It’s been a while since any Irish runner has approached the World Cross Country Championships with the enthusiasm and attitude of Hugh Armstrong. At least from the men’s side.
Armstrong describes Saturday’s event in Belgrade as “probably the hardest race in the world”, yet despite the rich Irish tradition of success — John Treacy’s two successive gold medals, Catherina McKiernan’s four successive silvers, Sonia O’Sullivan’s double gold in 1998 — for many European runners it’s also become one of the easiest races to avoid.
The near complete east African dominance in recent decades hasn’t helped in that regard, and Saturday’s 45th edition, even on European ground, won’t be any great exception. For Armstrong that doesn’t mean defeat is the point or the purpose.
At age 29, and seven years after making his first senior appearance at European Cross Country in Slovakia, Armstrong is also set to become the first Mayo runner to represent Ireland at this level in 52 years, going back to the 1972 International Cross Country in Cambridge. That race, the predecessor to the World Cross Country, featured Mayo-born Frank Greally, the later long-serving editor of Irish Runner magazine.
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“It’s a race I’ve always wanted to run, especially given that it’s the race where you can challenge yourself the most,” says Armstrong, that attitude a throwback to Treacy’s era, when most runners in the world welcomed that challenge.
“Cross Country is something I’ve always put high on my list of priorities. Coming from the west of Ireland, we have a good tradition in cross country, and during my time in America too, they put great value on cross country.
“I understand that European athletes maybe struggle to get anywhere near the front, and maybe that’s why some of them are pulling out, and some have other track priorities especially this year with it being Olympic year. But for me it was it was an easy decision.”
Crucially, Armstrong is also using the event as part of his preparation for the Hamburg Marathon, four weeks later, eyeing up the Paris Olympic qualifying time of 2:08:10 (his best of 2:12.26 was set in Seville two years ago).
Now working and training in Dublin, an accountant with An Post, and coached by Feidhlim Kelly at the Dublin Track Club, Armstrong is well versed too in Treacy’s success in 1978 and 1979, given he was coached in Providence College in the US by his older brother Ray.
“In terms of cross country, you have to look at it in terms of place, not time,” Armstrong says, also alert to the fact temperatures in Belgrade are expected to hit 28 degrees on Saturday.
“In terms of places, it’s hard to know exactly, but it’s to finish as high as I can. I’ve been in a marathon training block, and I find the marathon training gets me the fittest of anything. Looking at results the last few years, there wouldn’t have been many Europeans in the top 20 or 25, and in my opinion, is probably the hardest race in the world.”
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Last year’s event in Bathurst, about 200km northwest of Sydney, didn’t have any Irish interest, in part because of the long distance, Armstong is one of eight Irish athletes selected this time. Keelan Kilrehill joins him in the senior men’s race, Fiona Everard and Danielle Donegan will contest the senior women, with Anna Gardiner, Kirsty Maher, Séamus Robinson and Harry Colbert in the under-20 races.
The event also returns to Irish TV after many years, with Virgin Media providing live coverage, and after being injured for the best part of 2020 and 2021, Armstrong may realise too these chances won’t come around forever.
“There was a while there I was in an awful heap with a bad hip, bad back, bad knee, bad hamstring, achilles, everything,” he says. “I was very happy to come out of that hole, and I’m still doing a good portion of training on the cross trainer, 80-90 miles running and the value of another 30 on the cross trainer. But once I heard there was Irish interest in Belgrade, I definitely wanted to run it, even as it was coming close to my marathon.”
An attitude like that won’t do him any harm.
