
PODCAST – Kevin Dooney: Running with Depression
On this week’s podcast we’re joined by one of Ireland’s leading distance runners Kevin Dooney. Starting with a recap of his running career to date, we then get into an in-depth discussion around mental health, and Dooney’s own battle with depression. In an open and honest interview, Dooney talks about the

STATE OF THE NATION PODCAST (PART TWO): THE FUTURE OF ATHLETICS
What can we learn from the mistakes of our best athletes? Is the doping problem in athletics as bad as we think? What needs to be done to the sport to restore its popularity? Those are some of the questions posed in part two of JumpingTheGun’s podcast special, edited by

World Cross is alive, but BBC made it dead
‘And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share And no one dared Disturb the sound…of silence’ It’s more than 50 years since Simon & Garfunkel topped the charts with the above

Frank Murphy: The George Best of Irish Athletics
Irish athletics legend Frank Murphy passed away last night after a long battle with Parkinon’s disease. Below is a piece by PJ Browne on the charismatic Dubliner – the George Best of Irish Athletics Frank Murphy 1965-1969. The George Best of Irish Athletics by PJ Browne There is a misperception

The Healy Phenomenon: an incredible beauty is born for athletics
By now you’ve seen it. You’ve watched the video, probably rewound it, looked again at the impossible situation presented to Phil Healy on that final 400m leg, and thought to yourself: ‘no…****ing…way’. By now you’ve had it swarm your social media feeds, witnessed the feat of a modest Bandon sprinter snatching your attention ahead

Fionnuala secures Olympic qualifier in Chicago
Fionnuala McCormack (née Britton) finished 13th in the Chicago marathon in 2:33:15 to comfortably qualify for the Olympic Games. The two-time European Cross Country champion was on course for a sub 2:30 clocking for a large portion of the race but slowed in the second half. McCormack (Kilcoole) went through

After rollercoaster year, Merritt on the road to recovery
By Dave Hunter Stories of athletes overcoming physical adversity to stage dramatic comebacks are omnipresent in sports. Think of the numerous NBA players who rehab and return from debilitating ACL injuries. Or, the many Major League pitchers who work hard to perform well after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Successful and

Football’s dirty secret: ignorance is not bliss when it comes to doping
And so it begins. After decades of anecdotal evidence — think star players spotted at renowned doping clinics, rogue doctors bragging about trophies their pharmacology has won for club and country, major European titles being won by players with blood as thick as golden syrup — there is finally cold, hard evidence to suggest that

Barr talks to JTG: “I’ll need to improve by half a second to make the Olympic final”
Thomas Barr capped off a breakthrough year with a fifth-place finish in the Brussels Diamond League and afterwards, the 23-year-old spoke to JumpingTheGun about his breakthrough year. Barr ran 49.80 in a race won by Jeffery Gibson of the Bahamas in 48.72. “I was a little bit switched off tonight,” he said. “It was

Farah too fast; Mo caps magnificent year with Great win
Mo Farah capped another year of dominance by sprinting to victory at the Great North Run this morning, the Briton taking a narrow victory over Kenya’s Stanley Biwott in 59:22, his fastest time for the half marathon. Biwott, who had tried for much of the race to break Farah, was never