Brian Fay is fresh off his first-ever national cross country title in Derry.
The Raheny Shamrock athlete made a major change after the 2024 Olympics.
Swapping Dublin Track Club for Melbourne Track Club, where he now trains under Nic Bideau and his right-hand man, Collis Birmingham.
Fay returned home to compete in Derry after a disappointing second half to his outdoor season left him craving a more familiar rhythm. Competing in the southern hemisphere comes with a very different calendar.
"Their racing schedule differs a huge amount to our racing schedule," Fay told RTÉ Sport ahead of Sunday's European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal.
"Nick and Collis, they kind of noticed that doing cross this year, going back to do cross and looking possibly to do indoors as well.
"This is what motivates me. It's racing the traditional schedule like I would have done in the past."
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He skipped the 2024 cross country season and believes that running it is a strong indicator of success the following summer.
He said: "I didn't do cross last year... every year that I've ran well in an outdoor season or even in an indoor season, I've had a good cross season to my name.
"Even though it shifted, my priorities weren't with cross last year. I'm very motivated to do cross this year."
Fay first lined up in the senior men’s race at the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin in 2021, finishing an impressive tenth. Back then, he called it the race of his life - but four years on, his ambitions have grown.
"I feel on my day I can compete against these guys, so I would hope to be top-six, top-five of the field... I’m a different calibre athlete to four years ago when I came tenth, at the time that was the race of my life.
"But I wouldn’t be in the same mindset as four years ago, that was just an out of my skin run."
If things go well in Lagoa, and his pattern of strong track seasons following cross country holds, Fay could be set for a big summer.
The 27-year-old even hinted at a return to his first love, the steeplechase, with one eye on the European Championships in Birmingham next year.
"A part of me is considering going back to the steeplechase," he said.
"I'm doing some hurdle drills now. We'll probably start getting into some run throughs in the next month or two.
"I think that's something that I'm open to doing and exploring, I was a steeplechaser before I was a 5K runner and I feel like a lot of people forget that, but I'd like to go back and be competitive in the event.
"We'll see how the next two months pan out. Maybe I'll run a really good 10 (K) and I'll look at doing the 10K at Europeans and then stay away from the 5K.
"I will be coming back to the steeplechase, certainly this year, if not next year. It's not something I've forgotten about.
"It's definitely something I'll come back to and try to race at a championship and try to do well in."
The Irish 5000m record holder also believes 2025 could be the year the senior men’s team returns to the Euro cross podium.
It’s been 25 years since Ireland claimed bronze in Malmo in 2000.
While the women have medalled consistently, the men have come agonisingly close - finishing fourth in both 2021 and 2023, with Fay part of those squads. Lagoa feels like a now-or-never moment.
With only three athletes scoring for the team prize, the margins are tight. Back in 2000, 10th, 14th, and 23rd were enough for bronze. This time, Fay expects the standard to be higher.
"I reckon three in the top 12 will guarantee it," he said.
"I think we've put three guys in the top 20 and missed medals. You look at the French, you look at the Norwegian lads, you look at the Spanish, they're all very competitive.
"They're sending teams where all these guys have ran, you know, low 13 (minutes for 5000m) on the track and are capable of coming top 10.
"We are a cross-county nation, we've sent some good teams to Euro cross the last few years, and it’s shame we haven’t produced anything in the senior men’s.
"I feel everyone there has decent pedigree on the track, but we were cross country runners beforehand, we all did schools cross, came up through the system, which is very cross orientated.
"So yes we’d love to come away with a medal."
Watch the European Cross Country Championships on Sunday from 10.45am on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
