The Very Beginning….

In Lucan in the 1960s running on the roads was a rare sight. Tom Byrne was the exception who could be seen on the roads around Lucan, Newcastle and Coolmine. Tom at the time competed for Dublin City Harriers and in 1966 and 67 won the Dublin senior Cross Country Champs, a feat only equalled by Eamonn Coughlan years later. When the new estates were built in Hillcrest and Arthur Griffith a number of people with an interest in Athletics moved to the area and came together and a conversation was started on the possibility of starting a Lucan Club.

Tom with his running history and George McIntyre who had moved to Arthur Griffith was running with Clonliffe Harriers. Brian Carty in Hillcrest got his athletic appetite from his brother Gerry who was involved with Metropolitan Harriers and Seamus Costello in Hillcrest who had run for Tipperary. A discussion on whether to join the NACA which was affiliated to the GAA or BLE the international body led to enquiries to both bodies. It was during these discussions that a secret meeting between these two bodies was organised in the Spa Hotel, a meeting which eventually led to these two bodies coming together to form AAI.

A  meeting was held in Lucan on 24th Oct 1978 at which it was decided to set up an Athletic club affiliated to Board Luathcleas na hEireann, the Internationally recognised Athletics Board in Ireland at the time now AAI. The club would cater for the Juvenile and Senior athletes, male and females living in the Lucan area. A meeting to select a committee was called by Brian Carty and Seamus Costello for Tuesday 14th Nov, in the hall beside Esker church and so the seed had been sown.

At the meeting on 14th November attended by Bill Coughlan (Eamon’s father) then President of BLE, a committee was elected.

• President Sgt. Fahy                                                 
• Registrar Colm Murtagh
• Vice Pres. Fr. McCarthy and Bill Coughlan.                            
• P.R.O. Liam Dunne
• Chairman Brian Carty                                                          
• Vice Capt. George McIntyre                                                         
• Sec. N. Flynn                                                                      
• Capt. Tom Byrne                                                                
• Treas. Seamus Costello

Training was organised for
Tuesdays Church Hall Esker 7.30pm
Thursday/Friday Boys National School Lucan Village 7.30
Sat/Sun. Car Park in Griffeen Park 11am.

The Club registered the colours of red shorts with a red singlet, which changed to black shorts in 1981 and later to the red singlet with the black diagonal strip in 1988.

In 1978 the club was given the use of the pitch beside the car park in Griffeen Park and a grass track was developed and maintained there until a more permanent home could be found. During that time the club grew and held Open Sports which attracted hundreds of Athletes from clubs near and far.

With the Coaching of Tom Byrne and the dynamics of Brian Carty, the club thrived and with little else, in the area, the club built up to 200 and began to make their mark on the National scene. As the club grew in numbers issues with the availability of the grass track started to arise as the club had to give way to the football team which played inside the track. The limitations were starting to be an issue and plans were formed to develop a permanent Track.

The land was set aside and in September 1983 work started on the current site to build an all-weather track, provided the club could provide £36,000 towards the cost of the facility. Members were expected to help shoulder the burden with cake sales, race nights, raffles, road races bucket collections and sponsored events. Over a three year period, the £36,000 was raised or £1000 a month for 36 months, not a shabby effort in a time when money was scarce.

In 1998 Lucan Sports association was formed, comprising 3 clubs - Hillcrest football club, Weston Hockey and Lucan Harriers. They canvassed for a clubhouse and through capital funds and much club fundraising, the clubhouse was built on the current site. It was officially opened in 2004 by mayor Robert Dowds and Tanaiste Mary Harney.

In 2015 Lucan Harriers secured 200k funding for a new Tartan Track. Again a spiral of fundraising by the club ensued over the following 3 years, striving to meet the matched funding required for the half a million project. Costs had certainly spiralled since 1983 but we were moving to a fantastic Tartan Track.

On 15th Jan 2018, we all ran our last lap of the Cinder Track. Anne McGee, Vinny and Jean Murtagh were there,  having run their first lap of the cinder Track back in 1984.

Crawfords started work in February and went into administration in April. Months passed but luckily McSweeneys were secured to finish the works.
On 27th September 2019 the tartan track was opened by mayor Vicki Casserly. Chairperson Marie Collins, ex chair Fiona Hegarty along with incredible committee members were commended for their drive to bringing this project to completion.

The club is now 700 strong in membership with newer sections of the club Fit4Life and ActiveYouth embracing Athletics for all. In 2018 we had 300 members and more than double in size today.

We are represented at national and international level and are the 5th largest juvenile Club in the country.

There is more to come!. We are planning works with SDCC on the long jump, javelin and the steeplechase area. We also looking to build a community walkway around the Inside Track perimeter.

It's been some journey since 1978.

The future is bright for Lucan Harriers!