AS WE COUNT down to the 2012 Olympics in London, thoughts turn to some of our great Olympians of the past. Sonia O’Sullivan immediately comes to mind, but let us not forget one woman who often ran in Sonia’s shadow, but is no less a sporting legend. Cavan athlete Catherina McKiernan competed in the 3,000 metres at the Olympic games in Barcelona 20 years ago; she was back four years later to reach the final of the 10,000 metres at the Olympics in Atlanta.
Victory on the track, however, was not Catherina’s ultimate goal. She was in it for the long-haul, and right through the 1990s she set the pace by running marathons and competing in gruelling cross-country events. She won silver in the world cross-country championships in Boston for four consecutive years from 1992 to 1995, and won gold at the European cross-country championships in 1994. In 1997, she won the Berlin marathon, the fastest-ever marathon debut by a woman.
The following year saw her clocking up more miles – and garnering more prizes and plaudits. She won the London marathon, the first and only Irish person to achieve the feat. She also won the Amsterdam marathon (setting an Irish marathon record of 2:22:23), and the Lisbon half-marathon that year, and had her second consecutive victory in the Dublin women’s mini-marathon (she made it a hat-trick in 1999). She was all set for gold medal glory in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, but recurring injury stopped her in her tracks, and she had to sit out the Sydney games – as one of RTÉ’s team of commentators.
She continued to struggle with injury, and when she was forced to miss the 2004 Olympics in Athens, she decided to retire – but not before winning the Dublin mini-marathon one more time. Her final race, which she won, was a 10k at her home club, Annalee Athletic Club, in October 2004.
Born in the small town of Cornafean, Co Cavan, McKiernan has been running for “as long as I can remember”. She naturally gravitated towards playing sports and when she reached her teens, she realised “almost by accident” that she had a talent for running, winning the Irish schools’ cross-country title in 1988.
In recent times, sports journalists have been declaring young Irish athlete Fionnuala Britton “the new Catherina McKiernan”, after the Kilcoole runner brought home gold from the European cross-country championships, for the first time since Catherina won it in 1994.
McKiernan continues to run, though not competitively. These days, she has become an advocate for a running technique that minimises injury and maximises the body’s power to run smoothly and efficiently. She now travels around the country teaching athletes the ChiRunning technique, which is all about getting the right posture and attitude. She promotes the technique through her website, catherinamckiernan.com.
She lives in Castleknock with her husband, RTÉ broadcaster Damien O’Reilly and their two children, Deirbhile and Patrick. McKiernan runs several miles a day in the Phoenix Park, and though she has long retired from competitive running, sometimes she can’t resist it. Last year, she made a last-minute decision to take part in a 10k race in Connemara, and er, she won it.
