Hard sport for hardy people

'You can't hide in cross country'
Donie Walsh, December 13, 2009, Santry
Sunday December 20 2009

Consider Mo Farah. Born in Somalia, running for England, back from altitude training in Kenya. Former European Cross Country champion, current European Indoor 3,000m champion, top six finisher in world 5,000m championships. Probably one of the fittest human beings in Europe. Yet when he crossed the line at the end of the European Cross Country Championships in Santry Demesne last Sunday in second place, he collapsed into unconsciousness. All of a sudden this magnificent athletic machine was as helpless as a baby, his legs powerless, his arms useless, his system crushed by the race he'd just run. Carried from the track on a stretcher, he hadn't even recovered by the time of the medal presentation. It doesn't matter who you are, cross country is brutal stuff.

Then there was the world-class young female athlete who had to beg the indulgence of the journalists while she clutched her stomach and vomited long and hard at the end of her race. There were athletes being helped from the finish line to the mixed zone. And toughest of all was the lonely agony of Deirdre Byrne.

What's Seldom Is Wonderful

Irish athletics doesn't often figure on the media radar these days. There's a huge fuss around the Olympics, of course, and a somewhat lesser one about the world championships. But being the hosts of the European Cross Country was a bonus, an opportunity to make converts, to give good but under-rated athletes a rare day in the sun.