Jumping The Gun

In a return to the podcasting due to social media pressures - which involved seven people liking a tweet - we tee up what should be a cracking edition of the National Cross Country Championships on Sunday. Santry Demesne will play host to the best and brightest of Irish athletics, with places on offer at the Europeans in Dublin which, as we learn during our show, is both a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join us as we update everyone on the reasons our absence from the Irish athletics airwaves over the past six months and run the rule over the fields in the U20 and senior races in Santry, along with expressing our admiration (real) for Andrew Coscoran and our love (fake) for Abbotstown. Let battle commence.

On this week's podcast we get stuck into the rebirth of the vintage Diamond League meetings in Oslo and Stockholm. Steeped in history, the meets have flagged in recent years but have come back to prominence with some impressive marketing, great local athletes and top class competition. This was proved with the number of bums on seats. Cathal caught up with some of the interesting characters on the circuit including teenage sensation Jakob Ingebrigtsen, long distance and social media guru Julien Wanders along with the man of the moment Juan Miguel Echevarria - who quite literally nearly jumped out of the long jump pit in Stockholm. The NCAA championships proved its outrageous standard of competition once more but equally as outrageous is the lack of drug testing. On the doping front we also catch up with the convincing Asbel Kiprop who is giving up his fight for innocence. Domestically we chart the rise of Cork sprinting heroine Phil Healy and some of the studs at the Irish Schools championships.

In this week's podcast we look at the leading Irish results from last weekend, before delving into our topic of discussion for this episode: the problem with potential and athlete development. We then go international to the Prefontaine Classic (31:30 into the podcast) with interviews with Matthew Centrowitz, Christian Coleman and Shelby Houlihan. This was the last time the event will be held in the original Hayward Field before it's demolished and rebuilt. Is it really that 'HISTORIC'? 'Centro' reflects on the Asbel Kiprop doping situation along with his favourite memories from Hayward Field. Coleman talks about his hiccups since winning the world indoors while Houlihan talks about her big breakthrough and the gold dust of the Jerry Schumacher/Bowerman Track Club regime. There were plenty of good performances from Irish athletes at home and abroad. Phil Healy was one of the headliners at the AAI Games while the juniors grabbed attention at the IFAM meeting in Oordegem - The women's U20 4x100m relay team set a new national record and Sarah Healy broke the youth 1500m record. This leads into our discussion on potential. Do we keep going back to the source when a talent hits a roadblock? Should we look at athletic scouts and identify those for the long game. It becomes a merry-go-round instead of developing what we have, which would create a consistent path for the next generation. Alternatively we keep going back to the 'talent.'

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 moment he realised something was not quite right with his mental health, and charts it's progression to date, and the methods he uses to manage it. We get insights into how both writing and talking have helped him become more self-aware, and how seeking the joy in running will remain a goal for the future.

It’s round three of the latest Jumping The Gun podcast reincarnation and we cut our teeth straight into the social media debate sparked by Sonia O’Sullivan’s article in The Irish Times last week. Are athletes losing their way on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook instead of getting the ultimate like… performances on the track and field? We debate the merits of social media and using it as a platform for branding, income and just good old passing the time and entertainment purposes. But has it gone too far or not too far. Next up we discuss the quiet, but potentially exciting, development at the Athletics Ireland Congress last month where €3 of every member (there are currently circa 60,000) of the association’s registration will be ring-fenced for investment into coaching. The key question is whether the money will be put into high level coaching or the developmental level. We talk about what we’d do with that sweet cash and how we might get to the next level. Having asked for questions from our listeners we delved deep into the plethora (two) and picked out Elizabeth Egan’s: what Irish records will be broken this summer? Delving into The Truth, we tell you all about Grant Holloway and the highlights of the American collegiate scene including ANOTHER World U20 record by Sydney McLaughlin and Siofra Cleirigh Buttner winning The Big East 800m title again. We close out with being Shanghaied with another Diamond League meeting and what we can remember were the highlights from China. How many athletes are really shining bright like a diamond to draw the public’s attention? Of course there are a few more meandering conversations along with Sarah Healy’s rising stock and a 15-year-old, Max Burgin, running a world age best of 1:47.50 for the 800m.

In this week’s podcast, we digest the stunning news of Asbel Kiprop’s positive test for EPO. Was he scammed? Did he cheat? Is it time to go after his agent? Is his explanation convincing? We debate all of the above. After that, we turn our attention to some good news: Phil Healy’s scorching hot 100m times at the Tón Le Gaoithe meeting in Waterford last weekend, asking what they might mean for the summer ahead. We round up the best of the Irish performances at home and abroad before hearing from an Irish marathoner who’s packing his bags for Flagstaff, Arizona. Stephen Scullion, fresh from his 2:15:55 run at the London Marathon last month, explains why he feels the need to train far from home to reach the next level, and in a candid interview, he opens up on the challenge of making it work financially while chasing the running dream. To close, we look ahead to the Shanghai Diamond League on Saturday, running the rule over the best races, telling you what to expect when you’re expecting…a good meeting.