“I live with racing, so being able to perform on the college level is a big deal for me” - The Ukrainian Racer Living His Dream With DCU Karting

 By Evan Dalton for The DCU Bulletin

College sport is not about competition. It’s not about success. Yes, success is nice, but it’s not an ultimatum. College sport is about community. It’s about people. 

Sports scholarships exist. DCU’s sport roster boasts some of the finest young athletes, who will become world beaters in their chosen field, but for the vast majority of competitors, it is about sharing your passion with people who love your passion. There is no one who embodies this more on the Glasnevin campus, than Pavlo Kyshkan. 

Pavlo, or ‘Pasha’ as he likes to be called, races for DCU Karting’s Intervarsity Team. It’s easy for a go-karter or racing driver to live in their own world underneath the helmet, but this isn't how Pavlo chooses to live. He will be the first to discuss the events, share the triumphs and be compassionate in the failures, when things might not have worked out. 

“I live with racing, so being able to perform even on the college level is a big deal for me. We have such a great team, where even though we are in competition, everyone is nice and calm and open to talk at any moment.”

Pavlo is from Ukraine, and grew up racing karts there. His first motorsport memory, like a lot of Gen Z race fans, started with Lightning McQueen and Cars. 

“I watched it so many times that eventually the disk simply stopped working. My very first memory of a go kart goes to when my dad put me in a rental kart at the age of seven .I do remember being extremely scared to drive and taking absolutely sh***y racing lines.”

“I found and joined a local karting club… it was all based on old Soviet era go karts, so they would break down pretty much every 15 minutes. It was a place where I would be going every day after school for four years straight.”

Pavlo’s dedication to his craft reaped rewards, and he won a Ukrainian regional championship in 2023. 

However, that would be it for Pavlo racing in his home nation. He was forced to move to Ireland in 2024 after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. 

“Looking at it now, I'd say that the only challenge is that I was still a baby. Sure, at the age of 16, you really think you know and can do everything, but honestly, it is just like sending a baby bird out from the nest into severe adult life.”

“I believe I became mature and independent very early, so when it all happened. I didn’t feel lost or not knowing what’s next, just taking it as another chapter of my life. Adaptation is one of the skills you learn when becoming a better driver, so that’s probably also that played a part.”

Picking up your life, and moving it 3,000km, is not easy, but Pavlo found the Irish very welcoming, which helped him integrate into Irish society. 

"I found Irish people very warm and open. I have never met a person who would truly be bad or have negative intentions regarding me. For some reason, everybody here feels like one big family.”

“I find Irish people to be quite similar to Ukrainians. I believe we share how we value our close people, how we are always ready to help. We even have parts of history that are almost identical.”

Pavlo will attest to the Irish people for helping him integrate here, but a lot of credit should be put on himself. Every society karting trip, Pavlo will do a lap of the bus, asking all how they are, quiz them on their daily lives, and make sure they are doing ok. Life in a university isn’t easy, but with people like Pavlo, it can become easier.

Pavlo got a job working at Whiteriver Park karting circuit, in Louth. Two other members of DCU’s Intervarsity Karting team work here, captain Sean Purcell and Mark Woods. It was here Pavlo made the decision to join DCU. 

“When choosing college, it really came to me knowing about the karting team and some people in it. The difference of doing the same course in other uni would not be so big.”

The highlight of his karting career came on his 18th birthday, when the management of Whiteriver Park decided to treat Pavlo to a weekend racing in the Tillotson Ireland Karting Championship. Most people relax as they approach their birthday, but Pavlo decided to live the life of a racing driver. 

“I was simply living with that race. From constant training on a simulator, to hitting the gym regularly and going for runs pushing myself to limits every time.”

“It was such a strange feeling: I would be looking at those people when working, wanting to be one of them, and now it happened. I am in the same paddock, doing my best to prove that I belong there.” 

Pavlo had an understandable shaky start to race day, but his hard work came to fruition. Ironically, someone who had only lived in Ireland for a year at that point, was the most experienced in the final race’s changing weather conditions. He gained over 20 places, and crossed the line in 7th. 

DCU are still in the hunt for the Student Sport Ireland Karting Championships, with Pavlo being a key member of the squad. There have been learning curves, but he has enjoyed his experience so far. 

“There were moments in Inters which I would like to do differently, like… bottling P1 in the final at Nutts Corners. But at the end of the day, it is part of racing, which contributes to shaping you as a driver.” 

The final round of the season is approaching, which will take place at that very Whiteriver track where Pavlo fulfilled his race karting dreams. But it’s not about the results. DCU Karting means so much more to Pavlo than results, and DCU Karting is a better place because of Pavlo. 

College sports isn’t about success, it’s about people.