{"id":2576,"date":"2018-03-08T22:14:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T22:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/?p=2576"},"modified":"2018-03-08T22:38:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T22:38:36","slug":"international-womens-day-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/?p=2576","title":{"rendered":"International Women’s Day Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

With it being International Women\u2019s Day, we thought it might be a nice time to have a short look back at the history of Raheny Shamrock Athletic Club and our proud female members.<\/p>\n

Raheny Shamrock was founded 60 years ago, in August 1958.<\/p>\n

At that time two athletic federations ran the rule over Irish athletics, the NACAI and the AAUE. Raheny Shamrock were members of the NACAI.<\/p>\n

There is a secondary context, one which this author, in this era, struggles to comprehend as actual events.<\/p>\n

In the 1950\u2019s John Charles McQuaid, the archbishop of Dublin ran a tight fist over Irish life.<\/p>\n

With his fist clenched in control of society, stories exist of McQuaid controlling the film censor, attempts to control RTE and various other aspects of Irish life.<\/p>\n

One item that McQuaid definitely was, was anti-women-in-sport.<\/p>\n

McQuaid stating \u201cmixed athletics and all cognate immodesties are abuses that right-minded people reprobate, wherever and whenever they exist\u201d.<\/p>\n

McQuaid added: \u201cGod is not modern; nor is his Law\u201d while women competing in the same sporting arenas with men were \u201cun-Irish and un-Catholic\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is on this background that some nine years after the club\u2019s founding in 1967, Raheny Shamrock became the first NACAI club to open their doors to female members.<\/p>\n

And it did not take long for the Raheny Shamrock name to light up the podium in women\u2019s athletics.<\/p>\n

The Raheny Shamrock women\u2019s team would win the BLE (a merger of AAUE & NACAI in 1968) National cross country championship in 1969.<\/p>\n

Mary Lynch won the 1971 national inter-county cross country title and retained that title 12 months later while also adding the 1972 inter-club title and the 1973 3,000 metre title.<\/p>\n

While Ursula Kennedy would become the first Raheny Shamrock athlete to compete in the World Cross Country Championship in 1968.<\/p>\n

In total, there has been 20 national senior championships won by nine Raheny Shamrock female members since 1967, and they are;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Mary Lynch \u2013 Inter-County Cross Country \u2013 1971<\/td>\nMary Lynch \u2013 Inter-Club Cross Country \u2013 1972<\/td>\nMary Lynch \u2013 Inter-County Cross Country \u2013 1972<\/td>\nMary Lynch \u2013 3,000 Metres \u2013 1973<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sally Wigesundra \u2013 Javelin \u2013 1987<\/td>\nRose Hayden \u2013 Half Marathon \u2013 1988<\/td>\nOlive Bollard \u2013 Half Marathon \u2013 1989<\/td>\nAnnette Kealy \u2013 1500 Metres Indoor \u2013 1995<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Annette Kealy \u2013 Marathon \u2013 2003<\/td>\nOrla O\u2019Mahoney \u2013 Half Marathon \u2013 2005<\/td>\nOrla O\u2019Mahoney \u2013 Short Course Cross Country \u2013 2006<\/td>\nOrla O\u2019Mahoney \u2013 10 Kilometers Road \u2013 2007<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Orla O\u2019Mahoney \u2013 10 Kilometres Road \u2013 2008<\/td>\nAnette Kealy \u2013 Marathon \u2013 2009<\/td>\nBarbara Sanchez \u2013 Marathon \u2013 2010<\/td>\nSiobhan Eviston \u2013 800 Metres \u2013 2011<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Siobhan Eviston \u2013 800 Metres \u2013 2012<\/td>\nZoe Brown \u2013 Pole Vault Indoor \u2013 2013<\/td>\nZoe Brown \u2013 Pole Vault Indoor \u2013 2014<\/td>\nZoe Brown \u2013 Pole Vault \u2013 2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

And for the day that\u2019s in it here are our female members who have won national junior titles,<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
1968 – Ursula Kennedy – 800m<\/td>\n1971 – Eileen O\u2019Driscoll – Long Jump<\/td>\n1984 – Ann Dunne – 400m Hurdles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1986 – Pauline Durnan – 3000m<\/td>\n1987 – Pauline Durnan – 3000m<\/td>\n1990 – Audrey Farrelly – 100m<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001 – Helen Buckley – High Jump<\/td>\n2011 – Isuelt O\u2019Donnell – 800m<\/td>\n2011 -Alice Fennell – 3000m Steeplechase<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

And our Under 23 national champions;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1986 – Ann Brady – 800 metres<\/td>\n2010 – Susan Scallan – 400 metres<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2013 – Maria O\u2019Sullivan \u2013 5000 metres<\/td>\n2014 – Maria O\u2019Sullivan – 5000 metres<\/td>\n2014 – Iseult O\u2019Donnell \u2013 400 metres<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

51 years ago, it took a brave decision in a country that was changing to make the right decision, a decision that made Raheny Shamrock Athletic Club a better club!<\/p>\n

Happy International Women\u2019s Day<\/p>\n

Raheny Shamrock Athletic Club female members who have competed in international games and championships.<\/p>\n

World Cross Country<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ursula Kennedy \u2013 Blackburn \u2013 1968 & Clydebank \u2013 1969<\/p>\n

Ann Keating \u2013 Blackburn \u2013 1968<\/p>\n

Siobhan Lynch \u2013 Blackburn \u2013 1968<\/p>\n

Kay Mooney \u2013 San Sebastian \u2013 1971<\/p>\n

Mary Lynch\u00a0\u2013 Cambridge \u2013 1972, Waregem \u2013 1973 & Monza \u2013 1974<\/p>\n

Orla O\u2019Mahoney \u2013 Edinburgh \u2013 2008<\/p>\n

Annette Kealy \u2013 Edinburgh \u2013 2008<\/p>\n

European Cross Country<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Annette Kealy \u2013 Oeiras \u2013 1997 & Medulin \u2013 2002<\/p>\n

Orla O\u2019Mahony \u2013 Tilburg \u2013 2005, San Giorgiu \u2013 2006 & Dublin \u2013 2009<\/p>\n

Eilish Kelly \u2013 Velenje \u2013 2011<\/p>\n

Commonwealth Games<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Zoe Brown \u2013 Glasgow 2014 \u2013 Pole Vault (Northern Ireland)<\/p>\n

Paralympics<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Orla\u00a0Comerford\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Rio 2016 \u2013 100m<\/p>\n

World Para Athletics Championships<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Orla\u00a0Comerford\u00a0\u2013\u00a0London 2017 \u2013 100m<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"tumblr\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With it being International Women\u2019s Day, we thought it might be a nice time to have a short look back at the history of Raheny Shamrock Athletic Club and our proud female members. Raheny Shamrock was founded 60 years ago, in August 1958. At that time two athletic federations ran the rule over Irish athletics, the NACAI and the AAUE. Raheny Shamrock were members of the NACAI. There is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2576"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2581,"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions\/2581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rahenyshamrock.ie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}