Cobh

Tullylease book is a gem of a read&nbsp;
More than ten years ago an Englishman Peter Duhig an athlete himself was fascinated when he read the best selling book "The Perfect Distance" a publication telling the rivalry of top milled distance runners Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett. Both holders of world mile record at one stage. Both took gold medals at the Moscow Olympics. Ovett in the 800m and Coe in the 1,500. The book devoted seven pages to the friendship of Fr Liam Kelleher with Steve Ovett. Ovett ran his first ever 5,000m on the 7/7/77 on a grass track at Midleton CBS defeating double works x country champion and Olympic silver medalist in the Marathon John Treacy. Four years later in May 1979 Ovett was the star attraction at the opening of the track in Tullylease masterminded by Fr Liam. This was a monumental achievement in a small country village on the Cork Limerick border near Dromcollogher. To give an idea of the size of the village, the total enrollment of the National School was 39 and it was on the list to be closed. Fr Liam went all the way to the Dail to prevent this and still has a letter from the then Taoiseach, the late Jack Lynch, reversing the decision to close the school. Shortly after when the land commission were dividing up a farm, Fr Liam advised the local Community Council to buy 5 acres for sport the cost 3,502 punts.
&nbsp;With his love of athletics and after coaching numerous athletes in Midleton to All-Ireland medals in track and x country, he saw the opportunity for a 400m all weather running track. The rest they say is history. The iconic mile event in August 1981, captured the imagination of the sporting world and thousands turned up on a sunny Sunday to see if the 4 minute barrier could be broken on a shale all weather track. The star studded field included Olympic 1,500m champion from Montreal in 1976 John Walker, Eamon Coghlan who finished 4th in that Olympic final and who later won the world 5,000m gold medal in Helsinki in 1983. John Treacy double world x country champion, and Olympic marathon silver medalist in Los Angeles in 1984. Frank 0'Mara world indoor champion, Ray Flynn who still holds the Irish record for the mile and finally Liam 0'Brien, who he coached when he was in Midleton and subsequently won 11 senior steeplechase titles and reached the semi finals of the event at the Los Angeles in 1984.
Epic Race&nbsp;
&nbsp;In a epic race Coghlan got the better of Walker both well inside the four minute barrier. Walker was the first man to run a mile under 4 minutes 100 times when he neared the magical figure statisticians had no record of Tullylease, so they rang Eamon Coghlan in New York, who confirmed that he once beat John Walker in a mile. Even the Los Angeles Times took up the story with the banner headline "Tullylease the one that got away" This year marks the 40th anniversary of that famous mile and while Peter Duhig's book which runs to 250 pages inspired the book, he has embellished it into a very readable story. It outlines what one man can do with faith and hope. Peter visited Fr Liam over 10 ago, to know more, the track was long gone but the legend remained. He reckoned it would be a great story for a book or even a movie. Now living in Spain Covid gave him the opportunity to fulfill his ambition.
The book published by Amazon and has been mailed to Ireland for €16, but Fr Liam always a man for securing a bargain, ordered 2OO books from Amazon at a reduced cost and can mail them in Ireland for €10 including postage. Email him @liamkelleher44@gmail.com and he will mail one to you. Available at BMC in Cobh for just €5

Tullylease Book

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