Cathal Doyle, thanks for taking part.