Sport

Britton launches national championships Kirk makes Ireland call after switch

TWO-TIME European Cross-Country champion Fionnuala Britton launched the GloHealth National Cross-Country Championships this week.

The championships take place on November 23 at Dundalk Institute of Technology and it promises to be a day of pulsating action

as the cream of Irish athletes vie for places on the country's six teams for the European Cross-Country Championships in Bulgaria next month.

The national even age group finals are also on the programme. Britton (pictured) will use the event as a key part of her preparation for the Europeans. "My major goal for this part of the year is the Euro Cross in Bulgaria," she said. "The nationals in Dundalk is a good opportunity for me to get a hard work-out in before

those championships. "Cross-country running played a crucial role in my development as a juvenile athlete. It will be great to see so many young athletes representing their club and county in the earlier juvenile races."

The action gets under way with the girls' U12 race at 11am and concludes with the senior men's 10km race at 3pm.

A number of northern athletes will be hoping for selection, including Ryan McDermott and Ruairí Finnegan in the U23 race, Ciara Mageean in the women's U23 and Ann-Marie McGlynn in the senior women's race.

LAGAN Valley athlete Katie Kirk will be representing Ireland next year after a switch of allegiance from Britain this week.

The Queen's University student reached the semi-finals of the 800m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the summer, and was just one place away from making the final.

Kirk (pictured) celebrated her 21st birthday on Wednesday and wasn't included in the funding announced by UK Athletics earlier in the week.

She was part of Britain's winning 4x400m relay squad at the European Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia in 2011.

As she has not represented Britain at an international championships since, she can compete for Ireland immediately with the agreement of both nations.

She was one of the few NI athletes to emerge from Glasgow with her status enhanced after a battling second place in her first round heat.

She followed that up with a sixth place in the faster of the two semi-finals in a personal best time of 2:02:63.

That mark left her just one place outside the eight-woman final and

ranked her third in Ireland at the distance this year behind Rose-Ann Galligan (2:02.07) and Laura Crowe (2:02.24).

Kirk, who is coached by her father Mark, will probably target next year's European U23 Championships in Tallinn.