Donal O’Sullivan was an exciting young talent back in the late 80s, early 90s. He first came to prominence when he won the All-Ireland Schools junior cross-country title in 1988, followed by victory in the Schools intermediate 3,000m title in 1990. He came 10th in the British & Irish Schools cross-country in 1989 and was 1st in the 3,000m and 3rd in the 1,500m in the 1990 European FISEC Games.
<<NOTE – here is a link to Donal’s 1988 All-Ireland Schools victory – https://youtu.be/Gq3DB_5BFZ8>>
Donal was coached at Donore Harriers by Noel Redican, and in 1991 he was 2nd junior in the BLE inter-county XC, 4th in an international XC race at Limerick, and 5th in the inter-clubs. In the following year Donal came 2nd in the Celtic International junior XC race and took the National inter-clubs junior XC title.
<<NOTE: Here is a link to Donal’s win in the 1992 Inter-Clubs XC junior championships. The video clip also shows highlights of Gerry Curtis (see Interview No. 19) winning the senior men’s title – https://youtu.be/dNhQieZZpDI>>
Donal went on to represent Ireland in the 1992 World cross-country championships at Boston Massachusetts, placing 68th. He was the 1st scorer on the Irish team that placed 17th.
The young Donore Harriers star then took up a scholarship at Brown University, Rhode Island, USA.
<<NOTE: Here is a link to Donal doing an interview on the Jo-Maxi TV show prior to taken up his scholarship. The interview also includes Mark Carroll, and thrower Nick Sweeney – https://youtu.be/wr7fouY1dtg>>
In 1995 he took a sabbatical from his studies to work in Spain and then returned home to Dublin for a spell at the end of 1995. He recorded a notable double by winning the 1995 Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield race by completing the 10-mile course in an actual time of 52.56. A few days later he won a dramatic Oman Cup race.
On returning to the USA Donal had wins over 3,000m and 5,000m in the Ivy League Indoor track and field championships, earning the Most Valuable Player award. He finished 2nd individual in the NCAA North-East Regional XC championships, leading Brown University to a team win. He was also 36th in the NCAA Division One XC championships.
Donal, who lives with his family at Northampton Massachusetts, is now competitive as a Master athlete.
Please note that Donal uploading the above listed videos to YouTube as part of this interview. They are historical treasures!
STANDARD QUESTIONS
PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? St James’s Hospital, Dublin, 1973
WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED? We had a pub in Pimlico in the Liberties, so I went to C.B.S. James Street for primary and secondary school.
In 1992, I left for Brown University in Rhode Island, USA where I studied engineering and economics.
In 2014, I received a PhD in Energy and Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR CAREER PATH? Despite a lack of meaningful success, I focused on running until my early thirties. During this time, I worked primarily in engineering before putting the running aside and going to graduate school to get a doctorate in economics. After graduation, I worked in strategic management consulting for a couple of years. I then returned to the energy sector to work as an economist at ISO New England – the “EirGrid” of the region. These days, I ensure the New England electricity markets are efficient and competitive and also help with the development of market rules to keep up with an ever-changing technology-driven landscape.
IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? I joined the club as a ten-year-old in the summer of ‘84.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? I always loved running from when I was very young. I often ran to school and back which was 1 km because I preferred running to walking. I’d run along the main road in the park from one park gate to the other and back with my dad when I was about seven. After I won a cross country race on a school trip to the park, my dad asked a young runner who used to come into the pub named Sean Carley if he’d take me down to see if I liked it.
WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? No way. Donore Harriers for life baby!
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? I played hurling and gaelic football for my school and a team my dad helped to set up, the Liberty Gaels. I loved hurling and was pretty handy but I had to give it up when I was 14 because the twisting and turning was causing knee problems. I was frustrated with team sports because there was too much subjectivity selecting Dublin teams. I felt that there was favouritism in selecting who went to the trials and then, who made the Dublin panel. Running was just the opposite. To make the Dublin team to race Liverpool in 1985, it was the first eight lads across the line and that was it! That was my first county team.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? I love watching the 1,500m but the 3,000m is my favourite to run.
DO YOU STILL HAVE A CONNECTION WITH THE CLUB? We always talk about moving to Ireland, but I’m not sure if that will happen. If it did, I would certainly want to get involved with coaching. From the USA, my best contribution might be in helping young scholarship athletes navigate the American collegiate system if they come this way.
WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? When I was young I was inspired by Eamonn Coughlan, John Treacy, Marcus O’Sullivan, and Frank O’Mara. These days, I like the old guys who are still rocking, e.g., Tom Brady and Ronaldo – he’s not old but I admire his focus and determination.
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? The Three-Body Problem series by Cixin Liu. It’s a great science fiction series from a Chinese author that covers history, physics, computer science, art, and more while telling a great tale.
WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? It’s hard to get to shows with two little ones, but we saw our friend Wallis Bird play an amazing set in New Hampshire in the summer of 2019. My sister, Aoife, used to play in her band.
WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS?
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark – Han Solo against Nazi’s – can’t do better!
2. Young Frankenstein – Gene Wilder at his best.
3. Taxi Driver – I’m not sure it’s really top three but I love this movie because it reminds me of a time when I was living with Ian O’Riordan, and we would watch classic and cult movies. We agreed that Travis Bickle’s psychotic focus and determination was the sort of mind-set that a runner needed to get the most out of themselves. These days, I think that patience might be more important, but you need that fire.
FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? Spain. I love the variety of its culture and music. My wife is from Rhode Island but spent a year studying in Seville and she loves it there too. It was our main topic of conversation on our first date!
WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? Our girls are eight and five so there is not much time for anything else. When I have time, I enjoy woodworking – particularly making Spanish guitars – and ‘fiddling around with technology’ as my wife says. I also enjoy playing guitar and I’m looking forward to playing more with my oldest girl who is taking classical guitar lessons and quickly catching up to me.
IF DESERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
1. Girl From The North Country by Bob Dylan– I’ve a soft spot for this one. I suppose I’m a bit melancholic and this one reminds me of good times past, but also that you have to move forward.
2. Serve the Servants by Nirvana– This sounds like a Beatles’ song coming apart at the seams. This is my go-to song when I need something loud.
3. Step On by The Happy Mondays – Memories of the Summer of 1991 and seeing the Happy Mondays at the Trip to Tipp (Feile ’91) with other club members, Paul and John McGrattan. Till this day, as soon as I hear the opening riff, my shoulders drop, and I mellow out.
ATHLETICS QUESTIONS
WHO WERE YOUR COACHES? I’ve had three major coaches over the years, Noel Redican (Donore Harriers), Bob Rothenberg (Brown University), and Jim Harvey (post collegiate).
Noel coached me in running and in life from about the age of thirteen until I left for America. He is a great coach and always seemed to know exactly what was needed for progression. He understands the technical side but, most importantly, he is great at listening to and reading the athlete. In many ways, our relationship was more father-son than coach-athlete. Noel has had a profound influence on outlook on my life in general.
My college coach, “Berg”, is a great guy and has made a massive contribution to the development of athletics in the region. We had some good success together despite the volatility of my college years. It’s also hard to get the same attention than an individual coach would give when there are 50 other people on the track team!
I began working with Jim Harvey a few years after college. Jim was coaching Mark Carroll and Amy Rudolph and I asked him if he could help get me back on track at a time when I was continuing to struggle with repeated episodes of chronic fatigue which first started in college. We had one good fall of base training, and then I was struck down again. This was a very hard time and it was difficult to explain to people when I didn’t even know myself why I kept losing form. I was completely committed to running and it was frustrating watching guys I used to beat easily running fast times and wining Irish championships and vests. We spent the next few years trying to get to the bottom of the issue without success. These days, doctors pin chronic fatigue on reoccurring mononucleosis and this was suggested at the time by a viral expert in Boston. Whatever it was, it stopped affecting me when I started running again in my 40’s. I can train harder now at 47 than when I was 27!
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? My best athletics achievement wasn’t a win or a time, but a state of performance. I’ve experienced it only a few times, but mostly clearly when I won the Leinster Schools Cross Country in 1990. We knew I was at peak fitness and Noel Redican told me to go out hard, so I did. I clearly remember that I stopped feeling any pain and it was like I was watching it on TV as I flew through the very muddy course. I’ve always been trying to get back to that state.
In terms of medals – or pots and pans as the old guys would say, winning the National Junior Cross Country in 1992 might be top of the list because Noel and I had focused on winning this race for a number of years. It was very fulfilling to remain patient and follow a plan to its conclusion. My training and performance were incredibly consistent leading up to this win. I credit Noel with this 100%.
I also had some good wins in college. Top among them would be winning the 3km and 5km and the Indoor Ivy League Championships in 1996. My college career to that point had been a struggle and I had just returned from taking a year off during which I was living and training in Madrid. Both races had very strong runners and were tactical, but I had great wheels that weekend and was able to close in 55 seconds to take the wins. The 3km was the first final of the weekend, so, with a few laps to go, the crowd had moved onto the track so there were only two or three lanes open which really added to the intensity. My favourite memory was getting piled on by my teammates after the win because we all knew each other’s struggles, and I knew how happy they were to see me finally produce what I was capable of.
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES (PBs)? 1500m – 3:52 (1992): 3,000m – 8:16 (1997): 5km road – 14:29 (1999): 10 Miles – 51:22 (1999) – Masters 5km -15:52 (2019).
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? As a youngster – Hills. We hit the Magazine every Saturday. I imagine we ran every possible type of hill session you could do up there. Often, we did the sessions in heavy running shoes to make the legs even heavier in the mud. You felt like a deer flying over the mud in races after that.
In College – Hills again. I was relatively stronger on the hills than other runners so I guess you enjoy the sessions where you are the one that can turn the screw.
After college – not hills! See next question.
DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? When I was a teenager, we did a Monday night gym session all winter long. It was normally about two hours long and very intensive. For the first few weeks I couldn’t walk down the stairs for a couple of days after as my quadriceps would just give out.
In college, our assistant coach John Gergorek – a 3.52 miler, Olympian, and father of Johnny Gregorek – and I would turn the “little snake” workout into a brutal contest. The workout took place on the East Side of Providence which has long parallel streets that run up and down a big hill. We ran these hills in a “snake” pattern, running up one hard and down the next easy. The hills got a little longer in the middle but were generally from 30s to 2 minutes and we ran a total of twenty. John and I would knock lumps out of each other until one of us broke the other. It was great fun! I definitely left way too much on the road in those sessions. I bumped into John recently at the Manchester Road Race, and we had a good laugh about these workouts.
But the hardest session of all is a little bit legendary. One of Mark Carroll’s staple winter workouts was 10 x ½ mile hill on the road. The problem with this type of workout is how do you keep the recovery short? Well, Jim Harvey had the answer. We’d cross the line at the top and jump in Jim’s car. He’d race to the bottom and we’d jump out and go again. Jim would drive up beside us giving feedback and, when the workout got tough, Mark would ask him to play some loud techno music to keep the rhythm going. There are many degrees of difficulty here, 1) the hill was nasty, 2) the recovery was intense, and 3) trying to hang with a guy who ran 3,000m in 7:30 is painful!
WHAT WAS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN?
Junior – Circuits (Monday), Intervals (Tues), Tempo (Thurs), Hills (Saturday), Long Run (Sunday) – about 30-50 miles a week.
College – 50-70 miles/week – Two sessions a week and a long run.
Post Collegiate – 90-120 miles/week – Two sessions a week and a long run.
Now – 80 miles/week – One session and a long run. I also bike to supplement the mileage.
DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY STORY RELATED TO ATHLETICS/THE CLUB? I have a few.
The first is bittersweet. Eddie Hogan had just passed away, so the starter asked everyone to stand in a minute’s silence on the line for the Novice Cross Country at the Magazine. While we were standing there, we first heard, and then saw a motorbike come flying across the course to the start line. Paul McGrattan jumped off, dumped his helmet and striped to his gear in about 10 seconds. Everyone watched dumbfounded as he struggled to pull on his spikes in an effort to get to the line before the minute’s silence was up. He made it and ran the race of his life – yes, warmups are overrated! He was the crucial fifth man on our Novice winning team that day!
Another Hospital Lane story comes to mind. A few good lads were training for the London Marathon and they started coming into conflict with a club member, “John”, who would told them they were all useless and that he would beat them. John was in his fifties and had a huge belly, so this was just ridiculous talk. A while later on the Tuesday after London, everyone was back in the clubhouse and John was proudly chastising those who did not believe that he was the better runner as he had hammered them all. The lads were steaming, but everyone held their tongues, but we all knew something was up. The story goes that John had a business near the finish of the marathon, and he was spotted throwing off a coat and jumping into the race near the finish line. I never saw him at the club after that. Who knows how he really pulled it off, but it was back in the day before shoes were chipped.
Another man I remember was Pat Mulally, he’d turn up in his trench coat after the running was done, and he’d have his notebook in hand as he was looking to see who hadn’t paid their dues. Guys would be hiding all over the place or literally running out the door. Fair play to him. That was a tough job but someone had to do it.
WHO ARE YOUR TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME?
1. Sonia O’Sullivan – She dominated during her prime. No other Irish athlete has ever done that. The first time I met her was a funny moment. I had just walked out of the shower in my hotel room at the World Cross Country when the door of the room opened, and Sonia was standing there with her bags. Not really how you want to meet one of your heroes! It turned out that when she checked in as ‘O’Sullivan’ on the Irish team they gave her my room key by mistake.
2. Eamonn Coghlan – Eamonn was my childhood sporting hero. He was from Drimnagh, and I was from the Liberties so it was easy to be inspired. He was such a proper star with star attitude. He was a world champion, world record holder, and even had a Kaliber beer advert on TV. The first time I met him was at the opening of the new clubhouse and, within 10 minutes, we were talking about Munich and Moscow. I was bit of a running geek as my dad had bought me a number of books on famous milers and running, so I knew all about these races. Hearing it first-hand blew me away. It’s easy to forget how good Coghlan was but a quick trip to YouTube will remind you pretty fast.
3. John Tracy/Sean Kelly/Stephen Roche/Roy Keane – All guys who did it at the top level so it’s hard to pick between them. I know Delany won gold and so did Katie Taylor and Michael Carruth, but I think the level of competition was not as high, so they don’t make the top spots.
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
YOU WON THE NATIONAL JUNIOR XC TITLE IN 1992. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT DAY? I remember everything about that day in Santry – particularly my dad franticly chasing my little sister Aoife who ran off with one of my spikes as I was lacing up the other. Otherwise, I was completely dialled in and ready to go. There was only one other runner than I was concerned about, Alan O’Gorman from Limerick. He finished third the year before and was a fantastic runner in the mud. I was a little nervous during the first mile as the pace was strong and I was surprised to see everyone was together but, when I went to the front, I felt better and then the herd thinned out. I probably could have run much harder that day but instead I turned the screw slowly to drop people one by one. It was a conservative approach because I knew that throwing down the gauntlet to Alan could backfire if he was on form. I also knew Alan liked to run barefoot and, as conditions were firm but slippery into the finish, I knew I could outkick him. So, before the race, I picked a tree about 200m from the finish where I decided I would kick from. I kept turning the screw and had already got away by the time I got to the tree, but I kicked it in anyway.
There was such a huge Donore Harriers turnout that day, and it was very special to be cheered on by club members I had known since I was ten years old, such as Jim Mc, Wille Dunne, Maurice Ahern, Noel Iremonger, Charlie O’Neil and many more. It was a bit of a small family back then.
YOU WON THE WBB SHIELD RACE IN 1995 WITH A SUB 53 MIN RUN AND A FEW DAYS LATER WON THE OMAN CUP RACE. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THOSE TWO RACES? These races brought me a little bit of redemption. My first two and half years of college were a rollercoaster ride, and I felt way off course. My college coaches were frustrated, too, and when it came to a head in the coaches’ office, I decided I needed to take a time-out. I’ll never forget the day I told the head coach I was leaving – it was a huge weight off my shoulders. Returning to Ireland, I tried to get in the groove with Noel (Redican), but I was still run down and my spirit was low. I needed to get away from everything familiar, so I went to Madrid to teach English. One of my old club mates, Tony McDonald, was living there doing just that and he helped me get settled. I also had some Spanish friends there that I had met in Dublin. Otherwise, I had time to slowly put the pieces back together. I taught English to business executives which paid well enough that I only needed to work 15 hours a week to support myself, so I trained hard and slept and ate well. I slowly built up to running 80 miles a week in six days with one long run of 18 miles in the massive Casa de Campo park and lots of strides. Thorough my stay in Spain, I only did two workouts. These were right before I came back to Ireland that Christmas, but many of my regular runs were very fast bordering on tempo pace.
When I came back to Ireland, I felt a bit like a caged monster. I was strong and fit and very hungry for competition. I approached the Waterhouse handicap race as hard tempo run and was happily surprised to be knocking off 5:10 to 5:15 miles on the soggy grass. I’m ran a time of 52.56. I did run the last 2-mile lap very hard. I thought I was winning with three miles to go when Noel Iremonger said, “Good lad, you can catch him!”, “Catch who?” I said as I saw nobody ahead. Noel pointed straight across the loop to the other side and there was an older club member plodding along slowly, nearly a mile ahead! I put the head down and managed to catch him <<Conor Lyons?>> with just under a mile to go. I felt a little bad for him as he had been out there so long and must have thought this was his year. Anyway, it was great to get my name on the Waterhouse shield, if only to stop Austin Lynch from having one over on me. He won it as a 17-year-old.
The Oman Cup was a few days later on New Year’s Day. There was a strong turnout with James Nolan and Nigel Brunton installed as favourites. I didn’t have a race plan. I sat in during the first mile, which was easy running. The pace picked up around the Phoenix Monument and then James Nolan made a move with about 1 km to go. When I saw that he looked to be slowing at about 600m to go, I went off the front hard for the line. Nigel Brunton kicked passed me with about 100m to go, but I still had another gear –with all the frustration of the past two years, that gear was driven by rage. I waited until we were close enough to the line so that he wouldn’t be able to respond, and then I kicked past him. It felt great to win again on home soil, and it set me up for different experience when I returned to college. I ran very well on returning to college but over time, the workload strain of academics and athletics eroded my fitness again.
<<NOTE: Top 6 in the 1995 WBB Shield race – 1st Donal O’Sullivan 52.56; 2nd Conor Lyons, 3rd Richard Fitzgerald, 4th Charlie O’Neill, 5th Jim Clarke, 6th Joe Rankin>>
TRACK, CROSS-COUNTRY OR ROAD RACING? Cross country for sure. It’s the purest form of racing. No clocks, no pacing, just running.
DID YOU WIN ANY IRISH VESTS? AND IN WHAT EVENTS? I only won Irish vests at underage level. International schools, Celtic Games, and the World Cross Country.
WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIRES OF THE HOSPITAL LANE CLUB FACILITIES, TRAINING SESSIONS, CHARACTERS, ETC? I loved Hospital Lane. It was a classic old-school club house. I remember the first time I walked in and saw the old photographs all around the walls dating back to the late 1800’s and the huge shield with all the champions listed. There was a great buzz about the place and lots of banter. It used to be jammed on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Of course, much of the energy circulated around Eddie Hogan. He was always a very patient and sweet man with great stories – he told me much about the early days of the sport and personalities he knew such as Adi Dassler who started Adidas and his brother, Rudolf, who started Puma. Actually, the first session I ever did was an Eddie session. The whole club went up to the Polo Grounds. I was excited to run on the grass track but Eddie had Paul McGrattan and me run around in the tall grass outside the polo fence. Needless to say, we didn’t love this but looking back it was genius as he was trying to get us to run with high knee lift. I might have to use this on my own daughters!
The old club was very dusty, flips flops were required to shower, the youths used to change in a small trailer extension off to one side and the women’s facilities were even worse. So, we couldn’t wait to get into the new clubhouse. However, by the time we moved in, the numbers had dropped, and it seemed a bit empty. But, we had a good young training crew all the same to keep things rolling, such as Mark Redican, Austin Lynch, Paul McGrattan, Donal Iremonger, Tony McDonald, and Proinsias Ferguson. It’s great to see how well the club is doing now particularly the success with the young kids and John Travers flying the Donore Harriers flag at the pointy end of the races.
YOU WENT ON AN ATHLETICS SCHOLARSHIP TO THE U.S.A. HOW WAS THAT EXPERIENCE FOR YOU? MAYBE TELL US ABOUT THE POSITIVES AND THE NEGATIVES OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGIATE SYSTEM? I could write a book about this. I chose to attend an Ivy League university and study one of the most challenging undergraduate majors, engineering. I was a decent student, but to put things in perspective, the engineering class was made up of some of the best students internationally. These guys were as good academically as I was on the track. The academic intensity made it difficult to train properly. For example, I would ‘pull an all-nighter’ finishing lab reports every Wednesday night during my first semester with all the other engineers. As a result, my first two years did not go well as I was setting goals that were too high given the circumstances. This was somewhat driven by watching Mark Carroll and Andy Keith across town at Providence running sub 4 and sub 7:50 for 3km. Half way through my third year I had had enough, so I went to Madrid to reset and focus on base fitness. I taught English and lived a little like a monk, putting together a good six months of base training work. When I returned to college, I was back to winning races again. Back then we didn’t really travel far to races, and New England was still too cold in the Spring to run fast outdoor times. So, outdoor track was always a bit of a bust. Nowadays, everyone flies to California for fast races.
Running on a large team was great. Most of my friends today are people I ran with at college. Outside of running, the experience was eye-opening. I was surrounded by interesting people each with their own dreams and plans grander than my own – my next door neighbour and friend was Andrew Yang who ran for the democratic nominee for US president. It was a big change from the Irish attitude at the time which was ‘keep your head down’.
A lot has changed both in the US education system and the Irish education system since I started college. If anything, the Irish system seems to more closely resemble the US system of continuous assessment now. But also, with the internet, it is much easier to stay in touch with family and friends then when I came over. I probably spent most of my money on phone calls back home during my first semester, and it was not uncommon to see Irish athletes return home quickly due to homesickness. To be honest, there are not many negatives to the US Collegiate system particularly if you know how to approach it. Most of the top running programs are at large Division I colleges that are well respected academic institutions. Even some of the colleges that are not as rigorous and might be seen as ‘party schools’ will always have a department or two that are very well respected. Before I came over, I would often hear that American universities are not at the same level as the Irish ones. But, this is not true. All you have to do is take a look at who is teaching at top Irish Universities, and you will see many of the professors received their doctorates from the same Division I schools that recruit Irish athletes.
Generally, the academics are too rigorous to train as hard as a professional runner might. For example, it is not uncommon for a pro runner to sleep 13 hours a day but there is no way a college runner could do that and stay on top of the academics. The key for a young athlete is to be patient and to use the collegiate system as an opportunity to slowly build base, to enjoy the experience, and to learn how to race well. The hard training should only start once the degree is in hand.
Another thing to consider is how we measure success for an athlete that choses the American scholarship path. Unfortunately, we often tend to look only at the times an athlete is posting rather than their development as a person overall. Running is an incredibly hard sport that, in addition to hard training, requires a fair amount of luck to stay healthy. Actually, staying healthy may be the most important “talent” trait for an athlete to be successful as it allows long-term consistent training. And that’s what produces results. So, it’s no surprise that most Irish athletes who take the scholarship route don’t become household names. However, most do benefit enormously from the experience and go on to have successful careers that they probably would not have had if they stayed in Ireland. This is important to keep in mind when speaking with young athletes when they return home. For many young athletes, their self-esteem is fragile and wrapped up in their athletic persona, and it can be very difficult for them to face people and to try to explain why they are not progressing as expected. I certainly felt judged (whether it was real or not) when I returned to Ireland at times. Nobody saw all of the hard work; only poor performances. It was almost embarrassing to try to explain yourself without sounding like you were making excuses. Helping the young athlete see and understand the big picture value of their experience and education would likely be the best thing a club mate, coach, or friend could do for a struggling athlete. It would also help them to have patience with their athletic development, which should increase their chance of having senior success.
ONE OF THE CRITICISMS OF THE U.S. COLLEGIATE SYSTEM IS THAT ATHLETES ARE EXPECTED TO RACE TOO HARD AND RACE TOO OFTEN. WHAT IS YOUR OWN OPINION OF THAT ASSESSMENT?
This is a myth. I heard the same thing before I came over and I imagine it may have been true at smaller colleges in the 1970s and 1980s. It was certainly not true by the time I arrived. In fact, the NCAA has strict rules about participation and training that can land programs in hot water if they are not careful. For example, we were only officially supposed to train six days a week. The other day was ‘optional’ but the coach expected you to get a run in. Many of these rules were put in place to protect basketball players from exploitation (though I’m not sure how well that has worked). In fact, if anything, athletes may not get to race hard as often as they would like, particularly nowadays.
The standard of running has improved greatly in the US over the past decade, so an Irish athlete may find themselves competing with teammates, not to mention others, to get a spot in a fast race. And, there is a catch-22 here. The trick to running fast track times is to get ‘on the train’ in a fast race with a strong field. But how do you get into a fast race in the first place? Run fast times!
What you do observe, is that some athletes will ‘double’, run two events, at their conference championships. These meets are generally the most important for track teams, so the teams will try to optimize their participation for maximum points. A very strong distance runner may run a 3km/5km double indoors or 5km/10km outdoors, but this will only happen if that runner is likely to score high in both events. The events would be straight finals and separated by a day, so ‘doubling’ is similar to running heats and finals at any major championships. Not a bad experience for a runner that is close to the world stage.
Finally, there are three distinct seasons: cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. The emphasis on each season is somewhat dependent on where the college is located. For example, because of the warmer climate, west coast and southern schools don’t put as much weight on indoor track as east coast colleges. Consequently, many athletes aim to peak for just two of the three seasons. It’s also on the athlete to advocate for their long-term development and, together with the coach, come up with a plan that serves both the coach’s shorter-term interests and the athlete’s longer-term goals. These days, most coaches are former runners and would understand that development takes time.
In addition, with social media, coaches and athletic programs need to be mindful of public opinion as any horror stories would severely impact their ability to recruit top runners.
WHAT WAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE TRIP/OUTING ASSOCIATED WITH ATHLETICS/THE CLUB? AND WHY? I’ve had my fair share of great running trips. It was always a great motivator to try to make an international team as a youngster. The most fun was going with the large Irish Schools Track Team for the FISEC Games in Andorra. We were all sixteen or seventeen – just old enough for a little trouble!
After college, I had the opportunity to represent the Ivy League a few times at Ekiden relays in Japan. We were treated extremely well by our hosts and saw many parts of the country, Tokyo, Nagoya, Izumo, and Kyoto. I got to know Weldon and Robert Johnson on those trips and they wrote about it on their now famous website Letsrun.com – https://www.letsrun.com/japan.shtml. Japan is such a mix of the old and new, from the Shogun’s palace and the hot springs of Mt. Fugi, to mind-numbing downtown Tokyo. I definitely want to go back, but I’ll take my family there next time.
These days, I fly out to Montana at the end of July to run a three-day relay with my old college teammates. You run legs from about 6am to 3pm and then camp, swim, cook BBQ, drink beers, and catch up. It is the most beautiful landscape you’ll ever run across, but you have to keep your eye out for grizzly bears – on a couple of legs you carry bear spray! It is a low key and cultish event but an amazing experience overall. Donore Harriers should send over a team! https://www.headwatersrelay.com/
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPORTING REGRETS? No. I don’t believe in regrets. You make the best decision you can at the time given the information you have. I tried my best to make it as an elite runner and with hindsight I would have been more patient for sure. But, otherwise, I have so much to be thankful for, and I would not change a thing. Anyway, I’m not done yet! I’m still looking to run fast as a Masters athlete and perhaps get into triathlon in my 50’s.
One final thought. I have a box of medals sitting in a box in the bottom drawer of cabinet but what running really brought me over the years has been great friends and shared experiences. I look forward to seeing you all at Donore Harriers again in the not-too-distant future!