Gamble pays off for Campbell

LAST year David Campbell made what might have seemed a disastrous financial decision — particularly for someone with a Masters Degree in Finance — when he sold up all his possessions and went to South Africa to pursue a career in athletics.

He sold his car and almost all his possessions but, in two weeks, the 24-year-old Kilcock man will reap the rewards when he lines up for the 800m at the European Track & Field Championships in Gothenburg.

Yesterday he was named in a team of 29 Irish athletes for the championships.

The team includes Derval O’Rourke, the world indoor 60m hurdles champion, European indoor champions David Gillick (400m) and Alistair Cragg (3,000m) as well as a men’s 4 x 400m relay team that reflects Ireland’s strength in one lap running, and a women’s 4 x 100m relay team.

There are two 800m runners and we have to go back to the European Championships of 1998 to find a multiple Irish entry in that event. That year James McIlroy, James Nolan and David Matthews all made the semi-final stages and McIlroy, who later declared for Britain, finished fourth in the final.

This time around the first two in the final of the Woodies DIY National Championships will line up in Gothenburg: Thomas Chamney from Clonmel and David Campbell.

“It is a dream come true,” Campbell said. “A couple of years ago I had more or less quit the sport to concentrate on my studies (Finance at Maynooth). “But, out of the blue, I got a call from James Nolan to join him at the Olympic training camp in Cyprus. He had a few sessions to do to finalise his preparations for the Athens Olympics and he wanted a pacemaker.

“James Nolan was my hero and here he was asking me for help. I could not refuse. I went and I think that was what turned things around for me.”

He completed his studies at Maynooth and then went to DCU to study a Masters but he did not hang around long enough to attend his graduation. “I sold my car, I sold everything and I went to South Africa. Once I got there I put the head down. It was tough down there. I was on my tod. I could not get home for Christmas and then when my grandmother died I could not afford to come home for her funeral.”

But he was training alongside some big names in the athletics world.

“I discovered this game is all about being hungry. I began to realise that those guys were not unbeatable.”

Before going to South Africa his personal best was a modest 1:50.36. Post South Africa his form took a dramatic leap forward. He set out with a 1:49.31 in Arnheim at the end of May, then 1:48.88 in Uden a few days later and his 1:46.99 in Solihull on June 24 established him among the top 10 on the Irish all-time list.”

Gary Ryan, who competed at the European championships in Budapest and Munich will captain the team in Gothenburg, his final appearance at this level. He is now director of development with Athletics Ireland.

Paul Hession, who missed the championships at the weekend with an injury, is expected to be fully fit and has been named, as has Ciara Sheehy who was also out through injury.

Otherwise the selectors stood by the criteria of current form and fitness and this means that they did not include 100m sprinter, Jer O’Donoghue while Ailish McSweeney was omitted from the women’s 100m but has been named in the 4 x 100m relay squad along with her Leevale clubmate, Derval O’Rourke, and Joanne Cuddihy.

Other notable absentees are Mark Carroll, who retired from track competition at the weekend, injured 400m runners Tomas Coman and Rob Daly, Keith Kelly who has moved to a new job and is unavailable, women’s middle distance stars Sonia O’Sullivan, Joelene Byrne (injured) and Maria McCambridge (injured) and Sinead Delahunty-Evans.

Derval O’Rourke will compete in the 100m hurdles in Stockholm tonight and will compete in Helsinki tomorrow night. James Nolan is set to join Alistair Cragg in the 1500m in Crystal Palace on Friday night.