Emmet Riordantells the story of how the Dublin school came to prominence in girls' athletics
IN TERMS of schools athletics, the girls of St Dominic’s College in Cabra are very much the new kids off the blocks.
This afternoon in Santry they will bid for a third straight best girls’ school title at the Leinster cross county finals, not bad considering they had caused hardly a ripple in the sport up to six years ago.
Like all sporting dynasties, however small, it came down to the arrival of two catalysts that were timed to perfection.
Having started the Celtic Athletic Club on the Navan Road, former Ireland 800-metre runner Mary McKenna was on the look-out for young talent in the area and began training girls at the school.
Then came a twist of fate that saw her meet Azmera Gebrezgi, an Eritrean-born athlete who came to Ireland to compete in the junior event at the 2002 World Cross Country Championships at Leopardstown.
Fearing military service or the possibility of forced marriage on her return, Gebrezgi kept running and sought asylum in Ireland. Then just 16, she eventually made her way to the refugee centre on the Navan Road and into McKenna’s life.
“I knew about the centre and they had refugees starting to come in there at the time,” recalls McKenna. “I left my number, as I knew there was a lot of African kids there.
“Then Azmera arrived and Sr Breege Keenan asked me to come and meet her. When I went down she was still wearing her Eritrean tracksuit, she had no other clothes. That was the beginning of our long relationship, it was just a pure fluke,” she adds.
Azmera would go on to huge success with the school and club, winning the 800 and 1,500-metre titles at the 2003 Irish Schools championships, while proving unbeatable at cross country.
“Azmera really blazed a trail for athletics in Dominic’s. Before she came, the school had never won anything in athletics, we weren’t known as a cross country school,” admits McKenna.
Azmera moved on to take up a scholarship at DCU, and although her running career would be hampered somewhat by growth problems, she has competed for Ireland at junior and Under-23 levels at the European Cross Country Championships.
She also graduated last year with an honours degree in accounting and finance.
Her family moved over to join her in Ireland, and two of her younger sisters have kept up the Gebrezgi tradition at the school.
Their senior side will be led today by Tekea, a favourite to win the race, while Miskana will run in the intermediate contest.
Tekea has been in fine form of late, defending her DCU Invitational title last month and finishing second to Azmera in the Tommy Brennan Memorial 5k race in the Phoenix Park on New Year’s Day.
Although Tekea never ran competitively before coming to Ireland, McKenna marks her out as a natural athlete.
“She was just launched into it. We just said if Azmera can run then you can run. Tekea is physically a lovely runner, very fluid,” says McKenna.
The success of the Gebrezgi girls has helped McKenna in her recruitment of athletes at the school, both those born in Ireland and newcomers to the country. She admits it’s not always that easy for the latter group.
“It takes a little while for them to find their place, there’s a lot of talent that you just don’t know is there. Sometimes no one wants to stick their head out and say, ‘I’m special’ or ‘I want to do something different’. But all teenagers are like that,” she admits.
A recent bout of flu at the school hasn’t helped preparations for today’s event, but McKenna is happy her girls are up to the challenge of claiming a third straight title. “We’ve won the best school in Leinster for the last two years and we had a share in it the year before that. We never had anything before that, so we’re getting the hang of it.
“They did a very good session on Saturday and looked really well, although you can never tell with cross country, as it can be so unpredictable. It’s a long way to go and it’s going to be so mucky, but we have a love affair with that trophy and we’d like to get it back again.”
