The Leeside Legends series: Mark Carroll was one of our greatest athletes

“Brother Dooley called me in one day and said to me if I missed the national championships it would give my injury time to heal and I would have a better chance of winning a European title.”

In 1998 Carroll set two Irish records as he broke Eamonn Coughlan’s 3,000 record of 7.37 when he ran 7.33 at a meeting in Brussels.

“The one problem that I have with athletics is the number of drugs in the game as my attitude to the sport is simple it is a gift that shouldn’t be abused.”

Mark then decided to change from Track and Field in 2002 to Marathon running and in his debut race in New York he ran a superb two hours and 10 minute to finish in sixth place.

FACTFILE:
Mark Carroll won the European 5,000m Junior Men’s championship in 1991 that was hosted at Lille in France.
Carroll achieved a lifelong ambition in 2000 when he won the European Athletics Indoor Championship 3,000m in Ghent.
Mark is the current Irish record holder at 3,000m, 5,000m, and 10,000m.
Carroll won the Wanamaker Mile in 2000.
Probably the greatest race of Carroll’s career was in Monaco in 1999, when he set the 3,000m record of 7.30.36. It could stand for decades. It’s more than two seconds faster than Mo Farah has ever run, and is essentially the equivalent of running two four-minute miles back to back.