Ormond Special Olympics Club Athletes excel at Ireland Games
After months of training and preparation with their local Club and some tough training sessions with the full Munster Athletics squad, the day finally arrived for 8 local Special Olympics athletes to set off to compete in the Ireland Games in Dublin.
The scene is set for an early start on Thursday 14th June last, from the Tipp FM offices in Pearse Street, Nenagh. Nervous interviews with Fran Curry are safely negotiated. Kitbags and luggage are loaded onto the bus. Many of these young athletes have never stayed away from parents before. They have certainly never experienced what they will participate in this weekend.
An Garda Siochana provide an escort for the bus from the town as the athletes wave Ireland flags out of the bus windows, family members and supporters shed a tear as the team head away. The adventure has begun.
Opening Ceremony- Tallaght Stadium, Dublin - Thursday 14 June
The stadium is filled to capacity. The nervous tension is palpable. Proud and emotional family members and supporters await impatiently. The opening ceremony of the biggest sporting event in Ireland this year is beginning.
The cavalcade of athletes on double decker buses arrives from DCU. Moira Moran from Templetuohy proudly carries the Special Olympics flag into the arena. The stadium erupts as Team Munster enters to join over 1600 athletes from all over Ireland.
Coaches Brid Mackey and Annagh Roche lead out the Ormond Club athletes. The Olympic flame arrives after the Garda Torch Run all around the country. Pauline Nugent, Head Coach, Munster Athletics, accompanies the torch bearer on its final journey around the stadium.
President Michael D. Higgins welcomes all the athletes as the Olympic Flame is lit. Athletes are then entertained by Jake Carter. Let the Games Begin!!
Day 1 - Competition Divisioning – Morton Stadium, Santry - Friday 15 June
After a restless first night at their accommodation in DCU, nervous but focused determined faces enter the stadium. The bright red of the Munster Team kit immediately brightens conditions.
Volunteers and officials are getting ready to organise, direct, adjudicate, time, measure. Today’s heats will determine which division the athletes will be in over the next two days and who they will be competing against from other regions. Already some of the more seasoned competitors are recognising faces from previous encounters. Hands are shaken, high fives exchanged, backs are patted, smiles radiate all around. Newer athletes are settling in. This is much bigger than they ever imagined.
Competition continues through the day. It is fiercely competitive but sporting and fair. Tired after the days exertions, athletes and coaches are going back to buses to DCU, to eat, to socialise at the entertainment and disco. For coaches to attend meetings, to check how it is going, but most importantly for everyone to get a good early night and try to sleep before the big days to come.
Day 2 - Competition, Morton Stadium, Santry - Saturday 16 June
Aife Dalton, was the youngest competitor from the Ormond club. It was her first time in a national competition but she has no time to be nervous in the Javelin and following three throws, performs superbly well and wins a silver medal.
Rachel Ryan from Templemore is soon away in the 200m. A veteran of national and international competition, Rachel is at her best on the big stage and never fails to deliver. A strong division can not live with her elegant speed as he wins gold..
Aisling Maher from Moyne is next up for her Javelin final. Aisling tops her division by launching one of the longest throws of the games to claim gold.
Moira Moran featured in the Long Jump. One of the best female Special Olympics long jumpers in Ireland, she is competing against some strong males in her division. Undaunted she jumps to a personal best but misses out on first place by only centimetres, but still claimed a well deserved silver medal.
Next up in her division of the Long Jump was Niamh Slattery from Ballywilliam. Debuting at this level (competing against, amongst others, her best friend from Redhill School, Limerick). Again, fractions short of first place, but finishes with a tremendous leap to win the silver medal.
Later in the afternoon, Rachel Ryan is back on the start line for her 400m final. Again, never disappoints at this level, getting off to a great start and leads all the way and wins her second gold medal comfortably.
Within minutes her younger brother, William Ryan, is stepping out his Javelin final. Not to be outdone by his sister, William keeps his focus and concentration to bring home another Gold medal for the delighted Ryan family.
As the day draws on, Kieran Doughan from Cloughjordan and James Brennan from Ballingarry finally get their moment in the spotlight. Drawn against each other in a very powerful division. Kieran’s throw is one of the longest of the day, but he misses out on a technicality. James also hits technical issues but both are happy to be rewarded with well earned participation ribbons.
Day 3 – Morton Stadium, Santry - Sunday 17 June
Aife Dalton is one of the first at the start line for the 100m. The conditions are not ideal for sprinting. Wet track and a blustery wind. Tough for a relatively inexperienced athlete. At trackside her mother and club coach, Annagh, nervously awaits the starter’s pistol. The gun echoes around the stadium. Aife defies the elements and she storms home to win the gold medal.
In quick succession, Niamh Slattery is at the start line for her 100m race. Conditions are worsening. The starter’s pistol goes off and Niamh slips slightly at the start line on the wet track. It is a strong division and despite her best efforts to recover she misses out on a medal by less than one tenth of a second, finishing 4th.
The conditions forced a 30 minute delay before Aisling Maher and Moira Moran have been drawn against each other in a tough 100m division. Undaunted by the conditions, Aisling gets off to a great start and leads all the way, powering towards the finish line to take her second gold medal of the Games.
Moira is in a tough battle for second place but had to settle for bronze, her second medal of the Games.
Next up was James Brennan in the 100m. This is his first National competition. Cheered on by his parents Helen and Liam in the stand, he battles all the way to the finish line against a strong field to take home a silver medal to Ballingarry.
William Ryan is quickly on the start line. In a field comprising one runner from Leinster and three from Munster, William pushes hard for a place on the podium. He and his family are delighted to add a bronze medal in the 100m to the gold in the Javelin.
Kieran Doughan has been drawn in one of the toughest fields of the day with seven runners. It is a very fast final with Kieran in a photo finish for the bronze medal but finished in sixth
The first 4x100m relay sees Munster Team 1 compete against Munster Team 2 and a team from Leinster. Munster Team 1 is strong and comprises experienced Ormond Club athletes, Moira Moran, Rachel Ryan and Aisling Maher, alongside a 16-year-old rising track star from Cork, Eureka B Okoro. Munster Team 2 includes Ballywilliam’s own rising athletics star Niamh Slattery.
Munster Team 1 fulfil all expectations by cruising to a brilliant Gold medal in a time for which confirmation is expected as a Special Olympics national record for the event. Munster Team 2, thanks in no small part to a tremendous finishing leg from Niamh Slattery, come in a close third for bronze.
The boys were then out for their 4x100m relay. James Brennan and Kieran Doughan both feature in a fancied Munster team. It is very close after Kieran’s first leg. As they reach the baton handover zone the athlete in lane 2 crosses into Kieran’s lane. They both stumble before trying to recover. By the time James receives the baton for the third leg his team have it all to do. He runs well and makes up ground. By the finish line all their effort is not enough to break into a medal position as they finish fifth. An appeal is submitted due to the accidental impeding with is upheld and the lads are moved up to 4th place and are delighted to receive their ribbons.
The Games finishing with the mixed team relay. Aife Dalton is running the second leg. She makes up a lot of ground after receiving the baton. This helps ensure her team win silver in a very close race to the finish line. A third medal and a hugely successful Games debut for an increasingly competitive young athlete.
Closing Ceremony
Emotions are running high as we say goodbye to Santry Stadium and the Ireland Games 2018. Thank you speeches are being applauded and cheered. The volunteers and officials have been tremendous in their efficiency, support and respect for athletes and coaches. Athletes are in tears as they watch the Olympic Flame being taken away. Flags are coming down as the evening sun begins to lower in the skyline.
Athletes don’t want the celebrations to ever finish. Eventually they trudge, weary but triumphant, with their kit bags to their transport home to all parts of the country.
Memories are shared as the bus heads away from Dublin towards Nenagh, family reunions and home. The planned stop for refreshments were postponed until the Obama Plaza, Moneygall where they met up with two other busses from Team Munster. The Plaza has never seen so many medals and performance ribbons, worn by so many proud and newly wide-awake athletes.
Now ready for the short hop back to Nenagh.
Homecoming - Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh
Hotel reception shows off the Ormond Club Special Olympics banners. The red carpet is unfurled. Balloons float at the front door. Families and supporters fill the area, jubilant but speaking in whispered tones. The excitement is building. Word goes round that the returning heroes are close.
Suddenly in a whirl of blue flashing lights and blaring two tone sirens, as the Garda escort sweeps into the grounds of the hotel, followed by the team bus. Cameras flash and cheers resound. The applause is deafening as the bus draws to a halt.
In a blaze of gold, silver, bronze medals as well as ribbons, the athletes and their coaches step from the bus. Full of pride and emotion, families rush forward to hug their returning loved ones. The athletes look totally fresh even after all their exertions of the weekend, the coaches look a bit spaced out as it has been a tough few days of responsibility. All line up in the hotel grounds for final team photos showing off the well deserved rewards for all their efforts.
Inside hotel reception, the volume is noticeably louder now that all have been reunited. Liadhan Hassett, Ormond Club Secretary, thanks Head Coach Pauline Nugent as well as Coach/Chaperones Annagh Roche and Brid Mackey for all their dedication and hard work. Flowers are presented with gratitude from the families, together with gifts.
Never lost for words, Pauline Nugent responds on behalf of the coaching team who thanks all Club volunteers for the hard work and dedication they have shown in recent times. She thankes all the athletes for their sportsmanship and behaviour, not only during the Games but in all the training sessions in the build up.
She also congratulated Ormond Club athlete Lucy O’Neill from Nenag who represented Limerick SO Swimming Club on the Munster team at the National Aquatic Centre where she won a Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in the 50m freestyle, backstroke and relay.
Reluctantly cars carrying happy parents and athletes begin to filter away from the hotel towards home. Most have medals, some have less, some have none, but all “have been brave in the attempt.”
The Ireland Games 2018 are over. Selections for the Ireland team to travel to the World Games in Abu Dhabi in March 2019 now enter the heads of all involved. The team is breaking up after a hugely successful weekend. But the Ormond Special Olympics Club will be getting back to training in September after a summer break when all will be starting to train again for the next four year cycle.
In the words of the Special Olympics oath: “Let me Win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt. “May we never have to say goodbye.”
The memories of Ireland Games 2018 will never fade.
More photos in the newspaper edition