Farewell to Tony, a good friend and a great athlete
Ray Flynn pays tribute to the late Anthony ‘Tony’ Leonard, who was an outstanding race walker
AHEBREW proverb tells us “say not in grief ‘he is no more’ but, in thankfulness, that he was. These are apt words this week as our athletics family mourns the loss of Anthony (Tony) Leonard.
Our new generation of athletes would probably not know Tony, but those of us who were around in the late 1970s and 1980s won’t easily forget him. He was a rival of mine as a race walker who became a personal friend. And he was no ordinary race walker as he was national 50km champion in 1985 and 1986. He is ranked 15th on the Irish 50km all-time list and is likely to stay there as the 50km has been replaced now by the 35km distance. While he was active on the national stage he became a legend in his place of employment, in the ESB, as he won the annual 50 mile walk (later reduced to 50km) on numerous occasions.
This walking race for ESB employees and their families has been held in Sligo annually since the early 1970s and was only discontinued with the onset of Covid. Tony was also a handy runner on the local scene and completed a few marathons.
It will be 40 years this May since Tony was part of a Sligo team that ran a relay from Sligo to Lourdes.
Other team members were the late Philip McGuinness, Brendan Mooney, Michael Carney and myself. We were raising money to send people with additional needs to Lourdes.
That era in athletics was one where we trained exceptionally hard but we also had great camaraderie and fun. We trained hard and partied in not quite equal measures, but the parties we had were legendary with Tony at the forefront.
The Grange four mile race used to be held on a Saturday evening and the afterparty in Barry’s became stories of folklore. Tony lived in Carney and Batty’s pub in the village was our watering hole where we would be joined by Tony’s brother, Padraig, a former chairman of North Sligo AC. Tony had a photographic memory and would often remind me of nights there not least when we brought two British international race walkers, who at 1am, gave a demonstration of good race walking technique to the astonishment of the proprietor, Batty
McMorrow, who was busy trying to clear the house!
Invariably we would retire to Tony’s nearby house for supper with a couple of swiss rolls always on the menu with Tony’s lovely wife, Anne, a great host. Tony retired from mainstream athletics – except for the ESB walk – in the late 1980s, but of course he kept exceptionally fit, walking and cycling, and always in the company of Anne. As Rev. Canon Tom Hever said in an emotional and brilliantly delivered homilu at Tony’s funeral Mass, “there wasn’t a river or a mountain around the west of Ireland that they did not cross together”.
Tony was also a keen golfer. While he had retired from athletics he still had a huge interest in the sport and on meeting him he would always ask about our current batch of athletes, those who were doing well both locally and nationally.
I know he was extremely proud of the achievements of his near neighbour Mary Cullen. He was a close follower of the local club, North Sligo AC, and that club’s legendary coach Michael Carney was a close family friend. Those are only some of the many memories I have of Tony, who was godfather to my daughter Edel. I’m sure his golfing friends, work colleagues, neighbours and many friends could also recount plenty of stories. He’ll be sadly missed by us all but most of all by his brothers and sisters, his son Anthony and his devoted wife Anne, his best friend. Rest in peace Tony.
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