European Masters 2025 - Nicolosi, Sicily, Italy
Forum Messages
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Brendan Lawlor | Apr 4 2025, 12:51pm | The European and World Masters Hillrunning Championships have now been listed as events on the IMRA calendar. Thank you to Jeff Swords for this. We will add further information in the coming weeks and there are two very active Whats app groups to discuss travel logistics, accommodation, team formation, training etc. Please contact me on 0h87two432798 if you want to be included and to find out more information. We have had very strong Irish representation at these Championships over the past few years, with dozens of medals won across multiple age categories. We hope to continue this again this year so please get in contact if you are interested.. YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU!! |
| Brendan Lawlor | May 26 2025, 10:17am | Best of luck to all the Irish Masters athletes competing in Sicily at the European Masters Hillrunning Championships next weekend. Many athletes have already started arriving and early reports indicate it will be another fantastic trip with hopefully a few medals too ! |
| Brendan Lawlor | Jun 3 2025, 9:04am | Our Masters athletes were in action at the European Masters in Sicily last weekend with some amazing performances. Becky Quinn made up for her injury disappointment at last years World Masters by winning two F50 Gold medals, in both the Classic Up/Down 9km race and the Long 29km race. Becky also led the W50 team (herself, Karen Crean and Ann Marie Kenny) to a team bronze medal in the Classic race. Gerard Maloney won an individual bronze medal in the M65 category of the same Classic race and again led the M65 team (himself, Martin McDonald, who was also the Team Manager and Gerard Maloney) to an M65 team bronze. In the very challenging Vertical 4km race, Matt Alexander continued his fine form from last year to win the Gold medal in the M70 category. Several other Irish athletes competed across the three races of the weekend and congratulations and well done to them all. And then to top it off Mount Etna erupted on Monday after all the running activity on its lava coated slopes, providing all the competitors with more amazing photos and memories. Next up is the World Masters in Meduno, Italy at the end of August where we expect strong Irish representation again across all age categories ! |
| Sorcha Loughnane | Jun 3 2025, 9:19pm | Brilliant performances all round! Well done Becky and the whole team out there, wonderful inspiration for all us mature athletes! |
| Brendan Lawlor | Jun 3 2025, 10:49pm | CORRECTION The M65 team who won a bronze medal in the Classic race were Gerard Maloney, Martin McDonald and Gerard Down |
| David Dinsmore | Jun 5 2025, 11:53am | It was a great weekend in Nicolosi with an amazing performance from the Irish team which finished 9th in the medal table with three gold and three bronze. In any other sport RTE would have had camera crews at the airport to welcome home the athletes. We were up against huge teams from hosts Italy, who topped the medals table, Switzerland, Germany,etc. To perform as we did against such opposition is a fantastic achievement. But I can't help thinking that with a bit more recognition we could achieve so much more. Perhaps we could start by putting the results of the races up on the Results section of this site? All we've had so far has been Brendan's excellent summary here on the Forum. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to any Irish trail runner. As Matt showed in the Vertical, there are medals to be won, even if you have to crawl up a 4km sandhill to get them! |
| Brendan Lawlor | Jun 5 2025, 3:54pm | Hi David Here is a link to the results https://www.endu.net/en/events/emorrc/results |
| David Dinsmore | Jun 7 2025, 5:34pm | Thanks Brendan but I already knew the results. My point was that it would be worth posting them in the Results section of this website |
| Gerard Down | Yesterday, 10:10am | I think David is quite right - the Euro results should be published in the same way as other IMRA results are posted - we travelled and ran as IMRA members representiung IMRA and Ireland and as Masters IMRA runners |
| Eoin Keith | Yesterday, 10:41am | The results will not be put into the IMRA database. The IMRA database can only generate results for runners who are registered with IMRA. |
| Barry Murray | Yesterday, 11:52am | Looking back at previous masters, the results/or link to results were just published on the race report page. That at least gives them permanent visibility as opposed to just having the link on the forum. |
| Brendan Lawlor | Yesterday, 11:57am | Hi David and Gerard IMRA members represent Ireland at multiple international events each year and it would be completely unrealistic and an enormous task to publish results for each race using the IMRA database. As Barry has proposed I will add the race results link to a race report for the European Masters 2025 events page in due course. I’ll do the same for Meduno in due course too |
| Brendan Lawlor | Yesterday, 11:59am | David and Gerard Could I also ask you both to write a race report describing your experiences in Sicily as you were both lucky enough to be there |
| David Dinsmore | Yesterday, 4:11pm | Brendan asked for a report on this event so here goes! This was my first experience of masters running at this level and I didn't really know what to expect. The organisation was impressive. They seemed to have roped in every Italian police force - and there are plenty of them - to provide transport for the event. I had an exciting journey from the airport to Nicolosi in a Penetenciary Police minibus with motorcycle escorts and lights and sirens going all the way. Registration was easy and the B&B which the organisers had found for me was handy, only a short walk from the town centre. The athletes' parade to open the event was quite an eyeopener for me. Not quite the Olympics but impressive enough. I was amazed at the size and organisation of some of the teams, like the Swiss, Germans, French Italians and UK. All in uniforms, clearly sponsored and large teams. There were about 20 of us in the Irish contingent. What was also impressive was how the town seemed to have got behind the event. The central square was taken over for the weekend and meant there was a good atmosphere. Proceedings kicked off on Friday morning as we boarded more police buses for the trip to the start of the Classic Up and Down. Not suc h an exciting trip this time! Advertised as 9km the course turned out to be about 8.4. Quite challenging, with some climbs and several stretches of volcanic sand, so I was glad I'd taken the organisers' advice to wear gaiters. The Irish contingent performed well, with individual gold in W50, and individual and team bronze in M65 and bronze team in W50. The medal ceremony took place in the main square in the afternoon. It was quite a spectacle as the teams gathered to cheer the winners. I was impressed that each age group had equal status. It was a special moment when Amhrán na bhFiann was played to mark Becky Quinn's gold. Day Two was the Vertical, which I hadn't entered. From what I heard later I was quite glad I hadn't! Basically it was about 4km up a volcanic sand hill. Irish success went to Matt Alexander in M70 with a fantastic gold, despite having to crawl up the last couple of hundred metres. Amhrán na bhFiann was heard again when he stood on the podium that afternoon. Day Three saw an early start to board the shuttles to the start of the Long, billed as 31km but more like 28 in the end. This was tough! It climbed to 2500m with long stretches of volcanic sand and steep ascents. Everyone said it was one of the toughest races they'd ever done. It certainly was for me, as I dropped out at 22km. after 4hr 23m running and legs like jelly. Although I'd 'only' another 6-7km to go, I realised that that would be mostly very steep descent and I didn't feel I could trust my legs to do that safely. Becky Quinn once again triumphed for gold in W50, an amazing performance in the conditions. So three golds and three bronzes and ninth in the medal table. Not bad for a small team without the resources of some of the other nations. Socially, we had a good time. Everyone made me welcome and there was a good team spirit, with supporters out on the courses and taking pics. I'd certainly recommend the experience. It's an opportunity to test yourself on a bigger stage, but as our results showed, many of our runners are well able to mix it with the best |
| Peter O'Farrell | Yesterday, 4:27pm | Well done David and all the masters runners. David - I've added your race report into the report section of the event page - it will seen there more easily than buried in the forum post. (You can add it there yourself and I can delete the one I added if you prefer) |
