The Hibernian Throwers Association was formed by Colm and Cathrine Murphy and Eddie Mulcahy in 2000 and held its first tournament at a newly built An Riocht Track in Co. Kerry; the 1st Irish National throws Championships. The HTA was founded to promote non-standard throwing in Ireland which had gathered a large following in Europe and to commemorate the Irish tradition of weight throwing. The following year the Championships returned in October.
On the 5th of November 2002 Tim O'Herlihy founded the Irish Throwers Club to help with the running of the competitions in Ireland as Colm and Catharine live in England. Its first competition was the UCC/ITC/HTA Easter Throwers Meet in the CIT track in Cork followed by the Cork Summer Throws Fest on the 26th of July 2003. The National Championships were moved to Dunboyne in September and have been held there every year since. The Easter Throws Championships would also become a regular feature when moved to Castleisland the following year.
Due to bad feelings generated over certain aspects of the 2003 Summer Throws Fest the ITC went into decline. Due to work commitments Tim handed the running of the ITC over to Deirdre Murphy.
In 2004 and 2005 the HTA held the Easter Throws Championships and the National Championships which now encompassed an alternating World and European Championships in the 56lb weights. The ITC website remained stagnant and attendance at the HTA championships remained the same. In 2004 Len Braham attended the National and European Championships in Dunboyne on the invitation of Eddie Mulcahy to watch as he had suffered with heart problems years before and hadn’t thrown since. Len spent much of the day engrossed in the 56lb weights taking light throws of the w.f to the side of the main competition. The urge to compete was back and in the short time that he had left Len showed that not even time could dull his legendary throwing skills. After training over the winter Len went into the 2005 season breaking many national records at the Easter Throws Championships in Castleisland and taking 3 national titles at the AAI All-Ireland Masters Championships. Due to illness Len would miss the National and World Championships in Dunboyne and would shortly after be admitted to hospital. Len passed away in February 2006.
With only weeks to go until the 2006 Easter Throws Championships it was decided to rename it the Len Braham Championships in honor of Len. Colm and Catharine Murphy commissioned a trophy to be presented to the athlete who achieved the best performance at the championships annually.
On the 12th of May 2006 James Nagle took over the running of the ITC and set about reviving the website. The ITC suggested a competition to honor the 70th anniversary of Dr. Pat O’Callaghan’s world hammer record in 1937 and on the 27th of August 2006 a trial run of the competition was held called the inter-calculated games after the games of 1906.
The ITC began compiling national records for events the ITC and HTA ran, a testing feat with is still continuing.
On the 26th of March 2007 at 7.45am the ITC unveiled its new website, the culmination of weeks of work by Nagle and web-designer Timmy Reidy.
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