Brian Fay continued his excellent 2021 with a brilliant 10th place finish at the European cross country championship in Abbotstown.
Fay ran an excellent race was just 30 seconds behind new European champion Jakob Ingebrgsten of Norway.
“I was happy” explained Fay. “I thought the race would go off harder than it did and then it just kind of relaxed in that first K, and that let me get in to a good position and I went chasing that second group”.
“I always felt like I had momentum throughout the race, but then that last lap I was just gassed, I was spent, but then you come around and everyone is cheering you on”.
“Everytime you get to that back straight its like they are cheering for no one else but the Irish, you get a second wind! I think Mayo from Spain was coming around me on the last lap and I was spent, and then I just see him on my shoulder and everyone was like ‘You gotta go’”.
“I’m like I can’t let the team down here, let the country down, so I gave it everything and it was a good performance and I’m really happy”.
Fay was best of the Irish men in 10th place and became just the sixth Irish man to gain a top 10 finish in these championships and helped the Irish team to fourth place overall.
The team medals went the way of France (Gold), Spain (Silver), and Norway (Bronze), with Ireland just missing out on bronze by four points.
