Lindie Naughton

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Lindie Naughton was born in London, the first child of a Scottish mother and an Irish father, who had met in Austria and married in Switzerland before returning (via London) to live in Ireland. Always intent on becoming a journalist and writer, Lindie studied philosophy and English at UCD. There she joined the college athletics club, leading to a life-long interest in running.

After graduating, Lindie had her first articles printed in the Sunday Independent. A closet rock ‘n’ roller, who learned to play guitar at the age of 11 and was an enthusiastic member of the school choir, she also wrote on music for the fledgling Hot Press and In Dublin magazines before landing a job on trade magazines.

Soon after, she started reviewing theatre and dance for the Irish Press, which led to seven years as a news sub-editor with that newspaper, interrupted by a year working in Strasbourg, France. Soon after came the launch of the women’s mini marathon and Lindie was involved from the start, writing a weekly column on running, first for the Evening Press and, since 1988, for the Evening Herald.

Her first book, Let’s Run, was published in 1984 and was followed by Irish Olympians 1896-1992, written in collaboration with Johnny Watterson. Around this period, she started coaching athletics with Crusaders AC, which she does to this day. She has a particular interest in mountain running and orienteering and has travelled with Irish teams to world and other championships in both sports.

In 2004, Lady Icarus, her biography of Irish aviator and adventurer Lady Mary Heath was published. During the six years spent researching the life of this remarkable woman, Lindie wrote a beginner’s guide to gardening called How to Mow the Lawn and later studied for a Royal Horticultural Society certificate in horticulture.

Coming from a family of wanderers, she first visited Switzerland aged two and France (alone) at the age of eleven. She continues to travel widely and, in 2006, spent six months working in Doha, Qatar, giving her a chance to experience Muslim culture at first hand.

Lindie’s remaining ambition is to join a folk-trad-blues band. She would also quite like to learn how to ride a motorbike.