Representing Ireland and injury feature in Ricki Wynne's look back at 2023

After some fascinating insights into the 2023 sporting year in Leitrim, we’ve come to the end of our 2023 Sports Review of the Year with three final contributions this week.

The Observer invited some of the county's outstanding sports people and journalists to look back over 2023 and it was an illuminating look back over an action packed year that featured some incredible highs and some equally disappointing lows. We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to share their thoughts   

Here is the final part of our look back on an exciting and action packed year, Leitrim Village’s Ricki Wynne reflects on the lows of injury that curtailed his season while also remembering the highs that saw him represent Ireland in the World Mountain Running Championships in 2023.

PJ Leddy's highs and lows of Leitrim's sporting year in 2023

HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR

My highlight of the year is a personal one! I got to represent my country in the World Mountain Running Championships in Austria, putting on the Irish singlet for the first time at the age of 40!! I was the first Irish athletes across the line in my race and finished inside the top 50, competing again the best athletes in the world! It just goes to show that age is just a number and with hard work you can achieve your dreams!

LOWLIGHT OF THE YEAR

My lowlight of the year has been the injuries I have picked up along the way this year! When you train as much as I do, injuries have a habit of popping up from time to time! And when you love the sport as much as I do, it is very frustrating to be on the sideline unable to train! After my race in Chamonix I realised I had broken a bone in my foot so I was out of action for a few weeks which was hard to take! On the flip side, you have to tell yourself that a setback is a set up for a comeback!

PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

I’m picking the same athlete as last year so it has to be Katie Taylor! She was brave enough to put her belt on the line this year and unfortunately she lost that fight! But being the champion that she is, she learned from her mistakes and went on to retain her title to prove that she is the best and that’s why I believe that she is one of the greatest athletes Ireland has ever produced! She has changed the sport of boxing for women all over the world and still remains so humble!

TEAM OF THE YEAR

It has to be the Irish Rugby Team! I know we didn’t manage to reach the World Cup Final, but it was an incredible performance from every single player on the team and it was just so exciting to watch them progress in the tournament by playing some very “edge of the seat” rugby! The whole of Ireland came together to support them and that itself was an amazing thing! Irish Rugby is in a good place at the minute and I’m excited to see where they go from here!

ONE THING I’D DO TO MAKE SPORT BETTER IN 2024

In athletics, from what I see from other counties that we come up against, there seems to be more funding allocated towards gear, team managers, physios, etc even at grass roots level! With sufficient funding we would be able to level the playing field and compete against these other countries at a higher level!

WHAT ARE THE BIG CHALLENGES FACING LEITRIM SPORT IN 2024?

The biggest challenge facing Leitrim at the minute is population and immigration! With Leitrim having one of the smallest populations in the country but also having one of the highest levels of immigration, we simply just don’t have the numbers to compete against other counties across the board! It all stems from grass roots so we need to try to make sure that we facilitate our athletes to be more motivated and hungry to stay in the country and represent their county!

PERSON  THAT MADE YOU GO WOW IN 2023

Norwegian distance running star Jakob Ingebrigtsen had a surprising defeat in the 1500m World Championship Final in Budapest but he bound back in the best way with a World Record time of 4:43.13 in the 2000m in the Diamond League Meeting in Brussels!

Dublin's TG4 LGFA All-Ireland victory an obvious highlight in 2023 for Ballinamore's Eilish O'Dowd

ONE TO WATCH IN 2024

Same answer as last year . . . me! I have some big plans and big races in the pipeline for 2024! I hope to have plenty more podiums in domestic races and hopefully some top 10 finishes in International races this year! All roads lead to the TDS in August which is a 145 km race on the Italian/French Alps with 9800m of elevation, where I hope to finish in the top 10 against some of the best runners in the world! Keep Showing Up! Follow me on Instagram @rickiwynne10