A note about John Davis (by John Staunton)

With the profile and excitement of the club’s John Davis 5k run growing by the day, many of you may be wondering just who John Davis was ?   I was out on the bike a couple of weeks ago with the race organiser John Walnutt and to my surprise, even John wasn’t quite sure who he was and hadn’t ever met him !   So as one of the longer standing members of the club, I offered to post up some of my recollections of the great man and encourage others to do so as well !

 Read on for more…

John Davis was the run coach for the club when I joined back in 2004, and he sadly passed away in 2007 after a long illness.  He had been involved in the Irish athletics scene all his life and we were really lucky to have someone like this as part of the club at the time.  When I started triathlon, my previous sporting backing had been pretty much all soccer based … and I didn’t for a moment think that I would ever need to learn how to run.  At one of the first coached run sessions I attended in Belfield, John watched me do a few laps and then took me to one side and said "if you keep running like that, you’ll be injured for life and become a cripple" !   When I got over my indignation, John went on to explain to me the basic of running form and style – that being on your tip-toes all the time puts too much strain on your calves – that dropping and relaxing your shoulders allows you to get more air into your lungs.   And over the following weeks and months, John was always alert to observe further and give me more tips and advice.   He had great time for everyone in the club – from the "elites" at the time (people like Anna Frankland, Ray O’Neill, Eimhin McManus, Wes Murphy, Tom & Lorraine, Mary Horgan come to mind) right through to the complete "newbies" like me.  

John Davis also coached our sessions in the Phoenix Park on Saturday mornings, cold or wet weather was never a reason not to get out !  And we did circuit training with him in Santry too, which involved my first introduction to straddling hurdles and medicine balls – enough said.   John developed detailed training plans for people in the club, depending on what triathlons or races they were preparing for … and these were hand-written by John, photocopied and handed out to us at the training sessions (I think I still have some of these at home, must dig them out again …).   He came along on several of the Italy warm weather training camps – unfortunately I didn’t make it to any of these, but am sure that others will have some recollections and anecdotes from these too.
 
So overall John Davis was an amazing man, a gifted and dedicated coach, and a real friend to everyone in the club at the time.  I know I personally benefited greatly from his expertise and am sure many others did too. 
 
To remember him further and raise funds for charity, please make sure to sign up for and take part in the John Davis 5km race on May 28th.
 
Link to some pics of the great man
– John & his wife (warm weather training Italy 2006) => https://www.piranhatri.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20070604020022175
– John coaching a session (italy 2006 again I think) => https://www.piranhatri.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20070604015727280
– John with his hat and notepad (Italy 2005 I think) => https://www.piranhatri.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20070604003859248
– John at the track (Italy 2005) => https://www.piranhatri.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20070604003810930
– John with hat and notepad again (Italy 2005) => https://www.piranhatri.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20070604003623286
– John waiting at the airport (Italy 2005) => https://www.piranhatri.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20070604003453358
– John at the pool (Italy 2005) => https://www.piranhatri.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20070604003432352

By John Staunton