Fiona Everard targets return to European Cross-Country stage

FIONA Everard already knows her main goal for the year ahead: return to the European Cross-Country Championships and improve on her 2023 performance.

Last year saw the Enniskeane woman announce herself on the main stage with a sensational performance to win the Irish women’s senior title at the national cross-country championships, revelling in the new 9000m distance. That breakthrough success earned her a place on the Irish team for the Europeans in December.

In Brussels, and making her senior Ireland debut, Everard was the third Irish woman across the finishing line – and now she wants more.

‘That would be the biggest ambition, to go back and do better than 34th,’ the Bandon Athletic Club star says.

‘The way Irish athletics is right now, you will always be going with a strong team, so it’s cool to know if you can go again and do a bit better you will be in with a team that has a chance of doing well.

‘I would love to go back and get a team medal.’

The West Cork woman (25) used her first European Cross-Country Championships as a learning experience, and feels she has taken a lot from it, but the competitor in her wanted more from the race itself.

‘I was a bit disappointed, I never felt that comfortable with the race,’ she explains.

‘Given the conditions, I really thought it should suit me, and I think it did. That second and third kilometre was just a bit too hard and I felt I was getting swallowed up by the end of it.

‘But being around those people and running at that level, you do learn how you should race like that; it’s so different to national level. Hopefully I will be better if I get back again.’

Award winner Fiona Everard pictured with members of Bandon Athletic Club, from left, John O’Donovan, Adrian O’Flynn, Brendan Crowley, Michelle O’Donovan and Patrick McSweeney.

That’s the target: to get back to the Europeans again, which will be held in Turkey in December ’24. While she wants to improve her personal bests on the track, Everard feels her year will be geared towards cross-country. She hit the headlines with her national cross-country triumph in November, but had already knitted together a strong track season, hitting PBs in the 1500m, 3000m, 5000, and 10,000m. After emerging from a frustrating period of injuries, Everard began to unlock her potential last year, and feels there’s more to come.

‘I would love to have a good year on the track, over 5k and 10k, and push on then,’ she explains.

‘I don’t think I had that good a year on the track (in 2023) compared to what it could have been. I feel like I don’t know my potential on track yet. I definitely want to do a few 10ks on track and see how I get on.

‘With my style of running, I think I am more suited to cross-country. That probably will be the championship that I peak each year and build for. I’ll see how the track goes, but it will be a build-up to cross-county as well.’

Before Christmas Everard was presented with a Celtic Ross West Cork Sports Star monthly award for November, in recognition of her national title win. Surrounded by her family, including all her siblings home for the festive season, she took centre stage again, feted for her accomplishments, but Everard was already planning for the year ahead.

‘It’s so nice to know that I can start setting goals because I have had this healthy year

It makes me excited to see what’s to come,’ she says.

‘The focus is on staying healthy, but one thing I did learn from the championships is that you need more than one year, you have to stack them on top of each other. It was cool to see what I could do in a year so if I can stack a couple, I could be able to build on what I did.’