BY JOHN WALSHE
RUNNING at the same Sport Ireland Campus at Abbotstown where last December he claimed a magnificent European under-23 silver medal, Darragh McElhinney returned in style to win the Autumn Open International Cross-Country for the second time.
His eight-second margin of victory was exactly the same as last year, but the Glengarriff native did just enough to win.
He was in control from the start of the 7km race running alongside training partner Keelan Kilrehill from Moy Valley AC who would go to finish around fifty metres behind McElhinney’s winning time of 22:16.
Dean Casey of Ennis Track Club, another of the young stars from last year’s Europeans, ran a superb race as he stepped up into the senior ranks, finishing seven seconds back from Kilrehill in third place.
Attention for McElhinney, who was representing his UCD club, will now turn to a solid block of training in preparation for national championships which take place at Rosapenna Golf Club, Donegal, on November 20th, eleven days after he celebrates his 22nd birthday.
A month ago, McElhinney returned to training with a spell at altitude in St. Moritz and after Sunday’s race admitted he was a little behind on fitness compared to 12 months ago.
‘Last year I was very fit very early and I was just trying to maintain it, but this year I’m playing catch up a little bit because the race in Munich meant my track season went on quite long.
‘I came home and took a bit of a break (after Munich) and I’m only really building back up so the next few weeks will be pretty important, especially leading into the nationals.’
Three weeks after Donegal, the SPAR European Championships will be held in Piemonte-La Mandria Park, just outside Turin, on Sunday December 11th where Ireland will again have a strong squad to back up the West Cork man.
McElhinney can look back on a magnificent track season in 2022 where he ran personal bests for 1500m (3:37.72), 3000m (7:42.86) and 5000m (13:17.17). ‘My aim before the season was to get under 13:25 so to run 13:17 for 5km, I was delighted,’ he relayed at the time. There was another McElhinney – Darragh’s older brother Eoghan – in Sunday’s race and he finished a creditable 22nd (fifth from Cork) in what was a top-class field.
The women’s race saw another impressive performance from Bandon’s Fiona Everard who finished 10th in what was an international line-up.
Second two weeks ago to Sinead O’Connor in the Cork senior championships in what was her first cross-country race since March 2020, the 24-year-old can now also look forward with confidence to the nationals in Donegal in a month’s time.
In the junior men’s race, Sean Lawton from Durrus AC was first Cork athlete when taking 12th position in another quality race. Like Everard, he also excelled at the Cork championships two weeks ago when easily winning the combined U18/junior race by 45 seconds.
The Autumn International also acted as the selection race for the British & Irish Masters C-C which takes place in Santry Demesne, Dublin, on November 12th.
Finishing third in the F50 category was Carmel Crowley from the Bandon club and she – along with Breda Gaffney from Mallow who was second – therefore qualified for the Irish team who will do battle on home soil.
