Athletics Ireland announce team for World Cross Country Championships Athletics Ireland has today announced a team of 22 athletes for the World Cross Country Championships, which take place in Edinburgh on the 30th of March. The full team was selected following Saturday’s Irish Inter Club Cross country Championships in Belfast. In the men’s senior team Cathal Lombard, who won Saturday’s race, has opted not to take part in the World Championships. The men’s team will be led by Alistair Cragg who took second place at the weekend. He will be joined on the team by Vinny Mulvey who finished 16 seconds behind Cragg in third place. Mulvey’s Raheny Shamrocks club-mate, Mick Clohissy, will also travel to Edinburgh after coming fourth in Belfast. Drogheda and District’s Keith Kelly is also included after he put in an impressive performance in America at the weekend clocking a 50.40 in a ten mile road race. Andrew Ledwith, who is also included in the nine man senior men’s team, was also in great form. The Fr. Murphy’s runner, who was running for Iona College, won both the 5000m and 3000m at the MAAC Indoor Championships in New York. The women’s team will be headed by Fionnuala Britton. The Sli Chulainn athlete was in top from again at the weekend as she won the women’s race in Belfast to retain her title. Britton came home a minute ahead of the 2006 winner Maria McCambridge, who will join her on the women’s team. McCambridge’s Dundrum South Dublin club-mate, Linda Byrne, who finished third on Saturday will also travel to Edinburgh. The senior women’s team is completed by Orla O’Mahony from Raheny Shamrocks, Deirdre Byrne from Sli Chulainn and Lagan Valley’s Suzanne McCormack. The men’s junior team will include six athletes. The winner of Saturday’s junior race, Michael Mulhare (North Laois AC), is included along with Togher’s Craig Murphy and Finn Valley’s Ian Ward, who came second and third respectively. David Flynn (Clonliffe Harriers), Liam Tremble (Metro/St. Brigid’s AC) and Patrick Hogan (Ferrybank AC) complete the men’s junior team. Sarah Louise Treacy from Moynalvey/Kilcoon AC will be the only Irish representative in the women’s junior section. Treacy finished third behind the Ffrench O’Carroll twins, Charlotte and Rebecca, on Saturday but the Dundrum South Dublin runners are unable to compete due to exams. Anne Keenan Buckley, Irish Team Manager, is reasonably happy with the team. “We feel that we have a decent team given the amount of athletes that were forced to pull out one way or the other. With Fionnuala back to her best and Maria also hitting form the women could do quite well. “The senior men is an area where we have been particularly unlucky. Martin Fagan is one who expressed a clear interest in competing in the Worlds but unfortunately his hip injury still isn’t right and it’ll be another few weeks before we see him training. We also missed out on talented lads like Joe Sweeney and Gary Murray, but it is an excellent opportunity for some of the lads to run with Alistair, his experience will be of huge benefit to us. It’s very disappointing not being able to send a full junior women’s team to Edinburgh. We lost out on the Ffrench-O’Carroll’s due to exam pressures and Ciara Mageean we feel at 15-years-old would benefit more from competing at the National Schools Championship. The junior men is certainly a very talented group. All of the these lads ran superbly on Saturday on a very demanding track in testing weather so this is an area we hope can perform well both here and at the World Juniors. Overall it is quite disappointing to loose 50% of your first choice athletes but being Olympic year and having a number of injuries it has fallen that way. The team we have going to Scotland is full of talent and can hopefully do well,” Keenan-Buckley said on the team announcement. Irish Team – World Cross Country Championships – Edinburgh, Scotland 30th March 2008 Senior Men: Alistair Cragg Clonliffe Harriers Vinny Mulvey Raheny Shamrocks Mick Clohissey Raheny Shamrocks Chris Cariss Cloniffe Harriers Brian Maher Kilkenny City Harriers Paul McNamara Athenry AC Gary Thornton Galway City Harriers Andrew Ledwith Fr. Murphy AC Keith Kelly Drogheda & District AC Senior Women: Fionnuala Britton Slí Chulainn Maria McCambridge Dundrum South Dublin Linda Byrne Dundrum South Dublin Orla O’Mahoney Raheny Shamrocks Deirdre Byrne Slí Chulainn Suzanne McCormack Lagan Valley AC Junior Men: Michael Mulhare North Laois AC Craig Murphy Togher AC Ian Ward Finn Valley AC David Flynn Clonliffe Harriers Liam Tremble Metro/St. Brigid’s AC Patrick Hogan Ferrybank AC Junior Women: Sarah Louise Treacy Moynalvey/Kilcoon AC