Seamus walking on his own path to glory

Given the outstanding achievements of the legendary Bohola Olympian Martin Sheridan, it is no surprise that last year’s main winner has the pedigree to compete at the highest level in athletics.

Ballina native Seamus Clarke received the top prize of €3,000 from last year’s Martin Sheridan Bursary, which goes to help fund costs for training and travel for promising young Mayo athletes.

The 18-year-old, son of former Mayo Olympian Deirdre Gallagher, has had a rapid rise through the ranks, and 2024 was his biggest success yet. He won silver in the men 5000m walk at the European U18 Athletics Championships in Slovakia, setting a PB of 21:08.70 and lowering his own Irish U18 record for the distance. He also became the first Connacht athlete to medal in the event and joined an illustrious group of Irish medallists, including Sarah Healy, Rhasidat Adeleke and Sophie O’Sullivan. The bursary played a big role in his preparation for the event.

“One of the things that we focused on was actually kind of getting ready for that heat, kind of preparing for that,” Clarke told the Western People. “We did a bit of an acclimatisation out in Portugal maybe three weeks before the competition, just kind of getting used to that. During the year, there would have been three main training camps. There would have been one at the start of the year in January with Athletics Ireland. That was like partially funded and then there was just two that were self-funded that we did out in Portugal as well.

“[The bursary] really helped. If I didn't have that, it would have been harder to race in the 30-degree heat, not knowing what would have been kind of coming at me.” 

Clarke also credited the Performance Pathway, a programme by Athletics Ireland that supports the development of young elite athletes. When one considers not just the travel involved, much of it abroad, but the cost of equipment, the expenses stack up quickly.

“They cover some of that for one of the training camps out in January, then there's also like the cost of competing in races. To qualify for the major competitions, it has to be a World Athletics event and a lot of the time they're not always in Ireland.

“Even when you factor in the different shoes, I normally do around 500km in a shoe before I replace it so that might last maybe three months before it goes again. You'd be running through pairs of shoes fairly quickly as well.” 

Given that his Mam was also a walker, famously competing in 1996 Atlanta Olympics, perhaps it was fate that Seamus would end up competing in that discipline. He first got his taste for athletics at age five with his local club Moy Valley and after trying everything from long jump to sprints, he turned his attention to walking in his teens.

“I always thought fondly of it. I wasn't really taking it too seriously but after Covid, I said I might as well just actually try and take it seriously and see what I can do with it.” He was still playing soccer and Gaelic at the time but growing pains saw him leave both and focus on walking, with a national title giving him belief he could go further.

“I remember I was in All-Ireland's, maybe under-15. I won that then and that was when I started taking it a bit more seriously in training, getting out maybe five times a week, just seeing how far I could get with it. Not just national medals, like trying to get like international caps and trying to actually make the teams.

Deirdre is also a coach to her son and Seamus believes it is a ‘massive influence’ on his plans and training, which he does with Moy vVlley clubmate Jake O’Brien. 

“Even just to talk stuff through at home, just have a clear plan in both our heads. We both know what we're targeting. There's no mystery behind it. It's all kind of planned out, which definitely helps even just to get into a routine of training and stuff, where I know what I'm doing every week and I know what to expect.” 

As well as European silver, Seamus competed in first World Championships at aged 17 at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, Turkey in the U20 10,000m walk. The only Irish U20 athlete to qualify, he finished a respectable 40th. There was gold in the Palafrugell-Costa Brava Athletics Meeting in Spain, setting a new European Athletics Promotion record for the 5000m walk and lowering his own Irish record, and three national titles in the 1500m at the U18 Boys National Indoor Championship, the 5000m at the U20 National Track & Field Championship, 5000m walk, and 3000m senior boys All Ireland Schools Track & Field Championship.

The records tumbled as a result, setting new records in the Irish U18 5000m walk (a record held by Olympian Jamie Costin that had stood for 30 years) and the U18 10,000 walk record which stood for 25 years (held by another Olympian Colin Griffin).

By the end of the 2024 track season, Seamus had lowered these records to 21.05min for 5000m walk and 44.45min for 10,000m. But were the records a target for Seamus?

"I was looking at them, but I wasn't like ‘I need to break these’ or anything. Last year, especially, it just went perfect. Everything that we were looking at became a reality.

"It was nice to get them, but they weren't my main focus. I was looking more at what I needed to do to medal.” 

This year, he was inside another record when winning the 1500m walk U19 Boys National Indoor Championship 1,500m walk, crossing the line in 5:40, six seconds inside the 25-year-old record held by Griffin. He also finished fourth in the World Athletics race walking tour event in Slovakia last month. Competing out of age in the U20 10,000m event, Seamus clocked a PB of 44:37 and achieved the qualification standard for the European Race Walking Team Championships in Czechia on May 18 and the European U20 Championship in Finland next August. It’s all the more impressive given he’s juggling his Leaving Cert studies in St Muredach’s College.

“I've been getting out more in the mornings and stuff to kind of free up the evenings because if I go training the evenings it might leave a lot of time for the study.

“If I'm out in the morning when I'd normally be asleep, that's the training done. Little things like that help and even when I was out on them competitions, it was maybe a month before my orals. I had the Irish and the French with me just to look over and keep in my mind, especially on the plane when there's a bit of downtime. I’m just trying to balance the two as best I can, not sacrifice one for the other really, just trying to manage the time.” 

He’ll have the books with him again on the plane ahead of the European Race Walking Team Championships next month. They are the goals he currently has in front of him but looking at the future, whether it’s at LA 2028 or Brisbane 32, a shot at the Olympics, like his Mam almost 30 years ago, would be the ‘ultimate goal’.

“It is definitely something that I'd look fondly on in the future. But it is kind of hard to prepare for right now. There is more short-term goals in the years ahead. There's something every year that I should be working on.” 

The closing date for applications for this year’s Martin Sheridan Bursary Awards is Friday, May 16. Forms and application criteria are available by email to martinsheridanbursary@gmail.com.