Kildare AC celebrate 70 years of legacy
John, Sandra, Brigid and John Fitzsimons. Photo: Aisling Hyland
Kildare Athletics club celebrated their 70th anniversary last week, with a number of events taking place throughout the town to mark the momentous occasion.
The main attraction was club’s 10km Fun Run, with 5km and 3.5km runs also taking place. The main route began at Kildare AC’s clubhouse at St Brigid’s Park, beside the stand at the Round Towers GAA club in the town.
The route began along the new road, toward Gym Dog, turning right and heading for St Conleth’s Cemetery. Another right turn and then a left brought the route out towards Kildare Town Football Club and Cill Dara Golf Club, before a left turn on the way to Rossmore Stud sent the runners towards Cill Dara Rugby Club.
Back in they came by Gallaghers Cross before coming onto the Rathangan road. They continued past the Towers View Training Pitches, hitting a long straight before finishing up back at the clubhouse.
Club icon, Michael Barber oversaw the Fun Run, telling The Kildare Nationalist, “It’s a lovely little route; there's very little gradient on it, it's away from the main road and the village as well.”
Another element of the celebrations was the 70th anniversary commemorative medal - a special medal for everybody who took part in the three fun runs.
“If anybody can't make the race, if they send us an email we can send a medal out to them,” Mr Barber told us. But it didn’t stop there, as he went on to say, “And if they're a member of the club, or were a member of the club, or if their parents or grandparents were members of the club – we can send them out their record of their performances over the years.”
The records Mr Barber mentioned come from a truly mesmeric database at Kildare AC’s disposal.
“If you ran with us in 1964 for instance, we have the amount of races you ran in and where you finished. We have the little membership form that you signed when you joined us.
“We have records going back to 1956 up until the present day. Jimmy Morrissey was the secretary until 1999 when I took over the record books – and it was impossible to keep up Jimmy’s high standard to be straight with you.
“We have AGM reports from 1941 up to 1999, before we started up in 1956 with the CYMS Athletic Club here in Kildare. But we have all reports – our records are unbelievable to be honest. It’s everything, whether it was a club race or a national title, they're in the book.
“Some people cover ten pages in the book themselves with what medals they won. We’ve one lad here, a fellow by the name of Michael Bailey, ran through the whole program; from an U10 runner right up to county, club county, Leinster and National, all in the one year. And then retired then and went to play soccer.”
This phenomenal archive was on display at the Kildare Parish Centre – forming another element of the 70th anniversary celebrations alongside a film shot in the 1960s of Kildare athletes out running in the area.
The club also held a special event in the Silken Thomas to honour their founding members, with plaques presented to members of all six families.
The founding members of Kildare AC were as follows:
Tommy Kelly.
Jimmy Morrissey.
John Kelly.
Anthony Fitzsimons, Josephy Murphy, Paddy Freeman.
There is a real sense of legacy at the club, with generations of the same families treading a path in Kildare down through the last seven decades, and the club is led by coaches with strong family ties that form part of that legacy.
Collette Loughlin is the primary coach, along with coaches Dave Evans and Thomas Sonny. Collette’s children are part of Kildare AC and so too is her father-in-law, who began running with Kildare in the 1950s and is still running at 91 years of age.
Coach John Fitzsimons, who leads the juvenile programme, is also tied to the club which both his parents represented for many years. John’s grandfather, Athony Fitzsimons, won one of Kildare AC’s first ever medals all the way back in 1956, while his maternal grandfather, Pat Murphy, and his aunt, Brigid Fitzsimons, each won a number of Kildare cross-county titles, with Pat going on to represent Ireland.
With all that history behind him, it is no wonder that John went on to have the career he did; winning two national titles, capturing bronze for Ireland in the 800m at the 2017 European U20 Championships in Italy, and going on to represent his country at senior level.
Kildare’s cross-country specialist, Sheila Morrissey, also did the club proud on the national stage, representing Ireland at the European Championships, while another Kildare AC alum, Sean Egan, wore Irish green at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, competing in the hammer throw.
The club has enjoyed plenty of success over the years, the most recent being a national silver medal and a Leinster title for javelin thrower, Noah Tracey.
Unfortunately and surprisingly, Kildare AC have no home of their own, relying instead on the kindness of Round Towers GAA.
"We were very successful in the 70s and 80s. But numbers have gone down; that's because the soccer, the rugby and the GAA have really peaked - from the juveniles upwards. That has affected us in recruitment," Mr Barber said.
“We train in St Bridges Park, which is the Round Towers’ grounds. We have two hours during the week; that's one hour from 6pm to 7pm on a Tuesday and Thursday night. So, our seniors have to train away, outside the club grounds, whether it’s Naas or Tullamore or Mullingar.
“We have no grounds. We have no track of our own. And that’s 70 years without a track being set. And still we produced all these national champions."
Asmita Thapa, Caroline Howard, Hannah O'Grady and Howard and Senan Markey.
Alexander and Emma Rutledge.
Diane and Vivienne Kenny.
Zuzanna and Dorothy Biedron with Polly Murphy.
Peter Moran and Seamus Cardiff.
The Evans family at the Kildare AC Fun Run.
Paddy Boland and Ruairi Browne.
Daniel, Thomas, Dylan, Daron and Derek Sonny.
Marta Bergstoff, Jerzy Szoldraie and Barrosz Iwanski.
