Obiri dominates field at NI International Cross Country

The 32-year-old Obiri from Kenya was competing in the Northern Ireland International Cross Country meeting at the Billy Neill MBE Country Park at Dundonald. The event was part of the World Athletics Silver Cross Country Tour and incorporated the Celtic Games, Home Countries and the British Cross Challenge.

The large, appreciative crowd could not quite believe how easily the double World 5,000m champion dominated the opposition when treating the difficult, hilly but firm course as almost a minor inconvenience.

Hellen’s powerful, assertive stride had opened a 50m lead after just one lap of the 8k race with the only debate being how far she would finish ahead of some top UK and Irish internationals. Behind Obiri a large group was contesting rostrum places. This included the Scottish trio of Mhairi MacLennan, Scout Adkin and Megan Keith plus England’s double Euro silver medallist Kate Avery and teammate Eleanor Bolton and Northern Ireland’s own, Hannah Irwin, who had been inspired by her recent impressive fourth in the Cardiff Challenge.

As the race progressed double Olympic silver medallist Obiri’s all-powerful stride never faltered. She further increased her lead to some 150m, which translated to a huge 19 seconds winning margin at the tape.

Behind her a battle royal had developed between Irwin and MacLennan who had finished a credible eighth in this event in 2019. The diminutive Irwin eventually broke her Scottish opponent on the steep hills to take 2nd place by a close 3 seconds, with MacLennan in third.

England’s Bolton was fourth with NI’s Grace Carson an outstanding ninth. NI’s Fionnuala Ross was also well up in 13th with teammate Catherina Mullen 17th.

Afterwards the softly spoken Obiri said she was happy to be in the province for the first time. She thought the course was difficult but good as it challenged everyone. The affable Hellen then proceeded to make herself freely available for autographs and photo shots. Her agent said her sole UK appearance simply came down to Dundonald fitting in with her carefully planned schedule.

An ecstatic Irwin who is the NI 5,000m champion said: “I loved the course and held back for two laps to see what would happen. I gave it a real go at the end to snatch second from Mhiari. This is my best ever cross country result beating my fourth place in Cardiff. I’m now aiming for good indoor times and hope eventually to get Commonwealth consideration standard times at either 5,000 or 10,000m.”

The Men’s 10k event was a much closer affair with a large group contesting the lead for much of the race. Eventually a trio broke away comprising England’s Zak Mahamed, Italy’s Iliass Ouani and Scotland’s Stuart McCallum.

It was obvious at the start of the last lap that Mahamed was running with ease. He finished a classy ninth recently in the Dublin European Championships and took the Junior title at Dundonald in 2019.

He stormed away over the final mile and had a seven seconds advantage over Ouani at the finish with McCallum a further seven seconds back.

Best NI finisher was Finn McNally in an impressive ninth place.

If you missed the day’s action, you can watch the live stream coverage of the full day on the Athletics NI Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57HaSXGR1dY&t=5s