A race on the Irish calendar which is no longer run but traditionally took place on St. Patrick’s Day was Dublin-Drogheda-Dublin. It was a handicap race starting in the capital, travelling north to the County Louth town, before returning back to Dublin.
For many who took part in the race, they will recall the race starting on the outskirts of the city, but as can be seen in the archive footage below, it once started in the city centre on O’Connell Street.
The narrator describes the competitors setting on from Nelson’s Pillar (or Neilson’s Pillar as he calls it) and as can be seen, it was a handicapped race back then also. The race in the film is named Dublin-Drogheda, but it’s not clear as to whether this was a mistake or if it did actually finish in Drogheda at the time, rather than returning to Dublin.
As can be seen, the crowds who turned up on Dublin’s main thouroughfare to see the riders setting off were massive and the winner was M. Clinton wih G. Horman in second and M. Devenney in third.
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