Ann-Marie seals Euro’s recall after gutsy run in Donegal

DESPITE having run two marathons in the space of three months, having suffered from illness a few weeks ago and having been unable to train much in the build-up to Sunday’s National Cross-Country Championships, Strabane’s Ann-Marie McGlynn produced a gutsy run to finish fourth overall in the women’s race and seal a place in Ireland’s team for next month’s European Cross-Country Championships in Turin.

The 42-year-old mother of two, who captained Ireland to team bronze at the 2014 Euro’s, went into Sunday’s Irish Championships focused on helping her club, Letterkenny AC, to retain their team title.

Unfortunately they missed out on that goal by a solitary point to Dublin City Harriers but they have still qualified for the European Team Championships next year and Ann-Marie’s fourth placed finish – and third senior athlete as the race was won by under-23 runner Sarah Healy – has got her back on the Ireland panel after she missed out narrowly in 2022.

“Really, the plan was to defend our club title with Letterkenny, but we were beat by one point so it was bitter-sweet because I didn’t even have the European Championships in my mind because I had done very little over the last few weeks – I got sick, so I had to take a week off, the second week I was just jogging easy and then last week, in the run up for it, I had to take two days off and I was wondering if I was even going to make it to Downings,” she explained.

“I’m delighted to be selected for the European’s because I was first reserve last year when I should have been on the team but I panicked and I did everything I shouldn’t have done. I surged, I ran myself out of the team, but [Sunday] was the complete opposite of last year.”

At Rosapenna Golf Club on Sunday, Ann-Marie ran a perfect tactical race, running at her own pace rather than get caught out like 12 months previously in order to finish as high up the standings as she could and with Healy, Ciara Mageean and Michelle Finn leading the way she was happy to sit and bide her time.

“The plan was to run very smart and I kind of knew that Sarah, Michelle and Ciara would push on from the go,” she explained.

“My plan was to sit off it all and that’s exactly what I did, I didn’t panic, I stuck to the plan and it unfolded exactly how I thought.

“My plan worked, my tactics worked – they don’t always! – but I felt strong, I felt I was running within myself so I knew if I didn’t panic, if I didn’t surge, because I told myself ‘no surging!’, I could use my strength on the uphill sections.

“That allowed me to get closer to them and after every lap I seemed to be closing in on them without any extra effort and I was on the back of them with about three laps to go.

“But I had to work, I was working hard, and I dug deep over the last 100 metres because I wasn’t letting it go but I had nothing left by that stage.”

Having endured a gruelling previous four months with marathons in Dublin and Berlin, McGlynn was delighted that her legs still felt strong at the weekend when her opponents may have thought otherwise.

“I finished fourth overall and second Irish at the Dublin Marathon on October 30th and I ran the European Championship marathon [in Berlin] on August 15th, so two marathons and a quick turnover isn’t ideal but I knew I was strong and the plan was if I came off the Dublin Marathon reasonably OK, that I would toe the line [at Rosapenna],” she said.

“That allowed me to go in under the radar because everyone was thinking Ann-Marie McGlynn has a marathon in her legs so she won’t be up near the front. That kind of suited me.”