Coach Aoibhe Richardson

Aoibhe comes from a family of runners; both of her parents represented Ireland during their own running careers and her three younger sisters are also involved in the sport. She got involved with her local athletics club in Ireland from a young age, but it wasn’t until around the age of 17 or 18 that she began taking her training more seriously. After making her first Irish team as a junior, she received some scholarship offers in the US and committed to run at the University of Portland. Coming in very under-trained, Aoibhe developed a lot as a runner under Coach Solof during her three years at UP. She was a 2x regional qualifier in the 10,000m and helped the team finish 12th at cross country Nationals. She then transferred to the University of San Francisco to use the remainder of her eligibility and get her Masters in Public Health. While at USF Aoibhe finished 19th at NCAA XC Nationals, and qualified for both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor National Championships in the 5000m. In the same year she was selected for her first Senior Irish vest, finishing 17th at the European Cross Country Championships and helping the team to a silver medal.

Aoibhe has represented Ireland at the European level 5 times in cross country and 4 times on the track in the 5k and 10k. After graduating from college, she spent two years in New York City competing for a professional women’s team called Atalanta NYC and coaching youth runners in the Bronx. She recently moved to Bend, Oregon where she is training for her first half-marathon and hopes to continue to compete internationally both on the track and roads.