Club member Dave Hooper had the honour of telling the Irish Nation last Wednesday that Rob Heffernan had won the gold medal in the 50km at the World athletic championships in Moscow. Here he reflects on a remarkable few hours in his career as a commentary/reporter SUNDAY, August 14 1983 is always remembered as the date Eamonn Coghlan became Ireland’s first World outdoor athletic champion. On the 30th anniversary of that win I am very proud to write that I was sitting in the Luzhniki Stadium in Mowcow to report on Robert Heffernan becoming world champion. Initially I was very hesitant about travelling. I had been to Moscow three years ago with Vinny Mulvey and Greg Fitzsimmons to see U2 in concert. The experience put me off heading back to the Russian capital. But the Irish Times athletic correspondent Ian O’Riordan essentially persuaded me to go again. So I took a chance! An essential requirement of any sport journalist travelling to cover a major event abroad is preview what is likely to happen and make contact with the Irish participants. “Ah howya doing Davy Boy” was how Rob Heffernan answered when I spoke to him a few weeks ago. Rob is great with the media, he speaks extremely well; he even let me in on his race tactics This was an Irish ‘state secret’ not be divulged once we were inside the old Iron curtain! I’m not pretending to be a physic. But for some reason on the night before the 50k walk I just got a feeling Rob would win. I was covering the event for RTE and I was in contact by email with Darren Frehill who was doing the morning sports bulletins on radio last Wednesday. The plan was that I would give the first update during the 8.30am sports bulletin. I was awake at 6am on the morning of the race; it was pouring rain outside my Moscow apartment. I was feeling nervous but I remember thinking if I’m feeling nervous just imagine how Rob is feeling. After a quick breakfast I made my way via the Moscow Metro to the stadium. The next few hours are a bit of a daze now. Initially Darren rang me to say: ‘I think we’ll go early” as 90 minutes into the race Rob was lying fifth. So I gave my first live report on RTE Radio 1 at 7.30m by which time Rob was in front. By the time the next report was due at 8.30am Rob was heading for victory. My only fear was that Rob might be disqualified as I was doing the report. Darren then texted me to say RTE wanted a live updates before the end of Morning Ireland and again on the John Murray Show. When I got the call to say ‘Two minutes Dave, you’re going to speak to Bryan Dobson’ I definitely felt I had crossed a threshold in the newsroom. My contribution on Morning Ireland and my commentary on the closing seconds of the race which were broadcast on the John Murray Show are stored somewhere in the RTE library. Race over the next priority was to get an interview with the new World champion for RTE. I raced to the famed mixed zone and begged to get a couple of moments with Rob. I waved my press pass with the Irish flag on it but there was no way through. So I had to wait until Rob went through all the post- race rituals such as doping control. My phone never stopped ringing; everybody in RTE seemed to have my number. Next up I found myself talking live to Ryan Tubridy on Radio 2. I’m not sure what I said. I don’t want to listen back to it. I think I was in shock that all this was happening. Eventually Rob came along: I jumped in and make sure RTE got what they needed. Rob then had to do the official post-race press conference; I was kinda doubling up an unofficial media manager for Team Ireland at this stage which helped persuade the Russian officials to let me through the security cordon along with the official Irish team mentors Pasty McGonagle and Ray Flynn. The only downside was that I had to turn off my phone. When I turned it back on 45 minutes later there was a flurry of text messages from producers and presenters in RTE and from other people back in Ireland who I hadn’t seen in a while. Apparently I had done an eccentric commentary on the closing stages of the race but all the texters said well done. By now I was ready to head off for a pint or as Rob put it: ‘I think Ray Flynn is going to clear the Russian bars of beer!’ But I had to do work for the Irish papers that I was covering the championships for. At around 9pm Russian time Frank Greally, Editor of the Irish Runner, rang me wondering if I was celebrating in Red Square. Unfortunately I was still filing copy back to Dublin. There is a downside to sports journalism! But I will never forget last Wednesday – one of the most memorable days of my life
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 16:03:59 +0000