Fionnuala McCormack’s love affair with Edinburgh continues

Fionnuala McCormack continued her excellent record at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country with a second place finish in Holyrood Park on Saturday.

Since 2012 McCormack has chalked up two victories and now five second place finishes. McCormack split the Turkish duo of Yasemin Can and Meryem Akdag with the latter fading in the closing stages of the 6km race.

McCormack took the lead from the start but looked like suffering the same fate as the European Championships when the Turks forged ahead. Akdag was unable to sustain the pace on the picturesque and undulating course with Arthur’s Seat as the backdrop allowing McCormack to get up for second. Can finished in 20:26 with the Wicklow woman second in 20:57 with Akdag third in 21:02.