We are an athletics club based in Rathfarnham catering for athletes of all ages and abilities. 

ABOUT US

We are an athletics club based in Main Street, Rathfarnham Village, catering for athletes of all ages and abilities, and our athletes take part in a wide variety of events including cross country, track, road and mountain running.

We currently have around 420 active members, including seniors, masters and juveniles. If you are interested in joining our club, get in touch with us.

CONTACT US

LATEST NEWS

By Quentin Comerford May 19, 2025
Club Membership for 8 to 12 year old children, primary school age, is now full as of September 2025. We have a large number of children in these age groups and can only train a certain amount safely. If you wish to add your child to a waiting list then please do get in touch but the waiting list is already quite long.
By Quentin Comerford January 8, 2025
Booking now open for the Rathfarnham WSAF AC Annual Awards and Dinner on Friday Jan 31st via Eventbrite: There is a limited number of tickets so don't delay in booking, it's always great fun! 
By Quentin Comerford January 1, 2025
Try out some training sessions before paying your Annual Membership (Seniors / Masters €120) Tuesdays: 6:30pm at the clubhouse in Loreto Park Thursdays: 6:30 at the Clubhouse in Rathfarnham Village

LATEST REPORTS

By PJ Claffey and Dave Reidy October 13, 2025
What a great day the McCreery family had in the Phoenix Park on 12 th October when Edel won the women’s Dublin Novice Cross Country title over the 4,000m course, in style over the last lap to claim the 2025 Dublin Novice cross country title. In the Men’s race over 6,000m Ryan O'Neill came second to claim the silver medal as he picked up several runners over the last lap. Both Edel and Ryan have come up through our juvenile ranks, and it’s amazing to see them shine at senior level. Massive congrats to them and their coaches — your hard work is paying off! Other Club finishers in the women’s race were Grainne Black, Sophie McGrath, Laura Mills, Amy Cooke, Sarah- Anne Murphy, Clare Shiels and Catherine Kelly. The women’s team finished 4 th out of 10. In the men’s race other Club finishers were Jared Murray, Kieran Alyward, Richie Doran, Sean McCreery and Richard Deeney. The men’s team finished 7 th out of 13 teams. Full results are on the Myrunresults website at https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_novice_xc_/5909/results . Well done to all. There was also a huge turnout of all our juvenile athletes at the Dublin Even Age Cross Country Championships in the Phoenix Park. We’re so proud of every single runner. The full results will be shared as soon as they come in. A special congratulations to all those who’ve qualified for the National Even Age Cross Country Championships in Derry on Sunday, November 23 rd . Pictures by Shane O'Neill, Lindie Naughton and PJ Claffey. Many thanks to all.
By Dave Reidy and PJ Claffey October 8, 2025
The 28th edition of the Rathfarnham 5k delivered excitement, elite performances, and a flurry of club medals on a day that also hosted the Dublin 5k Championships. Efrem Gidey smashed the course record in a jaw-dropping 13:49 (2:46/km)! Club Highlights include Ryan O’Neill led the club home in 14:47 (15th overall) and won MJ Gold. Patrick MacGabhann ran a superb 15:02. Other results were Daire Sullivan – 15:15, Jared Murray – 15:26, Paul Fleming – 4th scorer for our Dublin team bronze, also won M50 Gold (28 years running this race!), Liam Dunne – 16:11 in a stacked M40 field. Junior Stars were Aidan O’Connor – 16:43, Soren Doyle – 17:23, Cohen Doyle – 17:46, Alexander Dunne Martin – 19:0, Lily Lawlor – 21:25 and Kate Connolly – 21:35. Masters results were Patrick Marjolet – M45 Gold (16:27), Marc Fitzachary – M45 Bronze (16:45), Clare Shiels – F45 Silver (20:10) and Louise Gaffney – F35 Gold (17:27). Other senior results were Edel McCreery – FS Gold (17:40 PB!), Dave Reidy – 17:27, Micheal Murphy – 17:31, Ross Griffin – 17:46. Team Silver in the Dublin Senior Champs for Louise, Edel, Aisling & Clare! Veteran Victories were Edwin Keville – M60 Gold (18:13), Colm Murray – M55 Silver, Gerry Boyle – M65 Gold (18:25) and Sheelagh Jones – F65 Gold. Other Notable Times were Ronan Byrne – 18:36, Aisling O’Connor – 18:46, Grainne Black – 20:13 (PB!), Amy Cooke – 20:21, Luke Howard – 20:25, Vanessa Sallier – 21:11, David Quigley – 21-16, Sophie McGrath – 21:23, Laura Mills – 21:42, Sarah Ann Murphy – 23:24. From first-timers to seasoned veterans, every runner brought their best—proof that when we show up for each other, we go further, faster, and stronger. Many thanks to all who helped on the day to make the Rathfarnham 5k the best 5k in the country. 
By Dave Reidy September 14, 2025
We had six members running in the Ratoath Half Marathon on Saturday 13th September, which finished on Fairyhouse Racecourse. We had a number of pbs to boot as well. Dave Power got that elusive sub 73 with a time of 1:12:54 which is a personal best. Dave was 7th overall and 3rd M40. Micheal Murphy also ran a lifetime best of 1:22:12. Martin Kitson was home just behind Micheal in 1:22:25, another lifetime best. Gavin Murphy knocks minutes off every race he does and once again ran a personal best of 1:25:23. Ronan Byrne is starting to get his fitness back, so he’ll be glad to knock out a 1:27:51. Finally, Esther Lawlor ran 1:36:36, best HM time in a while, so all in all a great day for all of our athletes. Well done to you all.
By Dave Reidy September 14, 2025
The Dublin 5-mile championships, hosted by Lucan Harriers took place on Sunday 7th September, with Rathfarnham WSAF taking home a number of medals. Patrick MacGabhann finished fourth overall in a time of 25:08. Aisling O’Connor picked up a senior bronze medal in 31:31. Clare Shiels collected a silver in the F45 category. Paul Fleming won gold in the M50 category. Sean Doyle strolled home to win M65 category. Lian Brady, Clare Shiels and Aisling O’Connor took the bronze in the F Open team event. Club times for the 5 mile race were: Patrick 25:08, Paul 28:14, Aisling 31:31, Clare 34.40, Sean 34:44 and Lian 37:48. Great medal haul - well done to you all.
By David Reidy September 1, 2025
DSD Masters Track and Field - Saturday 30th August. We had a great group of masters athletes take to the track and field in blustery conditions. Vanessa Sallier kicked us off in great style with a superb win in the One Mile walk. She also won the three-legged race with Clare Shiels. Our brilliant juvenile coach Orla Murray carried the club on her shoulders in the field events, throwing 7.15 metres in the shot put and jumping 2.75 metres in the long jump. We then jumped to the middle distance runs where Caitriona Dowling had her best run of the year running 2:25 in the 800m. Louise Gaffney was up next in a really competitive 1500m where the wind had really picked up and still ran 5 mins on the nose. Dave Reidy ran the 1500 guest race in 4:56 as well. Then to the relay: 4x400 where Clare took the team off on the first leg, passing over to John McCauley who handed over to Gráinne Black. Pearse Coyle took anchor leg and got the team a third-place finish in 4:48. Great running overall. National Half Marathon, Tullamore: Saturday 30th August - We had the Half marathon National Championships today down in Tullamore with a sensational performance by Matt Kane to finish third overall (1:10:48) and a national bronze medal to boot. Colm Murray was next up finishing 9th in a competitive M55 field with a time of 1:24:51. A superb 1-2 Gold, Silver finish in the National M65 for the evergreen Tom Cuddy and Gerry Boyle (1:26:57, 1:27:03 respectively). Martin Kelly finished fifth in the same age category with a time of 1:34. Serious time considering Martin has had some real injuries this year. Donal Murphy also had a great run and finished 7th in same age category with 1:36:07. 4th overall in the M50 Team category which is amazing considering 3 of our athletes are in the M65 category and our only M55 is 59.9999 I’ve been told. Catherine Kelly who won the F60 in 1:55:21. Greenway Half Marathon, Waterford, Saturday 30th August. Dave Power finished 8th overall (1:15:56). Denis Daly also ran with a super fourth place finish in the M50 age category in a time of 1:28:24. The weather down south wasn’t any better than Tullamore. Oylegate Half Marathon Wexford, Sunday 31 st August - Well done to Ross Griffin who was our soul occupant of the undulating Oylegate Half Marathon. Ross finished 16th overall in a time of 1:25:33 in windy conditions. Paul Fleming finished second in the BHAA Abbotstown 5k last Wednesday 27th August.
By Dave Reidy August 22, 2025
On Saturday 16th August we had the Frank Duffy 10 miler. Gavin Murphy going from strength to strength took nearly one minute off his pb with a time of 1:03:49. Mick Stuart also ran a great time of 1:11:20.  Sunday 17th August, we had the Kilcock 10 from 10 with some smashing times. Alexey Marchenko was fourth overall with a time of 54:03 (and €50 for his troubles). Gael Hernandez donning the new pink Rathfarnham singlet he’s trying outran 58:37 which was a new pb. Micheal Murphy ran 1:02:46. Ross Griffin ran 102:59 and Denis Daly ran 1:06:52 Across the way in Athy, Edwin Keville won the 050 RunAthy 10k in 39:52. Brilliant performance after a tough year with illness and injury. Dave Power ran up the Galtymore mountain in the latest IMRA. Dave finished 6th in a race with a total elevation gain here of over 1100 metres. Having made his first 400m national final this year, Stephen Gaffney took over half a second off his club record and PB at the most recent Stratford Speed meet on 17 th August at the London Olympics campus running 46.94s. Former Irish national 100m champion, Stephen has made fantastic progress this season over the 400m not having competed much in this event previously. Stephen also ran the 100m event at Stratford running a season’s best of 10.66s. One man who will not want the season to end. Stephen trains with an elite sprint group at UCD alongside fellow club members Cillian McCabe and Isabelle Doyle all of whom have done the club proud in sprint events over recent seasons. We had the Celbridge AC 5k on 21st August. Eoin Flynn back home finished 9th overall in a time of 15:24. Pearse Coyle finished in 18:44. Richard Deeney had a great run with a time of 18:49. Clare Shiels in her own competition with husband Dermot to see who can run the most races in a calendar year ran 20:35. Esther Lawler wearing those V (1980s miniseries) like sunglasses finished in 21:16. Well done to all who ran.
By Peter Claffey August 2, 2025
Well done to all our Club members who competed at the Dublin Graded Meeting 8 at Morton Stadium on Wednesday 30th July 2025. In the 1,500m Louise Gaffney ran 4.58, Caitriona Dowling 5.03, Aisling O'Connor 5.14 and Sophie McGrath 5.34. In the mens 1,500m Aiden O'Connor ran 4.15 and Richard Deeney 5.21. In the discus Vanessa Sallier threw 14.20m. The full results are on http://live.dublinathletics.com/graded25-8/menu.htm l.
By David Reidy July 28, 2025
A great day was had on Saturday July 26th down on the track in Tullamore by Rathfarnham WSAF athletes. Caitriona Dowling won the F35 in the 800m. Louise Gaffney then won the F35 1500m. Sheelagh Jones won Gold and SIlver in the 3000m and 1500m respectively in the F65. Serious going. Dermot Shiels won M50 silver in the 5000m and Tom Cuddy was just pipped at the post to finish fourth in an unbelievably competitive M65. Away from the track and over to the field, Vanessa Sallier nailed down a bronze in the F50 at the High jump and Hammer.  Pipped at the post on Thursday 24 th July was our Kevin Donagher in the Liberties 4 mile in the south inner city, who finished second in 22.06. Super results everyone.
By David Reidy and PJ Claffey July 22, 2025
At the BHAA DCC 5k in Irishtown/Ringsend on Thursday 17 th July our own Matt Kane won the overall race in 15.55 and we had several category wins and places. Sheelagh Jones won the F65 category, Sean McCreery won the M55 category, Vanessa Sallier was second F50 and Donal Murphy was second M65. We also had Alex Fraser, Terry Clarke and Catherine Kelly running well. Another great run from Colm Murray in torrential rain in the National 10-mile road championships in the Phoenix Park on Sunday 20th July. Colm was 5th in his age category in 64.25. Tom Cuddy won the M65 age category in 65.16. Other notable runs were had by Donal Murphy, 74.12, was 7th in M65, Nunzio Perrone ran 72:20 and Martin Kelly ran 93.39. The M50+ team were fourth. Also on Sunday 20 th July Kevin Donagher won the Nurney 5k in Kildare in 16.48. At the AAI Games in Carlow on Sunday 20 th July Alexey Marchensko was third in the National 10,000m track championships in 34:26.51.