Dara O'Kearney, born 17 June 1965 in Ennis

Ennis

Ennis is the county town of Clare in Ireland. Situated on the River Fergus, it lies north of Limerick and south of Galway. Its name is a shortening of the original ....

, County Clare

County Clare

-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...

, is an Irish international ultra runner and professional poker player. He is the son of Irish language activist and writer Sean Ua Cearnaigh, and nephew of Irish politician Chris Flood

Chris Flood

Chris Flood is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála for Dublin South West constituency. Flood was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1987 general election and retained his seat until retiring at the 2002 general election.In February 1991 he was appointed a Minister of...

.

He won the 2005 Tresco

Tresco

Tresco is the second-biggest island of the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is in size, measuring about by .-History:In early times one group of islands was in the possession of a confederacy of hermits. King Henry I gave it to Tavistock Abbey which established a priory on Tresco;...

 marathon, the 2006 New York Road Runners

New York Road Runners

New York Road Runners , founded in 1958 with 47 members, has grown into the foremost running organization, with a membership of 40,000. NYRR conducts more than 100 events each year, including races, classes, clinics, and lectures...

 60K ultra marathon, the 2007 Schinnen

Schinnen

Schinnen is a municipality and a town in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands. It is home to US Army Garrison Schinnen, a support base for US personnel assigned to nearby Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum...

 50K, the 2008 Brno

Brno

Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...

 Indoor 6 hour race, and was the 2007 Irish 24 hour running champion.

On the poker front, O'Kearney won the 2008 European Deepstack Poker Championship, defeating a high quality field that included Joe Beevers

Joe Beevers

Joseph "Joe" Charles Beevers is an English professional poker player and a member of The Hendon Mob....

, Julian Thew

Julian Thew

Julian "Yoyo" Thew is an English professional poker player based in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.Thew received his nickname when fellow players told him that his chipstack goes up and down like a yo-yo....

, Tony Baitson, Arnaud Mattern, John Falconer

John Falconer

"Burnley" John Falconer is an Bitish professional poker player. His poker career peaked in 2005 with an Irish Open title and a number of cash finishes.-Career:...

, Dave Colclough

Dave Colclough

David E. Colclough is a Welsh professional poker player, now living in Thailand.-Before poker:Prior to becoming a poker professional, Colclough worked as a computer programmer. Amongst the companies he worked for were the Post Office and the National Health Service...

, Conor Tate, Owen Mullen, Mickey Wernick

Mickey Wernick

Michael D. Wernick is an English retired bookmaker and professional poker player from Birmingham.Whilst growing up, Wernick was a keen amateur boxer and won the Midlands Area Amateur title. He has also met Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammed Ali.Wernick formed a poker club in 1970 with his father Solly...

, Barny Boatman

Barny Boatman

Barny M. P. Boatman , is an English professional poker player and the oldest member of the poker-playing foursome known as The Hendon Mob...

and Christy Smith.. In 2009, he was ranked number 2 in live tournaments in the official Irish Poker Rankings, and again in 2010.

External links

• http://www.rahenyshamrock.com/dara.wma - O'Kearney speaks about his careers in running and poker on RTÉ Radio One