Episode 5: St Malachy's College Belfast (Penn Relays Hall of Fame)

One of the great stories of Irish Schools Athletics. Four years. Five US victories. And a Belfast school that keeps producing world class runners. Between 1997 ( link to YouTube video of race ) and 2000, St Malachy’s College won the Penn Relays Championship of America Distance Medley (DMR) relay four years in a row. And then added another 4x800m title to the list. They broke records, became the first high school team in Penn Relay's history to go under 10 minutes for the DMR and somehow survived dropped batons and an extraordinary final leg chase from future American mile star Alan Webb who split 3.59.9 trying to catch them ( click here to watch this video from RunnerSpace). In this special episode of The Final Split, Conor is joined by three members of those legendary St Malachy’s teams – Joe McAllister, Conor Sweeney and Fra McCaffrey - to revisit their school days, training under Dr John Morrin, the Penn Relays and some of the moments that made them part of Irish athletics history. But this interview is about much more than the victories in Philadelphia. We ended up exploring the remarkable distance-running tradition at St Malachy’s, the coaches and characters behind its success, and the generations of outstanding athletes who emerged from the school including Greg Hannon, Seamus McCann, Brian Treacy, Gary Murray, Brian Conway, Gareth Turnbull, Colm McLean, Conor Sweeney, Kevin Seaward, four-time Paralympic champion Michael McKillop, Tony McCambridge, Fionntán Campbell, Ben Branagh, Ryan Faulkner, Dominic McAllister, Matthew Lavery, Callum Morgan, Luke Kelly, Finn Diver and many others. A fascinating trip down memory lane, with some brilliant stories, plenty of nostalgia and a bit of craic along the way. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave us a 5-star rating or positive review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts or Amazon Music. It really helps us out. Thanks for following, sharing and listening. 🌐 www.thefinalsplit.com 📸 Instagram: @thefinalsplitpodcast 𝕏 @The_Final_Split 📧 thefinalsplit@gmail.com #TheFinalSplit #RunningPodcast