HE HAD JUST produced a prodigious performance to qualify for the 1500m final. All the sacrifices had paid off. Wearing the green of Ireland, John Travers was primed to run for gold at the University Games. Then the phone call came.
His father, diagnosed with a brain tumour in November 2014, had peacefully slipped away back in Dublin. Something that meant so much, something he had worked tirelessly for, in fact, meant very little.
Grieving thousands of miles away from home, Travers put on a brave face. He remained in South Korea for the final. It must have been the longest 24 hours of his life. A sobering dose of perspective.
Understandably, he can barely remember anything of the race. He came ninth in a time of 3.42.63. It was trivial. What is a position or number really worth?
“It was a really tough year,” Travers tells The42. “It was this time last year he was diagnosed. We thought we had a lot longer with him. They said he had another two years.
“He took really ill just before I went out to South Korea. I remember visiting him in the hospice and telling him I didn’t want to go. But he wanted me to.
“It was hard knowing what was coming but he spurred me on. He’d come to watch me when he was sick. I said to myself ‘sure I’ll go and he’ll be still here when I get back’.
“Unfortunately a couple of hours after the heats he passed a day. I was over there a day waiting to fly home after the final. It was the last place I wanted to be.”
The 24-year-old returned home but it didn’t get any easier. The death of his father, the man who guided and supported him to the pinnacle of the sport he loved, left an unimaginable void.
“I do regret going to South Korea,” he continues, as his voice crackles. “I can go back to the University Games whenever I like. I can’t go back and say ‘hello’ to him or whatever.
“It puts things in perspective. We give out about stupid things like being injured and then you look at my Dad and what he was going through and he never once complained. You ask yourself questions.”
Those questions reverberated. The what ifs and whys. What does it all really mean and what is it truly worth? It can become a downward spiral. In the immediate aftermath of his father’s passing, Travers was in danger of losing his sense of direction.
“I started to have a few drinks. I found myself lazing around doing nothing,” he explains. “I didn’t want to do anything but then I realised it wasn’t doing nobody any good. I knew my Dad got great enjoyment out of watching me and I enjoyed when he was there.
“That spurred me on to get back at it. We don’t have much at home any more. It’s just myself and my brother: he works and I run – there’s something missing.
“So running gets me out the door in the morning. It breaks up the day, otherwise you’d be into bad habits and feel sorry for yourself. There are days I just don’t want to run, I’d stop and walk but it helps the mind and takes away some of the depression.”
The sense of loss never dissipates but sport has the ability to ease the pain. It offers an outlet and occupies the mind. It kept Travers on the straight and narrow.
Four months have passed and it doesn’t get any easier but the Dubliner is back on the track with a renewed focus, and motivation.
This afternoon he races in the GloHealth National Inter Clubs Cross Country Championships at Santry hoping to seal selection for the European Championships.
It marks the start of a busy, and important, period for the middle distance runner. With Rio on the horizon, the stakes couldn’t be any higher.
“I’m in a really good place at the moment,” Travers explains. “I haven’t raced in two months but I spent three weeks in Romania altitude training and I’m just looking forward to competing again.
“The course is going to be quite muddy and slippy. My main goal is to get on the team because it would be a great stepping stone and lead into Olympic year nicely.”
Travers, who has represented Ireland at the World Junior Championships, World Cross Country Championships and the European Indoor Championships, is hoping to qualify for Rio in either the 1,500 or 5,000 metres.
The Athlone IT student will need to finish inside the standardised qualifying time before July if he is to fly to Brazil with Team Ireland. Once the turn of the year arrives, the serious business begins.
“I’m going to be knuckling down in January,” he says. “We have nothing exactly picked out but there are a couple of races in Belgium I can have a go at. You’ll never be short of races but it’s just about picking the right ones at the right time.
“You need to be smart because if you leave it too late, you’re chasing times and it never works out. The aim is to run well in the indoors and that will give me an idea as to how I’m fixed then for the outdoors later in the year.”
Travers, who is coached by former Olympian Jerry Kiernan, qualified for the European Indoor 1500m final in Prague last March. Then came the encouraging performance in South Korea. He’s certainly moving in the right direction.
His training has intensified since September and now includes two runs a day, 100 miles per week and a lot of strength and conditioning work. It’s a lifestyle rather than a job.
“It’s tough but you have to be strict on yourself,” Travers continues. “It all pays off in the long run. Everything has to be a balance and with Christmas coming up, it can be hard but you can enjoy yourself. You just have to know your limits.
“You need to train hard but smart and know the limits. I don’t put pressure on myself. I don’t listen to anyone but my coach, close friends and family. The rest goes in one ear and out the other.
“Jerry [Kiernan] is great for that. He’s my right-hand man and has almost become the father figure. He’s always checking in and he just has that experience. He says it as it is.”
Kiernan finished ninth in the 1984 Olympic marathon. Now he’s trying to guide his young prodigy to the biggest stage of them all. If Travers qualifies for the Games, Kiernan will be with him every step of the way.
But should John Travers line-up on the start line in Rio next summer, there will only be one man on his mind.
“I knew he wanted me to go to the Olympics,” he says of his late father. “Unfortunately he won’t be there if I get there but if I can tick that box then I can say:
‘Dad, I’m an Olympian.’
