Four Galway athletes were delighted to join the Irish team at the European Veteran Championships 2007 held in Regensburg, Germany over four days from Thursday 17th May to Sunday 20th. Athenry's Martin Keane and Philip Magnier accompanied those two diehards of Connacht athletics, TJ Beatty and Andrew Talbot for the
trip.

Though many fine athletes compete, these championships do not have qualifying standards other than dates on birth certificates, so they make for a great opportunity to represent one's country wearing (and keeping!) the national shorts and singlets.

Ireland's representation numbered around 20 and brought home a great medal haul including gold, silver, and bronze in both the individual events and the cross-country relays.

Full results can be found at http://www.evaa2007-regensburg.com/english/results.php#4. The account below describes the fortunes of the Galway athetes for the most part.

A rainy Thursday of 10k running kicked off the championships. Each day had a different venue and intriguingly the 10k races were held in a business park over 9 laps of a very flat course. The general conclusion was that we should try this in Galway sometime rather than our usual single loop course. It makes for brilliant involvement of spectators as they watch the race unfold and cheer for their favourites.

Pat O'Shea of Kerry won the first race for Ireland in a thrilling finish. He also joined Pat Timmons and Francis Reilly to garner the silver in the team event. (This spanned the over 55 and 60 age categories). Our own Andrew Talbot again, in his own words, did an "Eamon Coughlin" to finish fourth of the Irish, one second behind the aforementioned Pat T. However, Andrew's strong training over the past 18 months or so swept him to his fastest time in 10 years, 37:30, a fantastic achievement. TJ Beatty found the cold weather hard to deal with and registered 42:19, two minutes slower than last year. Philip Magnier (saving himself for the half-marathon?!) jogged to 46:51.

Martin Keane, having thrilled some frauleins in a hotel lobby previous to the race (see photo below), ran a great 48:53 in the concurrent over 60 race. Martin had regaled all with tales of just hoping the organizers wouldn't go home before he finished the race, but this represents Martin's best time at the distance. Will we ever listen to his bs again? Francis Reilly, a Cavan man resident in England for many years, took bronze in the over 60 with 37:15.

Martin getting his number on

An interlude for the Galway people in the Austrian Alps on the Friday was followed by re-joining the competition for the cross-country relays at a second venue on the banks of the river Danube. This is the fun day of the championships and it can only have been fun for the Irish who won gold at the 3x4k for over 55s, silver for the women at over 45s (see photo below), and bronze at men's over 60s.

Andrew overcame a team mate's nightime snoring to finally finish among the medals, a gold at that. The individual splits for each man were around 16 mins, good times for a bumpy and quite hilly course on clumpy grass. The Irish cheers had hardly died down for this before Martin took the Irish team home for bronze in the over 60s.

Mags Greenan running the cross-country relay

Some of the older folk made their only appearance of the four days at these relays and not for nothing are they called veterans. I saw a very old German warm up before a race and wondered whether he would even make it to the start line. Watching the older guys and gals struggle up hills to the encouraging cheers of the crowds (regardless of nationality) was very touching and is really what amateur athletics is all about.

We had our final event, the half-marathon, on the Sunday. Much of the course went through the centre of this medieval town and while some found the cobblestones a bit of bother, it's a great way to get locals involved and cheering. Our championships were only one part of the day which included a (serious) rollerblade race, a marathon, and a half-marathon open to all. Starts were staggered and an hour and a quarter after the marathoners headed out, we rocked to Status Quo at the start line while sweating to temperatures of 23 to 24 centigrade. All ages ran in the one race and eight of the Irish took their weary limbs over the chip registers for one more time. Andrew had to drop out after only 500 metres having ignored a torn calf. It was his very first DNF in 43 years of racing.

The heat was a big factor especially from 8k to 16k when there was no shade. But it seemingly had no effect on Pat O'Shea who took a silver in his category with 1:18:45. He was probably the runner of the whole championships with two golds and the one silver; one wonders how good a runner he could have been had he taken up the sport before the age of 50! Ireland again showed their strength at this 55/60 category by taking bronze.

Martin completed his third day of running with 2:07 while Philip Magnier ran 1:41:43 to register a pb, and finish 35 of 64 in his category. He also distinguished himself by being one of the three of so Irish runners who did not win a medal at the championships! To gauge the quality of the competition, consider that his time would only have won a bronze in the women's over 60 race, and a silver in the men's over 75 race!

Andrew, TJ, and Martin