Kilkenny athlete Pia Langton ready for Euro adventure

The last leg of an incredible journey is underway for Pia Langton.

The talented Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) athlete will proudly wear the green of Ireland when she competes in the under-18 European Championships in Slovakia this weekend. The path to the championships was a journey that involved a carefully crafted plan starting from last September but, ultimately, began the moment she started athletics at the age of six.

The early years were spent doing all events but, by the time she reached championship age (under-12) she was also participating in other sports. “I didn’t really like athletics when I was younger as I was doing lots of other sports,” she said.

Langton did not like the pressure that an individual sport brought on her. Pressure that can often come from being a naturally talented athlete, wanting to do well yourself and also being in demand by your peers. Like most young athletes, she enjoyed the social aspect that athletics brought, and it was this that drew her back to the track again and again for training.

It was in the summer of 2019 that she first got her taste of success beyond county level as an individual when she finished third in the Leinster under-13 600m. Covid struck in 2020 and with that all athletics fixtures for juveniles were cancelled for the year.

It was during the various phases of lockdown that Langton found a new love for athletics. With smaller return groups and no competitions on the horizon, training was more varied than normal. Training with Fiona (Norwood) Daly and her husband Rob and her group became something to look for Langton to forward to rather than avoid.

“In KCH you move from one coach to the next as you get older,” she said. “At some point you decide if you are a sprinter, hurdler, jumper or longer distance runner.”

In 2022 she finished third in the under-16 800m. The bronze gave her a new drive.

“This was my first All-Ireland individual medal,” she recalled. “I loved crossing that line and then standing on the podium - I felt accomplished,” she said.

From there she moved to the middle-distance group, training with Noel and Niamh Richardson, whom she describes as caring.

She had found a love for athletics and was gradually starting to draw her focus to the sport, with 2023 proving to be a good year. At the Irish schools championships she took the gold in the 800m in a time of 2.12, knocking three seconds off her personal best from the previous year. A subsequent win at the Tailteann Games meant she had booked her place on the SIAB international – her first international with an Irish team.

Moments like this are exciting and Langton loved every minute of it. Again the social aspect of athletics plays its part. Once the race is over, all the nerves disappear, and the camaraderie and friendships begin. The race is forgotten about.

In July there was another win, this time in the Irish under-17 800m championships, where she won her first individual All-Ireland title. Second on that day was Jennifer O’Leary (Nenagh) who will also be racing in Slovakia in the 1,500m. Both girls know each other well and look forward to joining other athletes they also have gotten to know better.

With the track season over there was then the question of cross-country - “I hated cross-country,” said Pia. However, her coaches Niamh and Noel Richardson explained that doing it was of enormous benefit for building strength.

Realising that doing the 2023 cross-country season made sense if she wanted to continue to perform well over 800m. It was a decision she embraced, first in the county championships where she competed against Eve Dunphy, Charlotte Carpendale and Abigail O’Regan, and then Leinster, where she finished in the top 12 and thus qualified for the All-Irelands. She managed to finish in the top 12 at the under-18 All-Ireland, with the Kilkenny City Harriers junior girls team winning the team title. A trip to Portugal to the European Clubs ensued in February 2024.

“After the under-18 cross-country in Gowran, where I came in the top 12, I felt that I could knuckle down and get something great from the sport,” she said. “I knew what the European under-18 qualifying time was and I felt that I was good enough to get it.”

With something specific to work towards, a plan was hatched with the Richardsons and the path to achieving the sub 2.10 needed for the 800m qualifying time was laid. That path included looking at her overall training and ensuring that training sessions, races and all things athletics, focused on Slovakia as the end result. Strength and conditioning was including in her training programme. Cross Country had already given her a strong base. Tempo sessions gave her the endurance needed for 800m running, which these days has become more of a long sprint masquerading as a middle-distance race.

At the Indoor All-Irelands in April more race strategies were enacted. She raced the heats hard and then, five hours later, returned to race the final just as hard. At the Europeans Pia will be required to run a heat on Friday, a semi-final on Saturday and then if she advances further a final on Sunday. To be prepared for three 800m races over three days, some back-to-back racing would have to be done in Ireland.

Her winter and spring training was put to the test in the first week of May when she competed in the Irish Milers Meet in Santry. There was a look of shock on Langton’s face as she crossed the line and glanced at the clock – she had run 2.09 and was under the standard. Was she really shocked to do the time?

“It was more the shock of achieving it in my first race” she laughed. “There are a lot of good girls in my age group. It was both a relief and a shock at the same time.”

Having given up so much this year to focus on athletics, the result meant it had been worthwhile.

A month later she ran 2.08 in Belfast. This event was a little harder as she was placed in a faster race, where others controlled the pace more than she did. This was a new aspect to racing that she had not encountered previously.

“To be honest I was a little disappointed with Belfast. I felt that I was capable of 2.06” she said. It was the speedy 59 second first lap that had put her off her pace. But this is all experience that she needs to be prepared for her race next weekend.

At the Europeans the ultimate goal is to run 2.06, that will get her to the final. A run of 2.05 should medal, while 2.02 could win. Langton has studied it all.

Despite the focus on the Europeans there is another side to Pia Langton. She enjoys being with her friends, which does not necessarily mean going out late at night. After all, sacrifices have to be made if you want to achieve. With school out she loves sea swimming and together with her friends she takes the train or bus to Waterford and perhaps as much as twice a week will go sea swimming. Interviewing Pia, you get a sense of calmness about her. It is no wonder that her idol in athletics is Keely Hodgkinson – the British 800m runner.

“I like her because she appears humble and calm.”

With humility, calmness and confidence Pia Langton will race in the heats of the under-18 European 800m this Friday. Her moment has come.