Reilly providing a guiding hand on and off the track

Since Paul Reilly left his native Loughrea on an athletics scholarship to Providence College, Rhode Island, over two decades ago, he has been on quite a journey between his sporting career, work and starting a family.

Sometimes, these various strands have interwoven, particularly when it comes to family and athletics. Having already coached his wife Stephanie to the 2012 London Olympics, he is now providing a guiding hand to his 15-year-old son Marcus, a current US national champion in the 800m and mile disciplines.

Paul himself has an impressive CV as an athlete. As an underage middle-distance runner, he claimed seven All-Ireland titles between track and cross country; won a silver medal in the 1,500m at the British Amateur Championships (U-17); and won a team gold medal at the U-17 Celtic Internationals, a cross-country race he finished second in.

The former St Raphael’s College student also competed at the European Junior Cross-Country Championships in Belgium, before spending a year at Cork’s North Monastery, where he captained the school to an Irish cross-country title. In 1998, he was recruited by Providence College.

“At Providence College, I did my undergraduate in business,” he begins. “I graduated in 2002 and, then, I stayed on for two more years to do my Masters’ Degree in Education. I had some eligibility where I was able to run for an extra year. I have been in New England since.”

In addition to graduating in 2002, the Loughrea athlete competed for Ireland at the World Cross Country Championships in Leopardstown in March of that year. Reilly, whose father Gerry also represented his country, ran alongside another Galwayman, Paul McNamara.

It was at Providence College, though, that he met his wife Stephanie O’Reilly, a noted runner from Wicklow, and in early 2005 they were married. Later that year, Marcus arrived before their son Dylan was born two years later. Their third son, Luke, is two-and-a-half.

For the past 17 years, he has worked as an academic advisor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts while in his spare time has continued to run and coach.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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