{"id":175727,"date":"2025-12-05T01:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T01:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/175727\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T01:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T01:25:08","slug":"how-one-man-revived-an-ancient-irish-sport-to-beat-covid-blahs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/175727\/","title":{"rendered":"how one man revived an ancient Irish sport to beat Covid blahs"},"content":{"rendered":"

TO SEE David Keohan lifting stones is to witness the embodiment of a culture that stretches back to the dawn of Irish civilisation.<\/p>\n

In the last four years, the Waterford native has revived a tradition on the brink of extinction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe catalyst for me was the covid lockdowns,\u201d says the 46-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI competed for Ireland in kettlebell lifting for eight years, but when covid came along, I couldn\u2019t get to a gym and I started lifting what was out in the back garden: Rocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fell in love with the primal vibe of lifting a stone from the ground. I loved the feel of it and just being outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day, on a whim, he typed the term \u2018stone lifting\u2019 into a search engine and came across a series of articles and documentaries about the sport in Iceland, Scotland, and the Basque Country in Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to myself, \u2018There must be something in Ireland\u2019, and I just started pulling at the thread of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He discovered one reference: A story entitled The Stone, written in 1937 by Liam O\u2019Flaherty, the tale of an old man lifting a large granite boulder on Inis M\u00f3r.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe details were very specific, almost too specific to be a pure work of fiction,\u201d Keohan says. \u201cSo I went to the Aran Islands and, sure enough, I found that stone. From there on, it\u2019s just been rolling a stone down a hill and it\u2019s been gathering momentum ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since tracking down and lifting that first stone, near D\u00fan Aonghasa, he has discovered and lifted no fewer than 53 stones across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While his three, now teenage, children thought he had gone mad, he has doubled down. He will often root out locations from references in literature, and cross-reference them with old maps, new maps, and local folklore, until he finds the lifting stone.<\/p>\n

Many of these stones are glacial erratics, carried by glaciers and deposited on top of different bedrock. \u201cThey stood out because of their shape and their beauty,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you look at the one on Inis M\u00f3r, it\u2019s a round granite boulder in a field of grey limestone, so it\u2019s not native to the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" David Keohan, stone lifter. Photograph Moya Nolan<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, RT\u00c9 released Made of Stone, a remarkable television documentary following Keohan on his journey. That film made national headlines, but, long before it aired, his story had been gaining traction online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real community growing now around stone lifting, with tours and talks, showcasing how beautiful a culture this is,\u201d Keohan says. \u201cThe number of people who are now going to lift these stones has grown and there\u2019s a pride in local areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to know if they have a stone in their county and, if they do, is it the heaviest? Typical Irish tribalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last weekend, Keohan brought the stone lifting renaissance to Dublin. He was part of a team hosting a two-day workshop open to the public at Ireland\u2019s First Stone Lifting studio, hosted by Free Now by Lyft. Right before my eyes, Keohan lifts a 70kg granite stone and rests it on his chest.<\/p>\n

There are three steps to lifting a stone properly. Step one involves getting the right grip, lifting it off the ground, and getting the gaoth faoi, or the wind, under it.<\/p>\n

The second, and where Keohan\u2019s power really shows, is lifting the stone onto your knees and cradling it, before finally standing and bringing it up your chest, where you rest it, take a few breaths, and gather yourself, before carefully placing it back down. \u201cIf you\u2019re strong enough to lift it, you\u2019re strong enough to put it back down,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to place it back where you got it and don\u2019t drop it, because you might hurt yourself or damage the stone. You have to respect the stone. These stones are very heavy. You need to take your time to build your strength to lift them.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrengthen your body, particularly your back, hips, and legs. Start off with lighter stones, work on the right technique, and get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" David Keohan teaches Jonathan deBurca Butler the technique for lifting stones using a plastic stone. Photograph Moya Nolan<\/p>\n

Thankfully, when it came to my turn, none of that preparation had been done. So, for the sake of safety and my\u00a0ageing back, Keohan decided it was best to teach me the technique using a plastic stone. Though it wasn’t heavy (until Keohan leaned on it at photographer mischievous suggestion), the stone was cumbersome and awkward to lift, giving me some idea of the challenges this iron Irishman sets himself every time he lifts these giant boulders.<\/p>\n

For Keohan, the benefits of stone lifting have been huge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gone from 75kg to 105kg,\u201d he says. \u201cMy legs, my back, my quads, the whole posterior chain has got so damn strong. I\u2019m stronger now at 46 than I was when I competed for Ireland. The health benefits, if you do it right, are incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the physical benefits are evident, Keohan says the sport also gives people a boost in mental health and confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cMentally and spiritually, you\u2019re going to some of the most beautiful places in Ireland,\u201d he says. \u201cIt blows my mind how amazing this country is and I can\u2019t describe to you how much that has affected me. I get an emotional pick-up from lifting these stones. I\u2019ve seen people crying. It\u2019s you versus the stone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you put your hands on these stones, you can feel the energy in them. You\u2019re in a loop in time. How many people have touched this stone, how many people have lifted this, how many people have tried and failed or tried and succeeded and said it\u2019s the best day of their lives? There\u2019s such a presence in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Keohan, stone lifting has found itself an articulate and passionate ambassador, a student of Irish culture.<\/p>\n

He will continue his journey up and down the island, uncovering and discovering these hidden treasures that sit like wise sentinels and custodians of our ancient heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a massive hidden culture there, waiting to be uncovered,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing what\u2019s happened, but, I suppose, it ticks so many boxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cArchaeologists love it, historians, folklorists, seanchaithe, strongmen and strongwomen, they all have an interest in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got history, culture, marrow-deep heritage and tests of strength. It\u2019s a beautiful custom and it\u2019s such a part of who we are. Now that it\u2019s back, hopefully it will outlive us for time to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TO SEE David Keohan lifting stones is to witness the embodiment of a culture that stretches back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14613,61,60,80],"class_list":["post-175727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-fitness-exercise-work-life-balance-healthy-eating","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}