Aoife Joyce fourth at Euro Trial as men take silver medals
Aoife in front of Djouce after the Trial
Aoife Joyce confirmed her resurgence in form since her return from injury with a commanding climb at the European Trial on Djouce Mountain this weekend. Biding her time, she paced herself well to pull ahead of Helen White, Sportsworld, and adventure racer Emma Donlon midway through the 5.2km ascent and secure her top-4 finish. In the end only nineteen seconds separated her from third spot as she took time on the leaders until the end.
To add a “silver lining” Richard Healy (10th), Amidou Dembele (15th) and Jonathan Healy (16th) combined to take the runner-up medals behind Rathfarnham in the Irish Club Championship attached to the event.
Sarah McCormac (Moorfoot) and Michelle Finn (Duhallow) from the women’s race and Brian McMahon (Clonliffe), Ian Conroy (Raheny) and Mark Ryan (Rathfarnham) have qualified automatically for the team while Sarah Mulligan (DSD), Aoife Joyce, Eoin Flynn (Rathfarnham), having met the first requirement of finishing within 10% of the race winner, will no doubt be excitedly awaiting the deliberations of the Irish selectors who will now look at the cross-country, hill and road performances in 2010/11 before announcing the final teams.