Staten House Releases 'Pat White of Donabate' – a Biography of an Early Marathon Pioneer and Forgotten Irish Hero

Several copies of the book Pat White of Donabate by Gerard Ronan, featuring a sepia-toned portrait of a mustachioed man in a vintage running shirt, titled “Godfather of Irish Marathon Running.”

Cover of Pat White of Donabate by Gerard Ronan, chronicling the rise and fall of Ireland’s forgotten marathon hero.

Colorized photo of Pat White standing in racing attire—striped jersey, shorts, gloves, and leather shoes—on a grassy field with wooden bleachers in the background.

Colorized archival photograph of Pat White, taken during his competitive peak in the early 20th century.

Colorized image of Irish marathon runner Pat White wearing a trench coat, standing in front of a stadium structure with a blurred crowd in the background.

Pat White (left) during his professional marathon career, pictured at a stadium in the early 20th century.

Learn about the life of Pat White, a marathon runner who broke records but vanished from history. Available now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, July 15, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new biography recalls the tragic life of marathon pioneer Pat White. One of the earliest stars of professional distance running, White was effectively erased from the official histories of track and field when he defected from the amateur ranks to the murky world of professional racing. His story has now been revived in Pat White of Donabate: Godfather of Irish Marathon Running, a newly released biography by author Gerard Ronan. Published by Staten House (N.Y.), it offers a portrait of a national hero and of a professional circus where athletes were often required to run marathons every other week, and sometimes more frequently than that.

White was the archetypical local boy made good, the humble labourer who briefly made it big. Three months after the 1908 Olympic Marathon, he ran almost 15 minutes faster than the Olympic champion in a professional race over the same course. At one time, he held the fourth-fastest time in history and twice, in 1908 and 1911, he ranked 2nd on the world marathon ranking list. His 2:36:45 from Edinburgh in 1911 would be faster than the winning times in the 1912 and 1924 Olympic marathons and not bettered by another Irish athlete for nearly half a century.

Following his retirement from racing, White’s life was continually marked by tragedy and poverty. As a British Army deserter during WW1 and the brother of an IRA assassin, he struggled to find work and scratched an uncertain living as a labourer and ditch digger. Abandoned by his children, he spent his final years in a Glasgow homeless hostel and was buried unmourned in a Scottish cemetery, his story lost to history. Ronan’s biography celebrates the achievements of a complex figure whose success once swelled the heart of a nation.

Pat White of Donabate is available from all major bookstores and online retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and AbeBooks.

Guy Rinzema
Aster & Ink
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