Donie 367 by gearoidmuar
This is Donie Walsh, my daughter's running coach. He's wearing a hat with Villanova on it. Donie was a very successful athlete in Ireland years ago and won 16 National Titles at 10,000 and Cross Country etc. He was aiming for the Olympic team at 10,000m for the Munich Olympics but his qualifying run was twarted by mumps. He then tried the Marathon and in his first and only (as far as I know) Marathon he ran something like 2:14 to break the national record and qualify. He ran in the Olympics but was not well on the day. But he had had his day in the sun.
At the time Ireland had great distance runners like Eamon Coughlan and John Treacy and Donie was a member of the national cross country team which won a silver medal in the World Championships.
BUT, as a student in Villanova (America's most prestigious athletics university) his proudest individual achievement was to come second in the American National Cross Country Championships to none other than one of America's most famous (and tragically killed while young) runners, the famous Steve Prefontaine.
He's a phenomenal coach with huge experience and a great natural grasp of how to deal with people.
