We were comfortably numb as Fionnuala Britton raced down the final icy stretches of the wickedly cold Budapest course last Sunday, with no fear, no weakness, no giving in and no letting up – and running herself into history.
No woman had ever won two European Cross Country titles in succession, including Paula Radcliffe, yet here was the slight, impossibly light Wicklow athlete, displaying incredible reserves of strength and determination, to defend the title she’d won the year before, in Slovenia.
Britton did it the hard way, taking the lead just 2km into the tough, winding, undulating 8km course, grounding the opposition down to zero, one by one, including the hotly fancied Almensh Belete, the Ethiopian now running for Belgium, and fast-finishing Ana Dulce Felix from Portugal.
Britton’s victory was made deliciously sweeter by what followed, as her Irish team mates defied all predictions to pack tighter than everyone else, and win the gold medals too.
Linda Byrne, Ava Hutchinson, Lizzie Lee, Sarah McCormack and Sara Treacy got to join Britton on the victory rostrum, and the large assembly of Irish supporters were treated to Amhrán na bhFiann played twice in the freezing Hungarian air – we all threw our hats off to that.
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