A Questions and Answers session with Brother Colm O'Connell and David Rudisha will take place in the Bailey Allen Hall, NUI Galway, on Saturday 14 September at 6:30pm. Based in Kenya, these inspirational speakers have achieved world success in athletics.

 

Brother Colm has coached 25 World Champions and five Olympic Champions, and David Rudisha is the current Olympic champion and world record holder in the 800 metres.

 

Tickets are €10 and all proceeds go to Self Help Africa, Galway Simon Community and Education for Life (Br Colm's HIV / AIDS charity). Places are limited, so make sure to book your tickets at www.galwaykenyarun.com.

 

The Q&A is not just for athletics fans, but should interest anyone who wants to achieve success in individual sports, team sports, business and life. Talent Identification, Development, Motivation and Dealing with Diversity are some of the main topics that will be discussed.

 

Brother Colm has played a key role in the rise of Kenyan distance running after introducing the training camp concept to Kenya in 1986. He believes that success is an attitude: "It's the way you deal with an athlete. It's the environment in which you bring them, that's what is important. It's not handing them a programme or standing on the side with a whistle and a watch". He believes that traditional methods for sporting success need to be replaced with modern thinking.

 

Brother Colm believes modern running times are so fast that breaking records requires a more holistic approach. “You're flailing an area that's already close to 100 percent and the runner is banging his head off the ceiling by doing more and more and more of the same thing,” says O’Connell, who started to look at “exercise work, core strength, pilates, the way you run, the way you carry yourself, the way you relate to the ground” and how gymnasts and runners can be alike.

 

David Rudisha was the first, and only person to date, to run 800 metres in under 1:41.00 and he holds the three fastest times ever run for the distance. Speaking of his performance at the Olympic Games, Sebastian Coe (organiser of the London Olympics) said: "It was the performance of the Games, not just of track and field but of the Games". Bolt was good, Rudisha was magnificent. It was the most extraordinary piece of running I have probably ever seen."