Successful National Junior XC Day at Athlone IT

Last Saturday saw the Irish Junior XC panels come together at Athlone IT for their first performance testing day following on from a 3 day training camp held at UL in August.  The athletes and their personal coaches gathered at the indoor arena for some field testing involving a sub maximal test to check aerobic zones taking lactates and heart rates followed by a time trial at vVo2 Max. The results were extremely positive with many athletes showing improved aerobic conditioning levels from pervious testing days and augurs well in the run up to the European XC Championships on December 14th.

The session was led by National Junior Team Coaches Steven Macklin and Joe Ryan along with Geraldine Nolan. Thanks to all the athletes and personal coaches for their extremely positive attitudes and work ethic shown on the day. A special thanks to the Sports Science team led by Stephen Cleary & Eoin Durcan, Athlone IT for the use of their facilities and Br John Dooley for his support.

The athletes on the panel and their personal coaches now use this valuable data to guide their training over the coming weeks, before the panel races at the Autumn Open Cross Country event on October 19th. This panel is not a closed book and any junior showing current form may be added to the panel in the coming weeks. Any junior not on the panel should attend the Autumn Open Cross Country race in the Phoenix Park on the 19th of October and prove form. The junior women will race over 2 miles and the junior men over 4 miles, so 1 lap shorter than the senior athletes. It promises to be a very competitive race and good preparation before the National Championships on Nov 23rd.