Chase starts for runner's house

Dublin 15: €3.8m Olympic runner Eamon Coughlan is selling his Dublin home, a large detached property on just over three-quarters…

Dublin 15: €3.8m
Olympic runner Eamon Coughlan is selling his Dublin home, a large detached property on just over three-quarters of an acre of grounds close to Castleknock village. Sherry FitzGerald Lewis Beirne is asking for €3.8 million for 5 Homeleigh, a substantial redbrick house in an enclave just off the Porterstown Road, close to Lutrellstown Golf & Country Club and Castleknock Golf Club.

With just over 557sq m (6,000sq ft) of flexible living space, the seven-bedroom house has gardens designed by Gerry Daly and a gate into Porterstown playing fields. Built in 1981 to an exacting spec, the house has a central entrance hallway with wings on either side.

The living accommodation is on the left, with bedrooms to the right. There's a large formal drawingroom with windows on three sides and double doors to a patio overlooking the garden.

An unusual feature is a solid oak bookcase which slides open to reveal a recessed bar. There is also a large family room, and five bedrooms are on the ground floor. Two more bedrooms, separated by a shower room, are upstairs. There is also a games room upstairs with a full-size snooker table and table tennis table.

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Coghlan, a three-time Irish Olympian, grew up in Drimnagh and had a glittering athletics career. Nicknamed "The Chairman of the Boards" because of his success on indoor tracks, his 1983 world record for the indoor mile (3:49.78) stood until 1997.

His indoor success exceeded those outdoors where, nothwithstanding a 5,000 metre world title in 1983, he twice finished fourth in the Olympics. He ran competitively for quite some time and in 1994 became the first man over 40 to run a sub-four minute mile.