TEAM IRELAND win 31 medals at British Transplant Games!

What a superb performance by Transplant Sport Ireland at the British Transplant Games held in Coventry recently. Winning 16 Gold, 9 Silver and 6 Bronze medals, it makes it the most successful Transplant team ever to compete in these championships. The 4 day sports competition was amongst over 1200 athletes who are Heart, Lung, Liver, Kidney, Pancreas & Bone Marrow transplant recipients and kidney dialysis patients from all over the UK, Northern Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and even Australia! There were competitions for living donors as well as Junior athletes.

Transplant Sport Ireland had 26 transplanted adults, 5 transplanted underage athletes, and 3 living donors competing from Cavan, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. Whilst there were many highlights of the 4 day event in Coventry, it must be said that the celebration of the success of Organ Donation was the most obvious as 31 transplanted Irish athletes would not be there without their donor and the donor’s family’s great gift of life.

It was also the first time that the Adults team and the Children’s team combined making it a strong 34 athlete team. Another first was the Team Ireland Soccer team recently formed, and this was their first transplant games experience doing so in style capturing the Bronze medal!

There were also superb wins in the Cycling 5K time trial and Road Race with Irish athletes Patrick O Connor from Killarney winning Gold in both these events in his first ever transplant games. He also won Gold in his 5k Race-walk. Also experienced Team Ireland athlete John Moran from Glasnevin won Gold and silver in the cycling events and then went on to win Silver in both the 800m and 1500m.

On the track there were many superb performances. Bone marrow recipient Trevor Lynch a bone marrow from Limerick scooped 2 Gold in the 800m and 1500 m and Silver in the 5k. Mike Keohane a liver recipient from West Cork won 3 Gold (5kracewalk, Shot Put and Discus with Bronze in Javelin). Heart recipient Mick O Shea from Mallow captained the soccer team to their success on Saturday and then went on to win Bronze in the 100m sprint on Sunday. For newcomers to the track, there was also success – Owen Crudge a kidney recipient from west Cork won a Bronze in his 100m dash adding to his soccer medal, liver recipient Darragh Stapleton from Lucan also on soccer team, snapped up Silver in the 1500m, Richard Gilligan with Irish roots in New Ross and former Lacrosse international player, scooped Gold in the Long Jump and Silver in the High Jump. Veteran athletes Peter Heffernan from Skerries (kidney recipient) – a seasoned swimmer – took Bronze in 50m, and liver recipient Charlie Ryan from Cobh scooped bronze in ten pin bowling. Team Ireland’s Living donor Ivan Kinahan a kidney recipient took Silver in his Donor 100m.

The Junior Team Ireland athletes replicated this success with super wins of their own. Tadhg McElroy from Bray won Gold in the Table Tennis, with Laura McDowell from Dublin taking silver. Laura went on to win the Long Jump and the 2.5K road race. Seven year old Sadhbh Browne from Galway took Silver in the Obstacle race and last but not least, 17 year old liver recipient Tara Madigan from Limerick won 3 Gold in the Long Jump, in the 5k road race and also in the 200 metres! It was a very emotional day for Tara on the Sunday as along with her superb wins; she also met the mother of her donor who had come to support her at the Games.

Transplant Sport Ireland is very proud of its 16 Gold medals, 9 Silver medals and 6 Bronze medals but it’s not about the medals. Team Ireland has one shared purpose – to showcase the success of organ donation and transplantation whilst offering inspiration to those who are newly transplanted or newly diagnosed with organ failure. The Team have one simple request to everyone – to please consider carrying an Organ Donor Card and Have the conversation – Say YES to Organ Donation.

FULL TEAM: CAVAN: Ciaran Tiernan, CORK: Owen Crudge, Mike Keohane, Patrick O’Driscoll, Michael O’Shea, Charlie Ryan, DUBLIN: Riyadh Abdelakder, Jayson Flynn, Peter Heffernan, Sam & Ivan Kinahan, Laura McDowell, John Moran, Darragh Stapleton, Harry Ward GALWAY: Paddy & Sadhbh Browne KERRY: Alan Gleeson, Patrick O Connor LIMERICK: Trevor Lynch & Tara Madigan LOUTH: John Brennan & Andrew Gallagher MAYO: Billy O Toole TIPPERARY: Sheila Gregan, Paul Hackett, James Harney, Paschal Kavanagh WESTMEATH: John Connell WEXFORD: Lar Brennan, Paul Browne, Richard Gilligan WICKLOW: Clidhna Costello & Tadhg McElroy