‘You do what you have to do to win’

Síofra Grant

Pat Boyhan, a Collinstown native, won five national track and field medals in a few weeks this summer – at 78 years of age.

Last month Pat was in Belfast for the Northern Ireland Masters Track and Field Championships and won medals in the long jump, the high jump, discus, weight throwing, and javelin.

Sports is a huge part of Pat’s life; he has been a boxer, an athlete and more, and he played in his younger years when he was living in North America.

“I played field hockey in Canada, it’s the same as ice hockey, only it’s on a court. I boxed as well and I was beaten by the world champion, who got me on the front page of the paper 55 years ago.

“It was me covered in blood because he was like a champion and it was in 1971, because the ice bridge was still active – we had to drive over the ice bridge over the Yukon River.” (The government of Yukon build an ice bridge in Dawson during the winter and spring, to connect the city and West Dawson.) More than 50 years later Pat still competes. He began athletics running cross country and after some years away from the sport has returned.

He enjoys being part of the athletics community all over the country, and shares advice and tips with others on how to better their performance.

“There’s a surgeon there in Dublin and he was a top athlete all his life and is just keeping it up. And we’re all the same because if we see something, we’re watching out for them, if we see something they’re doing wrong, they’re all their life at it, but can still injure themselves.

“I made a mistake and the surgeon went down to the line of the long jump and he said, ‘look up at the top of the trees’, and he was standing there and I got the biggest jump I ever got.

“It was just something simple – look at the top of the trees.”

The last week of August was terribly difficult for Pat and he and his family suffered the tragic loss of his niece Louise Moore. He and Louise had a close bond and he coached her in her running.

“She had more international singlets than confetti in a cannon,” said Pat. “She was the best runner pound for pound ever, she was so talented.”

She competed against two Olympians prior to their time in the games.

Pat explained that the two of them ran the same way, the smile in his voice clear as he said it. “She ran the same as I used to, but I would have been a bit slower.

“I always told her, start fast, float along for a nice while and then blast at the finish.

“When you get to the finish line, you have to make sure you have enough in the tank to carry you across the line.”

It’s clear that Pat loves the competition and thrill of sport. “Years ago I had very few trophies or medals around me and you’d appreciate one hanging there, but now you win something and you go out and go on to the next one.

“Mayo can’t win the All-Ireland that they won in July – it’s the next one that counts. It’s the competition, you fight, you butcher, you do whatever you have to do to win, but we’re all friends afterwards.”