Cian O’Boyle, Niamh Markham, Neasa Ní Áiniféin and Mark Hanrahan. Photograph; Wink & Snap
On Sunday, Niamh Markham and Ennis Track AC will realise a long‑held ambition when they compete at the European Club Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal.
By Katie Kirk
For Markham, the opportunity to line out in the club’s 4x1500m mixed relay team has been circled in the diary since the end of last summer. “I think over the summer, a few of the younger lads and girls, and Pat (Hogan), we kind of sit down… there’s always some club goal… I think it was mid-summer. So at least early on, we had a goal,” Markham stated.
While many athletics clubs across Ireland struggle to field full teams despite rising membership, Ennis Track had no shortage of interest when the prospect of a European trip emerged. “We had our own mini little trial as well, Pat had measured out a trial, literally looped around the woods. I guess it was the fairest way, and everyone wanted to go, and that’s kind of how we select our own little team from it as well, which I think is always good though. Everyone showed up, and we like to make a big deal out of these things”.
For Coolmeen native Markham and her team-mates, Mark Hanrahan, Cian O’Boyle, and Neasa Ní Ainiféin, the competition has been a powerful motivator during the dark winter months. And although she doesn’t typically focus on indoor racing, the build‑up may lead her toward a late-February appearance at the national indoor championships.
“Cross country is just not my jam, but it was a good motivator to have it in the middle of the indoors because it is 1500m or a mile around. So you’re still doing that same strength base in the winter. Indoors, I kind of just haven’t done the last couple of years. Real life is busy with working and everything, I find it’s easier to focus on the outdoor season, but it’s actually encouraged me. I did a 3k indoor race there a couple of weeks ago, a few road races. Depending on how this weekend goes, nationals are in a couple of weeks”.
Markham is one of Ennis Track’s most loyal servants, having joined the club at the age of ten and remained under the guidance of coach Pat Hogan throughout her career. “It’s a really special club. Like everyone, it’s a buy-in, it’s a family. It’s like ‘one life, one club’. You will never see me not in red”.
After returning from a U.S. collegiate scholarship in 2020, Markham initially believed her competitive days were behind her. But by 2022, she was back on track, quite literally, winning a national medal in the 1500m. A similar cycle unfolded again after a year spent travelling in 2024. “I went travelling for a year there and I was like, ‘I’m done competing,’ and then came back and just started running again. And then I was back in it again, totally unplanned. And that was when I ended up running my 1500 personal best again. And I was only home from travelling for seven months”.
Now 30, Markham says her relationship with the sport has evolved. The realities of full‑time work as a Dublin-based primary school teacher and life outside running have reshaped her approach. “I will probably just keep going. I don’t know. I feel like when you can, when your body physically can, and if it’s good for you mentally, why not. I keep joking, I’m getting old, but people are showing that age doesn’t actually matter, which I think is really important”.
She says that reduced pressure and a mindset focused on enjoyment have helped her race better in recent years. “I feel like, as athletes, we put so much pressure on ourselves when you’re at that serious high-end level. I kind of took a different approach to it or a mindset. It was really for enjoyment, the competing aspect, and I ended up having my best season, got my bronze outdoor national medal. Since then, it fits into my lifestyle, rather than having it in isolation, where I put so much pressure on myself… And as a result, I’ve just been running better”.
Predicting the outcome in Portugal is difficult, particularly with world 1500m champion Issac Nader among the entries.
Still, Ennis Track has enjoyed success on this stage before; the men’s junior team won gold in 2022, and they are hoping to carry a similar belief this time round.
Markham says while some teammates are targeting the podium, her own goal is simple: deliver everything she has over her 1500m leg. “I love that the high achievers in our team are like ‘podium’… The juniors (2022) mightn’t have known what they were coming up against, but they believed… It is good to go in with that. I think just leaving it all out there is a goal for me”.
