Walking back to happiness

Forget the threat of swine flu and the volcanic ash cloud - only the lack of cash has stopped race walker Micheal Doyle in his tracks. The Meathman, had achieved the qualifying time to fly to Mexico for a World Cup race last month, but the economic climate meant the Irish Athletic Federation were unable to send non-granted athletes to the World Race Walking cup in South America. Micheal, who turned 23 last month, is in the final year of a Sport and PE degree at the University of Bedfordshire, was disappointed not to travel. "It would cost a few thousand pounds if I paid for myself and it would not feel as though you were representing your country quite so much." The Tara AC started race walking when he was 12 years old participating in the community games. The talented sportsman also excelled in Gaelic football and rugby in his teens before deciding to concentrate on race walking. His initial breakthrough came when he finished a creditable 35th in the junior (under-20s) world championships over 10k in Spain in 2006. Doyle then struggled after moving into the senior ranks over the longer 20k distance before making great strides in the last 12 months or so. He is ranked the number one student in the country by BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) for 20k, as well as being in the top 100 for all ages in the world. His 14th place finish in the world challenge event in Switzerland earlier this year knocked four minutes off his 20k personal best to a little under 87 minutes. This saw him achieve the qualifying time for the Mexican World Cup race before his plans were thwarted. "Now that I have had a good result I intend to improve on my 20k time in June so that I can get onto the granting system so that I can get the added support to race around the world" This all takes dedication and Doyle trains twice a day and between 10-14 times each week, clocking up an average of 90-105 miles weekly. His new training is analysised on a weekly basis by his new coach Daniel Jacinto Jimeniz from Spain. "I definitely watch what I eat and take the right things after training to recover. I also went to South Africa in February for altitude training, will possibly go to Spain this summer, and have even slept in an altitude tent for a month!" Doyle is one of this year's 16 elite sport scholars at the University who each receive financial assistance to boost their training and development. "The University has been a big help to me along with constant support of my family and the Meath Sport Partnership, I can't thank them enough." Now the London 2012 Games are firmly in his sights and he said "The 2012 Olympics are my main target at the moment but I'm still young and progressing in the sport. People usually peak in their early 30s, so time is on my side." Other goals include qualifying for the World Student Games in China in 2011. He would then be the first ever representative from the University of Bedfordshire to compete in these Games.