A scan of the Section II indoor track and field record book shows that former Burnt Hills standout Miles Irish is still the record-holder in the 1,000 and 3,000-meter events. Both records were set in 1983.
Current day, if you are looking for a sign in the Irish household in Southern California of the athletic achievements of the family patriarch, including a successful track career as a scholarship athlete at Georgetown, you won’t find it.
Irish, now a managing director in the financial investment industry for Merrill Lynch, moved on from his running career shortly after Georgetown and hasn’t looked back.
“I had visions of running professionally but I had been injured for some time in college so it was a bit ambitious on my part,” Irish said. “I was as invested as anyone that had my success that I had early on. I had a coach out here (California) and a group to train with but I realized pretty quickly that my running career was not going to be post-collegiate.”
“I threw myself at the next thing,” Irish said. “Do one thing and be the best you can be.”
Irish is still connected to the sport through his three children as his oldest, Miles, ran at Dartmouth, daughter Morgan competed at Georgetown and Ian currently runs at Columbia University.
The Irish children picked up running as a sport on their own. It must be something in the family bloodlines.
“I’ve never run post-college, I’ve never gone on a run with my kids. They didn’t get it from watching me do it,” Irish said. “Never in our life, and there is nothing in our household on display about my running, not one thing. No medals, no photos, no nothing.”
Irish dabbled in coaching for a while when his son Miles was running in middle school, a move that allowed him to impose his personal philosophy on the sport to the youngsters.
“When Miles was in sixth grade, someone approached me to see if I would coach the middle school cross country program at Palos Verdes Intermediate School. I started the program and in six years, we went from 14 kids to 165,” Irish said. “We broke the girls' team record at the Manhattan Invitational for middle schoolers and the boys got second place. It was not about running; we ran three days a week and the kids never ran more than 3.5 miles. It was social, very inclusive, it wasn’t about winning, it was about having fun and being introduced to a sport that most people don't consider unless they are no good for other sports which, honestly, is how I got into track and field.”
Irish grew up one of four children, though things were rough after his father passed away when Miles was 10. The family persevered.
“My mom worked. She was the tax collector for our school,” Irish said. “It was pretty traumatic for our entire family. A defining moment that changed the course of everyone’s life. We had food, we had presents, I had shoes. We were not poor. It was different, two incomes versus one. We all took care of each other.”
Running became an interest for Irish in ninth grade when he connected with track and field coach Richard Stevens.
“I was incredibly lucky because in ninth grade, I met coach Stevens,” Irish said. “He was very tough but I needed a tough coach because I was a handful. I needed someone who had a strong personality and someone who could handle me. The best thing he did for me was to slow me down. I would have overdone it athletically. It is a balancing act. He really committed to me and put in the time and effort.”
Irish has stayed connected with the Burnt Hills program and though current coach Chip Button was not his coach in high school, he worked with Stevens when Irish was running for the Spartans.
“He worked with coach Stevens and we reconnected a few years ago at the Penn Relays,” Irish said. “Chip will text results to me from time to time. I’ve gone up to NXN (cross country nationals in Portland) twice to support them the last couple of years.”
Sean Martin, a local freelance writer, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union.
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June 16, 2020 at 01:24PM
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Miles Irish still in record books, but has moved onto new challenges - Times Union
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