Caitriona Jennings has revealed she is retiring from competitive marathon running to follow her dream and row for Ireland at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
Caitriona Jennings – going for gold again.
The Letterkenny woman is quitting running after a series of injuries.
But Caitriona is now joining up with her sister Sinead in a bid for Olympic success.
Caitriona told Donegal Daily she has informed Athletics Ireland of her decision.
The Hawthorn Heights woman suffered bitter disappointment in the marathon in London last year when she became injured after just a few miles.
“As such, I have removed myself from the carding structure and have forgone the balance of the financial and ancillary support provided by the Irish Sports Council and Athletics Ireland for the remainder of 2013.
“You may recall that I had an unfortunate experience in the London Olympics last year which resulted in a stress fracture and plantar fasciitis in my left foot.
“While rehabilitating from these injuries, I picked up another stress fracture in my right foot in January 2013. These injuries added to a long list of injuries I have picked up over the past 6 years.
“In March this year I took up rowing as a form of cross training and to supplement my running training as I wasn’t capable of doing the mileage necessary to train for the marathon distance,” she revealed.
Caitriona said rowing was the obvious choice as her sister, Sinéad is a keen rower and won the World Championships in 2001.
“I took some time off from my career in PwC this year and spent 5 months training in the US, continuing both rowing and running.
“I realised during this time that I would never reach my potential in running due to the limitations of injury, however I still wish to compete at the highest level of international sport, therefore I made the very tough decision to quit competitive marathon running and focus on rowing for the next Olympic cycle.
“I very much enjoyed my running career and received fantastic support from Marathon Mission, Athletics Ireland, the Irish Sports Council and my employers PwC during this time.
“While I am very sad to be quitting running, I’m very excited about my newfound sport of rowing and the opportunities that it might bring.”