Ronnie Delany 

Hall of Fame Induction 2007

The Hall of Fame award is presented to an athlete who has achieved to the highest level and is considered world class. The recipients have transcended the sport and are sporting legends.  

Ronnie Delany was just 21 when he breasted the tape to win the Olympic 1500m gold medal in Melbourne on December 1, 1956, but he had already gained a maturity and confidence beyond his years. 

Victory in that Olympic final was the realisation of a dream that was sown many years previously. The young Ronnie dabbled in many sports but he discovered his greatest talent was in athletics. “I discovered that I had a great talent in my 18th year, when I broke two minutes for the half mile. I did this in a senior race and suddenly here I was, just a boy, beating men,” Delany recalls. 

Villanova University beckoned and his athletics career took on a new dimension when Ronnie teamed up with the legendary coach, Jumbo Elliott. He had also received excellent coaching at Crusaders Athletic Club in Dublin where another coaching legend, the late Jack Sweeney was in residence. 

But for Jumbo Elliott’s influence, Ronnie Delany might never have competed in the Olympic 1,500m as he had been essentially a half miler up to then. 

“It was on Jumbo’s insistence that I ran a mile in Dublin in the summer of 1955,” he recalls. “I ran 4.05 on wet grass in College Park, and on returning to Villanova Jumbo began to groom me for the Olympic 1,500m.” 

In Melbourne, Delany easily qualified for the 1500m final. The field was still bunched as they hit the bell and the final lap of the Olympic 1500m. A blanket could have covered the contenders at that point. Ronnie Delany was at the rear of the field but was not worried about his position. “My task was merely to stay in contact and to be very much in touch at the bell, “ he said. “I then planned to be a position to make the decisive break that would take me clear to the tape.” 

With just 180 metres to run, Delany made his decisive move. His natural speed carried him clear to breast the tape in a new Olympic record of 3.41.2. When he crossed the finish line with arms outstretched. 

In Melbourne in 1956, Ronnie Delany fulfilled his ultimate ambition. His Olympic victory remains one of the greatest of Irish sporting achievements. 

Delany, whose brilliant athletics career included an unbroken string of 40 indoor victories and a several indoor world records, remains as unassuming but totally positive as he was on that famous day in 1956 under the Australian sky. 

Eamonn Coghlan

Hall of Fame Induction 2008

The Hall of Fame award is presented to an athlete who has achieved to the highest level and is considered world class. The recipients have transcended the sport and are sporting legends.  

By any standards, Eamonn Coghlan’s 1983 was an exceptional year; first that sensational world indoor mile record of 3:49.78 for the man known universally as Chairman of the Boards, then later in the summer, the inaugural IAAF World Championship 5,000 metres title – a landmark achievement in Irish athletics. 

In those seven months period from February to August, Eamonn seemed almost invincible, and to athletics enthusiasts everywhere, but especially here in Ireland, he became one of the all-time greats. We had shared in his disappointment at finishing fourth in the 1500m at the Montreal Olympics, then four years later in Moscow, when he again finished fourth, this time in the 5,000 metres. Between the two, there was silver in the European Championships at Prague in 1978. 

That victory in Helsinki was one of the greatest moments in Irish sport. Eamonn ran the perfect race, third at the bell, making his move 300m out, and by the time they hit the home straight it was all over – 13:28.53, and the last 1,000m at sub-four minute mile pace. Everyone remembers his jubilation at the win, and at 30 years of age it was no more than he deserved. 

That win will live forever in our memories, but there were many wins, and a long series of incredible times, including his 3:36.2 for 1,500 metres and 13:19.13 for the 5,000 metres. 

He won three AAAs titles, 11 Irish Championships, the World Cup 5,000m in 1981 as well as seven Wannamaker Miles. There was a brilliant 4:54.07 world record for the 2,000 metres, and then that unforgettable swansong; the first – and to this day only – sub-four minute Masters Mile. Has any athlete ever made a more fitting exit from the arena? 

It could hardly be more appropriate that this Hall of Fame Award comes 25 years after Eamonn Coghlan’s finest hour that day in Helsinki. A well-deserved honour for a truly great athlete. 

John Treacy

Hall of Fame Induction 2009

The Hall of Fame award is presented to an athlete who has achieved to the highest level and is considered world class. The recipients have transcended the sport and are sporting legends.  

It was especially appropriate that John Treacy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, as it was the 25th anniversary of his Marathon silver medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics’ Marathon and the 30th anniversary of him retaining his World Cross Country title in 1979. 

John Treacy’s Los Angeles performance is one of the iconic achievements in Irish sporting history and it speaks volumes of his character that it came less than a year after he experienced the low of tailing off virtually last in his 10,000m heat at the World Championships in Helsinki. 

The Waterford man won the first of his two successive World Cross Country Championships in the mud and snow at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow in 1978. In 1979 on that never to be forgotten day in Irish sport – Treacy retained his World Cross Country title in front of 25,000 spectators at Limerick Racecourse. 

Treacy was never less than a fearless competitor in a 20-year international career that began as a 16-year-old when he won bronze in the Junior race at the World Cross Country Championships in Monza. He ended with another victory when he ran 2:14.40 to win the 1993 Dublin Marathon. 

Frank Murphy

Hall of Fame Induction 2014

Frank Murphy of Clonliffe Harriers will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014 at the National Athletics Awards on the 26th of November. The Hall of Fame award is presented to an athlete who has achieved to the highest level and is considered world class. The recipients have transcended the sport and are sporting legends. Murphy duly takes his place in the Hall of Fame joining fellow Irish greats Ronnie Delany, Eamonn Coghlan and John Treacy. 

International Success 

It is especially appropriate that Frank Murphy is inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014, as it is the 45th anniversary of his greatest International success winning the silver medal in the 1500m Final at the 1969 European Athletics Championships in Athens in a time of 3.39.51, a new Irish Record. Murphy’s success continued on the International stage when he claimed another silver medal; this time at the 1970 European Indoor Athletics Championships in Vienna over 1500m in a time of 3.49.0. 

In 1968 he became an Olympian representing Ireland at the Mexico Olympics in the 1500m, four years later he represented Ireland again at the 1972 Olympics in Munich over 800m and 1500m. He was also crowned national 1500m champion in 1969; his formidable record over the classic mile and metric mile distances makes Murphy an Irish middle distance running legend. 

Clonliffe Harriers AC 

Despite all the international success Murphy always stayed true to his roots competing for his club Clonliffe Harriers at national cross country and track and field championships. In the first ever Morton Mile organised by Clonliffe Harriers he placed second to the great Kenyan athlete Kip Keino in a time of 3.59.3. He ran his mile personal best of 3.58.6 in 1968 becoming Ireland’s fourth fastest ever at the time. Murphy won back to back National Mile Titles in 1966 and 1967. 

Further cementing his legendary status Murphy was one of only five Irish athletes to have ever run under 1.48 (800m), 3.40 (1500m) and 14.00 (5,000m). 

Early Career 

Murphy first rose to prominence in 1963 when he won bronze in the National Junior Cross Country Championships; he was also a multiple Irish Schools Champion. His first senior cap came in the summer of 1966 in an International match against England and Wales.  He attended Villanova University on scholarship winning the prestigious NCAA Indoor Title over 880yards in 1969; other highlights of his university career included numerous successes with his college team at the world famous Penn Relays. 

Frank O’Mara

Hall of Fame Induction 2015 

Two-time world indoor champion Frank O’Mara is to be honoured with the Hall of Fame award at the GloHealth National Athletics Awards on the 25th of November. 

Born on the 17th of July in 1960 in Limerick, O’Mara ran his first 400m race at the age of 11 before making his name as a top class middle distance runner specialising in the 1500m, 3000m and 5,000m. He became World Indoor Champion over 3000m twice, in Indianapolis in 1987 and Seville in 1991 which you can see below. He also made the world outdoor 5,000m final in Rome in 1987. He was also part of the quarted that set the 4×1 mile world record in Dublin in 1985 alongside Marcus O’Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan and Ray Flynn.  

He graduated from St Munchin’s College in 1977 and went on to run collegiately for the University of Arkansas where he won the 1500m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 1983. O’Mara continued to work for three years as an assistant coach for the University of Arkansas Track and Cross Country teams when the program won their first NCAA Triple Crown. He was inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame in 2013. 

O’Mara has been a star turn in everything he has put his mind to from business to athletics and is widely respected far and wide with the award befitting his contribution to the sport. 

Marcus O’ Sullivan

Hall of Fame Induction 2016

Marcus O’ Sullivan of Leevale AC will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at this year’s Irish Life Health National Athletics Awards. The Hall of Fame award is presented to an athlete who has achieved at the highest level and is considered world class. The recipients have transcended the sport and are sporting legends. O’Sullivan duly takes his place in the Hall of Fame joining fellow Irish greats Ronnie Delany, Eamonn Coghlan, John Treacy and Frank O’ Mara. 

Marcus is three time World Indoor 1500m Indoor Champion, winning these titles in 1987, 1989 and 1993. In his victories in 1987 and 1989, Marcus set championship records. Marcus also took home silverware at the 1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships winning silver in the 1500m. O’Sullivan qualified for four Olympic Games: 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 at both the 800m and 1500m, he reached the 1500m final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Marcus also won the prestigious Wanamaker Mile at Madison Square Garden’s Millrose Games six times (1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, and 1996). O’Sullivan, along with Irish runners Ray Flynn, Eamonn Coghlan, and Frank O’Mara established the still standing world record in the 4 x 1 mile relay, when they combined in Dublin on August 17, 1985 to run 15:49.08. 

Ray Flynn 

Hall of Fame Induction 2017 

Two-time Irish record holder Ray Flynn is to be honoured with the Hall of Fame award at this year’s Irish Life Health National Athletics Awards on Wednesday 6th December 2017. 

Flynn ran an impressive 89 sub 4 minute miles throughout his career and he is the current Irish record holder for the 1500m & mile. Flynn enjoyed a brilliant athletics career which included representing Ireland at two Olympic Games – 1980 & 1984. He was a finalist in the 5000m at the 1984 Olympics in LA. Flynn was also part of the quartet that set the 4 x 1 mile world record in Dublin in 1985 alongside previous Hall of Fame recipients Marcus O’Sullivan, Eamonn Coughlan & Frank O’Mara. Ray resides in Northeast Tennessee with his wife and children, where he is the CEO of Flynn Sports Management. Flynn is also the Meet Director for the Millrose Games in New York City, the oldest indoor meet in North America. 

Mary Purcell

Hall of Fame Induction 2018

Consider the number of training hours an elite athlete puts down in pursuit of fast times, and the sacrifices they make to be the best in their chosen event – the early morning track sessions, the late-night runs in the wind and rain, the strict diet and gym routines, and juggling all that with balancing your sport with work, the raising of children, and managing of a home. Now consider what it might take to forego all that work and those sacrifices, to give away your last chance to represent your family, your club, your country at the biggest stage of all, at the Olympic Games. 

Ireland’s first world class female athlete Mary Purcell had just won Bronze in the 1500m at the 1980 European Indoor Championships in Sindelfingen, a city in West Germany, and the Moscow Olympics were a few short months away. She was in the form of her life but instead of being focused on the ‘Games’, Purcell was weighing up whether competing in the Soviet Union against a field of athletes, many of whom had spent their lives training as part of state sponsored doping programmes, was worth the effort. 

At the Montreal Olympics 4 years earlier, Mary Purcell ran a personal best and Irish national record of 4:08.63 in the 1500m heats but swamped by an increasingly dominant pool of East German and Russian athletes she failed to progress. At 31, Purcell knew that Moscow was her last Olympic opportunity, she also knew that the times that the Eastern Bloc athletes were running were ones she was unable to match. Records were tumbling and rumours were rife. For Purcell, who studied pharmacy at UCD and now worked at LEO Laboratories in Crumlin, the drug taking was more obvious than ever. She later recalled her experiences to Ian O’Riordan for a 2018 Irish Times article, “I remember walking behind some of the Russian sprinters, and you know physiological things happen when you’re on certain substances. …. the deepening of the voice, the elongation of the face, loads of little tell-tale signs.” After her exit in the Montreal Heats, Purcell was devasted, “I just said to myself, ‘what the hell is going on here?’ It just knocked the stuffing out of me, because you just knew. There was little testing, and the testing is only as good as the analytic methods you use.” 

The hugely competitive Purcell had always been driven to find those 1%’s and to maximise her potential. Long before altitude training was a stable of every elite athlete’s programme, Purcell went on running camps at 6000ft in St. Mortiz. She was clocking up 130 miles every week, including 30 mile runs over the Dublin Mountains all under the guidance of her husband and coach Peter Purcell. The fact that Purcell worked so hard to find legitimate and legal ways to be competitive alongside her knowledge of pharmaceuticals and their potential impact on performance must have made what was happening on the international stage all the more sickening. 

Mary Purcell (nee Tracey) was the dominant female athlete in Ireland throughout the 70’s. Alongside her appearances at the Olympics in Munich 1972 (800m and 1500m) and Montreal 1976 (1500m) she also competed at two European Championships, five World Cross Country Championships, and won 13 Irish national titles. She broke 12 Irish records and went unbeaten on home soil from 1972 to 1976. 

As the Moscow Games grew closer, Purcell became more disillusioned. In the end, she quietly withdrew and began to focus on longer distances. After the birth of her second daughter in 1981, Purcell moved up to the marathon. She won the national marathon title in Limerick in 1982 and the Dublin Marathon in 1983. 

Although no athletes were caught doping at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, it was later revealed that many were using testosterone and other drugs for which tests had not been developed. A 1989 report by a committee of the Australian Senate claimed that “there is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner … who is not on one sort of drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might well have been called the Chemists’ Games”. 

In 2018, Mary Purcell was inducted into the Athletics Ireland Hall of Fame. Reflecting on her remarkable 12-year career one can’t help but swing between moments of ground-breaking success and thoughts of what might have been. 

Credit: Run Republic: Tadhg Crowley 

Sonia O’Sullivan

Hall of Fame Induction 2019

Sonia O’Sullivan, arguably Ireland’s greatest ever athlete, will both celebrate her 50th birthday and be honoured with the Hall of Fame award’ at this year’s Irish Life Health National Athletics Awards, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Blanchardstown, Dublin, on Thursday November 28th 

Sonia, who turns 50 on the day, already has so many accolades that it’s easy to forget, with each passing year, how good she really was. She sprang to prominence as a 17-year-old in Killenaule, when she won the BLE Women’s National Senior Cross-Country title. Asked that day what her ambitions in the sport were, she answered shyly: “to make the Olympics.” 

She more than achieved that, in hindsight, rather modest ambition, running in four Olympic Games, and winning a famous Silver Medal, in the 5,000m, in Sydney, in 2000. Among her achievements are three World Championship titles; in the 5,000m, on the track in Gothenburg, in 1995, double World Cross-Country Gold, in Marrakech, Morrocco, in 1998, and three European Gold Medals on the track. Her star was truly global, having also won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year, and the Golden League, now known as the Diamond League.   

Credit: Cork Athletics  

Catherina McKiernan 

Hall of Fame Induction 2022

Athletics Ireland are delighted to announce that Catherina McKiernan, regarded as one of the world’s best ever cross country athletes, will be honoured with the Hall of Fame Award at this year’s National Athletics Awards on Wednesday November 23rd at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry. 

The county Cavan native enjoyed her first major cross country success in 1988 when she won the Irish schools cross country title. From there, her career as a cross country runner blossomed, winning silver at the World Cross Country Championships four years in succession from 1992 to 1995. In 1994, Catherina won gold at the inaugural European Cross Country Championships in Alnwick, England. 

Catherina represented Ireland at the Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996. In 1997, she moved up to the marathon and ran the fastest debut ever by a woman at the time, when she won the Berlin Marathon in a new Irish record of 2.23.44. Catherina would go on to win the London marathon in 1998, while also bettering her Irish record at the Amsterdam Marathon in a time of 2.22.23NR which still ranks top of the Irish all-time list.