Kevin Seaward

Kevin Seaward (born 3 October 1983)[1] is a Northern Irish marathon runner from Belfast and an assistant headteacher at a school in Leicestershire.[2] Seaward was part of the Ireland team at the 2016 Summer Olympics[3] and achieved 64th place with a time of 2:20:06,[4] and holds a personal best in the event with a 2:10:09 that he ran at the 2020 Seville Marathon.

Kevin Seaward
Seaward at the 2017 London Marathon
Personal information
Born (1983-10-03) 3 October 1983
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Sport
Country Northern Ireland
 Ireland
SportAthletics
Event(s)Marathon

Athletics career

Seaward originally started running for St Malachy's Athletics Club.[5] When he moved to England, he started to run for Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club in Wales.[6] He represented Ireland at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the marathon but finished 64th.[7] In 2018, Seaward represented Northern Ireland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. He finished fourth in the marathon with a time of 2:19:54.[8]

In 2019, Seaward ran the fastest time for an athlete representing Ireland since 2002 with a 2:13:39 in the Berlin Marathon.[9] This time was outside the Olympic qualifying time, which led to suggestions Seaward might have to rely upon his IAAF ranking in order to qualify. However, in 2020, he ran a 2:10:10 at the Seville Marathon. This broke the record for Northern Irish marathon runners and gave Seaward an Olympic qualifying time.[10] He attributed his time to the Nike Vaporfly trainers he had been wearing for the marathon compared with the Adidas Boosts he had on his feet for the Berlin marathon, despite admitting he hated the feel of them the first time he wore them.[11]

As his time made him the second fastest marathon runner representing Ireland in history, it was speculated that he would be selected to represent Ireland at the 2020 Summer Olympics in one of their three marathon places. However the COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of the Olympics.[12]

He competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where he finished 9th in the men's marathon event.[13]

Personal life

Seaward, a Roman Catholic, attended St Malachy's College in Belfast.[14] Away from athletics, Seaward is a PE teacher and assistant headteacher at Martin High School, Anstey, Leicestershire, England.[15]

At the same time he participated in the 2016 Olympics, one of Seaward's pupils at Martin High School also went to the Olympics as part of the Great Britain team as a Team GB youth archery ambassador.[16]

References
  1. "Athlete: Kevin Seaward". European Athletics. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  2. Duffy, Emma (30 September 2019). "Seaward clocks Ireland's fastest marathon time since 2002, another record for 42-year-old Mayo-born Diver". The42.ie. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  3. "Meet Ireland's Olympic team: Kevin Seaward". The 42. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  4. "Rio 2016 Marathon standings". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 8 September 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  5. "Seaward becomes second-fastest Irish marathon runner". RTE. 23 February 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  6. "The marathon story of Kevin Seaward". Fast Running. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  7. "Rio 2016: Pollock best of Irish in Olympic marathon". BBC Sport. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  8. "Commonwealth Games: Northern Ireland's Kevin Seaward fourth in Gold Coast marathon". BBC Sport. 15 April 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  9. "Kevin Seaward: Belfast runner clocks Ireland's best marathon time since 2002". BBC Sport. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  10. "Tokyo 2020: Seaward sets NI record and Olympic standard time in Seville". BBC Sport. 23 February 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  11. "Kevin Seaward: 'The first time I wore the Vaporflys, I hated them'". Irish Times. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  12. Haughey, John (20 March 2020). "Kevin Seaward: Irish marathon runner believes Olympics probably won't happen". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  13. "Marathon - Men's Marathon". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  14. "Kevin Seaward and Ann-Marie McGlynn set half marathon personal bests in Barcelona". BBC Sport. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  15. "Anstey PE teacher puts Tokyo dream on hold-after competition is postponed". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  16. Fennessy, Paul (21 July 2016). "Meet Ireland's Olympic team: Kevin Seaward". The42.ie. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
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