Jun 16, 2011 [Noel Guiden] On a perfect night for a road race Clonliffe Harriers hosted the 120th Clonliffe 2 on the traditional Finglas to Glasnevin route finishing outside the Grave Diggers. The Clonliffe 2 is of course Ireland’s oldest road race, having been first run by the Club in the early 1890’s and has continued every year since. This year’s Clonliffe 2 was an integral part of the Club’s 125th celebrations and fittingly the race had its biggest turnout of athletes in many a year. What was particularly notable about last night’s race was the number of Clonliffe singlets on the road as the event received tremendous support from the Club members. There was a great turnout of senior athletes, men and women, junior athletes, masters and indeed coaches – Messrs. Carr & McDonald take a bow!
Mick Kearney had done a fantastic job in organising the event, with the 160 or so starters being sent on their way at 8.00 p.m. precisely from Finglas Village, down the dual carriageway, past the cemetery – which looked tempting and then swinging left into Prospect Square to finish outside Kavanagh’s – which looked even more tempting! The leaders needless to say took off like the proverbial bat out of hell down the hill reaching the first mile in 4.25 or thereabouts. The leaders included the great Vinny Mulvey of Raheny Shamrocks making a very welcome return to this race, and Clonliffe men Dave Fitzmaurice, Gary O’Hanlon and Ian Guiden. On the long uphill section Guiden was dropped as Dave Fitzmaurice applied the pressure, with Mulvey and O’Hanlon hanging on to him. It was then whittled down to Fitzmaurice and Muley with young Fitzy prevailing to take a popular win for the host club. Vinny Mulvey was 2nd, as he works his way back towards full fitness, Gary O’Hanlon for Clonliffe came in 3rd with Rathfarnham’s Paul Flemming overtaking Ian Guiden on the run-in 4th and Ian 5th.
In the Ladies race, Clonliffe had a clean sweep with Ailish Malone 1st, Louise Reilly 2nd and Tara Whyte 3rd. 1st Junior Man was Ian Guiden and 1st Junior Woman, also of Clonliffe, was Lorna Begley. Clonliffe also took the mens and womens team races.
It is also worth noting that the competitors in the race included 3 generations of the Kavanagh family (Eugene is the race sponsor). Post race there was a great buzz in the air in the Grave Diggers premises, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all in attendance.
Clonliffe Harriers would like to pay tribute and thank Eugene Kavanagh for his continued sponsorship of this race, Eugene began sponsoring this event for Clonliffe’s centenary year in 1986, a quater of a century ago now and has been a loyal supporter ever since. Clonliffe would also like to thank the members of An Garda Siochana for their presence and assistance in the hosting of the race, Mick Kearney, the Race Director, and his team for an excellent event and in particular would like to thank you the athletes for your support and for turning out in such tremendous numbers. Full results will be post on this site.