Around the years 1948-58, there was a huge interest in athletics in Dublin and each summer several international meetings were staged.

Most of these were held at Lansdowne Road IRFU Grounds, but other events were held in College Park, Trinity College, in what was an amphitheatre type sports ground then and still is the cricket area. This was a beautiful event where one would lie on the sloping bank around the track and watch the events in a very relaxed setting.

The bigger crowds were usually at Lansdowne Road, where the international events were run as two evening affairs. The running track was marked out on the grass pitch and was unusual in that it was five laps to the mile. Some cycle races were included at the meetings and these provided great entertainment, bearing in mind the speed these riders would travel at and the grass track. The corners often supplied major pile-ups. After the pile-ups there was the hectic scene of riders and bikes entangled and the subsequent sorting out, and then the frantic chase after the pack.
Clonliffe Harriers International Meeting Thurs 26 Aug 1948

Just 12 days after the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, this meeting was graced by perhaps the greatest woman athlete ever. She was of course Fanny Blankers-Koen of Holland. At the London games she had won four gold medals, in the 100 metres, 200 metres, 80 metre hurdles and was a member of the 4 x 100 metres relay. At the time of the games she was also world record holder in the high jump and long jump events, both records set i n 1943, but she did not compete for these, and the winners of these events did not get near her records.

Also competing that night was Willie Slykhus of Holland. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the London Olympics.

At this meeting the pole vault event was won by Ulick O'Connor, with a vault of 10 feet. Just imagine, this event is now won at approximately 20 feet, but don't forget that today's pole is fibreglass and then it was bamboo. Second in this event was a great character in Irish athletics, Dick O'Rafferty. Dick had just one eye but this did not stop him from competing at numerous events and venues around Ireland.

Clonliffe Harriers Meeting Wed, Thurs 8th, 9th June 1949
This two evening meeting had the Dutch back again and other international competitors also. Included in the list of events for the Wednesday evening was a 15-mile road race starting a Kilmacanogue and finishing at the track on Lansdowne Road. The winner of this race was Jack Holden (Great Britain) who went on to represent his country in many, many more international marathon races around the world. His prize that night was a barometer. How times have changed! Now they get thousands of pounds just to start in similar races.

The next evening, Harrison Dillard (USA) the winner of the 100 metres and a member of the gold medal 4 x 100 metres team to win at the 1948 London Olympics, competed and won the 220 yards invitation race.

In the 1 mile international scratch race on the Wednesday evening, our own John Joe Barry was second to Fred Wilt (USA). This must have been very early in John Joe's career in which he ran for Ireland against the best in the world at that time. The following night he reversed the placings, beating the American in a 3-mile race and also smashing the Irish record for the mile by over 33 seconds to set a new figure of 3 minutes 56.2 seconds. The first three all beat the existing record.

Clonliffe Harriers Thurs. 21st July 1955
This time it was in College Park, and it was around this time that our "favourite son," Ronnie Delaney was emerging with great promise. Sports fans here in Ireland followed his career in the USA, with his years of indoor successes. He had great running battles with English stars David Johnson (880 yards) and Brian Hewson (1 mile). These events were eagerly looked forward to and of course these were the main attractions of the meeting. Just a note of how many times they met, for example, on 15th June 1955 in College Park, Johnson beat Delaney in the 880 yards, both setting new records. So, one month later, again in College Park, on the evening of 21st July, again they faced each other. This time Ronnie reversed the placings and again set a new Irish record of 1 minute 50 seconds. So, between this time and the now famous victory in Melbourne in 1956, every time Ronnie ran the Irish nation followed the race with great interest. Ronnie's famous kick around the last bend of this race was watched with great expectation.

In conclusion, there is a funny story related to me by a friend. How true it is we cannot confirm, but it took place a long time ago, around 1948, just after the last World War. Of course money was tight, so this bright spark got the bright idea that, if he could go to the athletics meeting in College Park, he would bring with him a pair of runners (now training shoes) and a vest and shorts wrapped up under his arm. He would then go to the entrance marked "competitors" enter a race for 2/6 (12.5p), go into the stadium and then disappear into the crowd. This would save him 2/6 as it would have cost him 5s (25p) to go in as a spectator.

(l-r) Billy Morton, Herb Elliott (Australia) the winner of the one mile invitation race, Ronnie Delany who came third and Bert Gardiner the Australian team manager. This race took place at Santry Stadium.