Bowing out on a glorious high

Athletics: Ann Keenan Buckley feels the time is right to take her leave of the international scene. She talks to Ian O'Riordan about her decision

There are two main roads into retirement for the international athlete. One a slow and reluctant journey, the other a swift but glorious exit. Ann Keenan Buckley, after an enduring service to Irish athletics, has chosen the latter.

On Sunday in Edinburgh she crossed the finish line of the European Cross Country Championships and knew that was it. She'd taken 27th place, her best run all year, and in the process played a vital role in the Irish women's team taking home the silver medals. This was the perfect point of departure.

Yet afterwards any talk of retirement sounded premature, especially for those who really knew her. Sure, Keenan Buckley is just three weeks short of her 42nd birthday, but she's still teaching the younger athletes a thing or two about championship running. She's got a few more years of good running in her yet.

And after another remarkable run like this how could she not be thinking of the World Cross Country Championships next March, and the prospect of another team medal on the international stage. It's not like the younger athletes are lining up behind her to take her place.

But when leaving Edinburgh yesterday afternoon she simply smiled when asked if such talk of retirement was mere rumour. And she even had some team-mates around her insisting it was. Or at least a decision she might reconsider. But no, she was going out on a high and nothing was about to tempt her back.

"Even before coming to Edinburgh I had decided this would be it," she said. "I was hoping we could get into the medals, and that it would be a fantastic way to finish. I did want that European medal, I've got it now, and so that's it. I'm very happy."

Time then to finally start reflecting on what has been a truly remarkable career, unrivalled in Irish athletics, and in most other sports too. After winning her first Irish track title over 3,000 metres back in 1987 she gave her running near total commitment, and was rewarded with a place on the Irish team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Then she started drifting away from the sport, gave birth to her two children, and appeared to settle into family life in Portlaoise. Gradually the hunger for competitive athletics returned, especially cross country running, and after taking seven silver medals in the national cross country she then struck gold in 2000 at aged 38. Beaten into second the following year, she's won the title again for the past two years.

Parallel to that second coming was a new international career, with one clear highlight. The World Cross Country Championships came to Leopardstown in 2002, and then aged 40, Keenan Buckley finished in 10th position. She left in her wake several Africans nearly half her age, the kind that so often dominate the sport. In finishing just three places behind Sonia O'Sullivan, she was also the second best finisher of an Irish team that managed to win bronze medals. Later that summer she ran at the European Athletics Championships in Munich, 14 years after her last major track appearance.

Coming into the 2003 cross country season, however, she was more realistic than ever about her form. She had no training done at all over the summer, and only started back on the second week in September. But there was one last race to aim for.

"I knew I had about 10 weeks to the inter-counties, which acted as the trials for Edinburgh, but could only train at the level I was capable of doing. My main aim was to get on to the team, and I knew if I did that there might be a little more improvement before the Europeans. Now I didn't anticipate running so well, but probably from my experience, and the level I had been at for the last couple of years, the strength was there."

She was, by the way, the oldest athlete in the field on Sunday. Her 27th position was also crucial in Ireland taking silver in the team race, as it followed O'Sullivan (fourth) and Rosemary Ryan (13th), and was ahead of Catherina McKiernan (34th).

So after team bronze in the World Championships, and silver at the European Championships, her career continued to blossom though into her 40s. She has always put it down to her simple discipline of recent years, but at some point the family commitments had to regain priority.

Not even the temptation of another team medal at the World Cross Country will draw her back: "Sure you could go every season and find something more to aim for. You just have to call a halt at some stage. I mean Leopardstown initially was going be the end, and I was sort of creeping on after that. At this point I just can't go on anymore.

"Realistically I suppose I wouldn't get any better than a bronze medal in the World Championships team race. And having that already, I have to be satisfied. So I'll just run a little bit now, just to keep fit, and I still enjoy the masters end of running."

So after 13 appearances in the World Cross Country and three national cross country titles, there really wasn't much more reason to go on. So for the swift but glorious exit.