The 2009 Connacht Championships were held on the Finner sand dunes between Ballyshannon and Bundoran in Co. Donegal on Sunday 30th November. Seven BOC members braved the weather and the distance and travelled to the event. Despite the recent severe rain and flooding, running conditions on the day were very good, and despite the cold weather some very good time were seen. The dunes were fast, but the numerous unmarked paths throughout meant that careful running was needed. The best navigational features were tall dunes with loose sand, marked with yellow on the map. These features were highly visible and great catching features. The longer courses used the entire complex dune network with the shorter courses sticking to the main path network.
An outstanding run by CorkO's Brian Corbett saw him win the M21 Long race by 35 seconds from CNOC's Colm Hill, in the closest finish of the day, with Gerard Butler (3ROC 3rd). In the W21 Long Maeve O'Grady (DFO) took an impressive first place ahead of Ciara Largey (FermO) and Ruth Lynam (CNOC).
Once again BOC members ran impressively with a number of solid runs and finishes. Paul O’Sullivan-Hourihan once again took third place in a major Championship in the M45 category, ahead of John O’Donovan (7th). Sons Josh (M18) and Zac (M12) finished 4th and 5th respectively. Other BOC Juniors, Christine O’Donovan (W18) and Alex Simonin (M16) also finished impressively taking 2nd and 5th places in their respective categories. Sharon Lucey also took 5th spot in the W21L competition.
Once again, Frank Ryan and his usual
A full set of results can be found here
