Kevin Seaward (born 3 October 1983) is a Northern Irish

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

runner from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

and an assistant headteacher at a school in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. Seaward was part of the

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

team at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

and achieved 64th place with a time of 2:20:06, and holds a personal best in the event with a 2:10:09 that he ran at the 2020 Seville Marathon.

Athletics career

Seaward originally started running for St Malachy's Athletics Club. When he moved to England, he started to run for

Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club (Cardiff AAC) ( cy, Clwb Athletau Amatur Caerdydd), formed in 1882 as Roath (Cardiff) Harriers, is an athletics club based at the Cardiff International Sports Stadium, Cardiff. The club began as a cross country clu ...

in Wales. He represented Ireland at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the marathon but finished 64th. In 2018, Seaward represented

Northern Ireland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to April 15, 2018. On January 3, 2017 Northern Ireland announced its decision to send a squad of 88 athletes to the games. ...

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He finished fourth in the marathon with a time of 2:19:54. In 2019, Seaward ran the fastest time for an athlete representing Ireland since 2002 with a 2:13:39 in the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inclu ...

. 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 The Zurich Seville Marathon is a marathon held annually in the streets of Seville since 1985. It is organized by the department of sports of the town hall and sponsored by both public and private organizations. It was used as a host of the 1999 Wor ...

. This broke the record for Northern Irish marathon runners and gave Seaward an Olympic qualifying time. 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. 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 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in one of their three marathon places. However the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

led to the postponement of the Olympics. He competed at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

where he finished 9th in the men's marathon event.

Personal life

Seaward, a Roman Catholic, attended St Malachy's College in Belfast. Away from athletics, Seaward is a PE teacher and assistant headteacher at Martin High School, Anstey, Leicestershire, England. 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 Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

team as a

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

youth archery ambassador.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seaward, Kevin 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Belfast Male long-distance runners from Northern Ireland Male marathon runners from Northern Ireland Olympic athletes of Ireland Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Northern Ireland Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Educators from Northern Ireland People educated at St Malachy's College Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games