Fionnuala’s Euro bid ends in frustration

She ran her heart out, just like always, but as has increasingly been the case for Fionnuala McCormack at the European Cross Country, it just wasn’t enough.

Fionnuala’s Euro bid ends in frustration

The 33-year-old toed the line for the 15th time at this event yesterday, but on a freezing windswept racecourse here in Samorin, Slovakia, her medal ambitions had to quickly be put on ice.

McCormack had won the senior women’s title in 2011 and 2012, but in recent years had been frustrated by a series of near-misses — owing as much to the presence of Kenyan athletes running for Turkey as it had by any decline in form.

But after finishing 12th in 27:48 yesterday, she wasn’t laying blame anywhere but at her own door, not that there’s much she would have done differently.

“I changed things from last year, it just didn’t work out for me,” she said. “I just never got going in my race. You always have regrets unless you stand on the podium but I’m happy I didn’t do the insanity thing: try to do the same thing and expect a different result.”

McCormack enjoyed a promising spell of altitude training in recent months but in contrast to recent years, she did just one cross-country race on the build-up, favouring track time trials and outings on the road to sharpen her fitness in recent weeks.

It was a gamble that didn’t pay off, but she was nonetheless happy she took it. McCormack came home a minute behind Yasemin Can of Turkey — previously known as Vivian Jemutai of Kenya — who became just the second athlete to win back-to-back titles. That McCormack now has to share that mantle with Can, an athlete who has no connection to Turkey and who runs for them solely for financial benefit, was an obvious frustration.

“Up until now I was the only one who had won back-to-backs,” said McCormack.

“I dreamt I’d challenge her for the title and I knew it was going to be tough, but I honestly believe I did my best in the build-up. Maybe I’ll try to stop her doing three in a row.”

The senior women’s team finished a disappointing seventh, with national champion Shona Heaslip come home 34th ahead of Kerry O’Flaherty (38th), Michelle Finn (40th), Fionnuala Ross (47th) and Lizzie Lee (49th).

Right about then, the outlook seemed pretty grim for the Irish, but a chink of light soon arrived in the senior men’s race. While national champion Paul Pollock ran well below form, fading to a 48th-place finish, a trio of Irish forged their way towards the front of the field — Seán Tobin, Hugh Armstrong, and Kevin Maunsell working together and slicing through the middle of the pack over the latter half of the 10,000m race to take fifth in the team event.

With an impressive finishing kick, Tobin powered down the home straight to take 15th in 30:43, just under a minute behind gold medallist Kaan Kigen Ozbilen of Turkey. He was followed closely by Mayo’s Hugh Armstrong, who took 19th in 30:46. Three seconds further back came Tobin’s Clonmel teammate Kevin Maunsell, who at age 36 was making his Irish debut an experience to remember by finishing 24th.

“I wasn’t going to win the race so there was no pressure on me,” said Maunsell. “I was loving it — looking beside me and seeing that I was running against Africans, fellas I’d seen on TV, and there I was mixing with them. I thought: this is fairytale stuff.”

Tobin, who was also earning his first Irish cap as a senior, saw it as proof that Irish distance running is enjoying a resurgence. “It was a good result,” he said. “We were pushing together and we really felt like a team. There’s a lot more to come.” Sophie Murphy of Dundrum South Dublin turned in the outstanding Irish performance in the underage races, finishing 10th in the junior girls’ race in 14:15. ““I went out fast and felt strong,” she said. “It’s a big improvement on the last two years. I’m so happy.”

Cork’s Fearghal Curtin was the first Irishman home in the U20 men’s race, finishing 22nd.

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