Studs and Spikes

Denis Cussen was perhaps Ireland's greatest ever athlete. Born in Newcastle West, County Limerick in 1901, Cussen was educated at Blackrock College where he captained the school's rugby team to three Leinster Schools Senior Cups. He went on to study medicine at Trinity and with their rugby team he won two Leinster Senior Cups and the Bateman Cup. He was capped by Leinster and Ireland on fifteen occasions, winning the five nations championship on two occasions. In 1923, Cussen was selected to play for a combined Ireland and Scotland team in the historic Rugby Centenary game. Having moved to work in London, Cussen played rugby with Blackheath with whom he played in the first ever rugby 7s game at Twickenham. He also played with St Mary's Hospital and the Middlesex County team.

Cussen's athletic capability was not limited to the rugby field. He was a champion boxer and in field athletics he was a particular stand-out. He was the Irish 100 yards sprint champion on four occasions, the 220 yards sprint champion, the long jump champion, the discus champion and the shot-put champion.

Cussen became the first Irishman to break ten seconds for the 100 yards and held the national record at 9.8 seconds from 1928 until 1968. He competed for Ireland at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam and also at the Tailteann Games in 1924 and 1928.

A medical doctor by profession, Cussen went on to become a pioneer in sports medicine and was a founding member of the British Association of Sports Medicine and the British Institute of Sports Medicine. He was the Chief Medical Officer for the British Olympic Teams in Melbourne (1956) and in Rome (1960).

This book was written from scrapbooks and notes kept by Cussen's mother. It contains an astounding collection of insights uncovered a century after Cussen was Ireland's fastest man.