Pat McMahon was Ireland’s first genuine world-class marathon runner, winning the Las Vegas Marathon in January 1968 in an American record time of 2:12:14 and going on to finish 12th at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games – the highest placing by an Irish marathon runner at the Olympics to that point.

From Liscannor, Co. Clare, McMahon studied at Oklahoma Baptist University in the USA. His journey to Olympic-level marathon running was swift: he won the Leinster novice cross country championship in 1964 and finished third in the national senior cross country in 1965, but he had only raced seriously on two occasions in Ireland before his American career took flight. In the USA he became a marathon runner of rare quality, also winning the first USA Olympic marathon qualification race at Artesia, New Mexico in February 1968 (2:19:49).

His 12th place in Mexico (2:29:21) remains one of the finest individual performances by an Irish marathon runner at the Olympic Games.