By Paul O’Neill
IRVINESTOWN runner Edel Monaghan said she can “go home satisfied enough” after she played a key role with Ireland in the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Spain.
The world’s top mountain running and trail running exponents gathered for the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, which ran over four days.
Edel Monaghan was part of a 33 strong team for these championships with Ireland represented in each of the five races that made up the championships.
Along with her three Irish teammates, Edel and participants from 43 other countries lined up for the all-uphill climb, which was the first of the female races in the championships
This race started two kilometers north of Canfranc and went 6.4 kilometres (4 miles) in distance, with a steady 990 meters (3,248 feet) of elevation gain.
The course wound and climbed its way through a black pine forest to a finish atop Larraca Mountain in the Spanish Pyrenees.
This was not a race for the faint hearted as on the steeper sections of the mountain athletes were hands on knees power walking through sections.
Of the race itself, following the early dominance by the Ugandan team, reigning European Champion Nina Engelhard from Germany who took up the running at the head of the field just before the halfway mark.
The 28-year-old asserted her dominance on the field and by the finish on the mountain top recorded the win with 26 seconds to spare over fellow Susanna Saapunki of Finland who took the silver medal.
A strong final section saw American Anna Gibson take home bronze.
Sarah McCormack was the best of the Irish, finishing just outside the top 40, in 41st position.
Monaghan was pleased with her performance finishing 70th of the 107 finishers.
“My goal was to try and better my performance at the trial race and hopefully come away with having beaten one of my Irish teammates, but that wasn’t to be,” Monaghan told the ‘Herald.
“The top 50 here are full time Mountain Running athletes its what they do day in day out, so for me who has only ever ran just over a dozen Mountain races in total ever, I can go home satisfied enough.
“I’m looking forward to preparing for an Irish Cross Country season,” she added.
Seaton Classic 10k
Formerly known as the Bangor 10k, renamed the after North Down AC stalwart David Seaton, took place on what was a wet and breezy morning.
The race which attracted 1300 competitors was relatively flat and started outside Bangor Castle doubled as the 2025 Ulster & NI 10k Championships.
Having been plagued by niggling injuries for around six weeks, Conan McCaughey returned to action and was content with his sixth-place finish,
“It’s been a frustrating time. It’s never easy when your out with injury, but it’s part and parcel of it I suppose,” he said.
“Hopefully now I can get back and get a solid block of work done in preparation for the winter months.
“The plan is to make the Irish team for the master’s International Cross Country in Leeds in November, so my next race will be the Autumn Open in Abbotstown on October 19, where one needs to finish top three in their age category to secure automatic selection for the team. This is a tall task with the training I missed, but hopefully I can be competitive and stake a claim for a qualification.”
New Parkrun
The Loughhead Park Run in Lisnaskea joins the Enniskillen Parkrun at the Broadmeadow as the newest venue in the province available to people looking for their recreational 5k fix on a Saturday morning.
In its second week, the event attracted 91 participants and over the coming weeks organisers are hoping that more people from South Fermanagh and people along the borders of Cavan and Monaghan will come along and kick-start their weekend with a leisurely run and the opportunity to meet like minded people.
The Parkrun at Lough Head is a two-lap course run on gravel paths. Each lap comprises a clockwise loop of the Railway Path, around Emmett Park, and a loop of the Birdie Walk (Lough Head Park).