West Waterford man Mícheal Power has his feet up for the time being, something that he’s never quite been used to.
However, after his achievements at the weekend - it’s fair to say that this rest has certainly been warranted.
The 22-year-old made history, along with his Irish teammates as they secured team gold at the European U-23 Cross-Country Championships in Fingal on Sunday.
Mícheal, son of renowned local chef Eunice Power, finished 13th individually, which was enough to bag Ireland the gold medal ahead of Great Britain, as he and his teammates Darragh McElhinney (2nd); Keelan Kilrehill (6th); Donal Devane (40th), Jamie Battle (44th) and Thomas Devaney (67th) wrote their names into Irish athletics folklore in Dublin.
Speaking to WLR after a whirlwind week, The University of Tulsa student says he’s overwhelmed with the reaction to their achievement.
“I’m just absolutely buzzing with it. For all the work that we put in, for everything to come down to winning the European Championships on home soil - it was pretty amazing. To be a part of it was just something special.”
Focus
While the talent of this young Irish team was undeniable, expectations were not weighing over the team by any great means considering the calibre of their Great British opponents. Mícheal admitted that winning gold was something that did come as somewhat of a surprise - but it was a case of everything going right on the day in question.
“Everything did go right. It was actually funny going into it, we sat down having all met up as a team on the Friday - I was with Darragh McElhinney and Keelan Kilrehill. We were looking at each other and what we had done nationally. We did think that we were going in under the radar. I knew I was in really good shape coming in - and I didn’t know how that fare in a European race. I knew I was getting better with every race. Darragh was confident and he knew that Keelan was too as they’d been training together. Coming into it, we knew ourselves that we could have a really special day - but obviously, you have to go and do it.”
The factors simply let Team Ireland focus on the task at hand. The home support, buoyed by a vocal contingent from West Waterford AC made a difference when push came to shove.
“I think the fact that there was no hype let us just execute our race, keep the emotion out of it and use the crowd in the last few kilometres to come through the field. We got to a point in the race where we were coming into the lead as a team and the fans were able to drive us home. It was unbelievable. It’s one of those days that the memory of it is going to stay with us forever.”
Realisation
Many photos and footage has been shared of the moments where the team realised the magnitude of what they had just achieved. The emotion on display was evidence of the hard work put in to get to this particular point in time, and Mícheal said that the feeling of realisation was ‘unbelievable’.
“It was incredible. The whole way through the race - it was 8km. For the first 2km, we had the crowd and they were really loud. We went out for the big lap and we could hear the commentary coming over the loud speaker. We kind of knew all along that coming out onto the main stretch was where we would get our lift. When it started to happen, we started to come through the field. I kind of started to believe it. I saw Keelan up ahead of me, tearing through the field and mowing lads down. I knew that I just had to hold it together on the last lap. If no British guy passed me, we would have done enough to win a medal as I was the third score. It was all about just trying to hold on for dear life, I was blowing up. A few Swedish lads came by me. I’d gone a bit too hard mid-race and was just trying to survive. When I got to the finish line, I took a look back with 50m to go. He wasn’t going to catch me. It was complete and utter euphoria. I hugged Keelan and hit the deck. The feeling was just unparalleled.”
Home advantage
Physical and emotional exhaustion were worth the reward. Having it all happen in Ireland made it all the more sweeter, and it was potentially something that gave the team a slight advantage over their opponents.
“The Nationals have been held on the course over the last few years. Myself, Darragh, Keelan, Jamie, Donal and Thomas - we probably all had our fair share of tough days on the course. That probably stood us in good stead. It’s really slow, it’s really muddy. It takes a lot of you. Lads coming over probably thought that it would be a bit more like a time-trial course, where like you might go hard. The course beat a lot of people. That was a massive advantage to us. We knew that we had to stay relaxed when other lads were pushing on. We knew that they would come back to us over the hills and through the mud. It played into our hands massively. Hearing your own name being shouted every 100m keeps you accountable too, and it helps you execute your perfect race. You make sure to get the finish line as fast as you can, without getting too excited.”
West Waterford
Power began his athletics career with West Waterford AC. With the likes of Kate Veale and David McCarthy to look up to, and people like Tony Shalloe, Mary Ashe and James Veale involved - he admits that it was the perfect place to be for any young person wanting to find their feet in the sport.
“I started in primary school, it was good fun, always enjoyed it - and I got into the club then and with juvenile training with Mary Ashe and Tony Shalloe, I would have taken part in cross country leagues and just really started to enjoy it. There was 9 or 10 of us that got involved and when I was 14 or 15, I just decided that I wanted to start to take it really seriously. I started training harder. Four or five nights a week with people around locally. We went on up to Cork when I was about 15-16, I competed and tried to make Irish teams. Myself and Sean Curran trained together a lot. David McCarthy, he also won a European U-23 team medal, he would’ve been a huge part in my development as well. They kept me in it from a young age. The system is a great way to begin.”
Waterford has an incredibly rich athletics history. One photo which stood out from Power’s victory was a picture of the young man with 1984 Olympic Silver Medallist and Villierstown native John Treacy. That’s something that Mícheal says will definitely be framed at home.
“That was really cool. James Veale was right there. I got to meet John. He’s a legend of West Waterford and running in general. You’d hear a load of stories about him and the training he would’ve done. I’ve even tried to replicate his routes up along the Dromana Drive there from Villierstown to Cappoquin. John’s won an Olympic silver medal. To see him there on Sunday was just amazing. It made us realise that we had done something special.”
USA
Studying in the US since August, having completed a degree at University College Cork, Power says he feels the standards are so high that he’s improving with each and every run.
“I’m absolutely loving it. The competition brings everything to a new level.”
Going forward, he won’t be looking too far ahead. At just 22, you never look too far past the next race. Sunday’s achievements raise the bar for ambitions going forward. He says the achievements of his teammates have helped him to realise his own potential and raise his own game.
“I was talking with my coach beforehand and I knew I’d have to run a really good race to make it into the top fifteen. Seeing Darragh pushing on into 2nd, Keelan came in sixth - the high tide raises all boats. When you see other lads around you doing it, you know you’re capable of doing it yourself. We’re all friends. Seeing what the lads can do has really pushed me on. I’m out of U-23 age from January and moving into senior. I just want to keep developing and running faster. The transition into Senior will be tough. I need to be disciplined and focused. Maybe I can try and make a senior team and try and replicate this as a senior. That’s got to be the dream.”
With one dream ticked off the to-do list, who knows what the future holds. One thing for certain, is that we certainly haven’t heard the last of Mícheal Power. In fact, it seems we’re just getting to know him, and there’s plenty to admire.
