ATHLETICS: EUROPEAN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Ian O'Riordanfinds Ciara Mageean's attitude to Sunday's European Cross Country Championships in Portugal refreshing

SUNDAY’S EUROPEAN Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal, represents the last major championship of the year, and there are three things every competitor needs to know: 1) the distance of their event; 2) the time of their event, and 3) the nature of their opposition.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail, etc.

When these three things are put to Ciara Mageean she responds not so much innocently as defiantly, and that, perhaps, is why she’s one of Ireland’s big medal favourites. “Well, I never pay much attention to the opposition,” she says. “I never really do. I can only try my very hardest anyway, so I just go out thinking I’ll get up as far as I can. It doesn’t really matter who else is there. I heard the race is about 4km, but I’m not really sure. But cross country, it’s different to track, where you can at least look at personal bests. Cross country is different every time you step out, on a different course. So all you can really do is to give it your all.”

This is not careless naivety or over-confidence: it’s all part of Mageean’s fearlessly determined attitude that has already made her Ireland’s most exciting distance running prospect since Sonia O’Sullivan.The comparison is justified, as the Down youngster has broken most of O’Sullivan’s junior records in recent years, and given she doesn’t turn 19 until next March, she’s not done yet in that department. Next summer’s European Junior Championships in Estonia are already pencilled in as the main goal for 2011.

In the meantime, there’s the trip to Portugal on Sunday, where Mageean runs the junior race – and considering her already long and magnificently successful season it’s a wonder she’s still so keen for competition. This year’s highlights include two national junior records indoors over 800 metres, a senior title, a record-breaking farewell to her schools’ career, that brilliant silver medal and junior record over 1,500 metres at the World Juniors in Canada (the only non-African distance running medal) and more recently her senior championship debut at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where she made the 1,500 metres final.

“Nah, I don’t feel tired at all,” she says. “The season just rolled on, really. I had a few weeks off after Canada, and a break after India as well. The rest did me the world of good. So I’m really looking forward to these Europeans. I’ve been training hard, training well, and I’m in good shape. So I’m going in happy. I was ninth last year, and will certainly try better than that. We’ll see where that leaves me.”

For what it’s worth, last year’s brilliant junior winner, Karoline Grovdal of Norway, is over-age – although silver medallist Gulshat Fazlitdinova of Russia is back, looking to go one place better. Truth is Mageean is not really a cross country specialist, although she doesn’t quite see it that way: “Sure I don’t mind any surface. I don’t mind hills either. But it’s better to have a nice firm ground, that does suit the track athlete alright. And at least it should be dry enough in Portugal.”

Like the rest of the Irish team travelling out this weekend, Mageean has had to complete her preparations in arctic conditions, although at least the snow around her home in Portaferry, on the Ards Peninsula, has been relatively sparse. “I haven’t missed any training sessions because of it. It’s just a little harder to get yourself out the door when it’s so cold. And I’ve been training with two pairs of leggings on. The Mary Peters track in Belfast has been covered in snow, so my coach, Eamonn Christie, moved those sessions to the fields instead. But it’s all mental at this stage. This week is just about getting ready, and I’m just looking forward to getting on a dry course after all this snow.”

It helps that Mageean is currently living the life of a full-time athlete – in theory at least; having finished school in Ballynahinch this summer she’s taken a “gap year”, mainly to decide whether or not to pursue the US scholarship route. At this stage, that route appears unlikely.

“It always makes me laugh when people say I’m a full-time athlete. It doesn’t feel like anything has really changed. It’s nice to be able to lie in a wee bit longer in the morning, when I’m used to getting up at 7am. But I’m still travelling to Belfast three days a week, and fitting in other stuff. Like taking driving lessons, to get that out of the way as quickly as I can.

“But I think I have grown further away from the idea of going to the States. I’m thinking staying at home would be the better option. I think this gap year has given me the chance to settle down, and see that I am quite comfortable in my home environment, so close to my own training. And also I don’t know if I could handle this extreme cold weather on a more regular basis. So right now the idea of the States is growing further away, but I haven’t given up entirely.”

A medal in Sunday’s junior race would certainly cap off a superb year – and guess what? “I go out in every race with a medal on my mind,” she says, “no matter who is on the line, or where I’m ranked.

“So I will be trying. That’s just me. If I achieve it that’s fantastic, but if I don’t I’ll try to be as close as I can. But I don’t see much point in entering a race if you’re not going to try to win.”

And that, really, is all you need to know.