European Cross Country 2025 (14th Dec)
Jack & Cormac Joe Ryan & Cormac
It was 25 years since Ireland won senior men medals at the European Cross Country, and on Sunday afternoon 14th December in Lagoa (Portugal), the five man Irish team that included Mullingar’s Jack O’Leary and Cormac Dalton were determined to put that medal drought to rights in the Senior Men 7,500m.
The day was dry and mild and the specially built course was full of twists and turns and made up of both grass and sand and gravel and looked more like a course used for cyclo-cross, or even BMX racing, certainly nothing like the miserable wet and mud experienced in Derry at the National Seniors after which the teams for Portugal were selected, but you can only race what’s put in front of you and nothing was going to deter Jack and Cormac from giving their very best over the five tough laps. For Cormac, this was his sixth consecutive appearance for Ireland at the European Cross Country, his fourth consecutive year in the senior race, while for Jack it was his first Irish vest since 2019, so he had plenty to prove.
Cormac went out quite hard but quickly settled in to his running, close to the leading group, conserving as much energy as possible and staying inside the top 20 places, a good place from which to gauge how a race is unfolding. The leading group began to slowly stretch out but Cormac stuck to his task and held his position as the laps counted down. Going into the final lap, Cormac had moved up to 10th place. As expected, the final lap was a furious burn-up and though Cormac lost one place, he was still delighted to cross the finish line well up in an excellent 11th place, third finisher for Ireland, just behind Brian Fay (Raheny Shamrock AC) in tenth. In contrast, Jack was much more conservative and it wasn’t until going into the third lap that he closed up to Cormac and Brian before slowly pulling away from them and running hard, especially on the last lap where he moved from 8th to 5th, was delighted to lead the team home in a superb 5th place, matching the fifth place by Joe Sweeney (DSD) in 2011, the best finish by an Irish man since the first European Cross Country was held in 1994. Thanks to a superb collective team effort when all five Irish men finished in the top 20 places, Darragh McElhinney (Bantry AC) in 16th and Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers AC) in 19th, it was second place and the team silver medals for Ireland.
Speaking after the race Jack said that watching the u/23 men running to individual and team gold, and the other Irish teams doing well gave the senior men huge confidence. Nick Griggs (CNDR Track AC) winning the u/23 race was really inspirational, and everyone on the start line was raring to go. It was a tough course, so he knew he had to be conservative early on and work his way through the field. The whole team agreed that it was great to be on the podium, and hopefully they can stay there for a long time. Thanks to the senior men silver, individual and team u/23 gold, and u/20 bronze for Emma Hickey (United Striders AC), Ireland finished fourth on the medal table, a great result for Ireland. Congratulations to Jack and Cormac on their medal winning performances in Portugal, arguably the best athletic achievement in the history of Mullingar Harriers AC, all the more fitting in the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Club. A big shout out too to Mullingar’s Joe Ryan who was in Portugal as an accredited coach, and to Cian McPhillips (Longford & UCD AC) a member of the 4 x 1,500m mixed relay team that placed sixth in an exciting and close race [GD].
