Another mixed year at the elite end of things

ATHLETICS:In Barcelona last July those of us in the press seats were wondering if it wasn't for bad luck, would our Irish athletes have any luck at all?

EVERYONE HAS their definition of luck. Bob Dylan always said he can’t help it if he’s lucky, and Hunter S Thompson compared luck to champagne: we earn it in victory and need it after defeat. All I know is there was a moment late in the European Championships in Barcelona last July when those of us in the press seats were wondering if it wasn’t for bad luck, would our Irish athletes have any luck at all?

Over the previous few days we’d witnessed Olive Loughnane forced out of the 20km walk with a stomach bug, David Gillick run out of luck, or at least track, in the 400 metres and and race walker Robert Heffernan finish fourth. Twice!

We’d seen David McCarthy bombarded off the track in his 800 metres heat, Thomas Chamney lose all form in his 1,500m heat and Paul Hession’s medal hopes in the 200m again fall just a little short.

All we could say to any of them was “hard luck” – as if that was any consolation.

There were a couple of occasions when we thought perhaps the run of bad luck had turned – coming, somewhat unexpectedly, in the 100m: Jason Smyth and Ailis McSweeney progressed to the semi-finals, and McSweeney came within one place of making the final.

Smyth, if anyone needs reminding, was the first paralympic athlete to compete at the European Championships, although his visual impairment didn’t make the slightest bit of difference to his competitiveness. The women’s 100m and 400m relay teams improved the national record, but still were unlucky not to make their finals.

So, in the end, we were left to make one of our last trips up the old Montjuic hill on the Saturday evening, wondering, hoping, praying, if Derval O’Rourke could save all of our blushes and make it onto the medal podium after the 100m hurdles. If there was any good luck left in the warm Barcelona air we needed it there and then . . . although, luckily for us, O’Rourke wasn’t depending on it.

Everything about her season had been building towards that moment, and physically and mentally she was 100 per cent right. Truth is, when she won her second successive silver medal in the event – which, as O’Rourke later reminded us, means she’s now medalled at every major championships bar the Olympics and Worlds – luck had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

Okay, she was only beaten by a Turk’s head – the 12.63 seconds for Nevin Yanit, a Turkish record, just marginally better that the 12.65 for O’Rourke, an Irish record, and maybe with a little bit of luck O’Rourke would have won gold. It would have certainly cemented O’Rourke as one of greatest sprint hurdlers of her time, and that’s the sort of plaudit she deserves.

Not for the first time in her career O’Rourke had saved her best performance of the year for a major championship – and that’s why she’s a certainty to win overall Athlete of the Year at this evening’s Athletics Ireland national awards banquet in Santry, which I’m really looking forward to attending.

This has become one of the best dates on the ever-increasing sporting awards circuit, and I’m not just saying that because my brother has helped to organise it. There’s something pleasantly reassuring about seeing athletes let their hair down at the end of the season, which, believe me, they do.

Anyway, back on the subject of luck, Athletics Ireland can count their lucky stars to still have a faithful sponsor for the awards in these times of economic panic. Woodie’s DIY have been backing several Athletics Ireland events, including the National Championships, since 2003, while Tipperary Crystal provide the actual awards.

The other good thing about these awards is that there are lots of categories, reflecting not just the wide-ranging nature of athletics, but also the range of successes in 2010.

O’Rourke is also nominated for Track Athlete of the Year, along with Gillick, plus Hession and McSweeney. Had Gillick fulfilled his medal ambitions in Barcelona then this award might be more closely fought, although it shouldn’t be forgotten that Gillick did equal his national 400m record indoors, and broke 45 seconds outdoors three times: his 44.79 ranked second fastest in Europe, and eighth fastest in the world.

Sweeney’s national 100m record of 11.40 – which finally eclipsed the 11.43 Michelle Carroll set in 1978 – shouldn’t be forgotten either, but ultimately O’Rourke tops this category as well.

Nominated for Field Athlete of the Year are long jumper Kelly Proper, high jumper Deirdre Ryan and pole vaulter Tori Pena, who only recently arrived on our shores via Orange County, California. Proper and Pena improved the national records this summer, although Proper’s long jump mark of 6.60m is possibly the more impressive, and there’s no denying the feisty spirit of the 22-year-old from Waterford.

The Race Walker of the Year award has to go to Heffernan, although Loughnane, Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin are nominated. We all felt desperately sorry for Heffernan in Barcelona when he came splendidly close to winning a European bronze, his fourth place finish in the gruelling 50km walk coming just three days after his similar position in the 20km event — although he still considered himself lucky: “All I said to myself here was that I wanted to be competitive, and it was, brilliant,” he told us. “People are a bit obsessed with medals at home.”

Indeed, maybe we are, although Ciara Mageean’s silver medal run over 1,500m at the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada, last July is certainly worth cherishing. Of the 24 distance running medals won at those World Juniors, 23 went to African nations – Mageean being the exception. Also, her time of 4:09.51 not only improved the Irish junior record but ended up the fastest senior time of 2010.

Needless to say Mageean is also the lead contender for the Emerging Athlete of the Year award, along with Paul Robinson from Kildare (who ran an Irish junior mile record of 4:00.93), Mark English from Donegal (who displayed considerable potential in qualifying for the World Youth Olympics in Singapore), and Kate Veale from Waterford (who continued her record-breaking spree in the youth walks).

Among the other awards to be handed out this evening will be the Road/Cross Country Athlete of the Year, plus the Club, the Coach, and the Master Athlete of the Year.

And, in a new category, the Inspirational Performance of the Year, I suspect will go to Jason Smyth, who continues to raise the profile of paralympic athletics not just in Ireland but worldwide.

Finally, although it’s not an official category, there is only one nomination for the Unluckiest Athlete of the Year, and that’s Mary Cullen. Some of you may have heard that Cullen recently fell off her bike and broke her collarbone, having introduced cycling to her training regime as a way of preventing the leg injuries that have repeatedly stalled her ambitions for the past three years.

You Can't Be Lucky All The Time, as Roosevelt Sykes sang in 1959, but we all wish Cullen better luck for 2011.