Sonia still a Rebel with a cause

ALL ON its own, a list of Sonia O’Sullivan’s achievements would fill this article.

So we’ll settle for an abbreviated summary: broke every Irish record from 800m to half-marathon!; gold medals won in every international championship you care to name, including a cross-country double on the long and short course in the world championships of 1998; denied Olympic gold by a tummy bug in 1996, denied on other occasions by people whose activities subsequently came under suspicion. But still won silver in 2000, in her third Olympics and was the fastest woman in the world year after year over a variety of distances. She set numerous world records, and still holds the record for the 2,000m (8:21.64, set in July 1994).

And yet just a couple of weeks ago, in the CIT track in Cork, there she was, with a group of the most casual runners you could ever come across, talking, laughing, joking, cajoling, just one of the gang as she put them through their paces.

The occasion was a supervised training session for the upcoming Bord Gáis-sponsored Cork City Marathon, which will be held this year, as usual, on the Monday of the June Bank holiday weekend.

It’s become a major event in the city, and it’s gaining a reputation internationally, but Sonia — a proud Corkwoman always — would like to see it grow even more. “When people ask me where I’m from, I say Cork, but then I say that I’m actually from a small town outside of Cork called Cobh, and I go on to explain about Cobh.

“I’ve always considered it home — I was talking to my mother this morning and I said ‘I’ll be home later’. And that will always be the case, Cobh will always be home for me, regardless of where I live, I don’t think that will ever change. It’s one of the things you grow up with in Ireland, being proud of where you come from — I’m from Cobh, from Cork, and then Ireland is the bigger picture.

“A marathon can give a city an international identity, and in Cork now it’s really big. I was surprised when I first ran it a few years ago, I was just amazed. I was down at the start in the morning but I was part of a relay team, the last leg, so I went off and waited for my team to reach the point where I was taking over — I was amazed at the crowds.

“When you came into Patrick Street, it was fantastic.

“It’s a very natural finishing street, a great feeling to it, and I knew then that this was something we could build on. There are things that people want to do in their lives, a wishlist if you like — this should be one of them, especially if you’re Irish, most especially if you’re from Cork. Be a part of it.”

In her pomp Sonia was driven by a ferocious competitive streak, so driven that on several occasions, even when the race for a medal was long lost, she would still keep going. The 5k final in the 2004 Olympics in Athens comes to mind when Sonia, suffering from debilitating injury, kept going to the last, and last she was of the 14 finishers, but her courage was rewarded with a huge ovation from the Athens crowd.

Though she’ll start this years marathon as one of the favourites, she’s playing down her chances. “I’d be very competitive, though I don’t always set out to be — it just happens. Even (today), when we were going the four ‘normal’ laps, we were just running along but when you do the fast 400m — I mean I wouldn’t go flat out, and I don’t have to be in the lead, but I wasn’t going to let anyone go past me either.

“Events like this marathon are an outlet; I will be competing, but I know I’m going to have to contain myself for the second half of the race. It’s Cork, I’ll be aware of the home crowd, and the temptation then will be to try and win it, but I can’t take the risk in the first half that I’ll be able to do that; yes I’ll be able to keep up with whoever is running that fast pace, but they may be genuine marathon runners, able to keep it going, while I fall apart. I’ve always said I want to run the Cork marathon but I want to look good coming down the finishing straight! I don’t want to be in bits, I don’t want to be a wreck; I want to prepare for it, I want to do it properly, but I also have to know my own limitations.”!

She is also running for a cause; the Children’s Leukaemia Association. Anyone at a loose end in the marathon is invited to join her team, with all funds raised going to the foundation. To sign up to Team Sonia!, email your name, address and phone number, with four lines on why you are running, to [e-mail]. To sponsor Sonia, visit www.mycharity.ie/soniaosullivan