Civic reception honour for Sutherland family

Navan's Tony Sutherland - who carried the Olympic torch last week on behalf of his late son, Darren - was honoured with a civic reception by the local town council last week on the eve of his torch-bearing run. He was asked by the Olympic Council of Ireland to be a torch-bearer in memory of his Olympic medal-winning son and he carried the torch for 300m through the streets of Dublin last Wednesday, during its six-hour visit to the Republic. After the civic reception in Navan Town Hall on Tuesday of last week, he said he was very proud of the occasion and very proud of Darren and would always carry a torch for the boxer in his heart. "I'm delighted to see so many people here with so much good things to say about Darren. "It goes a long way to showing what kind of person he was and how much he achieved in such a short space of time," said Mr Sutherland. "He had such a short time on earth but did us so proud. He was never a hard child to bring up. We never had any problems with him at home or at school." Darren, who won the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, was found dead at his London apartment in 2009, at the age of 27. At last week's civic reception, Tony, his wife Linda and family were greeted by the Mayor of Navan, Cllr Anton McCabe, who said it was an "honour for the town of Navan that the Olympic Council of Ireland chose one of our own residents to be part of the Olympic Torch Relay run to be held in Dublin". He added: "The Olympic Council of Ireland chose you to carry the torch in recognition of the great sporting achievements of your son Darren 'The Dazzler' Sutherland who, in his short life, achieved his dream to be the best at his chosen sport of boxing. Darren was truly a great ambassador for his town, county and, indeed, his country." Cllr McCabe said that in conversations with Tony and Linda Sutherland, he had learned so much about Darren's achievements outside the boxing ring, how he gave his time to any group within the community and beyond who approached him. The mayor said his memory would not fade. "He will forever be an inspiration to many young people with aspirations to achieve their goals in the sport of their choice," said Cllr McCabe. Other Meath people who were torch-bearers last Wednesday included modern pentathlete, Natalya Coyle, who has qualified for the Olympics; Clonard GFC under-16 player Ger Killeen; Bellewstown man and former Irish rugby player, Shane Horgan, and Olympic gold medalist Ronnie Delany, whose family is from Batterstown.