Ciara Mageean will be celebrated by the Irish athletics community at next weekend’s 123.ie National Senior Track and Field Championships at Morton Stadium.
The European 1500m champion will return to the championships as Guest of Honour on Sunday, July 26, when a special on-track tribute will recognise her outstanding career and contribution to Irish sport.
Mageean revealed last year that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatment. The planned celebration will offer athletes, clubs and supporters an opportunity to show their appreciation for one of the most accomplished and popular figures in Irish athletics.
Every affiliated Athletics Ireland club has been invited to nominate two juvenile athletes to participate in the tribute, which will take place between the men’s and women’s 1500m finals.
Wearing their club colours, the young athletes will join Mageean on the track in a symbolic link between one of Ireland’s greatest middle-distance runners and the generation she has helped to inspire.
Each participating athlete will also receive a commemorative autograph card signed by Mageean.
“Athletics has given me so much throughout my life, and I’m incredibly grateful for the friendships, opportunities and memories it has brought me,” she said.
“I’m really looking forward to returning to the National Championships and celebrating with so many young athletes.”
“To everyone in the athletics community who has supported me over the years, thank you. Your kindness has meant more than you’ll ever know, and I’m honoured to be part of this very special occasion.”
Mageean’s career reached its greatest height in Rome in June 2024 when she produced a perfectly judged performance to win the European 1500m title.
That triumph made her the first Irish athlete to win an individual European outdoor title since Sonia O’Sullivan in 1998. It also completed a full set of European outdoor medals following bronze in Amsterdam in 2016 and silver in Munich in 2022.
The Portaferry athlete was selected for three Olympic Games, competing at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021 before injury forced her withdrawal ahead of the 1,500m heats in Paris in 2024.
She has also rewritten the Irish record books across the middle-distance programme, setting national bests over 800m, 1,000m, 1,500m and the mile.
Her national mile record of 4:14.58, set in Monaco in 2023, took almost three seconds off a mark held by O’Sullivan for 29 years. Her 1,500m record of 3:55.87 was recorded later that summer in Brussels.
Athletics Ireland CEO Hamish Adams said the National Championships would provide a fitting setting in which to honour her career.
“Ciara Mageean has given Irish athletics some of its proudest moments and inspired countless young people to believe they too can compete with the very best in the world,” he said.
“This year’s National Championships will give our athletics community the opportunity to celebrate one of Ireland’s greatest-ever athletes and everything she has achieved for our sport and our country.”
“Bringing together young athletes from clubs across Ireland to share the track with Ciara will be a truly special moment and a fitting tribute to a champion who continues to inspire us all.”
The tribute will form part of the Sunday programme at the 123.ie National Senior Track and Field Championships, with the public encouraged to attend Morton Stadium and join in the celebration.
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Image Credit: Athletics Ireland
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