FIONA Everard returns to the European stage this Sunday determined to improve on her first experience at the European Cross-Country Championships in 2023.
Fresh from sensationally winning the Irish senior women’s cross-country title in November ’23, the Bandon Athletic Club star had momentum heading to the Europeans held in Brussels.
On her senior Ireland debut, Everard was the third Irish woman to cross the finish line and came in 34th. It left her wanting more.
‘I hope I feel better than I did last year,’ the Enniskeane athlete (26) tells The Southern Star.
‘As long as I feel that I gave the best I could, then I’ll be happy.
‘Last year when I crossed the line I felt that it wasn’t my best so I want to do better than that.’
Everard heads into the Europeans in Antalya, Turkey, this Saturday off the back of a fourth-place finish at last month’s national senior cross-country championships as she relinquished her Irish crown. She had twin goals travelling to Castle Irvine Estate in Fermanagh: to defend her title and make sure to finish in the top three for an automatic qualifying spot for the Europeans. In the end, Everard came up short, but was still selected on the six-strong Irish senior women’s team for this weekend.
‘I was fairly gutted. I gave myself a couple of days to process it but it didn’t change how I felt so I parked it because I want to give my full focus to the Europeans,’ Everard says.
‘The goal was to try and win it, but that didn’t happen.’
Some context though. In the lead-up to the nationals, Everard suffered a blip that knocked her preparations off course.
‘I had to go for a scan because we thought I might have picked up another bone injury,’ she explains, and given the frustrating period of stress fractures and bone injuries that held her back before the breakthrough success in 2023, this was a concern.
‘They said it was either irritation around the bone or the start of a stress reaction so we caught it early. There were a couple of weeks where I missed a few key sessions of 3k and 5k work. I was back running two weeks before nationals so I got a bit of momentum going.’
The good news is Everard is feeling ‘okay’ since, and training has gone well since the nationals.
‘On Tuesday of last week we did the main session that I had missed before nationals and that went okay. I’m hoping that’s all it was, that I needed those few sessions,’ she says.
‘After nationals we wanted to get back into it and get a decent block in. Maybe it would have had no impact on the race, it could have been where I am or just a bad day.’
Everard is targeting a better day in Antalya this Saturday and is in a better position to handle the trappings that surround an event like this having experienced it last year. From the travel to sharing a hotel with your competitors to checking the course out the day beforehand, Everard knows what’s involved. Her hope now is she produces the goods and crosses the line after the 7500mm race knowing she couldn’t have done anymore.
