Treacy brings it all back home

Just the perfect day. About seven o'clock the previous evening it started pouring rain and continued relentlessly through the night. By race time on that Sunday afternoon in March, 20 years ago, Limerick racecourse resembled a mud bath.

As the 25,000 spectators continued to spill in around the old stand, John Treacy was moving about trying to get some shelter. "This is my day," he thought. "No doubt about it."

The World Cross Country has long been regarded as the hardest race to win in distance running. It brings together the track specialists and the endurance men of the roads and the marathon. Yet those who witnessed Treacy glide over the Limerick mud with such effortless grace saw it turned into a one-man race.

"Limerick was unique because that was as close to perfection as I could ever get in anything," says Treacy. "I would define the perfect race as the one with no pain, where you're just flying. That was one of those days. If there was another lap I wouldn't have minded a bit because I was just in cruise control and enjoying every single minute of it. If you could capture a moment in your own life, then winning in front of those crowds at home was that moment."

It was pure coincidence that Limerick was the venue for Treacy to defend the title he had claimed the year before in Glasgow. For the almost 200 runners from 27 countries who made up the entry that day, it was just another championship where only the title mattered. For the Waterford man, however, it was bringing it all back home.

"I was at home the week before and for the first time in my life I felt pressure. Everybody seemed to be converging on Villierstown. There were journalists there that had never been and have never been since and that brings pressure. I remember being very nervous that week.

"When we left for Limerick on the Friday I was delighted to be finally on the move. We ran over the course the day before and it was perfectly dry. Then, of course, it rained for the next 24 hours. I woke up that morning and looked at the rain and I just had this feeling I was going to win. I always felt that I had an advantage when it rained because I didn't mind it at all. But there was a number of people that would be immediately blown away if it was wet."

It wasn't just the conditions that were in Treacy's favour. From an early age he had shown a natural aptitude for cross country running. The strength was all in his lungs and his low-running style made running over the country second nature.

For most, the heavy rain and cold wind in Limerick added to the demands of the 7 1/2 miles. Nobody had expected such crowds, but it was the strongest cross country field yet assembled. Leon Schots of Belgium was seeking his second title. There was the Russian Aleksandr Antipov, built like a tank, and runner-up the year before. Bronislaw Malinowski was Poland's future Olympic steeplechase champion. Still, there was only one man to watch.

"We didn't realise the crowds until we actually came onto the course. They introduced the teams one by one and, with this huge cheer for Ireland, I realised how many were there. After 400 yards of the race I remember saying to myself `I'm on'. You just know. Going into the second lap I heard another great cheer as I came up past Schots and it was only then that I realised I had actually gone into the lead. I used the crowd that day to lift me and I knew when I opened that gap I wasn't going to be caught because anytime I opened a gap in cross country, I was never caught."

Halfway through the second of five laps, Treacy had opened a 100-yard lead to leave the rest chasing in vain. The result was never in doubt, even if he briefly slipped starting the penultimate circuit. "I had just said in my own mind about two seconds previously that this is wrapped up and then I came down on my hands. I remember going past the stand cursing myself but there was never any danger that day. The only worry was the crowd infringing on the course and, especially on the last lap, it was a bit of a concern.

"After the race everybody was slapping me on the back with delight and I think there was more pain in that."

A two-time world champion at only 22 would have been entitled to let loose a little, yet the following morning Treacy was on a plane back to America. "There was big celebrations alright because we won the team silver as well but I left that to the rest of them. I didn't even have a drink that night. Whether I won or lost a race, I would always dismiss it because I would always be looking ahead. The time to look back is when you are well and truly retired."

Five years before Limerick, Treacy had done the groundwork for his titles by running the junior race in Monza as an inexperienced 16 year-old and coming away with a bronze medal. He did the same again the following year in Rabat before heading on the American scholarship route to Providence College. After a couple of years of strengthening the foundations, he was ready to make his senior debut at the 1978 championships in an equally wet and strength-draining Bellahouston Park in Glasgow.

"I wasn't intimidated at all coming to Glasgow because I had seen it all before as a junior. I was running well indoors and I'm a great believer that if you're running well then you can race well anywhere, whether it's track, roads or country.

"As the race unfolded there were three of us a long way ahead of everybody else and I remember thinking halfway through that there was a medal here and just hang in with these boys. On the last lap I made one big effort and right at the crest of the hill I took off and opened a 10-yard lead. Coming into the finish it was almost total disbelief that I was actually going to win. Of all my races it was the sweetest because it was a shock to myself and it really wasn't expected. It was an unbelievable feeling."

There have been many changes to the championship since Treacy's successive victories 20 years ago, not least the participation of the African nations who have all but dominated the men's races in recent years. He made another seven attempts to win the race, finishing fifth in 1985, but by then the Europeans had been forced to take a back seat.

"It's great to have the event coming back to Ireland because we really do have a great tradition of the sport here. We continue to produce great distance runners and none of us are intimidated by running over the country because we've done it as kids and are never bothered by it.

"It is regrettable that neither Sonia O'Sullivan nor Catherina McKiernan will be in Belfast because I know they would have got a huge boost from the local crowd and that can definitely lift your performance. At the end of the day you will only be remembered in your career for two or three races and they will always be major championships. I think winning those races brought home to me that I was a world class athlete and it allowed me to stay in the sport as long as I did. That was the most important thing really."