Former Dublin City marathon hero still going strong

Date Published: {J}

GALWAY has produced – and continues to produce – some outstanding athletes. However, if you were to pick one as the people’s champion, then Christine Kennedy would certainly merit a worthy mention.

Although a latecomer to running – only taking to the sport in her late 20s – the now 56-year-old Corofin native has always defied the odds and she still does so even to this day.

This has been recognised by the USA Track and Field’s Masters Committee, which has named Christine Kennedy (nee Boyle), now a US citizen who lives in Los Gatos in Northern California, as its Masters Athlete of the Year for 2011.

Needless to say, Kennedy is thrilled. “It’s definitely a great honour; there is no doubt,” beams Kennedy, who is due to receive her accolade at the Jesse Owens Awards and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday, December 3. “I am very proud,” she adds.

Kennedy – the first woman to win back-to-back Dublin City Marathons in 1990 and ’91 – has been chosen for this highest of honours following a string of superb performances right across the United States. She not only won the USA Masters 5km, 10km and 15km championships this year, but she also took gold in the 5,000 metres track and the marathon at the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships last summer as well.

The 5,000m event was a particularly interesting one as it pitted Kennedy against previous Jesse Owens award winner, Kathryn Martin of New York, the veteran who had dominated distances from 800 metres to the half marathon over the previous decade, winning a plethora of national and world titles.

Consequently, followers of athletics in the United States were eagerly anticipating the showdown and they were not disappointed as the Galway woman produced an explosive final lap to finish an incredible 22 seconds clear of the reigning champion.

“You know, I had heard of this girl for so long and they [pundits] always put me ahead of her or with others she was ahead of me. We had never raced each other, so when I saw her at the track, I said to myself ‘she knows how to win a 5,000 metres’.

“I hadn’t done one in years. So, I decided to tag in behind her until the last mile and I was surprised she only came with me then for half a lap [in the closing stages]. But, you know, you don’t believe these things until you cross the line. It was great. I mean, to beat the current champion like that, it felt really good.”

These days, the mother-of-two co-owns a running gear store in Los Gatos where she has made a new life for herself. It is a long way from her native Corofin and, indeed, Galway City Harriers, with which she first started her running career.

“I suppose, I was inspired years ago when I saw a married woman, Emily Dowling, win the Dublin Marathon [1981]. I wasn’t even running at that stage. I was just a stay-at-home mother with my two daughters [Fiona and Michelle] and I thought, a married woman winning the Dublin Marathon, well if she can do it, why can’t I?”

Within two years, Kennedy had firmly established herself as a formidable runner, winning such events as the Galway Marathon in a time of 2 hours, 56 minutes and 19 seconds.

In 1984, she was crowned National Marathon Champion following a string of good performances and she carried this form onto the cross country circuit where she also excelled. Indeed, she would later represent Ireland in this discipline.

It was not until 1990, though, that Christine Kennedy realised the dream she had conjured up in her sitting-room almost a decade earlier. Having secured her first national marathon title with an easy victory in a time of 2hours, 38 minutes in Clonmel in April, 1990 – two minutes clear of second placed Elizabeth Butler, John Treacy’s twin sister – she finally secured that Dublin City Marathon win she promised herself all those years before.

Kennedy came home in a time of 2:41:27, over four minutes ahead of second placed Galway City Harriers Bernie Stankard. It was a powerful display. A year later, she became the first person to successfully defend her title in an even faster time of 2:35:55. Only one other woman has done this, Russian Alina Ivanova [2006 & ‘07].

“That was a very prestigious race to run in and to win,” continues Kennedy. “I mean, the first time I won it I was hero in my village of Corofin. They had bonfires blazing and it was just a spectacular surprise when I got back home.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.