Anne Marie Healy is the recipient of the February 2008 Evening Echo Sportswoman of the Month, sponsored by the Evening Echo, Newbridge Silverware (104 Oliver Plunkett St) and the Rochestown Park Hotel.

Anne Marie Healy - Evening Echo Sportswoman of the Month February 2008

Anne Marie Healy was presented with her award at a function in the Rochestown Park Hotel on Wed March 12^th.  Her awards were presented by sponsors; Evening echo, Newbridge Silverware and the Rochestown Park Hotel

Anne Marie was selected for the award from several candidates from diverse sports, having been initially recommended by John Walshe.  The basis for the award was Anne Marie's dual gold medal win at the AAI National Masters Indoor championships in Nenagh on February 24^th, when she emphatically won both the 800m and 1500m F35 titles.

At the function Anne Marie paid tribute to Eagle AC, but in particular to her coach, husband Liam Doherty, and Paddy Linehan who had initially encouraged her.  Anne Marie was accompanied at the function by family and friends, and the Club was represented by Chairman, John Quigley and Secretary, Pat Murphy.

As Sportswoman of the Month, Anne Marie featured in a two page article in the Echo. 

The following is the text from the Echo article:

NATIONAL titles are tough to win, I'm sure we can all agree.

Even tougher is to win two in the one day, as Ann Marie Healy of Eagle AC did at the AAI National Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships, held in Nenagh on February 16, crossing the line first in both the 800m and 1500m races.

What makes her achievement all the more remarkable though, is that it was only the second occasion that she had run indoors.

"From the point of view of training, all my efforts had been geared towards the national vets' cross country championships, which were on in Piercestown in Wexford the week before the indoors," she says.

"As Nenagh is the only indoor track in the country, it's obviously difficult to practice for indoor here in Cork!

"However, my training partner Pat Murphy was going to the Munster indoor championships in January and I went along with him, that would have been my first time running indoor.

"When it came to the nationals, I didn't really know what to expect, so I was absolutely delighted to win both."

Running two races in one day wasn't as much of a challenge as you might think either, as Ann Marie explains:

"When you're training consistently, it's not big a deal. Some of the girls might even run three in day.

"As well as that, it's pretty cold at the track in Nenagh and it's a long day to be waiting around, so the best thing to do is run."

Ann Marie, originally from Ballydehob, first began to run when she was in secondary school in Schull.

"I think my year was the second new intake in Schull Community School after it first opened," she says.

"I ran in both schools cross country and track and field while I was there, mainly 100m and 200m."

After coming to live in Cork city, she joined the famous Eagle AC, and is still there today, having had short stints elsewhere.

"I came to Cork in 1989 and decided to join Eagle.

"The reason for this was that at one schools event that I was at, there was a man there by the name of Paddy Lenihan and he was very helpful to the competitors.

"I got talking to him and found out he was involved with Eagle and got some information from him.

"They would train at CIT, or the RTC as it was then, in the evenings, and one night I just went down there."

"I worked for three or four years in the Coombe Hospital in Dublin and did my midwifery there, so while I was living there I ran for both Lucan Harriers and Dublin Striders."

As you may have guessed by the mention of midwifery, Ann Marie is a nurse by trade, now working as a Public Health Nurse in the Ballintemple area.

She is married to Liam Doherty, and he is also her coach ("the only one I've had!" she laughs), the two having got to know each other through the club.

The family is completed by Jack, 7, who accompanies Ann Marie to training and runs with Belgooly, and 18-month-old Ellen who, according to Ann Marie, is the unwitting cause of a lot of sleep-deprivation at the moment.

Previous big wins in Ann Marie's career have been a Munster senior cross country title in 1999, an intercounty medal with Cork the previous year and another 800m and 1500m double, at the outdoor National Masters Track and Field Championships in Tullamore last August.

As for the future and competing for more masters titles, she says:

"That's the plan, I can't just stop now!" she says.

"I have been encouraged by fellow masters runners to give the European and world championships a shot, but that would be a year or two down the line after Ellen has grown a bit."

For that to happen though, she says she will need the continued support of family and friends, without whose support she couldn't do without, as well the other masters runners.

"There is a really strong camaraderie amongst all of the women who would be running," she says.

"Everybody gives each other very strong support, as we're all in the same boat and know what everybody else is going through, having young children and the like."

"Last summer was the first time I had run in the masters, and I got huge encouragement from everybody else.

"That's important I fell, because we need to have more women running, as there are less women running in the masters than men.

"If no women turn up, then there can't be any competition, it's as simple as that.

"A lot of women run on the road, and I would like to see some of them transfer to track."

Does Ann Marie think that there is any particular reason as to why there are lower numbers running on the track compared to how many run on the road?

"I think maybe some women are fearful of running on the track, I don't know if it's that they feel they have to run faster, or the pressure of a crowd looking at them, or what.

"You can't really combine the two either.

"When I was training for track events I wasn't doing any road running, so people were coming up to me and asking if I was injured!"

Naturally, being both her husband and coach, Liam has had a big influence on Ann Marie's career, with Denis Ahern of Eagle also being a big help to her when she first joined the club.

Away from the track, Ann Marie has a strong interest in health and fitness.

"I have a background in the study of health promotion," she says.

"I did a masters in UCC on that subject, and I feel I gained a lot, both personally and professionally, from it."

Apart from that, there is not much free time that Ann Marie can call her own, with the demands of work, training and races, as well as looking after her daughter:

"Anything on top of that would be pushing it! If I got a bit of sleep every once in a while, I'd be going fine," she laughs.