It’s still only September, but as the lights go down on the soggy summer of 2011, the thoughts of Novices young and old are drawn towards one thing, the new Cross Country season. It’s time for road weary runners to start raiding sheds and attics to resurrect those old weather beaten spikes from last season. Many first timers will be planning to visit their local Sports Specialist to purchase their very first pair of spikes. The 2011-2012 season kicks off with the County Novice, U23 & Masters Cross Country on Sunday 9th of October at Conna in the northeast of the County. The County Junior & Senior Cross Country is scheduled for the hills of Bandon on Sunday 6th of November. No date has yet been fixed for the County Intermediate & Masters Cross Country.
Following on a succession of bad, or well below performance summers, fairness only demands that we be in line for a bad winter. I’m talking really bad, like weeks and weeks of above average temperatures, hopelessly low levels of cloud cover with incessant sunshine and little or no precipitation, gauges on oil tanks all over the country frozen on full, people having to cancel fuel deliveries, Electricity and Gas bills going through the floor. Wishful thinking! You see, only summers are bad, Irish winters never fail to put in a good performance.