Dublin City University's Fionnuala Britton finished in sixth place to lead her Irish team mates to fourth place in the women’s team event at the World University Cross Country Championships. A fine run from UCC's Orla Drumm saw her in the top 15 at the finish and with Britton's DCU club mate Linda Byrne finishing close behind in twentieth. Ireland ensured themselves fourth place which sealed Ireland's best ever performance at these championships. Jill Shannon and Azmera Gebrezgi completed the Irish team in 25th and 35th place respectively. With local favourite Souad Ait-Salem taking gold, Kate Reed and Eleanor Baker of Great Britain took home the silver and bronze medals respectively. Britain captured the gold in the team standings when Hatti Dean came home in fourth place. The men's team improved their position from the previous championships in Turin where DCU's Ian Chaney and Eoin Higgins improved their standings by 19 and 25 places respectively. UCD's Alan McCormack lifted his ranking by 24 places also. Irish Manager Teresa McDaid was happy with the results, "Overall a great performance from all of our athletes, especially our ladies team. To get three athletes into the top 20 in such a quality field, with all five in the top thirty five is a great achievement. "We knew the British team would be very strong, and we would have to chase them today, we are happy with the result, unfortunately we fell one step short of a medal "Our men produced their best performance at these championships also, with Ian, Eoin and Alan all vastly improving their rankings from Turin two years ago. UCD's Michael Clohisey was the highest finisher, and as a first year will be around for the next Championships in 2008 in France.
Official Results | |||
Womens Classifications | |||
1st | AIT-SALEM, SOUAD | ALG | 18’ 54’’ |
2nd | REED, Kate | GBR | 19’ 04’’ |
3rd | BAKER, Eleanor | GBR | 19’ 33’’ |
6th | BRITTON, Fionnuala | IRL | 20’ 03’’ |
15th | DRUMM, Orla | IRL | 20’ 20’’ |
20th | BYRNE, Linda | IRL | 20’ 27’’ |
25th | SHANNON, Jill | IRL | 20’ 44’’ |
35th | GEBREZGI, Azmera | IRL | 21’ 34’’ |
Team Event: Great Britain (1st), Algeria (2nd), Italy (3rd), Ireland (4th) | |||
Men's Classification | |||
1st | FADIL, Mohamed | MOR | 27’ 59’’ |
2nd | LAMACHI, Abdelkebir | MOR | 28’ 10’’ |
3rd | AZZOUZI, ABDELAZIZ | MOR | 28’ 21’’ |
30th | CLOHISEY, Michael | IRL | 29’ 42’’ |
38th | HIGGINS, Eoin | IRL | 30’ 07’’ |
47th | KIRWAN, Mark | IRL | 30’ 45’’ |
56th | CHANEY, Ian | IRL | 31’ 03’’ |
59th | MCCORMACK, Alan | IRL | 31’ 17’’ |
61st | BAILEY, Aidan | IRL | 31’ 25’’ |
Team Event: Morocco (1st), Algeria (2nd), Spain (3rd), Ireland (9th) | |||
