Below a summary of Kevin's Athletic, Triathlon and Organisational career.

Kevin Morgan sporting BIO

Olympian Triathlon Club member, Kevin Morgan (born 11 Feb 1952) is a former triathlete and runner who represented Northern Ireland in the 1972 World Cross-Country Championships and then Ireland in the 1990 World Triathlon Championships.

He was Irish Triathlon Champion in 1990 and runner-up in his age group in the World Ironman Triathlon Championships in Hawaii in 1998.

Early Life and Education:

Kevin was born in Belfast, the third of four children and older brother to Sean, also an OTC member. Like most families in his area in North Belfast, for his first few years they had no TV, an outside toilet and they never owned a car.

He attended St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School and, eventually, QUB where he obtained a Degree in Mathematics before becoming a teacher at his alma mater.

Athletic Background:

Kevin's Uncle Billy was the principal driver behind Corrigan Athletic Club (Ulster Sports' Council) and it was with them that he was talked into running his first race. About 100 lads all aged around 11 years raced laps of the frozen fields of the Bog Meadows where Kevin finished dead last. After that he would bus it to Casement Park one night a week where Corrigan AC would meet. "We would stand around in our shorts, do a few sprints on the very lumpy cinder track, then head home." He says very little running was ever done. Kevin can remember only once jogging a full lap of the Casement's rectangular track.

On the other side of the family was cousin Mike Bull, former GB pole vault record holder and Commonwealth Games decathlon champion.

Although Kevin eventually became a competent swimmer by local triathlon standards, he was terrified of water till early teenage. "One day, Sean came back from Peter's Hill pool and declared he could swim. I guess my competitive instinct kicked into action. I could not accept that my younger brother being able to swim while I could not." Next day he went to Peter's Hill pool and forced himself to swim. And loved it. He was 14.

Kevin often rode his sister Eileen's bike the one-mile journey to and from school.

In St Mary's CBGS at age 17, Kevin began running 3 miles after school with a couple of classmates a couple of times per week. The route was always the same: up the Glen Rd, up Hannahstown Hill and back down the Upper Springfield Rd. There were occasional races against other schools in which he would finish closer to the front than the back.

He later joined Achilles AC, creating some family friction and the wrath of Uncle Billy. He was a regular member of the Achilles first team. Over the years with Achilles and Duncairn Harriers he achieved best performances of:

5km: 14:52

10km: 30:50

Half marathon: 67:56

Marathon: 2hours 28min

(In the same clubs, half a dozen runners ran marathon times significantly faster than his 2:28, the fastest of which was Greg Hannon at 2:13.)

"I was extremely inconsistent as a runner. As a triathlete, this was largely solved."

After running 2:28 in 1983, Kevin decided to move to this new nonsense sport of triathlon he'd heard about from friend Desi McHenry: Desi had been involved from the outset. The first triathlon in Britain or Ireland was in Craigavon in 1982. In 1983 there were a handful of events in Ireland, almost all in the north.

Kevin borrowed his wife Geraldine's 3-speed-Sturmy-Archer-geared work bike with wicker basket on front to do some training. At the same time, he joined his brother-in-law Greg Coyle (former water polo player and already on the triathlon scene) for swims in Andersonstown pool. Some time before his first triathlon race in 1984 Kevin had borrowed a more suitable bike and lined up with the other few dozen competitors in the old Lisburn pool. Desi McHenry and swim-star Tom Heaney led the pack home and Kevin finished 5th. He was hooked. In the next few races and on a proper racing bike he progressed well, getting closer to the front timewise but not advancing much placewise.

Then, later in 1984 in the Ulster Championships (2000m pool swim, 30 mile bike, 8mile run) he got off the bike in third position and well within sight of the leader. He quickly caught Desi McHenry for 2nd place and then caught and passed the British soldier who was leading. The run was 8miles which Kevin covered in 44mins to win by 4mins.

By that time, thanks to Anne Mageean, Olympian Triathlon Club was up and running. Kevin had joined the fledgling Andersonstown Triathlon Club but it folded within weeks and he quickly moved to OTC.

The race that just about everyone aimed for in the 80s was Sligo's All Ireland Triathlon (Half Ironman distance) organised by the late Pat Curley. In the late 1980s, because this was recognised as the race everyone wanted to do, the Irish Triathlon Association (now Triathlon Ireland) granted it Irish Championship status for middle distance. "Actually, when I first heard about the Sligo race, I initially thought it was almost as daft a distance as the full Ironman distance. Who would want to race that far?" When he tried it for himself, it immediately became his primary goal for each season until he won it in 1990.

In 1989, Ger Hartman, who had already won previously, arrived with a bike sporting a confusion of weirdly curved handlebars. These would later become known as aero bars. It seemed he was the only competitor in the field who'd ever heard of them. Hartman won by over 2mins from Kevin. By 1990, all the serious bikes had them.

Sligo 1990: "In the lead-up to the race in 1990, I knew I was in far better shape than any time previously (and any time since). I was swimming better than ever, cycling very much better than ever; I was cycling out of my skin! And my running form indicated I could have run around 2:30 for a marathon at that time. On race day, I carried one spare tub because I felt it was possible for me to puncture once and still be in the running to win. This was easily my best race ever including later finishing second in age group in Kona."

Kevin was second out of the water, had by far the fastest bike (no punctures) and by far the fastest run to win by 17mins from US duathlete Eoin Fahy (allegedly a 64min half marathon runner) and Noel Munnis (a former Ulster Champion for 400m freestyle and fresh from a 69min half marathon).

Hawaii 1998:

After his win in Sligo, Kevin backed off consistent training for a few years. He started on drugs to control atrial fibrillation around 1995. In 1997 decided to try an Ironman as a one-off. The target was Roth (it was an Ironman Corporation event in those days). He trained as hard as possible bringing up two daughters on his own but running speeds had tailed off markedly by then. He bought a second hand Principia bike with 650c wheels (popular then) for £600 and fitted a pair of Profile aero bars. The tyres were typically 18mm and 140psi, very different from current recommendations. He finished 3rd in Roth in 9.45 in the 45-49 age group and unexpectedly qualified for Hawaii. He spent the next few months training to win his age group in Hawaii. Following a decent swim in Kailua Bay, he moved through the field in the lava fields on the bike and led his age group into the run but was overtaken by German Kalli Nottrodt after 7 miles and then subsequently pulled clear by a massive 1 minute per mile. (Kalli went on to win his age group in Hawaii TEN times. And is still winning European masters swimming championships.)

Triathlon accomplishments:

Ulster Triathlon Champion 1984

Ulster Grand Prix Champion (points scored over a series of races) (1986?)

Irish National Series Champion (roughly same as current set up) (1988?) (mainly on basis of scoring well in each race rather than winning many).

Irish Half Ironman Champion 1990 3h50m55s (shortened swim after high winds carried off the first buoy.)

3rd in age group in Roth Ironman 1998 in 9h45m

2nd in age group in Hawaii Ironman World Championships 1998

2nd in age group in European Triathlon Championships (1994)

Irish Triathlete of the Year 1990 and 1998

Irish 40+ and 50+ champion.

In 1992, Kevin took part in the Ulster Masters Swimming Championships where he won the 400m freestyle in 5:11, a record for the 40+ age group at that time.

Organiser:

Kevin held various positions on the committees of OTC, Irish Triathlon Association (ITA became TI) and Ulster Branch of the Irish Triathlon Association. He wrote an early version of the OTC constitution and of the ITA Open Water Swimming Regulations.

He was the chief organiser for the 1993 Milk Tryathlon Series, a series of 16 non-competitive pool-based triathlons across the north with over 2000 participants. Each was a 10-length swim, 9-mile cycle and 3-mile run.

He organised the Ulster Schools Triathlon Championships for several years.

He was part of the decision to permit wetsuits to be worn in local triathlons after they were initially banned (the change was resisted by a male open water swimmer on the committee).

He was the principal driver to mandate the use of hard-shell helmets in triathlons. (This was met with resistance by some UBITA committee members. Also, triathlon in Ireland mandated hard shell helmets before the cycling bodies.)

[It should be said that triathlon-specific wetsuits did not exist in the early days of triathlon and hard-shell helmets for the bike were almost impossible to find. In the schools' championships, competitors had to wear hard-shell helmets but that included equestrian head gear and hurling helmets.]

Cycling trips:

Cycled solo from Lisbon to Lisburn (100miles per day for 21 days) 1999

Cycled 6-weeks solo from Beijing to Hanoi 2007

Cycled for 7-weeks solo through the mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan 2008

China:

Kevin taught English as a Foreign Language at Sichuan Agricultural University 2009-2012.

Family:

Daughter Nicola is, like her late mother (died 1992), a nurse with multiple added responsibilities.

Daughter Claire is an internationally renowned artist.

Poetry:

Kevin joined a writing group in 1999. "I just fancied writing some short stories and had no intention of writing poems but found myself doing exactly that for the next few years and won a couple of low-level competitions." He won the Grendon House Poetry Prize and the Armagh International Poetry Prize.

Tree Rings By Kevin Morgan

Tell me the truth
of the big freeze,
of a past locked solid as oak.
Tell of the thick and thins,
where the full circle begins;
tell of where I came in.

Photography:

He took up photography in 2012 and over the years has taken thousands of photographs for OTC at the Mourne Triathlon.

Coaching:

Athletics: For a short time, he was a member of the British Amateur Athletic Board Coaching Committee. He coached a number of successful 400m – 1500m schoolboys.

Triathlon: Coached Alison Hamilton to 20th place in the World Triathlon Championships (Elite) and Irish Champion.

Coached Eugene Galbraith for a time. He went on to finish 4th in the World U23 Triathlon Championships and was Irish Champion.

Now:

Current level of athleticism: 37:58 for Victoria Park Parkrun (Dec 2024). Few hundred in front, 4 behind. "I came in with zero talent. Looks like I'm leaving it that way!"

The above quote is a typical example of Kevin's quick wit when describing situations. He may have come into the sport with zero talent but he certainly put his stamp on Irish Triathlon over the years. He is and forever will be a Legend in the sport.