Simon Taggart was a regular on the Donore Harriers national track and league team that won promotion to the Premier Division. He was a key points scorer in the team’s drive towards the top division. An example of Simon’s endeavours was in a Division One qualifying round in 2013, when he won the 110m hurdles, ran in both relay races and came 5^th in the Discus.

 

Indeed, Simon was one the club’s most successful athletes in the past decade. He was the national senior 110m Hurdles champion in 2012 (14.27), came 2^nd in 2013 (15.16), and 3^rd in 2011 (14.44) and 2015 (14.83). He won the AAI Games in the high hurdles in 2012 (14.19) and 2013 (15.04) and the AAI Indoor Games in the 60m Hurdles in 2013 (15.04) and 2015 (15.03).

Representing Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in the Intervarsities between 2005 and 2011 Simon took gold and silver in the 110mH, two golds in the 400m, a silver in the Combined Events (3328 points), a bronze in the Shot Putt and a silver and bronze in the 4 x 100m relay. Indoors he won a gold, silver, and bronze in the 400m, a silver in the Combined Events (2641 points), and a silver and bronze in the 4 x 200m relay. He then won the 110m Hurdles in the 2013 Celtic Games at Tallaght in a time of 15.38.

The story is that Simon had been indirectly recruited to Donore Harriers by Maurice Ahern: “I got to know the athletics coach at Terenure College. One of his athletes, probably a lad who played rugby on the wings, won the West Leinster Schools 100 metres. So, I contacted the coach, and he persuaded the lad to meet up with Cyril White for a coached session at the Belfield track. That lad brought along another guy with him, who happened to be Simon Taggart. Simon was a fine athlete. He could do the Long Jump, High Jump, throws, you name it! The bottom line is that the rugby playing sprinter didn’t become a regular Donore Harriers athlete, but Simon did. Simon initially concentrated on the 400 metres, but then changed to the 110m Hurdles. He holds the club record in that event. The other thing to say about Simon is that he was a great man to have in the League”.

Simon Taggart was awarded the 2012 Donore Harriers senior athlete of the year.

Now living in Canada, Simon has many fond memories of competing for Donore Harriers.

STANDARD QUESTIONS

PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Copenhagen, 1986

WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED? Terenure College and Trinity College Dublin

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR CAREER PATH? I have been working in restaurants and bars full-time since 2012. I intend to open my own place in the next few years.

IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? I honestly can’t remember! Whenever it was, I don’t have any digital proof to check up on. Somewhere between ages of 14 and 16 I reckon.

<<about 2001>>

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? In truth I didn’t choose Donore, it was a great bit of luck. A lad I went to school with was lightning quick at the West Leinster 100m in Santry one year and Maurice Ahern signed him up. I did the Triple Jump and on the coach back to school he was telling me about it and I just said “I’ll come with you” and that was that. Unfortunately, he didn’t run many races for the club but, in me, Donore Harriers got a very average triple jumper as consolation.

WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? No

DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? I did a bit of everything in school but mostly rugby and badminton – and I played for a couple of local football clubs. Athletics didn’t get a look-in by the coaches in school until the rugby season was done and I always looked forward to that. I didn’t have much of a head for rugby. I’ve even done a bit of cross country.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? To compete in, it has to be the 110m hurdles. There’s just such an adrenaline rush that I didn’t get in other events. The hurdles come at you so fast there’s no time to be stuck in your head or think about mistakes because there’s another barrier coming your way, so you have to keep going.

WHAT WAS YOUR ROLE AT THE CLUB? Athlete

WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? Michael Johnson – I think he has to be my favourite athlete. The 400m was my first love. I admired his level of dedication and he was just incredibly dominant. His records seemed untouchable until Bolt’s performance in Beijing. On top of that I think he’s a great pundit, he keeps the BBC’s feet on the ground.

Maurice Ahern – I don’t know what I can say about Maurice that hasn’t already been said and felt by everyone at the club. I owe him a huge amount for getting me involved, linking me with my first coach Cyril White, for giving me lifts to races, for always supporting me through my athletics journey and for his endless encouragement. I don’t think of Donore Harriers without thinking of Maurice.

SOCIAL QUESTIONS

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? Wherever You Go, There You Are – Jon Kabat-Zinn

WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? FKA Twigs, November 2019 in Toronto (which feels like forever ago)

WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS? Don’t watch a tonne of films to be honest!

1. Gran Torino

2. Jaws

3. Shawshank Redemption

FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? Not a country but I love New York City. There are few places in the world that I know I could visit again every year and still look forward to the next time. There’s so much character, great food, dive bars, music clubs etc.

WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? I listen to and play music and I cook a lot. I got into fermentation this past year, so I make my own ginger beer now and hot sauces.

IF DESERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?

1. Sister Sledge – Pretty Baby

2. Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl

3. New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle

ATHLETICS QUESTIONS

WHO WERE YOUR COACH(ES)? In order, my coaches were Cyril White, Jim Kidd, John Coghlan and Gerry Ronan.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? Even though I ran well, my national senior title was a bit anticlimactic due to a very poor turn-out that year. I’m quite proud to be ranked in the Irish top 10 all-time at 110m Hurdles. I’ll enjoy that stat while it lasts! As a sprinter, I think the fact that I’ve never pulled a muscle is a pretty big achievement!! Plenty of other injuries unfortunately!

WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES/MARKS (PBs)? These are the ones I can remember –

400m – 49.00s

110mH – 14.19s

60mH – 8.22s

100m – 11.0x

600m 1:21

WHAT WAS/IS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? I liked any fast technical sessions with starts over the hurdles. I had one interesting session where we would take away the 3rd or the 4th hurdle, build up speed and really attack the 5th.

I used to like hill sessions during the winter and 150s because of that feeling where you sling off the bend into the straight. I was a terrible bend runner.

DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? I’ve probably blocked it from my memory. We did some tough sessions when I was training for 400m. 600m, 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m was brutal going flat out by the end.

WHAT WAS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN? I haven’t had one for many years now. 2012 was my last committed year and we trained 20 – 25 hours per week, 3 days we did both gym work and track sessions. Lots of drills and conditioning work on the days we weren’t on the track. Prior to that season it was 6 days (about 14 – 16 hours) 4 track sessions and 2 in the gym.

DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY OR UNUSUAL STORY RELATED TO ATHLETICS/THE CLUB? I can’t think of many! I must have been a bit too serious as an athlete.

When I got into the hurdles I started to do a couple of things to mess with my competitors a little bit before a race. I remember feeling sick as a dog before any 400m race but for some reason I didn’t get that way before the hurdles. Sometimes I’d feel a bit sluggish or tired maybe, but I developed a coping technique whereby I’d just tell myself persistently that I felt amazing, and really strong and I would have a huge smile on my face. I could see the other lads were nervous, so I’d smile even more and sometimes say things to them like “this is going to be good fun, isn’t it?!”. It can get so serious at the track and it helped me to take the edge off and felt a bit cheeky. I’d keep smiling all the way to the blocks. I also used to breathe very heavily and audibly when we were on our marks which I’m sure was distracting.

In 2011, I entered the 400m and 60mH in the Odyssey. I ended up making the final in hurdles and unexpectedly the B final at 400m. They were only a few minutes apart and I had a medal chance in the hurdles. If I pulled out of the 400m final having run the heats I would have been ineligible to then run the 60mH final. If I ran the 400m my legs would have been shot. So, I took to the start of the 400m, ran to the end of the back straight and pulled-up without finishing the race. An official figured out what I was up to and told me to start acting like I had tweaked something because if it looked like I hadn’t made an effort I could get DQed anyway!! Luckily that official was TCD athletics president, Cyril Smyth, and I went off and came 2nd the 60mH, my first national senior medal.

WHO ARE YOUR TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME?

1. Paul McGrath

2. Roy Keane

3. Sonia O’Sullivan

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

YOU RAN A 49.01 FOR THE 400 METRES IN SANTRY (COMPETING FOR TCD) IN 2007, SO WHEN AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO CONCENTRATE ON THE 110M HURDLES? I started doing the hurdles after getting into a rut with the 400m and a few injury lay-offs. I wanted to have a bit of fun and began training for the decathlon, so we built hurdles into my training.

DID YOU EVER GET TO REPRESENT IRELAND AT ANY LEVEL? No. That was certainly a goal, but it wasn’t to be.

YOU WERE A VERY ACTIVE COMPETITOR WHILST ATTENDING TCD. INDEED, YOU REPRESENTED THE COLLEGE ON 50 OCCASIONS WINNING 4 GOLD, 6 SILVER AND 4 BRONZE MEDALS OVER 400m, 110m Hurdles and Relays. WHAT IS YOUR BEST MEMORY FROM YOUR TCD DAYS? Lots of great memories from intervarsity competition. In my second year I won the 400m outdoors in 49.01 which was a big PB at the time. I ran a solid heat and, in the final, came into the home straight well back in 3rd and caught the lad from UCC only a few metres from the finish line. I think I came 7th the year before and was well off the pace so it felt fantastic.

We also regularly over performed in the sprint relays. We rarely had finalists in the 100m or 200m and yet we were able to pull a team together and squeeze into the medals more often than we should have on paper. It was great fun.

IS IT TRUE THAT YOU COMPETED IN THE 3,000m RACE WALK IN THE COLOURS OF TCD? Haha, yes! Just the once. That year, I was captain, injured and TCD were hosting the Intervarsities. I didn’t have a race walker and we wanted to have as many people in as many events as possible and no-one would do the walk. I told Sam Mealy of Crusaders that if he did it, I would line up beside him so that was that. It was a bit of a laugh, quite a painful laugh actually.

YOU COMPETED FOR THE DONORE HARRIERS NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM IN THE SPRINTS, HURDLES, HIGH JUMP, THROWS… DID YOU EVER CONSIDER COMPETING IN A DECATHLON EVENT? I had a goal of completing a decathlon and was training for that in 2011 when I first stepped over the senior hurdles. I did the multi-events for TCD that year and I carried on competing over both the hurdles and 400m that season and got medals at National Seniors. I had a lot of fun that season and I think it upset a few of the more experienced hurdlers. The reason I never did a decathlon was I tore cartilage in my shoulder doing Pole Vault at the combined events squad day and that was that. So, I focussed on hurdling from then on.

YOU RANK 8^th ON THE ALL-TIME 110m HURDLES IRISH LIST WITH 14.19 IN THE AAI GAMES 2012. DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR CAREER WAS A BARRIER TO YOU REACHING TO THE NEXT LEVEL IN THE HIGH HURDLES? Yes and no. Working long shifts in hospitality and trying to have a consistent training routine is something I found very difficult, but ultimately it was a choice I made to pursue that line of work. I knew what that would mean for me and my hurdling. I was content with that.

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPORTING REGRETS? No regrets, plenty of “what ifs”.

I had a few difficult injuries that kept me out for long periods and one that really stung was in January 2012 when I picked up a stress fracture in my foot. I was actually still able to manage it and run. In February I was even going to run indoors over in Birmingham but snow cancelled my flight and so I trained the next day instead. I was struggling to push out of the blocks and ended up clattering the first hurdle badly. I took a heavy fall and needed stitches on a gash as deep as my shinbone from the support of the hurdle kicking up when I hit it. So, we decided to take some rest and heal the fracture. That took about 6 weeks and when I came back jogging, we discovered that I had damaged my ankle in that accident and cost me another 4 weeks. Suddenly it was May, and the outdoor season was kicking off. I was fast and at my strongest that year but technically short. I had already decided that if I didn’t reach my targets, I would take a step back from training after that season and focus on work. So, it was a shame to not find out how I might have gone with fewer setbacks as that wasn’t the only injury that year.

In 2015, I started working with Gerry Ronan when I fancied doing a bit of casual training down at the club and a few races. I wonder what I could have done if we had struck that partnership when I was younger. He helped me to understand the technical elements of the hurdles that had been missing. I actually think running 14.8 at national seniors that season into a headwind was down to that work because I wasn’t in particularly good shape. In different circumstances, I would have enjoyed having another go.

It always annoyed me that I never broke 49sec in the 400m. I ran 49.01 and 49.00 in the same season.

Overall, I have nothing to regret about my time in the sport. It has taught me more than I ever expected it to.

YOU WILL BECOME A MASTER ATHLETE IN 2021. DO YOU PLAN ON COMPETING IN THIS CATEGORY, PERHAPS WITH THE EUROPEAN AND WORLD MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS AS A FOCUS? I’ve thought about it. I live in Toronto now since 2016 and if I could find a space to train with hurdles, I’ll certainly give it some thought. I’d love to sprint race again and I just can’t get into the rhythm of long-distance running, it’s not for me!

 

 

 

Eric Hayward was born to be a Donore Harrier!

His father Tommie (1921-2016), who joined the club in 1941, was club secretary for 13 years from 1957, and served two terms as Club President -1981-83 and 1993-96.

 

 

 

Tommie was a meticulous administrator and was widely respected in the athletics community. He was one of the negotiators in the formation of An Bord Lúthchleas na hÉireann (BLÉ) in 1967 – later to become Athletics Ireland – and was honoured as ‘Official of the Year’ at the 2010 Athletics Ireland awards dinner.

The name T. Hayward appeared on the attendance list at the club’s annual general meeting a staggering 75 consecutive times.

Tommie Hayward was also a very fine cross-country athlete, being a key member of the first great Donore Harriers team that won national senior XC titles in the 1940s. Thereafter, he was instrumental behind the scenes when Donore Harriers were a dominant force in Irish athletics in the 60s/70s.

Eric was tagged along by his father to the Hospital Lane clubhouse at the age of 5. He was a young boy surrounded by giants in Irish athletics. In time, he would make his own mark both in athletics and in his contribution to the development of the club.

Inspired by Jesse Owens, Eric competed in long-jump and sprints, winning 3 national junior medals in 1965 – including gold in the 4 x 100m relay. He competed for London Irish AC between 1972 and 1976, before retiring from track and field in 1980.

Running buddies and the marathon craze motivated Eric to enter the first Dublin Marathon. He went on to complete the first 16 editions of the event, lowering his 42.2km time to 2.45.18.

He was part of the Donore Harriers masters team that won two Dublin silver medals in the 1980s and was the winner of the 1994 Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield.

The contributions of Eric and Tommie Hayward to Donore Harriers and the sport of athletics is immeasurable! Indeed, they have a combined involvement of 141 years with the club, always giving of their time and efforts generously. Together with other visionaries, they were instrumental in creating the excellent club facilities that the members enjoy today.

It is fitting, therefore, to have Eric share stories about his father and other historical club figures in this the 50^th edition of the Interview Series.

STANDARD QUESTIONS

PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Dublin 1948

WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED?Secondary School Chanel College, College of Technology Bolton Street studied Building Services Engineering.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR CAREER PATH?I spent a short period as a junior Engineer in a consulting Engineering practice in Dublin and then moved to the UK in January 1972. I spent five years in a practice in Richmond Surrey where I gained valuable experience working on a variety of multi-million-pound projects.

Returned to Dublin in late 1976 where I Joined Robert Jacob and Partners as a senior design engineer rising to Associate director in 1988.

In 1993 we amalgamated with another practice and became Homan O’Brien Associates. In early 2009 as the recession hit the construction industry, I took the opportunity to retire from HOB and continued as a consultant on a part time basis to the present day.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? I guess I did not really have a choice. From early 1953, when I was five and a half, I started going up to the club in Hospital Lane every Saturday with my dad Tommie Hayward. I used to hang out with the sons of other members. One such guy was Kieran Hogan, son of the legendary Eddie Hogan who was at that time starting to turn Donore Harriers into a powerhouse of cross-country and road running.

In the late fifties/early sixties there was very little athletics for young boys or girls, so my first opportunity to compete in the Donore Harriers colours was in the Summer of 1959 shortly before my 11th birthday. I ran in the Civil Services Athletic Club track meeting held in College Park (Trinity College). The race was over 220-yards for Boys under 16, so as a 10-years old I did not quite make the podium.

WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? No.

DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? I was a member of Home Farm Football club for a few years as an 8, 9, 10-year-old. I also played Gaelic football for my school team in both primary and secondary schools.

While I lived in London, I played rugby with Twickenham R.C. mainly on the wing.

I am a current member of Malahide Golf Club.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? The long Jump would always be my first choice followed by the 100 metres.

WHAT WAS YOUR ROLE(S) AT THE CLUB?I started off as a sprinter. I ran in the under 16 national cross-country championships on a couple of occasions. Unfortunately, the talent of the great runners in Donore Harriers in the sixties did not rub off on me, so I stuck with sprinting.

I have had a number of roles. Initially I was Track Captain followed by a number of years as a committee member/Director. I was also PRO for a couple of years.

I was on the Building Committee for the development of the new HQ in Chapelizod.

In the early eighties I also did some sprint coaching.

WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? As a 10-year-old I was in awe watching Herb Elliott (Australia) winning races at will. He was never beaten over the Mile and won the 1500m in the Rome Olympics. He famously broke the mile world record in the Morton Stadium in 1958.

Many years later I had the privilege of collecting him from Dublin Airport and bringing him to the Morton Stadium, the scene of one of his greatest triumphs.

When I was around 11/12 years old my Dad brought me to a talk given by Jesse Owens (USA) who won 4 gold medals in the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Following a conversation with Jesse Owens after his talk it sowed the seed to my path into Long Jumping and Sprinting.

SOCIAL QUESTIONS

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? The Inner Game of Golf by Timothy Gallwey

WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? Eric Clapton in the Three arena

WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS?

1. Good Morning Vietnam
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. Pretty Women

FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? Thanks to the various trips to the Olympic Games, I have traveled quite extensively. The country that stands out for its friendly people and culture is South Korea.

WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? I went on a school trip to Switzerland and Belgium in 1965 which gave me an appetite to see other countries and their cultures. So, I have traveled to all corners of the world and thanks to my Olympic trips have visited some cities not necessarily on my bucket list.

Once the weather is anyway kind you will find me in the garden.

IF DISERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?

1. My Sweet Lord by George Harrison
2. Imagine by John Lennon
3. Something by the Beatles

ATHLETICS QUESTIONS

WHO WAS/WERE YOUR COACH(ES)? Eddie Hogan in Donore Harriers and Gerry O’Reilly in London Irish. Paddy Darling gave me great advice in my Marathon days.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? Winning the 4 x 400 metre A.A.U. championship will always stand out in my mind as it was the first championship medal.

As a former sprinter/long jumper running a marathon in 2.45.18 gave me great pleasure.

As a long standing Donore Harriers man getting my name engraved on the Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield in 1994 will live in my memory forever.

WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES/MARKS?

100m 10.9

200m 22.1

Long Jump 7.08m

Marathon 2.45.18

10,000 m (Track) 33.10

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? As a sprinter Intervals on the Polo Grounds.

In my marathon training days, I trained at weekends with a group affectionally known as the Malahide Mafia. We did 9-mile fartlek sessions on Saturday mornings in Malahide Castle.

DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? Sprint sessions up the Magazine hill (Phoenix Park), jogging back to the bottom was absolute torture.

In preparation for marathons, weekly sessions of 2-mile warm up 4 x 1500 metres intervals and 2-mile warm-down in August and September was as hard as it gets.

WHAT WAS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN?

In my sprinting days   in winter /early spring

Sunday – Technical jumps session

Monday – Weights

Tuesday – 5-mile run

Wednesday – Sprint session

Thursday – Weights

Saturday – Magazine Hill or Intervals on Polo Grounds

Summer months Saturday and Tuesday interval track sessions

Marathon training

Monday – 6-mile steady run

Tuesday – 4 x 1500 metres intervals or 15 miles (November to June 8 miles)

Wednesday- 10-mile easy run

Thursday – 15-mile steady run (November to June 8 miles)

Friday – 4-mile slow relaxed run

Saturday – 9-mile fartlek run

Sunday – 20 miles (November to June 15 miles)

From July to Marathon day 3 early morning 3-mile runs.

DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY STORY RELATED TO ATHLETICS/THE CLUB? While running for London Irish AC in a league meeting in Bracknell I finished second in the 100m at the same time as the winner. For a few minutes after the race there was great excitement/confusion around the timekeepers as they clocked us with a time of 9.9.

We were all a bit shocked, but all was revealed shortly after when it revealed that we had only run 100 yards.

In the mid-sixties the Graded Meetings had a number of events for under sixteens, including 60 yards and 150-yard sprints. Bob Payne was the chief starter and one evening in the Morton Stadium all the other guys in the race were quite tall – one being the great Late Frank Murphy. Bob decided I should have a handicap, so I was given a 10-yard lead as I was only fourteen years old and not the tallest guy in the world. I comfortably won the race but had to bend my head to break the tape.

The sports results in the following morning paper highlighted my method of breaking the tape. Needless-to-say, I got quite a ribbing from my peers.

WHO ARE YOUR TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME?

1. Sonia O’Sullivan
2. Eamonn Coghlan

3. Paul McGrath

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

YOUR FATHER TOMMIE WAS CLUB PRESIDENT BETWEEN 1981 AND 1983, AND AGAIN BETWEEN 1993 AND 1996. HE ALSO SERVED AS CLUB SECRETARY. HOW MUCH WAS THE CLUB A PART OF FAMILY LIFE IN THE HAYWARD HOUSEHOLD? From my mid-teens the conversation at mealtimes was generally around Donore Harriers and athletics in general, much to the annoyance of my Mum and sister who had no interest in any form of sport.

He was secretary for thirteen years so lunchtime was regularly spent on the phone. Back in the sixties each household had one phone generally in the Hall, so my Mum unbeknown to Tommie regularly took the receiver off the hook to allow him to have his dinner in peace.

In spite of my Mums’ lack of interest in sport she did give Tommie and myself great support and came to all my races in my younger days.

YOU VISITED THE CLUB AS A YOUNG CHILD TAGGING ALONG WITH YOUR FATHER. WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST MEMORIES OF DONORE HARRIERS AND THE MAIN CHACTERS AT THE CLUB BACK THEN? I guess my first memories would be Eddie Hogan standing on a bench in the clubhouse giving instructions to the various training packs before they all headed out.

Pat Mullally arriving in the club around the time the various groups returned and going around each member looking for part payment of their subs. I only wish I had written down some of the excuses he was given.

There was a collection box hanging beside the door for members to drop in a few bob for utility bills, so it was my job every Saturday to go around begging everybody to part with their hard earned pennies.

Willie Dunne would arrive in around 4.50pm and would announce all the main English soccer results. Any results that were correct was pure coincidence! More often than not he did not have the right teams playing each other, but he was so convincing at times some guys would half believe him.

TOMMIE HAYWARD WAS ADMIRED AND RESPECTED AS A GREAT ATHLETICS MAN AND ADMINISTRATOR. DID YOU MANAGE TO COLLATE ANY OF THE REPORTS AND RECORDS FROM THE 50s, 60s, 70s? After he died, I discovered he had saved quite an amount of Donore AGM notes and secretory reports and an amount Athletic and soccer programs.

I passed all of the paperwork to Willie (Smith) which will be (if not already) archived. The Soccer programs which were mainly Bohemian FC programs of the Forties and Fifties I passed on to Bohemians.

I still have his full set of 1948 Olympic programs. All the Irish athletes’ results are written in each program.

Jimmy Riordan and Tommie were great friends back in the day, so having his hand-written results is a gem.

BOTH YOU AND YOUR FATHER WERE INVOLVED IN THE MOVE FROM THE HOSPITAL LANE HQ TO THE NEW SITE AT CHAPELIZOD. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT PART OF THE CLUB’S HISTORY?For me it was a bittersweet move. I have such great memories as a young boy spending every Saturday in ‘Hospital Lane’.

Watching Eddie Hogan turning great runners like Tony Murphy, Tommie Dunne, Willie Dunne, Bertie Messitt, Colin Holahan to name but a few into international runners who would all go on to dominate Irish Athletics for many years are great memories.

I did have quite an involvement in the construction of the building (clubhouse). The building was constructed by the late Matt Rudden, who was a successful building contractor and thanks to his ingenuity the building costs were kept to a minimum.

Leo Lynch was President at the time and a very successful Mechanical Contractor – and I was a Building Services Design Engineer, so between the two of us we managed to contact every plumbing supplier we knew to donate 100 Pounds or some equipment. As the overall budget was tight, every penny was important, and this way we managed to fund most of the mechanical services costs.

Looking back, it was such a great move particularly when you look at the great facility we have today. Nobody should underestimate the trogon work Maurice (Ahern) did to get the land in the first instance.

TELL US ABOUT THE SPRINTS AND FIELD EVENTS GROUP BACK IN THE DAY. WHO WERE THE COACHES? WHERE DID THE SPRINTERS TRAIN? AND WHO WERE THE OTHER LEADING TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES AT THAT TIME? Because of the stranglehold Donore Harriers had on the cross-country and road running scene in the Sixties to the early Nineties it is not recognized that we also had a strong track and field team.

As a young teenager I remember watching Brendan O’Reilly breaking the Irish national High Jump record in Shelbourne Park – redeveloped in recent years and now called Irishtown stadium where a lot of the track training was done.

Brendan should have been at the Melbourne Olympics but for lack of finances he was not sent. <<O’Reilly was national High Jump champion in 1950, 51, 52 NACA, 53 & 54 AAUE & IAAB, 56 AAUE, 60 IAAB, 61 AAUE, 62 IAAB, 63 AAUE & 64 IAAB. He was also national Javelin champion in 50 & 52 NACA>>.

Maurice Hogan was national 100m champion on a number of occasions in the early sixties <<1960, 61, 62 AAUE & 62 IAAB>>, Jim Fanning national record holder and national champion <<see Interview No. 10>>, Pat McGuinness was a top Long Jumper <<national champion 1966 IAAB 6.58m>>, Eamonn Kinsella 110m High hurdles national champion <<1951, 52, 53 NACAI, 54 AAUE & IAAB, 55 AAUE, 56 & 57 IAAB, 58 AAUE, plus 100m in 1956 IAAB>> and record holder and 1956 Olympian.

Leon McAleer was a great all-round sprinter and Jumper, Paddy Harmon sprints, and Tom and Joe Coleman in the 440yards hurdles <<Tommie Coleman was national champion in 1956, 57, 58 & 61 AAUE and 1961 IAAB>>.

Then there was Tom O’Riordan, Basil Clifford a Tokyo Olympian and Ireland’s second sub four-minute miler. They were the backbone of a great track team coupled with the Dunne brothers, Bertie Messitt and Tony Murphy dominating the longer events.

In the late sixties most of the track athletes trained in St. Mary’s College sports grounds in Kenilworth Square and Clogher Road cinder track on Sunday mornings.

Donal Swift, Jonnie Maloney, Gerry Conway and myself had some great sessions in Kenilworth Square. Jonnie Maloney went on to captain the Irish Rugby team in the early Seventies.

DID YOU KNOW RONALD ‘RONNIE’ MARTIN WHO WON THE AAU TRIPLE JUMP IN 1962 AND CHARLES MCALINDEN WHO WON THE 880 YARDS IN 1956? Ronnie Martin was one of the many great High Jumpers in Donore Harriers in the Fifties to the Seventies. It started with Dick O’Rafferty, followed by Ronnie Martin, Brendan O’Reilly and Jim Fanning. I remember Ronnie more as a High Jumper, but most could double up in both Long Jump and Triple Jump.

Charlie McAlinden and Jack Doogan were two guys I remember as a very young kid in Hospital Lane who were part of the Donore Harriers team at the beginning of the dominance of road and cross country running.

Charlie moved over to Scotland many years ago. I met him in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow at the world cross when John Treacy won his first World title. He had fond memories of Donore Harriers in the early sixties.

<<NOTE: Charlie McAlinden (born 1932) won the Scottish national marathon in 1966, having being 3^rd in 1964 and 1965 pb. 2.25.45>>

WHAT WAS A TYPICAL TRAINING SESSION LIKE IN TERMS OF FACILITIES, SESSIONS, CAMARADERIE? Compared to today the facilities for sprinters in the sixties was poor enough. The track in Kenilworth Square was only a 300-yard grass track. The Clogher road track was a 440 yards cinder track so after a session of starts and short sprints your fingers were red raw from the rough cinder track. There were no Gyms/weight facilities as we have today.

My weights sessions were carried out in a makeshift gym in the basement of a building in Gardiners Row which was mainly used by body builders.

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE DAY YOU WON THE WATERHOUSE BYRNE BAIRD SHIELD IN 1994? I finished second to Ben Good in 1980. From there on thanks to all my marathon training I was normally still quite fit at Christmas time.

I was rarely ever close to winning the Shield but generally finished in the top ten. I had run well in the marathon the previous October.  I would normally ease up on the weekly mileage until January, but I decided to just have just a couple of weeks recovery and then back into training.

That particular morning the weather was dry, and the ground was quite firm with little wind; the sort of conditions that suited me because of my low knee lift. I suffered in muddy conditions! The handicappers were also very kind to me and gave me an extra minute on previous years.

After the first lap I knew I was running comfortably and working my way through the field I found myself in the lead with two laps to go. As I approached the army ground with little over a lap to go my Dad Tommie told me I was well clear, which gave me the confidence to push on… So, at the same spot on the last lap it was a good feeling to know barring an accident the race was mine.

<<NOTE: The Tommy Hayward Perpetual Trophy, inaugurated in 2016, is presented to the male athlete who runs the fastest time in the WBB Shield race: Winners 2016, 2018 & 2019 Niall Lynch, 2017 Ken Nugent, 2020 Eric Keogh>>

WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE ATHLETICS EXPLOITS OF YOUR FATHER TOMMIE? Although quite a chatty person Tommie did not talk too much about his own running career.

Shortly before he died, he gave me his championship medals.

In 1942 he was on the Donore Harriers team who were runners-up in the AAU Junior cross-country championship. In the following year he was also on the Donore team who went one better and picked up gold medals.

Also, in 1942 he won a team gold in the AAU Leinster junior cross-country championship and a team gold the following year in the senior championship.

In 1943 and 1944 he was on the Donore team who won the AAU senior cross-country championships.

He finished in most positions in the WBB shield except first, so in later years I would remind him as a mere sprinter I won it. His retort was always “Yes but I had the fastest time on a number of occasions”.

<<NOTE: Tommie Hayward was on the Donore Harriers team that won the first of their 23 senior men’s XC titles in 1943. W. Sherringham led the team home in 5^th place, with Brendan Foreman in 6^th. Donore Harriers won with a score of 60, 24 points ahead of 2^nd placed Terenure. Tommie was also on the team that won in 1944. Brendan Foreman, in 4^th place, led the team to victory. Donore Harriers were runners-up behind Civil Service AC in 1945 and came 3^rd in 1946 despite having 3 finishers in the top 10 – including Tommie Hayward in 8^th position. Foreman (1918 – 2002) and Hayward later became key figures in the formation of BLE in 1967 with the amalgamation of AAUE and NACA. Foreman, father of former Irish marathon athlete Deirdre Nagle (DCH), later became Treasurer of the Olympic Council of Ireland>>

TELL US ABOUT YOUR OWN ATHLETICS JOURNEY? COMPETITIONS? MEDALS? ETC? My first track race was in College Park in the Civil Services Athletic Club sports day in 1959. The following year I represented O’Connell Schools for the first time in the Primary school sports in Croke Park.

The only other available athletic events for boys were for under sixteens in the graded meetings over 60 and 150-yards sprints. initially I was at a disadvantage as I was normally the youngest in the race but as mentioned earlier thanks to Bob Payne I did get an early win.

It was not until 1967 when B.L.E. was founded that athletic events for juniors became more available.

My first championship medal was the 4 x 100 yards AAU junior championships in 1965. I finished third in the Junior AAU 100 yards Hurdles and Long Jump in 1965. My hurdles career was short lived as I graduated to senior level the hurdles got taller, but I did not.

In 1970 I finished third in the Dublin Long Jump Championships and twice finished 4th in the national championships in 1972 and 1974.

In January 1972 I moved to the UK and started to compete for London Irish Athletic Club. Shortly after joining London Irish AC I went out to Hampstead Heath to support the team in a Southern Counties League Cross country race and was inveigled to compete as somebody had cried off because of injury. I had long since discovered that I was not a cross country runner so my first race for the ‘Irish’ was not a pleasant one.

London Irish had no official clubhouse, but we based ourselves in the West London Stadium behind Wormwood Scrubs Prison in Acton.

LIAC was a young club founded in 1969 by Cork native John Dorgan, so we were in the bottom division in track and cross-country events. There was a great group of very enthusiastic runners who set their sights on moving up the divisions. Each summer out track team would be boosted by a few students coming over to London to work for the summer The Late Tommy Brennan was one such athlete.

Over my five years there we were promoted twice which was quite an achievement for such a small club. In my first league appearance I competed in the 100m, 200m, 4 x 100m, Long jump, and 4 x 400m. It was quite a baptism of fire but very enjoyable.

The whole team did whatever was necessary to gain every point possible to move up the table. On many of the league meetings I competed in one too many events which took its toll on my legs resulting in two stress fractures and a few knee problems.

I returned to Dublin in late 1976. After two seasons back in Dublin my knee problems caught up with me so Long Jumping became a thing of the past.

I continued sprinting until 1980 with little success so decided it was time to retire.

As the summer ended there was lots of talk of the first Dublin Marathon and in a fit of madness I decided to run the marathon on a sprinters training program and a few 15 mile runs. Not the ideal preparation, but I managed to finish in 3.29.

The following year while running through Clontarf I met up with a couple of guys who were training for their first marathon. On my drive home I had another fit of madness and decided to have another crack at the marathon.

Following on from the second marathon I teamed up with a group of guys who like myself were “retired” runners. We had a group of about 15 guys which included Pat Bonass, Maurice Ahern (Clonliffe) and Paddy Darling. Although we were all “retired” runners the training was taken quite seriously.

Back in the Eddie Hogan days one of the secrets of Donore’s success was pack training. Our pack sessions helped to motivate us all and train harder to reach our goals. I ran thefirst sixteen Dublin Marathons achieving PB’s in 8 of the 16 with a best time of 2.45.18.

As all but three of my marathons were under 3 hours I decided when I felt I could not do a sub 3 I would retire “again”. The training was starting to get harder, and the years were taking its toll on the body so what turned out to be my final marathon in 1995 was completed in 2.59.29.

I guess it was inevitable having grown up watching Eddie Hogan turn so many guys into international runners that I should eventually turn my attention to cross country running when I turned 40.

I competed in the Dublin masters cross country championships finishing 6th on two occasions also won two team silver medals.

In 1989 I won the Dublin masters 10,000m track championship and as Long Jumping was never far from my heart, I dusted off my jumping spikes and managed to finish second. It was probably not my wisest decision as I stretched muscles which had not been used for about 15 years, it took me about two weeks to recover.

In 1990 I represented Dublin in the National championships in a very wet, windy and mucky course in Ballybofey. It would not be unusual for track athletes running 800m and upwards to double up on track and cross-country.

So, winning my first Dublin cross-country vest I have what must be a very unusual distinction of representing Dublin as a Long jumper/sprinter and a cross-country runner.

YOU MENTIONED JOHN DORGAN. I GOT TO KNOW JOHN WHEN I RAN FOR QUEEN’S PARK HARRIERS BACK IN THE 80s. OF COURSE, HE WANTED ME TO JOIN THE ‘IRISH’, BUT HE STILL ALWAYS GAVE ME A ‘BIG SHOUT’ AT CROSS-COUNTRY RACES. INDEED, HIS VOICE STILL RESONATES WHEN I THINK OF HIM. I am not sure if I have ever met anyone with such passion for athletics, especially the London Irish Athletic Club as John Dorgan. He had such passion, that it was always hard to say no to him. It was he who coerced me into running in the cross-country race in Hampstead Heath. I met Pat Fitzgerald, who was also one of the founder members, while on holidays in Bulgaria in 1970 so through Pat I ended up in London Irish.

<<John Dorgan, former secretary of London Irish AC and the Brian Boru GAA Club (London), died in May 2013 aged 76>>

DID YOU GET AWAY ON ANY INTERESTING TRIPS WHILST COMPETING FOR THE CLUB? Back in the sixties and early seventies track team trips were not the norm but while I was with London Irish AC we represented London in a European Capital city track and Field competition in Amsterdam finishing a credible second to the host city.

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPORTING REGRETS? I have no major regrets, other than I do not believe I was as dedicated to my track training as I could have been.

YOU ATTEND MOST OF THE MAJOR ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER AS THE MOST ENJOYABLE CHAMPIONSHIP THAT YOU ATTENDED? AND WHAT ONE EVENT/RACE STANDS OUT IN YOUR MEMORY? I went to my first Olympic Games in 1972 and but for Covid-19 Tokyo would have been my 13th Games. Each Games is quite unique in itself so lots of memories with one or two sad moments.

I was in the Olympic Village in Munich the day before The Black September Movement invaded the village. The Games were postponed for a day to have a memorial service for the Israeli Athletes who were killed.

Being in Los Angeles in 1984 for John Tracey’s silver medal and Sydney 2000 for Sonia’s silver will always be very special memories.

Seoul Olympics is probably top of my list after the shootings in Munich and boycotts in Montreal, LA and Moscow and the high security around all the stadiums. Seoul decided to break the mould and turn it into the “friendly” Games. The people were so warm and friendly and could not do enough to help. As the security was low key spectators and athletes alike were able to mix with each other around the stadium. The warm-up track was also open to all spectators.

I have one funny incident, while sitting at the warmup track a couple beside me asked me if I was an Olympic athlete. They had spotted my shoulder bag which was green with Ireland printed on the side. Based on that they decided I was an athlete, although I said I was not they would not believe me. They thought I was just being modest. I guess the following day they had difficulty finding my name in the daily program list of starters in the 5000m!

The atmosphere in the Sydney Olympic Stadium is a close second to Seoul. Sonia won her 5,000m silver medal 20 minutes after the local girl Cathy Freeman won gold in the 400m. With 112,000 spectators mainly sports mad Australians in the stadium every day the atmosphere was always exciting, so that day in particular was absolutely electric.

Of the 100+ days I have spent at the Olympics the one race excluding the obvious Irish races that stands out was thewomen’s 10,000m final in Atlanta. It was eventually won by Fernanda Ribeiro of Portugal followed by WangJunxia China and GetaWami Ethiopia

The tactical running of all three over the final 5k was amazing! Being the last event of the day, the stadium was half empty and Michael Johnson had won the 400m gold earlier so all the Americans went home leaving the real athletic enthusiasts to enjoy the race.

<<here’s a link to the final lap of Ribeiro’s race https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etIX65Iq7l4 >>

Seeing Carl Lewis win his 9th Gold media the Long Jump in Atlanta is also memorable.

A neck injury whilst playing rugby, aged 14, put John Menton on a different sporting journey that would eventually lead to his selection on the Irish team for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

 

 

 

 

The Donore Harriers athlete carved out an athletics career that saw him ranked as one of Ireland finest ever throwers. He won a staggering 26 national senior titles in the Discus and 56lb Weight-For-Distance (WDF) – and 16 Intervarsities crowns in 4 different throwing events. Menton is the Irish record-holder in the 56lb WFD event with a 9.16m throw at Santry in July 1998. His personal best Discus throw of 63.70m at Oakhurst, New Jersey on the 5^th of July 2000 that qualified him for the XXVII Olympiad, ranks Menton as 2^nd on the all-time Irish list for the event.

John who was a member of London Irish AC and the New York Athletics Club represented Ireland on several occasions and won a silver medal at the World Masters Athletics Championships in 2007.

In this interview John mentions the New Year’s Shot Putt competition, aka a social gathering of the Irish Throwers Club, that had the objective to give Ireland an early lead in the World rankings!

Summary of main achievements (those I could find):

National Junior Discus gold in 1989 (41.26m).

National Senior Discus gold (total 7) in 1998 (56.59m), 2001 (55.59m), 2002 (52.03m), 2003 (52.67m), 2004 (55.24m), 2005 (52.01m), 2008 (46.03m); National Senior 56lb WFD gold (13) 1991 (8.19m), 1993 (8.61m), 1995 (8.33m), 1996 (8.73m), 1997 (8.95m), 1998 (9.16m NR), 2001 (8.36m), 2003 (8.03m), 2004 (8.35m), 2005 (8.42m), 2006 (8.22m), 2007 (8.20m), and 2008 (7.90m). National Senior Indoor 56lb WFD (6) gold in 1991 (8.23m), 1994 (8.00m), 1995 (7.83m), 2000 (8.78m CR), 2001 (8.74m) and 2003 (8.27m).

John competed in every national senior championship between 1989 and 2011 – a span of 23 years – winning a total of 45 medals.

National Intervarsities 35lb WFD gold (4) in 1993 (10.85m), 1994 (10.36m), 1995 (10.98m), 1996 (11.53m CR) – and Discus gold (5) in 1991 (48.20m), 1993 (distance not available), 1994 (43.25m), 1995 (52.38m) and 1996 (48.36m). Shot Putt gold (2) in 1995 (14.39m) and 1996 (13.46m). Hammer Throw gold (3) in 1994 (43.98m), 1995 (41.81m) and 1996 (43.98m). Indoor Shot Pull gold in 1992 (12.88m)

Also, 1993 Celtic International T&F Discus gold (52.96m) and 1995 Celtic International T&F Shot Putt gold (13.71m) and Discus silver (44.56m).

John represented Ireland in the World University Games 1993 at Buffalo, USA when he threw 51.34m in the Discus. Incidentally, Ireland’s only medal at that Games was a bronze won by John’s team-mate Nick Sweeney in the discus.

Empire State Games 1997 at Albany New York gold medal in 59.24m.

Olympic Games 2000 at Sydney (54.21m) failed to qualify for final.

World Masters 2007 at Riccione, Italy silver medal (53.26m) in the M35 age group.

Also, Ireland vs Scotland vs Wales vs Iceland at Grangemouth in 1991

Ireland vs Wales vs Croatia at Cardiff in 1996

Europa Cup at Aarhus (2003), Reykjavik (2004) and Leiria (2005).

STANDARD QUESTIONS

PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Dublin 1970

WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED? Terenure College, UCD, Law Society of Ireland

WHAT WAS YOUR MAIN CAREER PATH? Solicitor

IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? 1987

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? A number of my friends from Terenure College, including Gareth Murphy and Declan Tonge, were members of Donore Harriers and they introduced me to the club.

WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? No

DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? I used to play Rugby until 14 years old and a serious neck injury ended participation in Rugby.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? 56lb for distance

WHAT WERE YOUR MAIN ROLE(S) AT THE CLUB? Athlete and Committee member.

WHO WERE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? In Ireland – Phil Conway (Athlete and Coach), the “Irish Whales” who were Irish born throwers that won multiple Olympic Gold medals for the US in Hammer, Discus and Shot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Whales ) as well as Nick Sweeney who qualified for 1992 Olympics in Discus and helped me qualify for the World University Games in Buffalo 1993. In US – Roman Feldman, Coach.

SOCIAL QUESTIONS

WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? Ennio Morricone

WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS?

1. The Good the Bad and the Ugly

2. Duck you sucker (aka a Fistful of Dynamite)

3. The Italian Job (Michael Caine version)

FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? AND WHY? Portugal – The weather, food, history, beaches and multiple historical sites as well as the diverse regions and wine.

WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? Golf, Target Shooting and Venture capital.

IF DISERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?

1. Got To Give It Up – Thin Lizzy (from Life live album)

2.The Man Who Sold The World (Nirvana live version of David Bowie song)

3. The Ecstasy of Gold – Ennio Morricone

ATHLETICS QUESTIONS

WHO WERE YOUR COACHES? Gerry Ronan (Donore Harriers), Phil Conway and Dan Kennedy (Ireland Throwing) and Roman Feldman (US Throwing).

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? Breaking the 56lb for Distance Irish record in 1998 which had stood for 25 years at that time.

WHAT ARE YOUR BEST MARKS (PBs)?

Discus – 63.70m

Shot Putt – 15.08m

56lb Distance – 9.16m

56lb Height – 4.80m

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? Throwing in Randalls Island, roasting hot day, good wind and threw over 20 throws over 60m.

DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU DID? Winter throwing in New York – Middle of Winter in New York, Randalls Island beside Hudson River, wind chill was worse than minus 15 centigrade or in St John’s University when we used to sweep the snow off the throwing field as a warm-up!

WHAT WAS A TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN IN YOUR HEYDAY? 20 hours training a week – 5 to 6 hours of throwing per week. Weight training most days with mixture of speed weight training session and heavier sessions.

DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY OR UNUSUAL STORY RELATED TO ATHLETICS/THE CLUB? We used to hold a “handicap” shot putt competition at midnight on New Year’s Eve in Donore Chapelizod (around 1995/1996) so that on New Year’s Day the World Number 1 Outdoor Shot Putter would be Irish (for a few days at least) – at least that was the theory! Steve Backley (Olympic Javelin Medallist) competed one year as well (1995 I think). The warm-up for the competition took place in the Donore Harriers Clubhouse Bar and the handicap system was based on alcohol consumption (by reference to weight to make it fair) and a breathalyser test was administered immediately before the competition (which you had to fail to compete except for Terry McHugh who did not drink). I attach some newspaper clippings from that time which we found recently.

WHO ARE YOUR TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME?

1. Martin Sheridan – from Bahola Mayo – 5 Olympic Gold Medals (for US)

2. Eamonn Coghlan – Running

3. Moss Keane – Rugby

<<NOTE: link to the story of Martin Sheridan (1881-1918) – https://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/towns-villages/bohola/history/martin-sheridan.html >>

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

WHERE DID YOU INTEREST IN ATHLETICS STEM FROM? AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO COMPETE IN THE DISCUS EVENT? After a neck injury in Rugby I was looking for a sport to take up. Given my height it was with Basketball or Discus throwing and I was no good at basketball!

DID YOU COMPETE AS A JUVENILE OR SCHOOLBOY ATHLETE? I Just turned up for Shot Putt schools competitions in early years – no real training, I had no idea how to technically throw and never qualified for All Ireland Schools from Terenure College. I joined Donore Harriers in 1987 and ended up with a Silver in U17 BLOE Shot Putt.

YOU WON THE NATIONAL JUNIOR TITLE IN 1989 BUT DID NOT WIN YOUR FIRST SENIOR TITLE UNTIL 1998. DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR DEVELOPMENT WAS HAMPERED BY DEMANDS OF WORK, ETC? The reality was that Nick Sweeney was a full-time world ranked Discus thrower during most of this time – being a finalist in European and World Championships – so I have a plenty of silver medals from this time!

IS IT TRUE THAT YOU WON 20 NATIONAL SENIOR TITLES? Indeed, I won 26 National Senior titles in total, 20 outdoor and 6 indoor. Seven outdoor titles in the Discus, 13 in the 56lb Distance – and 6 indoor titles in the 56lb Distance.

YOU COMPETED FOR THE LONDON IRISH ATHLETICS CLUB. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT? AND WHAT WAS THAT EXPERIENCE LIKE? In the early 90s a lot of Irish throwers competed for London Irish AC, including Sean Egan, John Farrelly, Paul Quinlan – and I joined the London Irish through the other Irish throwers in the club. It was great to have access to the competitions in the British League via London Irish which certainly helped me improve and was important in the build up to qualifying for the World University Games.

YOU WENT TO THE 1992 BARCELONA OLYMPICS AS A SPECTATOR. HOW DID THAT INFLUENCE YOUR FUTURE ATHLETICS PATHWAY? I suppose I caught the Olympic bug watching the 1992 Olympics Live. It was not until 1996 that I joined a “throwing squad” in New York where most athletes in the squad had the aim of Olympic qualification or qualifying for US Nationals.

FAST-FORWARD TO THE YEAR 2000 AND YOUR EFFORTS TO GET THE OLYMPIC QUALIFYING STANDARD WHEN YOU RETURNED TO AMERICA TO LINK UP WITH COACH ROMAN FELDMAN. TELL US ABOUT FELDMAN AND ABOUT REACHING THE STANDARD? I met Roman through Paddy McGrath (Irish Hammer thrower) when I initially moved to New York in 1996. Roman is Ukrainian by birth and coached many of the top Soviet throwers on technique before he defected from the former Soviet Union. He is an expert on the Biomechanics of throwing the Hammer and Discus and made a huge difference to my throwing technique.

I started throwing with him when I arrived in New York in 1996 and was over 55m by year end (just on technical improvements alone). I then started my first winter work with Roman – and Paddy McGrath (Hammer) – as my main training partner along with Gerry Ryan (Hammer), Ronald Quinlan (Hammer) and Leo Sharkey (Discus)) working on specific strength for the Discus. Roman really focused in developing specific strength for the specific throwing event and was always watching for “over training” and knew that “one schedule” did not fit all athletes – for example he was able to tailor my training schedule to my work and travel schedule – which accounted for approx. 60 hours a week and 100,000 miles of travel a year.

Time management was critical to fit in 60 hours of work a week plus 20 hours of training. I used to train in NYAC at lunchtime (and/or some evenings) and also purchased a heavy-duty squat rack, bench, the Olympic Bars and over 300kg of weights for my apartment so that I could complete my weight training early in the morning or late at night. Usually, I would break up my schedule so that I would do 30 minutes weight training in the morning before work and do the heavier lifts in NYAC later in the day. When I travelled within the US – which on average was a quarter of the time – I would stay in reciprocal clubs to NYAC so that I could maintain some training on the road. I would also meet up with Nick Sweeney (in San Jose), Conor McCullough (LA) and Paul Quirke (California) to go weight training when I was in California – which was usually at least 4 times a year. Joining NYAC was critical to my training and I have Eamonn Coghlan to thank for that.

I was able to train in the indoor athletics facility of Manhattan College which was great – particularly during the winter months and we could throw into nets, use the weights-room, and access the track all under one roof. A facility that still does not exist in Ireland! Paddy McGrath, Gerry Ryan and Ronald Quinlan all went to Manhattan College on Hammer scholarships and the head coach there (Dan Mecca) was kind enough to let me use the college training and throwing facilities.

In 1997 I threw over 59m to win the Empire State Games in Buffalo New York – and immediately after the competition had to jump straight onto a plane to work in California that evening! Surgery on a hernia caused a break in training and weight training and I had to settle with another 59m best for 1998 and finally broke 60m in 1999. In the Olympic year I took several months off work and moved back to the US to chase that qualifier of 63.50m and achieved my PB of 63.70m.

IS IT TRUE THAT YOU BUILT A THROWING CIRCLE BEHIND THE DONORE HARRIERS CLUBHOUSE? Yes – Ed Healy and myself, with great help from Matt Rudden, built a throwing circle behind the club house towards the end of 1994. I think the land was owned by the OPW then. We had to have it finished for one of the New Year’s Eve competitions mentioned in the attached newspaper clippings.

WHO WERE THE COACHES/PEOPLE WHO MOST SUPPORTING YOUR ATHLETICS JOURNEY? Phil Conway and Dan Kennedy – throwing coaching in Ireland.

Maurice Ahern – all the way through. Maurice has a real interest in all aspects of Athletics and was always a great supporter of me and throwing events. He always ensured that training facilities were available to throwers at a time when Santry and Belfield were restricted to throwers. He is considered an honorary thrower by the throwing community!

Eamonn Coghlan – When he heard I was moving to New York he suggested that I join New York Athletic Club and he organised for me to join that club straight away – and it was a club that was not easy to get into quickly. The reality is that I would not have been able to put in the training hours without being a member of NYAC which was close to my office in New York and had all the required facilities.

Nick Sweeney – to qualify for World University Games in 1993.

Roman Feldman – US throwing Coach

THERE WAS OBVIOUSLY A FRIENDLY RIVALRY AMONG IRISH THROWERS IN THE 90s & NOUGHTIES. WHO AMONG YOUR RIVALS GAINED YOUR RESPECT AND WHO WERE YOUR TRAINING BUDDIES? Nick Sweeney, Terry McHugh (Javelin), Ed Healy RIP (Hammer), Paddy McGrath (Hammer), Ron Quinlan (Hammer), Leo Sharkey (Discus).

YOU REPRESENTED IRELAND SIX TIMES (correct me if I am wrong), TWICE IN TRIANGULAR MATCHES, ONCE IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES, AND THREE EUROPA CUP EVENTS TOWARDS THE END OF YOUR COMPETITIVE CAREER. DO YOU REGRET NOT TO HAVE TARGETTED THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP? I did target the Europeans in 1998 but was about 1.5m short of the qualifier. The “problem” with the Discus then was that the world’s best Discus throwers were European so there was not much of a step down in qualifying standards for the European – from memory 61m was European qualifier and 62m for worlds which I missed in 1999.

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPORTING REGRETS? It would have been useful to have had the technical training that I got from Roman Feldman 10 years earlier when I was 15 years old. It is a lot easier to develop and master motor /technical skills necessary for the hammer and discus at a younger age.

DID YOU EVER GET TO MEET AL OERTER? AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MADE OERTER SUCH A SUCCESSFUL ATHLETE? Unfortunately, I never met him, but did get a chance to connect with him a few years before he passed away when he was working as an artist. There is a good quote from an interview he gave back in 2003 which points to why he was so successful and measured his success not just in medals: “When I look back on my discus career it’s the length of time I was in the sport that I am most proud of, not the individual medals. I left the sport with the same attitude that I entered it – with the joy of throwing” -Al Oerter 2003.

<<NOTE: Al Oerter USA won the Olympic gold medal in the Discus in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968>>

HAVE YOU REMAINED INVOLVED IN ATHLETICS SINCE YOU RETIRED AS A COMPETITOR? No in the initial years post 2011 – My daughter joined DSD recently, so I help them out on technical coaching from time to time at their St Thomas throwing facility.

WHAT DO YOU THINK MUST BE DONE TO BETTER PROMOTE THROWING EVENTS IN IRELAND? I think there is a need to have accessible throwing facilities to promote throwing among younger athletes as there is so much competition from other sports. I think parents are not going to drive a kid more than 30 minutes to participate in an activity/sport so unless there are accessible throwing facilities then throwing cannot compete for this potential talent pool. For example, in South Dublin there is no accessible place to throw Hammer/Discus and the National Indoor Stadium still does not have indoor throwing nets for Discus/Hammer.

Daragh Fitzgibbon is one of four brothers to have competed in the colours of Donore Harriers. Oisin, Tadgh and Ruairi were active members at juvenile and junior levels. Parents Paul and Ciara have also been strong supporters of the club, fulfilling the Child Welfare Officer role and other voluntary tasks.

Daragh has been a mainstay competitor since joining, aged 16, in 2010. His first big win came when he convincingly won the National Junior 5,000m title in 2013. In 2015 he was drafted into the National Road Relay ‘A’ team as a replacement for the injured Mark Dooley. He didn’t disappoint! Running in the 2^nd leg he moved the team into 1^st place, and with strong running from Lee Van Haeften, John Travers and Eric Keogh the team gold was secured for the first time since 1992. Daragh was also on the Donore Harriers team that placed a close 2^nd behind Raheny Shamrocks AC in the 2019 national road relay. On that occasion the team also consisted of Louis O’Loughlin, John Travers and Eric Keogh.

Daragh won a bronze medal in the National U23 cross-country championships in 2016 and took another individual bronze medal in the Intervarsities XC in the following year. Other notable performances in the colours of UCD include a silver and bronze in the Varsities indoor 3,000m in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Arguably his best achievement to date was winning the Varsities 5,000m in 2018, when an emerging Brian Fay of Raheny Shamrocks AC came 3^rd. The Kildare man also won several team medals for UCD, including road-relay bronze in both 2016 and 2017.

Daragh has been a regular on Donore Harriers team over XC, road and track. Among his best performances were a 14.23 for 5km at the Armagh International Road Race in 2020 and placing 8^th in the final of the 2018 national senior 1,500m in 3.52.85. He has also represented the club in the National Track & Field League.

In this informative interview Daragh mentions the difficulties in bridging the gap from the junior grade to senior level and the benefits of training camps in Kenya.

STANDARD QUESTIONS

PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? 12th June 1994 and have lived in Kildare all my life.

WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED? I studied Chemistry at UCD.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR CAREER PATH? I spent two years at Pfizer Grange Castle working in New Product Introduction and I currently work for a Japanese Pharmaceutical company called Takeda that have their offices based in Dublin.

IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? I joined Donore Harriers in 2010.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? I was a member of a local athletic club in Kildare (St. Coca’s AC) from the age of 13 but having attended Salesian college, by the time I turned 16 it made sense for me to join Donore Harriers as a lot of the lads from school (Lee & Max Van Haeften, Eric Keogh, Mark Dooley) were members of the club.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? It has to be 3000m indoors, although I do love racing cross country, 5000m and the 1500m.

WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? My biggest influence has to be my Coach Emmett Dunleavy. He’s a straight-talking man and always keeps me in check. He’s very good at what he does and knows how to read me when things are going well and more importantly when things don’t go well.

Aside from Emmett my inspirations come from seeing guys I train with getting the job done – Eric Keogh is a grafter and no one works harder than him in my opinion. Throughout the whole Covid-19 saga, Eric along with Lee Van Haeften have been the main men to drag me out for runs and keep me motivated which was definitely needed at times this last year!

SOCIAL QUESTIONS

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? I’m a much slower reader than I used to be – but I’m currently halfway through Matthew McConaughey’s book Green Lights.

WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU ATTENDED? It’s so long ago I can barely remember, but I think it was Dermot Kennedy at the Academy in 2019.

WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS?

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Inception
3. Saving Private Ryan

FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? It has to be Kenya. I’ve been to Iten 3 times on training camps and there is something special about that place. It’s a different world and there’s no better place to train!

WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? Away from athletics, I’m a big Man Utd fan!

Elsewhere, I do enjoy cooking and trying to perfect recipes.

IF DESERT ISLAND DISCS ASKED YOU TO PLAY 3 SONGS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?

This would definitely change day/day but:

1. Re-Stacks – Bon Iver
2. Born Slippery – Nuxx
3. Hurt – Johnny Cash

ATHLETICS QUESTIONS

WHO IS YOUR COACH? Emmett Dunleavy

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? Winning the Varsity 5000m championships in 2018. I can’t remember another race where I ran more tactically smart.

WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES (PBs)?

800m – 1:55. 1,500m – 3:50. 3,000m – 8:12. 5,000m – 14:23

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? My favourite session is one I do in the couple of weeks prior to racing track and indoors. If I can nail this, I know I’m in shape to run a PB.

2-mile threshold, then, 3 x 4 x 400m @ 3km pace with 100m jog between reps, 400m jog between sets – and finally 4 x 200m fast with 200m jog recovery.

DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? There’s a mountain route called Kilmashogue that the late Jerry Kiernan’s group would do a lot of their hill workouts on. As Emmett was coached by Jerry, he often brings us up there to do hill workouts.

The toughest session I’ve ever done was up there and was 16 x 60s hills off a 45s jog recovery during storm Desmond. The weather was so bad Marley Park where we normally warm-up before-hand was closed. It was an epic session and thank God we had a decent group to push to the top of the mountain.

WHAT IS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN?

Monday: 30/60 double

Tuesday: Session (usually threshold work in the winter and track in the summer)

Wednesday: 30/60 double

Thursday: 30/60 double

Friday: Session (varies depending on the time of year)

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Long run 13-18 miles depending on the time of year.

WHO ARE YOUR TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME?

1. Roy Keane
2. Dan Martin (cyclist)
3. Eamon Coghlan

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

WHERE DID YOUR INTEREST IN ATHLETICS STEM FROM? I was playing GAA around the age of 12 and for one reason or another my team kind of fell apart. I did a cross country race for the school and did quite well, so I took up running in the local club St. Coca’s to fill the gap GAA had left.

HOW DID YOU FIND THE TRANSITION FROM THE JUVENILE/JUNIOR GRADES TO SENIOR ATHLETICS? I’ll be honest it was tough. The training I was doing at around age 18 was not really suiting the type of athlete I am, and my race performances were reflecting that. I had been somewhat successful at juvenile level, winning a national title and other medals along the way, but hit a stale patch from junior into senior. Once I moved to Emmett, I began to see improvements and I put this down to doing the training that suited me. We use lactate testing to determine the areas we need to work on, and Emmett will design my training around the numbers we get from these tests. So back to your question, I was slow to find my feet at senior level but have been improving year on year having gotten the training right.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST DISTANCE? 3,000m indoor. I love racing indoors.

WHAT’S YOUR PREFERENCE, TRACK, CROSS-COUNTRY or ROAD? Definitely track, although road and cross country serve a purpose throughout the season and I enjoy racing them all.

YOU WON THE INTERVARSITIES 5,000m IN 2018, TELL US ABOUT THAT PARTICULAR RACE? It was one of those days where everything works out. I had come second in the Intervarsity indoor 3,000m earlier in the year and it still haunts me. I was in shape to win it but had messed up my tactics and kicked too early. So, I was determined to get it right in the 5,000m outdoors. The race went off slow enough which meant with 2 laps to go there was still a decent bunch. Brian Fay was pushing the pace at the front and with 300m to go there were 4 of us – including Neil Johnston, Padraig Moran and Brian Fay. I just remember making the decision to go all out at the 200m mark, and so I did. I think I closed in 27 seconds for the last 200m to take the win.

YOU WERE ON THE DONORE HARRIERS TEAM THAT WON THE NATIONAL ROAD RELAY GOLD IN 2015, WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF THAT DAY? It’s one of the best memories I have in athletics. I was on the 1-mile leg and I remember getting the handover from Lee (Van Haeften) in 2nd place and thinking I better not hand over any lower than 2nd. With about 300m to go there was still a group of us, so I just went all out and handed it over to John (Travers) in 1^st position. We all had great runs that day and I’ll never forget it! I hope I can be a part of a team that recreates that someday soon!

<<here is a short clip of the start of the 2013 National Senior Road Relay at Raheny, featuring Daragh and Eric Keogh – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm-_oHmOM18 >>

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE AWAY TRIP EITHER WITH THE CLUB OR FOR A COMPETITION? AND WHY? Athletics has brought me on some amazing trips, but I think the first time I went to Kenya in 2018 has to be the best! I just remember being so inspired by all the great athletes around me there.

TELL US MORE ABOUT THE KENYA EXPERIENCE, ESPECIALLY IN TERMS OF FACILITIES, THE BENEFITS TO THE ATHLETES, AND ANY NEGATIVES ASSOCIATED WITH SUCH A TRIP? Kenya is the best place I’ve trained and I’ve been three times, my last stay lasting 6 weeks in 2020. I’ve been to places in Europe before (St. Moritz/Monte Gordo) and Kenya tops them in my book. I stay at Lornah Kiplagat’s camp. The accommodation is basic, but it has everything you’d need including a gym, pool, access to a 400m tartan track and all meals provided for you. The main benefit of the camp is obviously the altitude, but I think the daily routine and lack of distraction are the main reasons athlete’s benefit more than from the physiological adaptations. Everything is centered around training there and to be honest, there’s not a whole lot else to do aside from train, so in terms of negatives I can see that as a potential one depending on the type of person you are. If you need entertainment in a camp, I’d recommend somewhere in Europe, but if you want to focus on training and recovery, Kenya is the place. To put into perspective the following is an example of my typical day in Kenya:

6:00: Wake up. 8-mile run

7:30: Breakfast (porridge, coffee & bread/sometimes pancakes)

9:00: Back to bed for a nap

10:30: Tea & Bread

12:30: Lunch (lentils/beans & rice)

15:30: Tea & bread

16:30: PM Run (4-5 miles)

17:30: Gym

19:00: Dinner (meat, veg, Ugali – a Kenyan staple carb source, fruit)

21:00: Bed

YOUR BROTHERS OISIN, TADGH AND RUAIRI ALL COMPETED FOR DONORE HARRIERS, ARE ANY OF THEM STILL INVOLVED WITH ATHLETICS? THE CLUB? Oisin still dabbles in it, and I know he would like to get back to a competitive level. Being honest, he is the more talented out of the two of us and it was a pity when he stepped away from the sport, but life gets in the way! We still go on runs together so there is hope he might dawn the Donore Harriers singlet again in the not-so-distant future.

HOW HAVE YOU COPED WITH MOTIVATION AND TRAINING DURING ALL THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS? If I’m honest, lockdown has been a drain on my motivation. I’ve gone through periods of hating the sport and then there are other days it is the only thing that makes sense to do! I’m sure most athletes can relate to that.

Eric and Lee have been the main reason I have stayed motivated throughout the lockdowns. We have organised the odd socially distant trial locally in Kildare, and there is nothing more motivating than not embarrassing yourself in front of the lads with a poor showing at these time trials!

WHAT RACE/CHAMPIONSHIP WILL YOU TARGET ONCE PROPER COMPETITIONS ARE RESUMED? At the moment I’m battling a couple of injuries, I had a stress issue with my toe that I had to take some time off to let settle, and in the process of cross training I came off the bike and hurt my hip and shoulder.

So, for now I just want to get back to two sessions a week and 70ish miles before targeting anything. I have entered the IMC 5,000m on the 29^th of May in Belfast, but that may be optimistic given my injuries.