Here's another set of pictures from Dad's photo archive.
This set were all taken at a track meeting held in the brand new Santry Stadium (now the Morton Stadium), Dublin in 1958.
Although now only used for athletics and soccer, at that time the stadium contained a concrete velodrome encircling the running track. Although it was very long for a cycling track at 515 yards, Santry was host to regular track meets.
Probably the most famous occasion was the grand opening in 1959, when some of the world's biggest cycling names were enticed to race at the venue. They included local boy Shay Elliott, Brian Robinson of Britain, André Darrigade, Albert Bouvet and Roger Hassenforder of France and the biggest name of them all, the Campionissimo, Fausto Coppi of Italy. Despite an explosion damaging the track on the morning of the meet (widely assumed to have been planted by the IRA as a response to the presence of Robinson) the Dublin crowd was treated to two great nights of entertainment.
The meeting pictured in this set was a more local affair. Dad was a member of Eagle CRC so the photos do tend to concentrate on his club-mates but hopefully they give a good flavour of the atmosphere of the event and the era.
Clicking on a photo will open the set in a gallery.
This set were all taken at a track meeting held in the brand new Santry Stadium (now the Morton Stadium), Dublin in 1958.
Although now only used for athletics and soccer, at that time the stadium contained a concrete velodrome encircling the running track. Although it was very long for a cycling track at 515 yards, Santry was host to regular track meets.
Probably the most famous occasion was the grand opening in 1959, when some of the world's biggest cycling names were enticed to race at the venue. They included local boy Shay Elliott, Brian Robinson of Britain, André Darrigade, Albert Bouvet and Roger Hassenforder of France and the biggest name of them all, the Campionissimo, Fausto Coppi of Italy. Despite an explosion damaging the track on the morning of the meet (widely assumed to have been planted by the IRA as a response to the presence of Robinson) the Dublin crowd was treated to two great nights of entertainment.
The meeting pictured in this set was a more local affair. Dad was a member of Eagle CRC so the photos do tend to concentrate on his club-mates but hopefully they give a good flavour of the atmosphere of the event and the era.
Clicking on a photo will open the set in a gallery.
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| Tony Allen (Eagle CRC), Santry Stadium, 1958 |
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| Jim Kennedy (Eagle CRC), Santry Stadium, 1958 |
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| JJ McCormack (Eagle CRC) togs out. Santry Stadium 1958 |
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| Tony Allen (Eagle CRC) leads at Santry Stadium, 1958 |
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| JJ McCormack (Eagle CRC) puts the pressure on, Santry Stadium, 1958 |
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| Eagle CRC duo, Tony Allen and Gerry Kinsella sprint for the line, Santry Stadium, 1958 |
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Slight correction regarding the photo captioned 'Dick Comerford (Irish Road Club) on his Vincent 1000 in a race cavalcade through Wicklow, 1958.'. He is in fact riding his BMW R50 which he bought after the Vincent. He then went on to buy one of the first Honda CB750s in the country.
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