By his own blunt admission, Brian Fay was slipping back into running mediocrity. After one race and then another, the sense was he must be better.
It’s over two years since Fay lowered the Irish 5,000m record to 13:01.40, the third fastest European time of 2023. He won two Irish titles at that distance and was also successful in the 3,000m steeplechase. In 2021, he ran the fastest time over 3,000m by any Irish athlete in 36 years.
Then, at the Paris Olympics last year, he finished well off his best. Worse again, he trailed home third from last in his 5,000m heat at the World Championships in Tokyo in September. He’s never won an international medal of any colour, individual or team, and that chance appeared to be slipping away.
“When you’ve run well in the past, you feel the world is your oyster, the only way is up,” he said. “But it’s not really that straightforward. And I did feel like I’d become a mediocre runner in the last six or seven months. Certainly from how people would perceive me and how my competitors would perceive me.”
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Something had to change. Fay, now aged 27, had already made the move to train with the Melbourne Track Club under Nic Bideau. He backed off on the altitude training and spent a little more time in the gym, then returned home for the National Cross Country Championships in Derry last month.
Running in the colours of Raheny Shamrock, this proved a proper battle. Despite dropping off the leaders around halfway, Fay’s strength ultimately pulled him back, before he kicked past Nick Griggs and Cormac Dalton in the last 150 metres.
“I knew I was good enough, had the capabilities of winning, but there were an awful lot of good people in the field,“ he said. ”I was second in that race when I was 20, so it’s nice to come and get the win now. It gives you a bit of confidence, rather than being in races where you’re getting the doors blown off.
“I’d made a big jump running 13:01 and kind of stagnated around that area. The end of my outdoor season wasn’t all that good. So it’s nice just to get a win, moving in the right direction in terms of Euro cross, and being competitive again against the best guys in the world.”
[ Fiona Everard longs for the muddy slog of an Irish track ahead of Algarve raceOpens in new window ]
Fay firmly believes Sunday’s European Cross Country Championships in Portugal offers the chance to end the Irish medal drought on the senior men’s front. It’s 25 years since the scoring quartet of Peter Mathews (10th) Seamus Power (14th), Gareth Turnbull (23rd) and Keith Kelly (25th) won team bronze in Sweden – although Irish teams have come close since.
Two years ago in Brussels, the senior men finished fourth. They were also fourth in Dublin in 2021, when Fay finished 10th. Cormac Dalton will run his sixth successive European Cross Country on Sunday. The men’s team also includes Darragh McElhinney, Efrem Gidey, and Jack O’Leary.
There’s no denying their experience: McElhinney and Gidey have both won underage medals, although with only three athletes to score, no one can afford to hold back. The fast, twisting course at Lagoa will make sure of that.
“All those guys have the capability to come top-10; we have a very strong men’s team,“ he continued. ”It probably is our best shot in a long time to win a medal. We are a cross-county nation and it’s a shame we haven’t produced anything in the senior men’s the last few years.
“I feel everyone here has decent pedigree on the track, but we were all cross-country runners beforehand, we all did schools’ cross, came up through the system, which is very cross-county orientated.
“So yes, we’d love to come away with a medal. I reckon three in the top 12 will guarantee it. And hopefully it’s a conversation and a luxury that we’ll have, to come in as medal contenders in the next couple of editions as well.
“I’m a different calibre athlete to four years ago, when I came 10th. At the time, that was the race of my life. But I wouldn’t be in the same mindset as four years ago; that was just an out-of-my-skin run.”
Bideau has never shied away from the high-mileage approach and Fay still logs at least 100 miles a week: “I’ve kind of just dialled in a little bit more, where I’m like, ‘I don’t have that many more good years left under me’.
“I wasn’t a big fan of the gym, so [I’m] doing a little more now, but I’m not going near altitude for the time being. It’s great to do it, but I do think it cooks you. The one criticism I would have of Australia is that it’s so far away from an awful lot of races. Even a close race for them is nine or 10 hours up to Japan. But it is perfect weather and really a good training group to be in.”
Beyond Lagoa, Fay is already looking toward a return to the 3,000m steeplechase in 2026 and possibly the marathon beyond that.
“I believe I can be a whole lot better than what I’ve achieved so far. But you’ve still got to do it on a national scale before you do it on a European scale. I feel like I wasn’t doing it on any scale, really.”
Sunday schedule (all times Irish)
9:30am: U-20 Women (4,450m)
10:00: U-20 Men (4,450m)
10:26: U-23 Women (5,960m)
11:00: U-23 Men (5,960m)
11:30: 4xMixed Relay (1,300m; 1,510m; 1,510m; 1,640m)
12:00pm: Senior Women (7,470m)
12:41: Senior Men (7,470m)
Men
Senior: Brian Fay (Raheny Shamrock AC), Cormac Dalton (Mullingar Harriers), Jack O’Leary (Mullingar Harriers), Darragh McElhinney (Bantry AC), Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers).
Under-23: Nick Griggs (Candour Track Club), Jonas Stafford (UCD AC), Niall Murphy (Ennis Track AC), Callum Morgan (Candour Track Club), Lughaidh Mallon (UCD AC).
Under-20: Noah Harris (Parnell AC), Caolan McFadden (Cranford AC), Tom Breslin (Clonliffe Harriers), Finn Diver (Beechmount Harriers), Cormac Dixon (Tallaght AC).
Women
Senior: Fiona Everard (Bandon AC), Niamh Allen (Leevale AC), Danielle Donegan (Tullamore Harriers), Mary Mulhare (Portlaoise AC), Emily Haggard-Kearney (North Belfast Harriers).
Under-23: Roise Roberts (Candour Track AC), Amy Greene (Finn Valley AC), Anika Thompson (Leevale AC), Ava O’Connor (Tullamore Harriers), Kirsty Maher (Moy Valley AC).
Under-20: Emma Hickey (United Striders), Lucy Foster (Willowfield Harriers), Eimear Cooney (Ace AC), Abby Smith (Shercock AC), Anna Gardiner (East Down AC).
Mixed Relay: Eimear Maher (Dundrum South Dublin AC), Laura Nicholson (Bandon AC), Andrew Coscoran (Star of the Sea AC), Cian McPhillips (UCD AC).
Live on RTÉ 2 on Sunday from 10:45am. Earlier races live on the RTÉ Player and Eurovision Sport from 9:00am.
