From refusing to compete at sports day to becoming one of Ireland’s top track and field performers.
Part time teacher and Heptathlete Anna McCauley’s sport story has been a journey alongside her Mum and current coach, Maureen.
The Sport NI Athlete Award recipient, funded by the National Lottery, has scored a consideration standard for the 2026 Commonwealth Games and is fourth on the all-time Irish list.
But the journey didn’t start as you’d expect as Anna explained: “I started athletics in primary school just by doing sports days but at my first sports day, I didn’t even want to run. I was crying. I just wanted to hold the ribbon instead.
“By P6 though I was happy competing and went down to the local club, City of Lisburn which is still my club now. My Mum has been a big influence and did athletics growing up herself. So, she had interest in me going down to the track.”
The sport bug soon took over and Anna was tackling all sports. She continued: “I started doing individual events, like hurdles and long jump and sprints when I was about 14 and then there was an opportunity to compete and represent Ireland.
“You had to qualify from the Ulster meets and then you’d go down to compete against the other girls in Ireland so that’s when I got my first Irish vest for the pentathlon when I was 15, then I went on to compete in the hurdles at the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Bahamas. I was specialising in hurdles, but then started thinking, oh, I’m good at the other events too.”
The beginnings of a career in multi sports began and Anna went to University in Sheffield with the inspiration of Lady Mary Peters behind her. Anna saw continual progression whilst in Sheffield and competed at her first Commonwealth Games in 2022 finishing in sixth place.
Now Anna is back in Belfast working as a supply primary school teacher to support her athletics career after completing her PGCE last year whilst still training.
Competing alongside elite athletes and receiving specialist coaching since moving home for each event has seen her performances improve. She said: “I’m newly qualified primary school teacher, so I’m currently working as a supply. I go into schools around Belfast, which works well with my athletics.
“I can choose when I want to work and the school I’m with currently in Belfast is very understanding. I think being part time this year has helped with the support of Sport NI. Compared to last year, I was qualifying, I was doing my PGCE, I was in placement five days a week and then training six days a week on top of that.”
Being an elite athlete requires sacrifices and meeting the high expectations to compete against the best in the world, especially when combining it with a professional life away from the track.
But for Anna, that challenge is one she relishes: “I do enjoy it, but it is a lot of time and energy and support, especially from my parents.
“A lot of people do say that to me, how do you keep motivated and how do you train so much? But I don’t really see it as a sacrifice because I enjoy it so much.
“I love the thrill of competing and I love training. Me and my mum come to the track and just seeing how much I can progress in sessions, I get my joy from that, so I can’t really see my life outside athletics right now. I have a goal in mind and I’m going to keep going.”
You would assume that all athletes just started doing sport, were good at it and just kept practising. But for Anna, it was a journey of self-perseverance to overcome challenges and the metaphorical hurdles she faced as that scared primary school pupil.
We asked Anna what advice she would give to young athletes. She said, “It is crazy when you think back to how much I’ve changed. I think sport brings out so much confidence. I think staying consistent at one thing can really build your character, and I think I’d be a completely different person if I wasn’t in sport.
“It brings you so much joy, and if you are that young person in athletics or any other sport, keep going and don’t get upset. Think of the bigger picture, think of where you could be, and have those idols to look up to and think, oh, why can’t that be me one day?
“If you believe in yourself, then you can achieve whatever you want to put your mind to.”
Sport NI’s Athlete Award funding is made possible thanks to National Lottery players, who raise around £33 million every week for National Lottery-funded projects.