Overcoming hurdles on road to gold

Anyone taking a stroll through Dalgan Park, outside Navan, on a Saturday or Sunday morning during the winter might be surprised to come across one of the Ireland's best-known athletes going through her paces. European Athletics Championships silver medallist Derval O'Rourke has regularly used the grounds that surround the Columban Fathers' headquarters for training. The location is not chosen at random. Like every other aspect of the Cork-born sprint hurdler's training regime, there is a purpose to it, a specific reason aimed at helping the athlete gain that millisecond in speed that can make the difference between success and failure and bridge the chasm between gold and silver. A section of the walks that meander through Dalgan, near the old cemetery, contains a gradient that, it seems, is perfect for sprinters looking to improve their time. Not too difficult, not too easy. Invariably with O'Rourke on those training stints will be either Sean or Terri Cahill from Skryne. Sometimes both will be there. When Dalgan Park is not used, Claremont Stadium in Navan is sometimes the location of choice. Since late 2005, the Cahills have been inextricably linked with O'Rourke and her rise to stardom. They are credited with turning her from an average athlete into a very good one, maybe one of the great Irish sprinters of all time. Sitting with the Cahills in their spacious home in Skryne one morning last week with the warm August sun streaming through a large bay window, the couple talked about the dedication it takes to reach the top. They talk about how O'Rourke's success on the world stage has propelled them, somewhat reluctantly, into the limelight, how it has all steadily "snowballed" in the last few years with her second place finish in the 100m hurdles in Barcelona recently, the fourth medal at a major championship. The sun and the warmth seems a world away from a cold, wintry morning at Dalgan when the east wind is bitter and unrelenting. Yet is is on the bleak, rainy mornings of December and January when the groundwork is done for the big championship events in places like Berlin or Barcelona. "It's not about the week of the championships, it's the previous 11 months," says Terri, who is from Mallow in Cork. The Cahills laugh at any suggestion that they have somehow benefited financially by becoming mentors to one of the fastest female sprinters in Europe, if not the world. Even O'Rourke herself, they say, hasn't earned big bucks. Sponsorship these days is difficult to find and the relatively large sums earned by the likes of Sonia O'Sullivan are no more or are reserved for the very elite who win Olympic gold. The Cahills can spend up to 10 to 15 hours a week on either training or working out schedules for their stable of four athletes that includes O'Rourke and Eilis McSweeney. It's all done on a voluntary basis and has to fit in with them running the family electrical business as well as looking after their brood of youngsters - Ciaran (9), Killian (6) and Niamh (5). In looking after their athletes, Terri and Sean Cahill work closely with Dublin-based conditioning coach Martin McCabe. They also point out that there are other indispensable members of 'Team Cahill'. They include the two mothers, Terri Horgan who lives in Cork, and Finola Cahill who, at a moment's notice, are often asked to look after Terri and Sean's children while they rush off to a training session or meeting. Terri Cahill says Derval O'Rourke is regarded as member of the family, as a sister to herself and Sean and as an aunt to their three children. What drives the Cahills on is the simple desire to help O'Rourke or their other athletes to fulfil their potential, help them become the best they can be. While they were delighted with the silver medal won by O'Rourke in Barcelona the other week, they were just as excited by the achievement of McSweeney in breaking an Irish sprinting record in Barcelona that stood for 32 years. That turned out to be a bittersweet week for Terri Cahill as a relative died suddenly at the age of just 45. The Cahills don't rely on information from any coaching manuals to provide them with the raw material for their training programmes. Instead, they draw on their own experiences from international athletes - and there is a considerable amount of that. When she was just 15, Terri Cahill was competing for Ireland at senior international level in the long jump. She continued to represent her country until injury forced her to retire at 26. During her career, she set a new Irish record that lasted for 21 years. Sean Cahill played senior football for his native Skryne as a teenager before focusing on athletes. He came to the sport late and, from the time he was 23 until he was 29, he competed against the world's elite wearing the Irish singlet as a hurdler in World and European Championships, as well as the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Sean tells the story of how he was selected for trials for the Meath football team as a youngster. One evening, he waited outside the gate of his home in Skryne to be picked up, as arranged, to go to the trials. Nobody showed up. From that point on, he took the first steps away from football. Instead, he focused on becoming an athlete because he didn't have to rely on many others to help him fulfil his potential. Sixteen years after he gave up football, he returned to coach the Skryne team and helped the club to a Keegan Cup success. The connection between O'Rourke and the Cahills started in earnest just before Christmas 2005 when the athlete made a phone call to ask if they could help her improve her times. Sean went to have a look at this young runner who appeared so eager to progress. "Derval had been training in Dublin and she knew technically that she was in a rut. We were on our way to a wedding in Mayo just before Christmas and she rang to know if Sean would look after her, technically. I had met her fleetingly before, we really didn't know her," recalls Terri. "Sean, brutally honest as he is, said: 'Look, I'll go up for one session, and if I think you have any future in it, I will tell you.' He went up to see her and he came back and said: 'Terri, you have to come up and see her; she can't hurdle but she can certainly run.'" During their own careers, Terry and Sean Cahill say they made many mistakes. They are now using the lessons learned for the benefit of other athletes with the desire and hunger to learn, The Cahills say one of the defining features of any successful athlete is a positive attitude and a strong mentality. The right word at the right time, adds Sean, can make a world of a difference. It's all part of making an athlete believe they can do it, they can be the best. The achievements of 'Team Cahill' and Derval O'Rourke shows it certainly is an approach that works.