For her achievement in setting the Irish record indoors, Sarah
received
the Cork City Sports Athlete of the Month in January of last year. As
she was unable to attend, it was accepted on her behalf by her
grandfather, Dermot Collins, who lives in Kinsale. and who takes a
great interest in her sporting achievements. Sarah Collins grew up in
Douglas, where she attended St Columba’s
Primary School. It was after her family moved to Grimsby, a number of
years later, that she first got involved in athletics.
As her father Jerh is now Head of Global Chemical Operations at
Novartis in Basel, another move to Switzerland followed four years ago,
where Sarah's exploits on the track and cross-country were noticed by
Irish athletics team manager Patsy McGonagle, who recruited her for his
Finn Valley club in Donegal.
Competing at the 2012 IAAF World Junior T&F Championships in
Barcelona, Spain, Sarah finished 13th and, the following summer, gained
a seventh place in the women’s 5,000m at the European Juniors, in
Rieti, Italy.
A week before that 5000m indoor record of 2013, Collins was a scoring member of the Providence team who won the highly competitive NCAA cross country championship, and the college – known as the Friars – will be hoping for similar success when this year’s NCAA decider takes place at Louisville, Kentucky, on November 21st .
Before that, she has the Northeast Regional, on Friday November 13th, which take place at the historic Franklin Park in Boston.