Michael Hunt Q&A: ‘If there’s a dead heat I often settle it with a maths question on the podium!’

Tipperary native Michael Hunt, 74, a schoolteacher in Rathmines, is the ‘Mr Chips’ of Irish schools’ athletics. President of the ISAA for the past 21 years, he is stepping down in December so today’s Irish Life Health All-Ireland Schools’ Track & Field Championships will be his last at the helm.

Q: The All-Ireland Schools T&F Championships, held annually on the first Saturday in June in Tullamore. The top 1000 teenagers in the country qualify to battle it out for prestigious individual titles and each finisher also wins points for the team trophies. How did you first get involved in schools athletics?

A: I became secretary of the West Leinster Schools shortly after I’d returned to Ireland in 1966 and it just went from there. I studied PE and Maths in Strawberry Hill (London) and actually had a teaching job secured in Zambia but came home. I spent 14 wonderful years in Ballyfermot VS (now Kylemore College) first and then moved to Rathmines Senior College in 1981 where I still enjoy teaching five hours maths a week to repeat Leaving Cert students.