Golden era beckons for female athletics in Offaly

IT is certainly a golden era for female athletics in Offaly.

Four hugely promising runners from the county's biggest athletics club, Tullamore Harriers are currently on athletics scholarship, three in the USA with one staying at home in Dublin.

Another Offaly native Ann Marie McGlynn was within seconds of qualifying for the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics while Pauline Curley continues to command the utmost of respect, even though she is now in the Winter of her glorious career.

Then you have two young athetes from the county who have excelled in field events, taking national senior medals. Ferbane Athletics Club member Laura Dolan has had great success, winning Irish junior and U-23 titles while she has won medals in the javelin and 28lbs weight for distance event at the National Senior Track and Field Championships.

Birr AC's Ebony Hogan has won national senior and U-23 gold in the 28lbs weight for distance and she is another example of a young athlete achieving great success through pure hard work and commitment.

A Tullamore Harriers runner, Rahan woman Emily Grennan took bronze in the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 2020 National Senior Track and Field Championships.

It is a very exciting time for female running in Offaly and there are a number of outstanding prospects in the county.

The cream of the bunch are four young Tullamore Harriers' athletes on scholarship. Tullamore woman, Nadine Donegan is at Iona College in New York, her younger sister Danielle has stayed at home in UCD; Emo protege, Ava O'Connor is at Adams State University in Colorado – alongside her Harriers club mate, Ballycommon man James Dunne – and Cappincur's Laura Mooney is in the famed Providence College, Rhode Island.

It is a tremendous opportunity for these young athletes. Most of them have represented Ireland at various levels while a couple may well go on to compete in some of the biggest events in the world.

Running has experienced a great boom in the past decade plus. There are now athletics clubs throughout Offaly as women and men of all generations take up running to improve their physical and mental health. This has been accompanied by a tremendous growth in road racing and running is one of the most popular recreational sports.

At the elite level, however, great strides forward are also being taking. The juvenile section at Tullamore Harriers has been especially successful and there are many more outstanding young athletes waiting in the wings to emerge.

Danielle Donegan and Laura Mooney ran in the European U-23 and U-20 Cross Country Championships in 2021 and further international recognition beckons for both in the coming years as they are both excellent runners on the track, road and fields.

It is a measure of the ability of these runners that long standing Tullamore Harriers' club records are now beginning to fall.

Many of these records have been held by Pauline Curley, the only Offaly woman to have ran at the Olympic Games and Curley's achievements and those of Ann Marie McGlynn have been a great inspiration to the younger generation.