Most of you will be thinking who Margaret O’Halloran is in the context of Donore Harriers! Well, she was one of the club’s leading track and field athletes in the early days of the women’s section – and was a pioneer of women’s pole vaulting in Ireland. Indeed, she was the first women’s national pole vault champion in 1998, and then went on to represent Ireland in the Europa Cup at Kaunas, Lithuania in June of that year. The team included the likes of Karen Shinkins, James Nolan, Nick Sweeney, Susan Smith and Donore’s Roman Linscheid, so she was among some great Irish athletes on that trip.
Mags won an array of medals in Leinster and National championships in sprints and hurdles – and later won two Intervarsity gold medals in the Pole Vault, including victory in the 1998 Celtic Games at the Antrim Forum.
Here is what her former coach Gerry Ronan says about Margaret: “Margaret was one of the early members of the Donore Harriers Ladies section – a multi-talented athlete and an academically gifted student. Having started out as a hurdler she later progressed to the Pole Vault, where she set the first officially recognised women’s national record in the event. A real trailblazer, in every sense of the word, she made training all the more enjoyable for her training partners by her relentless positivity. She even managed to secure for herself a summer training abroad with the coach of a German world champion. Margaret would never be told a dream was impossible. She was, and remains, one of the most resilient athletes I have ever had the honour to coach”.
STANDARD QUESTIONS
PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Dublin 1976
WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED? UCD – undergrad degree in psychology, masters degree in psychology.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR CAREER PATH? Studied psychology and worked with children with autism for a few years. About 4 years ago I started coaching tennis and absolutely love it.
IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? I’d say it was about 1987. I was 11 – I think!
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? My coach Gerry Ronan was with the club.
WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? No, I just ran for my school.
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? Swimming
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? Pole Vault
WHAT WAS YOUR ROLE AT THE CLUB? Athlete
WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? Katrin Krabbe, the European 100m and 200m champion in 1990. I worked for her in her sports shop in Neubrandenburg, Germany for a summer in 1993. I spent that summer training in a sports boarding school there.
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? Open by Andre Agassi
WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? Ed Sheeran
WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS?
1. Dead Poet’s Society
2. Mrs. Doubtfire
3. Mama Mia
FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? Australia
WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? Tennis, Weights, Netflix, Surfing
IF DISERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
1. Dance Monkey – Tones & I
2. If Your Over Me – Years & Years
3. Titanium – David Guetta
ATHLETICS QUESTIONS
WHO WAS YOUR COACH(ES)? Gerry Ronan for sprints and strength training between ages 10 and 25. Jim Alexander and Brendan Dunne for the Pole Vault.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? Representing Ireland in the Pole Vault in the Europa Cup in Lithuania
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES/MARKS (PBs)?
3 metres – Pole Vault
I can’t remember my times for the sprints!
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? Technique work, starts and weights with coach Gerry Ronan.
DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? Sand dunes at Donabate with coach Gerry. Double Dunne Killer!
WHAT WAS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN? Running/technique/fitness 3 or 4 times a week.
Strength training twice per week.
WHO ARE YOUR TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME?
1. Sonia O’Sullivan
2. Katie Taylor
3. Rachael Blackmore
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
YOU JOINED THE CLUB WHILST IT WAS STILL BASED AT HOSPITAL LANE. TELL US ABOUT THE FACILITIES AND GENERAL MOOD AT THE ‘COTTAGE’ HEADQUARTERS? I was very young, but I can remember meeting outside the club and jogging to the Phoenix Park, where we did our training sessions.
WERE YOU DAUNTED BY THE FACT THAT YOU WERE JOINING A TRADITIONAL ‘HARRIERS’ CLUB? Not at all!
WHO WERE THE BIG CHARACTERS AT THE CLUB BACK THEN? I only knew my training group.
WHAT WAS A TYPICAL TRAINING SESSION LIKE? AND WHAT VENUES, FACILITIES DID YOU USE? In the early days I trained in the Phoenix Park and Sundrive Road track. Later on, I did most of my training in UCD, Belfield and Santry.
Sessions were usually warm-up, stretches, drills, technique, interval training and some endurance work.
DID YOU WIN ANY MEDALS AT UNDERAGE (JUVENILE, SCHOOLS, JUNIOR) LEVEL? Yes, I won several Leinster and All-Ireland medals for the 100m, 200m, 400m and 400m Hurdles.
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE TRIP/OUTING ASSOCIATED WITH ATHLETICS/THE CLUB? AND WHY? Representing Ireland at the Europa Cup in Lithuania. It was so amazing to be chosen to represent Ireland. Loved every minute of the trip.
YOU STARTED OUT AS A SPRINTER, BUT LATER TOOK UP THE POLE VAULT. WHAT WAS THE CATALYST FOR TAKING UP SUCH A TECHNICAL EVENT? I was injured and bend running was aggravating my injury. I was competing in the Glasgow Indoor Meet in the 400m and saw women starting to compete in the Pole Vault. I really wanted to try the event, it looked fun!
YOU BECAME THE FIRST IRISH WOMAN POLE VAULT CHAMPION IN 1998, SO YOU WERE VERY MUCH A PIONEER OF THE EVENT IN IRELAND. TELL US ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE IN TERMS OF EQUIPMENT, FACILITIES AND TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES? I did most of my training in the Indoor part of the stadium in Santry and sometimes in UCD. I also traned with Brendan Dunne in Monkstown School. Jim Alexander also came down from Belfast for coaching sessions.
A group of us also went warm weather training to Spain with Jim. We also sent to Poland to train the coaches there. The training facilities were amazing. They had gymnastic sessions, which we didn’t have here. The training was also incorporated into the school day for the athletes.
YOU REPRESENTED IRELAND IN THE EUROPA CUP MATCH AT KAUNAS, LITHUANIA ON 6th OF JUNE 1998. WHAT ARE YOUR ABIDING MEMORIES OF THAT TRIP/EVENT? I loved every minute. It was so fantastic to be part of an Irish team. Great team spirit.
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPORTING REGRETS? I wish I had started tennis at an earlier age.
ARE YOU PRESENTLY INVOLVED WITH SPORT IN ANY CAPACITY? Yes, I play and coach tennis at the Sunday’s Well Tennis Club in Cork on most days.