Lucan Harriers based in the west of Dublin is a thriving athletics club, with its own track and the positive challenge of dealing with high demand.

The club was the first group that participated in the recently launched McCabes Pharmacy Fit for Life Roadshow, which lifelong member Niamh Fitzgerald explains is one of the biggest groups at the club.

“It’s quite a big group. It’s brilliant to see how many come down… They really have a big, strong drive around them,” Fitzgerald explains to Athletics Ireland.

With Vinny Murtagh and John Rabbitte taking the lead in Fit for Life, Fitzgerald explains her role lies with the juvenile age group, and Lucan Harriers have all bases covered.

The club offers training sessions for ages six and up, even taking into account that not all children want to compete, they offer a non-competitive and fun environment for training.

“I’m more involved with the athletes who go to competitions.

“And now they’re starting to move along and go into the senior ranks.”

Fitzgerald coaches with her husband, Eoin, and together they have not only raised a family, but also a generation of athletes who are now representing the club on the international stage, including their daughter Saoirse.

They each have their roles, but come together to write training plans.

“I’ll be putting out ideas or talking to the older ones. He’s [Eoin] is very good at pulling it all together for us.

“Eoin sits me down and we get the things on paper, which is great. And we’ve a bunch of other coaches in with us in that.”

Fitzgerald is in a unique position; she has been at the same club since she was a juvenile.

Leaving Ireland to attend college in the States on a scholarship before coming home and starting a family.

“Lucan was where I’d started. I’ve lived in Hillcrest since I was born.”

She has never drifted too far from the Lucan area, but the club has changed dramatically.

“A lot of neighbours in the area had been involved in the setup of the club.

“I was the youngest of a group of friends, and I begged my parents to let me go.

“We just trained in a field, like in a park, you know, but it was basically a field.

“I was made a lifetime member of the club, which is a lovely thing to get.”

Fitzgerald admits the club is lucky to have the tartan track facility, but they are now running into capacity challenges, which she feels is a privilege.

“The club is so big that you’re looking for spots on the track, nearly, at this stage.

“It’s great, it does have challenges, but we’re really in a nice position.

“We have a lot of people in the area. We’ve a core group who’ve been in this for the last 12, 13 years.

“Youngsters coming through and now into the seniors, it’s brilliant that they want to be part of it and want to push on more.”

The club has around 700 members, and Fitzgerald hopes they can tackle the waiting lists they have for places, and keep athletics popular with youngsters in the area.

“It’s wonderful to see the clubs grow and the numbers grow. But there’s a point where that becomes a little difficult.

“It’s just that you can only have so many down on the track at any one time.

“The challenges we have are they’re not unique to us… It’s the challenge of promoting athletics to make it equally as important as other sports.

“So that if a kid is playing soccer or hockey or rugby or Gaelic, you are keeping athletics on an even level with them.”

Fitzgerald is also excited about several initiatives that are active in the club, including some with a focus on female members.

“One of our club members took the initiative on International Women’s Day and tried to get a whole bunch of photos of women in sport.

“There was a picture of me and Saoirse away at an international together.

“There were some of the women who were part of a master’s world record team.

“They were all over our fence outside the track, and people were stopping to look at them.

“It reflected the community of women.

“Then there was an initiative to invite women in to have a go at different events. And it was in different languages.”

The lifetime Lucan Harriers member also completed a module in DCU on the “female athlete through the lifespan” and shared the information with the club, which is taking the lead in creating a positive environment for all women.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve started a group conversation among our younger female athletes on the importance of feeling supported & confident coming to training,  especially around their periods.

“We encourage our older females to be there also as support and maybe tell their story. We ensure they know we have their back.

“We also did an information piece on recommended exercise in peri- and post menopause.

“Especially wanting the women to know they were on the right path, being out exercising regularly, and including strength work.”

Fitzgerald explains that Lucan Harriers has a lot of motivated members who will ensure the club is around for another 35 years, it might not always be plain sailing, and that’s all part of it too!

“If you get a good community group or a good group of people who are happy to promote the sport, I think you’re on to a winner.

“You just have to be able to accept that it doesn’t always go smoothly or won’t always go the way you’d want it to go.”