Sporting Spotlight on Sean O'Hara
What struck me right away about Sean O’Hara is his sense of fun. At 82 years young he is the first to tell you that “the older I get, the better I was…” before regaling fascinating stories from his youth and working years.
Originally from Melbourne, Sean spent 36 years in the menswear business, starting at the ripe age of 13, and still has a sharp eye for fashion as he sits across from me in his crisply ironed shirt. It’s no wonder he was labelled the Best Dressed Man in Melbourne in 1960 by Esquire magazine! Back in those days, he also worked as a doorman for the Regent Theatre (for a bit of beer money) where he rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous on many occasions.
Sean began running at 55 years of age when he heard about the JAL Marathon and decided to attempt the 10km run. He enjoyed it so much that he did it for the next 15 years! All up he’s been involved with this event on the Gold Coast for 26 years. The last 11 years he has completed the ½ marathon (21kms) on the Sunday and the 5.7km on the Saturday. Although
in his opinion, the half marathon is for ‘horses and fools’.
In 1998 he competed in his the Pan Pacific Masters Games and 2018 marked his 11th time competing in distance running. In November last year he entered 4 events, a Beach Mile, a 5km Road Race, a 4km Cross Country event and a 10.5km Trail Run and he collected 3 x Silver and 1 x Gold medals over the 4 events.
Over the years he has competed in 5 World Masters Games – all around the word including Sydney, New Zealand, Canada and Italy in both Race-Walking and Distance Running events. He also loves being a part of Charity Runs such as the Mother’s Day Breast Cancer Awareness Challenge, the Heart Foundation runs and the Sunday Mail Bridge to Brisbane.
Despite his impressive running resume, Sean’s true love is clearly something else entirely… football. More specifically, AFL. To Sean “Football isn’t everything… it’s the only thing.” As an avid fan for all of his life, he proudly proclaims he has physically attended more than 900 games of football! He has been an active supporter and fund raiser over the years as well as a club President and Treasurer during his time.
Sean is the first to encourage people to get off their devices and computers, get out into the fresh air and ‘have a go’. He was a volunteer at the Commonwealth games in 2018 and also completed the 5km Gold Run event that was part of the games. He is a social guy and a fiercely proud grandfather.
When asked about what advice he would give someone starting out in the sport, he wisely replies “don’t focus on time. Start and finish, that’s all that matters, what happens in between is your own business.”