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4th March 2021
08:28am GMT

Sometimes a kick on the arse beats a clap on the back.
"Slowly but surely, he changed me. It was that bit of tough love that I needed."It's ten years on from their clash at the career cross-roads and on Saturday, Travers will compete in his fifth European indoors in the 3000m event. It's his first major championship without his beloved coach, who passed away in January, but Kiernan's distinctive voice of reason lives on in Travers' heart and mind. It's made him the runner, and the man he is today. "I went from that inconsistent, lazy fecker to a runner who was putting races back to back... This is my fifth European indoors so he's obviously taught me a lot along the way!" In the last ten years, Travers has won nine national senior titles. He's ran a 3.55 mile and consistently, he's been Ireland's most competitive long distance runner. He's also become a father, made the move from Dublin to Sligo and took up a full-time job as a special needs assistant. "I'm settled here. I won't be heading back to Dublin any time soon anyway," he says matter-of-factly. "Dublin was just always too busy and too stressful for me. It's a much more laid back life here. In Dublin, if you were fifteen minutes from a track, it would take you an hour to get there! Here it only takes the fifteen minutes." Spoken with a straightness Jerry Kiernan would be proud of.
"When I'm training, my head's in it and when I'm back in the house I'm a family man or a working man. It works well for me and I think it really benefits my running..."
After Kiernan's passing, it was natural for Alan McCormack - husband of cross country great Fionnuala - to step in as Travers' full-time coach. He'd always conferred with Kiernan about the Dubliner's sessions and races anyway, and the transition has been smooth.
"Alan just told me 'I'll look after you and we'll see how things go.' I'm very grateful that he did that for me because I know he's a very busy man. I haven't had to change much because he's very like Jerry in that sense..."
So as the clock ticks to race day, there may be a hole in Travers' heart but there's a voice in his head.
"He was always a simple man. Get in a good position. Leave everything you have inside you out on the track..."
"I've a good motivation behind me for this weekend. Part of this is for Jerry, and I won't be letting the emotions getting the better of me..."Explore more on these topics:

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