Griggs helps Ireland to silver medal success

TYRONE runners enjoyed a day to remember at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships at the Sport Ireland Campus in Fingal-Dublin, with Ireland claiming three medals on a historic occasion for Irish athletics.

Irish athletes rose to the electric home support throughout the day, and the stellar performances just kept on coming, resulting in Ireland finishing third nation overall on the points table behind GB & NI, and France.

Newmills teenager Nick Griggs finished in 18.42 minutes and a superb 16th overall in the men’s under-20 race to help Ireland seal a silver medal, while Rouskey twins, EIlish and Roisin Flanagan finished 15th in 28.39 minutes and 26th overall in 28.54 minutes respectively in the senior women’s race on Sunday.

The day started with a bang, with Ireland winning team silver in the men’s U20 6000m (one point off gold) behind GB & NI. Abdel Laadjel was the highest Irish finisher in 6th, with Dean Casey and Nick Griggs backing up in 13th and 16th to complete a brilliant team performance.

Scott Fagan was just outside the top 20, crossing in 21st, while Sean Kay crossed 50th and Cathal O’Reilly
77th to complete a team that will go down in the Irish athletics history books.

In a gruelling race all of the young Irish men had to dig deep, including European under-20 3,000m track champion, Griggs, who warned his team-mates about how tough their task was before the starter’s gun sounded.

“It was tough and it was tough for me personally,” he acknowledged. “Sometimes you get those races. You can’t feel perfect every race.

“That’s one of the things I have to learn about running, I’m only young, I’m inexperienced, so that’s a lesson to learn is that not every race goes to plan and you have to be tough when times are tough.

“I said that to the lads before the race when we were in the team huddle. I said ‘I don’t care what happens, none of us gives up today, we all fight for each other and we all fight. I don’t care if you’re lying on the ground, if you have to be stretchered off we all make it to home’.

“And on the last lap that’s what was going through my head whenever I was thinking ‘should I drop out, what am I going to do. I feel horrible’.

“That one thing went through my head when I was in the team talk saying don’t give up, so I can’t be a hypoctite, I can’t give up I have to fight for the lads and that’s what I did so I’m happy with that.”

The senior women’s senior race concluded a special day for Irish athletics, and it was fitting that Fionnuala McCormack led the Irish team home in securing yet another top 10 finish (9th) on her 17th European Cross Country outing.

Eilish Flanagan joined McCormack in the top 20, finishing 15th, with Aoibhe Richardson 23rd, three places ahead of Roisín Flanagan. Aoife Cooke finished 38th with Michelle Finn 46th.

The women’s team would finish in 4th overall, with the medals going the way of GB & NI, Germany, and Sweden.