Jones to get Irish athletics back in shape

MAX JONES, Ireland’s new Director of Athletics and the man entrusted with the task of breathing new life into the sport, will soon travel around the country to meet the coaches and volunteers.

He has already met some of the main people involved — the Chair of High Performance, Liam Hennessy, National Team Manager Patsy McGonagle and Gary Ryan.

He spent 24 years with UK Athletics — seven as High Performance Director — and he brings a wealth of experience to his new position.

“I know what the problems are in Britain but that is no good,” he said yesterday. “I must assess what the problems are in Ireland and address those.”

He has already targeted three areas - talent discovery, coaching and the further development of a sound structure, but he knows well this is not an overnight job.

He will be building on the cornerstone of Irish athletics - the volunteer element — and working to improve the lot of coaches.

“There are some very good coaches and the important thing is to upgrade coaches,” he said. “People tell me that nothing has happened in this area for the six years so there is bound to be a bit of a backlog.”

Field event coaches are pretty thin on the ground so this is an area of particular interest to him.

“If you don’t have a pole vault coach you don’t have pole vaulters,” he said.

“In Ireland there are a number of quality endurance coaches and sprint coaches but it is quite obvious that there are not enough field event coaches.”

Meanwhile Mark Carroll will be among 15 sub four-minute milers who will line up for the Kip Keino Mile — a charity event — in Ithaca in upstate New York on May 13.

The Leevale man may have run his last track race at The Mardyke but is not ready to retire just yet.

In fact he has the standard for next year’s Olympic marathon as his target and is hoping to achieve it at one of the big races next autumn.

“I would not dream of going to a major championships without having achieved the standard,” he said. “I would like to get this standard and run a few good half marathons and 10k races.”

Irish marathon running has been at a low ebb in recent years but he predicts a major breakthrough in the near future.

“Martin Fagan from Mullingar has the potential to be a serious marathon runner,” he said. “He has all the right credentials and Joe McAllister is another who should be capable of running a really good marathon.”