Dublin City Harriers has been a hub of success in the capital since it was founded in 1918. The club also recently celebrated 50 years of female success with a special gala to honour those women who have contributed to the club’s achievements, which include 16 consecutive national cross country team titles.

There have been concerted efforts to revamp and revitalise the current crop of athletes, and two of those who are leading the way are Niamh Carr and Philip Maron. Both Carr and Marron were part of the quartet that won the national mixed cross country relay title at the Autumn Open earlier this month.

DCH has experienced continued success in the mixed-gender cross country event, qualifying for the European Club Cross Country Championships for three consecutive years in the relay.

Predominantly a 1500m runner, Carr explained the cross country relay, for her, is a fun way for middle-distance athletes to do relays, which have been gaining national attention in the one-lap track event.

“It is actually just a really fun event and I feel like… The 400 metre relays… They get loads of publicity. It gives the longer distance athletes a bit of a chance at a relay and you finish your leg and you cheer on your whole team,” the national 1500m bronze medallist told Athletics Ireland.

Marron, also a middle-distance specialist, says competing in the shorter cross country event breaks up his winter training.

“It’s a nice in between from the track and the cross country and it falls in a good time period for that too. When you’re in your base training period, it breaks it up a little bit. No one’s taking it too seriously compared to like other national titles,” the sub-four-minute miler explained.

The D7-based club finished fifth in the last edition of the European Club XC Championships and will target getting as close to the podium as possible at the event in Portugal in February next year.

Carr is from Coleraine in County Derry and now lives in Edinburgh, where she works as an engineer but has Dublin roots. She joined the club just after Covid and won her first individual national senior medal in July this year, but the team was a draw for her to transfer.

“I used to run for Springwell. It was our home club and then around Covid there wasn’t really many runners or girls in Springwell.

“Enda Fitzpatrick’s daughter trained with us in Coleraine when she was at college…He suggested that we join DCH and then we would have like a team. It seemed to be a good team atmosphere and… It gave the opportunity like that which I just wouldn’t have anymore at home,” Carr explained.

Marron’s mother was also a member of DCH, but he joked he was never forced to join, even, like Carr, starting as a member of his local club Ratoath, before transferring when he moved close to DCH’s Phoenix Park base.

“She would have been part of that good era, maybe 20 years ago, she started running in college in Limerick and then she joined Dublin City Harriers when she came back to Dublin. She would have been part of the team that won the national cross country championships a few times.

“It’s just luck, nearly that I’ve ended up in the club she was in… She never pushed that or anything like that but it’s just funny how it all works out.”

Carr’s and even Marron’s recruitment is part of an effort to return the club to the golden era, especially from a cross country perspective. The women’s team claimed the team title once again in 2022 and 2023, bagging bronze in 2024.

While on the men’s side, they managed to field a team at the national cross country championships for the first time in 30 years in 2024.

“I was part of the increase on the women’s side. The first year I joined they won national cross for the first time in, I can’t remember how many years, then they meddled the next two years after that as well.

“I feel like I was part of them pushing on. There’s way more women in the club than men and they’re pushing now to build up the men’s side again.”

Like all clubs, volunteers and coaches are at the heart of everything that they do.

Marron also points out that Pierre Murchan, a member since almost birth, does a lot for the club, along with club captain Clíona Murphy and a host of others who keep things running.

“Someone who’s been around for years and years and years is Dermot Nagel he’s kind of been the one through thick and thin with Dublin City Harriers, keeping things going, probably when the times weren’t as good, and he deserves a lot of credit, especially for that.

You can find the DCH club website HERE