Young relay stars vow not to be distracted by future talk
Emerging crop of Irish sprinters tell Cliona Foley how difficult senior step up is ahead of Community Games
IRELAND’S flying sprint relay stars say they won’t let themselves be overburdened or distracted by public expectations while making the difficult transition from medal-winning teenagers to successful senior internationals.
“It is a massive jump to senior level and you can’t focus too much on how you’re going to get there,” said Gina Akpe-Moses who, at 19, was the oldest of the Irish 4x100m squad who won silver at the World Junior (U-20) Championships in Finland last month.
“You can’t force it, you have to let it flow naturally,” added Akpe-Moses, who won the European Junior 100m title last year.
“Realistically, you have a pretty basic year your first year up (senior) and I think it’s just about being patient and letting things happen,” she said after making her debut in the European Senior Championships in Berlin last week.
“It is difficult when you’re used to winning all the time and suddenly you’re not but I actually enjoy that because I don’t think you gain a lot from winning.
“I knew I wouldn’t get out of the heat at European Seniors but I wasn’t too far off and I gained a lot. There are things I need to work on and you learn much more from losing.”
SWITCH
Akpe-Moses is now moving from her family home in Birmingham to start studying psychology at the University of East London, which also entails a switch of coach and training base to the Lee Valley track.
Herself and Ciara Neville (18) also lined out for the Irish senior 4x100m team last week who only narrowly failed to make the European senior final by six hundredths of a second.
Neville, a European Youth Olympics’ champion in 2015, has just done her Leaving Cert and she stressed that the biennial European U-23 Championships were designed specifically to help talented teenagers make a successful transition to senior athletics.
“The European U-23s in Sweden next year will be a nice stepping stone to ease into as well as competing at senior,” the Limerick star said.
Brilliant anchor leg Patience Jumbo-Gula (17) from Dundalk was one of the youngest on the squad along with Tallaght’s Rhasidat Adeleke who only turns 16 next week.
They both have several more years in the junior ranks and Jumbo-Gula is about to start her Leaving Cert year.
“A lot of people have been talking about ‘2020’ and ‘2024’ and using that tag on social media,” she noted. “Yes, that’s the aim, but we can’t be thinking about that. We’re not just going to qualify automatically, we have to work really, really hard.”
Molly Scott (19), a 100m hurdle specialist, said finding the right balance in their lives will be the most important factor in any future individual or collective success.
“It’s life that can get in the way. It’s not so much what’s happening on track as getting the right structure in your life around study or work and training. That’s the hardest thing,” said the IT Carlow law student.
The squad got together for one last time this season to help promote this weekend’s Aldi Community Games National Finals in Limerick.
All of them have vivid and cherished memories of this unique Irish multi-sport event which Neville likened to “a little mini-Olympics.”
“My favourite Community Games was winning the U-12 100m final in Athlone,” Scott recalled. “I didn’t get out of my semi-final the year before but, the second time I went I won – and Gina was second! That was a big deal for me because we were competing against each other for years.
WE CAN’ T BE THINKING ABOUT ‘2020’ OR ‘2024’. THAT’S THE AIM BUT WE’RE NOT JUST GOING TO QUALIFY AUTOMATICALLY, WE HAVE TO WORK REALLY, REALLY HARD
“I was also representing Hackettstown in tag rugby and I remember running from the rugby to the track and back for the competitions.”
“I didn’t do well when I first competed at U-8 but two years later I won gold in the U-10 100m for Monaleen,” Neville recalled.
“I did every sport – soccer, rounders, tag rugby, cross-country – at local level but made it to ‘nationals’ on the track and in relays. I remember crying when I won my first gold. It was my very first All-Ireland medal.”
Akpe-Moses also has a handful of Community Games golds and won her first, at U-10 level, when she was only eight.
“I kept coming second in the rounds and was wondering what was wrong so I took off my shoes and socks and ran barefoot and won,” she remembered. “The girl that came second started to cry and I actually offered her my medal because I felt bad for winning!”
Don’t miss next Tuesday’s Irish Independent for results from the Aldi Community Games National Festival which starts on Friday