The Chairman of Meath Athletics MICHAEL CORNYN has travelled far in so many respects since his young days in Leitrim but wherever he has gone, running has always remained an integral part of his life. He tells JIMMY GEOGHEGAN how athletics has helped him through some very turbulent times in his life

Reflecting on it now it's like another world. The world Michael Cornyn grew up in.

In his case, it was Leitrim in the 1960s and early 1970s. Until he was 10 or 12 years old he recalls now with a sense of wonder, there was no electricity in the house that he and his three siblings - Anthony, Padraig and twin sister Maura - lived in. No running water either. No phone. All a familiar tale for those disrupted by Storm Eowyn last week.

Baking was done on an open fire before a Stanley Range arrived.

Life was busy but fundamentally had not changed all that much for generations. "As a youngster I lived much the same kind of life as my grandfather did," he adds. "We would sit around in the evenings chatting, laughing, our only light coming from an old tilley lamp."

The Cornyns lived in a thatched cottage. It was the second last house near the top of a mountain, Slievenakilla, in the parish of Ballinaglera about 12 miles from Drumshambo. Michael was second oldest in the family. "My mother, Maggie, baked and churned, we had a few cows, a few sheep. We grew loads of vegetables, never wanted for anything, lovely homely house, my father, Francie, loved to sing.

"It was only in the 1970s we got electricity. There were three cars in the parish, one tractor. The land was bad. How people made a living on it was amazing really. It was subsistence farming."

For a time Francie also worked in a coal mine near Ballinamore to earn enough to build a house.

"My father was around 50 when he got married, he died at 76 from a heart attack," recalls Michael. "He never went to a doctor, men didn't go to doctors then. When he got heartburn he'd take baking powder. My mum died when she was only 62."

One of the most remarkable aspects of it all is that it wasn't that long ago. Not really.

From a young age Michael Cornyn, who is now 63, began to develop a genuine, deeply-held passion for athletics. That interest was inflamed further when he went to a neighbours house to watch the 1976 Olympic Games from Montreal.

"At the time Eamonn Coghlan set the Olympics alight because he was going for gold against the great runner from New Zealand John Walker," he recalls. Both were runners who were huge inspirations for the young Leitrim man as he watched them engaged in combat in the 1,500 race, from thousands of miles away.

Athletics, he discovered, provided him with a window on the world in other respects. He joined, North Leitrim AC, when he was 16.

"I often thumbed 20 or 30 miles to get to events. A local man, Sean O'Rourke, who owned a Honda 50 and had big interest in the sport, often offered to take me the 20 miles to Manorhamilton or Carrick to compete or to get the bus to the Connacht Championships in Claremorris. Many a race I would have been unable to get to without Sean, until my brother Anthony bought a car at 18 and was able to take me on these journeys."

FOOTBALL AND RUNNING

Michael Cornyn was a decent footballer, but not as good as his brother Padraig who was excellent. Padraig, an electrician, played senior football for Leitrim before he emigrated to London. Anthony too could play. For Michael, who turned out for his native county in football at u-16 level, athletics was always his number one sport. His sister Maura too won medals in the 800m at county schools championships.

Michael had a dream of perhaps getting an athletics scholarship to a college in the US. That never materialised so he pushed on with life.

One of the values Michael Cornyn learned growing up was that to get on in this world, he would have to graft hard. That was a given. He did just that as he embarked on his working life as a trainee manager first with Dunnes Stores in Dublin. He spent time with Tesco Ireland and was later a general manager with a wholesale company for a decade or so.

He met and married a young Dublin teacher and musician Maureen Ferris. They settled in Dunboyne and raised their two children, Sinead, who is a qualified doctor working in paediatric surgery, and Niall who is a actuary. Niall especially took to athletics. He has won Meath and Leinster medals at underage and now specialises in the triathlon where he has won senior championship titles and has represented Ireland at u-23 level at European and World levels.

At one time Michael ran in the colours of Donore Harriers AC although the busyness of life didn't always allow for the training required. He gave up serious athletics for 12 years or so but never stopped running.

In his late forties he began to take part in races again, this time in the colours of Dunboyne AC and in the masters category. Since then he has won numerous titles in the older age groups at county, provincial and national levels. He has enjoyed success in foreign lands too.

His involvement in athletes, the races he has run, the friends he has made, at home and abroad, have, he will tell you, helped him through some turbulent times in his life.

BUSINESS AND SPORT

In the mid 1990s he had set up his own wholesale business and named it Olympic Wholesale Ltd. Selling stationary to various retail outlets the business thrived, until, well it didn't.

His enterprise became the victim of the chill winds whipped up by the recession that hit the Irish economy in 2008 with all the subtly of a sledgehammer slamming down on a nut.

"I had started with just one customer, built the business up to the point where I had a staff of 12, six or seven vans on the road. Then the recession hit, businesses closed, banks pulled overdrafts which they did on me. I struggled on until 2014 when I eventually ended up having to close the business. I owed money and I had to pay some people, but I came out it and was able to start again in a smaller way the following August. Certainly athletics at the time was a huge help.

"I would go out with a friend Paul Gorey for a six o'clock run, 10k or so. We would chat, discuss different issues and after that I was ready to face the day. There's no doubt it was a huge stress buster, every day there was huge stress.

"I didn't realise the seriousness of the situation and spent five days in hospital. Who am I going to pay? Who am I not going to be able to pay? It was tough times but athletics helped me through it all."

Athletics was also to prove his ally in another context.

In 2023, despite the fact that he was extremely fit, Cornyn experienced another serious bout of illness. He had a procedure done in hospital but contracted sepsis soon after. One day he got seriously ill at home in Dunboyne and started shaking uncontrollably. His rang Maureen, who had been out for walk. She hurried back home and rushed him to hospital.

"Even when going to the hospital (in Dublin) Maureen was driving on the bus lane. I said we better get off the bus lane, we're in no rush. She had spotted straight away I was in trouble but I didn't realise the full seriousness of the situation. My fitness was a big help in getting me through that. Athletics has helped me in so many ways," he adds.

Over the years Michael and Maureen have travelled to several Olympic Games and witnessed both Michael Carruth and Katie Taylor win boxing gold in Barcelona and London.

Now retired from the world of work, Michael keeps busy, with his duties as chairman of Meath Athletics soaking up a lot of his time.

He enjoys meeting others involved in the sport - and, of course, he continues to run, on the Hill of Tara and other places.

He is full of admiration for so many people involved in running athletic clubs in the county. People who have spent much of the lives in the sport such as St Brigid's AC man and former President of Athletics Ireland, Michael Heery who he describes as "a real inspiration."

He points out, with a sense of pride, there are now 4,500 registered athletes in the Royal County and 20 clubs, many of them with top-notch facilities but there's always room for improvement.

He speaks of how moves are underway to set up a Meath Athletics Foundation to help young athletes. That's clearly something close to his heart.

Even though he has to meet his own expenses Michael still travels around to various Masters events on the continent.

"People think I must be loaded, but you can get really good value on trips, especially to parts of Europe. I love going to those events and taking part."

Michael didn't serve in any other role in Meath Athletics before he was elected chairman six years ago now. It was a case of diving in at the deep end. He's just happy once he's helping to further the cause of athletes and athletics.

He has travelled a long way, all right, since those days when he grew up in rural Leitrim in a world different from modern Ireland. Very different.