Made of Iron

From GAA, to Golf and now Ironman's, Toomevara's Paul Byrne is always looking for a new challenge

By Thomas Conway

A golfer inhabits a very different world from an ironman triathlete. The former spends their days perfecting swings, ambling across fairways, and calculating wind-speed. The latter grinds their way through a daily regimen characterised by excruciating physical exertion, glucose-filled energy gels, and a degree of suffering which, to most observers, seems wholly unnecessary. The contrast couldn’t be more glaring.

And yet both present a challenge with unique similarities. Just like endurance sport, golf is, in most cases, a solitary game. It requires furious levels of commitment and an almost absurd dedication to detail. Endurance sport - whether in the form of an ironman triathlon, a marathon, or an elite-level cycling event - also ticks both of those boxes.

But Toomevara man Paul Byrne has never shirked at that kind of challenge. He was born a competitor, and he has yet to lose the edge.

“I was extremely competitive as a kid, really competitive when it came to sport. I probably have a competitive and maybe an addictive personality,” he revealed.

The former golfing prodigy turned elite ironman triathlete has enjoyed a remarkably colourful sporting career path. He grew up a hurler, in a part of Tipperary which was (and they will argue still is) truly the centre of the hurling universe. Toomevara in the 1990 to early 2000s was probably something similar to Chicago in the eighties and nineties, when Michael Jordan and the Bulls were ripping up the NBA. Tommy Dunne was Toome’s version of Jordan, and his team were ripping up the Tipperary county championship.

Byrne was part of Dunne’s generation. He spent his early formative years in Toomevara National School under the tutelage of Neil Williams, the man who nurtured so many of that golden greyhound team.

Golf eventually took precedence at the age of sixteen, but the 46-year-old has a collection of juvenile medals, which he looks back with enduring fondness.

Paul takes up the story: “I would have played underage hurling with Toomevara. And so, I would have been on the same team as the likes of the Dunnes - Tommy, Terry, Ken.

“I actually played in goals, but we would have won lots of North Championships, and three or four County Championships as well. So yeah, I was holding a hurl since I was four or five years of age, because being from Toomevara, it was kind of bred into you. It was hurling morning, noon, and night.”

In many ways, hurling was the starting point to Byrne’s golfing career. There was no history of golf in his family, but thanks to his hurling background, he had a degree of hand-to-eye coordination which would ultimately serve him well. Curiously, he also had another advantage. He is naturally right-handed, but as a child, he played hurling with a left-hander’s grip. It was, as Paul describes it, “a small quirk,” but it helped him to evolve rapidly as underage golfer. He only began playing golf at the age of fifteen, but he took to the game with extraordinary speed.

Second home

Within three years, he had whittled his handicap from eighteen all the way down to scratch. Nenagh Golf Club became his second home. Certain figures within the club - the likes of Toddy Hogan, John Hogan, Gordon Morrison, and David Reddan, amongst others - helped to guide the teenage Paul along his route. It wasn’t long before the wider golfing community began to take notice.

A strong performance in a tournament down in Ballybunion sparked a wave of interest in the auspicious young Toomevara man. He soon began to feature on inter-provincial and international squads. For a period of four to five years, life became a continuous cycle of competitive tournaments on golf courses across all corners of Europe. He loved every minute of it, but there came a point, at the age of 24, when he began to realise just how much he had missed. In essence, fatigue crept in, and he opted to take his life in another direction.

Whether or not he could have made it in the professional game will forever remain an open question, but make no mistake, it is tremendously difficult to become a top-level professional golfer. Those guys you see striding down the back-nine at St. Andrew’s, or pitching their way around the Amen Corner at Augusta, their drive to succeed is almost animalistic. Paul would know. After all, he shared a stage with some of them.

The Toomevara man played alongside Henrick Stenson. He also won a European Nations Cup, and saw his name emblazoned on a trophy alongside former Masters winner José María Olazabal. He witnessed Pádraig Harrington natural class on several occasions during his youth. According to Paul, the three-time major champion was always a cut above the rest. He always had that little bit extra, that X-factor, even in his teenage years.

“I was lucky enough to get on a couple of international training squads with Pádraig, and he stood out,” he said.

“For years he just stood out amongst his peers and amongst the other players. But those people are few and far between. I think it comes down to hunger and ability. Yes, the financial aspect can be a challenge. But if you have enough hunger and enough ability, then you at least stand a chance of making it.”

He left golf with no regrets, but he would soon return in an entirely different capacity. Having worked for a number of years as a teacher, Paul was approached by MacGregor Golf and handed the opportunity to work for the company as a sales representative. For two years, he travelled the length and breadth of Ireland visiting clubs and brandishing equipment - everything from bags and irons to gloves and accessories, he sold it all. His experience in sales subsequently led him into the world of financial services. Paul now works with Pepper Advantage, a global credit intelligence provider with offices in Dublin and Shannon. The job demands laser-like focus and relentless energy, but Paul revels in it. Intensity suits him. It always has.

BEAR GRILLS-LIKE MINDSET

It takes a certain type of person to compete on the international stage as an ironman triathlete. The individuals concerned have innate sporting flair, but they also have a Bear Grills-like mindset which often extends beyond just swimming, cycling, and running. In other words, they are adventurers. Paul’s first foray into that fight-or-flight world was a charity triathlon some years ago in Chicago. He took one sip, and immediately he was hooked.

“I was about thirty years of age, and a friend of mine at the time was running a charity event - they were trying to raise money for Crumlin Children’s Hospital,” he reveals of how he got hooked on ironman’s.

“The event consisted of doing a triathlon over in Chicago. So, I always had it in the back of my head that I’d like to do something like that. And at the time I actually couldn’t swim and would have limited experience on the bike as well. But coming from that competitive background, I said I’d love to try it, I’d love to give it a go.

His progression into the world of endurance sport was almost as rapid as his rise through the ranks as a teenage golfer. It wasn’t just confined to triathlons either. He’s tried his hand at all sorts of wild pursuits, from marathons to mountain-biking to rock-climbing to adventure racing. He considers himself a “jack of all trades, but a master of none.”

For the past two years however, Paul’s focus has been firmly on ironman’s. The distances can vary, but a full-length ironman combines a 3.8km swim with a 180km cycle and a 42.2km run. This is serious stuff - not to be snuffed at. To compete at such a level, Paul maintains that it isn’t just a matter of flogging yourself with intense training for six months. Athletes need to do their research and understand their physiological limits. It is essential to follow a targeted training routine, under a qualified and experienced coach.

He now trains under two formal coaches - former Olympian Gavin Noble and leading sports physiologist Eanna McGrath - both of whom are the joint-owners of HupHup, a coaching firm based in Dublin. With their help, he has flourished in competition, largely due to the fact that he now knows exactly how to prepare, and how to perform.

“Obviously the more experienced you get, the more knowledge you have, the more you improve,” he said.

“So, I would do things like lactate testing, VO2-max testing, keep a close eye on my nutrition. It’s a scientific world now, endurance sport, and I probably enjoy that as much as the actual training or racing. Just understanding the science behind it all - I find that very enjoyable.”

Last January, the Toomevara man set his sights on qualifying for the 70.3 (or half-distance) Ironman World Championships, due to take place in Utah at the end of this month. He made the grade, and he’s now in preparation mode.

Come October 28th, Paul will be one of scores of elite-level triathletes running and cycling and swimming across the interior of the American Rocky mountains, with the scorched crimson canyons of the Beehive State gazing down at them from above. It’s a long way away from the verdant fairways of some perfectly manicured European golf course, but this is the path which the Toomevara man has taken. He calls himself a madman, an individual with a senseless craving for action and adventure. And perhaps he is. But as long as the drive is there, as long as the buzz remains, surely what he’s doing makes eminent sense.