ANNE CURLEY
This week we are on the inside track with Anne Curley – a true club stalwart. Anne talks about getting to ‘like’ the marathon, having to deal with long-term injury and the influence of coach Willie Smith on the Women’s/Men’s Squad in the aftermath of the sad passing of Jim McNamara.
STANDARD QUESTIONS
PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Dublin 1971 (I’m 21 with 27 years experience)
WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED? St Joseph’s Primary and Secondary School Stanhope Street, Dublin, and courses in UCD and TCD.
WHAT IS YOUR CAREER PATH? An accidental civil servant since I retired from the rat race in 2002. I have a lifelong ambition to start a revolution from within the establishment, I have yet to devise a plan
IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? I joined in October 2000 just two weeks before the Dublin marathon. I had intended on joining sooner but wanted to get myself fit enough first so I wouldn’t make a show of myself.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? It’s a long winding story but the short answer is that I joined because it was a highly prestigious club with a great history and was based in the park.
WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? I trained and raced with Clonliffe (shock, horror!!) even scoring on a bronze medal team in the Dublin Novice in 1993. I also trained and raced (badly) with DUHAC for a short time. That’s when I thought about switching to Donore. It didn’t happen until years later. I also ran with London Irish AC in Perivale. PJ Fagan was the coach there and although he was very encouraging, I still wasn’t able or willing to apply myself to the hard training required. Back in Dublin when I joined Donore and first met Jim McNamara he told me that PJ had since died and that came as a huge upsetting shock. I will never forget his kindness at my short time there.
(rely from Gerry N) I USED TO KNOW PJ FAGAN BACK IN THE DAY (1980s). MY CLUB BACK THEN WAS QUEENS PARK HARRIERS AND JOHN DORGAN, THE SECRETARY OF LONDON IRISH, WAS ALWAYS ONTO ME ABOUT SWITCHING CLUBS. I NEVER DID. JOHN DIED A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO – Yes, I thought that there was no way that you wouldn’t have known the great PJ. I also met John Dorgan. He used to come out to support the team running in the Met (Metropolitan XC) League and after a bad run in Wormwood Scrubs I was introduced to him as a new recruit. I was pretty embarrassed I ran so bad in front of him! I also read an article about London Irish a few years ago and it was done at the time of his passing. Such a shame the club is now no more!
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORTS? No, unless doing gymnastics as a child counts. I did it for a few years in St Kevin’s in Ballygall road, Ballymun. I got through two stages out of four of the proficiency awards and came second in my age group in the yearly club competition. My participation fizzled out after getting a bad fall and badly injuring my neck and back. Also becoming a moody teenager killed any interest in exercise at all.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? The marathon by a mile but it took me a long time to warm to the event. I ran my first one in 2005, got a bad injury after it, didn’t run my second one until 2008, suffered very bad and it put me off again for another three years. In 2011 I committed myself to getting faster over the distance and since then I have ran 24 marathons in all. I finally fell in love with the marathon after my 13th one in Gloucester in 2017.
WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT ROLE(S) AT THE CLUB? I took on the Treasurer role in 2015 and handed it over in 2019. In that time, I was also a Director. I was previously secretary from 2004 until 2005 and women’s captain from 2002 to 2003. Now I am just an athlete.
WHO WERE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? As a child Mary Purcell piqued my interest when I saw her on the TV win the women’s race in the Dublin Marathon in 1983. It was also the first time I became aware of Dick Hooper and I remain a big a fan of him and his brother Pat. When I started running in 1992, I admired the likes of Liz McColgan, Ingrid Kristiansen and Rosa Mota, I was also in awe of our own Sonia O’Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan who burst on the world scene that year. I was inspired to run as fast as I could over 6 miles the day after watching the epic duel between Derartu Tulu and Elana Meyer in the 10,000m final in the Barcelona Olympics. I just couldn’t get my head around how anyone could run 10k in 31 minutes! Let’s just say I will die still wondering! When I joined Donore Harriers it was Jim McNamara who would become my ultimate muse and inspiration.
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? Forgotten Voices of The Holocaust
WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? The Gloaming
WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS? Very hard to pick three but I will pick my three more respectable favourites
1. The Remains of The Day
2. Raging Bull
3. Schindlers List
FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? I haven’t travelled enough being a Generation Xer but I will find any excuse to keep going back to Berlin. I would like to visit Japan at some stage.
WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? I like cultural and historical events, I would also like more time to do a bit more theatre and cinema visits, working and training makes you lose yourself a bit.
IF DESERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE? Very hard to pick three as I love all types of music, but I never get tired of these –
1. Fight the Power – Public Enemy
2. Leftfield, Afrika Bambaataa – Afrika Shox
3. New Order – Blue Monday
ATHLETICS QUESTIONS
WHO IS YOUR COACH? Jim McNamara was my coach from 2000 until he passed away in 2016, since then Willie Smith and Brendan O’Shea, Brendan has been a key adviser to me since I committed to the marathon.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENTS? I’m quite proud of my first eleven marathons that were all ran under the sub 3 barrier. Some of them were bad runs at the time as I was targeting 2.50 but I appreciate them all so much more now that I have been slowed and humbled by Injury! My fastest one was 2.53 in Dublin in 2011. Other good ones were 2nd and 3rd placings in Cork in 2011 and 2012 and winning Derry in 2014.
Another special performance was finishing 3rd in the National Half marathon in 2009.
I am also very proud of my three National senior cross country team medals, two bronze and a silver in 2005, 2008 and 2009 although my best performance in the Nationals was in 2012 when we didn’t medal at all! That’s the way it goes.
You need the savour the good days in this game as you will never get enough of them, you also never know the day or hour when it’s as good as it going to get.
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES (PBs)?
3000m track 10.29 National League Belfast 2009
Mile 5.40 National Road Relays Raheny 2003
5k is 18.21 in Citywest 5k Dublin 2002
4 Mile 22.57 Dunboyne 4 2009
5 Miles 2009 Raheny
10k is 36.38 in Navan National 10k champs 2009
10 miles is 60.13 in Dungarvan 10 in 2013
Half Marathon is 80.56 in National Half Marathon Waterford 2011
Marathon is 2.53.55 in Dublin Marathon 2011
WHAT ARE YOUR SPORTING AMBITIONS? My best days are behind me now. I have been slowed down by injury (and maybe age?!) However I want to continue running half respectable over the marathon. With the current world crisis I’m not sure if the three autumn marathons I had planned will happen. When marathons can happen again I hope to help the team win a national championship senior or master medal as long as I am able.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? My favourite session for years was the magazine hills on a Saturday morning. It was always the real test of your current form.
DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? Interval miles on the road or track were always the toughest for me. The plan was to build up to ten but I never made it that far! Mainly because they were always ran with a very short recovery! That was Jim’s way – the Kenyan way! I remember 4 x 800, 4 x 1000 and 4 x 1,200 on the Munich lap with 200m short sprint hills to finish. While it was a big session it was not as hard as those interval miles.
DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY STORY RELATED TO ATHLETICS/the CLUB? I didn’t witness this but I believe paramedics were chasing after Jim McNamara on the magazine hills one morning when he got a turn while out training with his group, needless to say they didn’t catch him and the ambulance had to drive off. Club members who were there can fill in the gaps on this story!
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AT DONORE HARRIERS? That’s a very difficult question but the shortish answer is that I would like to see more cohesion among members, more loyalty to the club colours and to fellow club members. Our club survives by coaches, captains, committee members giving their time and energy on a voluntary basis and members repay this debt by giving back either by competing or supporting in other ways. As athletes we give back every time we slog our guts out in championship races and we should support each other more rather than just trying to beat each other, that should be reserved for rival club athletes. A club is like an army at the end of the day and I think the collective battle instinct is lacking a bit in us compared to other clubs.
WHOT ARE YOUR TEOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME? Again, picking three is not fair but my athletics choice is because Catherina achieved world class success from a home base and because she has the Irish women’s marathon record!
1. Katie Taylor
2. Catherina McKiernan
3. Andy Moran (because I’m a very biased Mayo supporter!)
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
YOU HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH A LONG-TERM INJURY – HOW IS THE RECOVERY PROCESS FOR YOU NOW? It has been a challenging five years as I have a compression injury to a main artery in my left leg called Iliac Arterial Endofibrosis. I am stuck with the condition so there is no recovery. I have learnt to live with it. Most of my training now consists of slow miles just to maintain an aerobic base. It goes through bad patches and good ones but even in a good spell speedwork, tempo runs and short races are hugely problematic with leg seizures. That’s why I only focus on the marathon now as it’s the only distance that ‘suits’ the leg. The condition has led to other favouring injuries to my Achilles, foot and glutes in recent years, so I have so had to reduce the mileage as well. It has been very hard to deal with mentally as putting yourself on a start-line when you are only half fit is tough. Once I can stay under the 310 barrier over the marathon I will keep running them.
THE SAD DEATH OF THE GREAT JIM McNAMARA WAS OBVIOUSLY A GREAT LOSS TO YOU AND THE WOMEN’S SQUAD. TELL US ABOUT THE RECOVERY PROCESS AND THE IMPACT OF WILLIE SMITH TO THE SQUAD? Jim’s passing was a seismic change to the women’s group and to the club. The rudderless heartbroken ship steered itself for a while with womens’ captain Florence Curley and vice-captain Mary Murphy at the helm until Willie Smith approached the group saying that he wanted to help us. This was a hugely humble and generous act and being a man of his word he has stuck to the huge task ever since. The Jim Mac Era started unofficially in the same way back in 1995. Now Willie took on the new ‘reign’ in 2016. Willie began setting fartlek sessions and The ‘Big Willie’ recoveries were a novelty at first as we readjusted to a different way of training! As we got the knack of fartlek running we realised that it is deceptively tough and equally as effective, particularly for building endurance and stamina. As the weeks and months passed the dynamic of the group changed too as more of the men began to train with us. Fast forward four years and Willie has firmly established himself as coach for our senior, master and novice men and women. A lot of new members have joined and they have all thrived on the training with Willies’ group. We had great results in the Dublin marathon this year with our masters/intermediate level men all getting pbs. Two of our best senior athletes Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan and Barbara Cleary are regulars. Josh in particular is the star of the group and Willie has been guiding Josh to some great performances in the last year. Grace Kennedy has come back to group sessions and was in the shape of her life before the (corona) virus hit but she is on for a huge marathon pb when things return to normal. Watch this space for Willie’s Army. Willie is hugely encouraging to everybody and makes sure that all levels of ability are catered for. He places great emphasis on recovery and tapering properly and is very insightful on how to train smart and not to be tired on race day. I personally have missed out on much of Willie’s training in recent years due to the difficulties with my injury but I improve very quickly when I can get a good few weeks of his fartlek treatment! I am sure that all of our athletes look forward to Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings as Willie makes them a unique and special experience every time. The sight of Willie placing his signature flags in the ground marking the course for the session is always a welcome sight on the warm up, just like it used to be a welcome sight seeing Jim mark out the course with his signature cones! Willies reign is going strong and long may it last. Long live King Billy!