'Nothing is impossible': Blind West Cork triathlete hoping to make Tokyo 2021

Donnacha McCarthy, a triathlete who went blind at 10-years-old, is now close to qualifying the 2021 Games

Donnacha McCarthy from Drimoleague with his companion Martin Mizgajski taking part in the King of the Hill triathlon in Kinsale in 2019. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

A West Cork man is hoping to make it to the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo.

Donnacha McCarthy, a triathlete who went blind at 10-years-old, is now close to qualifying for the 2021 games. The Paralympics are due to take place on August 24 and run until September 5.

Mr McCarthy is hoping to compete in the triathlon and spoke today about qualification and losing his sight at the age of 10. Speaking to 96FM, he said he was sport mad growing up in West Cork.

However, early in 2001, he said things began to change. “I was actually at a football training session and I noticed my eyesight was a little bit blurry.

“I wasn’t really sure at the time what it was. Over the next few weeks my eyesight progressively started getting worse,” 

Mr McCarthy said he went to CUH to get his eyes checked and after an MRI scan later that day, he was diagnosed with leukemia.

He was 10 years old at the time and went on to lose his sight completely over the space of around seven weeks and he said it was “very tough”.

Mr McCarthy said: “The funny thing is, I think children are amazingly resilient.

“To be honest, I wasn’t worrying really about the immediate or the long-term effects of what being blind really meant.

All I was thinking about was when can I get back to school, when can I get out and start playing with my friends again.

Mr McCarthy said he feels it hit his family harder at the time. Admitting that around this time he hadn’t heard of the Paralympics or any kind of para-sport, he thought sport was over for him.

He said while his friends were still playing sport he felt excluded as things like weekly training sessions were “a real form of socialising”.

However, he made his "first foray into para-sport" when he came across Vision Sport Ireland and the FAI who were holding a trial for 5-a-side football for blind athletes.

The game relies on a ball with ballbearings in it so the players can hear the ball which players can track it and play.

Mr McCarthy said that it was “amazing” to be back involved in sport and to feel “part of a group again”. He then took the leap to triathlons, which he calls “a crazy progression”.

He said his first steps toward triathlons came from his then-job in Vodafone, who were sponsoring Triathlon Ireland at the time. He said colleagues encouraged him to give it a try and now he is hoping to qualify for the Paralympics.

Donnacha McCarthy from Drimoleague with his companion Martin Mizgajski taking part in the King of the Hill triathlon in Kinsale in 2019. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The triathlons Mr McCarthy competes in involve a 750m open water swim, 20km on a bike and a 5km run.

“I compete with a guide,” Mr McCarthy explained, saying that another athlete competes alongside him.

The guide is with him in the water, on a tandem bike and beside him on the run.

He said that the guide offers feedback on surroundings and guides him through the race.

McCarthy first got serious about trying to make the Paralympics when he competed in a test event in 2019 and finished 6th. He said the qualification process is ongoing and that he needs to do a minimum of three races between now and the end of June to be in with a chance of making it to Tokyo.

However, Covid-19 has meant there is uncertainty over when races will take place but he is hopeful the Games will go ahead.

“From everything we’ve been hearing from our national governing body…it’s full steam ahead for Tokyo in August.

“It’s just a case of waiting for what sort of qualification races are going to turn up.” 

Mr McCarthy said that there are a few events coming up abroad including the World Championships in May.

He said he is hoping exemptions will be given for travel as he is an elite athlete, adding quarantine wouldn’t be a problem if it was needed.

Mr McCarthy said that he never thought he would end up being close to the Paralympics and that he hopes his story can inspire others.

“Nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it.”