TI Recognition Awards 2020: Caroline Kearney Award

This year, the Caroline Kearney Award recipient is dedicated Pulse Triathlon Club Member and Coach, Dee Needham.

This award is presented for exceptional contribution to the sport of triathlon by a female athlete and is named in honour of the high performance athlete Caroline Kearney, who was killed while training on her bike in 2005.

Triathlon Ireland President Lochlann Walsh outlines Dee’s incredible commitment:

“The long term future of our sport depends on making it accessible to all and in particular juniors. The work Dee has done has made triathlon both accessible and fun for so many juniors.  Dee’s collaborative approach in working with other clubs to benefit our junior triathletes is exemplary and typifies the attitude Caroline herself would have had when she was blazing a trail for Irish female triathletes. In particular, the work over the past difficult season to keep the athletes engaged and involved makes Dee a hugely deserving recipient of the Caroline Kearney award.”

A year like no other

This year has been a year like no other for all of us, and Dee Needham has gone to exceptional efforts to ensure that her clubmates at Pulse TC and the junior club members were fully supported.

Dee is actively involved in her club’s commitment to Women in Sport, the junior club are also signed up to the 20×20 club charter and boasts a 50/50 gender split! In recent years she has become a coach, now Level 2 qualified. In 2020, Dee was accepted onto the Women in Sport High Performance coaching programme.

Pulse Junior Triathlon Club

As well as the above accolades, Dee Needham is Children’s Officer for Pulse Triathlon Club and is central to the organisation of their junior club sessions and the club’s development and growth.

This year, she has run numerous programmes and challenges for the junior members to ensure they were able to train and engage with the club during Covid restrictions. This involved everything from Zoom turbo sessions, quizzes and TikTok challenges, to an inspiring Zoom Turbo Marathon in June. Juniors from all over the country took part in a six hour turbo event to raise funds for Heart Children Ireland, and in memory cherished Pulse junior member, Michaela Gonda, who passed away in 2017.

Needham has fostered partnerships with other junior clubs during the year to run some of these programmes, including her counterparts in Belpark Triathlon and Athy Triathlon Club, when restrictions allowed.

The Zoom Turbo sessions have been a real success story for junior training in 2020, with over 60 juniors from around the country logging on to turbo together during the week.

Dee outlines how there have been lots of team effort involved across numerous clubs to ensure the programmes’ success, and is optimistic about junior training this year;

“It’s been a real team effort, to be honest, a real team effort with Triathlon Ireland and the clubs, and then within our own club the committee and the parents…the parents have to set up those turbos and take them down!”

“The kids have probably got more training this year than ever before, because we have been able to do so much online. Obviously we all have full time jobs as well, you’re pressed for time but we got so much work done with them this year, especially the Zoom turbo sessions, they’ve been a huge success. Then we’re (coaches) working from home so I suppose we have a bit more time to give. So yeah, it’s been a really good year and I just can’t wait to see them racing.”

Dee was thrilled, and surprised, upon receiving her award;

“We don’t do this for reward, but it is lovely to have your work recognised you know. You certainly don’t have awards in mind when your doing it. The reason we do what we do is that we want to bring the kids along and get the best out of them and make sure they’re being looked after. But it is, it’s a nice surprise at the end of it all to have received an award.”

What does triathlon mean to Dee?

“I would say it is nearly my life at the moment, I love being an athlete myself and then I got into the coaching end of things and I love coaching. The biggest thing I think is to see how fantastic our juniors are and how much they love it. If that comes from us and we’re inspiring them to have the same passion, that’s what triathlon means to me at the moment. It’s fantastic to see them loving it so much and for the club to be such a safe and special place for them, it’s almost like a family.”

Triathlon Ireland are honoured to announce you as the recipient of the Caroline Kearney Award Dee, thank you for your incredible contribution to our sport in 2020.