Clonliffe Harriers celebrate historic success in Europe

MAY 27 will go down as an historic day in the life of one of Ireland’s oldest sports clubs.

Clonliffe Harriers Athletic Club, based in Santry, came third in European Champions Clubs Cup Track and Field in Leiria, Portugal.  

The club, founded back in 1886, has had a long and proud tradition competing at the highest level. European Athletics organises championships for the national champions of member federations for winning their national track and field league competition, the European Champions Clubs Cup.  

Clonliffe Harriers have competed in the track and field on numerous occasions and indeed in the European Clubs Cross Country Championships going back to the 1980s.  

However, they had never finished on the podium with their best performance being fourth place.  

Competing in Group B of the Championships, Clonliffe faced teams from Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Finland.  

The competition is a full programme of all track and field events up to 5,000m and the result is a combined total of the scores achieved by each club’s athletes in each event.

Despite not being in a position to field athletes in two of the events, the Clonliffe team travelled to Portugal full of determination. They knew that if each was in a position to perform to the best of their ability there was the possibility of a podium finish.

Club captain Joe Cooper said: “Going into the competition we knew we were strong in the middle distance events.

“We also knew that our field eventers would do well in the days leading up to the competition. However, we were hit with a body blow when several of the sprinters had to withdraw through injury. We knew, therefore, that we were going to be fairly up against it.”

President of Clonliffe Harriers, Paddy Marley, said:  “It’s a simply brilliant achievement by Joe Cooper and the team.  

“I am delighted for every single one of the team and very appreciative of the effort and performance that the guys put in.  

“This is up there with the greatest achievements of Clonliffe Harriers. It might even be the greatest to date.”

Mr Marley also thanked the coaches and the club’s sponsors, in particular Hireco.

“Without their vital support it would have been impossible for Clonliffe to send teams to compete in these championships over the last number of years,” he added.