42 year wait over as Tuam hosts big athletics event

Inside Track with John McIntyre

Tuam and County Galway is all set to host the All-Ireland cross country inter-county championships for the first time in 42 years on Sunday, February 14, and with home advantage Galway team manager Ian Egan is hoping the Tribes can claim its first gold medal in 30 years at the event.

No doubt, Egan is excited about the prospect of the championship returning to Tuam, albeit a different venue. When Galway secured gold in 1986 the competition was held in the old Tuam Racecourse but, on this occasion, it will be the Palace Grounds that will host the event.

A noted runner himself, senior men’s and women’s team boss Egan believes the various Galway teams could be the ‘dark horses’ of the championships for a number of reasons. First and foremost is that this is a new date for the competition – a date that could potentially suit home athletes.

“The inter-counties have always been hosted by different clubs around the country but it has always been run in the last Sunday of November,” outlines Egan. “However, because of declining numbers with the other All-Ireland competition – the inter-clubs – they swapped things around.

“So, the inter-clubs were moved to the inter-county dates and vice versa. With the change in date, it could mean a lot of top level athletes will be heading down the road of track or marathon racing and might not show this competition the respect they should. Their focus might be elsewhere,” he says.

It certainly makes sense with 2016 an Olympic year but he also recognises Galway will have it all to do to win its first cross country gold medal in three decades. That said, Galway has its talent too and although he will not be finalising his final squads for another few days, he still fires out a number of local names who could have a major impact at the championships.

In the men’s, these include Galway City Harriers’ Gary Thornton, who is using this as part of his prep work in his bid for Olympic qualification in the marathon, his GCH team-mates Keith Fallon, Matt Bidwell, Michael O’Connor and captain Gerry Carty and Craughwell AC trio Peter O’Sullivan, Jason Broderick and Gerry Ryan.

“Gerry was on the winning team 30 years ago so for him to be participating would be phenomenal. That is longevity beyond the beyond,” praises Egan, who reveals in the men’s section 15 athletes can be chosen but only the top six scores will count from the 12 runners nominated to compete in the team section.

In the women, 11 can run but only four scores will count from the eight nominated. While, unfortunately, GCH’s Regina Casey does not run cross country, Galway should still be strong with the likes of captain Siobhan Egan, Athenry AC’s Jane Anne Meehan and Dublin-based Marie Hyland committing.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.