Eimear leads Irish C.C Relay Team at Euro's in Portugal

Congratulations to Eimear Maher on her first Senior international appearance for Ireland on Sunday at the European Cross Country Championships, in Lagoa, Portugal.

Eimear competed in the mixed relay event, which has become extremely popular since its inception at the European XC Champs in 2017. Following her 3^rd place position at the national U23 cross country championships a few weeks back, Eimear was given the chance to combine her track speed and cross-country strength by leading the Irish team off on the first leg of the relay. Eimear displayed unwavering confidence amongst her senior rivals and really showed the rest of the field that she is a force to be reckoned with, staying in touch with the lead women, right up to the handover.  She kicked hard for the line and recorded the joint fastest time of all the women, alongside the Belgian team, putting Ireland in 2^nd place overall, behind Turkey, who played a risky tactic of putting a male athlete on the lead leg. 

Eimear handed over to recent world 800m 4^th place finisher, Cian McPhillips, who looked a lot less comfortable on the tight and twisty cross-country course.  An unfortunate tumble during McPhillip’s handover to Laura Nicholson put an end to any hopes of an Irish relay medal, and despite a strong anchor leg from Andrew Coscoran, the Irish team only managed 6^th place overall, just 5 seconds adrift of the bronze medal.

After Eimear’s European U23 1500m bronze medal on the track this summer, it was great to see her step up so strongly and challenge some of the strongest seniors in Europe.

Well done Eimear!