Report Courtesy of John McSweeny of Galway City Harriers

Despite the forecasts threatening dire weather conditions earlier in the week, the Inter-counties Senior XC races took place in reasonably good weather conditions on Sligo Race Course on Sunday afternoon. With Jerry Ryan not travelling, the Galway county team were always going to be struggling to have six runners scoring well enough to be in the medals. The race started with the leaders going off at great pace on a downhill part of the five-lap course. I positioned myself near the top of the steepest climb near the end of this lap. Donegal’s Gary Murray and Dublin’s Mark Kenneally were always to the front with favourite Murray, both National XC champion and 1500 metres track champion, looking the most comfortable. Not far behind in the early stages were Garry Thornton [about 7th or 8th] with Paul McNamara 4 or 5 places further back. This was a brave run by Thornton, who just about got inside the top 20 in previous performances in this race. After a few laps, Murray had pulled away at the front despite Dublin XC champion Robert Connolly appearing to challenge for a while. [I learned later Connolly actually stopped, had a “breather” and finished in the 30’s!] Kenneally looked like he had settled for second place (and automatic selection for the European XC next month) in the later stages of the race. Third place however was not decided until the final lap. Local man, David Kelly, was having a great run and was in the bronze medal position as he raced up the final hill past my vantage point, with the pain etched on his face. However, Belfast’s Gareth Turnbull was only about 10 metres behind and there was what could be described as a determined grin on his face as he powered up the hill in his first championship race for 2 years. Even though the finish line was only about 400 metres away, it was obvious that Turnbull, a strong 1500 metre runner, would take Kelly before the finish. Meanwhile, as expected, the experienced McNamara had been gr