‘IT was his dream that Bandon AC would have its own home,’ Bandon Athletic Club chairperson Adrian O’Flynn said of the club’s late president Billy Good.

One of the founding members of a club that has grown into the home of Olympians, world-class athletes and national champions, Good had a dream that one day Bandon AC would one day have its own base.

While he passed away in June 2021, that vision endured – and it was fitting that he was remembered when the club officially opened its new 400m track at Clancoolbeg recently, a short drive outside Bandon town.

The club he helped establish now has over 700 members, is the largest athletic club in the county and Munster, and regularly sees its athletes compete on the world stage.

The late Billy Good pictured with Bandon AC trailblazer Phil Healy.

‘Billy Good was there from the very beginning. From those earliest days, Billy was part of the fabric of Bandon Athletic Club – a founding spirit who helped lay the foundations upon which everything you see today has been built,’ chairperson O’Flynn explained.

‘It was his dream that Bandon AC would have its own home. It was through his relationship with Liam Crowley that Bandon AC acquired the land on which we stand today.

‘We remember him with great fondness and deep gratitude,’ O’Flynn added, as the club’s present success is built on decades of work since its foundation in 1964.

The late Catherine Duggan, a lifelong member of Bandon AC who passed away in 2017, was also remembered at the official opening.

‘We can’t have an opening without remembering Catherine Duggan and Billy Good, who had this dream many, many years ago,’ said the club’s most decorated athlete, Phil Healy, who was coached by Duggan in her early days.

‘Catherine always believed in me. She said I would be a 400m runner and constantly encouraged me to stick with the sport and keep going,’ added Healy, a two-time Olympian who has won a European 4x400m relay silver medal and amassed 17 national senior titles in a stellar career.

‘A remarkable woman whose passion for this sport was matched only by her love for the people in it,’ O’Flynn added at the official opening.

‘As head coach, Catherine had a rare gift: the ability to cajole, encourage and inspire children to put on the lemon and white of Bandon Athletic Club and believe in themselves.

‘Countless young athletes found their confidence, their love of running and their sense of belonging under her guidance. Her legacy lives on in every athlete she coached – and on this track, her spirit will run forever.’

Two club legends are gone but not forgotten, and their memories and legacies will live on through Bandon AC’s new track, safeguarding the club’s future.