One of the last places Fiona Everard would choose to host Sunday’s European Cross-Country is Lagoa in Portugal.
The hard gravel and grass of Parchal Urban Park will be a long way from the muddy slog of the Templemore Sports Complex in Derry, where last month Everard won her second national cross-country title with a beautifully judged effort.
The course and conditions will be a lot different in Lagoa, the popular coastal tourist spot in the Algarve. By her own admission, Everard prefers a bit of mud.
“It definitely wouldn’t be the course I would pick out,” said the 27-year-old from Enniskeane near Bandon in Cork. “But you can’t control it. There’ll be a lot of twists and turns, maybe some hills, but surface-wise it seems like it will be close enough to a road race.
RM Block
“It’s probably easy for me to say it’s unfair when I’d love a course that’s the polar opposite. But when year-on-year, if they’re changing the course, it’s probably fair enough. It’s going to suit different athletes.
“Training has gone well; hopefully I can still run a decent race. I also think the muddier surface doesn’t really suit the efficient track runners, which I’m not. That just evens it out more, so I definitely prefer cross by a long mile. Maybe it’s just a strength-based thing and maybe I will go towards the marathon eventually.”
In winning her second title in three years in Derry, she got the better of Niamh Allen, the 30-year-old from Leevale AC who pulled well clear by halfway before Everard successfully reeled her in.
After several years studying in Galway, Everard returned home to Cork in August, often training with the Leevale group under their coach Donie Walsh.
“She’s well ahead of me,” Everard says of training with Allen. “We wouldn’t be running together, it’s just nice even chatting with her, before and after. I’ll stay here until the new year, then I’ll be on the job-look. At the minute, I’m definitely liking Cork – a lot easier balancing running and everything.”
In her recent column, Sonia O’Sullivan spoke about the need for more Irish women’s distance runners to improve their track times, or approach the 15-minute mark recognised as world-class. Everard reckons that improvement is coming.
“I think we are definitely getting there. I would like to make bigger improvements from where I’m at, especially on the track, and that does correlate to how you compete over cross. This weekend, the course is going to be fast, so you need a decent 5k time.
“There are a lot of us coming on and we are seeing the benefits, but I think it does just takes a while. With running, you need to build year on year to see that improvement.”
Everard is effectively training full-time for now, with no individual funding. She realises that’s unlikely to be sustainable for much longer.
“It was my mum that convinced me to give myself a few months to see how I found it,” she said. “It was never going to be long-term but I’ve seen over the last few months, it is a really big help. You’re definitely recovering better and putting a lot more time into it. I definitely have enjoyed it but I’ll be back to reality in January, I think.
“I’m fully relying on my parents and they were really happy to support me, but I’m 27 at the same time, so long-term, it wouldn’t be that sustainable.”
