Tough course in Belfast is real test for runners By the end of today’s racing at the Queens Playing Fields in Belfast the vast majority of athletes knew they had been in a race. The Woodie’s DIY Inter Club cross country championships returned to the course that hosted the World cross country championships in 1999. That day was a wet one, but thankfully the rain that was forecast did not materialise. It was, however, cold when the sun disappeared. The junior race showed just how tough and demanding the course was. Many of the leaders collapsed over the line. A tough uphill section was covered with sand making it more of a sand dune than a section of a cross country course. You needed to be ultra fit to handle the conditions. Track runners found it particularly tough. Fionnuala Britton from Sli Cualann led the pack for most of the first of four laps, but then started racing. Over the course of the second lap she was away on her own. From then on it was her against the course. And she made it look so easy as she raced un-challenged to a superb victory. Sixty six seconds was her margin of victory over Maria McCambidge (DSD) in second with clubmate Linda Byrne a further twenty one second in arrears. DSD won the team title. The senior men had six laps of the course to cover. For them it was survival of the fittest. The usual big group were together for the first lap before Vinny Mulvey (Raheny), Alistair Cragg (Clonliffe) and Cathal Lombard (Leevale) made their presence felt at the head of affairs. By the end of the second lap it was Cragg and Lombard who dominated and they gradually opened on the chasing group. The third lap saw Lombard push the pace strongly and he opened a slight lead on his rival, and this lead increased very slightly over the next lap. On the fifth lap everything changed as Lombard reacted best to the conditions and really started to open on Cragg. At one stage the gap was over twenty seconds. On the final lap it was very obvious that Lombard was not going to be caught and he raced on to take his first inter club title after finishing second, third, fourth and fifth in previous years. Cragg closed the gap to eight seconds by the line but had to be content with second on this occasion, with Mulvey third. Clonliffe won the team title. The junior women had three laps of the course and the lad group was quickly whittled down to three, with the Ffrench O’Carroll twins, Charlotte and Rebecca (DSD) sharing the lead with Sara Treacy (Moyvalvey/Kilcloon). The twins were the stronger and they dropped Treacy on the last lap before Charlotte struck for home to win with eleven seconds t spare over her sister. DSD were the team winners. The junior men really gave it everything during the course of their race. Michael Mulhare (North Laois) and Craig Murphy (Togher) had the second half of the race to themselves after breaking clear before halfway. Mulhare kept pressing forward and gradually opened a lead on Murphy, a lead that he held all the way to the line. Murphy rallied in the closing stages and closed significantly but it was not enough. Both runners collapsed over the line but were fully recovered in no time. David Flynn (Clonliffe) and Ian Ward (Finn Valley) fought a terrific battle for the bronze medal before Ward got up in the last few strides to win the medal. St. Malachy’s won the team title.