A 34-strong Irish team will take to competition this weekend at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships which take place in Lagoa, Portugal, on Sunday December 14^th.

The Irish team will join the over 600 athletes who will represent 36 member federations at this year’s championships. Final entries for Lagoa 2025 have been published and can be viewed HERE.

Lagoa 2025 follows last year’s championships in Antalya which saw Nick Griggs win a superb silver medal in the U23 Men’s race.

WHERE TO WATCH

The European Cross Country Championships will be live on RTÉ 2 from 10:45am on Sunday. Earlier races will be live on the RTÉ Player and Eurovision Sport from 9:00am.

RACE BY RACE PREVIEW

09:30am U20 Women Race (4450m)

97 athletes are expected to toe-the-line in the first race of the day, amongst them will be five Irish athletes. Anna Gardiner (East Down AC) travels back from America, where she is currently studying at Providence College, for the race. The Down woman will be competing in her four successive European Cross Country and has finished in the top twenty on the last two occasions.

Emma Hickey (United Striders AC) will make history in becoming the first athlete from Wexford to compete at the European Cross Country Championships. The 16-year-old has looked impressive in winning both the Women’s U20 race at the 123.ie National Cross Country Championships last month, and the Autumn International Open in October. She will look to make a strong impression on her debut at this level of competition.

Lucy Foster (Willowfield Harriers) finished 20^th in this race in Antalya last year and returns to the team in 2025. Eimear Cooney (Ace AC) and Abby Smith (Shercock AC) will along with Emma Hickey make their European Cross Country debuts.

Innes Fitzgerald (GBR) looks the athlete to beat as she goes in search of her third straight individual title in this race.

10:00am U20 Men Race (4450m)         

The Irish U20 Men’s team features two athletes who ran in Antalya twelve months ago: Noah Harris (Parnell AC) and Cormac Dixon (Tallaght AC).

Harris, who finished 28^th last year, returned home from his athletics scholarship at the University of Tennessee last month to win the Men’s U20 race at the 123.ie National Cross Country Championships in Derry. He will aim to finish higher on Sunday.

Dixon is another athlete who is training under the watchful eye of Ray Treacy at Providence College in Rhode Island. He finished 35^th last year and made the final of the Men’s 3000m at the European U20 Championships in August.

The other three athletes on the team will make their European Cross Country debuts: Caolan McFadden (Cranford AC), Tom Breslin (Clonliffe Harriers) and Finn Diver (Beechmount Harriers). The race looks set to be wide-open and the Irish quintet will hope to put themselves into contention.

10:26am U23 Women Race (5960m)    

The U23 Women’s team finished fifth in Antalya last year and are sure to be competitive again with Roise Roberts (Candour Track Club) and Amy Greene (Finn Valley AC) heading for Lagoa on the back of their top two finishes at nationals.

Anika Thompson (Leevale AC) and Ava O’Connor (Tullamore Harriers) return from America to boost the team. Thompson won gold in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5000m at the European U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway during the summer while O’Connor is now experienced in the Irish vest and has recently finished in the top ten of the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, before running an outright 3000m PB (9:03.03) at Boston University last weekend. Thompson holds the national U23 record for the 10,000m, while O’Connor is the national u23 record holder in the 3000m Steeplechase.

Kirsty Maher (Moy Valley AC) who finished in the top 40 in the U20 Women’s race at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships completes the team.

11:00am U23 Men Race (5960m)

Nick Griggs (Candour Track Club) won Ireland’s only medal at these championships last year when he claimed silver in the U23 Men’s race behind Will Barnicoat (GBR), despite suffering an early fall. The 2025 track season saw the 20-year-old run 3:52.42 for the mile and 13:05.75 for 5000m, both Irish U23 records. The Tyrone native has won a medal at these championships every year since 2021 and will be looking to continue that run on Sunday.

The rest of the team all has Euro Cross experience with Jonas Stafford (UCD AC), Niall Murphy (Ennis Track AC) and Callum Morgan (Candour Track Club) and Lughaidh Mallon (UCD AC) all hoping to make an impact. Stafford and Murphy were part of the Irish U20 team who won gold alongside Griggs at this event in 2023, Morgan has made every Irish underage international team since 2022, while Mallon was Ireland’s top finisher in the U20 Men’s race last year.

11:30am Mixed Relay (1300m; 1510m; 1510m; 1640m)     

This will be the first time that Ireland have sent a Mixed Relay to these championships since 2022, and the quartet will be hoping to make a major impression in Lagoa.

Cian McPhillips (UCD AC) will make his European Cross Country Championships debut. The 23-year-old had a World Athletics Championships to remember finishing fourth in the 800m and lowering the Irish record in the event to 1:42.15. A serious force to be reckoned with, Cian will hope he can adapt well from the track to the grass.

Andrew Coscoran (Star of the Sea AC) ran the mixed relay at these championships in 2021 and 2022, finishing fourth in Dublin. The Balbriggan man also had the season of his life on the track, making the final of the Men’s 1500m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Laura Nicholson (Bandon AC) and Eimear Maher (Dundrum South Dublin AC) complete the team. Nicholson lowered her 1500m PB to 4:07.17 this summer, qualifying for the World Athletics Championships, while Maher won bronze in the event at the European U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway, while taking her 1500m PB from 4:22.01 to 4:08.67.

12:00pm Senior Women Race (7470m)

Fiona Everard (Bandon AC) heads to the European Cross Country Championships for the third successive year having won her second National Senior Cross Country title in Derry last month.

Niamh Allen (Leevale AC), who Everard has been occasionally training with in Cork, cracked the top ten last year at these championships and will be hoping for another strong performance against Europe’s best.

Danielle Donegan (Tullamore Harriers) competes in her sixth-straight European Cross Country Championships, her second time competing in the senior women’s race. Mary Mulhare (Portlaoise AC) and Emily Haggard-Kearney (North Belfast Harriers) complete the team. This will be Mulhare’s ninth European Cross Country Championships appearance and Haggard-Kearney’s first.

12:41pm Senior Men Race (7470m)

The senior men’s team is spearheaded by recent national champion Brian Fay (Raheny Shamrock AC) who won gold in a thrilling race in Derry last month.

Fay will be joined on the senior men’s team by Cormac Dalton (Mullingar Harriers), Jack O’Leary (Mullingar Harriers), Darragh McElhinney (Bantry AC) and Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers), all of whom have accumulated Euro Cross experience down the years.

Dalton makes his sixth-straight European Cross Country team having featured at every edition since 2019, while clubmate O’Leary makes his first appearance at the event since that year.

McElhinney won a memorable individual silver medal and team gold when Dublin hosted these championships in 2021 and has made significant improvements this year on the track, lowering his 5000m PB to 13:02.06 and just missing out on making the final of that event at the World Athletics Championships.

Gidey has also had an excellent year, winning gold at the European 10,000m Cup in France before finishing in the top 20 of the Men’s 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

TEAM SELECTION

• • 123.ie National Cross Country Championships Report (23.11.2025) is HERE

• European Cross Country Championships Official Website is HERE
• European Cross Country Championships Timetable is HERE
• 2025 European Cross Country Championships Selection Policy is HERE
• Updates and interviews on Athletics Ireland’s social media channels throughout the day.