Hiko Tonosa now proud to call Ireland home

In March last year, Hiko Tonosa received his Irish citizenship at a ceremony in Killarney and as grateful as he was for the opportunities it presented, what most excited him was the chance to represent his adopted nation at major championships. “I gave everything for my running,” he says

Hiko Tonosa: Received Irish citizenship last year. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

So far this year he’s trained with world and Olympic champions, he’s beaten Ireland’s best, but for Hiko Tonosa this is the day that matters most: tomorrow’s national cross country championships in Santry, and an opportunity that comes along once in a career.

Finish in the top three and the 26-year-old will earn an automatic spot on the Irish team for the European Cross Country, set to be staged on home turf in Abbotstown on December 12. Of course, for Tonosa, home has long been a fluid concept, the winds of change carrying him from Ethiopia to Japan to Ireland, his home for the last four years — his home for the foreseeable future.