Donegal's masters set to take on the world

Six Donegal athletes will go to the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland next week.

Letterkenny AC's Kathryn McDevitt joins the Finn Valley AC quintet of Catriona Devine, Kay Byrne, Noreen Bonner, Sinead McConnell and Garvin Boyce.

McDevitt won gold in the 4x200m relay at the European Masters last year. The Letterkenny woman will toe the line in the 200m, the relay and, possibly, the mixed relay at s Arena Toruń.

“Last year, I was so focussed on medals and finals and competing, but I'm just so lucky now to be out there competing,” McDevitt says.

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That being said, the medals still inspire.

“We definitely want a medal in the relays,” McDevitt says.

“We were one second off the world record last year and we're up against the Germans, who are the world record holders.

“They'll have their full squad too, but you have to be with the best to compete with them.”

McDevitt inspires a new generation in the black and amber and was accompanied by three of her young aces – Fern Duffy, Katie Elliott and Anya Duffy – for a brief reception at Finn Valley on Tuesday evening.

She can combine coaching with her own training these days.

“I absolutely love it,” she says.

“It's hard at times, but I'm very lucky to have this group of girls. Some of them are running faster than me now.

“I train with them. It works because we're trying to peak at the same times. The girls have come on great and they're a brilliant support for me too. It's priceless to get to coach like this.”

Kathryn McDevitt wth Fern Duffy, Katie Elliott and Anya Duffy.

Devine and Byrne were key cogs in the Finn Valley AC senior women's team that dominated the Irish Cross Country Championships, winning ten titles, including eight in a row in the 1990s and 2000s.

From she was a young child, Devine can remember ‘tootering around’ after her father, Peadar McGranaghan, at Porter’s Field in Castlefin, where he trained a group of Finn Valley athletes.

She won the Irish Junior Cross Country title at Ballyfin in 1991 and retained it a year later in Ballyhaise.

Her debut in an Irish vest arrived at Princethorpe College on April 7 1990 when she was seventh in the Milk International Cross-Country Match, running in 15:29 with Paula Radcliffe third in 15:18.

Devine goes to Poland aiming to medal in the 1500m.

“You never take it for granted, wearing the Irish vest,” the Castlefin woman says.

“I've had a good few in my time and it is special. To get them still as a master, it is still the pinnacle to represent your country.

“You're always representing the club and sometimes people forget that. I feel sometimes certain people forget what made them and I always like to think of the club when I put on the vest.”

Devine has been a regular competitor for club and county over the decades and the competitive urges burn as bright as ever.

“The hunger has never left me,” she says.

“It gives me a good focus. There's so much now about mental health and that area. Every day, I'm hungry. It's not easy, day in and day out, but I'm lucky to be in this position.

“Going here to the worlds, I'll aim to medal again.”

Sisters Sinead McConnell and Catriona Devine with their father, Peadar McGranaghan

Byrne competed in the World Cross Country Championships in 1984 and 1994. She's no stranger to the big stage.

At the European Masters last year, she was inches from an individual medal in the W55 category, finishing fourth, just seven seconds off Parashiva Boras from Romania, the bronze medalist.

Next week, Byrne competes in the 1500m and 300m with the cross-country event still a possibility.

“It can be hard to motivate yourself, but I'm a very competitive person, even in training,” Byrne says.

“I'm in good form. I have worked hard for the last while. I've been playing a bit of catch-up and I'm not where I would really like to be, but I am happy where I am. I'll have a go at it and see where it takes me. I'm always looking for a medal, but you have to be realistic too.”

Byrne celebrated her 60th birthday at Christmas and is retiring next month. It is four years now since she won a team bronze with Ireland at the World Masters in the cross country.

“It's great to have the health and the mindset to go,” she says.

“You have to have that edge. We do it here all the time. We have a good background and we have a good club to come to. I definitely enjoy it and I enjoy seeing other people improving too.

“It's just great to have the health to get out. I am lucky and I appreciate that.”

Bonner recently stepped down as Finn Valley AC secretary after 21 years in the role.

Bonner was a silver medallist in the European Masters last year and she has medalled previously at World level.

Next week, she goes in the half marathon in Poland and a team medal is the big goal.

Bonner says: “It's always great to get the chance to run for Ireland. I'm really looking forward to it.

“Training maybe hasn't gone to plan, but I'll give it a go. I'm not as fit as I'd like to be, but it's great to get this chance.

“There's a great group of us heading away. Everyone is a great support for each other.”

Sinead McConnell, Devine's sister, has had a fine record in big championships of late.

At the 2018 World Masters in Málaga she won two bronze medals, in the 5k walk and 10k walk, having won team silver over 5k at the 2018 European Championships in Madrid.

Last year, at the European Masters, McConnell won individual and team bronze medals in the 5k walk and bronze in the 3k walk.

It was by chance rather than design that she became a race walker.

“The McGranaghans never took part in track and field,” she says. “Our father used to tell us that we were cross country runners.

“We were to go to this event in Lifford one afternoon. I didn’t want to go to the track meet because I was a ‘cross country runner’.

“We just had to take part in something. Anything.

“As the day went on, the events were finishing and I hadn’t taken part in anything. Patsy McGonagle came over and asked what I had done. ‘Nothing’. There weren’t many events left, bar the walks, so I had to do the walk. I won the event and that was the start of the walking career.”

She was out of the loop for almost 30 years, until Shauna Carlin came calling – and she was back in the groove again.

The competitive environment will be ferocious again next week.

“The same girls are there and the opposition is tight,” she says. “From looking at it, there are six of us looking for two medals. We all have similar times so it'll be a tough battle out there.”

Garvin Boyce has only ever ran twice in indoor races, but the Ramelton native goes in the 1500m.

“I just said to myself I'd give it a rattle,” he says.

“The 1500m felt like a distance that I could compete in. I've been excited about it since it was first mentioned. Opportunities like this don't come around often at all. We're going to represent our country here.

“I'm getting a chance to run in a world class stadium. I'm late into the sport and not everyone gets a chance to run at a place like this in a Championships.”

Go they might as individuals, but the team element runs strong.

McDevitt says: “It is a massive honour and we're a close-knit community. We're in it together.”