Our 10k run on Sun 28th Jan next will honour possibly the greatest ever athlete to come from our area in John Griffin. John’s achievements in marathon running are all the more remarkable when one considers that he did not take up running until 1975 when aged 16. He won his first national junior cross country title in 1977 and represented Ireland in the world junior cross country championships in Glasgow the following year when John Treacy was the winner of the senior mens race. He went on to win numerous events at county, Munster and national level in both cross country and road races.
1981 saw him compete in the Dublin city marathon for the first time and this discipline was to occupy his time for the next number of years. The high point came at the end of the decade when he was the winner of the 1988 event in a time of 2:16 and successfully defended it the following year when again posting a time of 2:16; indeed Dublin was to prove a happy hunting ground for him as he finished 2nd twice in this event as well as finishing 2nd twice also in the Belfast equivalent. Notably, in between winning in Dublin, John also took the honours in the National Championships held in April 1989 when coming home first in a time of 2:18.
While his running career took him to many cities all over the world he always was and still is a great ambassador for the Spa Road and Strand Road communities; he is a true blue supporter and and all of us in the club are delighted to be associated with him.
It is fitting that our forthcoming event, kindly sponsored by Pro Plan Property Management Ltd, should commemorate and honour the noteworthy achievements of this outstanding athlete.
