ATHLETICS/European Championships: Fewer and fewer Irish are taking the US scholarship trail, but every major games rekindles the debate over its value, writes Ian O'Riordan

Should I stay or should I go? For years that's been the question facing young distance runners with dreams of running for Ireland. It's never been an easy choice and remains one of the great debates in Irish athletics.

To stay means pursuing the dream at home, training in a familiar environment with people you know and trust. In a way, it means playing it safe.

To go means following the US scholarship route, with its promise of fine tracks and gymnasiums a fiercely competitive ethos. In a way, it means taking a chance.

It's over 50 years since the first Irish athlete went on scholarship to America, and the trail he blazed has been followed to this day. Jimmy Reardon was Ireland's 400 metres representative at the 1948 Olympics in London, where he got to know one his opponents, the American George Guida.

"We could really use you at Villanova," said Guida - fateful words that indirectly brought Irish athletics into a new era.

Within weeks Reardon had moved from his home in an old bus on Bull Island to the small campus outside Philadelphia. He was soon joined by fellow 1948 Olympians Cummin Clancy and John Joe Barry, and so Villanova became the breeding ground for great Irish athletes: Ronnie Delany, Noel Carroll, Eamonn Coghlan, Marcus O'Sullivan and Sonia O'Sullivan.

But it wasn't just Villanova. Places like Providence, East Tennessee, Iona - even the Ivy League schools, Brown, Harvard, Princeton - became familiar with young Irish athletes dreaming about the big time.

The premise is simple: the college offers four years of tuition, room and board, full-time coaching and all the facilities you could want. In return they get your athletic talent, which they can use at will and tailor toward the sporting success of the college.

The number of Irish on US scholarships peaked around 15 years ago and has maybe halved since, to around 25, but the debate remains relevant. There are 11 Irish running distance events at the European championships, which begin in Gothenburg on Monday, and eight of those have come down the US scholarship route.

As it turns out, the very essence of the scholarship debate is embodied in the two 800-metre runners. David Campbell is 24 and stayed at home. His story is one of rapid disillusionment, some frustration, and yet a growing hunger for the sport.

Thomas Chamney is 22 and one year shy of graduating from Notre Dame. His story is one of rapid progress, also some frustration, and yet an enduring desire for success.

The two represent the future of Irish 800-metre running (Chamney won the national title last month, Campbell was a close second). What Campbell and Chamney also show is that there are many pros and cons to staying and going.

Ever since Reardon's time there are those that believe the athlete who goes west risks being overtrained and overraced - and ending up as "burnt trash". Others argue the stay-at-home runner is in danger of being underraced and undertrained - and falling through the many cracks in the Irish system.

Campbell and Chamney are still young enough and hungry enough to keep their dream alive through the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and beyond. Yet what happens in Gothenburg will no doubt contribute to the old American scholarship debate. Should they have stayed or should they have gone?

Thomas Chamney

Despite its sporting identity with "The Fighting Irish", the University of Notre Dame doesn't have a strong tradition with young Irish distance runners. The location in Indiana is relatively out of the way, and yet Chamney targeted it as the place to pursue his athletic dreams.

Originally from Clonmel, Chamney went to St Columba's College Rathfarnham, where his talent soon put him in line to follow the US scholarship route. With the encouragement of his father John, he packed his bags and headed west.

"Once I got serious about running I suppose it was always my ambition to go on scholarship," says Chamney. "I always wanted to get the most out of the sport, and I think going to the States was the best way to do that. Of course when you're in school you never know if you'll be a world champion or just fall by the wayside, but I saw it as something different anyway.

"I knew Notre Dame had a good academic reputation as well and that was one of the main reasons I chose it. I did all the entrance exams and managed to get a place, but the only problem was I'd still only run 1:54 for the 800 metres, and that time wasn't quick enough to get a scholarship.

"But the main track season here is much later than the American high school season. So my dad called up the coach at Notre Dame and asked how fast I needed to run to qualify for a scholarship. He said if I could run 1:52 or faster then he'd give me a scholarship. The funny thing is I'd just finished my Leaving Cert and was out for a few drinks the night before I'd planned this race, and yet I went out the day next and ran 1:51.40. I don't know if I was just relaxed about or what, but anyway, I got the scholarship."

'If you do some research and find a place that's good academically and athletically then I think the US system is still very strong'

While at school in Kilkenny College, Chamney was one of a group the PE teacher took out for a cross-country run.

"I smoked them all," he recalls, "and that convinced me to join Clonmel AC. And it took off from there."

After a year at Notre Dame he'd lowered his 800-metre best to 1:49.55. He had adapted to the demands of collegiate running, although after two years they began to take their toll. At the end of the 2004 term he decided to take a year out and went to Colorado to train with another Irish 800-metre runner, Daniel Caulfield.

"I just needed a break. It's a very long season, between indoors and outdoors, and then trying to race in the summer. And I wanted to do well at the European under-23s last summer (he finished fifth) . . . so I agreed with the coach to take the year out."

He returned to Notre Dame to discover the coach, Seán McManus, had moved to Florida State for better money. This apparent problem was solved when the new coach at Notre Dame agreed to allow Chamney continue to work with McManus.

"The new coach is fine about it. He just says if that's what I believe I should be doing then that's fine with him. So essentially I get my training sessions emailed from Seán and fit those in around the other athletes."

That training has paid huge dividends. After two excellent performances for Notre Dame - finishing sixth in the NCAA championships indoors and out - Chamney returned to Europe, and in only his second race lowered his best to 1:46.82 in Belgium - moving him to sixth on the all-time Irish list and qualify him for Gothenburg.

"I know there are still a lot of negative things said about young Irish athletes going to the States, that you'll be burnt out. I'm not saying that doesn't happen, because it does, but if you do some research and find a place that's good academically and athletically then I think the system is still very strong.

"My whole day is structured. I run in the morning at 8.0 and the main training is done at 3.30. I just show up and do it. And I can concentrate on my studies after that. (He's majoring in English.) I think back here it's easier to skip a day here and there, or maybe go out on the beer, whatever. That's the main reason why I still feel that going to college in the States is better than training in Ireland. All I can say is that I know I wouldn't on this Irish team for Gothenburg if I hadn't gone to America.

"And there is a bigger plan. People thing I've made a big jump this year, but I just didn't get the chance to run any big enough races last year. Or maybe the weather was bad or the race was slow, or whatever. I was in much better shape than the 1:48.84 I ran last year, so I'm really geared up to go back to America and make the best of my last year out there, and then really giving the sport everything for a few years after that."

David Campbell

If you wanted to list the dangers of young Irish athletes staying at home you need not look beyond David Campbell. But that's not to say there haven't been blessings in disguise. At 24, Campbell recently lowered his 800-metre l best to 1:46.99, making him the seventh-fastest Irishman ever at the distance, and his craving for success is now so great that nothing will stand in his way.

But to discover these high aspirations he first needed to hit a low.

As a promising junior, Campbell thought about the US scholarship route but in the end the few offers he got fell through. He took a year out to consider his options and ended up attending Maynooth College, just a short distance from his home in Kilcock.

"I did go off the rails a little bit in Maynooth," he admits. "I was fooling myself that I was training hard, but you're having the few pints here and there, and everyone is talking about jobs and making money. It's just Irish society. I really don't think it helps anyone chasing their dreams in sport.

"I had just about fallen through the cracks, and there are 10 or 12 guys like me falling through the cracks every year. It was just a brief bit of luck that saved me. Before the 2004 Olympics James Nolan asked me to go to Cyprus with him to do some pacemaking.

"James totally inspired me. He's a huge ambassador for Irish athletics and gets no credit for it. He was the one guy who really helped bring me through, told me what I could do. And after training with him I realised this was what I wanted to do."

'I honestly think you can do it from anywhere. It's all about a bit of hunger, a bit of luck, a bit of talent'

Campbell did a Masters in Finance in DCU last year and credits that with getting him back on track. His 800-metre best of 1:50.36 had stood since 2002; then last summer he finally improved it to 1:49.44. Yet he still felt to take it to the next level he needed to go away, and Nolan suggested he go to Potchefstroom in South Africa.

"I sold my car, any valuable possessions I had, and just cashed in my SSIA to pay back some of the debt," he explains. "I was down there from last September to April, and it was one the best things I ever did. It's at altitude, the facilities are tremendous, the weather is great, and there are always great athletes to train with.

"That got me really hungry again. I had a dream and I wanted to be true to myself and follow it. All my friends are buying cars now and making plenty of money, but maybe working 12-hour days. It just wasn't time for me to do that.

"Looking back now, maybe I would have liked to have gone to America, but if I did I don't know if I'd still be running now. I know two years ago I was about to pack it in . . . But I honestly think you can do it from anywhere. It's all about a bit of hunger, a bit of luck, a bit of talent.

"But I did find it a lot more positive down in South Africa. I think one of the biggest problems with training in Ireland is that people are always asking you when are you getting a job. When you tell them you're trying to train full-time you just get the eyes rolling up.

"In South Africa you talk about trying to run in the Olympics and everyone thinks it's brilliant and goes out of their way to help you."

Campbell is still coached by his father, John, with some input from Jim Kilty. He won the European Cup for Ireland over 1,500 metres back in June. Despite his obvious potential he falls well short of grant assistance. Not that it bothers him.

"I've learnt to get by. When I was down in South Africa I lived in a granny flat out the back of someone's house. It had a kitchenette, a little bedroom, and a toilet. It was all I needed and more. I was there for six months and it was hard at times - like my grandmother died when I was down there and I couldn't get back. I was away for Christmas as well. But I had put all my eggs in one basket and had to make it work.

"Brooks have been kindly been giving me sample gear. It's been a great help just to have runners on your feet. It's €120 for a pair of runners, and that's a lot of money when you haven't got it. You don't need very much to run but it's not about money.

"We run because we love it. It's nice to have a roof over your head and if you do get injured you won't be left on the shelf next year. But I don't let that bother me. I'm just hungry to run. I'm the richest man in the world if I'm running well."