Born to Perform (22 page)

Outside my family's fourth generation jewellery business at 2 Patrick Street, Limerick in 1986. At 25, sport was shaping my life and taking me in a new direction.

Being interviewed by RTÉ's Ronan Collins after winning the 1986 All-Ireland Triathlon at Rosses Point in Sligo. My mother, Thecla, who is standing between us, looks on.

Competing at the Triathlon World Championships in Nice, 1986. Above the city of Nice, the cycle route covers 77 miles and ventures into the Maritime Alps, up steep climbs on narrow roads with treacherous descents. The 1984 Triathlon World Championships had not been kind to me, but this time I was well prepared. I finished fourteenth overall.

The front of
Triathlon Ireland
magazine in 1986, depicting me running in the Triathlon World Championships in Nice. I ran the twenty-mile run in two hours and eight minutes.

Competing in the 1987 Japan International Triathlon. This was probably my best international finish. I had the fastest bike ride and the fastest run. I only finished third overall, as my swimming was my weak link.

Competing in the Hawaii Ironman, Oct 14, 1989. I'm out of the saddle, trying to make up time on the eleven mile climb to the half-way turnaround at Havi. I had one of the top cycling times – 4 hours and 48 minutes.

Winning the 1991 All-Ireland Triathlon at Rosses Point in Sligo. It would prove to be the last competitive triathlon I would have the physical capability to compete in at an elite level.

After the accident on August 28, 1991. For weeks, I was low and depressed, after breaking my hip and ending my career as an athlete. But I woke up one morning with a smile on my face and I have never looked back.

The end result of my accident is that I have enough metal in my right hip to set off alarms at security in airports.

Receiving the “Triathlete of the Decade” award in 1992 from Pat Curley, the founder and dynamo behind the All-Ireland Triathlon in Sligo.

In the Olympic Stadium at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. It was my first Olympic Games and I worked with twelve medal winners. Nowhere else is the energy and excitement so electrifying as in a full Olympic Stadium.

At the 1995 RTÉ Sports Star of the Year Awards with friends Eamonn Coghlan, Seán Kelly and Jimmy McGee.

With Sonia O'Sullivan at the Treaty Stone in Limerick City, 1995. Sonia is just after winning the World Championship 5,000 metres. I am very proud of my Limerick heritage and take great pride in bringing many of the world's sports stars to my native city.