Photo: Claire receiving the 2016 Sean Kyle Services to Coaching Award from Meave Kyle
A coach to five Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games athletes during their formative years, Claire set one of the earliest examples of what was later promoted by UK Athletics as a multi event approach, where athletes who entered the club typically trained in multiple Track & Field events for several years before specialising or going onto Combined Events. Such was the impact of Claire’s approach that she was awarded the Sean Kyle Services to Coaching Award by Athletics NI in 2016.
Claire, who was originally from Townsville in Australia, met husband Barry in England and the couple moved to Northern Ireland for work purposes. Claire was involved in coaching from the early 80s. Under the mentorship of the then National Coach Norman Brook, Claire advanced to the level of Senior Club Coach, the highest available grade at the time. Initially specialising in Triple Jump, she later added Long Jump, High Jump, Sprints and Throwing, ultimately becoming a Combined Events coach. She listed Sean and Maeve Kyle and Frank Dick as mentors and attended several national and international conferences such as the Loughborough Summer School and Berlin Jumps Conference in the 90s and 2000s.
Claire coached several GB & NI internationals in the 1990s and 2000s with Darragh Murphy being the first of Claire’s athletes to achieve this feat with an U20 vest in 1991, setting a Northern Irish U18 High Jump record of 2.11m that still stands to this day. At the turn of the Millenium, Claire established a strong Decathlon squad of U17 to Senior Decathletes that included Paul Curran, Brendan McConville, Tom Reynolds, and Michael McConkey (who himself would go on to represent GB & NI U23 in the Javelin). Claire would turn up at the gravel track in Ward Park come rain, hail or shine throughout the tough winter sessions and her boundless enthusiasm for teaching athletes how to train and then to compete ensured that the squad was equally committed.
Brendan set the path for the rest as he reached senior GB & NI representative level in 2001, whilst still training on the gravel track, going on to compete at 5 consecutive European Cups and helping GB & NI secure several promotions up the leagues. Following the move to Bangor Sportsplex in 2002 Claire guided her third athlete, Tom, to a GB & NI vest at an U20 Match in Germany in 2003.
As well as focussing on a senior squad, Claire was all the while bringing the youth at the Club through and guided future three times Commonwealth Games competitor Amy Foster to NI U18 sprint records, future two-time Commonwealth Games 110m Hurdler Ben Reynolds to the Youth Commonwealth Games and coached future Commonwealth Games 2014 Decathlete Peter Glass. Claire coached Hannah Lewis to the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in India in 2008 where she won a silver medal in the Long Jump.
Claire was an accredited personal coach for the NI team for the 2008 Youth Games and prior to this for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Such was Claire’s dedication to her athletes that when Brendan was selected for the 2006 Games, in late 2005, Claire organised a three-month training camp for her and Brendan in Western Australia, using her family contacts to make this financially viable.
Claire has served on both the NI Coaching and Track and Field Committees and has been involved in several NI squads, running the Rover Group NI Combined Events Squad during it existence in the early 2000s. Claire was a Northern Ireland delegate at an invitational residential symposium on mentoring, run by UKA at Lilleshall in the early 2000s. She has played a significant part in the early development of many future coaches. The list would include Gillian Weir, Brendan McConville, Roger Sexton, Tom Reynolds, David Hewitt, Gemma McAnirn, Jeremy Harper, Paddy McGrattan, Heather Beattie, and Ollie Wakefield.
Our thoughts go out to Claire’s husband Barry and wider family, current and former North Down AC athletes, coaches, and members.