Rising star continues to set records

At the age of 15, Marcus Reilly is being touted as one of the next big things in athletics in the United States. That may be faze some youngsters, but not this one.

In fact, for a teenager, Reilly, a son of former Loughrea native and Ireland cross country runner Paul and of 2012 Olympian Stephanie (nee O’Reilly from Wicklow town), is taking it all in his stride. Despite all the acclaim – and the online boards festooned with messages of praise – the 800m and mile USA national champion wears this attention lightly.

“I really appreciate all the nice comments that I get, but I try not to look at that too much,” says Marcus over a Zoom call from his home in Northbridge, Massachusetts. “I don’t want my ego to be boosted and, also, there are always people that will hate on you as well.

“There are sometimes people on there in the comments that say, ‘oh, he is going to burn out in, like, four years’. So, I try not to look at all the comments and I kind of focus on my own thing.”

In addition to being a USA national champion, Reilly, who is a member of Edge Elite, a track club his parents founded, is also the reigning National Freshmen record holder in the 1,,000m and 1500m and age group world record holder (U-14) in the mile. He’s running times most athletes only dream about.

While competitive racing has been limited this past year due to the pandemic, there have been opportunities, with Reilly moving to Virginia in January to race. Although only a freshman (a first year) at Northbridge High School, he powered through fields of athletes, some of whom were three or four years older than him.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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