Morton Stadium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Morton Stadium, or the National Athletics Stadium, is an athletics stadium in Santry, in the north of Dublin City. Often called Santry Stadium, it is the centre for athletics events in Ireland, and home track of Clonliffe Harriers Athletic Club. It has also hosted the home games of soccer clubs Shamrock Rovers (from 1999-2001) and Dublin City.
The stadium was opened in 1958 with a cinder track. An inaugural series of meetings was held, and on August 6, 1958, Australian Herb Elliott shattered the world record for the mile with a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds. This was the first race in which five athletes had run a four minute mile.
In 1978 the stadium was resurfaced with a tartan track, the first such in the Republic of Ireland. In the early 1990s it was renamed after Billy Morton, the late administrator who had initiated the original track. It hosted the athletics events of the Special Olympics World Games in 2003.
The stadium consists of a small covered stand with 800 seats and three sides of open terracing, bringing the total capacity up to around 10,000. The stand encompasses dressing rooms and other facilities; there are also separate clubhouses for the associated clubs. The stadium complex also has indoor athletics training facilities.
[edit] External links
- Morton Stadium from Clonliffe Harriers website
