Over the past two weeks members of the Irish senior team have been in France and Switzerland taking part in the WOC 2011 training camp and the World Cup final races. The first leg of the trip was held near Annecy in France. A night sprint in Annecy old town was fast and furious, and the O'Boyle siblings placed best of the Irish (Niamh in 4th place and Seamus in 23rd - full results here). 6 Irish men competed in the World Cup long distance race but unfortunately due to time constraints only 3 managed to finish the course. The other 3 were in the air flying back to Dublin before the competition was even over! Darren finished best of the Irish men in 79th position, while Niamh was the sole Irish women's representative finishing in 53rd place. The full results are here.
Niamh and Darren continued to Geneva to take part in the last races of the 2010 World Cup. The middle distance on Saturday was relevant for WOC 2012 and was a steep, forested area near St. Cergue. It was a miracle that Niamh made the start line with a number of injuries plaguing her - a cocktail of anti-inflammatories, heat treatment and ice ensuring that she made it to the start line. A reasonable run left her in 45th place. Darren had a solid run to finish in 62nd place but had two silly mistakes and a bad route choice. Full results here and maps here. Running in the national sprint race on Sunday, Niamh took 8th place in the old streets of Geneva while Darren finished 24th (results should appear here). In the World Cup sprint, Daniel Hubmann and Simone Niggli were victorious. The courses for the World Cup sprint can be seen here.
In the overall World Cup for 2010, Swiss superstars Simone Niggli and Daniel Hubmann took victory. Overall classification for 2010 is here.
A busy week and plenty to think about (while eating pain au chocolat...) for WOC 2011! Next up for the Irish seniors is the Senior Home International in England on 6th and 7th of November.
