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The Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield Club is the oldest and longest consecutively run club cross-country event in the world. In 1896, a Dublin jeweller, Mr. Samuel Waterhouse, presented Donore Harriers with a silver shield for a 10 mile handicap cross-country race. The shield was known as the 'Donore Harriers Waterhouse Challenge Shield'. This race now known as the Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield has been competed for every year since then on (except 1916) on St. Stephen’s Day (26 December). The race starts and finishes every year at the same tree beside the dog pond on the horse gallop in Dublin's Phoenix Park (Ireland). The shield has to be won 3 times by the same person in order for the trophy to be the property of any one individual. In 1919, P.J. Byrne, after winning the trophy 3 times represented the trophy to the club; and the same thing happened when Davie Baird similarly had 3 victories. A Mr. Uhlemann has won the trophy 3 times but 2 of those occasions occurred after Mr. Baird managed to achieve immortality and add his name to the trophy.
Past Winners
Recent Years