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Info on Tomorrow's Cross Country in Westport
Best of lluck to all of our athletes taking part tomorrow! Information and course map below.
CONNACHT CHAMPIONSHIPS – UNEVEN AGES, NOVICE AND MASTERS
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016
INFORMATION ON THE VENUE
Registration will be open from 11 am.
The first race will start at 12 noon.
Please access Westport House via the Westport Quay gates (less than a mile from town centre).
GPS Co-ordinates are N53.80581 W9.539. http://www.westporthouse.ie/find-us/
On arrival at Westport House, please use Car Parks P4, P3 and P1 for parking. Parking stewards will be there to help.
Registration and toilets / changing area will be located at the Go Karting Area on the walk between the Parking Area and the course.
The course is beside the main house itself on the front lawn (approx. 400m walk from the parking areas).
The Westport House “Galley” will be set up in front of Westport House serving snacks and hot drinks.
Click map if want larger version
Minding Your Mental Health
Massive Progress on Facilities
The club's completed high jump facility basked in glorious sunshine today!
Dear Parents and Members
We are nearing completion of phase 2 of our ambitious athletics facility plans which includes car-parking, tartan sprint and jump areas and grass running routes.
In total in the last 3 years, the club has invested over €460K in the facility when taking account of site purchase and the 2 development phases. This has been funded through a combination of fund-raising, grants, members’ donations, membership subscriptions and outstanding loans of €199K. Members’ donations have come to almost €30,000 and we are particularly indebted to a group of 14 families who between them have donated more than €22,000! We are also fortunate to have the support of Community Finance Ireland who have provided us with loan finance on 3 occasions now in the past 2 years to purchase and develop the site. And also though the significant grant support obtained from the Sports Capital Program.
All of this has been achieved in a very short time-frame – it is literally just 2 years and 1 month since the club purchased the site and the achievement is thanks to our members, their parents, the community, local businesses and our hardworking coaches and committee. It just shows what can be achieved when everyone pulls together!
However, we are still greatly in need of your support in order to complete phase 2 – something that we are very close to now.
We are sending 2 tickets home to each family in the club for what has proven in the past to be a very enjoyable family night out at the Dogs on December 10th. The price of the tickets (€15/ticket or €25/family) is just a small premium on what you would pay anyway to enter at the door and it is excellent entertainment for all of the family. We are hoping that each family in the club will purchase a pair of tickets to help support our facility work. And of course, we are still open for donations and support of our lotto, or if you own a business, advertising on our annual calendar/business directory. This latter has proven an invaluable source of funds over the years – please contact Michael Tobin at 087 6591879 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested in advertising on it as we are finalizing it over the next 2 weeks
And the picture above is just a sneak preview of where we are heading next – with a significant building for both juveniles and adults to exercise in. We hope to launch straight into the construction of a substantial indoor training building which will eventually house athletics facilities, a community gym and a multi-purpose indoor sports court. Additionally, we will be building a perimeter walkway for use for walking/jogging. It is hoped that much of the funding for this phase will come from grants and loans with 20% or so from fund-raising activities.
But we need your support. We have already received fantastic support from many families and we know many more are thinking about it. Well now is the time to put your thoughts into action! We need you and you need the facilities we are developing. These facilities are an investment in you and your family’s health – a place to exercise from 8am until late at night. A place for all the family to exercise. A safe floodlit environment and eventually a nice indoor arena to exercise on those dark and cold winter evenings. So whether you are a long-standing member or a new recruit, please consider supporting us via one of the above options. The money is being ploughed directly and quickly into the facilities that you and your family are using – so you get to see the impact of your support almost immediately.
Thank you!!!
Club's Performances in Connacht XC
For those who like statistics, check out the attached for all of our placings, both teams and individuals, in Connacht cross country since 2004:- Craughwell Performances In Connacht Cross Country
Craughwell AC's New High Jump Rocks!
After years of practice in St Michael's Hall, a much appreciated and valued facility, the club have finally completed a state of the art outdoor high jump facility on its very own site in Craughwell. Gone are the days of travelling into Dangan and hauling out the 3 large high jump mats with the help of a handful of jumpers! For our jumpers now have just to turn up on their own doorstep, peel back the high jump cover and bingo! practice can begin.
So today Sunday 30th October 2016, the first training session on our new facility was held with the honour of being the first to jump on it going to the group in the pictures above .... Jerry Keary, Laura Cunningham, Chloe Casey, Freya Bohan, Ellie Cronin, Shana Tobin, Aisling Keady, Ciana Reidy and Lorraine Delaney. And apologies to the group, I just had to get my own head into 1 of the photos!
The groundwork for the high jump area was completed by Martin Freaney earlier this year and the tartan surface was completed by track contractors Crawford Group last week. Its massive massive progress for the club to have its own high jump facility. With the event being one of the most successful in the club (athletes from the club have won 59 National medals in the event since 2004), its just fantastic to see our own complete facility. With work continuing on other facilities, it won't be long before we have decent facilities for all events on our doorstep.
Fallon and Cotter take Connacht XC Titles
Connacht U16 Cross Country Champions 2016
Ben Ryan, William Fitzpatrick, Patrick Noonan, Kyle Moorhead, Finbar McFadden, Sean Noonan
The first day of the Connacht Cross Country Championships went off in perfect weather conditions in The Claddagh in Galway city. There were some tremendous performances by athletes from the club with Jamie Fallon and Sean Cotter both racing to convincing individual victories in their races – Jamie taking the Connacht Junior title by a considerable margin and Sean putting in a strong finish to take the U14 title by 20 or so metres. The U12 and U16 boys also raced to the Connacht titles with very strong team performances while U14 boys and U12 girls took team silver.
The first race of the day was the U12 Girls 2000m where Clodagh O’Meara put in a terrific performance to place 8th – one of Clodagh’s finest performances to date. She was followed swiftly by Aoibhe Carr with a great race to place 9th having just returned from injury. Next in one of the most improved athletes in the club was Fauve Aylmer in 17th place – an incredible 36 places improvement since the same race last year. Jade Moorhead completed the team scoring in 19th place and was followed by 40 Isabella Boland, 44 Abbie Rooney, 55 Erin Doyle and 57 Holly O'Boyle who showed great commitment to make the start line having had to take a taxi into town in an emergency. The girls performance was strong enough to yield a super set of silver medals with a team score of 53 points. And hard luck to one of our most dedicated athletes in training Grace Leen who had to pull out of the race with breathing difficulities - there will be plenty more good races ahead for Grace.
Craughwell AC U12 Girls - Connacht Cross Country Silver Medallists 2016
The U12 Boys were next into battle with a very strong team who raced to the Connacht title in style with a low score of 42 points. The team were led home by another superb run from Cian Lavan in 6th place followed by 8 Mathys Bocquet, 13 Evan Hallinan, 15 Daniel Galvin, 17 Luke Flynn, 20 Evan Moran, 39 Cormac McFadden, 45 Alan Connaughton and 55 Michael Woods. This is the first time since 2004 that Craughwell has taken the Connacht title in this age group – a fantastic result from an exceptional group of athletes.
Craughwell AC U12 Boys- Connacht Cross Country Champions 2016
Next the U14 Girls battled hard to a 5th place finish in their 3000m led home by Saoirse Moore in 21st, following by 27 Emma Jane Moran, 29 Asia Clarke and 31 Ciara Hughes. In the U14 boys 3000m, Sean Cotter put in one of the performances of the day when taking the Connacht title in style – racing into an early lead and pushing the pace the whole way to the line. Liam Leen put in a brilliant performance in his wake, despite being noticeably impeded earlier in the race – placing 5th overall. Liam was followed in by 13 Ross McGuinness, 20 Oisin Davis and 29 Paschal Walsh – a performance that earned a well-deserved set of silver medals for the team with a score of 39 points. Catherine Noonan was the club’s sole representative in the U16 Girls 4000m where she had yet another fine run to place 11th overall.
Craughwell AC U14 Boys - Connacht Cross Country Silver Medallists 2016
Next one of the highlights of the day – the U16 Boys 4000m which turned out to be an intensely close battle for the medals with just 3 points separating the top 3 teams. Craughwell captured the Connacht title with 54 points with Westport just behind on 55 and GCH on 57. The Craughwell team were led home by Ben Ryan in 4th place followed closely by William Fitzgerald in 7th, Patrick Noonan 20th, Finbarr McFadden 23rd, Sean Noonan 24th and Kyle Moorhead 25th. In the Junior Men’s 6000m, Jamie Fallon put in one of the performances of the day when winning the Connacht title in style by a considerable margin. Jamie was followed in by Odhran Keane in 2nd place. Ollie Mullins was the final competitor from the club in action in the senior race. Ollie had a fine run to place 5th overall and 3rd man home in the senior category.
Results of the juvenile and junior races are here - huge well done to Iain Shaw for getting them out within minutes of the final race!
Super Marios Join Craughwell AC
Mario, Wario and Luigi stormed into Craughwell AC tonight to turbo-charge the club's spookily scary Halloween disco with DJ Mitch. A super evening was had by the huge crowd of happy scary and busy children from 6.30 to 8.30pm. The event was a super success and I'm sure lots of tired little parents people tonight!
The event raised much needed funds for our almost completed track facilities as well as providing our members with loads of fun, fun for funds as one might say! And a big thank you to our hard-working coaches and committee for doing all the organisation. Another wonderful success for the club.
Some of our young athletes enjoying the fun below:
Connacht Schools Combined Events Provisional Results 2016
Top 4 in the Intermediate and Senior Girls at the Connacht Schools Combined Events 2016
Laura Cunningham (Connacht Intermediate Champion), Aisling Keady (Connacht Senior Champion),
Caoilin Milton (Intermediate Bronze Medallist), Lorraine Delaney (Intermediate Silver Medallist)
A massive number of athletes from the club took part in the Connacht Secondary Schools Multi-Events Championships in Athlone on Wednesday with some exceptional results. We had so many athletes in action that I lost count of them all – but probably over 60 from the club there between the Oranmore, Athenry and Loughrea schools as well as Yeats College, with half of the 28 athetes who qualified for the All-Irelands from our club.
Our girls took a clean sweep of the Connacht titles in the 4 age groups with Ellie Cronin winning the Minor grade, Chloe Casey the Junior, Laura Cunningham the Intermediate and Aisling Keady the Senior. While Oisin Lyons took the Connacht title in the Boys Intermediate grade by a narrow margin. Notable performances included Ellie’s 1.50m in the high jump, Laura’s 1.55m and almost 1.60m in the high jump Chloe’s 13m+ in the shot, Oisin’s 2.05 in the 800m and Caoilin’s 9.x in the hurdles.
The provisional results have been announced as follows with full results hoped to be available at the weekend. The All-Irelands take place in 2 weeks time on Saturday 12th November with the top 4 in each event (including minors) qualifying.
Minor Girls
- 1st Ellie Cronin Pres Athenry 2,488pts
- 2nd Erin Taheny St Marys Ballysadare 2,476pts
- 3rd Freya Bohan Pres Athenry 2,408pts
- 4th Aoibhe Deely St Killians College New Inn 2,291pts
Minor Boys
- 1st Iarlaith Golding St Colmans Claremorris 2,481pts
- 2nd Eoghan Jennings CSS Carraroe 2,381pts
- 3rd Aaron McKenna Coola PPS 2,132pts
- 4th Ruair Collins Pres Athenry 2,076pts
Junior Girls
- 1st Chloe Casey St Raphaels Loughrea 3,030pts
- 2nd Niamh O’Neill Ballyhaunis CS 2,812pts
- 3rd Seren O’Toole Ballinrobe CS 2,683pts
- 4th Zoe Moore Pres Athenry 2,341pts
Junior Boys
- 1st Nelvin Appiah Moyne CS 2,672pts
- 2nd Sean Connaughton St Raphaels Loughrea 2,575pts
- 3rd Ryan Gallagher St Raphaels Loughrea 2,85pts
- 4th Harry Burke St Colemans Claremorris 2,333pts
Inter Girls
- 1st Laura Cunningham Pres Athenry 2,817pts
- 2nd Lorraine Delaney Cal Oranmore 2,473pts
- 3rd Caoilin Milton Yeats College Galway 2,333pts
- 4th Aoife Walsh Presentation College Athenry 1,817pts
Inter Boys
- 1st Oisin Lyons Calasanctius College Oranmore 2,863pts
- 2nd Brendan Lynch St Brigids College Loughrea 2,839pts
- 3rd Gerry Keary St Raphaels College Loughrea 2,795pts
- 4th Cillian Dolan Presentation College Athenry 2,735pts
Senior Girls
- 1st Aisling Keady Presentation College Athenry 2,238pts
Senior Boys
- 1st Shane Traynor-Canavan St Marys Galway 2,847pts
- 2nd Patryk Woleniuk Presentation College Athenry 2,294pts
- 3rd Paul Armstrong Presentation College Athenry 1,831pts
Clarinbridge and Craughwell Shine at Cumann na mBunscoil Cross Country
Both Craughwell NS and Scoil Mhuire Clarinbridge put in outstanding performances at the Cumann na mBunscoil cross country in Renmore on Wednesday where Craughwell took the team title in both the Junior Boys 800m and Senior Boys 1000m and Clarinbridge did likewise in the Senior Girls 1000m.
In the Junior Boys race, Evan Moran led his team to victory with an exceptional individual victory followed by Luke Flynn, Evan Hallinan (who raced to a fine finish despite a heavy fall early in the race) and Danny Gilligan. In the Senior Boys race, Robert Urquhart had yet another outstanding run with a 3rd place individual performance followed closely by Ross McGuinness, Darragh McCartin and Eoin Byrne.
Clarinbridge took the honours in the Senior Girls race with Saoirse Moore, Aoibhe Carr and Katie Scully all featuring strongly while Jade Moorhead was the leading Craughwell NS runner in 7th or 8th place. In the Junior Girls, Clodagh O'Meara was unlucky to finish just outside the individual honours when taking 4th place with a fine run while Clarinbridge's Cian Lavan also had a fine run in the Junior Boys with a 2nd place finish.
Another great day for athletes from the club!
Run for Mary 5km Run/Jog/Walk
Run for Mary 5km Run/Jog/Walk is taking place on Saturday 5th November. Mary is a former member of our club who died tragically from cancer a number of years ago.
Registration can be done online at http://www.active.com/co-galway-connacht/running/distance-running-races/run-for-mary-2016 or one can register on the day between 10.30am and 11.30.
The registration fees are:
- Individual: €15
- Child: €5
- Family: €30
This is the 3rd year of this worthy fundraising event and this year it is in aid of Hand in Hand & Galway Hospice and it's for everyone as open to all walkers, joggers and runners !! Please support!
Club trip to Scottish Indoors 2017
Some of the group on the first trip many years ago in 2008
Back row: Sue Joyce,Michael Tobin,Padraic Tobin,Cormac Dillon,Ruairi Finnegan,Niall Rooney,Cathal Coppinger,Triona Coppinger
Middle row: Julie Gallagher,PJ Kelly,Peter Treacy,Benny Gallagher,Ashley McDonnell,Orla McDaid,Laura Porter,Orla Ryan,Claire Ryder
Front row: Shaun Gallagher,Linda Porter,Debbie Kenny,Caoimhe Quill,Katie O'Donoghue
The club’s by now annual trip to the Scottish Indoors is going ahead in 2017. The event is spread over two weekends in Glasgow with
- U20s, U15s and U13s on Sat/Sun 11th and 12th February
- Seniors and U17s on Sat 28th January
Note the cut-off date for age groups in Scotland is different to Ireland – it is 1st September. This means that
- An athlete who is an u18 in Ireland next year but born on or after 1 Sept is an u17 in Scotland
- An athlete who is an u16 in Ireland next year but born on or after 1 Sept is an u15 n Scotland
- And an athlete who is an u14 in Ireland next year but born on or after 1 Sept is an u13 in Scotland
13 families have already booked Ryanair flights flying out on the 18:50 flight on the Friday and back on the 21:50 flight on the Sunday. You can read more on the most recent trip at:-
- http://www.craughwellac.com/site/index.php/juvenile-club-mainmenu-103/1618-fantastic-weekend-at-scottish-indoors
- http://www.craughwellac.com/site/index.php/juvenile-club-mainmenu-103/1633-terrific-weekend-two-in-glasgow
We are in process of block booking rooms in a hotel for the Friday/Saturday night so anyone going, let Michael or Tracy know asap together with events you are entering in. Its best just to do 1 or 2 events as the timetable may clash and also as it’s a National championships and an athlete will be too tired if too much events on same day.
The events available are:-
- U15, U17, U20, Senior: 60m,60mH,200m,300/400m,800m,1500m, Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump, Pole Vault, Shot Putt
- U13:60m,60mH,200m,800m,1500m, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt
Ideally if going let me know asap as there are limits on the number of entries in each event.
To minimise costs of flights and hotels, its best to decide early if going or not.
The provisional timetable for each day is here:-
U15s:- http://events.scottishathletics.org.uk/events/19094-17209-scottishathletics-national-indoor-u15-championships
