Stories behind the champions: A National Championship mini-series

Niamh Fogarty is looking forward to the 123.ie National Senior Championship on the in August bank holiday weekend because it’s an opportunity for her family of nine to come together for the first time in years.

Although she does reveal her mother does have to ask “was that good” after every throw!

“Sometimes my mother doesn’t really know what’s going on, but she’s like, ‘is that far?’”, Fogarty laughs.

They may not always be clued in, but the Fogarty crew will be out in force on the second and third of August to support their sister and daughter, with Fogarty also recently receiving the title of aunt.

“It’s been a long time since all of us have been home. My sister used to live in Canada and my brother travels a lot.

“It’ll be probably the first time in a long time that all of us are home together with an addition of a niece as well.”

Fogarty will be chasing her seventh title at this year’s event, but fondly remembers the first time she made the podium in 2016.

“I remember the first time I stood on a podium at nationals, but my first medal was bronze.

“Claire (Fitzgerald) was top dog at the time, throwing 53 or four. So, it took a lot for me to even make a podium. I threw 47 in the last round or the second last round.

“I have a picture of me on the podium, Claire’s standing on top, and I’m on third, and it just looks so funny because she’s quite a tall woman… It just looked so funny.”

She won the event for the first time the following year and hasn’t looked back. Racking up another five titles, even claiming a bronze in the shot put in last year’s championships, as well as her usual discus title.

This year might feel a bit different. Fogarty now comes into the event as a national record holder for the first time and will see her name in the ‘NR’ slot on the entries.

“I know I shouldn’t put that pressure on myself… I think there’ll be a little bit more attention on me than normal. And I don’t mind that, it’s just about kind of learning to deal with other people’s expectations.

“I have expectations for myself, which is just to go out and perform, get a good throw, win, and get some good points for Tokyo.

“Nobody really remembers what you throw; they’ll just remember who the national champion is.”

In April of this year, Fogarty broke Patricia Walsh’s 41-year-old national record, and she reveals she received an email from her predecessor and hopes her own 58.40m mark will inspire the next generation of discus throwers.

“I actually got an email from Patricia herself to congratulate me on the record.

“I said to her that when I replied, her record indirectly pushed me to be the lead I am, or that was always a goal of mine.

“I hope that the record that I’ve set will also push someone else.”

Fogarty set the new national record mark in a throws meet in Oklahoma, but says her reaction wasn’t as emotional as throwing 55 metres for the first time last season.

“There were a lot of tears shed when I threw 55 meters because I waited for so long to throw that.

“It was two years where I had built on my national title to having thrown 52. Then I threw 53 and then the following year 53 again, but it was only a couple of centimetres difference. There wasn’t really much progress.

“It was in between that injury and COVID and it was just a weird time, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘my God, am I ever going to throw 54 meters? ‘”

It was during that “weird” time that Fogarty decided change was necessary.

She made the move to Denmark to be coached by Michael Bruun Jepsen at the large athletics club Hvidovre Atletik og Motion in a suburb of the Danish capital.

“I reached out to my late coach, Michael… Eventually, I made the move over here, but I ended up not throwing 54m at all. I ended up going from a PB of 53m to 55m.

“That was, that was very emotional because it felt like I was waiting forever to have that breakthrough…. I got to celebrate it with my training partner, Anne-Sophie.”

Fogarty’s coach, Jepsen, sadly passed away a few days after her first competition of the year, representing Ireland at the European Throwing Cup in Cyprus, leaving her with no one to celebrate with immediately after throwing the record-breaking distance.

“It was bittersweet… When I walked out of the ring, the guy who was calling out the results… My brain registered that as 55 metres. I was disappointed.

“My training partner was looking at me, and she was smiling and clapping.

“Everyone else was cheering for me. I just turned around. I was like, ‘wait, did you say 58.40m?’ And he goes, ‘I sure did’.

“I was just so overwhelmed, obviously my coach, Michael, wasn’t there. He was the guy that I had always planned or saw myself celebrating with.

“So, when he’s not there… I was like, ‘who do I celebrate this with?’”

The plan for this year’s nationals is to retain her title and get an elusive three-in-a-row golds, which previously have been missed due to injury.

Fogarty is also relishing returning to the infield within the stadium, where she hopes eyes continue to linger in this golden age of Irish throws.

“We were inside the stadium last year was the first time as well… Not kind of out where nobody can see us.

“I think that in itself also brings a little bit more attention to what’s happening because it is exciting.

“It’s nice that we’re inside with the rest of the events because you also soak up that atmosphere, and that’s also important for performing as well.”

Listen to the Irish Athletics Podcast National Champions mini-series now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/28hwZt5k32fpeGUlgQ2N5V?si=11VzgpmsSjq44AXgsYO_7w