Gebrezgi focuses on securing Irish place

MARY McKENNA, coach to Celtic Athletic Club, had left her telephone number with the Refugee Centre on the Navan Road in the hope that she might be able to help if anybody there was interested in athletics, but she was more than surprised when Sr. Breege Keenan rang her to tell her a girl called in and inquired about cross-country running.

Azmera Gebrezgi had come to Ireland with the junior women’s team from Eritrea for the world cross-country championships in Leopardstown in 2002 and, as well as seeking asylum, she wanted to continue her athletic career.

What has happened in the meantime has been sensational. She now remains unbeaten for almost a year. That defeat last year in the schools championships was at the hands of Linda Byrne (DSD) who was runner-up in the national junior championships in Roscommon on Sunday when Gebrezgi finished like a 400m sprinter. In between she has won 800m and 1,500m school titles on the track, AAI U18 and U19 cross-country championships and the national inter-counties title in Mullingar last November.