Big battles ahead in Palace Grounds

Palace Grounds set to take centre stage

The Irish Life Health National Intermediate Cross Country Championships and Juvenile Cross Country Relays are set to kick off the 2017 season in earnest at the Palace Grounds in Tuam, Galway on Sunday (January 22).

The event is now being staged solely alongside the Juvenile Cross Country Relays where you can see the entries HERE with the Masters Cross Country taking place on the 12th of February in Waterford alongside the B championships.

Galway City Harriers and Tuam AC have big teams, in both men’s and women’s, as expected on home soil while Clonliffe Harriers have a strong men’s team that includes Cathal Doyle, David Mansfield and Ian Guiden.

Other individuals to look out for in the men’s 8,000m race include Michael Harty (East Cork) who has had a high altitude training spell in Kenya and Kilkenny City Harriers’ Thomas Hayes who has been in good form on the roads as well as the country.

The women’s 5,000m race looks like an open affair which includes Rachel Gibson (North Down), last year’s novice champion Aoife Cooke (Youghal) and 800m specialist Mary Horgan (Crusaders) to name but a few. Raheny Shamrock and Sportsworld have solid women’s teams travelling while North Belfast Harriers will be looking to have an impact in the men’s team competition. The intermediate entries are HERE

The Juvenile Inter Club Cross Country Relays starts at 11:30am where the U12s and U14s will pit their wits against each other in their respective age groups.