In this edition we catch up with the 2021 Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield winner Ken Nugent. Of course, since then Ken has gone on to win individual bronze medals in both the Dublin Master Cross-Country championships and the Leinster Masters XC.

 
Ken ran a 2.41.38 in the 2011 Dublin Marathon, but a stress fracture hampered his attempt to break the sub-2.30 mark in 2012. That target remains a key ambition on his athletics journey and his recent good form in cross-country races makes it a strong possibility within the next couple of seasons.
Ken worked in the UK in recent years but continued to participate in races in the colours of Donore Harriers. In 2016 he won the Flitwick 10km in 32.55 and came 2nd in the Leighton Buzzard 10-mile in 56. 33. He returned to win the Flitwick 10km (33.13) in 2018. In the same year he won the St. Ives 10km in 32.56 and came 4th in the Belvoir Half-Marathon in 74.48. His best result in 2019 and 2020 came in the Cambridge Half-Marathon. He ran 1.11.29 in 2019 to place 13th and 1.14.19 in 2020 to take 54th spot.
The Donore Harriers stalwart came into good form last autumn. He won the Wissey Half-Marathon in Norfolk in 1.13.47 and then won the Northampton Half-Marathon in 1.12.22. He followed that up with a strong run in the National Senior cross-country championship race at the Santry Demesne.
Ken’s win in the WBB Shield race was greeted with universal approval due to his dedication to the club and the sport of athletics. Ken is amiable, dependable, and a committed sportsperson who is well respected by his peers and club colleagues.
STANDARD QUESTIONS
PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Dublin, 1984
WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED? Templeogue College and UCD
WHAT IS YOUR PLANNED CAREER PATH? I’m an accountant
IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? Around 2007
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? My father was a member for many years before I joined so I was aware of the club for some time. Word got to Maurice Ahern, through his son who was in my class in college, that I did some running and he also encouraged me to join the club. I will split the credit between my father and Maurice. I will give former member Keith Daly a mention too as we trained together at UCD, and he spoke well of the club.
I trained myself and with UCD when I was in college and was also interested in doing duathlons, triathlons, mountain running and marathons. For a time, I was more interested in doing various events rather than getting involved in club athletics where the focus is often on shorter road races, track, and cross-country events.
WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? When I was a boy (12-14), I trained with Rathfarnham AC (before they merged with Walkinstown AC) as they were local to me. We had a small but strong group, and I did some cross country and track running. I recall that group diminishing as people went to train with college teams (I was the youngest in the group) and I drifted away from the club after that although I never stopped running.
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? I swam, played soccer, tennis, football, hurling and rugby at various times. I have always been active and love exercising and participating in sport.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? The marathon is always a special event, but I would say my best running has been on the roads, 10km to half marathon distance.
WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? I think what Kipchoge has done in the marathon and for marathon running generally has been great and is inspirational. The sub-2hr marathon was among the most inspiring sports achievements I have seen. The discipline and humility he seems to have and which is a key part of his success is also inspiring.
I always admired the way that Paula Radcliffe used to run – fearlessly and aggressively even against better athletes. There are lots of people in athletics to draw motivation from and at all levels – not least within Donore Harriers. Away from running, most of the sportspeople, past and present, that I admire are from motorsports.
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? I read a series of running books by the same author during lockdown which I enjoyed. A journalist spent time training with Kenyan athletes, living Japanese running culture and attempting ultra-running and wrote about his experiences. Running with the Kenyans, The Way of the Runner, The Rise of the Ultra Runners.
WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS? I’ve never really been interested in films.
FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? Portugal.
WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? Motorsport (particularly F1 and MotoGp) and football. I’m interested in current affairs/business/entrepreneurship/economics/investing, cars, technology.
ATHLETICS QUESTIONS
WHO IS/WERE YOUR COACH(ES)? I have mostly set my own training schedules but have benefitted from the influence of several coaches over the years such as Iain Morrison and John Downes at Donore Harriers and Tom Dunne at UCD. When I’m in Dublin, I join in for sessions that Phil (Hennessy) takes from his training manuals.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? I am lucky to have lots of good memories from club-level athletics over the years. To pick one, I would go with winning the WBB shield this year. The history and tradition behind it are great and I have enjoyed taking part in it many times over the years. Anyone who ever ran it is part of the tradition. To have won it is a real privilege and picking up the Tommie Hayward trophy on the day also made it even better.
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES/MARKS? Marathon 2hrs:41mins, half-marathon 1hr:11mins, 10miles 53:15, 10km 31:50, 5km 15:39.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? It may have stretched what a coach asked us to do but Fergal (Whitty) and I used to do a 3 x 3-mile interval session with a recovery mile between each rep. We would often have done 16 miles or more in total as part of the session, so it was tough but good for bringing up the weekly mileage too and aligned with marathon objectives– ‘If you’re not dying, you’re not trying’ as Fergal says.
DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? Those 25 x 400m track sessions we occasionally did were tough although I haven’t done that many reps in a long time.
WHAT IS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN? Mileage-wise I generally aim for 70-80miles but will cut that to 50-60miles on race weeks. I try to fit-in two speed work sessions and a long run. The rest of the time I just run easy and often do a short morning and evening run. My sessions are generally not particularly planned or formal, I know broadly what I’m looking to achieve and try to adapt my sessions around that. I tend not to set a minimum or maximum to what I’m going to do in terms of volume, speed, total distance as I find it works better for me to go with what I feel I can do at the time. When I’m here, I will often join in with whatever session Phil/Fergal have planned.
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AT DONORE HARRIERS? I’m happy with the club – the Phoenix Park is on our doorstep and the best resource any athletics club could have.
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
YOU RAN A STORMER TO WIN THE WBB SHIELD 2021 IN STICKY UNDERFOOT CONDITIONS. DID YOU SPECIFICALLY TARGET THE RACE? DID THE SOFT UNDERFOOT CONDITIONS SUIT YOU? AND IN WHAT PART OF THE RACE DID YOU BELIEVE YOU WOULD GO ON TO WIN? I wasn’t in great shape towards the end of 2020, my running definitely took a hit during the lockdown periods but, over the Christmas/New Year break, I resolved to improve my fitness and get back to racing in 2021. It took me quite a while to improve my fitness and I had an opportunity to take some time off work over the summer and come back to Ireland when I trained a lot with Phil’s (Hennessy) group which really helped me. My focus was then on an October marathon.
I then adapted my training for cross-country and the WBB Shield was part of the thinking, but I also wanted to take part in the National Senior and Masters’ races. One thing I take from the pandemic is that you never know when you won’t be able to run/race/do what you want so I really wanted to make sure to get myself to as many start lines as I could – particularly as I was in decent shape by this time.
My approach to the WBB shield has always been just to focus on my own run and not think about where anyone else is or what time I might need to run to have a chance. I thought I had a chance to win the Tommie Hayward cup this year if I ran well on the day but didn’t let thoughts of winning the WBB shield enter my mind. During the race, I just concentrated on maintaining my own pace and didn’t know where I was overall and in relation to the leader – the crowd at the finish line told me I won.
I was disappointed that it rained so heavily on Christmas day, I was looking forward to the ground being firm on race-day – not from a competitiveness perspective as it’s the same for everybody but as it would be faster and more enjoyable. As it happened, the ground was a little soft but nothing like as bad as I thought it might be.
WHERE DID YOUR INTEREST IN ATHLETICS STEM FROM? My father ran when I was very young although he then stopped for several years. In primary school I had a teacher who ran marathons and added to my interest in running. He arranged for John Treacy to visit our class and we watched a video of the ’84 Olympic marathon – I can’t remember who won but Treacy had a great race to just beat Charlie Spedding to the silver medal. I used to also watch athletics at the Olympics and World Championships.
We did some running at PE class and on sports days which I enjoyed, and I started running with my father, I persuaded him to get back into it – this would have been around 1995/’96 and I never stopped running since then. My first road race was the ’96 Jingle Bells when it was held in town.
DID YOU EVER COMPETE AS A JUVENILE OR JUNIOR OR IN SCHOOLS COMPETITION? Yes, but not to any great extent. I don’t remember there being any formal running programme in secondary school, but I recall going to at least one schools cross-country race. I also ran a bit on the country and on track for Rathfarnham. Even then, I was more interested in running far rather than the very short races they held on the country and track for younger age groups. I ran a lot of road races back then – Jingle Bells, Raheny 5, Sportsworld 5, Dunshaughlin 10k, Rathfarnham 5k.
YOU WERE BASED IN ENGLAND FROM 2015. DID YOU JOIN A CLUB OVER THERE? No, I just train by myself when I’m in England.
AND HOW DO YOU COMPARE THE ROAD AND CROSS-COUNTRY SCENE IN ENGLAND AS COMPARED TO IRELAND? I have done a lot of road races in England and some parkruns but nothing on the cross-country scene. There is always something on whether you prefer small, local races or larger mass-participation events. I have found most races to be well-organised and enjoyable.
I think the larger events are pretty similar everywhere, but I think the smaller races are done better at home (e.g., races which are to raise funds for community clubs) and particularly the post-race tea and snacks!
They tend to do trophies rather than cash for prizes in England which I like.
YOU WON THE NORTHAMPTON HALF-MARATHON (1.12.22) AND WISSEY (SWAFFHAM) HALF-MARATHON (1.13.49) IN THE AUTUMN OF 2021 THAT SIGNALLED A RETURN TO FORM. TELL US ABOUT THOSE RACES? They were my first road races since the Sunday before the first lockdown in 2020. I had been training well throughout the year, so those races were pretty much in-line with what I expected to run timewise and it’s always nice to win. The races were part of my October marathon build-up, and I didn’t rest-up or adapt my training for them so there may have been the potential to post slightly faster times.
The Swaffham one was tough as it was really hot and quite hilly in the second half. The Northampton one was enjoyable but the route got really narrow and twisty in places (routes through parks) so it wasn’t the fastest course. Both were competitive for part of the race particularly Swaffham and fortunately I was able to hold the pace better than others on the day.
YOU RAN THE DUBLIN MARATHON IN 2011 IN A TIME OF 2.41.34. DID YOU IMPROVE YOUR 26.2-MILE TIME SINCE THEN? I ran a very similar time in 2018 (Gran Canaria) but have not managed to improve. I should have been able to run a sub-2hrs 40m in Chelmsford in October, but I got the pacing wrong from about half-way to 20 miles. Pushing the pace by 5-10s per mile to go with a small group that chased down the leader cost me beyond 20 miles. I felt good and thought it was worth the gamble.
I should have been able to run sub-2hrs 30m in 2012 but I picked up a stress-fracture 10 miles into the Dublin Marathon and didn’t start another Marathon for several years.
AND IS THE MARATHON AN EVENT THAT YOU WILL CONCENTRATE ON IN THE FUTURE? Yes, I was most interested in the marathon long before joining the club and generally consider other events to be a break from or build-up to a marathon. I do enjoy road racing and cross-country too and there is clearly some overlap in the necessary training.
Ideally, I’d like to do the Dublin marathon in October and confirmed my good for age entry this week. My last marathon was a disappointment, but it’s forgotten about now and I am looking forward to getting back to a marathon focus soon. I have not decided yet if I will do another marathon before Dublin but will be adapting my training for the marathon and road racing after the cross-country season.
I also want to do a good number of races this year – particularly Dublin, Leinster, National events.
DO YOU PREFER TO RACE ROAD OR CROSS-COUNTRY? Road.
HAVE YOU STRUGGLED WITH MOTIVATION AND/OR INJURY? TELL US ABOUT THAT? I have generally been lucky with injury given how long I have been running and the periods of quite intense training done. The 2012 stress-fracture was the worst injury I ever got because I couldn’t do anything for a few months in addition to the disappointment of all the hard marathon work being for nothing – I felt I had sub-2hrs 30m potential at that time although I was probably over-training which may have taken the edge off me anyway.
I lost all my fitness and struggled to get back into it and picked up some niggles in trying to come back too quickly. That was a real shame as I was training and running so well at the time.
I have always been quite motivated to run and to be competitive but putting everything together to do that is difficult particularly over extended periods of time. For me, it’s mostly work and other things that get in the way rather than a lack of desire to train well – any good day involves a run.
I think that what you do outside of the actual running is key and, in some ways the hardest part of achieving your potential. Assuming, you can find the time for the training and are motivated to work hard you then need to be really disciplined about rest, recovery, and diet in particular. It is also important to know when you need to cut down on the mileage and sessions to give yourself the best opportunity in a race which is tough to do when you love running.
For me, the non-running part of the overall picture is the more difficult.
WHAT ARE YOU NEXT BIG TARGETS IN ATHLETICS? I have had an ambition to run a sub-2hr 30m marathon for some time. The marathon has never really worked out for me, but I will try again. A sub-70m half-marathon would also be an ambition. It would also be nice to pick up some Masters’ medals whether on the roads or the country this season.