The 131st Clonliffe Harriers AGM took place in the club bar on Tuesday March 7th. It was a fairly well attended AGM which enjoyed lively contributions from the club’s members from the floor.
The meeting heard firstly an address from the club Honorary Secretary who outlined the healthy state of the club with continued growth in membership with current membership at in excess of 500. In particular there was a great expansion of the juvenile section and great credit is due to the work of juvenile captain Gladys Cooper and her team. The Honorary Secretary also stated that the club had enjoyed outstanding athletic successes and that the meeting would hear from the various captains and that the club for the second successive year had been awarded by Athletics Ireland the Performance club of the year award. He also stated that the club’s finances were healthy and that the meeting would hear further on that front from the Honorary Treasurer. The Honorary Secretary went on to outline the administration of the club over the previous year, the various promotions conducted by the club and thanked all concerned for their assistance and dedication with the running of these various events and in particular the Morton Games and event which all members of Clonliffe Harriers should be justifiably proud of. The Honorary Secretary also thanked the club’s sponsor Hireco and the many additional sponsors who sponsored various events throughout the year, he finally thanked the club’s athletes, the club’s coaches, the club’s officers and committee members.
The club captain Joe Cooper presented his report and outlined the outstanding success of the club’s athletes over the previous years. In summary these were:
Masters National Champions – Matt Slattery O/65 1st 100, 200 and 400.
National Indoor Champions – Ian Rogers 1st pole vault, Andrew Heaney 1st high jump.
National Track and Field Championships – Brian Gregan 1st 400, Rory Gunning 1st javelin, David Flynn 2nd 3000 SC, Declan Murray 2nd 800m, Niall Counihan 2nd triple jump, Chris Sibanda 3rd 100, Andri Mahon 3rd triple jump.
There had also been a national 5 mile track record set by Sergio Ciobanu of 24.13 and during the year a new club record by Rory Gunning in the javelin 63.24m and Keith Marks in the long jump 7.48.
National Track and Field Championships – Clonliffe 1st
National Junior Cross Country – Clonliffe 1st
National Novice Cross Country – Clonliffe 1st
National Intermediate Cross Country – Clonliffe 1s
National Marathon – Clonliffe 1s
National Half Marathon – Clonliffe 1st
National Indoor League Final 2017 – Clonliffe 1st
The Honorary Treasurer then presented his report and took the meeting through the club’s balance sheet and trading account and outlined a very healthy state of the club and paid tribute to all concerned who are involved in the collection of members subscriptions, also the various volunteers who assist with the club’s promotions and hosting of events all of which provide a very healthy stream of income for the club. He also thanked Noreen Keane for her work in connection with the club lottery and thereafter dealt with questions from the floor on the annual account.
The ladies captain presented her report and outlined the difficulties which had been experienced in fielding teams particularly for cross country events, she thanked the athletes who had competed for the club, all of whom had competed to the best of their ability. The highlights were Leah Bergin 2nd National U/23 Indoor 400, Aursa Jermubaskyte 2nd National Indoor triple jump and 3rd National Indoor long jump (club record). Ciara McCallian had been selected to compete for Ireland in the 4 x 400 European Relay team and had also finished 3rd in the National 400 Track and Field Championships. Aursa Jermubaskyte had finished 1st in the National Track and Field triple jump with a jump of 12.00m – a PB. In September Greta Streimkyte finished 4th in the Rio Paralympic 1500 in a pb of 4.45.06. In cross country the team finished 3rd in the Dublin Novice and 2nd in the Dublin Intermediate.
The juvenile captain presented her report on the juvenile section which had been a particularly busy year for the section with membership having grown in huge numbers, by way of illustration the U/12 group had in the order of 70 to 90 young athletes attending each session. The juvenile captain thanked the coaches and parents who had provided assistance and in particular she thanked the new coaches who had come into the group, Grahan Mahon, Leo Hession, Ulrich Neiberg and Yvonne Burke. She also outlined that the club had instigated a new initiative which saw the club host a juvenile all medal open Meet which was an open track and field competition held in May and proved to be a very good success and it was hoped that this would continue to grow and would grow even more in the summer of 2017. On the athletics field the highlights were the finishing 2nd of Sean O’Leary in the U/19 cross country and 3rd U/18 with the U/16 boys winning silver in 2016. In track and field Craig Giles had won the National U/17 800 and finished 2nd in the 1500. Sally Sumola had won U/13 long jump gold and silver in 80m, Caitlin O’Reilly U/16 silver in 100, Cian Bolger U/16 1500, Justina Gedvilas silver javelin, Jonas Norvasisus bronze shot putt and Sean Carrick U/19 gold 3000m.
The club president Paddy Marley then addressed the meeting, he took the members through the club’s annual promotions and thanked the various race directors of these promotions and thanked their teams and also the volunteers who had assisted and given freely and willingly of their time throughout. He also thanked Noreen Keane who looks after the club’s lotto, he thanked the club’s coaches and paid tribute to the extraordinary successes enjoyed by the club’s athletes under the various coaches. He paid tribute to all concerned with the winning by the club, for the second time, of the prestigious performance club of the year. The President also thanked the club’s sponsors and in particular Hireco who had been the club’s sponsor now for over ten years and he thanked the various sponsors of events in the Morton Games and in the various road races hosted by the club.
The meeting elected the following officers and committee to serve the club:
- President – Paddy Marley
Honorary Secretary – Noel Guiden
Honorary Treasurer – Eoin Murray
Men’s Captain – Joe Cooper
Ladies Captain – Pamela Cooper
Committee Members: Caroline Tuite, Alan Worrall, Paddy Tuite
The trustees were all re-elected: Johnny O’Leary, Maurice Ahern, Tommy Griffin Senior.
The following Motions were passed: 1.“Believing National interclub Cross Country Championships to be deemed fair competition we propose that as with the National Track and Field Championships all competitors in National Cross Country Championships, save those National Cross Country Championships which are inter-county only, must wear their official club vests”.
- 2. “That an athlete does not become a master athlete and eligible to compete in master competition until he or she reaches 40 years of age”.
Under Any Other Business the following were discussed:
The club lotto and the possibility of a direct debit – this to be considered by the incoming committee.
The current state of Irish athletics and performances at major championships.
The updating of the Club’s Constitution.
Eugene Coppinger on behalf of Dublin Marathon thanked Clonliffe for their involvement with the race series, he congratulated Joe Cooper for what was an incredible year in the club.
There was also a discussion concerning the lack of publicity and lack of promotion of the sport of athletics generally.