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Galway greenkeeper is Rio-bound for Olympics
Golf makes a return to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil next month after a 112-year absence, and while some of the world’s top players have withdrawn due to health concerns, it won’t stop a Galway man from attending after he was selected as one of three representatives of Europe’s governing body to work at the competition.
Damien Coleman, the course superintendent at the Galway Bay Golf Resort in Rinville, Oranmore, is one of three greenkeepers who have been selected by Europe’s governing body, the Royal & Ancient (R&A) to work at the games this year.
The other two R&A selections are from Spain and England, while he will also be joined by Cork native Eamonn McCarthy, who lives and works in Bali, and was selected to travel by the Asian governing body.
The Clare native, who has been working at the golf course outside Oranmore since 2008, will be one of 46 volunteers from all over the world to work at the golf in this year’s Olympics, and he admits that while he can understand people being concerned about contracting the Zika virus, it hasn’t put him off a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I did an interview with Golf Digest, and obviously the Zika issue came up. I explained it very simply – you don’t cross the road without taking precautions, you look left and right and continue to pay attention as you cross the road.
“This is the same thing: you can’t get a vaccination for Zika, but there are sprays involved and you are advised to wear long sleeves and full-length trousers, so those are the precautions you take,” he said.
He obviously discussed the trip, and possible dangers, with his wife Mary, but says she has given him his full backing to make the trip to Brazil.
“She understands what it could mean for my career, and what it means to me. This is a wonderful opportunity, it is more than 100 years since golf was last in the Olympics, and while it is also to be included in Tokyo in 2020, it might be dropped again after that.”
Contracting the Zika virus is more serious for women than for men, yet it is the men who have been withdrawing from the tournament in their droves: Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Shane Lowry, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzl, Louis Oosthuizen, Dustin Johnson, and Jordan Spieth have all claimed concerns over the virus means they will not too it up in Rio.,
At least Zimbabwe’s Brendon De Jonge has given what many feel is a more honest reason for not competing – he says it is “truly a business decision” as he needs to compete in tournaments in America to retain his tour card for next year.
Damien went to college in Preston, which is about 27 miles north of Manchester and Liverpool, where he studied Turf Grass Science. He sat his final exam on a Friday, flew back to Ireland, and began work at Galway Bay Golf Resort the following Monday.
“I have been here all of my career, and it is a great place to work. I have to say the members have been hugely supportive of me since the news broke that I was travelling to the Olympics, and I have promised them that I will write a daily blog about the experience.
“A special mention has to go to club director, Ronan Killeen. When the application process opened in January, I first had to check with Ronan about applying as it would mean taking three weeks off in August, one of the busiest times for golf courses in Ireland.
“He was hugely supportive, he didn’t hesitate to say to go for it. Ronan has poured his soul into building up the club, so for him to allow his course superintendent to miss three weeks at the height of the season says a lot about the man,” Damien explains.
When Damien was in college, he received a scholarship from the R&A, and as a result he was automatically included on their mailing list, with about 215 other greenkeepers.
He regularly gets invites to apply to work at various events, but as most of them are during the summer months, he never applied before. The Olympics was different.
“You can apply to work at tournaments like the Ryder Cup, and The Open this weekend, but we are just too busy at the course. I couldn’t pass up the chance for the Olympics, though, and when Ronan gave me his blessing, I sent in my application and got word back that I was successful,” says Damien, who is the vice-president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland, and heads a staff of seven at Galway Bay Golf Resort.
Damien lives in Ennis, and makes the daily 40-minute commute to be at the course at 5.45am every day, finishing up at 2.30pm, but he won’t be escaping an early start at the Olympics.
“We meet for breakfast at 4.30am, and start work at 6am, straight through until 6pm – for 18 consecutive days! We arrive on Thursday, August 4, and are straight into work the following day to prepare for the following Monday, which will be the first practice day for the men
“The competition is being played as a 72-hole tournament, rather than a match-play, with the men playing from Thursday August 11 to Sunday August 14.
“The next day, the ladies have their first practice day, and their competition is from Wednesday August 17 to Saturday August 20, and we fly back home two days later on the Monday,” he explains.
His travel and living costs will be covered, but he won’t be paid for the experience, while he will also be using up three weeks holidays to make the trip, but for someone who loves playing the game as much as working to give others the same enjoyment, it was an opportunity not to be missed.
He plays off a handicap of seven, having recently been cut a shot after his performance in Jacinta Quinn’s Lady Captain’s day at the club, and he is looking forward to seeing some of the world’s top golfers like Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler up close, while he also plans to try and attend some of the boxing.
“We are staying at Barra, around ten miles from the golf course, but the boxing arena is right beside it – so hopefully I’ll get to watch the likes of Katie Taylor and Paddy Barnes,” he says.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
