My Weekend: 'Weekends are for training, resting, eating, and chilling with friends'

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

My name is Daniel and I am from Cork city. I’m a student in MTU and I run for the MTU Athletics team.

Neither of my parents are from Cork funnily enough, my dad is from Limerick and my mom is from Meath. My dad is a doctor in the CUH and my mom golfed for Ireland in her day! I have one brother and he also goes to MTU. He is mad about soccer and plays for Avondale Utd. I also have a pet dog named Max.

What is your ideal way to spend a Friday night?

I have a training session every Saturday morning so I usually just chill out at home and then go to bed at around 10:30pm. If there is rugby on, like the URC, I’ll watch Munster play.. that happens most of the time.

Lie ins or up with the lark.. which is it for you?

Lie ins. I went through the ‘elite mentality’ phase of getting up early when I was younger but that didn’t last long! I’m a big fan of the sleep.

Does work creep into your weekend at all?

No! Weekends are for training, resting, eating, chilling with friends and watching matches.

If money was no object where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you?

I’d probably go to Norway and watch how their athletes and coaches train. The Norwegians have become massive in the last decade or so in endurance sports and it comes down to their training philosophies. I’d love to get some of their tips and tricks that they use to win Championships.

Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries?

Absolutely. We have a family home in Waterville, County Kerry and a part of me grew up there too. Whenever I’m down there the stresses of life disappear and it’s complete switch off time. The views there are some of the best in the world.

Do you like to catch up with family/friends at the weekend?

My friends and I like to go to matches, whether it’s a local football match or going to a Munster rugby match, we’d go to anything really. In the summer we love going for a swim in the sea too.

Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator?

I’m a big fan of soccer and rugby. I spend most of my time outside of athletics watching Premier League. I’m an Arsenal fan so as I write this we have just come off losing the Carabao cup final to Man City, which throws a real spanner in the works as they are trying to chase us down in the Premier League! As I said too, I love watching Munster play, especially in the Heineken Cup.

Entertain or be entertained?

Definitely be entertained. I can confidently say I have the best cook in the world in my house. Thank you mom!

We have so many places to eat out in Cork - where are your go to spots for coffee/ lunch/ special meal?

Il Padrino is a great spot. My girlfriend introduced it to me and I always go back to it. I love a bit of everything though so I’m happy to go anywhere in Cork.

Sunday night comes around too fast.. how do you normally spend it?

Usually go down the Douglas village and get a Swoon ice cream. You can create your own ice cream and yeah it’s just class.

What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday morning?

Depends if I have a lecture or not, as I’ll try to run before the first class, so normally 7am, but I try delay that as much as possible!

Anything else you are up to right now...

Currently on Erasmus in France! I’m in Grenoble for Semester 2. A nice change of scenery for training too, but I do miss my training group KTC back in Cork. Looking forward to getting back racing!