Cork runners set for Florida
Two Cork athletes are set to represent Ireland at the World Cross Country Championships in the US.
Cork runners Fiona Everard of Bandon AC and Niamh Allen of Leevale AC have both been selected as part of the four person team competing in Tallahassee, Florida on 10 January.
They will join Brian Fay of Raheny Shamrock AC, Dublin, and Noah Harris of Parnell AC, Wicklow.
Fiona Everard returns to the competition having finished 60th in the senior women’s race at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade. The Cork woman had the run of her life recently, coming through the field strongly to crack the top ten at the European Cross Country Championships, which backed up her superb victory at the 123.ie National Senior Cross Country Championships last month.
Niamh Allen joins Everard in the senior women’s race. Allen was 10th at the 2024 European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Turkey, and finished 23rd in Lagoa, Portugal, last weekend.
Mark Kenneally, Athletics Ireland Performance Endurance Lead, commented on the selection: “We are pleased to be sending a small but high-quality team to the World Cross Country Championships in January."
“The new place in the calendar has meant that a number of our European Cross Country Championship athletes are unavailable, with a focus on other priorities, but we believe that the selected athletes are capable of competing with the best athletes in the world, coming in with exceptional individual performances from Lagoa.
“They have identified the World Cross Country Championships as a key target for them, and we fully expect them to represent us very well,” Kenneally added.
The team is headlined by Brian Fay and Cork’s Fiona Everard who both finished tenth individually in the senior races at this month’s European Cross Country Championships in Portugal.
Fay, who is an Olympian over 5000m, has had a memorable cross country season to date winning the national senior title in November before being a scoring member of the Irish team who won a historic silver medal (the first by an Irish senior men’s team in 25 years) in Lagoa this month. January will be his debut appearance at the World Cross Country Championships.
Wicklow native Noah Harris is fresh from a 10th place finish in the U20 Men’s race in Lagoa.
The 18 year old, who is currently studying at the University of Tennessee, will be looking to gain valuable experience in Tallahassee.