Down under in Perth at the World Transplant Games, today Irish (super) woman Mairead O’Mahony from Cork won both a Gold and a Bronze medal in athletics while 'the flying doctor' Ron Grainger from Dublin broke a world transplant games record in the 100m race securing Gold.
This brings the medals tally on the penultimate day of competition for Transplant Team Ireland to 5 Gold, 5 Silver and 3 Bronze.
Mairead O'Mahony with her 5k silver medal earlier this weekIn the Shot Put Mairead O'Mahony from Berrings, Cork achieved her personal best of 8.96 meters before dashing off to the track to take Bronze in 1500m race. This comes just days after she won Silver in the 5km race at her first ever games. From her neighbouring county Limerickman, John Loftus and veteran to the games, from Clarina, secured Bronze in Ball Throw but later had to declare himself ‘out’ of the 100m race due to a calf injury. While fellow veteran Ron Grainger, a retired consultant urologist from Castleknock in Dublin who received a kidney transplant, fondly referred to by the team as 'the flying doctor' based on his past performances on track, broke a world transplant games record in his age category (70-79) and personal best time of 16.14 seconds and seizing Gold in the 100 meter race in the same age category as John. Earlier in the week Ron proved his mettle in Golf winning two medals, Silver on Monday in golf pairs and Bronze on Wednesday for his individual score.
After her double medals win this morning, (Thursday) mother of one Mairead O'Mahony (age 44) said, " I'm in total shock. I don't think it has sunk in yet. It's more than I ever could have imagined. It has been an amazing experience with a fantastic team. I want to thank my brother Willie for being my donor (bone marrow) when I was 18 years old.. It was so long ago but being here at the World Transplant Games has brought it to the forefront of how amazing it is that he literally saved my life".
Pat O’Sullivan from Mallow in Cork just missed out on a medal today coming in 4th place in the 100m race in his age category (50-58). On Monday Pat won a Gold medal in the Golf pairs competition partnered with fellow Corkman Hugh Nolan. Bernadette Cox, a grandmother from Newbridge, Co Kildare just missed out on a Bronze medal today in the Lawn Bowls. Another venue another grandmother on Transplant Team Ireland, Teresa Smyth, from Williamstown, Galway competed in Table Tennis with Finbar O'Regan from Dublin and while they didn't make it to the medals podium they were content with their performance and Teresa was still delighted over winning a Silver in her Darts the day before.
