Kenneally best as Irish flop
Alemayehu Bezaheh (Spain) who returned to his native Morocco to prepare for the race upstaged the pre-race favourite, Mo Farah (Great Britain) who trained in Kenya for his bid to reclaim the title he won in 2006, with the eight-time champion, Sergiy Lebid (Ukraine) adding the bronze medal to his collection.
Down the field, Martin Fagan finished 26th, Alistair Cragg was 40th, Andrew Ledwith 41st, Sean Connolly 49th and Mick Clohissey 52nd.
Amidst all the pre-race hype, Kenneally promised to be competitive, to be aggressive and to give himself the best possible chance of a good placing in what was his sixth time to take part in the event.
He worked his way into a challenging position and while a medal was never a possibility, his promise of a top 10 placing was quickly realised as he moved up to ninth and then finished strongly for eighth. Only Martin Fagan who was seventh a couple of years ago in Toro bettered that placing although Cragg equalled it on his debut in 2002.
“A couple of weeks ago I had a poor run in the inter-counties and wanted to put that right today and I am just so happy to have run like I feel I can,” said the 28-year-old Clonliffe Harrier, who holds down a full-time job as a physiotherapist.
“I said I would get out aggressively and just hang on. The last two laps were torture but you must do that to make your mark. I mean, that last 500 metres I just had to dig in because when you have that sort of crowd screaming for you then there will be no holding back. You give it everything.”
Seventeen-year-old Ciara Mageean was competing in the junior women’s race for the second time – she has two years left at this level – when she finished ninth behind the favourite Karoline Bjerkell Grovdal (Norway) in the junior women’s race.
“I finished 17th last year so I definitely wanted to do better than that,” she said.
“I got out fast because I did not want to get stuck in the hustle and bustle back in the field and then have to fight my way forward. In a cross-country race I don’t gamble. I knew there was a group in front of me and I just kept going until I caught them. Then I tried to push on by them to get to the next group.
“I’ll take all the positives and learn from the negatives. I am disappointed. I am always disappointed until I come first. That’s the competitive nature in me.”
Ryan Creech walked into the mixed zone and declared he will win the junior race next year. He had finished 40th and was the leading Irish runner.
The 17-year-old Corkman – he will be 18 next week – had just battled his way through the pain barrier with a dislocated hip.
“I was injured for a year and a half and then I put out my hip last week,” he said. “But nothing was going to stop me from running here. It was so important to me. I am disappointed but, under the circumstances I have to be happy. I am going to win this race next year.”
His coach, legendary cross-country runner Donie Walsh, did not disagree. “We just need some injury-free training. Next year we want to get his track times down. You need fast times on the track for a race like this. Ryan is a natural distance runner. He is one of the most natural guys I’ve seen running – he lopes along – you can’t coach that to a fellow. You either have it or you don’t.”
Roseanne Galligan was thrilled with her 15th placing in the U23 women’s race with Dubliner, Breffni Twohig, just two places back.
“I was 21st last year and I wanted to do better,” she said. “My coach said it would be hard to be in the top 15. I am in the best shape I’ve been in this year and I am just using this cross-country race for my track season next year, indoors and stuff, so it is good.”
But there was no one happier than Michael Mulhare from Portlaoise after finishing 18th in the U23 men’s race.
“I came through nicely,” he said. “I went a bit too early and then I suffered on the last lap. This is only my first year as an U23 and it was great to make the top 20.”
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