Vale Patrick Andrew (Pat) Clohessy AM
International Representation Bib #289
16 May 1933 to 28 September 2026
Pat Clohessy’s contribution to athletics was long, influential and passionate – making an indelible impression on the sport in Australia and earning accolades from around the world. He was a guru of his craft – as a master coach of distance runners – his charges an honour roll of many of Australia’s best, headed by Rob de Castella.
He was a more than handy athlete. At 19 years of age he was selected in the Australian Team for the Commonwealth Games in Perth. He ran both the one and three mile events, finishing seventh at the longer distance.
After a period at college in the United States where Pat won the NCAA Championship at the University of Houston in 1961 and 1962 and the AAU 3 miles in 1963, he returned to Australia to teach. He made an immediate impact outside the classroom as coach of the Xavier College athletics team which included amongst other talented young men – a young de Castella.
It was the start of a coaching pathway that took Pat (affectionately and probably professionally known to all as “Clo”) to the height of involvement on the international scene and eventually back to where it all began – at club and school level. It is a mark of Pat’s commitment and absolute dedication that having achieved so much as a coach and been adulated for his achievements he would choose to spend his pre-retirement years so extensively at grassroots level.
Pat was an early recruit to the professional staff at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra and was a national high performance coach based there from 1982 to 1994. His relocation from Melbourne allowed Pat to work more directly with some of the nation’s finest distance talent including Krishna Wood, Simon Doyle, Shaun Creighton, Susan Hobson and Pat Carroll.
He took de Castella to a string of major international marathon victories crowned by the world championship in 1983 and two famous Commonwealth titles. Whilst his partnership with Deek was the best known, there were myriad others with elite and pathway athletes as well as lesser-lights with whom Clo bonded through a mutual love for the sport.
Clo had a disposition to remark that almost every athlete in his care, whether on the training track or competition arena, was “looking good”. His more talented charges quickly worked out they had to be personally accountable for the occasions on which they knew they had not been. He was accordingly loved by his own athletes and admired and respected across the broader athletics community.
Pat was a national team coach for the 1980 and 1984 Olympics and the 1983 and 1987 World Championships and team manager for the 1977 World Cross Country.
Pat was a champion for athletics – and for opportunities for athletes across all events but it was in distance running from 800 metres upwards on the track, road and paddocks where he was most involved.
Clo had a particular love for the telephone – perhaps in the bronze medal position after family and athletics. When the mobile version came along, he was in his element – a whole new world of possibilities had opened up. For many, rarely a day passed without a call from Clo – seldom the same idea or cause from the day before but relatively often a revival of a thought that had previously gone unaddressed by the recipient of the call.
For he had an extraordinary propensity to relentlessly pursue administrators and event organisers to create chances for athletes at all levels to access more competitions and representative teams. In return he equally strongly urged athletes and their personal coaches to be ready, willing and able to take those opportunities when they came along.
Pat developed close relationships with meet and race directors around the country and also with the national selectors to whom he provided constant but realistic advice. Under Pat’s guidance Australia enjoyed a period of great success in distance running when other events were perhaps below par.
Perhaps encapsulating all of this, Pat was the catalyst for the establishment of Athletics Australia’s Distance Running Commission, which in its first ten years not only provided advice to the AA Board and staff but also conducted seminars and clinics.
After being bestowed with life membership of AA in 2007, Pat continued the work he began in 1998 at the University of Queensland track. He was the home club’s head coach but continued to play a regular role in guiding athletes of all ages in their preparation – still delivering athletes into the national team.
Pat used his position at UQ to assist in the reinvigoration of university athletics across the country, particularly encouraging a fruitful rivalry with Sydney and Melbourne University athletic clubs, whilst leading UQ Athletics to an unbroken string of nine victories at the Unisport Nationals.
It was quite remarkable that he was as invested in this role as he had been at the head of the national elite program. In many ways that was just Clo – but it may also have been his desire to bring, based on his own experience, something of the US college system to Australia and its value for tertiary student athletes even if the resources available were vastly different.
Pat was rightly recognised for his special contribution to Australian sport through the Australian honours system with the Australian Sports Medal (2000) and as a Member of the Order of Australia (1988). He was inducted as a general member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1997. Pat’s extraordinary service and contribution to athletics in Australia made him a worthy recipient of AA life governorship in 2014.
One of those fortunate to have among the closest athlete-coach relationships with Clo – Olympian and AA Life Member, Susan Hobson has taken time to reflect on her mentor.
“Pat was an outstanding athlete who went on to become a world class coach, with a huge influence on distance running in Australia for many decades. His philosophy, his wisdom, his skills and knowledge were not confined to the lucky few like me who had Pat as their personal coach.
“His support and encouragement spread far and wide across the distance running community, and not just in Australia. The tributes on social media following his passing reinforce how many runners’ lives he touched.
“As a late starter to running with no great ambitions initially, I am forever grateful that Pat came into my life. He guided and supported me to build both capacity and belief, helping me achieve performances the younger me would never have dreamed of. Pat’s wisdom and his gentleness always stood out to me. He also mentored me when I was a developing coach in the AIS scholarship coaching program, a time when I was able to learn valuable lessons through working alongside him.
“What began as a coach-athlete relationship soon developed into what became a very special lifelong friendship. He was humble and caring, always interested in my life and later on the running careers of our two boys; he was the one who always said thank you for the memories. I am the one indebted to him. In private at home, he was always called my ‘Uncle Pat’.
“A very special man with those many endearing quirks we are proud to call “Clo-isms”. We miss the old Clo so dearly, yet we are all the richer for having his influence in our lives.”
Health-wise, the last years were not kind to Pat and it meant a withdrawal from athletics activities before his passing on 28 September 2026 at 93. Condolences from across the Australian Athletics Family are extended to his wife Moira and their daughter Maria and her family.
Pat’s life will be remembered at 11am on Friday 9 October 2026 at St Thomas Aquinas, St Lucia, Brisbane.
By Brian Roe, Australian Athletics
Posted 30/9/2026
