Rosscarbery’s Memorial 5km’Steam Engine’ Run and Plaque Unveiling The family-focused event will include music and Irish dancing in the town square and the First Annual Memorial Steam Engine 5km Run (3 miles), twice around the lagoon in Rosscarbery, after the plaque unveiling. Runners and walkers of all abilities who are over 16 years of age are welcome to take part and they can register on the day in the town square from 2pm for just €5. An added attraction will be that all participants in the run will receive a special commemorative medal, while the winners in the mens and ladies categories will receive cash prizes.
He defeated America’s finest athletes at New York’s Madison Square Garden and other venues in the USA, and now Timothy Jerome O’Mahony, aka ‘The Rosscarbery Steam Engine’, is receiving long overdue recognition – more than 110 years later – when a plaque in his honour will be unveiled at his birthplace in the small West Cork town of Rosscarbery on Saturday 1st October 2011. The unveiling will take place at 3pm that day and will be conducted by guest of honour, legendary sports commentator Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh. “He’s an example to our young people that Irish athletes from even the smallest towns and villages can take on and beat the world’s best,” says Mr Ó Muircheartaigh. At a time when the GAA was actively involved in track and field sports, T.J. O’Mahony was GAA Irish Champion in the quarter-mile (400 metres) in 1885, 1887 and 1888 and Irish Amateur Athletics Association (IAAA) champion in 1886, before grabbing all the positive headlines as part of the GAA’s ‘Gaelic Invasion’ tour of the USA in 1888, when some of the country’s finest hurlers and track and field athletes were dispatched to promote Gaelic sports in America. While hurling proved of great curiosity to the Americans on the unique tour by 48 Irish sportsmen, it was O’Mahony’s feats on the track – defeating the best the US could offer – that made the newswires, with gushing headlines like “Unconquerable Steam Engine”. The American athletes were the international benchmark on the track at the time and he beat the USA Champion in some style. This was before the era of the modern Olympics and he was described at the time as the de facto World Champion. “This is a very appropriate time in our history to honour a great Irish athlete,” said Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh. “In the 1880s, an economically challenging time in Ireland, for ‘The Rosscarbery Steam Engine’ to achieve what he did was remarkable. He is an example to our young people that Irish athletes from even the smallest towns and villages can take on and beat the world’s best.” The son of a shopkeeper, Timothy Jerome O’Mahony was born at home in Rosscarbery town in 1864 and trained in all weathers in a local field (even after school), with no coaching, his powerful and distinctive rhythmic style of running earning him the moniker ‘The Rosscarbery Steam Engine’. He was also the first Secretary of the local Carbery Rangers GAA club in 1887. After his feats on the US tour in 1888, over 1,000 people turned out for a celebratory torchlight procession through the small town to give him a rapturous hero’s welcome home after the long boat-trip across the Atlantic. He retired some time later, moving to Dublin where he filed stories as a sports reporter. He died in Dublin in 1914, aged 50, of cardiac failure. His death certificate cited his profession as ‘Press Man’. Sadly, and despite extensive searches, no photographs have been found of O’Mahony, but a specially commissioned sketch based on media descriptions of him has been drawn by Dublin-based artist and designer Peter Queally. “We’d like this plaque to be a first step,” said Chairperson of Rosscarbery Community Council, Michael O’Sullivan. “Timothy’s headstone in Glasnevin cemetery has all but disintegrated over time and we are hoping that either the Glasnevin Trust or the National Graves Association or some other body will explore the funding possibilities for a new headstone to give due national recognition to one of Ireland’s greatest athletes.” Turn up and register for the run on the day from 2pm! ENDS
