McCormack aims to win European Cross Country title

The selection was automatic and also sees Fionnuala McCormack win as many international vests as Irish all-time women’s record holder Sonia O’Sullivan but it’s really only about one thing: winning back the European cross-country title.

McCormack’s record over the past six years speaks for itself: back-to-back titles in 2011-12, plus three fourth-place finishes, and one sixth – and everything about her preparation for this year’s event, staged in Sardinia, Italy, on Sunday December 11th is about getting back to the top of the medal podium.

She was fourth again last year, in Hyères in France, but with that helped the Irish women to a second successive team bronze. There will be similar ambitions in Chia as McCormack is joined by Rio Olympians Ciara Mageean, Kerry O’Flaherty and Michelle Finn.

It will also mark a 34th international appearance for McCormack, thus equalling O’Sullivan’s Irish all-time women’s record; the Wicklow athlete also finished fourth over 10,000m at the European Championships in Amsterdam this summer and is peaking at just the right time, winning Sunday’s IAAF international cross country in Alcobendas, Spain, beating a number of top-ranked Africans.

Olympic marathon

It’s still just three months since McCormack’s 20th-place finish in the Rio Olympic marathon, and yet she’s returned to the cross country with a certain vengeance – or certainly out to improve on her fourth place finish of last year.

Joining her in Italy will be Mageean, the European 1,500m bronze medallist, and O’Flaherty and Finn, who both ran the 3,000m steeplechase in Rio. Kerry’s Shona Heaslip, the surprise winner of the national title in Abbotstown on Sunday, also gained automatic selection.

The men’s team also includes two Rio Olympians in marathon specialists Mick Clohisey and Paul Pollock, with Mark Christie also selected on the back of winning the national title on Sunday. Jack O’Leary heads the junior men’s team, with Sophie Murphy first selected on the junior women.

Irish Teams: European Cross Country, at Chia, Italy, December 11th

Senior Men: Mark Christie (Mullingar Harriers AC), Mick Clohisey (Raheny Shamrock AC), Mark Hanrahan (Leevale AC), Liam Brady (Tullamore Harriers AC) Paul Pollock (Annadale Striders AC), Kevin Dooney (Raheny Shamrock AC)

Senior Women: Shona Heaslip (An Ríocht AC), Kerry O'Flaherty(Newcastle and District AC), Ciara Mageean (UCD AC), Fionnuala McCormack (Kilcoole AC), Laura Crowe (An Ríocht AC), Michelle Finn (Leevale AC)

Under-23 Men: Karl Fitzmaurice (Ennis Track AC), Mitchell Byrne (Rathfarnham WSAF AC)

Under-23 Women: Bethanie Murray (Dundrum South Dublin AC), Amy O'Donoghue (Emerald AC)

Junior Men: Jack O'Leary (Mullingar Harriers AC), Peter Lynch (Kilkenny City Harriers AC), Darragh McElhinney (Bantry AC), Fearghal Curtin (Youghal AC), Barry Keane (Waterford AC), Charlie O'Donovan (Leevale AC)

Junior Women: Sophie Murphy (Dundrum South Dublin AC), Amy Rose Farrell (Blackrock AC), Emma O'Brien (Inbhear Dee AC/Slí Cualann), Carla Sweeney (WSAF AC), Jodie McCann (Dundrum South Dublin AC), Aisling Joyce (Claremorris AC)