Dundrum Athletic Club is creating a bright future for athletes across Tipperary

Athletics across Tipperary is experiencing rapid growth at present and the huge numbers attending Dundrum Athletic Club last Friday evening for the official launch of their new lights is testament to the great work going on in the county.

The west Tipperary track can now be lit up every evening. The club is growing and the addition of Fr. Bobby Fletcher as coach is ensuring athletes receive even more top coaching.  

Chairperson of Dundrum AC, Michael Ryan, says that all involved with the club are positive about the future  and said the new lights mean that athletes benefit day to day: “With this event we marked a significant grant received from the Department of Community and Rural Affairs. 

“We got €20,000 for putting lights up in our track. Our community has  taken in refugees following the recent war in the Ukraine so many benefit through the  community recognition fund. The lights were what we applied for.

“We are thrilled to upgrade our facilities for our   250m track as we need them. There were lights there before but they are in for a long time and wouldn’t be nearly as good as the new lights.

“They have stood to us well but we wanted to, and needed to, upgrade with the times  so now we have state-of-the-art LED lights on the track. 

“From a sustainability perspective they are top class too. A local electrician, Conor Ryan, put up the lights so we are absolutely thrilled,” Michael Ryan said.

The benefits of these new lights are manifold and will ensure the club can remain open longer with a better quality of light: “When we put up lights in 2006 we had about a hundred members, now in 2024 we now have over 320 members in the club. 

“Our club is growing all the time to a point where we have juvenile training two nights a week but previously we had one session so this allows us to do more individual training for each member and it makes the track in Dundrum bigger as we can use every inch of the track.

“We can do relays and also the inner part of the track is very well lit. This is the  start of more development as we have track and field, cross country and road as well as shot put and javelin facilities  amongst other things. 

“We are very grateful also to Councillor Roger Kennedy who has given us significant funding towards high jump facilities so we have part of the funding we need to do that extremely well and we have other areas we want to grow in as well.”

It is important that clubs such as Dundrum get the funding they need as they provide an invaluable service in Tipperary and across the country: “Athletics are an important part of all sports and anyone who gets involved in athletics will prosper at other sports too.

“In itself it is a lifelong sport that gives great satisfaction to those who take part. For instance we had a competitor in recent years who took part in the Over 85 weight and throw competition and in the High Jump at Over 80s level before that so you are never finished at athletics if you have the love and the time for it.

“We are a very wide reaching club in Dundrum and stretch from Golden to Cappawhite, from Cashel to Donohill all the way to Kilcommon. Dundrum is what we proudly wear when we compete but we have a broad community in our part of Tipperary,” says Michael Ryan.

Since the success of Sharlene Mawdsley and others last summer, the numbers interested in taking up the sport has rocketed nationwide and  in Dundrum:  

“We have had a significant number of members joining in recent months and I suppose I have always had this dream, like all senior coaches, that we might have a Sharlene Mawdsley or Rhasidat Adeleke or Thomas Barr and you never know!

“Now it is clearly not about turning up an international champion, and we have a few within our ranks at masters level, but you would love to have that dream and in the future we might produce someone like that, it’s always the dream isn't it?”

Overall the club is on the up through hours put in at the track across 12 months. 

There is a positive atmosphere in the club and the new funding will make a massive difference to the quality of life Michael Ryan said: “We are really grateful to Tipperary County Council, to Marie Cox and to Elaine O’Driscoll who looked at our application. 

“This funding is shining a light on the future of our club so for us to raise 20,000, it would be an extraordinary amount for us to raise, so this is something of a dream for us and it is going to create a bright future for Dundrum Athletics Club.”