King of the Hill
John Lenihan
On
Sunday June 1st 2003, one of Kerry’s greatest sportsmen
achieved a record that one can say for absolute certain will never
again be equaled. John Lenihan won the All-Ireland Hill Running
Championship for an astonishing 15th time in 16 years.
He missed last year due to injury.
John won the race up and down Ireland’s highest mountain,
Carrauntouhill in a time
of 77 minutes, 50 seconds. He has three minutes to spare over
second man Paul Nolan. He now looks to try and captain the Irish
team at the World Championships to Alaska in September. So who
is this legendary, charismatic person with the long, flowing hair,
known to all Kerry as the man from Toureen.
He was Weeshie’s sporting guest on Terrace Talk two years
ago, and the following is some of John’s story.
King of the Hill
It’s hard to believe, but just about five miles above the
urban lights of Tralee is an area that is totally different, in
every sense, from the festive town below. But it is this rough
terrain, populated by only the odd sheep, that is the haven of
one of the best athletes Ireland has ever produced.
It was on these expanses that John Lenihan, the former World Hill-Running
kingpin, learned his trade.“I started running on those hills
when I was about 18 years of age, but, I suppose, I really got
into running about a year before that.”
Lenihan left school when he 12 old and, by his own admission,
became somewhat of a recluse. “When I finished school I
never really went outside the near my house. But then, about five
years later, I went down to the local football pitch in Ballymacelligott.
I started running around the field to get fit and then maybe to
get back involved with some of the local people,” Lenihan
told The Kingdom this week.
One day he cycled into Castleisland to take part in a road race
and to everyone's amazement he finished seventh. “I think
that surprised a lot of people and straight away the club asked
me would I sign for them. That was the start of my association
with athletics and right up to this very day I have not regretted
it one bit.”
In 1991, Lenihan reached the pinnacle of his career as a long-distance
hill runner. After finishing on four occasions in the top six
in the World Mountain Running Championships that year in Zermatt,
Switzerland, was the moment that really made his life.
“World Mountain Running Champion. The title took a while
to sink in because I thought that the best I could do was bronze
and to win the title was just a dream come true. After that I
won titles in Wales and on the Isle of Man in the three-day event.”
Lenihan, though, did not stick strictly to hill-running and he
also dabbled in some road running. In San Diego he won a major
road race and in Scotland he finished second in the Sterling half
marathon, which is a prestigious event.
In the sport of athletics, Lenihan admits that it is very hard
to combine road running
with hill running and also very unusual. “In the Isle of
Man event over three days it
consists of two road races and a hill run. I finished third on
each day in the road race
but easily won the hill run. After that I began to think about
sticking to hill running and
found out that one should stick to just one of the events.”
When Lenihan competed his first mountain race in Ireland he knew
that there were
runners who were a lot better than he was on the road. But when
he competed in the
race he had no problem beating them and won the first prize of
1000 pounds. “That
race really confirmed what I was fast beginning to realize: I
knew that I was a lot strongerin the hills than on the road.”
For the stamina needed for these races, Lenihan needed to train
religiously and he did so, six to eight times a week, clocking
up over 130 miles. In the next three years
Lenihan managed to get a trial with the Irish Olympic panel but
never made the cut, but his potential didn't go unnoticed. “I
was offered a three-year contract with team Adidas in America
but didn't take up the offer, which is the one regret I have in
my career. I was young at the time and probably didn't know what
lay ahead of me. Who knows, if I had taken that contract, what
path my life would have taken,” Lenihan comments with a
tinge of regret.
He is adamant that the sport today is not nearly as competitive
as what it was some years back. “There was one road race
back in Duagh years ago when about 400 people turned up for the
race. Today you would be lucky to get 40. Times have changed in
the sport and the money that was there when I started running
is certainly not there now.”
Like any other sport there are dangers attached to hill running.
Once, he lost his way
in a race around Mount Brandon in the fog and it cost him the
title. On another occasion he nearly lost his life.
“I was up running on Carrauntouhill and the day was really
cold. On the way driving up I met a lot of people that warned
me to turn back but I chose to ignore them. So I togged out in
my shorts and started to run up the mountain. With the sleet and
wind my legs went numb when I was running so I couldn't feel that
much. I stepped into a hole and fell over but l thought that l
had just sprained my ankle When I went to run again my leg just
bent over, then I realised that I had broken my leg.
The descent down the mountain usually takes me about 25 minutes,
but that time, it took me over four hours between the crawling
and the hopping.
“The only thing that was really worried about was the fact
that I might pass out and die with the cold. Thankfully, I managed
to get to the bottom and got my mother to collect me - though
at a price. “When I went to hospital they told me that I
would never run in competitive races again but in the months that
followed Lenihan’s sheer will to succeed drove him on and
even with his leg encased in plaster, he did laps of the field
near his house - with the aid of crutches to keep his body aerobically
fit.
In New Year's Day, 2000 he competed in a road race in Beaufort
and won the event, despite the general consensus was that he would
never race again. In February of last year, five months after
his injury, Lenihan ran 14 mountain races and three road races
and won every single race - a remarkable testament to his willpower.
August 12 this year is a day that Lenihan, now in his early 40s,
has been looking forward to for a long time. In his local parish
of Ballymacelligott, where it all began, he will host the International
hill running championship trials. He is a selector for the event
but he is excited that he will have an opportunity to compete
in the race. The King of the Hill is far from finished.
John Lenihan
