Local Coaches and Athlete Attend the European Endurance Conference

Seamus McCann (North Belfast Harriers), Catherine Diver (Beechmount Harriers), Jim McKeown (Lagan Valley AC) all attended.

For the first time, the conference was primarily centred around female athletes competing in endurance events across track, road and cross country running. The sessions included a mixture of lectures, interactive workshops and practical demonstrations. Led by several high-profile coaches, scientists and international athletes (both current and former). Topics and discussion dealt with issues like recognising and preventing REDs, talent development and youth coaching, and the physiological demands of endurance running. The feedback was very positive, with all our coaches reporting that the event provided an excellent platform to network, share knowledge and information, and unite coaches from across Europe and beyond.

Also, in attendance at the Conference was local runner Rebekah Osborne (Dromore AC). Rebekah is doing a PhD at the University of Exeter, funded by Nike, looking into middle-distance running performance, with a special interest in female athletes.

Rebekah says, ‘There is a sizeable gap in the scientific research when it comes to females and running performance and I'm very passionate about finding more answers to help female athletes. I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to go to Nike HQ in Oregon at the end of the month to help test some of their athletes and apply the preliminary findings of my first study.’