Crossan blazes a trail in Texas

By Mary-Anne McNulty maryanne@inishtimes.com An Inishowen athlete has joined trail running’s elite ranks after producing a world class performance – less than a year since she stepped up to the distance. Carndonagh’s Helena Crossan stormed to second place at the World Trail Challenge on Saturday, a top-ranking 50 mile race held in Houston, Texas. Helena, the only Irish female taking part, was the second woman home after top Japanese athlete and 100k world champion Narimi Sakurai. She finished an impressive tenth overall in a 270-strong field that included 25 of the best male and female ultra runners from across the globe. The 40-year-old, who endured sweltering conditions to clock an impressive time of 7 hrs 18 minutes, told Inish Times Sport she almost came a cropper with just TWO miles left to go. “Lots of runners dropped out during the race because of the intense heat and humidity,” Helena said. “With a couple of miles left I was really struggling with the heat myself, and I stopped at the aid station and told them ‘I’m in bother’. “But I asked for a tin of Coke and drank it as I was running, and this helped keep me going. “I’m really happy with my performance. I kept a good, steady pace for the first three laps, and though I slowed down quite a bit on the last lap, everyone else did the same because it was such tough going. “But it was a great experience. I live to run, and I really enjoy the long distances, and I love achieving the targets I set for myself.” The cross country and marathon runner’s step up to the ultra category this year has been a resounding success. She followed up victory in the Connemara Ultra Marathon in April with a tenth place finish in the 100K world championships in September. Helena flew back to Ireland on Monday, where she was met at Dublin airport by proud daughter Karen, a student at DCU. And, unsurprisingly, future race plans are not at the forefront of the exhausted athlete’s mind. She concluded: “I’ll be taking it easy for a few weeks to let the body recover, and have a nice, relaxing Christmas.”