IRVINESTOWN athlete Edel Monaghan has been selected to represent Ireland at the upcoming World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Canfranc-Pirineos in Spain.
Following her superb performance at the International Selection Trials held earlier in the year, the Fermanagh talent has received an international call-up.
This will be the first time Spain, and the Pyrenees will host the WMTRC. Canfranc-Pirineos, world-famous for its iconic International Railway Station, serves as the epicentre for this spectacular event.
The championships will feature five challenging race disciplines: Uphill, Classic Up & Down, Short Trail, Long Trail, and U20 Classic. The event is expected to draw around 1,700 athletes from 70 countries.
Edel races in the Uphill which is a 6.5-kilometre vertical ascent with 986-metre elevation gain.
Meanwhile, the most promising British and Irish junior mountain runners converged on Y Fron, near Caernarfon for the 29th British & Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships on Saturday.
Enniskillen Running Club athlete Tiarnan McManus, who has competed at European and World level, put in a good performance to finish 15th in the U20 Category.
McManus has been training well following appendicitis surgery in June which ruled him out of having a track season.
Cross Country Season
It’s that time of year where the scramble is on to fish out the cross-country spikes and gauge, depending on the weather, whether one goes with a nine or 12-millimetre spike to put into the shoe.
Local athletes are fortunate in that they have options to choose from this weekend with the Champions Cup taking place at the Finn Valley Centre in Stranorlar or the annual The TJ Mc Elemeel Cup in Armagh.
From there athletes have a few more weeks of preparation before the first of the Provincial Championships take place at the Billy Neill Centre in Comber on Sunday 26 October.
A fortnight later the Finn Valley Centre will host the Uneven Age Group Championships.