Growing up in Bangor in the days of Woolworths and Pickie Pool, Barry’s Amusement Arcade and the dodgems, football was his passion — until a school cross-country event.
James, his twin brother, had won the week before, and John McCreedy saw a challenge and entered the race. Football was a thing of the past; a new pair of spiked running shoes made sure he had the chance to shine as an individual rather than a team player.
This became his passion, and receiving a winner’s medal from Mary Peters in a packed school assembly hall was the icing on the cake of ambition.
Climbing the ladder to success brought him from school through local athletics clubs and ever more serious athletic events. At 18, he had his first trip abroad to experience the thrills of Gay Paree, but it wasn’t to be — travelling through bumper-to-bumper traffic to the race track with the Eiffel Tower a shadow in the distance. He was, however, on a journey away from the bombs that began in Belfast and worked their way across the country, even to sleepy, once-untouchable Bangor. A foreign field beckoned for his dream of becoming an Olympic gold medallist.
It came in the shape of an offer of a four-year scholarship to West Texas State. He was thrilled - not only athletics, but perhaps a chance to meet up with his heroes from Dallas: Sue Ellen and J.R. Ewing.
The local paper ran an article about him and a picture; Leslie Dawes interviewed him for Ulster Television — fame at last! Time passed with no confirmation of his place at the university, and it was a blow when it all fell through. His dreams were in tatters.
He’d been so excited, working part-time jobs to raise the airfare, a paper round and a stint as storeman in Balmer’s Chemist on Bangor’s Main Street. He wore a white coat and carried a file under his arm, and walking out at lunchtime when anyone asked about his job, he told them he worked “in medicine.”
Although he took a spoonful of honey three times a day, he was a skinny young man, so he bolstered his physique by wearing two or three sweaters under his shirt. He fancied Avril in the shop, but she was too old for him. However, all his disappointments were short-lived.
An unexpected phone call invited him to consider a scholarship to Pittsburg — “with a G” — Kansas, to work with coach Dave Suenram. “Yes, please!” Saying goodbye to his parents and sister Jillian was difficult, especially to his twin brother.
“It was the first time we were separated since we met in our mother’s womb,” he said. James left him at the airport, and it was a sad farewell. “We didn’t cry tears in front of each other, only after we had parted.”
America was a wake-up call for a teenager adjusting to a new culture — the food, the weather, the iced tea, and onions — and learning where not to go. He did well and was making a name for himself as a winner until the 2000 National Championship.
The weakness in his calf muscles had worsened; painkillers got him through the championships, and although he did well against top athletes from American universities, he didn’t win. Future Olympian Pat Porter did. “To my astonishment, he turned round and embraced me, repeating, ‘Praise the Lord, brother.’”
A lightbulb moment. “Even now I remember those words and their lasting impact on me. I even wonder how much they played a role in my spiritual development in my late twenties. Sadly, I had to come home in 2000 when I was only 20. I’d been so focused and had no plan B — it was huge.”
He became a freelance journalist, working on sports stories for newspapers, the BBC and UTV, then moved into general programming. He and his wife spent 10 years working in children’s orphanages in Romania. He now works part-time in front-of-house communications at the Merchant Hotel and has dedicated his life to writing books.
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“This latest book is a healing process,” he told me — “unfinished business. I can only write what’s in my heart, be it social issues or about my Golden Retriever Labrador. My English teacher at Gransha High in Bangor, Mr Mairs, spotted my love of words and my ability to put them together on paper. He said, ‘I believe you’ll be a writer and author some day.’”
His prediction came true — eight times over. With his latest book Running Away, John McCreedy has painted a picture of a young man who accepted challenges with courage and determination.
Running Away is published by MH Press (£14.99), available at Waterstones.