Neil Cusack: Where are they now?
In 1974, Limerick man Neil Cusack became the only Irish man to win the Boston marathon. The former St Munchin's student shocked an experienced field when he cruised to victory in a time of 2:13.39.
"I decided when I was going up there that I was going to try and win it. I was in good shape and I was feeling happy. I'd been running well on the road, doing a 4.04 mile, I had a race plan and was feeling confident.
"At the starting line I met an Irish guy, Paul McMahon, who was second in the 1968 race. He asked me how I would do and when I told him I would win, he burst out laughing. No one expected me to do it."
Cusack entered the race as an unknown entity and finished as an Irish hero. Before the race he sewed an Irish crest to his singlet, a decision he counts as one of the best he ever made.
"The university sent me so I should really have worn their colours, but I decided if I won this I was going to do it for Ireland."
The student came in 46 seconds ahead of the favourite, Tom Flemming, to a massive Irish welcome. "Word had spread that there was an Irish guy leading the field and because of the Irish population in Boston, there was a huge crowd at the finish line. There were people shoving $20 bills into my shorts."
Boston, however, wasn't Cusack's first marathon win. Three years prior to that he went to Atlanta with some friends and won the Peach Bowl Marathon. At that time he was attending East Tennessee University on an athletics scholarship.
Cusack was originally a 10,000m specialist and in 1972 he represented Ireland at that distance in the Olympics. In the same year he won the NCAA Cross Country Championship. He went to the Olympics again in 1976 and competed in the marathon.
By 1979 the former Olympian felt that it was time to return home. He kept up competitive running and in 1981 won the Dublin marathon in a time of 2:13.59.
He now lives in Cratloe, a village outside Limerick City. Every weekend he runs four miles with his wife Imelda in the forest close to his home. He works in the sales side of his business, Cube Printing, in Limerick.
Originally published in
