Kilrehill earns top 20 finish in a senior race at European level
KEELAN Kilrehill is maintaining his push to keep Dromore West on the European stage. The west Sligo competitor was 17th, posting a time of 30:52, in the gruelling senior men’s race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships that took place in Brussels, Belgium, last Sunday.
This was Kilrehill’s first challenge in the senior grade, having been a key part of Irish teams at U-20 and U-23 level in previous European cross-country events.
Kilrehill, who runs for Moy Valley AC in Ballina, Co. Mayo, was one of four Irish runners to break into the top 25 – Cormac Dalton (Mullingar Harriers) was eighth overall, followed by the Sligo man (17th), Ballina AC’s Hugh Armstrong (20th) and Brian Fay (Raheny Shamrocks), who was 22nd.
With the first three to score, this Irish team gleaned 45 points for fourth place in the team standings – 13 points behind third-placed Norway (32 points). Belgium, who had three individuals in the top 11 (third, sixth and 11th), won team gold on 20 points and France were second on 26 points.
The muddy senior men’s race, with underfoot conditions sapping for competitors, was won by French athlete Yann Schrub, who clocked 30:17 (only 35 seconds faster than Keelan Kilrehill).
Sligo AC’s Michael Morgan, who only recently turned 21, was placed 54th in the U-23 men’s race. His time for the 7,000 metres distance was 25:39. He was the fifth Irish athlete home in this race – the fastest of his teammates was Oisin Spillane, Ennis Track Club, who was 28th. The Irish team secured 10th place in the team section of the U-23 men’s category.
Former Summerhill College athletics star Morgan is on a sports scholarship at Providence College (Mary Cullen’s alma mater) in Rhode Island, America.
While the Irish team were just outside the medal placings in the senior men’s race, meaning Keelan Kilrehill missed out on team bronze, the day yielded a series of impressive Irish performances in other races.
In the U-20 men’s race, the Irish selection claimed team gold – a finish that was inspired by Nicholas Griggs’ third place (and individual bronze) thanks to a time of 16:24 over 5,000 metres.
Fionnuala McCormack (Kilcoole AC) was fourth in the senior women’s race – she posted a time of 35 minutes for the 9,000 metres circuit and helped the team to eighth place. This was the 18th European Cross Country Championships for McCormack, who is heading to Paris next year (to run in the marathon) which will be her fifth Olympics. The Irish U-20 women’s team were fifth and the Team Ireland contingent in the U-23 women’s team event were 11th. Meanwhile, Ireland has won 14 medals over the last four editions of these European championships – this is a massive improvement on the previous 25 editions that saw 13 medals won.