From West Waterford AC... "A pleasant end of Rás na Rinne gathering at a well attended Halla An Phobail sa Rinn on Friday evening witnessed Ballinroad man James Veale become the third recipient of the Seamus Ó Droma Award for voluntary service to the promotion of athletics in the West Waterford area and, indeed far beyond.
The West Waterford club is currently one of the largest and most active in the Country and much of the reason for this is the unstinting work of the club’s PRO James Veale who has been involved since the club was formed all of over thirty years ago.
Before this James was an active runner with the Dungarvan athletic club and his times for 10 miles, 54.42, 27 30 for 5 miles and a regular sub three hours marathoner demonstrates that he was no slouch in a pair of running shoes. James was encouraged into the sport by the late Eddie Moore, a pioneer of the local athletic club since he came to Abbeyside from Holycross in Tipperary in the 1960’s and also especially by his parents, Jim and the sadly recently deceased Philomena who brought their children to events in the 1970’s as members of Dungarvan A.C. and later, Abbeyside Parish A.C.
The ethos of the present West Waterford club runs parallel to James’ involvement of encouraging persons of all ages to participate in running to become fitter and enjoy a healthier life while the juvenile section of the club gives the opportunity to young athletes to reach their potential and the recent exploits of Noah Commins and Isabelle Gaffney in European competition demonstrates this in the fully rounded approach of the club to the sport.
As PRO of the West Waterford club, James has been the one responsible for the weekly notes in the local papers for many years while he has been taking photos of events, from the first finisher over the line to the last one in races, athletes at National and International championships showing that he has been living out the ethos of the local club and what sport is all about during his forty years plus of unbroken service to others.
Darren Ó Droma, son of the late Seamus, presided at the award presentation in Halla an Phobail on Friday in the presence of his mother Mary Rose and the two former winners, Fr. Michael Enright and Jamie Costin, representing his late father, Jimmy.
In a well researched presentation, Darren showed photos of his father in his early running years as a member of the St. Nicholas club right up to recent years. Seamus was also in the same vein as James as he encouraged so many to run their first marathon and even more, he ran it with them to ensure that they would all get over the line safely. In his own day, Seamus ran 50 miles from Cork to Helvick as a fundraiser for the local church and he also walked a marathon around the roads of An Rinn to aid the provision of a playground for the young children of the Parish. As far back as 1971, Seamus was on the St. Nicholas team that won the Munster Novice Cross Country title with his team mates, Ray Treacy, Jimmy Costin, John Harty, Paddy Kelly and Jimmy Walsh.
Turning the attention to this year’s award winner, Darren gave the attendance an account of all that James Veale has done for athletics and continues to so as he was heading to the National Athletic Track and Field championships a few hours after this gathering. As well as all the local events, James was instrumental in getting the National Marathon championship to Dungarvan in 2001 and later the National half marathon. He was a key developer of the John Treacy ten mile road race held annually and it is now regarded as the top such event in the country. Darren explained that James’ ultimate ambition is to see an athletic track in St. Augustines College which is currently top of the ‘Must Do’ list of West Waterford A.C.
James’ parents were his foundation in the sport and now he follows similarly with his own family as he and Brid have encouraged their daughter Kate in her race walking career since her early days and Kate gave the gathering in Halla an Phobail an idea of the extent of James’ involvement in her travels all over the world during the past two decades.
Darren Ó Droma had his ceachtanna baile done for this ceremony and he showed video messages from Olympic medallist John Treacy, World Athletics administrator Pierce O Callaghan and a former running mate, Timmy Foley from Australia congratulating James on his award and expressing the view that it is so richly deserved.
In accepting the Seamus Ó Droma award for 2026 which was produced by a former running mate of Seamus, Eamonn Terry at Criostal na Rinne, James stated that it was such a huge honour for him to receive it on the same list as Fr. Enright and Jimmy Costin. He thanked Mary Rose and the Ó Droma family for choosing him for 2026 and he dedicated the occasion to his late mother, Philomena, to sustained applause from all present.
This concluded the night but not for James as he headed home to write up the report on Rás na Rinne held earlier in the evening, burning the midnight oil once again for the continued promotion of Athletics before heading to Dublin the following morning to witness Kate win her 30th National title winning the race walking 5000 metres in thrilling fashion with just twelve seconds separating the first four finishers. Well done Kate! "
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