Never dismiss the potential of a young athlete languished in the middle order in cross-country races! One day he/she may become a champion and wear the Irish singlet. That’s the story of Jack Raftery!
Jack was always a committed juvenile athlete, but he was busy growing tall rather than getting fast. A string of 4th place finishes in Dublin, national and schools’ track championships in 2017 gave indication of his potential, with bronze in the national U/17 400m being the solitary reward for his dedication
The phoenix rose from the ashes for ‘Our Big Jack’ in 2018. He came 2nd behind club-mate Louis O’Loughlin in both the Dublin Indoor 800m and National 800m in the U/18 category. In between Jack ‘famously’ ran down O’Loughlin in the final metres of the Dublin U/18 championships recording 1.53.6 – a season improvement of more than 6 seconds. However, it was his prowess over 400m where he began to make his mark. He won the Dublin Indoor U/18 in 50.53 and recorded 50.20 when placing 4th in a strong field in the La Cheile International Meet. Such results put him in the frame for selection to the Irish junior relay squad
In the spring of 2019 Jack moved from the middle-distance squad to the sprints squad to sharpen his speed and hone his techniques. He won the national U/19 in 49.99, and then won a dramatic national junior final in 48.40. He was a member of the Irish 4 x 400m team at the European U/20 championships at Boras, Sweden, and won the national junior indoor 400m in January 2020
Let’s meet Jack!
PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Dublin in 2001
WHERE ARE YOU BEING EDUCATED? Just finished up in Castleknock College. Hoping to do engineering at DCU next year
IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? I joined in 2012 after winning the primary school’s cross-country championships
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? Donore Harriers was the nearest club to me. I decided to give it a try and joined to the juvenile squad
WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? No
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? Growing up I did lot of other sports – rugby, gaelic football, hurling, swimming, even handball and tennis; the list going on…
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? Obviously, I have to say the 400m as its my primary event, but I love to watch the 800m and the Decathlon
WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT ROLE(S) AT THE CLUB? Athlete
WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? I met David Rudisha in 2012, a brilliant athlete! I especially admire his mindset; Currently I love watching Eliud Kipchoge for the mental strength that he has. And Kevin Myers, the decathlete the world record holder. It’s brilliant to watch decathlon and the absolute agony they put themselves through. And of course, Wayde Van Nierkerk
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? I finished Chris Hadfields autobiography a while ago. I am presently reading the ‘The Mind of Champions’ by Jim Afremow
WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? Drake in Dublin last year
WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS? Well, I’m big into Tarantino!
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Wall Street
3. Kill Bill
FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? Sweden was amazing. Life is just so relaxed on the streets. But I would love to go back to Australia. I went there when I was 10. I have citizenship, as both my parents lived for several years in Australia. I would love to go over there for about a year or two, just to explore the country
WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? I am just big into sport, but away from it – not much! I love watching cartoons and I am big into movies. I’m a big movie nerd – I love the more artistic movies
IF DISERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Any 3 songs from Dave the Rapper’s EP ‘The Game Over’
ATHLETICS QUESTIONS
WHO IS/ARE YOUR COACH(ES)? John & Emily Geoghehan and Paul Clarkin. I moved over from Gerry Naughton’s distance group last year to focus on the 400m
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? Last year I won the Junior 400m title, still one year under. I was the 4th or 5th ranked athlete going into the race, so it was all really surprising to get the win. Adam Hughes had run 48.1, Chris Duffy was coming back after running 47 something indoors, David Ryan had been in the U.K and had run 48.6 – and then there was Ciaran Carthy, who had been an intermediate schools champion. I think I was the 4th or 5th fastest going into the race. To be honest I would have been happy to make the top 4 and thus gained selection to the Ireland 4 x 400m junior relay team for the European U/20 championships
I was 5th or 6th at the top of the bend and I just told myself to ‘dig, dig again’. Even 30 minutes after the race I was in disbelief that I had won!
<NOTE: Here is video of Jack’s brilliant win in the National Junior 400m in 2019 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nepIs9hz4Xk>
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES/MARKS (PBs)?
48.4 – 400m
1.53.6. – 800m
High Jump – 1.73m
3.11.8 – relay 4 x 400m
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? I love the harder speed sessions coming up to a competition
DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? Paul McDermott and I did a 6 x 150m at 100% effort with a walk back recovery. It was 2 sets of 3. Neither of us ever completed the session due to the lactic build-up. I think we managed 4 or 5 reps, so it’s a really tough session
WHAT IS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN? Speed session on Tuesday evening, Thursday, and Saturday. I do gym training on Wednesday and Saturday
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AT DONORE HARRIERS? A bigger heater for the shed as it gets extremely cold during recovery times in the winter
WHO ARE YOUR TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME (all sports)?
1. Brian O’Driscoll, being a big rugby fan
2. Sonia O’Sullivan, of course!
3. Leon Reid, he’s had a really tough childhood, so I admire what he has achieved to represent Ireland
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
HAVE YOU HAD TO DEAL WITH INJURIES, PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE INJURY AND THE RECOVERY PROCESS? I’ve had a lot of injuries. Between the ages of 14 and 17 I suffered a lot of growing pain, which hampered my athletics development due to calf and Achilles problems. I mean I am now 6’ 7”! Eventually the growth spurts stopped, and my results began to improve
Now I have an Achilles injury due to overload during the Covid-19 lockdown. I am being treated by Ciaran McDonagh, so expect to be back to full capacity training shortly
YOU CHANGED TRAINING SQUAD IN THE MIDDLE OF 2019, WHAT WAS THE MOTIVATION FOR THE CHANGE? I was racing 400s and 800s when training with the juvenile distance squad, but at the beginning of 2019 I started to make inroads into my 400m time. I was also on the fringes of making the Irish junior relay team, so I needed to focus more on my speed, and my sprinting technique. It was a natural transition that was supported by the relevant club coaches
TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE BEING PART OF THE IRELAND JUNIOR 4 X 400M RELAY SQUAD? Phenomenal! During all those days when I had to suffer growing pains, I never really believed that I would get that far… going to Portugal, Germany, Sweden… competing against world-class athletes who had run 45 seconds. I remember sitting on an Irish team accommodation bed in Sweden with Louis O’Loughlin, who was a former training partner, saying “We actually did it!” We were both competing for Ireland in the European Under 20 championships. And it was great getting to know my Irish teammates, now I am great mates with Adam Hughes who lives up north
<NOTE: The Irish 4 x 400m team reached the final in the European U/20 Championships in Sweden last year. Jack Raftery ran leg 3, in what proved to be an exciting race up front. Here is the link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA933Ni8F-A>
WHAT IS YOUR BIG TARGET IN ATHLETICS? Well I need to stay injury free and to train well. My focus is to consistently make the Irish senior team and get my time down to 45 seconds. Of course, I want to consider competing at the European championships – or even the World championships. The Olympic Games seems a whole other level, so I just want to have realistic targets and to focus on attainable goals
