No. 5: 60 Seconds with Harrier Stephen Rice!

Keeping them coming folks. Next up here comes the first of the Clonliffe field eventers Javelin man Stephen Rice:

Bio: My name is Stephen Rice, I am the 3 x national champion in the javelin throw, I hold the National U/23 record of 75.89m

What age did you take up the sport of athletics and why? Originally I took up javelin when I was 14 in school and came third in the east leinsters, but lost to another guy in my year who ended up winning the east leinsters. The following year I was not selected to compete for my school, I was disappointed after focusing on it for a little bit that year. I came back in 4th year and won the all irelands. In 6th year due to some bad coaching did not have a good relationship with the sport and ended up tearing the ligaments in my elbow in the all Ireland final. At this point I gave up the sport for almost 3 years and only started again at the age of 22.

When and why did you join Clonliffe Harriers? I moved to Clonliffe when I came back to athletics, I knew they had some of the best athletes in the country training with them and I wanted to be a part of that environment

What is your favourite training workout? I am a huge fan of physical challenges, if I can incorporate backflips and handstands in to a workout I will. The reason I was pushed away from the sport was due to slow monotonous training. I can thank Ciaran Donohoe for getting me out of that type of training.

And your least favourite? Anything aerobic, running, cycling, rowing

What’s your favourite race / athletics meet? The Morton Games, great atmosphere, very well run event and where I threw my current pb

What is your most cherished or proudest moment in athletics? I would say my most cherished moment Is throwing my pb at the Morton Games, it was years of knowing I could throw it but nothing ever coming together at the right time, it was a pb by 7 meters which is a rare occurrence in the sport.

What was your worst injury – and how did you get over it? Outside of athletics I practice a lot of extreme sports and therefore have had many bad injuries in the past. The one that affected me the most was tearing my ligaments in the European club event competing for Clonliffe where I tore my ankle ligaments at the start of my season. It was my first year properly back in to athletics and I had given it everything so at first I saw it as a massive set back. Over the following weeks I noticed how it had actually helped focus my mind and with a month of intensive rehab I came back and threw my 7meter pb.

What piece of advice would you give an aspiring athlete? Never chase results, create memories with your friends and enjoy the process. The results will come.

What’s your favourite meal? For competition- I guess I would have to say the meal I had before my PB, two chicken breast, a tomato, goats cheese, walnuts and beetroot Outside competition- I have been known to eat a lot of yogurt, about 2000 grams a day which is about 4 large pots so I would have to say yogurt and granola

Who is your sporting ‘hero’? (athletics or other) Irish- Katie Taylor International – Lebron James

What’s your favourite…? Film- Lord of the rings- no question

Song- Bones – Ben Howard- listen to it almost every day

Book- Relentless- Tim S Grover

What’s your favourite holiday destination? Gran Canaria

What’s your favourite hobby / activity outside athletics? Surfing/ mountain biking

How would your non-athlete friends describe you? (in 3 words) I sent this question in to my friends WhatsApp group, and the replies were..inappropriate

What is your next running / athletics goal? (whenever normality returns!) My next goal is to qualify and compete in the European championships.

How are you motivating yourself to continue training at these difficult times? A lot of my training is generally body weight and calisthenic movements so I am not too affected currently.