Nick Griggs eyes Euro ‘redemption’ after sealing Irish crown

NICK Griggs perfectly executed his pre-race plan at Rosapenna Golf Club on Sunday when he won the men’s under-20 123.ie National Cross Country Championship title and with it a place on the Irish team that will travel to the European Championships in Turin in a few weeks time.

The Newmills teenager prevailed in another exhilarating race with Dean Casey of Ennis Track, with the Tyrone runner eventually breaking away over the final bends to win by two seconds in 17:43 minutes. Casey took a well-earned silver with Jonas Stafford in third, also booking their spot on the Irish team.

“Sunday went relatively well, there’s nothing else I could have asked for,” 17-year-old Griggs beamed.

“I knew it was going to go out at a quick pace, Dean is always going to take it out hard and in my head it was the same as last year and me and Mark [Kirk, coach] spoke about it beforehand.

“He said to sit on Dean and it was nearly a carbon copy of last year with me and Dean pulling away and with about a lap and a half it was just me and him for the rest of the race.

“I just sat on him, there was nothing else for me to do, I didn’t need to go out and absolutely blitz it. I just needed to win it and qualify for the European’s, so I did what I needed to do.”

Ahead of the race, Griggs had anticipated the course was going to be flat and fast, but alongside the famous old links golf course, the terrain proved anything but.

“Everyone was saying it was flat and firm but I can’t complain because I thought it was a nice course, I really enjoyed it, but it was a wee bit deceiving because it wasn’t as flat as some people were letting on,” explained the Cookstown High School head boy, who sat two mock A-Levels on Monday.

He added: “It wasn’t too challenging but it was definitely a bit more hilly and undulating than we thought!”

Griggs will now prepare for the European Cross-Country Championships in Italy, which take place on Sunday, December 11th, when he hopes to atone for what he feels was a disappointing performance at last year’s edition in Dublin when he finished 16th as Ireland had to settle for silver.

However, he knows that isn’t going to be easy, given the high quality field that is expected to compete in Turin.

“I had a bit of a shocker last year, but I’ve said it to everyone it’s going to be a very difficult path this year because the standard of the junior men’s race [under-20s] is unbelievable,” he explained.

“You should have five European under-18 or under-20 record holders in the race, which is just crazy! So it will be incredibly difficult to medal or to even be in that top five but hopefully I can get into that top five and help get us that team gold, which would be class.

“I felt I let us down a wee bit last year, so I’m after a wee bit of redemption by taking home the gold.”

After the European Cross-Country Championships, Griggs will turn his attentions to the indoor track season when he’s hoping to qualify for the senior indoor European Championships.