2010 AGM report

Nov 17, 2010 [Noel Guiden] The 125th Clonliffe Harriers Annual General Meeting was held in the Morton Stadium Santry last night. It was a fairly well attended meeting which enjoyed healthy debate and valuable contributions from the membership in attendance.

The honorary secretary in his address appealed to the club members to become more actively involved in the organisation end of the club and appealed to the club’s members to support the club’s treasurer by participating in as many fundraising events as possible. He also pointed out the extraordinary number of events which the club had hosted the previous year and reminded the meeting that this extensive workload was carried by less than 10 % of the club’s membership and the appealed to the members to become involved in the various sub committees which were being set up.

The Honorary Treasurer in his report outlined that the club was in a healthy state financially in spite of the increased costs which had been incurred by reason of the club’s participation in the European Club’s Cross Country and the European Club’s Track and Field. He thanked the club’s sponsors and all who had contributed to the funding of the club over the previous year and appealed to the membership for their assistance with the club’s fundraising activities and appealed for any member who had any particular ideas on fundraising to contact a committee member.

The Club Captain in his report outlined the very successful year which had been enjoyed by the club and complimented the club’s athletes for their dedication to Clonliffe Harriers and the club’s coaches and committee for their work. He outlined the highlights of the year which in particular featured the retaining of the senior cross country and track and field titles and the success enjoyed by individual members of the club at both national and international level.

The Ladies Captain reported on the increase in membership of the Ladies Section and outlined the highlights achieved by the club’s women athletes and in particular the finishing in third place in the National Track and Field League Division 1. She also outlined that the Senior Ladies had medalled at the National Half Marathon Championships. She paid particular tribute to the Ladies involved in the Meet and Train Group. She thanked the coaches involved with the ladies section in particular Eugene Coppinger for his help and support throughout the year.

The juvenile captain also reported on a very successful year for the juvenile section of the club and singled out in particular Patrick O’Connor for special mention as a result of his magnificent achievements on the track in the sprint events over the summer, Patrick having won national titles at juvenile, club and schools level and also represented Ireland at international level. She thanked the coaches for their participation and input to the juvenile athletes over the previous twelve months.

The President of the club in his presidential address praised the coaches, athletes and committee for their contribution to a very successful year. He praised all concerned who had been involved with the hosting of the European Cross Country Championships in Santry in December 2009 outlining the mammoth effort which had been put in by the club’s members to ensure that this was such a successful event. He outlined the various promotions which the club puts on throughout the years and praised the individual members who were involved in the organisation of such promotions. He thanked the club treasurer and his assistant treasurers for their input into looking after the club’s finances, he praised the club captains for their contribution and he paid a warm and special tribute to Arthur Daly who had worked so long for the club who had died during the course of the year.

The following officers and committee members were elected:

Honorary President – Paddy Marley

Honorary Secretary – Noel Guiden

Honorary Treasurer – Paddy Tuite

Club Captain – Joe Cooper

Ladies Captain – Pamela Cooper

Committee Members: Noreen Keane, Jeremy Chapman and Stephen Harkness

Under the heading of any other business there were valuable contributions received from the club members. A special presentation by way of outlining events for the 125th anniversary of the club commencing with the club cross country championships and a social function on the 2nd of January 2011 was made by Noel Daly. The year will culminate in a celebratory dinner at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the Saturday the 15th of October 2011. Dominic Branigan also made a presentation to the meeting concerning the history to Clonliffe Harriers book which he is currently writing, he sought contributions from the club’s members by way of stories or memorabilia/photographs (contact details dombran@eircom.net). Contributions are required by the 16th of December at the latest and Dominic hopes to be in a position to have the book launched at the celebratory anniversary dinner on the 15th of October 2011.

All in Clonliffe Harriers now look forward to our 125th anniversary.