Club History
Willowfield Temperance Harriers has rich history, having been in existence since 1898. The below links will open PDF documents which provide a short history and record of Willowfield Temperance Harriers over the first 50 years of the club's existence. Written in 1949. they are a wonderful series of documents that bring to life the club’s long history.
Willowfield Club History (Part 1) 1898-1914 - PDF
Willowfield Club History (Part 2) 1919 to 1933 - PDF
Willowfield Club History (Part 3) 1934 - 1948 - PDF
Below are some other important milestones and events in the club’s history.
1898 Medal
Awarded to Tom Mahood for a 3 mile race on 21st Oct 1898. We believe this was possibly a club race – as the club used to create medals for these. As you can see it is in fantastic condition for being 123 years old!!
What we know about Tom Mahood was that he was one of the first members of the club and was a successful runner including finishing 4th in the first Northern Championship race to be held at Belvoir Park on the 25th January 1902. This course became one of the most famous cross country courses in Northern Ireland.
We believe the medal is solid silver and perhaps rose gold but we will be confirming that.
What we would love to find out is how the medal made its way to England from Belfast so we will definitely be doing a bit more research. Barrow was a shipbuilding town before the First World War so perhaps Tom worked over there in the shipyard.
1908 - Irish Junior XC Champions
1910 Medal - McCullagh Shield & Club Medal
Sent to us by Mr. Greg Pryor from San Raphael, California. Greg came across a Willowfield medal presented to a P. Anderson for the McCullagh Cup race in 1910.
The following photographs show this 107 year old McCullagh Shield medal. It is only a little bigger than a ten pence piece. Hallmarked 9ct gold, it is hand engraved with the winner's name and race details on the back.
Also here is a picture of the 1910 Willowfield Temperance Harriers Club Medal.
1920s Race
The below image is either The Irish National Senior Championships, held in Belvoir Park in 1922/23 or The Northern Senior Championships also held in Belvoir Park in 1923/24.
Willowfield placed 3rd on both occasions.
1921-1922 - Team Picture
1920’s Member - David Ralston
1925-1926 - WTH Team Photo on Cyprus Avenue
1950s
The following images were sent to the club by Bobby McVeigh – a WTH member in the 1950s…
H Lawler, B Conn, T Orr, J Lyttle
WTH 1950s
WTH members outside old clubhouse 1950s
1954 Malcolm Cup Race
International XC Championship 1956
Willowfield member, J Mahood, representing Ireland.
N Crossley 1957 All Ireland Junior XC
WTH clippings 1950s
Clippings taken from club member Bobby McVeigh's scrapbook
In more recent times…
Summer 2012 - Andrew Wright and Ryan Holt train with Olympians
Ryan & Andrew (Northern Ireland Junior Internationals) with some of the international athletes coached by Jama Aden. These athletes were part of the group who used Antrim as their pre-Olympic training base.
Two of Jama's athletes went on to reach Olympic finals: Abubaker Kaki (Sudan) finished 7th in the World Record breaking 800 metres won by Kenya's David Rudisha. Taoufik Makhloufi (Algeria) (on the left) cruised to gold in the 1500 metres.
November 2017 - Neill Weir Wins ‘Racing the Planet - Patagonia’
1st place for Neill – 155 mile race
Neill was an amateur beating season Ultra marathon runners and runners who had big sponsorship deals.
April 2021 - Emer McKee breaks World Record
Emer McKee runs world's fastest 5k for a 12-year-old.