WHEN Phil Healy decides to hang up her spikes, her long list of amazing cities and countries to revisit will be the envy of many. The globe-trotting Ballineen woman has raced in some incredible locations. The Bahamas. Paris. Rome. Naples. Tokyo. Istanbul. Taiwan. Amsterdam. Doha. Belgrade. Munich.
On Saturday Healy will add Guangzhou in China to the lengthy list as she competes at the World Athletics Relays, though she quips that it will only be in years to come that she can explore these places.
‘We go to Geneva in Switzerland every year for a competition and I had been there six or seven times before I actually saw Lake Geneva which is a big tourist spot there,’ Healy says, admitting that when she travels for competition, she’s there to work. There’s no time for sightseeing or tourist trails.
‘No matter where we go, the majority of the time it’s the airport to the hotel to the track, back to the airport, and we get to see very little,’ she says, speaking to The Southern Star from her hotel in Hong Kong ahead of the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou.
‘Here, we are at the track and then it’s back to the hotel. It’s even simple things like you can’t be walking around all the time and you can’t be out in the heat draining yourself. We’re here to train and then compete.’
Phil finally got to take in the wonder of Lake Geneva.
The closest the Bandon Athletic Club track star came to exploring local culture in Hong Kong was reading the menu, though she jokes it highlighted how far she is from home in Ballineen. There’s no Clonakilty blackpudding to remind her of West Cork.
‘I’ll get to see the actual places later in life, hopefully,’ adds Healy, who has one job on her mind this weekend: helping the Irish relay teams qualify for September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Healy has been named in both the Irish women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m squads for this weekend in Guangzhou, and will likely receive the nod in the women’s 4x400m team.
The Irish squad looks stacked, with Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker all included – this trio and Healy won European silver last year and finished fourth at the Olympics in Paris. They are the dream team and record-breakers. Healy, though, points out the World Relays are a means to an end.
The stunning Hong Kong skyline.
‘This is to qualify for the World Championships in September. Sixteen teams go to the Worlds and 14 of those qualification spots come from the World Relays, so we need to secure qualification,’ Healy explains.
‘There is also the mixed relay which is on only 90 minutes before the women’s relay so the women’s relay team may not necessarily be at full strength on Saturday night – you are only allowed to make one sub in the mixed relay so that makes it a little bit harder for team management.
‘It’s good to get the team back together and this is all about securing qualification for the World Championships and then building on it during the summer.’
Healy is feeling in good shape, back on track after the illness that forced her to miss the women’s 4x400m relay at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in March. The time spent in Hong Kong this past week allowed Healy and her team-mates acclimatise to the heat and humidity ahead of the World Relays this weekend.
‘I love the heat. Any sprinter does,’ she says.
‘Here it is super humid as well so it does make it that bit harder. It’s not like going to Spain and having that European heat so we have to acclimatise to that. For me, it’s things like making sure my feet are protected – I find that my feet can rip really quickly in the heat so I have to watch things like that.
‘The heat can bring the best out of a sprinter. It’s small things like you can train in shorts and your body is just warmer as well, and you can hit quicker speeds in that heat.’
Phil raced in the Bahamas last year.
It brings its own challenges, too.
‘Some days over here the humidity is 100 percent, it’s never less than 90. It means your cooling strategies are important – the physios would have ice vests and you constantly need to get water and electrolytes on board,’ Healy explains, as it all builds up to this Saturday and securing that golden ticket to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, a destination she has good memories of. It was there she became an Olympian in 2021, though with Covid regulations she saw very little of the city. That could all change in the years ahead when it’s Phil the Tourist, but right now she’s focussed on competing.
