RUNNING FULL CIRCLE?Frank Greally (left) with Dom Byrne, from Ballyhaunis, during the launch in Dublin of his autobiography.?Pic: Sportsfile
ATHLETICS stars past and present – as well as many members of the Irish running community – gathered in Dublin recently for the launch of Frank Greally’s autobiography, ‘Running Full Circle’.
The former champion distance runner and long-time managing editor of Irish Runner magazine has had, by his own admission, many ups and downs, and that is reflected in the book’s subtitle, ‘Footprints on a Rocky Road to Redemption.’
The book traces Greally’s emergence in the 1960s as a prodigious talent in his native Mayo, his turbulent years as a homesick scholarship athlete in East Tennessee — where he majored in English Literature and journalism as well as ‘music and moonshine’ — and his subsequent struggles with depression and alcohol.
It also documents a lifelong love affair not only with athletics but also with words and includes warmly drawn portraits of the many runners and writers who influenced and inspired him.
Speaking at the launch, Ray McManus of Sportsfile photographic agency, described his friend as a dreamer, a poet and a survivor who through thick and thin has kept faith with the athletics family and, thanks to his journalism and mentoring, won universal admiration and affection.
Greally himself said he wrote the book as a tribute to family and friends and a thanksgiving for all life’s blessings. The Ballyhaunis man added that if his memoir helped even one reader battling addiction or tempted to despair, it would have been worth the effort.
‘Runing Full Circle’ by Frank Greally is published by Ballpoint Press Ltd and is now available in all good bookshops at €14.99.
Greally’s book a Frank account
