Athletics Ireland have named a 10-strong team for the upcoming European 10,000m Cup on Saturday May 23^rd in La Spezia, Italy.

Six women and four men will compete in the Irish vest at the Centro Sportivo Alessandro Montagna stadium, racing in the event where Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers) won a historic gold medal for Ireland last year, the country’s first in the championship’s history.

While Gidey is absent this year, several athletes will be looking to make their mark. Amongst them are Cork duo Fiona Everard (Bandon AC) and Niamh Allen (Leevale AC).

Everard has been in excellent form in the last six months, finishing 10^th at the European Cross Country Championships and inside the top 25 in January’s World Cross Country Championships. She recently clocked a PB of 31:58 on her way to victory in a road race in Saint-Ménard-en-Jalles, France.

Allen was also inside the top 25 at the World Cross Country Championships and will race her first 10,000m on the track at the championships. The 31-year-old notched up an impressive win recently in the Ballintotis 4-mile Road Race, clocking a time of 19:50.

Emily Haggard-Kearney (North Belfast Harriers) was the recent gold medal winner at the National 10km Road Championships and also clocked a 10km road PB of 32:07 in the UK in March. Haggard-Kearney also claimed victory in the 3k at the Armagh International Road Race in February.

Last weekend’s Dublin City Half Marathon winner Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill (West Limerick AC) is selected alongside Patricia Jackman (Waterford AC) and Faye Dervan (Dublin City Harriers). All three will make Irish senior international debuts.

Callum Morgan (Candour Track Club) spearheads the men’s team for the event. The 22-year-old was part of the Irish men’s team who won U23 gold at the European Cross Country Championships in December and set his 10km road PB of 28:08 in Valencia in January.

Oisín O’Gailín (Finn Valley AC) returns to the championships where he ran his 10,000m personal best of 29:02.05 last year. He has been in good form so far this year clocking a 5000m PB of 13:37.14 in California last month.

Jamie Battle (Mullingar Harriers) and Michael Murphy (Tullamore Harriers) earn senior international debuts. Both athletes ran personal bests at the Valencia 10k in January.

Commenting on the selection this morning Mark Kenneally, Athletics Ireland High Performance Endurance Lead, said:

“We are pleased to announce the selection of ten athletes to go to European 10,000m Cup. This race represents an opportunity on a number of levels for athletes – we have some focused on using this race to achieve qualifying standards for the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham and others looking to improve their best performances to closer to those qualifying standards in an international representative race.

“Being in position to select ten athletes for this race is further evidence to the rising standard of distance running in Ireland, and testament to the work being done by athletes and their coaches around the country,” he added.

TEAM SELECTION:

• European 10,000m Cup website is HERE
• Athletics Ireland European 10,000m Cup selection policy is HERE

This was posted @ 12:30pm on 06.05.2026