Ireland's Brian Fay at ease in discomfort

DIGGING IN: Brian Fay competing in last year’s Senior Men’s 10,000m during the European Cross Country Championships at the Sport
Ireland Campus in Dublin. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Those who know Brian Fay will tell you there are two sides to him. There’s Fay the person, the 24-year-old Dubliner with choir-boy manners and a quiet, calm modesty that belies his ability. Then there’s Fay the athlete, a ruthless, chip-on-his-shoulder competitor who looks at his rivals, no matter how accomplished, and asks why the hell he shouldn’t beat them.

During Fay’s years at Belvedere College, PE teacher and athletics coach Ronan Duggan got to know both. “There’s the guy who can come in and chat about West Ham, who always asks how you are, what’s going on in your life, which, for a runner, is rare,” says Duggan. “Then, in races, you see this absolute animal who can put himself through serious, serious pain and churn out seriously classy performances.” 

When Fay is fatigued, his head tilts back, his teeth clenched in a snarl. Most athletes reach that point very late in a race. The thing about Fay? He can get there mid-race, but then stay there, digging in, finding something. Last weekend he became the fastest Irish indoor 5000m runner of all time, clocking 13:16.77, while his outdoor best of 13:16.52 in April made him fifth fastest ever. Fay led the Irish men home at last year’s European Cross Country in Dublin, finishing 10th, and there’s a strong chance he’ll do the same at this year’s edition in Piemonte, Italy, tomorrow.

A glance across his results shows an athlete seemingly immune to under-performance. His races tend to alternate between solid and superb. Where do the roots of that consistent competitor lie? Without getting too Freudian here, it likely goes back to his childhood.

Fay is a quadruplet, and that four-way sibling rivalry likely helped foster a competitive streak, one that was amplified when he found his way to running. Few secondary schools are as good as Belvedere at exposing youngsters to different fields, and in first year there Fay was one of 80 or 90 kids Duggan tried out in athletics. Fay dabbled in the sport in the years that followed, but it was only heading into fifth year that he went from one day a week of training to three, then to six during his Leaving Cert year. He improved slowly, then rapidly.

“He had intelligence in how he trains, being as relaxed as possible and being very, very controlled in everything he did,” says Duggan. “But he had the ability to go to a whole different plane of pain in the race – that determination to take on lads better known. He came into it so late that he had this bite against guys who’d been there who were in a clique, involved in Athletics Ireland camps, and then this guy came out of nowhere, finished fifth in the All Ireland Schools Cross Country, then a year later runs a four-minute mile.” 

By then, Duggan had handed the coaching reins over to Feidhlim Kelly, whose Dublin Track Club group proved the perfect fit while Fay was studying at DCU. Fay spent four years training with Ireland’s best until he became one of them himself, and with his degree completed he set off for Seattle last year, where he’s completing a master’s at the University of Washington, coached by Andy Powell.

Looking back, Fay knows being given time to develop before going into the NCAA proved key. “It was good that I did four years with Feidhlim,” he says. “He brought me from a schoolboy all the way up to a very good international athlete. I needed those years just to get going and then it meant that I could actually have a big impact on the NCAAs. All of the work I did (in Ireland) is transpiring in my running in America.” 

With each passing month, his status is growing. Last April a clip of Fay producing a miracle comeback in a collegiate 5000m race, winning with a 55-second last lap, went viral in the running world. A few weeks later he ran into Frank O’Mara, a two-time world indoor champion from Limerick, while at the regionals in Arkansas, who knew all about him.

“He was very supportive of my running and to have him supportive is class,” says Fay. “You feel like you're going in the right direction.” At the European Championships in August, Fay finished eighth in the 5000m, won by Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who will be back in opposition tomorrow in Italy. For Fay, the autumn was built around last month’s NCAA Cross Country, where he was the leading Irishman in 13th. While an individual medal is likely beyond him tomorrow, Fay is tracking towards an achievement like that in the years ahead.

“I’d be hoping to be a little more competitive, that’s certainly my game plan,” he says. “I slow-played the season a bit, kept my mileage quite high, so I am that bit sharper now. A lot of NCAA guys are spent when they get to this stage. I feel like I’m only getting started.” 

He looks at the talent in the Irish ranks and, despite the class among rival nations, he sees no reason not to dream of a team medal. The boy he was is still present in the man he’s become. “I think we have a chance,” he says. “We can stick it up to these guys and give them a run for their money.” 

It will be fast from the start, and anyone not named Ingebrigtsen will be in a world of hurt by halfway. But Fay is already on first-name terms with that feeling. At home in the dark place. At ease in the discomfort. Ready to dig as deep as ever.