Caoimhe Mackey is due to captain the UCD sprints team next season and represented the Irish Universities vs Scotland in 2019. She’s a regular on Donore Harriers national league team in her specialist 400m Hurdles event and in relays. An important ‘athlete’ factor that she discusses in this interview is dealing with the transition from secondary school to 3rd level education.
STANDARD QUESTIONS
PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Dublin 1999
WHERE WERE/ARE YOU BEING EDUCATED? I went to school in Loreto Balbriggan and I am currently in UCD
WHAT IS YOUR PLANNED CAREER PATH? I am currently in Third Year of mechanical engineering and I don’t really know what I want to do after college
IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? I joined Donore in 2015 when I was in TY in school
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? My friend Lauren (O’Keeffe) was training with Donore Harriers, so I just went training with her one day and I really enjoyed it.
WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? No
DID/DO YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORTS? I played camogie, football, and basketball when I was in school but in the end, I preferred athletics so that’s what I’ve stuck with.
WHAT WAS/IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? I like the 400m Hurdles best because I find it more interesting than a flat 400m.
WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT ROLE AT THE CLUB? Athlete
WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? I think growing up, before I started athletics, I always looked up to Usain Bolt, seeing him in the Olympics and breaking world records. From an Irish point of view, Thomas Barr is someone who inspires me in the hurdles.
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? The last book I read was The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? I went to see Sigrid last November
WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS?
1. The Lion King
2. Joker
3. Shrek
FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? I have been to Germany a couple of times and I think the history and culture there is really interesting, and I like the language
WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? I really like baking and cooking because I find it relaxing.
IF DESERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
1. An Evening I will not Forget – Dermot Kennedy
2. Home to you – Sigrid
3. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
ATHLETICS QUESTIONS
WHO IS YOUR COACH? Gerry Ronan
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? I got the opportunity to represent the IUAA when I competed in the Irish Scottish Universities competition last summer. I think the feeling of wearing the Ireland singlet is one I am happy I got to experience. Another great achievement was being part of the women’s league team that won the division 1 league in 2017 and got promoted to premier.
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES (PBs)?
400m Hurdles: 68.3
400m: 61.7
60m Hurdles: 9.89
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? I like speed sessions over hurdles
DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? There is a lap in Newbridge House and Park, and I used to dread every time I had to run it, but I haven’t had to do that in a while!
WHAT IS A TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN (PRE-COVID-19)? This year I have been training with UCD and we had training in Irishtown. It was a speed session on Monday and tempo on Wednesday. We also had gym on Tuesday and Friday.
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AT DONORE HARRIERS? I think it would be nice to have a 400m track
WHO ARE YOU TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME (ALL SPORTS)?
1. Sonia O’Sullivan
2. Katie Taylor
3. Henry Shefflin
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
YOU ARE NOW IN 3rd LEVEL EDUCATION, HOW DID YOU FIND THE ADJUSTMENT BETWEEN SECONDARY SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY IN TERMS OF MOTIVATION AND MAINTAINING TRAINING SESSIONS, ETC? I found it difficult to keep training consistently when I started college because the workload was obviously a lot more than school, so I was busier. I also live in Rush, so I have a fairly long commute to UCD every day, so I found it hard to commit to training. To be honest, I haven’t really been training consistently since school. It was only this year that I started properly training with UCD. I am the sprints captain for next year so hopefully that will help with motivation.
THE 400m HURDLES IS A VERY TECHNICAL EVENT WITH HURDLING TECHNIQUES AND STRIDE PATTERNS. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO BECOME EFFICIENT AT THE EVENT? I first started the hurdles because it looked more fun than the 400m. The women’s hurdles aren’t that high, so it wasn’t too hard starting off. I’m still working on improving my hurdle technique all the time.
I BELIEVE THAT YOU RECENTLY DID A 100m HURDLES RACE, HOW WAS THAT? I did the 60mH in the Indoor League and I actually really enjoyed it, so I did the 60m hurdles in the Indoor Intervarsities for UCD. It was very different to the 400m hurdles because the hurdles are higher and stride pattern is much more important. I liked it though and would definitely do it again.
DO YOU GET TO DO MUCH TRAINING WITHIN INDOOR FACILITIES? Gerry (Ronan) has coached sessions every Friday at the Indoor Arena in Abbotstown, but I don’t really get to it much due to college.
YOU ARE A REGULAR ON THE DONORE HARRIERS NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM. HOW DO FIND THE WHILE NATIONAL LEAGUE EXPERIENCE? GIVE A POSITIVE AND A NEGATIVE FACTOR IS YOU SO WISH. I really enjoy the National league because it’s a team competition. Growing up, I only ever played team sports so it’s nice to compete with other people and not just for yourself. I also like competing in relays for this reason.
WHAT IS YOUR BIG ATHLETICS AMBITION? At the moment, I am just enjoying training but obviously I’d like to improve too.
