Washington alum Brian Fay wins Irish national cross country title...

In Derry, Ireland, University of Washington alum Brian Fay (Athletics Ireland photo) won the Irish national cross country championships on Sunday.

Fay, who was a two-time NCAA cross country All American at the UW, as well as the 2022 NCAA West Regional champion, came from behind over the last 100 meters of the 7.5 k race to win the national title in 25:13 on a cold, wet, and windy day at the Templemore Sports Complex.

The victory marked Fay's first national senior cross country title.

“It’s brilliant…I’m happy to come here and get the win,” Fay told Athletics Ireland afterwards.

Fay, the Irish record holder at 5000 meters who only got to the semifinals at the world championships in Tokyo in September, said “My outdoor season tailed off, I was racing too much, and I got too tired. I reset, took a break, got a few races done in Australia and built back up the mileage. I knew I was coming into good shape,” he added.

Fay will now look forward to the European Cross Country Championships in three weeks time, his victory sealing selection for the annual event, which will be contested in Lagoa, Portugal on December 14th.

“I’d love to do great there as an individual, but I feel like this is a year we can really push for a team medal, that’s the goal,” he said. “I want to help the team in any way that I can.”

The Athletics Ireland recap of the Irish Cross Country Championships is available here. Complete results are available here.

NOTE: Athletics Ireland contributed to this report.

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