US collegiate athletics stars John Treacy, winner (holding the General O’Duffy Memorial Challenge Cup) and runner-up Gerry Deegan with Mayor of Waterford, Alderman William Kenneally.

The picture was taken in December 1976 at a civic reception accorded to members of the Waterford B.L.E. team at City Hall following their successful defence of the National Inter-County Cross-Country Championships at Kilbarry the previous Sunday week.

“The duel for individual honours” between the par “was something to remember,” wrote Fintan Walsh on the same page as the picture appeared in the Munster Express.

Deegan had won back in January to kickstart a five-in-a-row streak spanning the rest of the seventies. Treacy, now chairman of Waterford Port, went on to retain the individual title those years and won it again in ’82.

The locals lifted the trophy once more in 1983 when Ger, who’d also covered himself in glory at the start of the decade, collected a third title.