Jim's hunger to win
John FitzSimons
“I train to win. I hate losing,” says one of Ireland’s most dedicated athletes, Kilbeggan native, Jim Langan. Reflecting on an action packed 15 months in which he represented Ireland and claimed provincial and national titles, the never-say-die Westmeath man is still enjoying every minute of his disciplined life.
“If I lost the desire to win, I’d just stop running. That hasn’t happened yet and I hope it never will,” said Jim as he outlined his hectic schedule.
A Leinster Masters champion at 800 metres, 1500 metres, 3000 metres and over 6k on the road, Jim climbed to the pinnacle when racing to an All-Ireland title at the Irish Masters Championships taking first place in the 1500 metres over 70 category.
Regimented to train twice daily putting in a three mile run in the morning and pushing that out to four in the evening, Jim is a familiar sight around the byroads of Ardnaglue.
That level of training has seen him prosper in a variety of road races around the country, from Mullingar to Adare and indeed across the south coast.
The chance to represent your country is a dream come true for every sportsman and woman and that opportunity presented for Jim last October when he was selected on a three man team for a five nations international cross country event in the grounds of Queens University.
Enjoying a very good outing on testing ground, Jim, who was joined on the Irish team by John Todd, from Tullamore and Cavan’s Mike Duggan, came home in 15th position.
In the third month of the year, Jim has continued his busy schedule and has already claimed Irish titles at the Masters Indoor Championships.
The newly opened track in Athlone IT hosted the event last month and Jim took gold in the 800 and 1500 metres in the over 70 category. He took silver in the 3000 metres. Jim also competed in the All-Ireland Masters 4k cross country event in Derry where he finished fourth.
Jim’s athletics career spans some 45 years, having first donned running shoes back in the NACA days. At that time he ran for Tullamore Harriers but as the athletic movement in Ireland changed over the years, Jim joined BLE which in more recent years has reinvented itself as Athletics Ireland.
There are very few active athletes in Ireland who can lay claim to that type of history.
Having spent most of his career with Tullamore, Jim has also run for Kilbeggan, Tyrrellspass and Clara AC and said he is delighted with the amount of new events which are coming on stream.
However, one irritant is the fact that quite a lot of them do not cater for age categories.
“They really should have age categories in their events and I am delighted that all the local events, the Tyrrellspass 5k, Castlepollard, the annual Pat Finnerty 5k and the newly established St Oliver Plunkett HC 5k do take account of the older runner,” he said.
Just last month Jim, who founded the Tarkett Running Club in the 80s, was honoured by Offaly Athletics Ireland when he was recognised for his selection on the Irish team in five nations.