Mark English's achievements celebrated in Co Donegal

A large crowd turned out at Finn Valley Athletics Club in Stranorlar, Co Donegal last night to welcome home European 800m gold medallist Mark English.

Club member, English became the first man to win gold for Ireland at the European Athletics Championships, after he won the 800m in Birmingham last month.

The 33-year-old from Letterkenny also ran a new personal best of 1:42.78 as he finished sixth in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest recently.

The European gold medallist said that the past six week were "pretty hectic", since his success in Birmingham, adding that the response at home has been "special".

"I went back to Spain for some altitude training the morning after the race. I didn't get any sleep, and I was back into the thick of it again.

"You're starting to get some messages coming through. You start to see what it means to some people and coming back here to Finn Valley today, back to my home county.

"It's been amazing. I’ve been into town to get coffee on a few occasions and you're just getting congratulated left, right, and centre," English said.

He added: "It’s pretty special to see what it means to the to the local communities. It’s great to bring home a gold medal for them because it's as much theirs as it is mine."

Members of athletic clubs across Donegal, and former Olympian Danny McDaid, were among those present at last night event in the Finn Valley Centre.

Club head coach and former Irish Olympic team manager Patsy McGonagle spoke of English’s journey from primary school athletics to the word stage, adding that he hoped it would inspire the next generation.

He spoke of the happiness that English’s success brought the nation, a success, he said, that was built on hard work, resilience, sacrifice and support.

English’s record-breaking European semi-final performance, broke a 48-year record, held by Olaf Beyer of East Germany since 1978.

While warming up before the final, English said he drew strength from harsh winter training and carried the guidance of his coaches over the years, who instilled a belief in him, that he could achieve, "probably before I ever believed I could do it", he said.

"It was a 12-year journey. Over those 12 years, there were silvers and bronzes, a lot of injuries, setbacks, seasons disrupted where my body wouldn’t co-operate.

"It’s tough to manage in this sport; especially when I was combining it with studying to become a doctor at the same time.

"There were times where I was told maybe I was just a solid champion performer and that it would have been tough to scale to the top of any podium," English said.

He added: "What this club taught me and Donegal athletics has taught me, is to never settle and to always strive for more, and that that's what I did," he said.

English said the success was not just a personal achievement, but one that belongs to Finn Valley AC, Donegal athletics and Irish athletics too.

"I hope that these guys here recognise the work they put in and how it's helped me over the years as well."

Speaking to the junior athletes last night, English told them that he "wasn't exactly a child prodigy", who "won a couple of races," but "also lost a lot of races".

"I think that shows you to just believe in the process, which I would have done at that young age, because sport will test you…consistency and patience will always win out in the end," he said.

He urged the athletes to "embrace the radiance of the track" and "the winter miles".

The Finn Valley athlete, spoke of his high-altitude training in the Sierra Nevada mountains in southern Spain, acknowledging how it helped him to achieve his goals.

"Yeah, it's [high altitude training] been really helpful and I guess I would have introduced it towards the end of 2024 since taking on Justin Renaldi as my coach.

"I know it doesn't work for everybody, maybe, but certainly works for me, and it's hard to imagine having run the races I did without having had that, so it's been massive.

"I could be here all day giving thanks to people but honestly it is a collective effort to get me to that point where I finally won the gold medal after all those years," English said.

The three-time Olympian, six-time European medallist and 19-time national champion said he will take a few weeks to decide what is next, given that "the emotion of all this is still raw".

"I’ll let all that settle and then make a more reasoned decision," he said.