Dec 1, 2008 [Stephen Byrne] The presentation night for the 2008 Clonliffe Grand Grand Prix last Saturday night proved to be another successful night for the club and will undoubtably be an event to be pencilled into your diaries for many years to come.
At the end of a long and by and large successful 2008 Grand Prix series athletes, family and friends gathered for the presentation held in the club bar. It was an extreamly enjoyable night with numerous highlights : the presentation of awards, the superb food, good wine, a very long raffle and DJ Joe to boot.
The night got off to a great start with presentations for the last 4 cross country races.
The Ahern Cup : Race Sponsor Maurice Ahern
As the Ahern 10 mile also incorporated the Club 10 mile championship Maurice Ahern presented Club medals plus Grand Prix prizes on the night.
GRand Prix Handicap
1. Dave Brady
2. Dermot Murphy
3. Eddie Harrison
Club 10 Mile
1. Philip O’Doherty Gold + Ahern Cup
2. Dermot Murphy Silver
3. Tom Monks Bronze
Irwin Cup; Race Sponsored by Dominic Branigan
Paddy Tuite presented Prizes to the below recipients
1. Dave Brady
2. Terry Mee
3. Stephen Byrne
As Terry Mee was the first Clonliffe athlete across the line he received the Irwin Cup.
Fastest Athlete Tom Monks
Horan Cup; Race Sponsored Colm Brennan
Paddy Tuite presented Prizes to the below recipients
1. Paul Carolan
2. Fergus Wheatley
3. Ray McConville
O’Connor Cup; Race Sponsored by John Bourke
Fastest Athlete; Niall Sherlock
Handicap
1. Pat Bonass
2. Stephen Byrne
O’Connor Cup goes to first scratch athlete over the line.
The presentation of the Fastest Athlete award, The Pat Linnane Memorial Cup was made to Noel Cullen by sponosor Fred Connolly.
For the last number of years the Grand Prix has presented Unsung Hero awards to individuals whose contribution to either Clonliffe Harriers or Athletics in general should not go un-acknowledged. Previous recipients of this award include Dave Brady, Joe and Gladys Cooper, Michael Kearney, Harry Gorman and Sean Callan, and Pat Hooper.
This years recipients are both long term members of Clonliffe Harriers whose contribution to the club has and continues to be immense. Without both these individuals there would be no Clonliffe Grand Prix.
Seven years ago Noel Guiden and Pat Bonass setup the Grand Prix and ran it for the following six years where they grew it from strenght to strenght. This year they took a back seat but truth be told they took many phone calls over the past year and their help was greatly appreciated.
Grand Prix 2008
The Grand Prix Series this year consisted of 14 races kicking off on grass with the Farren Cup in April in Santry Woods over a distance of 4 miles, the park was also to venue for the Irwin Cup Steeplechase, the Horan Cup and todays race the O’Connor Cup. The Grand Prix travelled to Malahide Castle for the McCarrick Plate over 2.5 miles, for the Michael Murphy Memorial over 5 miles and the Ahern Cup over 10 miles.
Back on the track here in Morton Stadium the Grand Prix commemorated the breaking of the 1, 2 and 3 mile World Records in 1958 with track races over the same distances, adding in the McDonald Cup and Walker Cups over 4 miles, a 1500 metre track race and throw in the Bonass 10K for good measure proving the Grand Prix offers a good variety for all tastes.
Over the course of this years Grand Prix Series we have had 7 different yellow jersey holders, Shane Galligan, Noel Cullen, Maurice McCrohan, Eddie Harrisson, Fergus Wheatley, Paul Carolan and Dave Brady.
In what proved to be a nail biting finish to the 2008 Series Paul Carolan came within two points of catching Dave Brady on the line. Presentations made to the top 10 athletes with Dave Brady taking home the Behan Associates Sponsored Noel Guiden Snr Perpetual Trophy.
1 David Brady 243
2 Paul Carolan 241
3 Eddie Harrison 239
4 Fergus Wheatley 229
5 Pat Healy 221
6 Stephen Byrne 218
7 Tom Monks 202
8 Ernie Ramsay 200
9 Pat Bonass 185
10 Ray McConville 184
11 Maurice McCrohan 183
12 Colm Doran 168
13 Alan Worrall 158
14 Pat Devitt 155
15 Colm Breen 150
15 Philip O’Doherty 150
17 Sean McGoldrick 149
18 Sean Doran 136
19 Shay Byrne 133
20 David Dunwoody 131
21 Dermot Murphy 129
21 Terry Mee 129
23 Jim Bennett 128
24 John Fay 120
25 Jeremy Walsh 119
26 Richard Connolly 118
27 Noel Cullen 114
28 Declan Muray 107
29 Frank Devitt 96
30 Gerry McCabe 93
30 Terry McLoughlin 93
32 Noel Guiden 90
33 Declan Power 81
34 Tony Kiernan 72
35 Shane Galligan 68
36 Conor Delaney 67
37 Colm Groome 65
38 Tony Westby 57
39 Kieran Murphy 46
40 Feargal Hartnett 22
41 Damien Reilly 20
42 Dave Brennan 13
43 Paul Duggan 10
44 Sean Pender 9
45 Eugene MacCarrick 7
46 Des Lyons 6
The Grand Prix had a number of new faces joining this year and the promise of a lot more for next year so it is hoped we can continue to grow this series over the coming years.
In summary an excellent end to an excellent series, full of fun, laughter and friendship…isn`t that what it`s all about.
Congratulations to all the winners, to all who took part. I would like to thank all our sponsors for their continued genorosity, their support is deeply appreciated. Noel Guiden, Shay Byrne, Dave Brennan, Eugene McCarrick, Family of Michael Murphy, Pat Bonass, Frazer Walker, Dominic Branigan, Maurice Ahern, Colm Brennan, John Bourke, Fred Connelly, Colm Doran, Brother International and a special thanks to Richard Connelly for sposoring a race plus spot prizes for tonights raffles.
I would also like to thank Caroline and Paddy Tuite for setting up the bar for the presentation night and to the catering staff for the lovely food on the night. To our raffle ticket sellers Ann and Caroline.
To my collegues on the Grand Prix committee for the sterling work over the last year, Paddy Tuite, Jeremy Walsh and Dave Brennan.
Nil desperandum.
