DARRAGH McElhinney and Nicola Tuthill will fly the West Cork flag at the upcoming European Athletics Championships.
Both were named in the Athletics Ireland squad for the championships in Birmingham, running from August 10th to 16th.
McElhinney will compete in the men’s 5000m, and will take confidence from his impressive triumph in this distance at the national senior championships last weekend. The Bantry Athletic Club star produced a strong display to power to his third national senior title in this event, following previous gold medal wins in 2020 and 2022.
‘This year I wanted to run the 5k for two reasons. One was to practise that kind of race for the Europeans, but at the same time you want to win a national title as well. You can’t take them for granted. They’re hard to come by,’ McElhinney says.
‘Even if you take everything else out of it – the confidence it gives you and all that – it’s still a massive achievement in itself.’
Kilbrittain woman Tuthill is also in good form right now after she continued her dominance in the women’s hammer at nationals – it’s now four senior titles in a row, and a fifth in total.
In strong form this year, Tuthill is consistently throwing over 70 metres, including landing a new personal best of 72.73m in late June. In fact, before the nationals, her best throws at all competitions were above 71 metres, and at the Cork City Sports all three of her throws were over 72 metres, evidence of her improvement.
