“I moved to Canada the day after I finished my Leaving Cert in 1979 to work with my aunt Joan. She had a truck stop and café where I worked for several years before finding my way to Fort McMurray, Alberta. It took me two days to drive there, and I have been there ever since. I have lived in Canada longer than I have ever lived in Ireland, but I still call Ireland home. My wife Karen and daughters Kristina and Samantha are very attached to Ireland and love visiting.   

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my time spent around Tullamore Harriers. My late parents, Paddy, Kathleen, and uncle Mick were very involved, doing all sorts of work to keep it going. We had an excellent juvenile team in the 70s, and my uncle Mick coached us. We used to hammer it out in training, whether on the track, road or around the laurels in Charleville and then traipse all over the country for competitions. I made many friendships that live on today.

The recent Tullamore Harriers book launch was emotional, but I am proud of the legacy left behind. Regretfully my parents weren’t around to see it. It was a full house at the Tullamore Court Hotel, where we were taken down memory lane. As kids, we didn’t fully appreciate the time so many people put into making the Harriers a success. It wasn’t always easy, but they had vision and foresight and were ahead of their time. There were fork suppers Friday and Sunday evenings, and the youth dance was on every Saturday night. Behind the scenes, my mother would start cooking chicken every Wednesday for the fork supper on Friday. She had probably cooked tens of thousands of chickens in her time and would have broken them all up, ready to be served. She would do it all over again on Saturday for Sunday. Anyone related to anyone in the club was involved, and it was all hands on deck. Everything was done voluntarily, and they all bonded and got along fiercely well, with a common goal in mind.

I have two grandchildren in Canada now, so I will probably never live in Tullamore again, but I will always come home to visit”.