ON ATHLETICS:THE DRIVE up I-95 from Providence to Boston takes about an hour provided the traffic is good and usually feels quicker coming back. That's how it was for the small convey of Irish athletes who made the journey last weekend.

They were headed for the Valentine’s Invitational meeting at Boston University. The indoor facility is regarded as the fastest track in New England, and throughout the two-day meeting it didn’t disappoint.

On Friday night Mary Cullen won the 3,000 metres in 8:43.74, improving the Irish record which for 12 years had stood to Sonia O’Sullivan. Cullen was paced through the mile in 4:42.5 by Róisín McGettigan, who a little earlier finished fourth in the 800 metres in an indoor best of 2:07.98.

On Saturday, David McCarthy won the mile in 3:57.61 – his first time to break the four-minute barrier, and extending the list of Irish athletes who have done so to 43. Only 19 have run faster.

Then, Martin Fagan won the 3,000 metres in 7:57.85, despite treating it as a training exercise – and thus running in a T-shirt and flats. Among those offering support trackside were Keith Kelly and Mark Carroll, and the man with the stopwatch, Ray Treacy.

Thus the pleasant journey back to Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, and the place they currently regard as home.

What they all also share is their ties with Providence College – or PC, as it’s known on the college circuit. And they’re far from the only ones, as there are more Irish athletes with ties to PC than any other college in America.

The single biggest influence on the Providence-Irish connection is the Treacy name. John Treacy first put Providence on the world athletics map in 1978 when, as a 20-year-old accountancy student at PC, he won his first World Cross County title in Glasgow. Treacy didn’t start the scholarship trail; there was already a trickle of Irish talent Providence-bound at the time, including Mick Byrne, Mick O’Shea and Eddie Hartnett.

John graduated from PC in June of 1978, and was followed out that August by his brother, Ray. Although three years older than John, and having worked five years with Bank of Ireland, Ray also left the family home in Villierstown for PC.

During his four years on scholarship Ray was a three-time All American, twice winning the New England cross country. He also shared several internationals with his brother, including the 1979 World Cross Country in Limerick, which John won.

All the while the PC connection strengthened as the cream of Ireland’s juniors followed the trail: Jimmy Fallon, Paul Moloney, Andy Ronan, Richard O’Flynn and Richard Mulligan.

After graduating in 1982, Ray returned home for a couple of years, but after John won his Olympic marathon silver medal in Los Angeles in 1984, after returning to Providence the year before, Ray also decided to go back. He’d met his future wife, Lisa, from New York, at PC and that was obviously a factor too.

As fate would have it, PC was starting up a women’s track and field programme, and were recruiting a coach. “It was part-time,” says Ray, “and for very little money. But I was still running at the time, making some money in road races, so it suited me that way. Providence had a women’s athletic director at the time, and all she asked of me was to make the women as good as the men.”

Ray didn’t just meet his brief; he quickly surpassed it. In 1989, having taken over as PC head coach, he took the women’s team to their first NCAA championship appearance, and they’ve been there every year since, and won the title outright in 1995.

That success would never have happened without the Irish athletes Ray recruited. And he brought over the best of them: Marie Davenport, Sinead Delahunty, Siobhán Gallagher, Geraldine Hendricken, Geraldine Nolan, Natalie Davey; and later Maria McCambridge, Róisín McGettigan, Mary Cullen.

“At one point our women’s team was nearly all Irish. There have been some great quality runners here over those years.”

The PC connection has weakened somewhat in recent years. Breffni Twohig and Suzanne Huet are his only Irish recruits on the women’s team and David McCarthy and Richard Yeates likewise on the men’s. Although it’s not because Ray doesn’t want them any more.

“It has trickled off, but right now it’s the American kids that are more competitive. The depth just isn’t there in Ireland anymore.

“You go to the national cross country in Santry next weekend and there’ll probably be (only) 30 on the line for the junior women’s race. There is still some great quality up front, but the depth is definitely missing.”

When he talks about quality, however, Ray is quick to highlight David McCarthy – and not just because he’s also from Waterford. McCarthy’s 3:57.61 in Boston was a spectacular performance, as he took up the running from halfway, superb running for a sophomore.

In fact, in his 25 years in the job, Ray is not sure he’s seen anyone better.

“David is such a very positive person, so upbeat. He believes in himself. You’ll never see David getting down on himself, and expects himself to be running these kind of times. We red-shirted him on the track last year, so he’s really only a freshman on the track, and has four years to go here, all the way up to London, which we’re very happy about.

“I call him the reincarnation of Keith Kelly. Because Keith was one of the greatest we ever had. Just the total person. Athlete, personality, everything. I thought we’d never see the likes of him again, but David is getting there. When you have guys like that in the programme they keep you as young as you can be.

“That’s what I love about this job. You have the new group coming in every year and that always keeps you energised.”