Reclaiming the finish line: How Gorey AC came back from the brink

In the quiet hours before sunrise on a recent Sunday, a dozen runners gathered at Gorey Town Park. Some chatted softly. Others bounced on the spot, shaking off sleep…

There were seasoned athletes, midlife first-timers, and a few thirty-somethings who had only recently dared to call themselves “runners” at all.

A whistle blew. Feet hit the gravel. Lungs filled with the same early-morning air that generations before had breathed as they tore down the very same paths.

This is how Gorey Athletics Club begins again. Not with fanfare, but with footsteps.

The Return

In a county that reveres its GAA clubs and where hurling and football dominate the headlines, the re-emergence of an athletics club might not seem seismic. But in Gorey, a town with one of the richest and oldest athletics legacies in the southeast, this is a story of return, reclamation and rebirth.

The numbers help tell the tale. Since the club’s official relaunch earlier this year, more than 200 members have signed up across its newly minted Minis Academy (ages 3 to 6), Juvenile Academy (ages 6 to 18), and a growing adult cohort that includes both senior athletes and Fit4Life beginners. Some came to compete. Most came to belong.

But the soul of this story isn’t in spreadsheets. It’s in memory, in place, in what Gorey AC represents to a town that had once lost it.

The Town That Ran

Long before sports drinks and chip-timed bibs, Gorey was already running. The first recorded athletics events took place in the 1880s in the Pond Field, what would become the Showgrounds and is now Gorey Town Park. In 1909, the town staged the first official marathon ever held in Wexford.

It wasn’t just the races. It was the spectacle. The community. The way hundreds gathered to watch the “go as you please” road races that looped from the flagstaff in Courtown to the 1798 Monument in Gorey and back again. A seven-mile test of stamina and pride.

Names like Scallan, Doyle, Valentine and Redmond once filled the local results sheets. Gorey’s runners were not just participants. They were flag bearers of a thriving tradition.

For many in the town, that tradition runs deep not just through history books, but through family lines. One of the club’s current PROs, Conor Hogan, is a great-grandnephew of John O’Connor, who served as club treasurer in 1908. That year’s highlight was the same seven-mile “go as you please” race from Courtown to Gorey that inspired generations.

And this is not a one-off story. Across the club, you’ll find surnames that echo through local athletics archives. Grandsons and great-granddaughters of former sprinters, steeplechasers and volunteers. The past is not just remembered here. It’s still running beside us.

Then, Silence

The club folded in 2012, not with a bang, but with quiet resignation. The Town Park was repurposed. A skate park appeared. Promised facilities never materialised. A temporary move to Camolin proved unworkable, and gradually the club fell dormant. Not defeated, but displaced.

A few coaches tried to hold it together. A few runners kept the flame flickering. But the community, and the town, had lost its athletics heart.

A Spark. Then a Flame.

The spark came in a moment easily missed. In 2023, Dean Glennon and David Fitzpatrick were chatting after David completed his first Dublin City Marathon. “What if we brought the club back?” they wondered.

It could have ended there. Instead, it became something.

A public meeting was called in March 2025 and a new committee was formed. Old hands like Kevin Molloy Snr, one of the original founding members of the 1958 incarnation of the club, returned to guide the next chapter alongside his son Kevin Molloy Jnr. Within weeks, Gorey AC was reaffiliated with Athletics Ireland.

“It feels like we’re writing the next verse of a song that was always meant to be finished,” one member said. “It’s not nostalgia. It’s a homecoming.”

Starting Small, Dreaming Big

When Gorey AC relaunched, there wasn’t a storeroom full of gear waiting for us. We had the essentials, a  few cones, a whistle or two, and a deep well of enthusiasm, but little else. Singlets had to be ordered, training sessions designed with minimal equipment, and every euro spent carefully.

“It was about doing the basics well and making every session count,” one coach said.

There were no floodlights, no fancy kit bags, and definitely no grandstand entrances. Just runners, coaches, and a shared commitment to build something meaningful, week by week.

Not Just Reborn, Redefined

The new Gorey AC isn’t a replica of its past. It’s something broader and bolder.

Training has resumed in Gorey Town Park, its historic home. Sessions are split across age and ability, with a genuine push for inclusivity. On Mondays and Wednesdays, children as young as six sprint across the park’s edge. On Sundays, preschoolers from the Minis Academy run obstacle relays while their parents chat on the sidelines.

The senior group, anchored by a core group of elite runners and emerging cohort of Fit4Life, includes first-timers, marathoners, and a handful of middle-distance hopefuls. Some chase personal bests. Others chase confidence.

Now, they chase it together.

County Medals and Community Firsts

Last week, ten Gorey AC members laced up for the Wexford Novice Road Race. The women’s team placed second overall, securing Gorey AC’s first senior county medals since its return.

The twist? Four of the six women had started running in Fit4Life barely months earlier. One, the previous week!

It was a result that echoed beyond the finish line. A reminder that performance doesn’t belong to elites. It belongs to those who show up, who try, who grow.

The club’s juveniles have been equally prolific, flooding County Wexford events and Community Games. Some are headed to regional and national finals. Others, in their own words, are just glad “they didn’t finish last.”

And that’s enough.

The Only One

In a town packed with successful sports clubs like Naomh Éanna, Gorey Rangers, Gorey Celtic, Gorey Rugby Club, Gorey Hockey Club, Gorey Cricket Club, the Wexford Eagles and more, Gorey AC holds a unique position. It is the only athletics club in the town and one of only a few in north Wexford.

It is not a side act. It is an anchor.

Which is why the club is in ongoing talks with Wexford County Council about becoming the primary tenant in the future development of St Waleran’s. A dedicated athletics facility is long overdue. It could serve not just Gorey, but also the entire South-East.

Rivalry Meets Solidarity

Support has poured in from neighbouring clubs. Craanford AC. Sliabh Buidhe Rovers AC from Ferns. St Benedict Inbhear Mór AC in Arklow, and Croghan AC. The tone is one of solidarity, and of course rivalry.

As one coach put it, “We’re not just building a club. We’re rebuilding trust in what athletics can be. Inclusive. Competitive. Joyous.”

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Behind the scenes, a small group of volunteers carried an enormous load. Coaching, communications, safeguarding, registration, logistics, fundraising, sponsorship, social media,  the to-do list never ended.

“It felt like running a full-time business on top of full-time jobs and family life,” one committee member admitted. “There were nights we questioned whether we could really pull this off.”

Running a club today is not just about cones and coaching. It means GDPR compliance. Garda vetting. Child protection policies. Risk assessments. Session registers. Accident logs. All of it had to be written, reviewed and implemented from a blank page.

“It’s the side of club life nobody talks about,” said another volunteer, “but it’s vital. We took it seriously from day one.”

Rebuilding Trust, One Step at a Time

When word first went out that Gorey AC was relaunching, some people didn’t believe it. “I thought the club was gone for good,” one parent said. Others assumed it was only for elites, or that it wouldn’t last.

Rebuilding trust took time. It meant standing in the wind and rain with sign-up forms, answering every email, and showing up consistently, week after week.

That commitment is now paying off.

Coffee, Eyecare and Chocolate Bars

Rebuilding takes money. And it’s local businesses who have stepped up. Gorey Family Eyecare was first in, sponsoring the Minis and Juveniles. And now Jack’s Coffee, the earliest-opening coffee shop in Gorey, has become primary sponsor of the senior teams.

Together, they’ve helped stitch the club back into the social fabric of the town.

And next spring, the club has hopes to revive a tradition that once made it legendary. The Chocolate Races. Named for Tommy Doyle, affectionately known as Tommy Sports, who handed out chocolate bars and lollipops to every kid who crossed the finish line. Whether they came first or last.

A Singlet That Means Something

Gorey AC’s new singlet says everything without a word. The town’s coat of arms over the heart. Colours inspired by the Gorey Blues GAA club. Already it has been spotted in races as far as Australia and the United States. A symbol of home for those who’ve never forgotten it.

What Comes Next

The summer brings new adventures:

– Co-organising the Gorey Summer Fair Fun Run this August

– Preparing for the autumn cross country season

– Planning the long-awaited return of the Gorey to Courtown road race

– The only official athletics summer camp in Co. Wexford for children aged 6-12.

But above all, the club is welcoming people. Walkers. Runners. Parents. Coaches. Retired athletes. First-timers.

“This is for anyone who ever felt like sport had passed them by,” says one committee member. “We’re proof that it hasn’t.”

Gorey AC | Join the Movement

Email: goreyathleticsclub@outlook.com

Socials: @goreyac on Instagram and TikTok

Training Times:

Seniors: Mon 7pm, Wed 6.30pm, Sun varies between 6am and 8am

Fit4Life (beginner adults): Mon 6.30pm

Juveniles: Mon 7pm and Wed 6.30pm

Minis: Sun 9am

Summer Camp: July 28th – August 1st, Naomh Éanna.

Contact Gorey Athletic Club for more info. 

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