Laois trio gearing up for British & Irish Mountain Running Championships

LAOIS athletes Riley Connolly, Siobhán O’Loughlin and Della McLoughlin will be gearing up for this year’s British and Irish Junior International Mountain Running Championships, taking place in Newcastle, Co. Down on Saturday 12 September.

All three were among some 10 competitors from the county who contested the recent B&I trials at Glenbarrow last month, with Connolly of St Michael’s Athletic Club racing home first in the Under-18 Men’s class.

His clubmate, O’Loughlin finished runner-up in the Under-20 Women’s division to Eve Buckley from Cork, with McLoughlin from Oughaval AC taking fourth behind another Leesider, Olive O’Flynn.

St Michael’s coach, Owen Connolly was impressed by the performance of the Laois qualifiers at the trials, remarking “Riley upped the pace and took it on from about 300 or 400 meters, and he finished nearly two minutes ahead of the next lad. He had a great run.

“In the Under-20s, Siobhan was second to Eve Buckley. There was about 30 seconds in it. They just separated gradually over the race, and there was a good gap then to third,” he recalled.

All three athletes competed in last year’s British and Irish Mountain Running Championships and coach Connolly believes they have a strong chance of picking up team medals in Newcastle.

“England will probably be very strong still and Scotland should be too, but they’ve changed the age groups slightly this year,” he explained.

“They went from Under-17 up to Under-18, which leaves the Under-20s a bit more open. A lot of the stronger girls who would have been 17 this year, should have been moving up, so that would have made it a much tougher race, but that didn’t happen.

“Our Under-20 girls should have a good chance, and I'd say that the Under-18 boys have a decent chance of a team medal too,” he added.

The British and Ireland Mountain Running Championships is the latest stop in a busy summer of international action for these and other Laois athletes.

Indeed, young Riley Connolly, along with Siobhan O’Loughlin and her sister Aine took part in the 2026 European Off-Road Running Championships in Slovenia back in June.

While Siobhan was the second Irish athlete home in 33rd place in the Under-20 Women’s Uphill Only race, Aine finished 10 places further back.

Connolly, meanwhile, lined out in two events in Slovenia, emerging the first Irish runner from the Under-20 Uphill contest in 37th and the second for his country in the Classic 6km event.

Those Championships were quickly followed by the World Under-18 Youth Cup in Italy in which Connolly was the only Irish representative.

“Riley had a sore back going into it, and he was unlucky then in the race,” said St Michael’s coach, Connolly.

“There was a narrow gap where he stumbled and about 10 people climbed over him. It didn't make that much of a difference to his race, but it was just unfortunate,” he said.

Connolly and his Ireland team mates will be looking to deliver another big performance in Newcastle which would provide the perfect springboard into the cross country season, starting at the end of September.