Credit Union backing local sports talent with new fund
Shane King
The North Midlands Credit Union has, for the first time, allocated funding to individual sports people, in yet another way to give back to the community.
The local financial institution selected four candidates to support and three of them are rising stars in athletics. Oisín Lane, Cormac Dalton and Eoin Quinn each received a bursary to help fund their careers in athletics.
The three are competing at national and international levels in their own categories. Reaching the top level in the sport comes with a high price tag, as travelling to races and the many other costs can be a financial burden on those striving for success.
Oisín Lane, a 22-year-old psychology student from Ballymahon, competes in the technical discipline of race walking. He has recently won a national title in the senior 10km race walk and qualified for the European competition. Along with winning many national titles in the juvenile ranks, he claimed fourth prize at the European youth Olympics five years ago.
Oisín has big ambitions for the future and has his eyes set on major international races. “The long-term goal is to make the Olympics, which has always been a dream of mine. I am only 22 now, and race walking is an old man’s game, meaning I won’t peak till around 30.
“In the meantime, I just want to win more national senior titles, which would be nice, and there is the world championships in Tokyo next year to look forward to as well,” he said.
Cormac Dalton is a long distance cross country runner and he too has enjoyed success in recent times. Following the completion of his degree in biotechnology at DCU, he was awarded a sport scholarship to complete a masters in business and compete in cross country events in America.
He won the All-Ireland cross country last winter and then went on to claim eighth place at the European event. Cormac acknowledged the great assistance the bursary from the credit union will be, saying it will help “bridge the gap” between him and his competitors.
“I personally surrender about 40% of my salary to cover the costs of running. Unless you get to the very top level in the sport, you don’t make too much money. This bursary allows me to chase my dreams and maybe, get that sponsorship from brands and things like that in the future, to make it a full time career,” he said.
Delvin native Eoin Quinn competes in the 800m sprint and has won numerous national titles in the juvenile and senior ranks and represented Ireland at the U20 European championships in Estonia three years ago.
Eoin has completed his degree in accounting and finance at DCU and is working part-time in the credit union. Despite struggling with injuries in recent times, he said he is looking forward to “bouncing back” and qualifying for big races.
“Every year, I just hope to get faster and faster and be better than my previous year. Ultimately, I hope to get my first senior Irish vest, whether that’s a European championship or even furthermore, an Olympics would be great. The bursary I have received will really help in making my dreams a reality,” he said.
NMCU manager Tom Allen commended the athletes commitment and their dedication to sport, saying they were making “huge strides” in their respective fields and the credit union were “only delighted” to assist them.
“These young people have gone a step further and are almost making a professional career out of what really is an amateur sport. These athletes have put many years of work to get to this level and obviously they need financial support, which is hard to get.
“Our organisation has the ability to put money towards these people and help them achieve whatever they are capable of achieving. It provides them with that bit of financial support to get the training, development and whatever else they need to achieve their potential. That’s what the fund here is about,” said Tom.
Darragh Greene from Longford has represented Ireland in swimming at every major competition, from European Championships to the 2020 Olympics. He is currently training for Paris 2024 and his goal is to make it to the finals at the Paris Olympics. His achievements also include: world championships finalist 2024, semi-finalist 2018/2019; European championships finalist/semi-finalist 2018/2021/2022/2024; world university games finalist 2017; national record holder in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke; first Irish swimmer to break 60 seconds for 100m breaststroke.
About the NMCU Elite Sports Fund
North Midlands Credit Union has for many years operated a Social and Cultural Fund, which to date has provided some €2.3 million in financial assistance to voluntary organisations through its common bond geographical area of north Westmeath and Longford. That fund is focused towards supporting group activities and organisations rather than individual activities and pursuits.
Mr Allen said: “We saw a need to develop a fund that could support young sports people who had the potential, drive and commitment to reach an elite level of sporting achievement.
“From our interaction with some of these young people, their coaches and mentors we could see the level of commitment that is required to be successful at that level: rigorous training programmes – often five, six or even seven days a week with maybe two or three sessions of training each day; putting their academic life and work careers on hold for years and watching their friends having what looks a far easier life, enjoying an active social life, progress in jobs, travel etc.
“We also saw the need to support these young people financially, to provide some level of financial assistance to help with the costs, be that gear, travelling to events, access to specialised training camps or just everyday living.
“With all that in mind, our board decided to develop a limited special fund with the aim of helping young sports people who have achieved notable success in their career to date and have ambitions to excel (probably to international level).”
The fund is limited to €10,000 for the financial year 2023/24, which goes to the end of September 2024.