Ambitious Offaly athlete sets sights on Olympics Games

AN ambitious young Offaly athlete has set her sights on running in the Olympic Games and will do whatever it takes to achieve her ambitions.

Just back from her latest appearance in the European Cross Country Championships, Danielle Donegan's hunger to fulfil her considerable potential has been well and truly fuelled.

The Tullamore woman finished a very creditable 36^th in the senior womens' race and knows she is comfortable in the company of some of the best runners on the continent.

Just 24 years of age, she is a veteran competitor at the European Cross Country Championships at this stage, having represented Ireland in the U20 race in 2019, U23 in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and her first senior outing last year.

She was a superb eight in the U23 race in 2023, having won the national U23 cross country title and took huge steps forward in the national senior cross country championships in the last two years, winning two bronze medals. She also competed in the World Cross Country Championships last year, having another great run as she finished 65^th in Serbia.

It is on the cross country fields that she has really made her mark to date but she has also shown immense talent on the track and roads. Cross country holds a special allure for a lot of really top quality athletes but like most of them, Danielle's ambitions transcend that and her target is the Olympic Games.

A Tullamore Harriers member, she likes track running and will do a number of races on that in the coming year. Combined with gym work, track running has helped improve her running form, leg turnover and speed while she will also focus on road 5ks and 10ks.

She believes that her best chance of making the Olympic Games will be in the marathon and that transition will begin from this year, though she is in no hurry.

“Distance wise, I think my best event will be the marathon when that time comes. I am still only 24 so I will hold out for another two years but my main ambition is to run in the Olympics marathon over the next two cycles. I am more suited to road and cross-country so I will do more 10ks and half marathons and try and make European road teams. That is my big aim over the next two years.”

She will discover this week if she has been selected for the World Cross Country Championships while her 5k personal best is 15.55, it is 34.14 for 10k. Getting under 33 minutes for 10k is a big ambition for next year while she is running an indoor 5k in Boston in February and is aiming for a good run there.

She is a wonderful cross country runner and her excellence here is somewhat surprising as she lacks the physique and power of some of her competitors but she loves the raw toughness of the sport and has a high pain threshold.

The course last Sunday in Lagoa, Portugal was much different than the usual cross country races in Ireland and elsewhere. There was none of the heavy mud and teak tough underfoot conditions with a mixture of compacted dirt with natural grass around a looped course with what looked gentle hills – though they were far from gentle in reality - and plenty of twists and turns challenging the competitors in a different way.

Donegan smiled: “The whole team got a fright when we saw the course. We were told it was completely flat but it was all gravel and hills. We started on a hill and climbed for the first 400 metres. It was up and down, there was not one flat part in it. The gravel felt weird on the spikes. There was one mucky patch and lucky enough, it was so hilly, it did eliminate the track runners and slow down the course.

“It rained on Friday as well so that muck patch was for 100 metres and was very muddy. I would prefer something more muddy and on grass but it was fine.”

She was happy but not jumping over the moon at her 36^th place, even though it was a vast improvement from her 74^th finish last year.

“It was okay. In my head I wanted top thirty and on a really good day, top 25. It was a big improvement on last year. It was only my second year as a senior and I was one of the youngest in the race so it was great to get the experience, to race different athletes. I was racing the top girls in Europe. Last year, I started quite slow and I panicked because I didn't want to come last. This year I was patient and I knew I would move up through the field. I was happy enough but I am hungry for more.”

She grew up in a running mad family with her father John one of the best runners in Tullamore Harriers for years, her mother Marie a keen runner and all her siblings embracing the sport.

It is in her blood and her potential is obvious but Donegan also finds herself in a bit of a vacuum at the moment. She doesn't qualify for big sports grants, receiving limited funding but she needs to bring her training to the next level.

A radiographer having completed a degree at University College in Dublin, she has been basically working to fund training camps – altitude training is non negotiable for any serious, elite runner and she has attended altitude training camps three to four times a year.

Her next altitude camp is in Arizona in the USA in January as part of the National Endurance Programme and is essential for what could be a career defining year – she begins her racing in Boston in February, followed by an extensive European race schedule throughout.

She needs financial support to help her achieve her goals and friends of her have been approaching businesses and groups in Tullamore and Offaly for sponsorship.

She spoke about how tough it is to combine high level running with working and everything else in a busy life.

“It is hard work. I run before and after work three or four days a week. I run twice a day most days and then have to do gym work. It is a lot to manage, there is not much time for more outside of work and training.”

At work, she is more susceptible to getting sick and this has hampered her before, most notably for the National 10k and the European cross-country last year.

Danielle lives in Dublin and remarked: “I am managing it okay but my dream is to be able to work three days a week. That is not possible when you live in Dublin and my coach and team are based in Dublin.”

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She has funded all her training camps herself apart from one in September and is working hard to hit the times and criteria that will qualify her for funding.

At the moment, however, she has the drive and determination to juggle all the balls and make it work. Her flight back from Faro on Monday was delayed as the plane was diverted to Cork because of the antics of a drunk passenger on board. She was back into work in St Vincent's on Tuesday and will be quickly into her strict training regime with Christmas festivities and parties well down her list of priorities.