National champ Fiona Everard adds 2023 Cork City Sports Athlete of the Year award to her collection

BY JOHN WALSHE 

THE awards just keep coming for Bandon athlete Fiona Everard. Not only did she win the Cork City Sports Athletics Person of the Month twice in 2023, she now has also gained the overall yearly award.

Before a packed attendance at the River Lee hotel last Friday, the Enniskeane native was rather surprised when her name was called out as Cork City Sports Athlete of the Year for 2023. You could say the surprise was nearly as great as she expressed when winning the national cross-country at Kilkenny last November.

‘Yes, you could say it is on par with that,’ admitted the delighted Everard as she looked back on that day at Gowran when she produced what was arguably the biggest shock of the Irish athletics year.

‘I’m delighted to win this overall award considering the standard of athletics in Cork at the moment,’ said the 25-year-old. ‘It’s so competitive now and the standards seem to be getting better and I think it makes everyone increase their own targets and achieve a bit more.

‘That national win did mean a lot to me and also to my family, they were the ones who stuck with me when I was getting injured and kept me going through that. They do so much for my running anyway, my mum would be driving me here, there and everywhere to races and training, so it was really nice.

‘My coach Matt Lockett and myself put a lot of work into it, so it was nice seeing it paying off. It was a shock to me, I know I was hoping for the top three but I suppose I always doubted myself a bit when going into races, but Matt said it wasn’t as much as a shock to him.

‘I think I definitely got a lot of confidence from last year and so I’m hoping to use that and just push on. Whenever you do well you want to push on anyway and I think I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and don’t change anything drastic and hopefully get those performances.’

Chairman of the Cork City Sports, Tony O’Connell, congratulated Fiona, saying it was a great achievement to win the monthly award twice in the one year and now the overall award as well.

‘We’re delighted for her and for Bandon Athletic Club because they have produced a lot of support over the years,’ he commented.

The focus for Everard now turns to the road in the month ahead.

‘I’m going to do a 10km in March on the roads, we’re not sure where yet but we’re looking at a few different options and then hopefully over the summer the 5km and 10km on the track,’ she said.

Although having never raced the 10km on the road, the way she handled that distance at the International Cross-Country Challenge at Parliament Hill in London back in January, it shouldn’t pose a problem.

‘I really liked that, probably more so than the 9km and the training shows I’m more suited to the longer aerobic work,’ Everard said.

Currently covering around 65 miles a week in training, that devotion to her chosen sport was best exemplified when on a cold and showery Friday afternoon after receiving her award, Fiona was heading out for a testing session of six by one-mile efforts – the mark of a truly dedicated athlete.