FINDING out she had been selected on the Athletics Ireland squad heading to the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham was worth the wait for Fiona Everard.

When the team was initially announced on July 28th, the Enniskeane athlete narrowly missed out on selection for the women’s 10,000 metres.

Two days later, a 47-strong Irish team was confirmed. But again, Everard’s name wasn’t on the list.

The Bandon Athletic Club star had to wait before finally getting the news she wanted.

‘It was only the 24 hours after the team was named that I thought I hadn’t made it. On Friday, I made it into the entries. But those couple of days beforehand felt like a week or two in itself,’ Everard says, relieved to have got the ticket she wanted this summer.

‘The Europeans have been the main target for me, so I’m delighted to get across the line.

‘My family are going over and a lot of friends, and even since my selection got announced, there’s a lot of people who have got on to me saying they already have tickets and they’ll be over there.

‘So I think that was just an extra bit of motivation to try and go when I knew it was going to be so close to home, and there should be such a big Irish crowd over there.’

Remarkably, next Friday evening's European 10,000m final will be just Everard's third race over the distance on the track – and her first European Championships appearance on the track.

Her only previous 10,000m race on the track this year was at the European 10,000m Cup in Italy in May, where she ran a personal best of 32:41.28. Back in May 2023 Everard ran this distance at the Morton Games. In May 2024, she dropped out of a 10,000m race in London.

The two-time – and reigning – national senior cross-country champion is still finding her feet on the track.

‘I’ve had two 10ks on the road and one on track so far this year,’ she explains.

‘It’s definitely mentally tougher on the track, counting down the laps. With Italy being warm for the European Cup, it was definitely a tough experience, so I’m hoping I’ll have learned a lot even from that race to take into Birmingham.

‘It is hard when you’re watching the lap count go down really slowly, and 25 laps is a long way. I do think a lot of it is just mental. It’s a lot easier to distract yourself for a kilometre on the road.

‘But I’m hoping I’ll have learned from Italy, so I’m better able to handle it now.’

The opportunity to run in the European final is another chance to learn more about this level.

‘Hopefully I should get a lot of experience from this. I still feel like I’m quite new to the 10k, especially on the track, so whatever happens, it’s going to be a good experience,’ Everard says.

‘I am excited. I think all season you’re kind of chasing a time and chasing the standard to get there, so I’m actually excited to go into the race and just forget about the time and just race it.

‘I think I do better in those circumstances, just getting to race those around me and run for position and stuff, so I am looking forward to that.’

Everard is happy with how her season has developed, especially now that she has achieved the target she set herself.

‘The goal was chasing the European qualification standard. It can be hard when you go into the summer trying to run a quick 10k because it’s just hard to get optimal conditions,’ she says.

‘In Italy it was very warm, and then I went out to Romania for another 10k on the road and it was just shy of 30 degrees. That race was brutal. It’s tough conditions to try and chase the time in.

‘Since after that, we said we’d have to rely on getting in based on rankings. So I did a 3k and a 5k since then.

‘I’d have liked to have been able to run a bit more, maybe another 5k or another 3k, but when you’re just chasing 10ks, they take a lot out of you and it takes a lot to recover, so you can’t really race as often as I’d have liked.

‘But if I was going to get to go in the 10k, it was going to be worth it.’

Everard’s most recent race saw her win a silver medal in the 5000m at the national championships at the end of last month. She also ran a PB that day, 15:30.34, but felt there was more in her. It’s a good place to be ahead of her European Athletics Championships debut.