Athletics NI Mourns the Loss of Paul Kirkpatrick

Paul has been one of Northern Ireland’s leading throws coaches over the past 20 years and consistently produced a squad of Northern Irish and Irish championship medal winning athletes over this time.

In 2002, Paul took over the gym previously run by Commonwealth Champion Pole Vaulter and Decathlete Mike Bull and quickly formed links with North Down AC where he provided club members with discounted gym rates, strength coaching and throws coaching. For the next 14 years, ‘Paul’s Gym’ was a vibrant training environment with an old school atmosphere comprised of Bangor’s aspiring athletes, rugby players, bodybuilders and gym enthusiasts. During this time, at least four athletes who trained in Paul's Gym went on the compete at the Commonwealth Games for Athletics between 2006 and 2014.

Paul had a lot of success as a coach, guiding athletes to numerous national medals and titles including Jeremy Harper (Irish Universities Discus Champion and British Universities Discus & Shot Medalist), Beth Wilson (Irish Schools and Irish U20 Discus medalist), and most recently Aida Zukauskaite (Irish Schools Hammer Champion 2024). Paul was Track & Field Team Manager for North Down AC for several years and was instrumental in bringing together the different sections of the club to become a competitive team. He guided the NDAC Men’s team to back to back Irish National League titles in 2006 and 2007 with the team going on to compete at the European Club T&F Championships in Portugal in 2008. Paul won the Athletics NI Development Coach of the Year award in 2019 for his work developing throwers from beginner level through to senior medalist level. More recently Paul had branched out to coaching fundamentals and hurdles at the club which contributed to an impressive showing by North Down AC at the 2024 NI & Ulster Combined Event Championships.

Our thoughts go out to Paul’s family, current and former North Down AC athletes, coaches and members as well as Paul's recent group of athletes. It is testament to Paul’s dedication to coaching that he was still out coaching on 22^nd December 2024 despite his recent terminal diagnosis. His memory and passion for coaching will be carried by the Club, as well as the athletes and coaches he worked with, for many years to come.

Photo from NDAC Website of Paul with his group and 2019 ANI Development Coach Award Weekly Report – 16/12/19 – North Down Athletic Club