Club Derry and Springwell Athletics Club launch Owenbeg Cross Country races
Springwell Running Club, assisted by sponsorship from sports company O’Neill’s, are hosting what promises to be an exciting day of cross country running at Derry GAA’s Owenbeg Centre on January 17.
In collaboration with Club Derry, there is an extensive programme of races including male and female senior races that also incorporate the U20 and Masters (O35) contests.
“We’re very excited to bring another top class cross country fixture to the north west after the success of the national championships at Templemore Sports Complex in November,” said Colin Loughrey, meeting director and Springwell RC officer, “The impressive Owenbeg grounds are the perfect location for the event and hark back over a century to when the GAA hosted its own cross country championships.”
Caroline Casey, manager of the O’Neill’s store in Derry, echoed those sentiments: “As a long-standing supporter of grassroots and county sport, we are delighted to be involved in an event that celebrates local athletics and community participation.
“We’re also excited to welcome the media into our Derry store for this press launch, bringing together organisers, Club Derry representatives, and Springwell Running Club to mark the launch of the event and highlight the importance of supporting sport at all levels. We have no doubt it will be a fantastic event at Owenbeg,” she concluded.
The Club Derry representative Gerry Loughrey was also enthusiastic about what is a new venture for his organisation: “We’re constantly expanding and are pleased to enter into a new sports arena, cross country, a sport where Ireland excels on the international stage, as we saw at the European Championships in Portugal just a few weeks ago."
Links between cross country and the GAA were once firmly established. The GAA held cross country championships annually from 1902-1915 with Tim Crowe the last man to win the title. Crowe was born in Dundrum, Tipperary and in 1926 accompanied the Premier County’s All-Ireland winning hurling team as trainer on a tour of the USA. The versatile and talented Crowe was also an accomplished musician. The horse ‘Tipperary Tim’ which won the 1928 Grand National is said to be named after him.
More recently leading Ulster athletes Nick Griggs, an under-age footballer at Brackaville Owen Roes, and Ciara Mageean, a Portaferry and Down camóg, have come from a GAA background. In Derry, Patsy McChrystal, whose family was almost synonymous with the Dolan’s club for many years, was an Ulster champion at cross country and on the track.
Tyrone and Ardboe legend Patsy Forbes turned to sprinting late in life and still; holds many sprint records in the older age groups and Down’s Mickey Linden also showed an impressive turn of speed to win national Masters’ titles after his football career.
In Armagh Jim Vallely was a noted inter-county star in the 1940s as well as national pole vault champion. The latter was also the discipline of Tom McGuinness, a member of the Derry team that won back to back Ulster titles in 1975-1976, and former footballer of the year Stephen O’Neill can still be seen in spikes from time to time in his native Tyrone.
The Springwell programme opens with U11 races for both boys and girls at 11am and concludes with the senior men’s race at 2.15pm. Entries for the meeting are currently being accepted at https://in.njuko.com with all competitors promised a customised bobble hat by the sponsors and Club Derry are providing a hearty helping of well-deserved stew after the race at its prestigious headquarters.