Peter Bissett reports: Under a calmly setting sun on a balmy Friday evening, September 13th, athletes completed strides and warm-ups before competing in the inaugural Clonliffe Harriers Mixed Relays – A Night of Fun!
To say the feeling was electric would be an understatement. Under starters orders, there was hush in the jam-packed infield full of athletes waiting for their turn to take the baton. As the gun went off, so too did a roar from the fifty-strong field of athletes. Through six handovers, seven athletes on each team tore up the track, most not having ever raced the 400m sprint.
The phrase ‘everybody’s a winner’ gets thrown around a lot. But on the night, this was really true as tired athletes limped triumphantly into the clubhouse for a spread to envy our national broadcaster’s Olympic pizza parties. The clubhouse was packed to the rafters, with tactics and general slaggings all round.
None of this would have been possible without the organising committee. A massive thank you to Pamela Cooper and her team of Ciara O’Regan, Johnny O’Leary, Shane Rooney, Carl Fleming, Orla Deighan and Jake Kernan. Others helped out on the night too, so apologies if you’ve been missed – thank you all!
For now, we rest the relay baton as cross country comes into season. More of the same again next year, as Friday September 12th 2025 will see yet another Relays night of fun, so save the date!
