Irish team to race at second annual New Balance Ocean State XC Invitational

The field for this weekend's New Balance Ocean State Cross Country Invitational at Goddard Memorial State Park in Warwick will have an international flavor with the addition of a team from Ireland.

To learn more about the team, here is a Q&A with coach Jackie Matthews:

Q: What is the name of your team?
A: The team of athletes are students at Scoil Uí Mhuirí, Dunleer, Co. Louth, Ireland. Unfortunately the school website is under construction so no website at the moment. The school is a mixed post primary school with approximately 400 students.

Photo courtesy of Jackie Matthews.

Q: Where are you from?
A: We are from the village of Dunleer in County Louth. The village is situated between Drogheda and Dundalk in Leinster, 45 minutes north of Dublin on the east coast and about 40 minutes from the border with Northern Ireland.

Q: How many runners are you bringing?
A: I am bringing 26 athletes. I have a mixed team of sprinters, throwers, jumpers and runners. They have all commited to training to do a cross country race, because they see how important cardiovascular fitness is as well as mastering technical events. Of course they all want to travel together to the USA!

Q: What brings you to this race?
A: 2 years ago, I brought a bus load of students to Galway to support one of our local athletes who was running 7 marathons in 7 days across Ireland to raise awareness of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome and funds for Heart House, the first family screening clinic in Ireland. The students enjoyed the experience running on the road accompanying our marathon runner David Carrie for short runs, and decided that they woud like to do more travelling and running. I know Charlie as he is a former member of Dunleer Athletic Club. I am the secretary and one of the coaches, and I am on the committee that organises Rás na hÉireann International cross country in Dunleer. Charlie is the élite athlete co-ordinator and organises the athletes to come to Ireland for our race.

Q: Has your team ever made a similar trip to the United States?
A: We have never done a trip like this before.We have been involved in lots of European projects over the years, Comenius projects, exchanges with Germany, summer camps in Austria, E-twinning with France etc., but we have never been on a school trip to the USA. Another local school St. Josephs CBS did make the trip 2 or 3 years ago and competed in the Downtown 5k. The athletes had a great time and inspired us to organise a similar trip.

Posted by Carolyn Thornton  at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)