"Before that, athletes were confined to their place of work. But, when professionalism came in, athletes could now sit down with their managers and with shoe companies and decide no, I can become a full-time career athlete."

The rest, as they say, is history. O'Connell went on to transform the athletics program at St Patrick's, and 25 of his students became world champions, some of whom returned to run their own athletics programs.

The town around the school boomed, as runners from all over the world discovered its training potential. O'Connell estimates that in peak season there are around 500 visiting runners in the town at any one time.

"We see fun runners, we have runners with personal goals, we have people running a marathon to fundraise," he said. "In other words, running is a sport for everybody, and it has something to offer everybody."

AFP