Jack Curran from Farm Running Team says goodbye to Gympie

A respected Gympie sporting identity who has coached and motivated young runners is leaving his hometown and will pursue his dream to coach an Olympic athlete.

A Gympie sportsman who trained a group of young athletes in Gympie is saying goodbye to his hometown and heading onto his next adventure in life.

Jack Curran will return to Brisbane after coaching his own Gympie running group for three years.

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He grew up in Gympie and attended Two Mile State School then St Patrick’s College until Year 9 before moving to Brisbane boarding school on an athletics scholarship.

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Curran began his coaching career in 2016 at his school, helping with inter-school sports and guiding athletes, some of whom received sports scholarships in America.

He returned to Gympie in 2020 where he noticed there was no distance coach in town.

“I love Gympie because I grew up here,” he said.

Curran formed the “Farm Running Team” to give some motivated young athletes a place to run, just like his former Gympie coach Keith Brown.

Jack Curran will have his final lesson on Thursday with a new coach to take over in 2023.

He said he appreciated the high-performance side of the sport but also loves to see training motivate athletes in “all aspects of their life”.

“I love seeing what running brings out in people,” Curran said.

His group trains in track-and-field and cross-country three times a week, with Mr Curran’s last coaching session on Thursday.

Andrew Martin will take the reins from January.

“A lot of people think running is just going for a run but I think there’s so many life lessons you get,” Curran said.

“A kid will come start with us for the first time and they have a goal 10 weeks down the track and is coming up with a plan for that goal.

“It’s a pretty big life lesson, realising that.”

Outside of coaching, Curran is a youth worker at Gympie Flexible Learning Centre.

Upon returning to Brisbane, he intends to work at a similar learning centre and coach again at his old boarding school.

He plans to form a new running group in Brisbane with a mate, with his dream to coach an athlete who will compete in the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

Curran’s running career involves a stint in America where he went to college and competed on its track-and-field team.

He also competed in the U20 World Cross-Country in 2013 at Poland and won the Bridge to Brisbane long distance event in 2016.