February 1-4, Dunleer Ireland
A trio of New England runners performed well at a pair of races in Ireland over the weekend. Based on their placing at the New England cross country championships in November, Mark Miller (BAA), Ian Marcus (Gr.Springfield Harriers), and Ben Schmeckpepper (BAA) earned a trip oversees to compete in the Armagh Road Race and the Ras na hEireann international cross country competition, and represented the region and the USA well with their efforts.
The international opportunity, created by race director Charlie Breagy has been going on for 10 years. Breagy, the affable Irishman who is the director of the CVS Downtown 5K in Providence which is the USA Championship for the distance, oversees the Ras na hEireann from this side of the Atlantic; the race is organized by his long-time competitive club, the Dunleer AC.
The competition week began at the 17th Armagh Road Race, the final event of two hours of competition on the Aragh City centre park mall. Miller led the closely bunched New Englanders in 14:35 for 13th over the multiple loop 5K, followed steps later by Marcus (14:37/15th) and Schmeckpepper (14:38/16th) in the 196 runner men’s race. The first two teamed with race winner American Christian Hesch (14:07) to score as the third international team.
Three days later, on February 4 at the Ras na hEireann international cross country festival in County Lough, the trio reversed their order exactly in the highly competitive field. Ben led the way in 7th (19:08, just 7 seconds out of fourth), followed by Ian (10th, 19:18) and Mark (12th, 19:22). The combined placings scored a close third among the five international squads, earning a set of team medals. The invitational field 6K race, which dates back to 1970, was won by Irish champion and world competitor Seamus Power in 18:32.
Find more information about these events at the Ras na hEireann website.
