BY JOHN WALSHE
SEAN Lawton from the Durrus club has become the third West Cork athlete of 2023 to be honoured with the prestigious Cork City Sports Athletics Person of the Month award. He follows in the footsteps of Nicola Tuthill (March) and twice-winner Fiona Everard (April and November).
It was an impressive victory at the 123.ie Athletics Ireland U19 cross-country championships at Navan in December that clinched the award for the 18-year-old Kealkill native. There, over a demanding 6km course, Lawton took the honours ahead of Lughaidh Mallon from Lagan Valley, who finished second, and third-placed David Williams from the St Senan’s club in Kilkenny.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, he explained what his first national cross-country title meant to him: ‘I think I really wanted to show my ability and what I was made of and what work we put in down here in Durrus, so I was happy enough with that.’
Although disappointed with missing out by one place in making the Irish team for the European Cross-Country, compensation came the way with selection for the Celtic International which took place at Renfrew in Scotland this past month.
In what was regarded as the Irish performance of the day, the U20 team comprising Lawton, Harry Colbert and David Williams easily took team honours ahead of Scotland and Northern Ireland. In a tremendous finish, just three seconds separated the first three. Waterford-man Colbert pipped Logan Beagley from Scotland for gold, while Lawton finished a further two seconds back to claim the bronze medal.
‘To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting to win an individual medal, it was a great experience and just pulling on the Irish vest was a good moment. I felt brilliant for the first 3km or so and my plan was to stick with Harry, who is a very good athlete,’ he explained.
‘He put in a bit of a surge over the last 1500m and myself and the Scottish athlete tried to stay with him. It was over the last 400m that we really started to dig deep, I was coming second over the last 20 metres but the Scottish lad just got me’.
‘This award is really a bonus for me, I’m really happy to get it,” he stated. ‘It’s great to celebrate it with my family, my mom is here and she’s been dropping me here, there and everywhere for training and stuff.
‘Obviously, the main man to thank is my coach, Michael Harrington, I definitely wouldn’t be here without him. For training in Durrus, our nearest track is an hour-and-a-half away but we make the most of the pitch we have and we’re still able to train hard.
Lawton winter’s form followed on from a successful summer campaign and he is now looking forward to the track season where no doubt he will be hoping to improve on his times of 4:01.09 and 8:41.66 over the respective 1500m and 3000m distances.
This, his Leaving Cert year at Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí, will also figure highly and at the moment he’s not looking too much beyond that. Regarding university, he says ‘I’m not too sure, I’m thinking of either Dublin or Cork, or even Limerick. But wherever I’ll be, I know there will be a track next to me and a good few lads to train with.’
- Recently, Sean Lawton knocked over six seconds off of his previous best for 3000m when recording 8:35.09 at the AAI Games at Abbotstown in Dublin.
