This month’s club spotlight features Ace Athletics Club from County Louth.
Founded in 2018, the rapidly growing club has already built a strong community, amassing around 150 members, most of them juveniles, over a relatively short period.
Despite its youth, Ace Athletics has enjoyed remarkable success on the national stage. Several of its athletes have earned places on underage Irish teams, including Neil Culhane, Eimear Cooney, Shea O’Donnell and Lorcán Forde Dunne.
Two of those rising stars, Cooney and Forde Dunne, recently returned from a trip of a lifetime to Boston, where they both competed in the high school invitational mile, included as part of the prestigious World Indoor Tour Gold programme.
Cooney, whose father is one of Ace’s founding coaches, said the overall experience was the highlight of the event.
“It was a really good experience. It was really cool to be surrounded by all the pro athletes and the race was fun, for the time of year I’m happy enough with how it went. Hopefully, the time will go down as the year goes on, but overall, the experience was what it was all about,” Cooney explained on the Irish Athletics Podcast.
Irish athletes have been making their mark in similar events before—Cian McPhillips, for example, competed in and won the school-age mile at the Millrose Games in 2020.
Despite the high-profile setting, Cooney said she managed to stay composed thanks to the relaxed environment created by organisers.
“The whole layout of it was really cool. They treated you like the pros, nearly and you get all the kit and then the race itself was really exciting. They introduce you all of a sudden, it was very nerve-wracking, even though you think that it’s going to be really stressful, but they keep it nice and calm in the call room and you just kind of get to enjoy the experience of it.”
There were also opportunities for both athletes to meet and learn from international stars. Cooney even had the chance to spend time with one of the world’s top middle-distance athletes.
“I met Jess Hull, she was lovely and we got chatting to her a lot and she even came up to us after the race and asked us how it went,” Cooney described.
Forde Dunne had an equally memorable encounter, warming up the day before his race with Irish 1500m record holder Andrew Coscoran, who, as it turns out, attended the same school in Drogheda.
“It was just great to be a part of, just living the life of a professional and seeing how they just operate… Seeing how they all carry themselves for the race, how they all prepare. It was just a great learning experience to be a part of.,” Forde Dunne reflected.
Coscoran also shared some simple but powerful advice.
“I got to do a little bit of a pre-meet with Andrew, yeah, he was dead on… He used to go to the same school as I did, so we kind of had that connection.
“He was just saying, ‘go out and enjoy it’. It’s the main thing, take it all in and try and get as much out of it as you can because you don’t really get those experiences very often,” Forde Dunne said.
The Drogheda athlete finished seventh in a time of 4:12.35 and said he was pleased with the performance while acknowledging room to grow.
“I was happy enough, mid-table, it’s not a great result, but not a bad result. There was nothing to be disappointed about, but there was always room for improvement in every race.
“At this time of year, just getting through the race and having a decent time was a good place to be in, so I’m happy with it.”
Forde Dunne won’t be contesting a full indoor season this year, instead setting his sights firmly on the schools’ cross-country championships.
“I’ll probably just focus more on the schools cross country. I might dip my toes into indoors, might do the seniors and the juvenile championships, but I won’t put too much focus on it because there’s a long track season ahead. It’s heading towards the World U20s, which are in August.”
John Cooney, the club’s marketing and communications lead, noted that many of Ace’s younger athletes look up to Cooney and Forde Dunne as role models.
However, he stressed that the club’s ethos is centred on inclusivity and development for athletes of all abilities.
“There’s a lot of good young kids coming through from 7 years old up,” John Cooney said.
“We’re very inclusive. Young kids regardless of ability, everybody trains together. As Eimear mentioned, the younger kids would look up to the likes of Lorcan and Eimear and Shea and others.
“It’s a very inclusive club and there’s all abilities I suppose. We’re not just focused on the elite but the good thing about the club is the elite guys are training with the little kids and that’s a bit of a buzz for everybody.”
While Ace Athletics continues to thrive, it currently operates without a permanent home. Their existing training arrangements remain effective, but John Cooney confirmed that long-term development plans are already in motion.
“We have purchased an 11-acre site for a couple of years and are trying to work on various planning commissions and so on as a training ground. That’s one for the future. It’s probably a few years ahead but it’s exciting times for the club.”
Ace Athletics Club website: https://www.aceathletics.ie/
Ace Athletics club Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aceathleticclub/
(Pictures from Boston provided by Eric Bellamy)
