Famous Tipperary athlete of the past will be honoured in Leitrim

Above: Silver medal winner William (Bill) Britton (right) from Mullinahone on the podium at the Commonwealth/Empire Games presentation ceremony at Hamilton, Ontario in 1930, alongside the gold medal winner, England's Malcolm Nokes and Scotland's John Cameron, who won the bronze medal

Ballinamore Athletic Club, county Leitrim, and Allied Irish Bank Ballinamore will unveil a commemorative plaque to the memory of William (Bill) Britton, 1890-1965, of Mullinahone on Monday next, May Bank Holiday, at 1pm.

The plaque will be unveiled by Brid Golden, who became President of Athletics Ireland on Saturday last.

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Bill was serving as manager of the Ballinamore branch of the Munster and Leinster Bank (AIB) when he won four successive Irish hammer throwing titles between 1923 and 1927, as well as competing three times for Ireland.

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Promoted to manage the Cavan branch of the bank, he went on to win two more national titles and three British AAA titles.

At Hamilton, Ontario, in the inaugural Empire Games in August 1930, he became the only Irish athlete-ever to win an Empire/Commonwealth Games medal representing Ireland, when taking second in the hammer.