Making mighty strides in New Ross since ’76
IN 1976, New Ross Athletic Club began life, with our current coach Mel Heynen (also the club’s sole honorary lifetime member), and New Ross native John Delaney, among the founder members.
The club amalgamated with other clubs in the locality and, during the 1980s, adopting the United Strider Athletic Club name (U.S.A.C.).
There was lots of success in the early years, with both the Senior and the Juvenile sections thriving. The club earned a strong reputation in middle/long distance events and produced several athletes who gained success at national level, including Olympians Andy Ronan and Jimmy McDonald.
However, in the early 2000s membership dropped to single figures and, for a number of years, the club had no representation at the county flagship events.
In 2008, the club made significant changes that would lead to U.S.A.C. re-establishing itself as one of the most prominent athletics outfits in the south-east.
We now have over 280 members, in thriving Senior and Juvenile sections. Participation at training sessions pre-lockdown were at all-time highs, with all age groups achieving success in the various running, throwing, jumping and walking disciplines.
Kathleen Flannelly was pivotal in the organisation of a new committee, improved structure around our training sessions, and an aggressive Juvenile recruitment drive, some ten or so years ago, that laid the foundation for a turnaround in club fortunes.
With a small squad of under-age athletes, the club returned to competition in the late 2000s, competing in the Wexford Juvenile track and field and cross-country events.
Around that time, the club’s Senior section consisted of a handful of dedicated middle distance athletes, but rarely enough to make up a team at county road and cross-country events.
Colin Byrne and Athletics Ireland were of great support in establishing good practices and helped a number of our coaches attain A.A.I. coaching certification at this time.
Juvenile training sessions mushroomed in popularity, with children having great fun and gaining exposure to all the various athletics disciplines.
In competition, the Striders Juveniles were starting to achieve some great results at county, provincial and even national level.
Meanwhile, the club Senior sections were undergoing a similar resurgence, acquiring new members and starting to make an impact in competition again.
Fast forward to 2020 and the United Striders has never been in better health. Placing a strong focus on the long-term development of young athletes and providing a pathway for them to progress on to a thriving Senior section is starting to reap rewards.
In 2018, the first of our athletes who came through our Juvenile system following the 2008 restructure represented the club at Senior level, in the Wexford cross-country championships.
At Juvenile level, we measure our success in terms of the participation at training and the retention of our members each year. Our levels of participation would be the envy of many a club, with over one hundred Juveniles training on the track every Wednesday evening, no matter the weather, prior to Covid-19.
This is largely attributable to the dedication and hard work of our coaching team, with a huge depth of experience and knowledge, ensuring that all training sessions are well planned, fun and focused on the long-term development of our athletes.
It all starts with our youngest members (seven to ten years), coached by head coach Brendan Murphy and assisted by Lettie, Beth, Mary and Caroline. Brendan does a tremendous job at providing this group with as much fun as possible whilst also developing their fitness and love for the sport.
After years of fun and after achieving a certain level of fitness, our young members progress to our development group, coached by Emma Hewlett and Sonya Byrne, where each athlete’s skills at the various disciplines and love for the sport are nurtured and developed for many years.
Pre-lockdown, this group of youngsters could often be heard singing out loud, with joy and merriment, while striding through the town of New Ross on their weekly run.
As they mature through to their teenage years, the children move on and are trained by head coaches Ted Flannelly and Mel Heynen, who between them have over 50 years of coaching experience. Their love and passion for running exudes from every pore in their bodies, and that passion is transmitted to all our athletes.
Both very accomplished runners in the past, Ted and Mel are widely respected for their coaching abilities and they take pride in assessing everyone’s needs, ensuring that they all get the most from each training session.
They are assisted by Kathleen, Linda and Elaine, whose hard work and dedication greatly contributes to the club’s success.
Mel also had a dedicated session on Monday afternoons for secondary school athletes, with assistant coaches Gavin, Sonya and Elaine - a great training session where the banter and craic was a constant.
We have been lucky enough in the past few years to have been joined by Vance O’Reilly who brings a vast wealth of knowledge and experience as our sprint and field events head coach.
Vance is assisted by Nora Muldoon in offering training to our athletes that want to specialise in sprint or a field event.
Due to the hard work and dedication of our coaches and several parents, the club was holding five coaching sessions a week for our Juvenile members.
The Chairman, Conrad Shannon, with the help of Athletics Ireland, started an initiative in 2018 to get Junior members on a coaching development programme, and we now have 23 Junior coaches who have been awarded either the athletics leader or assistant coach certificate, or both.
These Junior coaches are actively involved with coaching newest members in our Saturday morning sessions, supported by our Senior coaches, Brendan and Paddy.
The club has great support from all the parents of our athletes, who are always willing to help out when needed, and none more so than Seán Lennon, who arrives early for every event to put up the team tent.
In recent years, the club has started to see all its hard work pay off in terms of competition. Our athletes excel at county level in all disciplines of track and field and cross-country.
The club regularly wins ‘best club’ at various opens and has won the Wexford winter league for the past five years running. We have won club gold at various age categories, at national cross-country level for the past three years, and we’ve had individual All-Ireland champions at cross-country and javelin, with those individuals representing Ireland internationally.
The Senior section of the club is thriving under the coaching of Catherine Ronan, John Kent and Liz Keating. They have developed a fit-for-life programme, attracting many non-competing athletes, and they have been a driving force behind the ladies’ teams and the recent Dublin City Marathon effort that had in excess of 40 Striders participate.
Catherine has also been pivotal in setting up the New Ross Parkrun, which was attracting a good crowd every Saturday morning.
The Striders men’s teams are always very prominent on track, road and cross-country, and in 2019 secured their first Senior county cross-country club title since 1983. The men and women have also had great success at Leinster and national level in the Senior and Masters indoors events.
The future looks bright for athletics in New Ross. We look to continue making great strides in under-age, keeping our teenagers active and providing them with a seamless transition to Senior athletics.
Look out for the black and white singlets at the next Leinster or national event.