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McNeese off to a flyer!

Damian back in action following prolonged injury and Summer of Rehabilitation 

For those who don’t know He is third from left, front row. First Athlete from Craughwell A.C.  to gain Scholarship to states. Smile says he’s delighted to be back with the squad.

The US Collegiate XC season is now well and truly underway with the release of the USTFCCCA Regional NCAA XC week 1 rankings on Monday, most teams across the country have now opened their seasons. The Cowboys did so at home in Lake Charles, LA at the annual McNeese XC Opener on August 30th, but this year with a twist for the men taking on the 6k distance rather than the customary 4k as we’ve seen in recent years. Both the Cowboys and Cowgirls took top honours on the evening sweeping the team titles for McNeese. Damian placing himself comfortably within the group and finishing as the 7th Cowboy on the day in a time of 19:06 in 12th place a respectable performance after setting the pace for the team through 2miles and having only been cleared to return to full training 2 months earlier following treatment and rehab from his Achilles tear last semester.

 Still packed together deep into the race

The team then travelled last Friday, the 13th, to Houston, TX to compete at the Rice University Invitational right in the heart of the city. The men’s squad again on form finishing third on this occasion as the 2nd Southland Team (McNeese competes across all sports within the Southland Conference against 12 other schools) behind bitter rivals Lamar University of Texas but only by the very small margin of 4points (5 runners to score in American XC). Damian on this occasion right in the fray as the 4th Cowboy across the line in 21st place, with a time of 20:24 over the approximate 4mile distance.

The team will return home to host the annual Cowboy Stampede on September 28th where they will look to defend their current unbeaten records on home turf.

The rest of the season looks like this for the Pokes:

Sept 28th        Cowboy Stampede                                         McNeese State, Lake Charles LA

Oct 19th          Arturo Barrios Invitational                               Texas A&M, College Station TX

Nov 1st            Southland Conference Championship            Central Arkansas, Conway AR

Nov 15th         NCAA South Central Regional Meet              Arkansas, Fayetteville AR

McNeese Media                                                                     Meet Results

Schedule                                                                          Results - Rice                                                                        

Opener - Pre Meet

Opener - Recap

Rice - Pre Meet

Rice - Recap

Excitement Mounts for European Champions Cup

Resumption of athletics training

Athletics training will resume over the next couple of weeks for all age groups - see the schedule below for details and contact information. It will commence on the following days.

• U7s (2013 or Senior Infants) - Tuesday 10th Sept 5.30pm
• U8s (2012) -  Thursday 5th Sept 5.30pm
• U9s (2011) - Thursday 5th Sept 5.30pm
• U10s (2010) - Wednesday 3rd Sept 5.30pm
• U11s (2009) Thursday 5th Sept 6.15pm
• U12s (2008) Tuesday 27th August 6.45pm
• U13/14s Monday 26th August 6.15pm
• fit4youth Tues/Thurs 7.45pm - resumption date tbc
• U14/15s - already resumed
• U16/17s - already resumed
• U18/Older Distance - already resumed
• U18/Older - already resumed

Best of luck to the Galway Rose !!

Best of luck to Galway Rose and former club member Orla McDaid in the forthcoming Rose of Tralee later this month.

Many younger members of the juvenile club may not be aware that Orla was a very prominent member of the club in her teenage years which were not too long ago. In fact, she featured as an u11 in the very first article posted on the club all the way back in 2005 ... craughwell-in-top-form-at-day-1-of-2005-connacht-cross-country-in-co-leitrim ... going on that year to place 34th in the National cross-country and her u11 team narrowly missing out on the podium when placing 4th in the team event.

She had many a successful day after that at Galway and Connacht level and at National level with teams including silver medals in the National U17 4x300m in 2011.

We wish Orla the very best of luck in the Rose of Tralee finals, a little more pleasant surrounds than what she will remember from her cross-country days! And you never know, maybe the Rose will bloom again on the cross country scene in years to come – you hit your peak running form between 26 and 32 years old Orla!

And to our club members and parents, come out and help send Orla off this Saturday evening in Cheevers. It would be lovely to have a nice group from the club there.

A few pics from the past below:

With her Craughwell NS Connacht Championship winning cross-country team (and a couple of Olympians :-)) in 2006– Debbie Kenny, Ailbhe Greaney, Sinead Gaffney, Katie O’Donoghue, Maria McNamara, Maireád McCann, Caoimhe Quill

With her U16 relay teammates at the Galway Community Games in Ballindereen in 2009
Debbie Kenny, Ashley McDonnell and Katie O’Donoghue.

With her U15 4x100m relay team at the National finals in Tullamore in 2009
Jessica Heneghan, Maria McNamara, Claire Ryder

With her U16 4x200m silver-medal winning relay team at the Connacht Indoors in Nenagh in 2010
Jessica Heneghan, Ella Bryan, Sinead Gaffney

With her U17 4x300m silver-medal winning relay team at the National finals in Tullamore in 2011
Jessica Heneghan, Muireann Maloney, Sinead Gaffney, Maria McNamara

Great day out at the Streets 2019

Craughwell had a great day out at the Streets of Galway 2019, with several people claiming PBs and several prizes.  The morning was hideous but by the time the race started it had eased to welcome drizzle and the muggy heat had faded, making for ideal running conditions.  In the team competition, there were several strong outfits in play including Ennis Track (regular winners), an impressive Castlegar crew, Loughrea led by Cathal O'Reilly, South Galway AC, GCH as always strong, Sportsworld and others.  Craughwell had a healthy mix of old and young and were not too far off the team prize at the end, pushing a top-class Ennis team very close.  Still - 2nd men's team was a savage result in this field - in fact 20% of the top 25 runners in the were from Craughwell and we took 3 prizes!

First home for Craughwell was Jamie Fallon who ran a very smart race to finish in 26.24, falling back at 5km to cool off before a smart push to the line.  Jamie is early in his build-up, and looking forward to the cross country!  He just pipped the hugely talented Kevin Mooney on the line in a finish so tight that the timing initially got them the wrong way around in the results!  Kevin is coming back from a break and is building really nicely, he missed Dublin marathon due to a cycling injury, but has plenty to look forward to - not least his wedding (Congrats Kevin and Orla on that!). 

Next home for Craughwell was Mark Davis (1st o45) in 26.56 closely followed by William Fitzgerald (2nd Junior) in 26:58.  It was a great run from William who felt super-comfortable (unlike me!) and given time, there's no telling how good he will be!  Jack Miskella was 5th for Craughwell - after a year of focusing on (and taking club records at!) 800m and 1500m, 8k was probably a shock to the system, but Jack had a brilliant run to smash 28 minutes with a 27:47. 

Everywhere you looked there was green and white, so we're from quite a fit village!  Brian Matthews beat his time from last year with less training,  Stephen Carty, Gavin Cooney, Brendan Treacy, Mark Campbell, Ollie Niland, Colm McAllen (pb), Reena Deely, Margaret Murphy, Laura Porter, Sharon Gilligan, Irene Fallon, Gerry Treacy, Brenda Casey, Aoife Mullane, Geraldine Fallon, Siobhan Gohery, Julie Gallagher and Marita Carolan all were listed in the results, but there were plenty others running that weren't listed against the club and I couldn't be bothered scrolling through the names to see the ones I recognize!!  One notable one is the distance coach, Lisa Thomas who had a great run herself in addition to coaching the 2nd Junior!  Well done to all, and to GCH on an impeccably organized event.

As usual, John O'Connor has the definitive set of pictures on his website (album 1, album 2, album 3).

Shauna Thrills at World Championships

In superb conditions, Craughwell's latest u17 International Shauna Bocquet represented club and country with pride in the World Para Athletics Junior Championships in Notwill Switzerland. Shauna won 3 Gold medals in the 400m, 100m, 1500m and took Silver in both the 200m and 800m.

Shauna displays one of her 3 Gold medals (this one was for 100m)

The popular Shauna will be a familiar face to many Galway athletes, regularly competing on the local and national road racing scene as part of her training, but this was a truly breakthrough week for this talented and dedicated athlete.

A Still from the TV Coverage of Shauna about to start the 400m

Shauna started off events by winning the 400m in a dominant front running display managing to keep her good start from getting eaten up by her strong finishing German opponent (see finish below).  The two athletes would go on to have many battles over the event, often trading places for Gold and Silver.

Shauna with a wide gap in her first victory

With the first event out of the way, Shauna proceeded to go on a dominant run, taking victories in the 100m, 1500m and a fantastic Silver in the 200m and 800m at the highest level of international competition.

Silver in the 200m

Shauna in still in Switzerland, but there will be a welcome home for Shauna at the track before training at Craughwell on Tuesday at 7:45PM.  All who know Shauna from any capacity (school, other clubs, road races) and want to give their congratulations are welcome to come along.

Results from the u17 events are here.

Buy-A-Block for Craughwell AC!

Construction work has recently got under way on the first phase of the club’s indoor sports facilities plans with the commencement of a 10x4m toilet block and 10x12m multi-purpose room. The project is 50% funded by the European LEADER Programme and the club will be adding significantly to its borrowings to help finance the construction. 

The club is asking its members and the community to help fund these facilities by supporting its Buy-A-Block fundraising campaign for the new building and toilets.

Many people are already benefiting from the club’s facility development through the use of its recently completed 800m walking/running pathway around the perimeter of its athletics grounds.

You can sponsor a block by paying €20 for a 10-week subscription to the club lotto via the club’s website www.craughwellac.com/lotto.

And each time you renew your subscription, the club will note your name against another block on a poster which will be on permanent display inside the building.

We are strongly appealing to parents and members to support the campaign. All funds go straight into the facility and you can cancel your subscription at any time.

Alternatively people can sponsor 1 or more blocks directly with a cheque payable to Craughwell AC and post it to Michael Tobin at Crinnage, Craughwell, Co. Galway along with your name so we can acknowledge you or your child’s name on the aforementioned display.

The construction work is being done by Luke McNamara of John McNamara Construction Ltd, along with engineering consultation from Iggy Greaney & Associates and design input from Kieran Quinn of Sean Dockery & Associates. Kieran and Luke are pictured on site below. The club is indebted to Kieran (whose family are in the club) for the design of the building and overseeing the procurement and building commencement process.  The club is also indebted to the 40+ coaches and committee members who have helped the club get to this stage. The club has invested over €520k in the facility since Sept 2014, largely funded by grants along with loans from Community Finance Ireland.

We are appealing now to our parents, our members and the community to support these volunteers and get behind our Buy-A-Block fundraising scheme by subscribing to our Lotto or making a donation. And help build facilities that will make a difference for all.

Weather permitting, it is hoped that the first phase of the building will be open by the end of January next year.

With the school building work due to start next year, it will be invaluable having toilets and indoor space on our own grounds. It is part of a longer-term plan to build an indoor training centre and to extend our running track subject to further grants being approved.

So please support our efforts, thank you!

Team Silver for Galway Women in National League!

County Galway Women's team who won silver in the Premier Division of the National League last weekend
Back row: Laura Cunningham (Craughwell), Aoife Sheehy (GCH), Sinead Treacy (Craughwell), Sarah Finnegan (Craughwell), Regina Casey (GCH); Front row: Rachel Finnegan (Craughwell), Sinead Gaffney (Craughwell), Kathryn Casserly (GCH), Arlene Earls (Craughwell), Nicole Walsh (GCH), Aisling Joyce (GCH), Lydia Doyle (GCH); Missing from photo: Freya Bohan (Craughwell), Mary Barrett and Aoibhin Farrell (Loughrea), Emma O'Hara (GCH)

Several athletes from the club starred with the County Galway women’s team which took team silver in the Premier Division of the National Senior League in Tullamore last Sunday. The team which was managed by Sarah Finnegan, came within a whisker of winning the League outright - just missing out by the slender margin of 4 points (which equates to the reversal of 1st and 2nd places in a single event with the winners Dundrum South Dublin).

Laura Cunningham flew over the 5m mark on all 4 of her attempts in the long jump to claim 2nd place with a best of 5.24m only 4cm shy of winning it – terrific jumping form to leap 5+ metres on all 4 jumps and in the process tripling the number of times she has cleared the magical 5m mark. Earlier Laura took 3rd place in the triple jump with a best of 10.13m and combined with Sinead Treacy and 2 GCH athletes to take 2nd place in the 4x100m in an excellent 49.38.

Sinead Treacy was also in top form, racing to a season’s best of 25.20 to place 3rd in the 200m and along with Sinead Gaffney leading the county to a comfortable victory in the 4x400m in an impressive 3:55.15. Rachel Finnegan took 4th place in the 400m hurdles in an excellent 70.24, Sinead Gaffney placed 7th in a tough battle in the 800m in 2:25.11 and Freya Bohan placed 8th in the javelin with a best of 18.83 into the wind.

It was a super performance from the club's athletes not to mention also the fine performances from several other athletes from the club who helped the county team qualify for the final in the earlier rounds including Ailbhe Miskella, Aisling Keady, Alisha Larkin, Aoife Kelly, Ellie Cronin, Leanagh Gilligan, Maeve Curley, Shauna Tobin and Tara McNally.

Also in action in Tullamore, the county’s men’s team took 5th place in the Division 1 final, helped by strong performances from Craughwell AC athletes including Gavin Cooney 3rd in the 800m in 2:00.87, Jack Miskella 3rd in the 1500m in 4:04.64 and 7th in the javelin with 14.65, William Fitzgerald 4th in the 5000m in 16:49.79, Luke Evans 5th in the 3000m steeplechase in 11:25.57, Ryan Gallagher 5th in the long jump with 5.50, and Gavin Cooney and Jack Miskella helping the county to 7th place in the 4x400m.

Kyle 6th on International Debut!

Kyle Moorhead made his international debut at the weekend in the Irish Schools international against England, Scotland and Wales which was held in Swansea, becoming the 23rd athlete from the club to represent Ireland in an international,

Kyle had a magnificent run in the 1500m steeplechase coming home as first Irishman across the line and 6th overall in a PB time of 4:41.33. It was a remarkable performance for the young man from Caherdevane who has been with the club since the age of 6 and fantastic to see his commitment take him to this level. And a proud moment for both his family and his local athletics club. Well done Kyle!!

Evan Hallinan Leaps to National Title

Evan Hallinan, National U15 Triple Jump Champion 2019

Craughwell AC’s juveniles were back in action again in Tullamore at the third weekend of the National Track & Field Championships where Evan Hallinan and Sean Cotter were amongst the highlights of the day. Evan leaped to a brilliant National title in the U15 Boys triple jump with a best of 11.09m sealing the gold medal. He later followed this up with a 7th place finish in the high jump, withdrawing due to injury at the medal-winning height of 1.60m. It was a remarkable performance for Evan as he has had an injury ridden few months due to a growth phase and training has been interruppted as a result. Evan's title adds to the Scottish triple jump title that he won earlier in the year.

Sean Cotter scorched to silver in the U17 Boys 1500m in an excellent 4:15.15 with Oisin Davis 10th in 4:22.13. It was a super performance for Sean who bounced back from the dissappointment the previous weekend of narrowly missing the finals of the 800m when placing 4th in a tactical heat.

Sean Cotter silver medallist in the National U17 1500m

James Furey took 5th place in the U17 Boys high Jump with a clearance of 1.50m and later placed 6th in the heats of the U17 3000m hurdles in 49.87. Lukas Schukat placed 6th in the U16 Boys triple jump with a best of 10.16m and 13th in the long jump with a leap of 4.94m. Ryan Gallagher had a massive PB jump of 6.21m to take 7th place in the U18 Boys long jump, only 11cm from the club’s U20 record in this event and unlucky not to take a medal due to the incredibly high standard on the day.

Ross McGuinness placed 7th in the U16 Boys 3000m in an impressive 9:58.22 in the sweltering conditions with William Fitzgerald equally impressive with 9:31.16 to place 8th in the U19 3000m. Aoibhe Fahy threw the javelin out to an impressive 26.10m to take 8th place in the U15 Girls event and followed it up later with 12th place in the shot with a throw of 8.36m. Freya Bohan raced to a 2-second PB when placing 4th in the heats of the U18 400m in a time of 62.82, just missing out on qualification for the final in 9th place overall and later placed 7th in the U18 heats in 13.75 and 11th in the shot with a throw of 6.71m. It was unlucky 9th place also for Aoibhe Donnellan who raced to a brilliant time of 11.03 in the heats of the U14 Girls 80m, just missing out on the final by 0.02 of a second.

There were strong performances also from Grace Keaveney 11th in the U14 Girls long jump with 4.22m; Alisha Larkin 12th in the U17 Girls long jump with 4.72m and 6th in the heats of the 100m in 13.79; Kyle Moorhead 13th in the U18 Boys 1500m in 4:27.79; Saoirse Pierce 6th in the heats of the U16 Girls 250m hurdles in 43.34; Millie Geraghty 13th in the U15 Girls javelin with 22.85; Andrew Power 13th in the U15 Boys javelin with 19.54; Ella Lyons 16th in the U15 Girls long jump with 4.49; and Ciara Sheppard 17th in the U18 Girls 1500m in a PB of 5:32.59.

Also in action at the weekend, Laura Cunningham leaped to a season’s best of 4.89 to take 2nd place in the Senior Women’s long jump at the IMC meet in Drogheda, leaping off her less-favoured right leg for the last 3 jumps which resulted in the season's best.

Thunderstorm and Downpours at Graded Meet

Laura and Lorraine competing in the Women's 100m at the Dublin Graded Meet

A small group of athletes made their way to meet number 6 of the Dublin Graded Meet last night, the first time this year that the club has taken part in it to my knowledge. The Dublin Graded Meets are a fantastic series of events with 8 meets taking place, one every second Wednesday from end of May through to August at 3 different venues in Dublin – Santry, Tallaght and Irishtown– and the officials are very welcoming to country clubs making the effort to travel up especially last night as thunderstorms greeted us as we arrived in Santry!

More information on the series can be found on www.dublinathletics.com. There are 2 meets left – 24 July Santry (200, 1500, mile, high jump, discus, shot) and 7 August Tallaght (400, mile, 3000, long jump, pole vault, hammer, shot). There is also a 4-series graded meet in Cork with the final day being next Monday with the following events: 200, 800, 3000, 4x100, high jump, discus, javelin.

Ben Garrard was in flying form in the 800m where he ran a blistering season’s best of 2:01.02 – faster than his indoor PB of 2.01.88 from the Connacht Indoors earlier this year and pretty close to his outdoor PB of 2.00.35 which he ran in sunny conditions in the National League in 2017. It leaves Ben nicely poised to break the magical 2-minute barrier this summer if the weather conditions are right.

Laura mid-hop on her way to a season's best of 10.31 in the triple jump

Despite the wet conditions, it was a good day also for Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney and Shauna Tobin who all recorded season’s bests in their events. All 3 girls had eased back on the training and competition in the previous 9 months due to the Leaving Cert but are coming into form now as the season progresses. Laura raced to a blistering 13.16s in the 100m with Lorraine recording 14.39s on the wet surface – both excellent times into a +1 headwind on a saturated track. Laura later followed this up with a fine series of jumps in the triple jump culminating with a season’s best of 10.31 on her 6th and final jump. Shauna got to grips with a slippy discus on the wet night, spinning it out to a season’s best of 15.10.

Shauna Selected for World Junior Championships!

Shauna crossing the finish line to win the Wheelchair Category at the 2019 Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon

There was some great news for Craughwell AC athlete Shauna Bocquet recently with the announcement by Paralympics Ireland that she has been selected to represent Ireland at the IPC World Para Athletics Junior Championships in Nottwill, Switzerland.

Shauna will compete across 5 distances (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m) in the U17 Female T54 category.  The event takes place in Switzerland from 1st to 4th August with a busy schedule for Shauna as follows:-

• Thursday PM - 400m
• Friday AM - 1500m
• Friday PM - 100m
• Saturday PM - 200m
• Sunday PM - 800m
  
  

It is a fantastic achievement for a very dedicated young athlete and the club wishes her every success in one of the biggest events of her young career to date.