Fiona Everard excited to take on the best in the world

BY SEÁN HOLLAND

FIONA EVERARD is ready to take on the world.

The Enniskeane woman is jetting off to Belgrade this week to compete in the World Cross-Country Championships on Saturday.

It’s a great indicator of the level Everard has now reached after a terrific six months for the Bandon Athletic Club athlete who was crowned national senior champion last November and then raced at the European Cross-Country Championships the following month. She is one of eight Irish athletes who will be in action on Saturday.

‘Definitely, it’s going to be an exciting experience,’ Everard told The Southern Star.

‘After the European championships I didn't really imagine that it would be happening so I'm just going to take this as a bonus. The fact that they're not sending teams and just sending individuals will mean there won’t be much pressure.

‘It's a cool thing to be able to do and just to get experience from it. I have to give huge credit to Athletics Ireland for it because they are sending us to get that experience on the world stage. I feel that any competition I do after this will be less daunting because of the exposure to these standards.’

Having competed in the European Cross-Country Championships in Brussels in December, Everard got exposure to Europe’s top-class athletes. This will be another step up but she’s ready for the challenge.

‘I found that I took a lot from those championships. When you go to these events you go and try to learn from them. It helps with gaining confidence all the time. Even to be competing against the best in the world brings you on as a runner,’ said Everard, who finished third in the women’s national 10k championships last weekend, in 33:22, behind Shona Heaslip (32:49) and Ann Marie McGlynn (33:10).

‘I was training to compete in the 10k national championships that were last Sunday. That was the race I was targeting and it's the same distance so it worked out well. I’ve kept focusing on the longer distance anyway. It’s been similar enough training, so I should be good to go,’ she added, as Everard is ready to take on the best in the world.

‘Matt, my trainer, was saying it would be a good idea when the entry list comes out to look at the other European names competing and just try and maybe close the gap on people that were ahead of me at the Europeans and try to finish further up the ranking – that will be the main goal,’ she explained.