23/11/2021
Today we pay our respects to former Trinity Coached athlete Paul O'Dwyer. As with many coached athletes it’s quite easy to become friends and in Paul’s case with his big smile, cheery disposition and quick humour the rapport was there right from the start.
A fantastic athlete to work with, he would throw himself into each and every session, always giving 100%. When in talks about how we would structure each phase of training Paul insisted it was structured around his family life and commitments, not the other way around. Something that many athletes get wrong.
I can still remember the day Paul told me he had a stress fracture in his pelvis, it was causing him considerable pain. Not the injury you want when Ironman Wales is your target race and you’re raising money for charity. Worried about Paul’s long term health I suggested that he defer to next year so that he could give his injury the time it needed to heal. In true POD style, not wanting to let sponsors, charity and family down he told me deferring was not an option. Again I spoke about my long term health concerns but Paul said ‘I’m going to do it with or without you. Without you I might end up doing the wrong thing in training. With you, you can manage my efforts and keep me in check’ …… and that’s what we did. Paul then went and smashed the race as if he had been racing Ironman distance races all his life.
RIP Paul, to the athlete who always put everyone else first, and excelled at everything he tried his hand at. One of life’s genuinely nice guy. My condolences, love and thoughts to family, friends and loved ones.
