Ireland’s European Champs hope to be top Europeans again at World XC
DONEGAL athletics coach Teresa McDaid is off to Poland – hoping to lead Ireland’s European cross-country champions to world glory.
Fionnuala Britton and Mary Cullen from Sligo will lead the Irish team for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland on Sunday.
This will be the 40th edition of these championships and it will see the world’s best distance runners battle it out for individual and team honours.
RTE Two will be showing live coverage from 12 noon until 2pm this Sunday.
The Irish team also includes Linda Byrne (Coach: Enda Fitzpatrick), Lizzie Lee (Coach: Donie Walsh) and Ava Hutchinson (Coach: Ray Treacy) who were all scoring members of the 2012 Gold Medal winning European Cross Country Championship team.
Team Manager and Letterkenny AC’s Teresa McDaid commented “I am looking forward to going to World Cross with the women’s team, Fionnuala, Linda, Ava and Lizzie fresh from European cross are in good form and the addition of Mary is a bonus.
“The World Cross Country Championships is a magnificent event, a real test with athletes from all the disciplines of endurance distances coming together in the one race on the one day.”
High Performance Director Kevin Ankrom said: “As a target I would look to see our team finish at these championships as the top European team and individually each athlete run to the best of their ability. If we can accomplish both of these targets we will do well overall as a team.”
The World Cross Country Championships has been a notoriously hard hunting ground for European athletes as they contend with the imperious strength of the Kenyan and Ethiopian squads.
Linda Byrne (Dundrum South Dublin AC) finished eighth at the European Cross Country Championships and was a crucial member of the gold medal winning team on that occasion. Club mate Ava Hutchinson (Dundrum South Dublin AC) and Lizzie Lee (Leevale AC) make up a strong Irish women’s team for the event and if all the athletes run to form there is no reason why they cannot be the top team in Europe once again.
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