Pat Clohessy

Patrick Andrew "Pat" Clohessy AM was an Australian middle-distance runner and one of the country's most influential distance running coaches. He died in Brisbane on 28 September 2026 at the age of 93. The Sport Australia Hall of Fame announced his death the following day, calling him one of the great distance running coaches in Australian history.

Clohessy was born on 16 May 1933 and grew up in Muswellbrook and Tamworth, New South Wales, where his father worked as a postmaster. He joined Muswellbrook Athletics Club in 1953, won New South Wales country titles, and later ran for Randwick Botany in Sydney before studying and lecturing at the University of Houston. As an athlete he won consecutive NCAA three-mile titles in 1961 and 1962, took the AAU three miles in 1963, finished seventh in the three miles at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, and earned bronze at the 1963 World Games in Helsinki.

After returning to Australia he taught and coached at Xavier College in Melbourne for about 16 years, where he began coaching Rob de Castella. He was Australian Olympic distance coach at Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, AIS Distance Coach from 1982 to 1994, then worked for Athletics Australia in Brisbane and as athletics coach at the University of Queensland. Athletes he guided included de Castella, Simon Doyle, Shaun Creighton, Krishna Stanton (Wood), Susan Hobson, Pat Carroll and others who carried Australian distance running onto world stages.

His significance lies in bridging elite Australian distance running from school tracks to Olympic and world championship stages, and in the coaching culture he built around athletes such as de Castella. A 1994 Australian Sports Commission book, Pat Clohessy: athlete, coach, mentor, edited by Susan Hobson, recorded that reputation in his own lifetime. Honours included AM in 1988, Sport Australia Hall of Fame induction in 1997, the Australian Sports Medal in 2000, and Life Governor of Athletics Australia in 2014. Colleagues and former athletes remembered a dedicated student of his craft who always sought better ways to bring out the best in runners.