DARRAGH McElhinney has decided to sit out cross-country this winter as he targets a big 2027.

The Glengarriff man has enjoyed plenty of cross-country success in recent seasons. He raced to the senior men’s national title in 2022, won European U23 individual silver and team gold in 2021, and helped the Irish senior men’s team capture a sensational silver medal at the 2025 European Cross Country Championships.

Cross-country has created great memories and swelled his medal collection, but McElhinney is putting his own interests first this winter.

‘I’m going to give it a skip this year,’ he confirmed to The Southern Star.

‘I think with the summer going on as long as it did – the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen were the 20th of September – it just doesn’t give you enough time.

‘You take a week off after, and by the time the national cross-country and European cross-country come around, I’ll only be getting back into the swing of things fully. I’ll only have five or six weeks of training done.’

The Bantry AC athlete has no regrets about racing cross-country last season – his European team medal was reward for that decision. But he felt he wasn’t physically ready to perform at the level he wanted.

Award winner Darragh McElhinney. (Photo: Martin Walsh)

‘Individually, my performance wasn’t great – I came 16th there, and came fourth or fifth at the nationals,’ he says.

‘I’ve learned from that. It’s good that we won a medal last year, but this year I need to just put my own interest first, and put in a two or three-month block of training, because next year is a big one with European indoors in Valencia, and World championships on the track in Beijing in September.

‘I need to qualify for both of them, and hopefully perform well at the two of them, and my best way of doing that is definitely to just focus on training for the rest of the year.’

McElhinney knows what he needs to do to build on his progress over the last 18 months.

‘I want to put in a high-volume, high-intensity, three-month block of training before Christmas, and then do a full indoor season,’ he explains.

‘The indoor season is really important for trying to get qualifying points for Beijing as well, so there’s a lot of emphasis on the indoor season for me. I need to just make sure I’m ready for that.’

McElhinney puts in the hard miles – it’s why he has enjoyed so much success over the last decade. Take last week as an example. He was at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery to pick up a West Cork Sports Star monthly award on Monday night, before driving to Dublin to train on Tuesday morning. He takes it all in his stride.

Ten years ago this past summer, when he was just 15, he spent a few weeks in Brazil ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games, handpicked as a training partner for Irish Olympians Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe and Natayle Coyle.

Darragh McElhinney has now won three men's 5000m national titles.

It was obvious, even then, there was something about Darragh.

A decade on, he is still producing. This year alone he won the Irish men’s 5000m national title and then set an Irish 5k road record at the World Road Running Championships.

‘It’s crazy,’ he reminisces, ‘because memories pop up on your phone and sometimes it feels like a bit of a dream that I was in Brazil when I was 15.

‘I suppose it’s strange even for me. I’m kind of coming back now, and I’m not quite a veteran, but I’m not a million miles off it either. I’m not a young athlete anymore.’

It’s worth remembering that McElhinney is still only 25 years old. He’s had brilliant highs contrasted against lows that saw him question his future in athletics, but the constant is his desire to push forward as fast as he can.

This year he set personal bests in the 3000m indoors, as well as the 5k and 10k on the road – evidence that he’s still performing.

Winning the men’s national 5000m title in the summer – for a third time, and a first since 2022 – was a boost, too.

‘You have a bit more of an appreciation for things now,’ he muses.

‘When I won my first, I was 19, and you kind of think you’re just going to win it every year then! And then you kind of learn fairly quickly that’s not the way it works.

‘I won it in 2022 as well, but it had been four years until now. I’ve had a couple of third and fourths, but there’s nothing like winning a race. It was brilliant.

‘That was the theme of the summer, that there were a lot of good moments, but it was probably a little bit disappointing overall.

‘Winning the national title was definitely the highlight on the track. Going back to what I was saying about having a bit more of an appreciation, I can enjoy that moment and enjoy what I achieved that day, even if I probably wasn’t that happy with my summer overall.’

McElhinney’s disappointment came in the men’s 5000m final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham in August. It was a bad day at the office in his biggest race of the year. He finished 18th. That stung.

But smashing the national 5k road record with his 13:22 in Copenhagen in September was just what he needed.

‘Definitely the highlight of the year,’ he smiles.

‘To be totally honest, Copenhagen hadn’t really been in my mind at all. Everything was just for Birmingham. I felt like I was in really good shape but, for whatever reason, didn’t perform on the day at all. I just didn’t feel good, just didn’t run well.

‘Afterwards, I wanted to keep it going for the five weeks to Copenhagen because I knew that the Irish record was attainable. I was thinking that if I keep going and I put in a decent performance there, I’ll be able to have something to be proud of for the summer.

‘It’s funny as a sports person, it’s great that people have a way of remembering the good stuff. No one’s asked me about Birmingham since Copenhagen, it’s great!

‘It just makes life a bit easier when you finish with a good performance.’