‘Home bird’ Eimear’s decision to fly the nest is paying off…

Eimear McCarroll is currently delighted with her decision to up sticks and move to Prioria in Illinois where she accepted an athletics scholarship at Bradley University.

The Eskra woman admits to being something of a ‘home bird’ so it could be seen as a difficult decision and a tough task to adapt to being so far from home, but the former Loreto Grammar pupil has dived into training and college life Stateside head first and she is reaping the rewards of her move after only four months.

And she admits the fact she hasn’t really had the time to think about being so far from home has probably assisted in her swift assimilation to a new country and way of life.

“It’s been really, really good, I’m really enjoying myself over there,” she beamed. “I really like the two coaches and I’ve got on really well with my team-mates – the girls and the boys.

“It’s been really good. It’s been very busy but I think that has helped me settle because I’m a real home bird but I think the fact that it’s been so busy you forget the fact you’re there.

“You don’t have the chance to think about it because you’re always onto something else – you’re training twice a day with a run in the morning and another in the evening and you’ve school in between and probably a gym session as well so it’s very intense.”

The intensity of her new schedule – athletically and academically – is certainly evident in terms of the length of her days, but also in terms of the number of miles she now runs per week, having more than doubled her regular output since moving across the Atlantic and while that proved tough to adapt to initially, it’s now something she actually enjoys.

And having come through the Northern Irish schools athletics system, while simultaneously availing of the top coaching available at Finn Valley Athletics Club, Eimear believes she had a solid foundation to build on once she arrived in America.

“I did run 20-30 miles a week over here but I think, even the intensity of the sessions, I was well prepared for it,” she explained.

“It wouldn’t have been too much different. The intensity of the sessions is pretty similar but the mileage is the big change. It’s the same effort, just more of it and there are a lot of days like seven miles easy, eight miles easy, 10 miles easy, it’s all aerobic running, which isn’t something I’d have been used to over here.

“I think I found the training quite hard at the start, mainly due to the fact you go up in mileage. I’d have been running 20-30 miles at home whereas now I’m running 50-60 miles which is quite a big jump and it took a bit of adjusting but I like the higher mileage now.

“Balancing the training with the studying has definitely been hard. I’m up some mornings at 5am or 5.30am, going out to the trail or out to the track and being back for about 8.30am or 9am for class at 10am, so you get breakfast after training and go straight to class.”

As well as getting used to a new way of life, Eimear has had to come to terms with a completely different level of competition as she comes up against not only the best American athletes but top runners from across the world.

But she hasn’t shied away from that challenge, in fact she has embraced it and she has shone in her maiden cross-country season, sealing her place on the Bradley University Regional Championship team in the process, earning points as the squad’s fourth finisher en route to the school’s sixth placed result.

“The competition level has definitely been a step up,” she observed. “Even at the start of races – I’d be used to there being 20 or 30 girls in my races over here [Ireland] but over there there are 100, 200, even 300 in one of the races and every one of them could win.

“It’s been really hard. In my regional race, I was coming 60th or 70th, which is the top half and I think I finished 39th or something like that, which was the second freshman across the line.

“I didn’t put any expectations on my cross-country season because I’ve never really been a cross-country runner but at the same time, once I got started, got into the programme and into the sessions I feel like I really adapted to becoming a cross-country runner this season.

“And I was very happy when I was selected on the [Regional] team because most of the team is juniors and seniors, there were only two freshmen, me and my room-mate Sofia, which was really great.”

One thing that has helped Eimear enjoy the 2024 cross-country season in America, as opposed to slogging through thick mud in Ireland, is the condition of the courses she competed on in the States.

“The distance of the races over there are about 6K which I felt really suited me but the conditions were amazing too, there’s no muck whatsoever!,” she laughed.

“You’re running on a glorified golf course, which is so great. There will be some hills here and there but it’s pretty much flat and there’s no muck, it’s great!”

Eimear only really caught the running bug upon reaching secondary school where she decided to compete for Loreto Grammar’s cross-country team because they were looking for runners, rather than actively seeking to race.

It proved a serendipitous decision, however, as she excelled and quickly developed at school as well as at Finn Valley AC where two of her now club-mates, Rouskey twins, Roisin and Eilish Flanagan, who have graduated from Adams State University in Colorado, advised her on which college to choose in America.

Eimear had no shortage of offers, including Adams State, but she plumped for Bradley keen to work with highly rated coach, Anna Wren.

Unfortunately, Wren moved to Boise State before she had the chance to work with her. Fortunately, the new assistant coach at Bradley University, Mallory Mulzer has more than filled those shoes and Eimear is enjoying her sessions and she’s looking forward to seeing how the rest of her first year in America unfolds.

And if it’s anything like the first half when she had to come to terms with the demands of study and sport, during which time she made huge strides in terms of performance then a bright 2025 would seem likely.

But after a Christmas at home, during which she showed her athletics progress by retaining her Rudolph Run crown, she’s now looking forward to seeing how the work put in during the American cross-country season transfers to the track campaign.

“I raced the Eskra 10K [Rudolph Run, just days after returning home for Christmas] and last year I won it in 39.02 minutes but this year I ran 36.30 so performances like that mean you do see the improvements and that’s only been after four months, so I’m really excited to see how this track season goes,” she beamed.