Athletics Ireland’s GreenTrack Philanthropic Programme will host a special commemorative dinner in New York on Saturday, 31 January, marking the 40th anniversary of one of the most enduring performances in Irish athletics history — the men’s World 4×1 Mile Relay record set in Dublin in 1985.
GreenTrack is the philanthropic programme of Athletics Ireland, established to support, nurture and develop young athletic talent nationwide. Through patron-led fundraising, it aims to create a sustainable support system encompassing early talent identification, performance coaching, educational development and long-term career support.
By investing in athletes at the earliest stages of their journey, GreenTrack helps ensure Ireland’s next generation has the opportunity to progress to the highest levels of international competition, including European Championships, World Championships and the Olympic Games.
Saturday night’s event celebrates Ireland’s quartet of Eamonn Coghlan, Ray Flynn, Marcus O’Sullivan and Frank O’Mara, who combined to run 15:49.08 in front of more than 8,000 spectators at Belfield, UCD in 1985. Four decades on, the time remains the world record, underlining both the quality of the athletes involved and the era that helped define Irish middle-distance running on the global stage.
All four members of the world-record relay team will attend Saturday night’s celebration, which is being hosted under the GreenTrack banner as part of Athletics Ireland’s broader engagement with its Irish-American community and supporters in the United States.
Irish athletics will remain in the spotlight in New York the following day, with several of the country’s leading internationals competing at the 118th edition of the Millrose Games at the iconic Armory.
The meeting will be headlined by Cian McPhillips, who finished fourth at the 2025 World Championships. The Longford athlete is set to contest a high-quality men’s 800m featuring five runners with personal bests under 1:43, and returns to the venue where he won the junior mile in 2020.
The New York events also align with Athletics Ireland’s continued focus on developing diversified income streams to support a growing membership base of more than 75,000 athletes and to strengthen resources for high-performance programmes.
In 2025, Irish athletes represented the country at more than 20 international competitions, reflecting the scale and breadth of participation across disciplines such as track and field, cross-country, road running, race walking, and mountain and ultra-running.
Image Credit: Athletics Ireland
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