Finn Valley AC junior women come sixth in Europe

Finn Valley AC’s junior women finished sixth team at the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in Portugal on Sunday morning.

The Finn Valley quartet of Sarah Bradley, Nuala Bose, Eimear McCarroll and Emer O’Brien produced an excellent performance to land a place in the top six.

The result draws echoes of one of Finn Valley’s great hours, their sixth-placed finish in the senior women’s race at the same event in 1995.

Bradley led the way for Finn Valley with a 12th place finish in Oeiras. Bradley finished in 15 minutes and 37 seconds - just four seconds off a top-nine spot.

Bose was the next of the Finn Valley women in 17th with McCarroll (31st) and O’Brien (47th) securing the sixth team spot.

Finn Valley AC junior women's team, coaches and supporters

The junior women’s race was won by Finland’s Ilona Mononen.

Finn Valley traveled without Cara Laverty, who was their lead runner in winning national team golds at under-19 and under-20 levels in late 2021, but was unable to travel to Portugal.

The Finn Valley AC are all underage for the next staging of this event and will be looking to push towards the medals in the next 12 months.

For Finn Valley, this was a return to a competition that provided some real highlights in the past. During the 90s and 00s, Finn Valley AC competed nine times at senior level in the European Champion Clubs Cup, finishing sixth twice - including at Mia, Portugal in ’95.

AC Mica Roma from Romania, who had three of the top eight finishers, won the team gold ahead of C.A Augergne (France) and CSM Raraul (Romania).