The Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield is the oldest and longest consecutively run club cross-country event in Ireland, and one of the oldest in the world.
History
It was first held in 1896, for members of the then-new Donore Harriers Club, when a Dublin jeweller by the name of Mr. Samuel Waterhouse, presented the Donore Harriers club with a silver shield for a 10-mile handicap cross-country race. The shield was known as the 'Donore Harriers Waterhouse Challenge Shield'.
This race, now known as the Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield, has been competed for every year on St. Stephen's Day (26 December), with the exception of 1916. It was because so many Donore members were away in the trenches of World War I that the 1916 race wasn’t held. Another factor was the proximity of the course to the Magazine Fort, which was then an ammunitions depot and the scene of one of the first casualties the Easter Rising Rebellion earlier that year. However, the race was held during the most part of World War I, and continued on during the Spanish flu, the Irish Civil War, World War II, the Tuberculosis epidemic, outbreaks of Foot and Mouth disease, and the severe weather conditions of 1962 and 2010 in Ireland. During the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 1967, the race was held on the road. Athletes that year ran five laps of the 'Eagle Lap'. The quicker road times overall that year are not counted for shield race records. History will also show that the 2020 and 2021 versions of the race survived the COVID-19 pandemic. The race starts and finishes every year at the same tree beside the Dog Pond on the horse gallop in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.
The shield has to be won three times by the same person in order for the trophy to be claimed as the property of any one individual. In 1918, Paddy Byrne, after winning the trophy three times, re-presented the trophy to the club, and the same thing happened when Davie Baird, a man who had been seriously wounded at the Somme, similarly had three victories. But he managed to return to win in 1920, 1921, and again in 1937, to become immortalised in the event’s title as it currently stands.
Leo Uhlemann has also won the trophy three times overall, but two of those occasions occurred after Davie Baird added his name to the trophy; thereby resetting the clock for all other previous winners. They had to begin again from scratch in their quest to win it three times in order to get their names added to the ’shield title’.
The closest finish was in 1962, when Leo Lynch got to finish less than one yard ahead of the fast finishing scratch man Mick Neville. Earlier that year in January & February Neville became the only athlete ever to win all four individual Irish Cross Country Championships: AAU and IAAB Senior and Junior / Intermediate.
No winner, however, was to be more celebrated than Frank Cahill. Born in 1900, he made his race debut in 1923. There then followed perhaps the most heroic series of failures in the history of athletics, because for the next 52 years he competed without success. In 1974, he was only 200 yards from the finish line when victory was snatched from his grasp. In 1975 he missed a race for the first time, due to a training accident but he returned in 1976 to finally triumph. Legend has it that "scratch athlete" – Eamonn Coghlan – was still finishing breakfast at home in Ranelagh when Cahill started out on the first of his five, two-mile laps. Within sight of the finish, he fell over; and had he accepted the help offered by concerned onlookers, he might have been disqualified. Luckily, he managed to get to his feet again unaided, and make it to the finish line without being caught and on to glory. His heroics made the front page of The Irish Times, where Peter Byrne noted that Irish sport had just been deprived of its "most illustrious loser". As Byrne added, Cahill’s attempts to win had spanned the political careers of two Cosgraves, WT and Liam. But a year later, Liam Cosgrave was no longer taoiseach, and Cahill was still going strong. Proving that it’s never too late to start winning; Cahill retained the Shield in 1977: breaking his own record – which still stands – as the shield’s oldest winner at the age of 77! In contrast, the youngest winner of the Shield was Willie Smith in 1958, aged 15 years.
Past winners
1896/97 J.J. Dunne 1897/98 G. Hubard 1898/99 M.E. Heyden 1899/1900 D. Maher → → (Held 24 March 1900) 1900/01 J. O’Donoghue 1901/02 F. Moore 1902/03 J.C. Greenan 1903/04 T.P. Bolton 1904/05 P. Mernagh 1905/06 W.F. McLoughlin 1906/07 M. Pender 1907/08 M. Pender 1908/09 H.B. Gunn 1909/10 W. Waterfield 1910/11 M. Cooke 1911/12 G. Gilbert 1912/13 W.E. Murray 1913/14 J.S. Palmer 1914/15 J. Byrne → → (Held 17 March 1915) 1915/16 Paddy Byrne 1916/17 No Race (due to World War I) 1917/18 Paddy Byrne 1918/19 Paddy Byrne (3rd Win) 1919/20 P. McNamara 1920/21 Davie Baird 1921/22 Davie Baird 1922/23 H. Rusk 1923/24 P. Harris 1924/25 Kenneth Coard 1925/26 Kenneth Coard → → (Held 17 April 1926) 1926/27 J.R. Harding 1927/28 W. Goff 1928/29 P. O'Farrell 1929/30 B. Kelly 1930/31 M.J. Solan 1931/32 G. Kelly → → (Held 17 March 1932) 1932/33 N.M. Kelly 1933/34 F. Kavanagh 1934/35 P.J. Cooper 1935/36 J. Callan 1936/37 Leo Uhlemann 1937/38 Davie Baird (3rd Win) → → (Held 17 March 1938) 1938/39 Leo Uhlemann → → (Held 17 March 1939) 1939/40 W. Sherringham 1940/41 L. Cooling → → (Held 17 March 1941) 1941/42 Leo Uhlemann 1942/43 F. Daly 1943/44 W. Bryan 1944/45 M.D. Porter 1945/46 L. Cooling 1946/47 M.J. Harte 1947/48 J. Crossan → → (Held 28 February 1948) 1948/49 T.P. Duke 1949/50 Seamus Kennelly 1950/51 J. Owens 1951/52 P. Cooke 1952/53 Tommy Dunne 1953/54 Dom Dicker 1954/55 Jim O'Reilly 1955/56 C. McAlinden 1956/57 P. Roche 1957/58 Joe Dunne 1958/59 Willie Smith (youngest winner – 15 years 39 days) 1959/60 T. Tully 1960/61 Dermot Lynskey 1961/62 Bertie Messitt 1962/63 Leo Lynch / 2nd - Mick Neville (closest finish – 1 yard) 1963/64 Godfrey Dicker / 2nd - Willie Dunne 1964/65 Tommy Redican27 December 1964, The Irish Times, Athletics Article titled: 'Redican Best in Donore Race' 1965/66 Mick Cox 1966/67 Paul McMahon 1967/68 John Sheridan 1968/69 Eddie Spillane 1969/70 Andrew Dundas 1970/71 Eddie Cooper 1971/72 Willie Smith 1972/73 Kevin Dunne 1973/74 Eddie Spillane 1974/75 Tony Brien 1975/76 Paddy Nevin 1976/77 Frank Cahill 1977/78 Frank Cahill (oldest winner - 77 years 103 days) 1978/79 Tom Hopkins 1979/80 Eamonn Coghlan (the only sub 50 minute time) 1980/81 Ben Good 1981/82 Joe Rankin 1982/83 Conor Lyons 1983/84 Larry Carey 1984/85 John Sheridan 1985/86 Valerie McGovern (1st Lady Winner) 1986/87 Jim McNamara 1987/88 Conor Lyons 1988/89 Valerie McGovern 1989/90 Austin Lynch 1990/91 Joe Rankin 1991/92 Paddy O'Reilly 1992/93 Helen Saunders 1993/94 Derek Murphy 1994/95 Eric Hayward 1995/96 Donal O'Sullivan 1996/97 Mark Doyle 1997/98 Mark Doyle 1998/99 David Fenton 1999/2000 Frank Coffey / 2nd - Willie Smith / 3rd - Noel Iremonger 2000/01: Brian Cornelia / 2nd - Andrea Fleming / 3rd - Anne Curley 2001/02: Adrienne Jordan / 2nd - Anne Curley / 3rd - Jim Clarke 2002/03: Richard Fitzgerald / 2nd - Donal Iremonger / 3rd - Tom Hickey 2003/04: Paul Graham / 2nd - Aidan McGrath / 3rd - Phillip Cavanagh 2004/05: Iain Morrison / 2nd – Andrew Rogers / 3rd – Paul Graham 2005/06: Mark Dooley / 2nd – Ciarán O'Flaherty / 3rd – Barry Potts 2006/07: Susan Walsh / 2nd – Anne Curley / 3rd – Keith Daly 2007/08: John Breen / 2nd – Colin Moore / 3rd – Ken Nugent 2008/09: Simon Meyler / 2nd – Eileen Walsh / 3rd – Fred Kiernan 2009/10: Fred Kiernan / 2nd – Andy Hanrahan / 3rd – Cindy Hickey 2010/11: Colin Moore / 2nd – Tom Hickey / 3rd – Fergal Swaine 2011/12: Arthur Connick / 2nd – Jonathan Daly / 3rd – Ken Nugent 2012/13: Michelle Dawson / 2nd – Angela Eustace / 3rd – Terry Mee 2013/14: Paul Cummins / 2nd – Barry Potts / 3rd – Angela Eustace 2014/15: Ian Redican / 2nd – John Dunne / 3rd – Jim McNamaraJanuary 2015, Irish Runner Magazine, Article titled: 'Great Day for Redicans' 2015/16: Alan Farrell / 2nd – Tom Fagan / 3rd – George Brady 2016/17: Tony Griffin / 2nd - Ian Redican / 3rd - Niall Lynch 2017/18: Niamh O'Neill / 2nd - Barry Potts / 3rd - Desmond Gill4 January 2018, The Echo, Athletics Article titled: 'O’Neill records historic win in Donore’s long-running Shield race' 2018/19: Anne Curley / 2nd - David Campbell / 3rd - Gavin Keogh 2019/20: Luke Boland / 2nd - Julia Hackett / 3rd - Gavin Keogh 2020/21: James Bolton / 2nd - Donal Iremonger / 3rd - Craig Scott 2021/22: Ken Nugent / 2nd - Rossa Hurley / 3rd - Claire Mulligan 2022/23: Deirdre Nic Canna / 2nd - Emmet Ó Briain / 3rd - Danny O’Sullivan 2023/24: Angela Eustace / 2nd - Patrick Byrne / 3rd - Ryan Atkins 2024/25: Neil Hand / 2nd - Claire Mulligan / 3rd - Roisin Brady 2025/26: Kishor Shelake
Shield Trivia
Youngest Winner - Willie Smith, 1958 (aged 15 years 39 days) Oldest Winner - Frank Cahill, 1977 (aged 77 years 103 days) 1st Male Winner - J.J. Dunne, 1896 1st Female Winner - Valerie McGovern, 1988 Fastest Male Time - Eamonn Coghlan, 1979 (49:56 - the only sub 50 minute time) Fastest Female Time - Barbera Cleary, 2021 (62:10) 1st Two-time Winner - M. Pender, 1907 1st Three-time Winner - Paddy Byrne, 1918 (his name was added to the shield, then becoming known as the Waterhouse Byrne Shield) 1st Back to Back Winner - M. Pender, 1906 & 1907 1st Double Sibling Winners - Tommy Dunne, 1952 / Joe Dunne, 1957 1st Triple Sibling Winners - Tommy Dunne, 1952 / Joe Dunne, 1957 / Kevin Dunne, 1972 1st Father & Son Winners - Tommy Redican, 1964 / Ian Redican, 2014 (50 years to the day) 1st Sibling Winner & Runner-up - 1924 - Kenneth Coard (Race Winner) / Douglas Coard (2nd in race) Closest Finish - 1962 when Leo Lynch (Handicap of 21 minutes) held on by 'one yard' ahead of 'scratch man' Mick Neville.
Fastest Times Leaderboard
49:56 - Eamonn Coghlan, 1979 (Winner - running off scratch) 50:31 - Eamonn Coghlan, 1977 (4th in race) 50:50 - Tom O'Riordan, 1966 (7th in race - running off scratch) 51:00 - Bertie Messitt, 1961 (Winner - running off scratch) 51:09 - Mick Neville, 1962 (2nd in race) 51:10 - Tony Brien, 1978 (4th in race) 51:28 - Eamonn Coghlan, 1975 (5th in race) 51:39 - Tom O'Riordan, 1971 (2nd in race) 51:53 - Tony Brien, 1974 (Winner - running off scratch) 52:30 - Eamonn Coghlan, 1978 (7th in race) 52:42 - John Sheridan, 1976 (6th in race) 52:56 - Donal O'Sullivan, 1995 52:58 - Tony Murphy, 1964 (4th in race) 53:07 - Tommy Redican, 1971 (5th in race) 53:08 - Eddie Spillane, 1964 (2nd in race) 53:18 - Tom O'Riordan, 1976 (7th in race) 53:35 - Eddie Spillane, 1971 (6th in race) 53:54 - Willie Dunne, 1971 (8th in race - running off scratch) 53:56 - Jim McNamara, 1976 (8th in race) 54:15 - Willie Dunne, 1964 (8th in race) 54:28 - Jim McNamara, 1964 (7th in race) 54:33 - John Travers, 2015 (5th in race) 54:46 - B. Dunne, 1964 (9th in race)
Evolution of the Shield Name (3 wins are required for a name to be added to the Shield)
1896-1918: The Donore Harriers Waterhouse Challenge Shield Two-time Winner M. Pender (1906 & 1907) Three-time Winner Paddy Byrne (1915, 1917 & 1918) Paddy Byrne, after winning the trophy three times, re-presented the shield to the club and it henceforth became known as 'The Waterhouse Byrne Shield'
1919-1938: The Waterhouse Byrne Shield Two-time Winner Kenneth Coard (1924 & 1925) Three-time Winner Davie Baird (1920, 1921 & 1937) Davie Baird, after winning the trophy three times, re-presented the shield to the club and it henceforth became known as 'The Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield'
Since 1938: The Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield Two-time Winners Leo Uhlemann (1938 & 1941) L. Cooling (1940 & 1945) Willie Smith (1958 & 1971) John Sheridan (1967 & 1984) Eddie Spillane (1968 & 1973)