Did you miss it ...?
Frances Brennan of Old Kilcullen has just been on Derek Mooney's Radio 1 programme, talking about her recent run up the Empire State Building in New York.
Daughter of Denis and Margaret, Frances works in Rosie O'Grady's pub in Manhattan. We had the story on the Diary here a couple of weeks ago, and on last week's Kildare Nationalist (see below).
Frances says she's looking forward to having all the Irish crowd over to Rosie's for St Patrick's Day.
FROM ROUND TOWER TO EMPIRE STATE
by Brian Byrne.
It’s probable that growing up in the shadow of Old Kilcullen’s ancient round tower that one would get a thing for tall buildings.
Which is maybe why Frances Brennan, daughter of Denis and Margaret, made her home in the Big Apple a decade and a half ago. And with a background in her Uncle Eugene’s pub on Old Kilcullen, it was logical enough to find some work behind a bar there.
In fact, Frances was the first ever woman bartender in the famous Rosie O’Grady’s Irish Pub on Manhattan, where she still works and welcomes anyone in the city from Kilcullen and who might be homesick for a voice from the old town.
She had a particular bit of fun last week, though, on the morning of her latest birthday. She ran up the 86 flights of stairs of the Empire State Building!
As you do on a birthday ...
“It was the annual Empire State Building Run Up, which is known all across America,” she told the Kildare Nationalist. “The event is by invitation only, and places are obviously limited. In a moment of madness I applied, and three weeks ago I was notified that I had got a place in the amateur section of the race.”
Being back in Old Kilcullen at the time on holiday, and with there being no stairs in the only ‘skyscraper’ there, the only training she could do was the loop from Old Kilcullen around Yellow Bog Lane and back up to the tower, while trying not to slip on black ice.
“Trying not to slip didn’t work very well, but I did it anyhow. And the hill up by Willis's was as tough as any staircase!”
So, on Tuesday week last she started the Empire State Building run at the back of the pack. A tactical mistake, as it meant she had to mostly walk the first 20 flights before there was room to pass people.
“I ended up doing pretty well, though. It took me under 19 minutes, and I was the third woman to reach the top. And my legs weren’t half as sore as after the hills around Old Kilcullen.”
Of course, Frances is fairly competitive anyhow. She has done the New York Marathon a couple of times and also competed a number of times in the Triathalon. And in April of this year she’s coming over to run the Paris Marathon.
Back in 2001 she used to play football with the Monaghan Ladies GAA team in New York and was picked to play for them on a tour back home, against Kildare. The night before they were to travel there was some celebration in the pub, and Frances didn’t get up in time the next day for a meeting at the south end of Manhattan Island. A friend woke her with a phone call to tell her that planes had flown into the Twin Towers, just across from where the meeting had been scheduled.
Needless to say, the team didn’t get to fly to Ireland that year.
After her most recent tall building episode, Frances can now offer at least one piece of advice. If anyone is over sightseeing in NYC and stuck in a two-hour queue to get to the top of the Empire State, check out the stairwell ... it's a lot quicker!
"Beam me home, Scotty!"
(Swishhh...)
"Hey, I meant ME! Not the whole dang building!"
