Britton to take place but Murray declines

ATHLETICS/National Inter-club championships:Strange how Athletics Ireland can get it so right for one championship and so wrong for the next. After a European Indoors that ended in such glowing celebration there's an obvious sense of frustration surrounding the World Cross Country, where, incredibly, Fionnuala Britton will be the sole Irish representative.

Saturday's National Inter-club championships at Sligo racecourse doubled as the final trail, with the two senior winners guaranteed selection and possibly others if they impressed enough.

Britton definitely impressed in winning the women's title and now deservedly travels to Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa, which next Saturday week plays host to the World Cross Country championship for the first time.

Gary Murray was just as impressive in winning the men's race, and probably more satisfied too given the two years of injury he'd endured since winning the title for the first time in 2005. But he has no intention of going to Kenya, and labelled Athletics Ireland's planning for the event as a "shambles".

It's not just that Murray has less than two weeks to peak again for that race; he'll also need inoculations, before even considering the matter of acclimatisation.

Kenya staged their own trials in Mombasa back on February 25th and several contenders dropped out because of the intense heat and humidity.

"There's no way this could possibly be part of the plan now," said Murray after Saturday's victory, executed with great style and determination in the last 3km of the 12km race. "Athletics Ireland has made a shambles of it. We need injections for a start and would have needed to be preparing since January. And like the British are doing, somewhere warm right now. So there's not a hope I'll be going, and I'm sure they're well aware of that."

The Donegal man certainly wasn't courting controversy, and it was his coach, David Burke, who interjected to say Murray had also lost all his grant aid over the last year. Burke in fact coaches four of Saturday's top five senior men - the others being the runner-up, Mark Kenneally, David Kelly (fourth) and Brian Maher (fifth).

Joe Sweeney was third.

"This just doesn't send out positive signals at all," said Burke, who spent three months as Athletics Ireland's endurance-events coach before promptly resigning over lack of support.

"I can understand that we probably don't have a strong-enough team at the moment to justify sending one out there, with all the expense involved. But from next year there should be a trial at the start of February, and then go away to South Africa for four weeks. Like where the British are right now. If we're serious about the sport, that is."

Athletics Ireland were willing to send Kenneally or Sweeney instead of Murray, but they too declined given the impossible time constraints. Britton is therefore left as the only Irish runner travelling to Kenya, where this year the World Cross country also returns to its traditional long-course race only.

Given her superb form at the moment Britton is well capable of mixing it with the best in the world, but she's had to be a little bold in her planning and in fact received the necessary injections several weeks ago. "I do want to go out and test myself against the best," said the Wicklow woman, still only 22 and displaying fast-increasing potential. "That's what you're here for. There's no point in winning the national championships and saying that's it. You have to go against everyone else.

"But now that it's back to the one race again it's hard to know what to expect. I've taken the injections, yeah, but it still did depend on today, and that went to plan. It wasn't that easy. Like I didn't even expect to win."

Yet the way Britton eased away from the local Sligo favourite Mary Cullen in the closing stages of the 8km race - tearing up a deceptively steep incline - was the latest evidence of her total dominance of the sport in Ireland, and a top 25-finish in Kenya looks well within her reach.

For Irish team manager Ann Keenan-Buckley, herself a World Cross Country competitor on numerous occasions, the situation can only be improved. "These dates were set before I took over as manager," she said, "but I have recommended an earlier trial for next year, and certainly this year's championships are too close to the World Cross Country. And to run another 12km race in under two weeks' time is not logical. "

Both junior races produced champions that oozed class and potential, with recent schools champion John Coghlan displaying great courage and determination to win the junior men (a race his famous father never won) while Rebecca Ffrench O'Carroll, in the absence of twin sister Charlotte, won the junior women to lead her club Dundrum to the team prize.