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Irish athlete Mark English. Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Mark English pays emotional tribute to UCD classmates who died in Berkeley tragedy

English was in college with Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh.

IRISH ATHLETE MARK English has paid tribute to two of his classmates who passed away in the Berkeley balcony tragedy and revealed how he was affected by the โ€˜devastating newsโ€™.

English, who won a bronze medal in last yearโ€™s European Athletics Championships and a silver in this yearโ€™s European Indoors,  was in college in UCD with Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh.

A Sky Academy Scholar, English wrote on the Sky Sports website about an emotional few months.

โ€œJune 15 will live for a long time in my memory. I was involved in a day of filming with Sky Sports in Dublin.

โ€œThe whole operation was precision personified.  Everything was timed so that the crew had their job completed in time for their flight home to the UK that evening.

Devastating

โ€œBut there was little time to absorb the devastating news I received during filming that day of the death of two of my medical school classmates in the balcony accident in Berkeley, California.

โ€œThe accident claimed the lives of six students and leaving another seven in a critical condition. The magnitude of this tragedy caused me to stop in my tracks and think.

โ€œWere it not for my athletics I may well have been out there myself on a J1 Visa. Less than a year ago I had shared a class holiday with Lorcan Miller (RIP) and Eimear Walsh (RIP) in Croatia.

23/6/2015 The Funeral Mass for Eimear Walsh takes Eimear Walsh was one of the victims of the Berkeley tragedy. Photocall Ireland Photocall Ireland

They were two of the brightest, affable and most vivacious people I had ever met.

โ€œEvents like this put injuries and poor performances into perspective. I returned from the European team championships on June 23 just in time to attend the funerals of both classmates.

My own worries paled into insignificance.

โ€œAthletics is not life and death. In September our class will be missing two vibrant young people who never got a chance to fulfil their potential.โ€

The Funeral of Lorcan Miller will take place today Lorcan Miller passed away in Berkeley in June Photocall Ireland Photocall Ireland

โ€œIn the light of all that has happened so far this summer I realise that it is important to live life to the full.

โ€œTo see that glass half full rather than half empty. There is still half the summer left. There is still time to improve on my form and set my injury straight.

โ€œI will try to embrace the advice of the writer Samuel Beckettโ€ฆ..

โ€œEver tried.  Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.โ€

Berkeley parents: J1 students are โ€˜genuine heroes who responded tenderly to the needs of our childrenโ€™

Tag-rugby fundraiser raises over โ‚ฌ16k for Berkeley survivor

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    Mute Kazoochka
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    May 30th 2019, 12:48 PM

    There are a lot of columns on this player across every outlet but none ever seem to address what exactly her concerns are and/or what would it take to get her to play for Norway again. It appears it started due to the Norway womens team not getting the same treatment as the mens team so proper order in putting their foot down until they got that, but as far as it was reported the Norwegians addressed that issue fairly comprehensively and yet she still wonโ€™t play.

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    Mute Rocky
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    May 30th 2019, 12:51 PM

    Problem is that it doesnโ€™t bring in as much money as the menโ€™s game. You can expect to play in front of a fraction of the crowd and still expect the same money. That said, previous stories of the FAI expecting womenโ€™s teams to hand back gear and be out of pocket for representing their country is crazy. If the womenโ€™s game generates as much money, they should be paid accordingly, but as things stand, it doesnโ€™t.

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    Mute Kazoochka
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    May 30th 2019, 12:59 PM

    @Rocky: expenses being equal should be a given. The national team is the national team regardless of gender. There was a time the irish women got about โ‚ฌ30 a day per diem while on international duty or at training camp etc which might not sound much but when you are taking your annual leave from working in the type of job a 21 or 22 year old might have it was nice to have. Of course the Big Cheese pulled that rug out from under them disgracefully.

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    Mute Lian McGuire
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    May 30th 2019, 4:20 PM

    @Rocky: But most are not talking about appearance money theyโ€™re talking about the basics. Proper kit, proper medical, proper training facilities, showcasing, insurance, and decent expenses. In many cases the latter is way more important as they donโ€™t earn nearly as much as your average Male playerโ€ฆand if they are representing their country, which for most will be the height of media exposure, all of the above is the least they should be getting

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