Matt Lockett has been appointed as Athletics Ireland’s National Endurance Coordinator, and will commence his duties in August. Matt will replace Steven Macklin, who has recently been appointed as Head Endurance Coach at the Aspire Academy in Doha, Qatar.
Originally from the North-West of England, Matt studied for a PhD in Chemical Engineering followed by teacher training at the University of Birmingham and enjoyed a number of years under the guidance of UK Marathon and Cross Country Coach, Bud Baldaro. Matt was instrumental in the resurgence of Birmingham University’s athletics squad and was integrally involved as team manager with Tipton Harriers, one of the UKs most successful endurance clubs. He began coaching on summer residential athletics camps and training his school team. Matt relocated to Galway in 2008. He joined Galway City Harriers and immediately made an impact in a coaching capacity, while teaching in Coláiste Éinde, where he coached athletes to numerous regional medals and the Cross Country team to their first All-Ireland medals.
Since then he has coached numerous athletes, u16 through to Masters, to national medals and international representation. In recent years Matt has increasingly focused on coaching GCH U20 and NUI Galway endurance athletes, guiding the GCH athletes to the U20 and U16 all-Ireland Cross Country team titles in 2017. Matt has also been involved with AAI’s national and regional Endurance Structures where he has led the Connacht U20 Endurance Camps as a lead coach and has been part of the AAI support team for European Cross Country Championships, European Youth Olympic, Celtic Cross Country Championships and, most recently, World U20 Championships.