1998 Mountain Running Worlds at Ile de la Reunion

Donore's Mark Doyle had the best of a torrid time for the Irish teams in the World Mountain Running Championships at Ile de la Réunion in the Indian Ocean on the weekend of the 19th/20th September. The doughty Irishtown runner finished in 21^st place and led home the Irish Junior men's team to 8^th place in the Junior championships on the picturesque volcanic island. Go to Junior Men's Results.

While most other runners struggled on the high proportion of manmade earthen steps which dominated the race route - many athletes said "Mountain running? Where's the running?" - Mark strode past his Irish team mates on the steep step section to finish with his best ever position in this, his record fifth Worlds. The Donore athlete first represented Ireland in Berchtesgaden, Germany in 1994 and went on to appear in a green vest in Edinburgh, Telfes, Male Svatonovice, and now Réunion. Mark is now looking forward to a world record 6^th appearance in the Junior section of the Worlds in Malaysia in 1999.

Behind Mark, Gary Thornton of Galway found the rough conditions did not suit his track speed; still he finished in a good 28^th place. John Campbell of Longford took the final team scoring place in 42^nd spot and ensured that Ireland finished in 8^th place in the team event. Limerick's Barry O'Callaghan finished closely behind him in 44^th place.

Earlier, the first appearance by an Irish Junior Women's team in the Worlds was somewhat fraught. The promised inspection of the race route came to naught. The bus which was to deliver us up to an accessible point to walk the course arrived two hours late. This, unfortunately, proved not to be an isolated incident, and was a common experience shared with many teams during the weekend. With our late arrival only a day before the race, it proved impossible for the Junior Women's team to access their route. Hampered by lack of knowledge of their course which featured an even higher proportion of earthen steps in it than any of the other courses, the Irish girls struggled.

Roscommon runner Amanda Hanly proved the best of the Irish in 25^th place. Amanda's experience of a number of different hill races in Ireland no doubt helped her and inured her to the surprise experience of the long flights of steps. However, courses for mountain races should be runnable and not a judge of an athlete's ability at Step Aerobics. Amanda proved the toughest over the difficult terrain and fended off the challenge of Midleton's Olga Cronin in 26^th place and Thurles runner Madeline Dorney in 29^th. The Irish girls finished in 10^th place in the team competition, but all of them are eligible to compete in Malaysia next year where their speed and descending ability should have an opportunity to prosper.

The bus factor also came into play on the day of the races. On the Saturday, there were to be two buses to take us up to the start. The first for the Junior Men and junior Women and the second for the Senior Women whose race was the last of on the day. The first bus arrived on time. The two Junior teams and the officials piled in and headed off. An hour later, the second bus was supposed to arrive to take the Senior women up to the start of their race. Needless to say, it didn’t.

Frantic chivvying by the women managed to persuade another guide to wake up her aged mother to bring a car to the hotel. Mother was left on the side of the road as her daughter and the four Irish runners piled into the little Peugeot and chugged off up the mountain. They arrived some 15 minutes before the start, warmed up and then discovered that two other countries had also been left behind. The race was then delayed for a further 30 minutes. When it started, the Irish girls who had heard tales of what awaited them found out it was all true. Teresa Duffy flew off with Margaret Synott until they were bottlenecked at the steps. Passing was extremely difficult and eventually Teresa finished in 33rd place. However, it was her first ever mountain race and should stand her in good stead for her first marathon in Dublin. The race was won by Dita Hebelkova (Czech Rep.), Margaret finished 47th, Una Creagh 53rd and Anne O’Kearney McMullan 56th. The team was 14th.

In the Senior Men's race held the following day. Jonathan Wyatt, the New Zealand cross country champion, who turned down his place in the Commonwealth Games squad blasted away from the start and exultantly took gold. John Lenihan was best of the Irish after what he felt was a bad run. "I went backwards in the middle of the race" the former World Champion said, "however, I came back in the later stages and passed eleven of them in the final 3 kilometres. It’s a pity about the fifty that passed me in the middle." John finished 58th

Irish Half Marathon champ Gerry McGrath was next in 73rd place after a tough battle with former Irish Orienteering champion Aongus O’Cleirigh only 12 seconds behind after cramping up in the final kilometre. Kevin Thompson (91st) was the fourth and final scorer for the team which left us in 14th place in the team race. The Italians packed well to take team gold. Our final two runners Colm Rothery and Jonathan Lamont found the going extremely tough in their first major international outing. They finished 95th and 100th respectively.

OVERALL RESULTS