Gold rush for Mike in Wales

MIKE Keohane from Rosscarbery scooped three gold medals at the recent 2019 British Transplant Championships held in Newport in Wales.  

Mike – a liver transplant recipient – won the 5km race walk in a superb time of 25 minutes and 30 seconds and holds the title for the sixth year in a row. He went on to capture gold in the shot putt with a throw of over 11 metres and also took gold in the discus with a throw of over 31 metres.

It was a successful evening for Irish transplant athletes, who brought home an impressive 22 medals including ten gold, nine silver and three bronze. 

The West Cork man is now gearing up for the World Transplant Games 2019 that will be held in Newcastle Gateshead this month (August 17th-24th).

There he will compete in the 40-49 year age category in the following events – darts singles, darts triples, shot putt, 5km race walk and discus

Since Mike joined Team Ireland in 2010 he has competed at national, European and world levels, in countries including Croatia, Poland, and Helsinki. He specialises in the 5km race walk, the shot putt, discus and javelin but has also competed and won medals in badminton and darts.

At the 2017 World Transplant Championships in Malaga, he won his first world medal in the darts triples event, silver in the 5km race walk and a third medal – silver – in the discus.