Walking Into 2023
My diary tells me that I did the 5.7K circuit of Tubrid on January 1st, 2022 to kickstart the new year. It was also noted that it was nice and slow (the type preferred) and that there was a stop to chat with John Kelly near Tubrid Cross. No doubt the subject of the upcoming first Tom Kelly 8K was the leading topic of conversation.
Now almost a year later, the second Tom Kelly 8K on Sunday, January 15th will be the topic when John Kelly is encountered again. Before that, the year of 2023 will have to be kickstarted again and the Charles O’Shea Memorial in Beaufort has been chosen. A powerful man to celebrate and a promoting Star of the Laune Athletic Club to admire. My humble time won’t do justice to either but there’s nothing like the air in Beaufort with the breeze from the McGillicuddy Reeks reminding the body and mind that the old year has to be let go and that the new one has to be embraced despite the birth-pains in brings.
A raggle-taggle month of January training which included 3K walk time trials, hills in Banna’s sand dunes and parkruns in Tralee and the Cows’ Lawn in Listowel. (It may be the Town Park to the modern generation but it will always be “cowsy” – with that hill – for me.) All brought the oul legs to the fantastic TUS Arena in Athlone on Sunday, January 30th for the Athletics Ireland national masters’ indoor championships. Up at 6am in the unrelenting January pre-dawn and flask filled and off into the promising darkness. A stretch on the way and then Athlone. What a stadium! There’s a magic in TUS that cannot be properly described in simple words. It has to be experienced. The three-hour drive is well worth the effort. A time of 21:03 in the 3K walk left me in the wake of the good walkers but glad of the O65 gold while a 4th place in the 200m gave almost as much satisfaction as an effort was made to get the bronze. Unsuccessfully. But the 200m is like flying without wings at our age and the race was won by my old housemate from our UCC days, Peadar McGing (DSD).
The following day was a sad day for athletics as Tom Joe O’Donoghue (Gneeveguilla AC) was laid to rest. His voice had become the soundtrack of Sunday evenings as we returned from athletics meetings: “This is Tom O’Donoghue for Radio Kerry Sport”.
Gone before us but not forgotten.
Training Upped
Then training needed to be upped and the 8.32K circuit of Banna-Barrow-Carrahane became a morning thing, complete with biting north east winds, soft sand and the flooded bóithrín. Ideal! And then off at 6.30am to the Munster masters’ indoors on Saturday, February 5th. Assisted with the club’s juvenile athletes who were in action early and then off in the 3K walk in the evening. Just a fraction faster than the All Ireland despite what I thought was a bigger input but sure what does time matter anyway. A lot! The first yellow paddle of the year didn’t help. Thought about that later as I climbed the hill in Lisselton to feed animals at 8pm that evening. Then the same journey the next day for day two and a bronze in the shot (always an enjoyable event) and a win in the 200m which was enjoyed. Little things make a difference! Thirty six seconds of heaven although Séamus Fox of Fanahan McSweeney AC was hot on my heels. The most unusual block start that only yours truly uses…right foot only on the block and left leg free as a bird. Othwerwise I would shoot straight into the ground on take-off! A curious feature of the race was that the O65s and O70s were grouped together and I was ahead of Donal Crowley (Tralee Harriers AC) for the first time in my life. Donal has been a better athlete than I will ever be though and is an inspiration to all athletes.
A good week’s training followed, complimented by a few hours cutting wood with a chainsaw – great for upper-body strength but lethal for the meta-carpals of the supporting hand. And as the weeks went on, I noticed that walking in the Ardfert Recreation Centre was becoming more frequent. I was drawn to the two options that the new facility gave…a nice bendy short 350m perimeter lap of the Astro pitch where we trained the juveniles or the 650m lap of the Astro and the grass Gaelic pitch combined…all with lights which made night training attractive.
The ARC…one of the best things to have happened in the Ardfert region for years. Well done to all who created and manage it.
British Masters Indoors
And soon it was March 3rd and a Thursday afternoon plane to London for the Saturday 3K walk in the British masters’ indoor championships. Fine arena in Lee Valley in north east London. The taxi-driver had never heard of masters’ athletics and thought I was joking when I told him my age and my intended walk event. I thought at one stage that I would have to persuade him that I had not escaped from a facility! He became so interested in the story of masters athletics that he got lost and ended up having to back away on a one-way street.
Collected my number when we eventually got to the stadium. Impressive and hot inside. Asked for pins only to be told by a gentleman in a blazer that it was my duty to bring my own pins. The point was made. Enjoyed the 15 heats of the 200m and the buzz all round. Support arrived just before the race in the persons of my nephew and his son and then faced the starter. A belt of an elbow (by accident) in the solar plexis by a fellow competitor as the gun went off helped to put a bit of fire in my belly. Too much fire as I looked at my watch after two laps and found I was way ahead of my usual average time. Too early for that pace so recalibrated and had reasonable energy for the last two hectic laps. A time of 20:42 and the gold brought me nearer to breaking the 20 minute barrier.
The first walking race abroad completed and thanks to Jim O’Shea and Mike O’Connor (Farranfore Maine Valley AC) for the advice in advance.
The sandy runs continued in Banna, adding murdering hills in the Gallán near Kilmoyley, 200m repeats in An Ríocht track and 10K runs from the Aqua Dome in Tralee with the flying St Brendan’s AC colleagues led by Ursula Barrett. We were joined by the Couch to 5K runners with Cathy Flynn showing them the ropes of running.
Long Evenings in the ARC
April made its magic appearance and so did a group of walkers in the ARC. The longer evenings just draw you out as they did in stone-age times and the energy just flows. And the thunder rolls! The aim was to get to the start line in the Munster walks and the second aim was to get to the finish line. Simple. No. Walking can be a minefield for the runner-converted-to-walker. That leading leg straight knee can be a right hoor to master, not to mention the right-angled/cross body arm movement, and that hip-wriggle…most difficult for men. The open shoulders and the head-on-the horizon take a while.
Of the five St Brendan’s walkers who gathered in the ARC last April, three were new to championship walking, while we were joined by Con Dennehy from An Ríocht AC who was taking up the discipline for the first time also.
Sunday May 24th saw three St Brendan’s AC athletes take to the tartan for the county 3K championship walk, thanks to Kerry Athletics for putting the event on the masters’ programme. Vital experience gained and good to see Willie Reidy (An Ríocht AC) take on the distance also.
And then a hot day in MTU Cork saw five St Brendan’s AC athletes compete in the masters’ walks with first time Munster masters’ medals collected by Moira Horgan, Serena Griffin, Tina O’Connell and Denis Foley. Con Dennehy (An Ríocht AC) got his first Munster walk medal also. Got to the start line and reached the finish line without disqualification. Job done and a good day in the 2022 summer sun.
The Walkers
Serena Griffin is the natural walker in the St Brendan’s AC walking group. She started at a young age with the club and won a Munster medal. Had coaching advice from international Olive Loughnane and had the benefit of having Joseph O’Halloran as a training partner. Twenty four years ago Serena benefited from the Community Games which kept walking alive at a time when it might have vanished from the face of Kerry athletics.
She hit the headlines early in her career when she won a silver medal in the Munster indoor championships in Nenagh in April 1999. The same day her clubmate Joseph O’Halloran won the gold in the U16 walk, breaking the record by 51 seconds while Melissa Costello won a silver in the U15 1500m and her sister Ann Marie did a silver run in the U18 1500m and Karen Best was 4th in the U15 shot. Clounalour AC was another club to promote walking in these years and Cathal Moriarty and Eimear Moriarty along with David Kearney were in the medals in Nenagh that day. Serena was in good company that year and later finished 6th in the national walk championships at her first attempt. As an example to all walkers, a certain Gillian O’Sullivan of FFMV walked 47:06 for the 10K in the Manz International to qualify for the world championships in Portugal.
Serena started and finished with the gold in her category in Cork in the Munster masters’ championship 3K. Her return to walking had begun.
Denis Foley took up walking in 2022 but has been running for quite a number of years. Background fitness level sound so all that was required was the straight leading leg and a few more bits and pieces. His Irish dancing experience came to vogue as he had no problem keeping square shoulders and head on the horizon.
His Munster walk medal came 31 years after he had won a Munster hurling medal with Causeway Comprehensive at U15 level in the Vocational Schools final, beating Borrisokane VS in that provincial decider. That was in 1991 when the team went on to reach the All Ireland VS final, leading Gort Community College all the way. Almost. Heartbreakingly pipped in the last minutes. So close. But Denis has now assumed a compelling passion for the racewalk, gaining nuggets of confidence all the time, as Robert Heffernan described gradual development during this super summer of success for Irish international athletes.
Moira Horgan has twenty six marathons ticked off in her career. Moira and a small group of colleagues launched the Born To Run Tralee Marathon Club in 2014. Then there was the amazing experience of running the New York Marathon in 2016 where she ran 4:59. She is a key figure in the Tralee adult and junior parkruns as volunteer and participant and she has graced parkruns all over Ireland and beyond.
But Moira claims that one of her career highlights happened in the walk in 2022 when she won the gold medal in her category in sun-drenched Tullamore Stadium in the Athletics Ireland national masters’ championships. Her smile said it all. Now she recalls the occasion with huge satisfaction as she carries out her busy roles as St Brendan’s AC club secretary, PRO and assistant registrar.
Tina O’Connell of O’Connell’s Village Kitchen in Causeway is a brand new walker. The Causeway woman returned from Australia in 2006 after spending six years there. She had run a few 5Ks and 10Ks in Brisbane for fun. Back in Kerry, she worked in insurance for a while but the business streak was strong in her and soon she was selling breads and tarts over her father’s butcher’s counter. Occasion cakes are a speciality. When her father retired, she expanded the business and now supplies shops, restaurants and hotels all over North Kerry. Club treasurer Irene Butler asked to go for a walk one evening and before Tina knew what was happening, she was a race-walker! A sweet walker, ice cool, the cream of walkers, makes mince of the opposition…she’s probably heard all the quips by now connecting her walking with her baking. She has a Gillian O’Sullivan power-style and the best is yet to come for the tenacious Causeway baker. “The machinery of grace is always simple” says poet Michael Donaghy.
Con Dennehy of an Ríocht AC made a return to active athletics in 2022 after a number of years writing about sport. His outstanding athletics moments had come with a bronze medal with the Kerry team in the 1973 All Ireland cross country championships. He had medalled in the Kerry novice and intermediate championships the same year and had an East Munster Colleges steeplechase medal from 1972. Along with this, years of official service at club and county board level and an ongoing compilation of a history of Kerry athletics brought him to the comeback in 2022, when he was attracted to the walk. A message there to all who want to continue their athletics career if sprinting and distance are no longer an option.
Summer 2022 Marches On
For myself, it was off to Derby a few weeks later for the British masters’ track and field championships on June 11th. Nice stadium if a little hidden away from the main road! Jim O’Shea was there early and collected his three medals over the weekend. Masters O65 walk called then and off we went. Couldn’t seem to get a decent rhythm going early on and was trying out a new style of walking…the “Serena Griffin bounce” style which John Laste from Tipperary has mastered over the past few years. A bit difficult to master as you try to bounce off the leading leg. Danger is that both feet could leave the ground together. And that happened me midway through the race and got a yellow paddle for lifting. Knocked the wind out of my sails and had to slow down but what an honour to be paddled for lifting both feet off the ground at once at the age I’m at! “We are prisoners in a world of mystery” indeed as Bob Dylan once sang. Went on to finish second overall and celebrated that night in Chesterfield up the road with my nephew Jim and his family.
A six-week pre-All Ireland masters training block by the walking group sharpened up the bodies and all looked forward with confidence to the first All Ireland masters for all except one. Summer evenings in the ARC and a circularity developing and energy flowing and bursting lungs and bodies fusing with minds and Serena praying for the coach!
Then with a few weeks to go, a bit of bad luck struck two of us. Tina O’Connell injured her back lifting a bag of flour – as bakers do – and although she tried to ignore it, it wasn’t going away. She was out of the chance to win her first All Ireland medal at a time when she was flying in training. I attended the Kerry V Dublin semi-final in a sunny Croke Park on what was a good weekend – except wearing a polo shirt in a draught in the Davin Stand left the chest in trouble for a month. Hadn’t got a flu for three years and had avoided the Covid and felt invincible until this. Like training with a 20% lung capacity after cough bottle and tablets had failed. Wore a few layers when watching Kerry overcome Galway in the All Ireland two weeks later but avoided the draught this time. Was kept motoring by the group dynamic and fought the war all the way to the nationals in Tullamore. I would be well until I was not. Training is always a revelation, never a disappointment. Be ready for the revelation.
Glorious Sunny Tullamore
What a glorious day it was in Tullamore on Saturday, August 13th. Forever would never be long enough for days like these. Up at 5.40am and in Tullamore to find the rest of the team had arrived already. The heat from the tartan was severe but it’s not good to complain about the summer sun. The result was three gold and one silver for the St Brendan’s AC group while training partner Con Dennehy got a silver. No DQs and all elated. Good judging and managing by Athletics Ireland and overall it was an occasion we will never forget. “Here is a small miracle and I am walking away” said poet Tracey Herd. Mike O’Connor (FFMV) and Pat Murphy (Castleisland WC) flying as usual way, ahead of us in the walks. Kerry as usual got a bucketful of medals in a variety of events with clubmate Ursula Barrett medalling with an excellent long jump. Much later in the afternoon and away in the outside arena, another medal came to the author in the O65 discus. For some reason the usual one and a half turns turned against me, and had to revert to a standing throw to clinch the bronze medal late on. The ageless Patsy O’Connor (Tralee Harriers AC) won the event, as he usually does with a superb throw that was heading for the plains of Kildare from Tullamore. “I come of Kerry clay and rock” said Brendan Kennelly.
Back to earth the following Sunday morning collecting bales of hay high over North Kerry.
Ideal warm down!
Then into training for the Dublin Marathon in October and the walking experience came to the aid of tiring legs on the day and the story of that marathon has yet to be written. The handy amount of training done carried the body through the Kerry cross country championships and helped to arrive at the national masters 10K walk in St Anne’s Park on Sunday, Dec 18th. The last walk of 2022. Hibernation how are you!
We are no Olympians - and never will be - but we are part of the hidden Ireland of athletics. And we love it.
Epilogue
If most clubs in Kerry encouraged two or three masters to take up the walk for 2023, there would be around thirty competing in the Kerry Athletics county championships next summer. If most clubs in Ireland encouraged two or three masters to take up the discipline…what a sight that would be! Remember something good happens every day.
There will be prizes for walkers in the Tom Kelly 8K in Ardfert on January 15th.
We can “turn and be walking again to hidden music, as if for the first time” to paraphrase London poet Freda Downie.
That could be a walking start for the new year of 2023.
No comments:
Post a Comment