Good as gold - Bronwen McDonald wins team gold and individual silver at European Masters in Madeira
Bronwyn MacDonald heading for the finish line in the European Masters 800m in Madeira, Portugal where she brought home silver. Photo: European Masters
The beautiful island of Madeira was the venue for this years’ European Masters Championships where one of the largest ever Irish squads took part. A total of 134 Irish athletes participated winning a staggering 81 medals – Ireland’s biggest ever medal haul at any international event.
Team Ireland finished 8th overall out of 56 nations, with Carlow’s Bronwyn MacDonald (SLOT) moving up to the longer distance of 800m where she took home two medals.
The St Laurence O’Toole’s athlete won gold as a member of the Ladies O40 4x400m relay alongside Snezana Bechtina, Denise Toner and Sinead O’Connor.
McDonald also produced a massive personal best of 2:14.98 to win silver in the 800m.
At the age of 7, McDonald began competing for the NACA club Brothers Pierce in Dublin. Enjoying provincial and national success at juvenile level, she amassed several national medals over the middle distance events. Like many teenagers in Ireland, she dropped out of the sport in her mid-teens. Marriage, a move to Carlow and children ignited a new found love for the sport.
She turned her regular solo running into a more competitive affair and joined St Laurence O’Toole in her thirties. Initially competing over 400m, MacDonald after several years of structured training enjoyed some success. She finished 3rd at the European Masters in Torun over 400m in 2024.
A change of coach in January of this year to Ken Archbold, saw the Dublin native move from 400m to 800m after Archbold recognised her potential over the two lap distance. Since then her times have improved from a lofty 2:19, to 2.17 at the National Seniors and then 2.16 taking her up to the competition in Madeira.
While her initial foray into 800m running was a journey into the unknown, confidence was gained as she saw her times improving over the summer.
By the time September came around MacDonald found herself aiming for a podium position. The fastest girl in the field and favourite was the British athlete Ellie Stevens. Besides Stephens word had come from the Spanish camp that Marta Diez had been running well and was aiming for a podium position.
“I felt I had a chance and knew I had to give it my best shot” said Bronwyn. “Ellie Stevens set a blistering pace for the first lap, but I knew that was going to happen. I just had to stick to my plan”.
Stevens did indeed set a blistering pace and hit the front from the gun. Matching her pace was Marta Diez (Spain). The rest of the athletes tried to keep the front two athletes in their sight.
“I just tucked in behind the two of them”, she said. “Diez started to tire approaching the 200m mark and I just kicked for home”. Bronwyn got a sense that she could overtake her, which she did with 120m to go. She gained fresh impetus as she entered the home straight in the silver medal position – finding herself within reach of Stevens.
They battled all the way down the home straight with Stevens taking the gold – only two tenths of a second ahead of MacDonald. A European silver medal and at 2.14.98 a massive three second personal best. “I was delighted but at the same time I was disappointed” said MacDonald. “To be so close, I just wanted gold at that moment.”
A few days later the St Laurence O’Toole athlete was part of the Irish quartet who took gold in the 4x400m relay. “Snezana Bechtina took the relay out and she did a fabulous job” said Bronwyn. “She handed over the baton in second place to Denise Toner”. Toner incidentally took gold in the over 45 800m and silver in the 1500m.
“Denise had moved into the lead after 100m and handed the baton to Sinead O’Connor in first place. I was getting so nervous at this point. Sinead was neck and neck with the German girl handing me the baton”.
Even as she spoke to me three days later you could sense the excited nervousness in her voice, as if she was running the race in that moment, As a former 400m runner MacDonald had the kind of speed that is needed to champion the anchor leg. She powered down the back straight increasing her lead, crossing the line with about 30m to spare over the German’s. The gold medal went to Ireland.
“It was great to celebrate the gold medal with the girls.”
Getting in the shape to run fast times at the Europeans took months of planning and hard work. “I changed coaches in January. Previously I worked with James O’Rourke who did great getting me to where I was over 400m. My new coach Ken Archbold suggested we tackle the 800m, which was a bit scary. I always thought I was better at 400 but he seemed to think I could be a better 800m runner.”
MacDonald had previously tried 800m but after a period where she seemed to be stuck at the 2:20 mark she made the switch to 400m.
“Thank God, I suppose that Ken saw something there. He’s a fantastical coach. He’s just unbelievable. I really just did what I was told for the 10 months” she said, reflecting on thrust she placed in her coaches guidance.
“Ken felt I could run 2:16 by the end of the summer. I just laughed at the idea back then. I mean, if he had me for two or three years then it might be possible.”
It was the commitment from both athlete and coach that made those times become a reality over the intervening months. It was the new found approach to recovery after sessions that made the big difference in her performance this year. Archbold recognised the importance of recovery for masters athletes.
“It was the secret weapon we needed for improvement and staying injury free” she said. With some endurance towards the start of the year, the training ramped up as the track season approached and by May she was hitting the track three times a week for sessions; typically on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
“These were fast and tough” she said. Tuesday and Thursdays are recovery days – maybe a stint on the stationary bike or just a short walk. Saturdays are reserved for the gym and Sunday’s a 10 to 12km run. Training as part of a group on the track has helped drive her on. “Its great having lots of athletes around you. We have such a great group at training. Very supportive and we all celebrate each other’s successes”.
When asked about being part of the largest ever Irish team to travel to a European Masters competition and a team that won so many medals, MacDonald was emphatic about the sense of community that it brought.
“It’s just such an amazing community, despite having all different types of runners. When I arrived in Madeira I just knew a couple of people from the indoors. But Masters is the type of thing that there’s always new people to meet and everybody's there with the same goal. We just want to compete. We were all helping each other out and Ronan Gately (the team manager) was so welcoming.”
Despite the competitive nature of the championships, MacDonald felt it was at times as if she were in an Irish camp. “The support, you can hear people roaring for you as you run down the home straight. The Irish support is just incredible. It really is. It's just so special”.
Her passion for athletics, the masters community and the drive for further improvements are obvious. Did she ever regret dropping out of athletics in her teens?
“While I do regret quitting running as a teenager, I had a fantastic life and did many things that I could not have done if I had stayed in the sport” she said.
An individual sport like athletics can be demanding and a commitment to it, brings lots of sacrifices. For MacDonald, it was not her interested in athletics that waned. It has more to do with her friends giving up the sport and the lost of the community spirit as a result.
“I left the sport simply because my friends were not doing it anymore. But I still ran for fitness” she said. “Running is a great way to relieve stress. After I had my son Oliver, I got back into athletics. I just needed a thirty minute run and I was a new person” she said. “Running is something that goes beyond gold and silver medals for me. It keeps me sane”.
Looking back to her juvenile years in athletics, MacDonald used to get very nervous for races and put a lot of pressure on herself to succeed. “When I came back to running that pressurised environment did not exist. I realised nobody actually really cared and I was doing it for myself. This makes it a much more positive experience. You tend to compete more against your own times. It is such a different experience. It was James O’Rourke that got me back competing on the track.”
O’Rourke who hosted the Wednesday track sessions realised she had speed and encouraged her to do some track races. “If I had not listened I would never have achieved what I have” said MacDonald.
“I want to beat Ellie Stevens”, she said emphatically. "Madeira has given me the hunger to go back and see if I can shave off a few more seconds off my time. I really want to push myself more. Maybe I will do both the 800m and 400m at the European Indoors next year.”
The World Championships are in Korea next summer and this would offer the perfect opportunity for improvement in her time. Either way based on the improvements made in 2025, we can expect another phenomenal season for the Carlow athlete in 2026.
