Pat Clohessy
Patrick Andrew "Pat" Clohessy AM (born 16 May 1933)[1] is an Australian runner and distance running coach.
Middle Distance Career
Clohessy grew up in Muswellbrook, New South Wales and Tamworth, New South Wales due to his father Patrick being the postmaster with Postmaster-General's Department in these rural towns.[2] He took up running when he joined the Muswellbrook Athletics Club in 1953.[3] He had early success in winning the 1954 New South Wales Country Championships 880 yards and one mile events in record time.[3] He then moved to Sydney to run for Randwick Botany Athletics Club.[4] Clohessy then moved to the United States to study and lecture at the University of Houston. He encouraged Australian middle distance runner Allan Lawrence to study at the University of Houston. Lawrence went on to win the 5000m at 1960 NCAA Championship.[5]
Notable performances by Clohessy as an athlete included:
- Won the 3 Miles NCAA Championship whilst at the University of Houston in 1961 (Philadelphia in 13:47.7) and 1962 (Eugene in 13:51.6 ) [6][5]
- Won the Amateur Athletic Union 3 miles in 1963.[6]
- 7th in the 3 Miles at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games[1]
- 3rd World Games in Helsinki in 1963.[6]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Australian_Institute_of_Sport_Coaches_-_Pat_Clohessy.jpeg/220px-Australian_Institute_of_Sport_Coaches_-_Pat_Clohessy.jpeg)
Coaching career
After returning to Australia from the United States, Clohessy became a teacher and athletics coach at Xavier College in Melbourne.[7] It was at Xavier College that Clohessy started to coach Robert de Castella, who would go on to win the marathon at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, 1986 Commonwealth Games and the 1983 World Championships in Athletics.[7] In 1983, after 16 years at Xavier College, he was appointed distance running coach at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).[8][7] It was a position he held until 1994 when he took up an Athletics Australia coaching position in Brisbane, Queensland.[7][4]
In 1998, he took up a position as athletics coach at the University of Queensland.[7]
Clohessy was an athletics coach on the 1980 and 1984 Australian Olympic teams and 1983 and 1987 World Championships teams.[7]
Notable Australian and AIS athletes coached by Clohessy include: Robert de Castella, Krishna Stanton, Simon Doyle, Shaun Creighton, Susan Hobson, Pat Scammell, Matt Favier, Pat Carroll, Andrew Lloyd and Brittany McGowan.[7]
In 1994, Susan Hobson edited the book - Pat Clohessy : athlete, coach, mentor published by the Australian Sports Commission.
Recognition
- 1984 - Member of the inaugural Australian Sports Commission Board[9]
- 1988 - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service to sport as a track and field coach.[6]
- 1997 - Life Membership of Athletics Australia[7]
- 1997 - Sport Australia Hall of Fame General Member [6]
- 2000 - Australian Sports Medal
- 2014 - Life Governor of Athletics Australia[7]
References
- ^ a b "Pat Clohessy". athhistory.sportstg.com. Australian Athletics Historical Results. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
- ^ "Popular Citizens Farewelled". The Muswellbrook Chronicle. 9 August 1955. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Clohessy is one of our best in years". 8 February 1954. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ a b Rollings, Barry (24 December 1993). "Clohessy resigns". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ a b "NCAA Division I 5000m Championships (USA)". Association of Road Racing Statisticians website. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "Pat Clohessy". Sport Australia Hall of Fame website. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Five honoured". Athletics Australia website. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
- ^ Hourigan, John (6 February 1983). "lohessy becomes fifth AIS athletics coach". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ "Sports commission meets". The Canberra Times. 14 September 1984. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
External links
- Pat Clohessy at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame
- Patrick 'Pat' Clohessy at Australian Athletics Historical Results
- v
- t
- e
- 1878: William Duffey
- 1879: P.J. McDonald
- 1880–94: Not held
- 1895: Charles Bean
- 1896: Ernest Hjertberg
- 1897–1902: Not held
- 1903–04: Alex Grant
- 1905: Sanford Lyon
- 1906–32: Not held
- 1933: John Follows
- 1934: Frank Crowley
- 1935: Joe McCluskey
- 1936: Don Lash
- 1937: Joe McCluskey
- 1938–42: Greg Rice
- 1943: Gunder Hägg (SWE) * Greg Rice
- 1944: Jim Rafferty
- 1945: John Kandl
- 1946: Francis Martin
- 1947–48: Curt Stone
- 1949–51: Fred Wilt
- 1952: Curt Stone
- 1953: Charles Capozzoli
- 1954–55: Horace Ashenfelter
- 1956: Dick Hart
- 1957: John Macy
- 1958: Alex Henderson
- 1959–60: Bill Dellinger
- 1961: László Tábori (HUN) * Max Truex
- 1962: Murray Halberg (NZL) * Max Truex
- 1963: Pat Clohessy (AUS) * Jim Keefe
- 1964–65: Bob Schul
- 1966: George Young
- 1967: Gerry Lindgren
- 1968: Bob Day
- 1969: Tracy Smith
- 1970: Frank Shorter
- 1971: Steve Prefontaine
- 1972: Mike Keough (IRL) * Dick Buerkle
- 1973: Steve Prefontaine
- 1974: Dick Buerkle
- 1975: Marty Liquori
- 1976: Dick Buerkle
- 1977: Marty Liquori
- 1978: Marty Liquori
- 1979–82: Matt Centrowitz
- 1983: Doug Padilla
- 1984: Sydney Maree
- 1985–86: Doug Padilla
- 1987: Sydney Maree
- 1988: Doug Padilla
- 1989: Tim Hacker
- 1990: Doug Padilla
- 1991–92: John Trautmann
- 1993–94: Matt Giusto
- 1995–97: Bob Kennedy
- 1998: Marc Davis
- 1999–2000: Adam Goucher
- 2001: Bob Kennedy
- 2002: Alan Culpepper
- 2003–05: Tim Broe
- 2006–08: Bernard Lagat
- 2009: Matt Tegenkamp
- 2010–11: Bernard Lagat
- 2012: Galen Rupp
- 2013–14: Bernard Lagat
- 2015: Ryan Hill
- 2016: Bernard Lagat
- 2017-8: Paul Chelimo
- 2019: Lopez Lomong
- 20212020 OT: Paul Chelimo
- 2022: Grant Fisher
- 2023 Abdihamid Nur
- 2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.