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Paul Obliterates Club 800m Record at Connachts!

Paul Joyce following his stunning 1.56.42 victory

At the end of a busy day of juvenile action where Craughwell AC’s U12 and U13s dominated proceedings with countless podium finishes (detailed report to follow), Craughwell’s seniors took to the track to continue the success with some magnificent performances. It was the first time as far as I am aware that Connacht put the seniors separate to the juvenile event, tagging on 2 hours for seniors to the end of the juvenile day and the format worked very well.

The highlight of the highlights of the highlights has to be the breathtaking performance by Paul Joyce in the Senior Men’s 800m where he absolutely blew the club record of 1.57.21 apart with a brilliant 1.56.42 and in the process took the Connacht crown. I’ve waffled on in the past about Paul’s potential having run a 1.59.73 as an U19 indoors in 2013 and a 1.58.05 outdoors in 2014. Returning to the sport a year ago after a few years absence, we are starting to see this potential realized now with an absolutely stunning run from Paul to take Peadar Harvey’s club record, a new PB and the Connacht title all at once. Well done Paul! Running strongly in second place, Gavin Cooney came within a whisker of sub-2 when taking silver in 2.00.95.

And shortly before Paul’s victory, our senior women’s club record holder Sinead Gaffney raced to the Connacht 800m title in a tactical 2.22.25. Both Paul and Sinead joined the club as 6 or 7 year olds all the way back in 2001 or 2002 and its lovely to see them performing at such a high level and still with the club almost 20 years later!

Arlene Earls, Connacht Senior Indoor 400m Champion 2020

Despite a relatively small contingent in action, the club had remarkable success with Arlene Earls taking the Senior Womens 400m title in 63.30; Laura Cunningham taking the Senior Womens Long Jump title in a season’s best of 5.04m; Luke Evans taking the Senior Mens 1500m title in 4.21.26; Cormac Kearney doubling up to take the Master Mens 60m title in 7.80 and the long jump title with 4.78m; Sinead Treacy taking silver in the Senior Womens 200 in a fast 25.74; Ronnie Warde taking silver in the Senior Mens 60m in 7.42; Grainne McDaid taking bronze in the Senior Womens 800m in 2.52.29; Evan Morgan 4th in the Master Mens 60m with 8.60; and John Walkin 5th in the Masters Men 400m with 59.70.

It was great seeing Grainne taking to the track again having recently returned to the sport after a number of years’ absence. Likewise great to see coaching gurus Ronnie and Evan lead by example with fantastic times in the senior men’s 60m. I’m sure after a long day beforehand of coaching and encouraging their young charges in the U12 and U13 group that both men will sleep well tonight!

 

Laura Cunningham, Connacht Senior Long Jump Champion 2020 and
Grainne McDaid, Connacht Senior 800m Bronze Medallist 2020

Timetables for Connacht Indoors

The time-tables for the Connacht Indoors this weekend are as follows:-

Saturday

U12-U13s

Senior

Sunday

U14-U19s (and U13 walks)

 

Please note the following

• On Sunday the U14 Girls Long Jump has been moved to 10am, with marks from 9.40am and all athletes in the relays will be asked to jump first in the groups.
  
  
• The times are there only as an indication and the committee will take no responsibility for any athlete who fails to arrive at their event on time when called. The onus is upon the clubs to ensure their athletes are ready for their events.
  
  
• As always track events take priority over field events if you are doing 2 events that clash. We will try to facilitate you all as best as we can, make sure that the athletes have checked in for both their events and they should be able to complete their trials in all except the high jump where the bar height will not be reduced.
  
  
• Please advise all your parents and coaches that the canteen will be open on both days and that food and drink, other than water, is not permitted in the arena.
  
  
• Max spike length is 5mm.
  
  
• Bring your own pins.

 

Top quality at the Universities Indoor T&F

NUIG's Sinead Treacy and Aisling Keady (Field Captain) at the Universities Indoors
(Photo credit: John O'Connor)

The Universities Indoor Track & Field Championships took place at the weekend in Athlone with strong performances from several Craughwell AC athletes. These championships are one of the highlights of the athletics calendar each year and always very impressively organised. The Univerities has the best online results database by a mile that I have come across in the sport ... check it out at www.iuaa.org .. parents might even spot themselves listed there as it goes back 30 or 40 years!

It was super for the club to have possibly our largest ever representation in these championships with 8 athletes involved. The highlight of the day from a Craughwell AC perspective was Sinead Treacy’s 56.37 time to take 4th place in the women’s 400m, yet again breaking the club’s senior record for this event – Sinead’s third time breaking it this year!

Sinead later helped the NUIG relay time to take gold in the 4x200m breaking the NUIG record in the process. NUIG were well represented by athletes from the club with Jack Miskella running a big PB of 4.01.32 to take 7th place in the 1500m, Lorraine Delaney jumping 4.77m to take 9th place in the long jump and Aisling Keady being Field Captain for the NUIG team.

Laura Cunningham jumped strongly for the University of Limerick team, taking 6th place in the triple jump with a leap of 10.03m and 7th place in the long jump with a best of 4.82m – in the process helping UL to 5th place in the team stakes. Ben Garrard (also representeing UL) had a decent run in the heats of the 800m, placing 5th in a time of 2.03.12. And representing Athlone IT and competing on home turf, Jerry Keary had an excellent series of jumps in the high jump to take 6th place with a 1.90 clearance in a high quality competition. Luke Evans representing TCD competed in the guest 1500m towards the end of the day.

Check out the fabulous photos of the day taken by John O'Connor and availlable on his flickr website, some of which I have borrowed below:-

 

Very belated report on the Galway Indoors

Some of Craughwell AC's U10 Boys athletics squad at the Galway Indoors in Athlone IT

Apologies for the slowness in getting this article up - I will figure out some more efficient mechanism for the Connachts as with so many athletes competing, its impossible to write a report that mentions all. Had hoped to do so but not enough time so here's the shortened version that I wrote several weeks back with contributions from Ronnie and Evan for U13s and U12s.

A bumper weekend of Galway Indoor Championships action took place on Saturday and Sunday 11/12 January in the impressive surrounds of Athlone Indoor Arena. It was another fantastic weekend for Craughwell AC with phenomenal success across all of the age groups and huge participation across the age groups.

Before getting into the results, a massive thank you from the club to Denise Barry and Brendan Treacy who were 2 of the main organisers of the event. Craughwell AC has been the lead club in organising this event for more than 10 years now and we owe a huge debt of thanks to both Denise and Brendan for their work. Denise does all of the meticulous planning for the event and the secretarial duties and coordination while Brendan is the man on the ground on the 2 days, keeping things moving, sorting issues etc. He set numerous personal bests on the day for travelling up and down the backstairs in Athlone and in fact some people were wondering if he had a twin brother present such was his speed in covering all parts of the arena!

There were many more key officials on the day, in particular electronic timing maestro and online entry guru Iain Shaw of Athenry AC and his timing team of Colm and Marion who have brought a huge level of professionalism to the event making it one of the best organised in the country, a feat that would not be possible also with the ever-present starting officials Oliver Geraghty and Eamonn O’Donnell of GCH and the young gun on day 1 James Lundon. There are countless others to thank on making it a super weekend for all participants.

Back to the action where one could be forgiven for mistaking it as a Craughwell AC training session such was the participation in some of the age groups! I will work in reverse covering day 2 first which saw the U13s to Senior’s in action, and then day 1 where the U8s to U12s took Athlone by storm.

Highlights of day 2 included an incredible 6 Galway titles for Laura Cunningham in 60m, 4x200m relay, shot putt, long jump, high jump and triple jump; and Championships Best performances for Paul Joyce in the Men’s 800m and Darragh Kelly in the U14 High Jump.

In the Senior grades, Laura Cunningham’s first gold of the day came in the long jump with a leap of 4.74 from behind the board – a little down on her 4.92m from a few weeks ago at the Northwest Games. Siona Lawless took silver in the same event with 4.68m ... struggling with her mark on jumps 1 and 2 but nailing it on the 3rd jump for a very good jump and would probably have gone much further only for the inconsistent mark for the first 2 jumps.

Galway Senior Women Indoor 4x200m Relay Champions 2020
Craughwell AC's Freya Bohan, Sinead Treacy, Laura Cunningham, Arlene Earls

The U19 girls jumped at the same time with Alisha Larkin leading the way with a best of 4.71m to take silver in the U19 grade followed by Freya Bohan in 4th place with 4.46m and Ellie Cronin 5th with 4.40m. Laura headed straight for shot putt next and almost threw a PB with a brilliant 7.80m with the 4kg weight to take the senior gold. The optimistic timetable saw the 4x200m relay arrive swiftly where our senior team was anchored by club 200m record holder Sinead Treacy who handed off to Laura and then to Arlene Earls and then to Freya for an exceptional time of 1:48.18 to take senior gold.

Laura and Arlene’s busy day looked to have ended prematurely after the relay where Arlene took a tumble after crossing the line and grazing her knee badly while Laura pulled a muscle or trapped a nerve in her upper back while rounding the first bend in the relay. However with a bit of a break until the next event, both bravely took to the track for the 60m where Laura took gold in 8.49 and Arlene silver in 8.65. Arlene followed this up with 28.09 to take silver in the senior 200m, an event that Sinead Treacy absolutely torn the track apart with a brilliant 25.52 to take the senior gold.

Craughwell AC's triple jumpers who dominated proceedings in the women's events at the Galway Indoors
Aoife Kelly (U19 bronze), Ellie Cronin (U19 gold), freya Bohan (U19 silver), Laura Cunningham (Senior gold)

Freya was another to have a brilliant day of springing with 8.34 to take bronze in the U19 Girls 60m and followed it up later with bronze in the 200m in a blistering 27.07 with Alisha 4th in both races in 8.47 and 29.39. Freya’s time was close to a 2-second PB and she very nearly didn’t run it as was quite tired having triple jumped only 30 minutes beforehand. Craughwell AC athletes dominated that triple jump with Laura taking senior gold with 9.77m and Ellie taking U19 gold with 9.27, followed ever so closely by Freya with 9.26 to take silver and Aoife Kelly with 8.95 to take bronze. Laura wrapped up her quintuplet series of individual performance with a comfortable 5-step clearance of 1.50m in the high jump and withdrawing at that point in case of aggravating the strain picked up in her back during the relay. Aoife took gold in the shot put with 6.53. Ellie took silver on countback in the high jump with 1.50 – unlucky to tip 1.55 off with a slight brush of her heels – and earlier took bronze in the 60m hurdles with 10.34.

Cormac Kearney, County Galway 60m Masters Champion 2020
pictured along with Evan Morgan in second place and legendary pole vaulter Justin Lane in third

(was he just in lane or just out of lane, that's what I want to know!)

In the senior men’s events, Ronnie ‘The Rocket’ Warde ran a blistering 7.41 to take the Galway Senior Mens 60m title. Training partner Cormac Kearney did likewise with 7.91 to take the Galway Masters Men 60m title with Evan Morgan taking silver in 8.48 – fantastic to see two of our coaches Ronnie and Evan leading by example in the sprints. Endurance dynamo and 800m speed merchant Paul Joyce showcased his talent once again with a brilliant 1.59.29 Championship Best Performance to take the Galway Senior Mens 800m title.

Ronnie Warde pictured with his manager and agent Alan !

Craughwell AC's Paul Joyce and Kyle Moorhead
Senior Mens and U19 Boys 800m Champions at the Galway Indoors in Athlone IT

Paul with the record sheet of his Championship Best Performance in the Senior Men's 800m

Paul’s prodigious talent showed early brilliance to place 4th in the National U11 B cross country in 2005; he dipped in and out of the sport for a couple of years before taking National bronze in the U19 indoor 800m in 2013 in 1.59.73 and following it up with a 1.58.05 PB in the National U20 800m in 2014. Music then took over with Paul’s endurance serving him in good stead as a drummer in 3 different bands for 3 or 4 years before returning to the running at the start of 2019.

Music’s loss is athletics gain and Paul’s sub-2 tees him up nicely for an assault on the club indoor record of 1.57.21 held by Peadar Harvey. He will need to be watching his back however as Kyle Moorhead ran a blistering PB to capture the Galway U19 Boys 800m title in 2:01.86, destined to go sub-2 soon and in the process join an elite group of the club’s athletes numbering 6 - the aforementioned Paul and Peadar along with Damien O'Boyle, Nicholas Sheehan, Gavin Cooney and Jack Miskella.

 

 

In the U17 grade, Saoirse Moore had a good day with silver in the 800m in 2:37.30 and bronze in the high jump with 1.45m. Saoirse Pierce took gold in the 60m hurdles in 11.93 and later placed 4th in the high jump with 1.35. Sophie O’Brien jumped very well in the high jump, taking silver in 1.45m. Sophie earlier placed 7th in the long jump with 3.94, not getting properly onto the board on any of her 3 attempts – disappointing for Sophie as she is well capable of big jumps having often medaled at Galway and Connacht level. Hannah Whelan and Cara Furey made their debuts for the club in the 60m sprint with Hannah placing 5th in 9.07 and Cara 6th with 9.84, and followed it up later in the 200m in times of 30.69 and 33.33. Hannah capped off a nice day with 2:48.50 to take bronze in the U17 800m. In the boys’ events, Lukas Schukat took double gold in the high jump with a 1.60 clearance and in the triple jump with a leap of 9.72 – having earlier placed 4th in the long jump with 4.86. Ross McGuinness took an excellent gold in the 1500m in 4:40.

Craughwell AC's Evan Hallinan and Evan Quinn
who placed 3rd and 2nd in the U16 Triple Jump at the Galway Indoors

The rollercoaster of podium placings continued in the U16 grade with Jade Moorhead taking 4 medals with a 1.56 high jump PB to take gold and adding bronze in the 200m with an exceptional 28.51 and bronze also in the long jump with 3.92 and relay. There were many more fine performances in the U16s including U16 Girls 60m Hurdles 2 Siofra Davis (10.64), 3 Ella Lyons (11.51); 200m 3 Jade Moorhead (28.51); 1000m Race Walk 1 Alana Grogan (5:56.29); Long Jump 1 Ella Lyons (4.38) 2 Erin Kelly (4.10), 3 Jade Moorhead (3.92); High Jump 1 Jade Moorhead (1.56), 3 Leonore Church (1.45); Triple Jump 1 Erin Kelly; 4x200m 3 Craughwell AC 2:00.19 (Ella Lyons, Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis, Grace Keaveney).

In the U16 boys, Sean Cunningham was particularly impressive with 25.70 to take silver in the 200m. Other results in the U16s included 60m 2 Ryan McDonnell (7.92), 3 Sean Cunningham (8.02); 200m 2 Sean Cunningham (25.70); 60m Hurdles 2 Cian Lavan (10.98); Long Jump 2 Evan Hallinan (5.25), 3 Evan Quinn (5.21); Triple Jump 2 Evan Quinn, 3 Evan Hallinan; High Jump 2 Evan Hallinan (1.65), 3 Cian Lavan (1.55); Shot Put 2 Calvin Ryan (9.28); 4x200m 1:46.54 (Sean Cunningham, Ryan McDonnell, Cian Lavan, Evan Quinn).

Craughwell AC's U16 Girls who took a clean sweep of the medals in the 1500m at the Galway Indoors
Alana Grogan (bronze), Clodagh O'Meara (gold), Anna Cotter (silver)

Craughwell AC's U16 Girls who took a clean sweep of the medals in the long jump at the Galway Indoors
Jade Moorhead (bronze), Erin Kelly (silver), Ella Lyons (gold)

Galway U15 Girls Indoor 4x200m Relay Champions 2020
Craughwell AC's Tara Morgan, Grace Keaveney, Ella Farrelly and Issy Fitzgerald

U15s also saw some super performances including Girls 800m 3 Holly O’Boyle (2:47.37); Shot Put 3 Tara Morgan (6.66); Long Jump 1 Grace Keaveney (4.29); 4x200m 1 Craughwell AC 1:59.44 (Ella Farrelly, Grace Keaveney, Issy Fitzgerald, Tara Morgan). U15 Boys 800m 3 Oliver Ginty (2:27.15); Long Jump 2 Oliver Ginty (4.23); High Jump 1 Sean Liston (1.45); 4x200m 2 Craughwell AC 1:58.46 (Darragh Kelly, Fionn Higgins, Sèan Liston, Oliver Ginty).

Ella Farrelly led the way in thte U14s with triple medals in long jump, hurdles and sprints. Details of podium performances in that age are as follows U14 Girls 60m 2 Ella Farrelly (8.74); 60m Hurdles 1 Ella Farrelly (9.93); Long Jump 1 Ella Farrelly (4.53); 4x200m 2 Craughwell AC 2:08.48 (Isobel Schukat, Gillian Crowe, Amelie Grogan, Keely Grogan). U14 Boys 60m Hurdles 3 Darragh Kelly (10.48); Long Jump 3 Fionn Higgins (4.37); High jump 1 Darragh Kelly (1.58 CBP).

The following report on the U13s is from Ronnie:- 

Hurdles - Sean Hoade took gold followed by Conor Penney, Dean McNally and Declan O'Connell .Lauren Kilduff had a bad fall but got up to continue the race. Katelyn Walsh and Emily Kinane both ran fine races

60m- Lauren Kilduff took the gold with 9.11 followed closely by Megan Devane, Ciara O'Conor, Emily Kinane, Eabha Molloy, Claudia Fitzpatrick and Kiera Mernagh. Keevagh Barry stumbled out of the block and took a nasty fall which ended her race and her competition for the day. We have no doubt she will be back again to her usual winning ways

Long Jump - Sean Hoade took gold with a jump of 4.22 m, Cian Brady was third with 3.93m and Dean McNally was sixth with 3.60m. Patrick Diviney had a great day also in the Pit

Emma O'Donovan had a fine jump at 3.98m to receive silver and Lauren Kilduff also jumping 3.98m to receive a bronze. Count back rules applied! Megane Devane, Emily Kinane, Kelly Hallinan, Eabha Molloy also jumped very well

Shot putt- Again Sean Hoade received a medal but this time it was Silver with a fine throw of 6.93m. Patrick Diviney got 5th in a very close competition.

Kiera Mernagh narrowly missed 3rd spot by 5cm to receive 4th place. Jennifer O'Connor was 7th followed closely by Kelly Hallinan and Maria O'Gorman

High Jump- Emma O'Donovan took Gold with a fine jump of 1.30m with Ciara O Conor taking 4th followed by Chloe Keane,

Conor Penney received a bronze medal and Keelan Moorehead taking 4th followed closely by Stephen Ruane

600m - Declan O Connell ran a massive PB to take silver and Keelan Moorehead taking bronze. They were closely followed by Stephen Ruane, Jack Farrell and Dara Sweeney

Emma O'Donovan continued her winning streak by taking Gold. Katelyn Walsh, Ciara O'Connor,Chloe Keane, and Caoiln Corban all ran great races

Walk - Lillian Walsh took Gold in the 1000m

Relays
Boys took Silver with Conor Penney, Cian Brady, Sean Hoade and Keelan Moorhead. Our second team which was 4th had Dean McNally, Declan O'Connell, Jack Farrell and Stephen Ruane

We had 3 girls teams entered with Lauren Kilduff, Megane Devane, Emma O'Donovan and Katelyn Walsh taking Bronze. Our second team included Ciara O'Conor, Keevagh Barry, Claudia Fitzpatrick and Chloe Keane. Our third team consisted of Emily Kinane, Kelly Hallinan, Lillian Walsh and Caoilin Corban. All athletes running extremely well

The following is Evan's report on the U12s...

It was a very successful day for our U12 athletes. Overall, we won 43% of the medals on offer!!

Full list of performances below, but I need to point out a few notable performances:
Oran Collins: Won 4 medals today!! Gold in Relay, Silver in Shot Putt, Bronze in 60m and Bronze in Long Jump
Jack Cahill: Golden boy Jack with 3 Golds!! - Gold 60m, Gold in High Jump and Gold in Relay
Rachel Warde: Gold in 60m Hurdles, Silver in 60m and Silver in Relay
Lauren Morgan: Gold in Long Jump for third year running and Silver in Relay
Megan Smith: First ever medal with a fantastic Silver medal in High Jump
Roisin Coleman: First ever medal with a brilliant Bronze in Shot Putt

Full List of Results:
60m
Rachel Warde - Silver
Lauren Morgan - 4th
Jack Cahill - Gold
Oran Collins - Bronze

Long Jump:
Lauren Morgan - Gold
Mia Hollingsworth - Bronze
Oran Collins - Bronze
Sam Casey - 4th

60m Hurdles:
Rachel Warde - Gold

High Jump:
Jack Cahill - Gold
Eanna Morrissey Silver
Megan Smith - Silver

   

Five of the six medallists in U12 Shot Put frmo Craughwell AC

Shot Putt: (Clean sweep for the girls)
Ava Doyle - Gold
Leah Ryan- Silver
Roisin Coleman - Bronze
Ethan Stace - Gold
Oran Collins - Silver
Fiachra Niland - 4th

Relays:
U12 Girls - Silver (Lauren Morgan, Rachel Warde, Aeveen Kelly and Ava Doyle)
U12 Boys - Gold (Jack Cahill, Eanna Morrissey, Kai Watters and Oran Collins)
U12 Boys - Silver (Tom Malone, Sam Casey, Keelan Griffin and Eoin Caufield who stepped up from U11 to help team to Silver medal

   

Galway U12 Boys 4x200m teams - gold and silver medallists at the Galway Indoors

The U11s also had some great performances including U11 Girls 600m 3 Aisling Lavan (2:10.54); U11 Boys 60m 2 Dara Kavanagh (9.46); 600m 1 Alan Hallinan (1:54.04); Long Jump 1 Oisin O’Donovan (3.67); 4x200m 2 Craughwell AC 2:14.25 (Alan Hallinan, Dara Kavanagh, Cathal Desbonnet, Daithi Lawless).

 

In the U10s and U9s, it was also a super day - with only a handful of events available to the athletes, there were some star performances including U10 Boys 60m 2 Sean Colleran (9.87); 400m 1 Darragh O'Donnell (1:16.97); Long Jump 1 Darragh O'Donnell (3.24); 4x200m 3 Craughwell AC 2:25.65 (Ciaran McNena, Darragh O'Donnell , Sean Colleran , Jack McNena, Ruairi McNena). U9 Girls 60m 1 Laoise Colleran (10.88) 2 Lola Whitney-Mangan (10.92); 200m 1 Laoise Colleran (37.36), 2 Ruby Maher (39.29); Long Jump 1 Lola Whitney-Mangan (2.75), 2 Aaliyah Whiriskey (2.34);  U9 Boys 60m 2 Jack McNena (10.91); 200m 1 Jack McNena (36.98).

In addition the following athletes took part in the U8 60m development race: Dylan Doyle, Crystal Cummins, Olivia Gorman, Emma Meehan, Roise Beattie, Kaci Madden, Orna Murray, Zoey McAllen, Oran Gillespie, Cathal Niland, Matthew Drysdale, Aileen McFadden, Abigail Machaj, Darragh Tormey, Sebastian Oancea, Odhran Fallon, Orla O’Mahony

Some of Craughwell AC's U10 Girls at the Galway Indoors

Craughwell AC's U8 athletics squad at the Galway Indoors in Athlone IT

Craughwell AC's U10 Boys 4x200m relay
bronze medallists at the Galway Indoors in Athlone IT

The Happy High Hurders - SIofra Davis and Ella Lyons, gold and silver in the 60m hurdles

 

 

 

 

U13s Shine at International Grand Prix

Stepping stones to success!
The victorious Craughwell AC U13 Boys 4x200m team who won the AIT International Grand Prix!

Craughwell AC’s U13 relay teams enjoyed wonderful success at the prestigious AIT Grand Prix held in Athlone IT last week. Competing in front of a full house, both boys and girls teams put in a fantastic performance in their relays with the boys team winning in a time of 2:00.00 (Conor Penney, Keelan Moorhead, Cian Brady, Dean McNally) and the girls narrowly second in a time of 2:00.28 (Lauren Kilduff, Emma O’Donovan, Keevagh Barry, Claudia Fitzpatrick, Katelyn Walsh).

Craughwell AC U13 Girls 4x200m team who placed second in the AIT International Grand Prix

Incredible run by Caron to claim National silver!

Craughwell AC’s Caron Ryan, silver medalist
at the National Intermediate Cross Country Championships
held in Wicklow recently

Caron Ryan produced one of the finest distance performances by a County Galway athlete in the past decade when taking the silver medal in the National Intermediate Cross Country Championships held on 8 February.

The 5000m race was ran over a picturesque but challenging course in Rathdrum in County Wicklow where Caron followed up her bronze medal from last year’s National Novice Championships with an impressive silver medal in the Intermediate grade. Its difficult to compare achievements across different athletics disciplines but certainly this was one of the most impressive ever achievements by a Craughwell AC athlete at National senior level.

Dave Evans and Luke Evans provided a first for the club with father/son taking part in the same National cross-country championships with Dave in the Masters Mens race and Luke in the Intermediate Mens race. And in the youngest age group at the same venue, Alan Hallinan had an outstanding run to place 4th in the U11 Boys 1000m.

Also at the weekend, the club had 8 athletes in action at the National Senior AAI Games in Dublin with Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney and Ellie Cronin in the jumps, Sinead Treacy in the 400m and Sinead Gaffney, Gavin Cooney, Paul Joyce and Jack Miskella in the 800m. Sinead Treacy knocked over a second off her PB and club record when racing to 56.73 in the 400m while Sinead Gaffney came very close to breaking her club record of 2.19.10 with a time of 2.19.79 in the 800m.

Craughwell AC’s Sinead Gaffney, Paul Joyce, Jack Miskella and Gavin Cooney
who took part in the 800m races in the National AAI Games
recently at the National Sports Campus in Dublin

Senior women's team place 6th at National Indoors

Craughwell AC's team who contested round 2 of the National Senior Indoor League, placing 6th after the 2 rounds
Sarah Finnegan, Sinead Treacy, Sinead Gaffney, Laura Cunningham, Rachel Finnegan, Ellie Cronin

Craughwell AC's senior women's team put in a strong performance to finish in 6th place overall in the National Senior Indoor League after round 2 in Athlone in January.

Sinead Treacy stormed to 2nd place in the 400m in an impressive 57.99 setting a new club record in the process. Laura Cunningham placed 5th in the triple jump and Ellie Cronin 6th in the high jump. Sinead Gaffney took 6th place in the 1500m while Sarah Finnegan placed 6th in the heats of the 200m.

The day wrapped up with an impressive 4x200m team performance to place 2nd in their heat in a time of 1.49.60 with the team of Sinead Treacy, Laura Cunningham, Rachel Finnegan and Ellie Cronin.

Check out sportsfile.com for some good photos of the day including the 1 below of Laura in action in the triple jump:

 

 

Laura and Sean take National bronze!

   

Laura Cunningham and Sean Cotter who both won bronze in National Champsionships in January
with Laura in the U23 Women's High Jump and Sean in the U20 Men's 1500m

The club had a small number of athletes in action in the National U20 and U23 Championships held in January in Athlone. Sean Cotter got the day off to a great start for the club with a fantastic bronze medal in the U20 Men’s 1500m. In a tactical race with lots of boxing-in on the bends, this was one of Sean’s finest achievements as he was stepping up 3 years in age against the top athletes in Ireland.

Laura Cunningham continued the success for the club to take the bronze medal in the U23 Women’s High Jump. The high jump clashed with the long jump and Laura had to switch over and back between the 2 events, taking 4th place in the long jump shortly after the conclusion of the high jump.

Jack Miskella put in an outstanding run in the U23 men’s 1500m with a battling 4th place finish in a time of 4.13.72, only fading from 3rd place in the last 80 metres of the race. Luke Evans wrapped up the day’s performance for the club with a 5th place finish in the heats of the U23 men’s 800m in 2.05.12.

Ellie takes bronze in the National U18 Pentathlon

Craughwell AC's Ellie Cronin who won bronze
at the National Indoor Pentathlon Championships in January in Athlone

Ellie Cronin put in a fantastic performance in the National Indoor Pentathlon Championships held in January in Athlone taking the bronze medal in the U18 age group with an impressive points total of 2728 which included 4^th place in the hurdles in 9.97, 2^nd place in the high jump with 1.54m, 3^rd place in the shot put with 8.12m, 4^th place in the long jump with 4.55m and 5^th place in the 800m with 2:46.97.

Also in action Ella Farrelly place 9^th in a very competitive U14 age group with 2380 points (hurdles 9.96, high jump 1.36m, shot put 5.83m, long jump 4.27m, 800m 2:41.33). There were strong performances also from Leonore Church in the U16 girls and from Darragh Kelly in the U14 boys, Darragh unfortunately having to withdraw due to injury before the final 2 events.

Ellie stretching high in the U18 long jump

Leonore in action in the U16 800m

Ella with a powerful leap in the U14 long jump

Darragh heaves the shot out to an impressive distance

 

 

Back on the Bayou

 A&M 

                                                                   A&M

  McNeese                                                                                                                                          McNeese  

                                                                                                             McNeese                                                

                                                                                 U of H 

   Ufof H                                                                                                                

                                                          U of H                                                

                                                                                   

It seems to have been the story of his collegiate career but our scholarship athlete Damian O'Boyle, again this season, appears to have made the recovery from looming injury to obliterate one of his own club records in unexpected fashion.

The McNeese Indoor collegiate meet, hosted in Lake Charles, LA on Friday night, was the venue for our new record.

Damian clocked a blistering time of 8:35.63 to place second in the 3000m event behind teammate and “Englishman on Fire” Joey Croft. The official time garnering a further reduction after the NCAA's conversion for unbanked tracks to give Damian a seeding time of 8:29.70 for the season.

This performance has caught many including himself off guard coming on the back of what has been a slow start to the season for Damian this year. After two 4:25 performances over the mile event at Texas A&M and The University of Houston in the past fortnight. Both times a massive 10 seconds slower than the personal best and consistent times he clocked as a freshman/sophomore back in 2017/2018 over the 1609m distance.

Damian and The Cowboys continue their indoor season over the next few weeks with meets at;

Notre Dame                South Bend, IN

Samford                      Birmingham, AL

Texas A&M                 College Station, TX

Before tackling the Southland Conference meet back in Birmingham, AL on March 1-2

Craughwell AC Juvenile AGM

Craughwell AC's Juvenile AGM will take place at 8.30pm to 930pm tomorrow Thurs 23rd Jan in St Michael's Hall in Craughwell village. Its a good opportunity to get an update on and share any opinions you have on activities last year and plans for this year. The update will include full details on facility development plans. All parents and coaches are encouraged to attend as well as athletes aged 16 or older. 

The meeting will be limited to 1 hour so not much of people's time will be taken up.

Strong performances in National Indoor League

National Indoor Arena, Abbotstown

Craughwell AC’s senior women’s team had a strong performance in round 1 of the National Indoor League held at the National Sports Arena in Dublin. The team were placed 6th out of the 12 teams after round 1 with 36 points, just 5 points adrift from 3rd place.

Team captain Sarah Finnegan led by example with a blistering 9.85 to take 3rd place in the 60m hurdles. Sarah's time was just a fraction away from her own club senior record of 9.81 set all the way back in 2008, setting her up for a very promising season. Sinead Treacy placed 4th in the 60m sprint in a solid time of 8.04 while Sinead Gaffney had an impressive 2.21.52 run to place 7th in the 800m. In the field events Leanagh Gilligan leaped 4.85m to take 6th place in the long jump while Aoife Kelly took 9th place in the shot put with a good throw of 6.10 with the 4kg weight.

Jack Miskella competed as a guest in the men’s 1500m running a good early season time of 4.10.