Irish Olympian Boyce will support Kenny every step of the way to Tokyo and beyond
DONEGAL’S Brendan Boyce is currently Ireland’s best and most experienced race walker.
A long-distance 50km specialist, he has worn the green singlet in two Olympic Games (London 2012 and Rio 2016), as well as in three World Championships (Moscow 2013, Beijing 2015 and Doha 2019).
In last year’s event in Qatar, Boyce recorded the best performance of his international career, finishing an outstanding sixth in his discipline of choice. That makes him among the contenders who will be eyeing a potential spot on the podium in Tokyo at the rescheduled Olympics in 2021.
Now domiciled in Midleton for the past two years, Boyce has been training in Cork under Rob Heffernan since about 2012. A new stablemate in the camp is Ballyhar’s David Kenny. The Donegal man has been very impressed with what he has seen from the Kerry man.
“He has taken to it like a duck to water!” he stressed.
“He had been walking with the club in Farranfore and had just started studying in Cork. A fella in the club, Michael, sent me an email and asked me would I meet David. He had been around the junior scene for a while, but I hadn’t heard of him.
“Then he turned up for a chat at the track one evening and told me that he had walked 10km in 45 minutes. That stunned me! I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard of him. Even in senior ranks, there weren’t many walking that fast!
“He told me that he was training on his own, and that impressed me even more. It showed that he had the self-motivation and the drive.
“I told him straight away that he better get in touch with Rob. I knew myself that I wanted to immediately start training with him, that it would be great to have another pair of legs to go training with, especially in the winter time
“Sure enough, David got in touch with Rob, and we then had to see what he was made of. In 2018, we had a training camp organised, and you really need to go away for a week or ten days to show that you have the dedication.
“He was working in a shop in Killarney, but he hopped on a plane and came over to my camp for a week, just outside Madrid. I actually sent the physio to collect him in the airport! He survived the week in style.
“Last year, we went on a two-week camp and he had his Euro Under-23s last summer in Sweden. His season ended pretty early after that, because he wasn’t in the World senior championship.
“This year, he was getting ready to go on a proper four-week camp to the Sierra Nevada mountains to prepare us for the world team championships in Belarus. That got cancelled, of course, and that was a disappointment for David, that he couldn’t get away.
“But he has taken everything on board. There is never any complaining from him, he is happy to take in the entire process. He doesn’t worry about times or performances, even though he has now beaten me three times this year!”
Three times Brendan? We already knew about the National Indoor 5km and the National Outdoor 20km. Where was the other victory for the young Kerry walker?
“Yeah, we raced in France in January in a 5km indoor race. That was David’s first international indoor race, and he pipped me to the win in the closing stages!
“He’s got naturally more speed than me, but I’d fancy myself over the longer distances! Anything over the 20km anyway!” laughed the 33-year-old. “David has already proved that’s he’s got what it takes. He has the mentality.”
With Kenny not turning 22 until next January, Boyce believes that the deferral of the Tokyo Olympics for a year can only be a good thing for his training partner.
“He’s only getting better now, and every year will stand to him. The Olympics would have been a bonus for him this year. It’s so early in his career, he’s only 21. The extra year will do him good, once he’s able to keep motivated training on his own. We’re actually competing against each other now, without training together.
“He seems to be coping very well with the situation at the minute. I remember doing a training camp in Morocco in 2017. I didn’t speak to anybody for a month. Our current lifestyle is what you would impose on yourself when you are a race walker.
“It’s not a problem, unless it lasts for a good few more months. It’s the same for everyone now. You just have to figure out your own routine.”
With Boyce improving with age, and Rob Heffernan having done likewise in his illustrious walking career, does that mean that David Kenny should have all his best years much further down the line?
“Race walking is certainly one of the events that you can have a long career, if you manage the body the right way. The impact of pounding the surface is a lot less than runners.
“Rob only gets us to peak once or twice a year. You are not flogging yourself for the twelve months. It’s important to try and keep injuries at bay. Rob was winning medals in his mid-thirties. From 32 to 35, 36 years of age, he was walking at his best.
“I was late to the party myself when it came to high level training. I never got into it properly until I was 23, 24 years old, I hadn’t competed at underage level for Ireland. I was 25 when I went to the 2012 Olympics in London.
“Rob was 21 when he went to Sydney I think. David is in that range now. Next year in Tokyo will be an experience and a bonus for him. He will really be looking at Paris (2024) and Los Angeles (2028) to really make his mark.”
Before next year’s Olympics, however, a big date in David Kenny’s diary will be the European Under-23 Championships in Bergen in Norway from July 8 to 11.
“He should relish those type of events, and should be trying to win a medal,” said Boyce.
“It’s a competition with fellas of his own age. He can bring that experience through then to the senior level, so there are massive carrots ahead of David in the next few years.
“The talent is there, as is the mentality. I can see him as a fixture on the international scene for the next ten years at least, once he gets his funding of course. His national 20km victory would warrant some kind of funding for sure. Then he should be able to move onto senior funding after that. He will be finished college then, no distractions, so the potential is endless.” How good could David Kenny be? “He’s more natural than me. And I think that I can win an Olympic medal! Once he doesn’t steal my Olympic medal, he’ll be fine!”