Europeans a more cherished prize now, says Catherina McKiernan

It may or may not be telling that Catherina McKiernan can’t find her European Cross Country gold medal. It’s 20 years ago, this week, since she won it, and the Cavan athlete was never one to go parading around with the shiny rewards of her success.

“It’s at home somewhere, in Cornafean,” she says. “It’s probably in an old shoebox, but I just don’t remember where.”

Yet the fact her medal has gone missing perhaps reflects its value then compared to now: McKiernan’s victory in 1994 came in the inaugural European Cross Country, staged in Alnwick, in the north of England, and at that point in distance running history, it was the poor relation to the World Cross Country.

Now, two decades on, the European Cross Country is the headline event, at least on this continent, as the World Cross Country - now only staged every two years - has apparently been surrendered to Africa. So, if McKiernan was still in her prime and running in Sunday’s 21st edition of the European Cross Country, set for the Bulgarian mountain resort of Samokov, winning a gold medal might be a more cherished prize.

“Of course, when people talk about what I’ve achieved, winning in Alnwick would always be up there,” she says. “And the fact it was the first time means people will always look back on it. It was a European title, and at the end of the day, you don’t win too many of those.

“But I’d also finished second in the World Cross Country, the previous two years, so I definitely felt I was capable of winning it, and actually felt it was my race to win. I wasn’t in tip-top shape, as it was still more of a stepping stone towards the World Cross Country, the following March.”

As it turned out, McKiernan’s European victory in 1994 is neatly sandwiched between her four successive World Cross Country silver medals, from 1992 to 1995. With that in mind, McKiernan looks at Sunday’s event in Samokov, where Fionnuala Britton is hoping to win a third European Cross Country title in four years, with slightly mixed feelings: while it’s great to see an Irish contender, it’s sad to see the World Cross Country fade into oblivion.

“Yeah, the World Cross Country used to be a great event. But you watch it now and the first seven or eight would be all Africans, and I suppose for a range of different reasons; the genetics, living at altitude, the will to win, and they’re nearly all full-time athletes over there. If they win one or two big races they can set themselves up for life. But it’s unfortunate that the Europeans can’t seem to compete against them anymore.”

Another reason why they “can’t”, she says, is because of the way Europeans are now living: “For me, growing up on a farm, there wasn’t a whole pile else to do, except go running around the fields. The boys played football, the girls played camogie, and being the youngest of seven, I was always looking for a way to slip out of the house.

“Now, and I see it with my own two children, youngsters are driven everywhere. When I was growing up I either ran to school, or cycled. It’s completely different now. They’re carted everywhere by car, even if it’s only 400 metres down the road. They’re not building up the natural endurance and stamina like we did.”

It’s safe to say no Irish athlete is going to win an individual World Cross Country medal in the foreseeable future, so McKiernan understands why the European Cross Country has taken precedence. That doesn’t mean it’s any harder to win now than it was in 1994.

“There’s no reason why it should be. There are maybe a couple more Africans now, running for Europe, but there were good runners back in my day too, like Fernanda Ribeiro from Portugal (who finished sixth, and two years later won the Olympic 10,000m). It was a tough course that day too, very windy.”

Indeed McKiernan was given a run all the way to the line by Spain’s Julia Vaquero: “She kept coming back at me,” says McKiernan, “and I had to give a couple of elbows, just to remind her she wouldn’t get past me easy. But I remember the tiredness too, at the finish. When I crossed the line, and ran into the finishing shoot, I had to hold on to the rope, to help keep myself up. Because I had given it everything. But mentally, there was no way I was going to lose that race. I think I won it more on mental strength than anything else.”

Britton looks primed for another title shot on Sunday, to go with her victories in 2011 and 2012, having finished fourth last year. Although for McKiernan, who at age 45 is still running with the best of them on national road running scene, her European Cross Country gold medal, even if she could find it, won’t ever surpass what she won on the world stage.

“People still ask me that, would I swap those four World silver medals for one gold. But I don’t think I would. I still think I gave a lot of people satisfaction, and joy, with each of those medals.”

And no one in the world can argue with that.