Cork athletes Niamh Allen and Fiona Everard in Florida for World Cross Country Championships

Two of Cork's most gifted athletes are Stateside this weekend for the 46th edition of the World Cross Country Championships.

Leevale's Niamh Allen and Bandon AC's Fiona Everard are part of an Irish team of four in Florida for the prestigious event which will be broadcast live on Virgin Media 2 from 3.50pm on Saturday.

The global event returns to the United States for the first time since 1992, with the course terrain at Apalachee Regional Park set to feature sand, water, mud, and a signature ‘rollercoaster’ element.

The Irish team is headlined by Brian Fay (Raheny Shamrock AC) and Fiona Everard (Bandon AC) who both finished 10th individually in the senior races at December’s European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal.

Everard returns to this stage having finished 60th in the senior women’s race at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade. The Cork woman had the run of her life in Lagoa last month, coming through the field strongly to crack the top ten at the European Cross Country Championships, which backed up her superb victory at the 123.ie National Senior Cross Country Championships last November.

Fay, who is an Olympian over 5000m, had a memorable 2025 Cross Country season winning the national senior title in November before being a scoring member of the Irish team who won a historic silver medal (the first by an Irish senior men’s team in 25 years) in Lagoa. This will be his debut appearance at the World Cross Country Championships.

FIRST

The two other athletes on the team will be making their debut appearances at the World Cross Country Championships.

Niamh Allen (Leevale AC) joins Everard in the senior women’s race. Allen was 10th at the 2024 European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Türkiye and finished 23rd in Lagoa.

Fresh from a 10th-place finish in the U20 Men’s race in Lagoa, Noah Harris (Parnell AC) completes the team. The 18-year-old from Wicklow who is currently studying at the University of Tennessee will be looking to gain valuable experience in Tallahassee.