Women in Sport: Irish Track And Field Stars Steph Creaner And Catherine McManus

From the lecture hall to the running track, it’s a busy time for Irish track and field stars Steph Creaner and Catherine McManus. 

As the pair prepare for the GloHealth Senior Track and Field Championships in August, we caught up with them to talk juggling hugely successful athletics careers with student life, final exams and training.

“I’ve been sprinting since I was 14, almost 10 years!” explained 23-year-old Psychology student, Steph.

“In primary school I won the North Dublin Cross Country championships 3rd-6th class, so my parents took me down to the local club to see if I enjoyed it and I’m there ever since.

“I think my most memorable achievement is placing fifth at the World Relays this year in the Bahamas.

“It was simply incredible competing there with the 2008 Olympic 200m champion on my relay leg and my idol Allyson Felix (2012 Olympic champion) running against us.”

“On a more personal level, breaking the Irish university 200m record – which stood for over a decade – is one I’ll cherish for a while,” she added.

“It is hard to juggle it all,” she admitted. “For my final year in college I decided to change coach so that I could train with someone on campus to minimize the travel.

“I’m working with Ken Robinson who is the CEO of DCU sport and I will never look back as his knowledge is simply incredible. Similarly my track coach John Shields works from Santry, so the travel was minimised to maximise my academic focus.”

“I take my studies very seriously so I ensured my work was of standard. The psychology team in DCU were incredibly accommodating whenever I told them about my athletic commitments. Essentially how I balance my studies and training is surrounding myself with a great team.

“During college, I trained six days a week. Track Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, with gym on Monday and Wednesday. Friday is my day off. During the time I wasn’t training, I was either recovering or at lectures.

“Unfortunately I don’t have much of a social life while I’m in season, so it’s only for three weeks in August when I let my hair down and go on holidays. Right now I’m currently working in DCU on a summer camp and loving it.”

“I’m very fortunate to have Ken and John on my team, a great club who financially supports me and my family are my number one supporters and often my crutch when things aren’t going well.

“It’s all worth it – every time I race in the Irish vest it’s worth it. In that sense, the highlight for me, without question, is this year’s World Relays. It felt like a real turning point for me. I believed we belonged there and finishing fifth proved that.

“Advice I’d give to younger athletes? Enjoy your sport. Try everything and then choose what sport you want to focus on. Socialise with friends as much as you can and just enjoy it. Work hard and set goals.

“To succeed you must make sacrifices. Sometimes friends won’t always understand your commitment to your sport, but the real ones will support you no matter what – shout out to Emma Fleming here as she organizes our group trips around my athletic season!” she finished.

Also catching up with us was fellow athletics star Catherine McManus. The 23-year-old student, who is completing her Masters in Marketing, was also quite young when she first got involved in athletics.

“Both of my parents were international athletes so athletics has been part of my life since I was born,” she explained.

“I started ‘formal’ training when I was six. I also played hockey and basketball competitively right throughout secondary school in St. Dominics Cabra as well,” Catherine, who is also a member of Dublin City Harriers, added.

“I’ve won quite a few medals over the years in underage, Junior and Under 23 but during the indoor season this year I won my first senior title in the 60mH and got bronze in the 60m.”

“There isn’t really a ‘normal’ week for me, every week is different depending on meetings I have to go to, college, work and the weather!

“Normally, I train six days and take Fridays off. I do a mix of gym work (weights), long/short sprints and hurdles, with some resistance hills on the weekend with circuits.

“Being organized is very important. Trying to fit in training, college, work, competing and a social life can be a struggle and can mean a lot of early mornings and late nights, but if you manage your time well, it can be done!

“It is all worth it. I love having goals to work towards and the sense of achievement I get when a competition goes well.”

“The opportunities that my athletics career has given to me are countless – I’ve got to see so much of the world travelling and only last month I got selected as a Nissan Generation Next Ambassador and was given a new Nissan Juke to drive for the year, so that made a lot of the hard work worthwhile.

“I have great support too. My long-suffering boyfriend Andy has had no choice! He’s very used to sitting listening to me waffle on about sprinting technique and has become quite good at cheering me up when a race or training doesn’t go well.

“Highlights to date have to be when I ran a PB in the European Under 23s in 2013 and won my heat. It was completely unexpected and I just remember feeling so proud that I achieved something I never thought I would be able to do!”

“The toughest competition to date for me was the 4x100m relay in the European Team Championships in 2014 – we had dropped the baton in the practice event the evening before and I was so nervous we would do it again – thankfully we got it around safely!

“In reality, it’s not always easy, but at the same time, once you have a good support system around you it’s not impossible.

“When you’re committed and dedicated to something for so long it doesn’t feel like anything abnorma­l, from the outside looking in it probably sounds hectic, but to me it’s just life!

“The advice I would give younger athletes is to remember that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard!” she concluded.