Britton avoiding limelight to focus on big day in Belgrade

Fionnuala Britton’s manager, Ian Chaney, insisted she will be focusing purely on her training, with media contact at a strict minimum, upon yesterday’s announcement of the Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on December 8.

“She’s going to be putting her head down now to fine-tune her preparations for the Europeans,” said Chaney. “She had a tough race in France on Sunday and now she needs to sharpen up. She doesn’t like the limelight and wants to focus purely on her running. She has a big challenge ahead to make it three wins in a row, with Ana Dulce Felix, Sophie Duarte and Karoline Grovdal in the mix. It’s going to come down to who has a full tank at 5km into the race. The next two weeks are vital so she doesn’t want to do any media requests.”

Britton finished 7th in the Cross de L’Acier over 6.6km in Northern France on Sunday but the distance at the Europeans will be 8km, which should play to the Wicklow woman’s strengths.