My...

...favourite Brooks shoe: Cascadia trail shoe

The Personal Bit

Favourite Colour: I’d like to say green for Ireland, but its probably blue.

Favourite Music: I’ll listen to most music, but at the moment I would say my favourites are U2, Damien Rice, Paddy Casey, Belle and Sebastian and Arcade Fire.

Favourite Cartoon: I was a big Postman Pat fan when I was little, now it would have to be the Simpson’s.

Hobbies: Football (mostly watching these days), reading, listening to music.

What would you have done if you hadn’t been so good at running: Still trying to figure that one out.

About Me: I found the transition from junior to senior athlete hard, seeing small improvements, but not having any great achievements during my time at Loughborough University. Once I went to the US and started training under my current coach at Iona College that I started to see big improvements in my performances. These improvements were brought about by introducing me to high mileage training, the kind of training needed to make an impact at the senior international level. I now regularly run 90 to 100 miles per week and feel much stronger because of it. I am comfortable competing at distances from 3k to half marathon either on the track, cross-country or road and in the long term see myself having a serious attempt at the marathon.

Joe McAlister

Joe Running in the European Cross Country Champs in his Mach 9 spikes.
Joe racing in the Racer ST’s in the 2007 London Marathon.

Name: Joe McAlister
D.O.B: 23/12/1980
Club/County/Country: St. Malachy’s AC, Belfast/Co. Antrim/Ireland
Occupation: Student teacher (2005-06) Queens University Belfast.

Personal Profile: I consider myself a long distance runner, I enjoy running on the track, but I love racing on the roads and cross country. I regularly run 90 to 100 miles per week. I am comfortable competing at distances from 3k to half marathon either on the track, cross-country or road and in the long term see myself having a serious attempt at the marathon.

Ambitions/Future aspirations:
Having won Senior National titles indoor and Outdoor on the Track and on the road. I would love to win a National title at Cross Country.

Personal best performances:

  • 3k 8.04
  • 5k 13.56
  • 10k 28.52
  • Half marathon 66.04

Championship/Competitive Achievements:

  • Irish half marathon Champion 2006
  • 2nd Irish 10k championships 2006
  • Irish 10k track champion 2004 and 2005
  • NI XC champion 2006
  • NI 5k Champion 2006
  • Irish indoor 3k champion 2006
  • NI Half marathon champion 2005
  • Represented Ireland at European and World XC at Junior and Senior level
  • Represented Ireland at World University Games
  • NCAA All American cross-country and track for Iona College
  • Numerous Irish Underage and Schools titles

Best Race:
Running the World Junior XC Championships in my home town of Belfast, the support was amazing and I finished as one of the top Europeans in 43rd place.

Worse Race:
World University Games 10k in Izmir, Turkey in very hot and humid conditions where I ran over 2 minutes slower than my best and ended up dehydrated.