Mary Mulhare

Catriona McKiernan won the first edition of the European Cross Country Championships held in Alnwick, GBR on 10th December 1984, a significant achievement for the Cavan woman who’d finished second at four World Cross Country Championships before then.

There have been multiple successes for Irish athletes in the 29 editions since, including back-to-back senior wins for Fionnuala McCormack in 2011 and 2012, and team wins for the senior women (2012), U23 men (2010 and 2021) and U20 men (2023).

Ireland is one of 15 countries that have competed in all prior editions, and McCormack has competed in more editions than any other female.

Is Portugal Ireland’s happy hunting ground?

When the event was last held in Portugal in 2019, Ireland had gone three straight events without a medal. In Lisbon, however, that drought ended in dramatic fashion, with Efrem Gidey winning bronze in the U20 men’s race, Stephanie Cotter winning bronze and leading Ireland to team silver in the U23 women’s race, and the senior women’s team also winning team silver.

Medals have also been won by Irish athletes at each of the four editions since. Teams have been performing so well in recent years that their pre-Lisbon medal tally (five individual and eight team medals) has been more than matched by the medals won in the five editions since 2019 (six individual and eight team medals).

Experienced team

Cormac Dalton and Danielle Donegan are due to complete the Portugal-to-Portugal streak in Lagoa. Dalton was a member of the U23 team in 2019, and is about to make his fifth consecutive senior appearance. His best finish to date was eighth in Brussels in 2023. Donegan was in the U20 team in 2019 and the U23 team in 2021, 2022 and 2023. This will be her second appearance in the senior race.

Mary Mulhare has already competed in the senior women’s race four times in that period, including on medal-winning teams in 2019 and 2022, and was one of the named reserves in 2021.

Nick Griggs is making his fifth successive Euro Cross appearance, and has won six medals (three individual and three team) to date. He is already Ireland’s most successful male athlete – in terms of medals – at this event, and equal with Fionnuala McCormack, who also has three individual and three team medals.

Anna Gardiner will be making her fourth appearance in the U20 race. Her best performance to date was seventh in Brussels in 2023.

Some stretch targets, perhaps?

Linda Byrne is, to date, the only Irish athlete to have finished in the top 10 in all three age categories. Having finished third U20 in 2019 and fifth U23 in 2022, a top 10 in the senior race would make Gidey the first Irish man to do so.

There have been Irish team medals in five of the six regular races, but never in the Women’s U20 race, fourth being their best result (2008). The relay team has also never made the podium, though they did get close in Dublin in 2021.

Individual medals have also never been won by Irish athletes in the senior men’s race (Joe Sweeney, fourth in 2011, came closest), or the U20 women’s race (Byrne came closest with fourth in 2005).

No Irish man has finished top 10 in the senior race on more than one occasion. Dalton (eighth in 2023) and Fay (tenth in 2021) both have the opportunity to change that on Sunday.

The five medals won in Turin three years ago (two individual and three team medals) is the most ever won by Ireland at a single edition.

Michael Clohesy, who raced Euro Cross on 10 occasions, has the most appearances by an Irish man (Ukraine’s Serhiy Lebid holds the overall record with 19 appearances). While no Irish man can better Clohesy this time around, Dalton could do so by 2030. Donegan, and the rest of the women, however, have some way to go to catch Fionnuala, currently on 18 appearances.

As the sun sets on the Algarve on Sunday afternoon, the Irish team will hope to look back on another successful Championships in what has already been a record-breaking year for Irish Athletics.

Whether or not they can add to the 21 International medals, from European Youth Olympics right up to World Senior Championships, won in 2025, only time will tell. But recent history suggests that they’ll give it one hell of a lash.

Many of Ireland’s top cross country athletes will be battling for national glory and Euro Cross berths in Templemore, Co Derry, on Sunday, while others will be competing against the best college athletes in the United States on Friday and Saturday.

Even when accounting for athletes whose clubs may have entered them out of hope rather than expectation, both the men’s and women’s fields for Templemore look pretty competitive. The U23 battles within the senior contests should add further spice to the not-to-be-missed races.

Ten in a row, anyone?

Last year’s champion Keelan Kilrehill is the one notable absentee from the men’s entries, meaning that only Darragh McElhinney, the 2022 champion, and Cormac Dalton, the winner in 2023, stand in the way of making it 10 different winners of the men’s National Cross Country title in as many editions.

Neither McElhinney nor Dalton will bow to such a niche statistic when they toe the line on Sunday, and both should be among those contesting the medals.

Among those looking to continue the streak are Nick Griggs, keen to win his first national senior title on any surface; Brian Fay, who, like Dalton, has a Euro Cross Top 10 finish to his name; European 10,000m Cup winner Efrem Gidey; Callum Morgan, who looked sublime when winning the Autumn International in October; and a resurgent Jack O’Leary.

Paul O’Donnell, Pierre Murchan and William Fitzgerald, who have also made the senior men’s team for Euro Cross in recent years, are also entered, as are Tokyo Olympian Stephen Scullion and recent national marathon champion David McGlynn.

Niall Murphy, who had the race of his life to finish second last year, will be back to defend his U23 title, but to do so he will again need to overcome Griggs and Morgan. Cathal O’Reilly, who finished 8th overall last year, is also still under U23 this year.

Wide open women’s race

As in the men’s race, the women’s race has lacked a consistent winner in recent years, with seven different winners in the past seven editions. The two most recent winners - Fiona Everard (2023) and Ann-Marie McGlynn (2024) - will look to change that.

Another previous winner on the startlist is Michelle Finn (2021), one of six Olympians entered, who has missed a year through injury.

Also entered is last year’s runner-up Niamh Allen, who went on to finish 10th in Antalya. Indeed, there’s a chance that all six from last year’s team compete again for places, with Dannielle Donegan, Mary Mulhare and Cheryl Nolan also entered.

Roisin Flanagan and Eilish Flanagan have both made the team on multiple previous occasions, and are also both entered to compete on Sunday.

Jodie McCann, Laura Nicholson and Eimear Maher, all better known as track athletes, will likely be hoping that an Irish mixed relay team is selected after an absence from the last two editions.

The first three in the U20 and Senior races in Derry will gain automatic selection for Lagoa, while the top two in the U23 categories will also be rewarded with Euro Cross selection. The Athletics Ireland selection policy suggests that they will select further athletes, up to a maximum of five in each event (it’s worth noting that the sixth qualifier for both the Senior and U23 men’s teams last year made the scoring three in Antalya!), leaving the door open for some of the athletes racing in the US this weekend to also be selected.

Across the Atlantic…

While the final lineup won’t be confirmed until the race starts, there could be as many as nine Irish athletes competing in the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri, on Saturday.

Abdel Laadjel won the Big Ten Conference title three weeks ago, and helped the Oregon men gain an automatic spot for the ‘big dance’ last Friday. European U23 10,000m champion Anika Thompson helped the Oregon women qualify, and should start on Saturday.

Anna Gardiner, Cara Laverty, Niamh O'Mahony and Jane Buckley will all feature on the Providence team, which finished 2nd at the North East Region qualifier. Gardiner and Laverty were particularly impressive that day, finishing sixth and seventh individually. Gardiner is still an U20 for Euro Cross, while Laverty, like Thompson, is eligible for the U23 race.

Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Neill was also seventh at regionals and is likely to start for Syracuse. Dean Casey (Colorado) and Billy Coogan (Iona) may also run.

Eleven Irish athletes raced last year, with Casey (30th) and Thompson (32nd) the top Irish finishers. Keith Kelly was the last Irish individual winner of this prestigious event back in 2000.

Adams State will again be medal contenders at NCAA Division II Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday. European U23 and World University Games steeplechase finalist Ava O’Connor and Wexford woman Claragh Keane are among their likely starters.

On Friday, Heather Murphy (Montreat), who competed in the 10,000m at the European U23 Championships earlier this year, will be among the Irish racing at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships.

And next...

The Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships is due to be selected by Tuesday, 25th November. The event will take place in Lagoa, Portugal, on 14th December. Selections for the World Cross Country Championships - set for Talahassee, Florida on 10th January - will be made following the continental decider.