Fantastic Fionnuala
McCormack showed impressive form on the big stage
DURING 2019, 34-year-old Fionnuala McCormack showed all of us that she is still a force to be reckoned with in Irish, European and World athletics. Back training and competing after the birth of her baby daughter, Isla, her performances have been outstanding.
Fionnuala’s first event in 2019 was the 42nd IAAF Northern Ireland International Cross Country at Dundonald on January 19. She placed sixth of 46 competitors, second European, in the elite women’s 8km race behind the two Ethiopians and two Kenyan occupying the first four places, in a time of 27 min, 24 sec.
At the end of March Fionnuala earned her 37th cap for Ireland at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships held at Aarhus, Denmark on a challenging course. In a 10¼ km race dominated by athletes from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, she placed 18th of 118 starters and second European finisher in a time of 37 min, 59 sec.
The runners had to negotiate a lot of mud, a six-inch deep pool of water, a section with soft sand, as well as endless undulations and at the end of the 2km loop a steep ‘sadistic’ climb over the roof of the Moesgaard Museum.
Two weeks later in the famed Boston Marathon Fionnuala produced a stellar run to place 11th woman overall in a lifetime best performance time of 2 hr 30 min 38 sec, tantalising close to the automatic qualifying time for the Tokyo Olympic Games of 2:29:30 and one finishing place shy of the top-10 finish ensuring qualification for Tokyo, as Boston had been designated one of the five marathon majors under this qualification criterion.
In the middle of May she placed fifth of the 24 elite female runners in the Simplyhealth Great Manchester 10 km Run in a time of 32:43. She followed this in June by winning the Manning Memorial 10 km race at Dunshaughlin, Co Meath in a course record of 32:18.
On July 6 Fionnuala represented Ireland at the European 10,000 m Cup, Night of 10,000 m races, at the Parliament Hill Track, London, where she placed fifth of 41 competitors in the women’s ‘A’ event in a time of 32:05.29.
She gained her 39th cap at the European Athletics Team Competition, First League, at Sandnes, Norway in the middle of August, where she represented Ireland in the 5,000 m, placing third in 16:02.78.
On October 13, Fionnuala competed in the Chicago Marathon shattering her lifetime best by almost four minutes in clocking 2 hr 26 min 47 sec and more importantly securing her place for the Tokyo Games. Her time placed her second on the all-time Irish list (Catherina McKiernan 2:22:23, Amsterdam, 1 November 1998).
Provided she stays free from injury, Tokyo will be her fourth consecutive Olympics.
On November 24, Fionnuala won her ninth National Senior Cross Country title (Inter Clubs or Inter Counties) at the National Sports Campus, Abbotstown, over 8km in a time of 28:41, and secured her 40th Irish cap.
At the 26th European Cross Country Championships over 8km in Bella Vista Park, Lisbon, Portugal, she placed fourth in a time of 27:45, and led home the Irish Senior Women’s team to the team silver medals.