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Ronnie Leads the Crew to National Title

Today in AIT, Sprint guru Ronnie Warde led the way as Craughwell Sealed their first Masters team Sprint title with a fantastic victory in the 4x200m relay.  The team of John Walkin, Ronnie Warde, Evan Morgan and Cormac Kearney blazed away from the field to seal a comfortable victory ahead of Gowran AC in Second and Galway City Harriers in 3rd.

In addition to that Ronnie claimed two exceptional individual medals.  Ronnie won a 60m Silver in a fine time of 7.31 (the winner was 7.30!) and a 200m Bronze in 24.66.  

Mathys and Caron Shine in the Country!

The Irish Cross Country Season ended with a bang on Saturday in two venues on opposite ends of the Country and featured many fine performances from Craughwell AC Athletes.  The premier Schools Competition - the Irish Life Schools Cross Country, took place in a cold and windy Santry, while the University equivalient, the IUAA Cross Country finals took place in Cork.  The standards are always stellar, but the general rise in standards of Irish distance running has lifted things here too.  Mathys Bocquet finished a marvellous 5th in the Junior Boys race, guaranteeing him a selection for the SIAB Schools International in Scotland in 2 weeks, and Caron Ryan finished a marvelous 3rd, helping her TCD team to an historic team Gold.

Junior Boys: Mathys Secures first Irish Cap!

Mathys lines up with the rest of his new Irish International Teammates

This race was Mathys' target for the year and the popular youngest member of the Wolfpack was rewarded for his dedication and commitment over the past several months with a brilliant 5th place position and an Irish cap for the coveted International in Scotland.  The race winner took off like the clappers and left a large chasing pack behind him looking for a fade that never came - after that it was effectively two races - the leader on his own and a chasing group of about 10 who were duking it out over the 3500m route.  In the end there was nothing between the second 8 athletes but Mathys fought doggedly for his selection slot. 

Mathys and Oliver for Calasanctus at the start line

This is the SECOND member of Mathys family to gain an international selection (his sister Shauna represented Ireland brilliantly last year) and amazingly, he is the FIFTH member of the wolfpack training group to win an Irish cap within the last 12 months!!  We are very lucky to have such a deep pool of talent training in our village. Well done Mathys - enjoy it and do us proud!!

The Boyle Family keenly supporting Mathys in his race!

Mathys was joined in the race by the hugely talented Oliver Ginty who finished a superb 33rd despite having very little endurance training or cross country experience under his belt.  A lot more to come from Oliver in the future with that kind of performance!

Mathys, Oisin, William and Kyle

There were many other great performances from club athletes in the other races.  In the Senior Boys race, William Fitzgerald (representing Gort) was our first finisher in 23rd place, just pipped on the line onhis blindside.  William was followed by Oisin Davis (48th) and Kyle Moorehead (59th) representing Presentation College Athenry, both having solid outings in the deep and talented field.  

Emma Charges strongly for the line

In the Senior Girls race - Emma Boyle led the pres crew home in 47th place followed by her teamates Sarah Gilhooley and Ailbhe Miskella recently recovered from injury in 66th.  All the girls found it tough going against the wind in the second half - it really seemed strong for their race!

Ailbhe holding off a chasing Athlete on the home run

In the Intermediate Boys Race, Ross McGuinness unfortunately suffered an achilles injury early in the race and despite his best efforts to continue was forced to step aside. 

In the Intermediate Girls race, Emily Miskella had a solid run to finish in 58th - Emily was on crutches from a freak ankle sprain only 8 weeks ago, so this was a very strong result.  No doubt she will soon be back to the form that saw her finish top 18 last year.

Spot Emily at the start of the Intermediate Girls race!

In the Junior Girls race, Holly O'Boyle representing Calsanctious ran well to finish in 66th place in a very strong field followed by Leonore Church in 75th place.

Caron Seals Historic TCD Victory in IUAA Finals

Meanwhile in Cork the IUAA finals were held and it's a testament to the Club how many of its athletes featured on University teams.  Caron Ryan had yet another fabulous performance to seal an individual Bronze in a splendid contest - she finished neck and neck with the Silver medallist and just got pipped on the line.  It was a stunning display of bravery and strength from the talented athlete.  The excellent pictures below are by John O Connor.

This is an ambush if ever I saw one - they finished on an identical time! 

Jack Miskella scored on a crazy talented NUIG team that was so so unlucky to finish just outside the medals - it just goes to show how deep this competition has become that a team of such quality can be pushed outside the medals.   On the upside (for Craughwell), they were beaten by a TCD team that contained Luke Evans in his first year competing for the college.

Jack (center) with teammates Aaron Brennan (left) and James Frizzel who all had superb runs for NUIG

Luke Evans (394) Celebrating with his Teammates after their Victory

Ben Garrard also had a strong run for UL in the same event.

Ben (599) had a very Solid run for UL

Update on coronavirus

Ella and Shauna, Galway Athletes of the Year!

Huge congratulations to Ella Farrelly and Shauna Bocquet who have won the Galway Athlete of the Year Awards in the U12-15 Girls and U16-19 Girls categories.

2019 was a fantastic year for both athletes with Ella winning a multitude of county and regional track & field titles, 2 National titles (indoor long jump and outdoor hurdles) and National bronze (outdoor long jump) and Shauna selected by Paralympics Ireland to represent Ireland at the IPC World Para Athletics Junior Championships in  Switzerland where she won an incredible three gold medals (100m, 400m, 1500m) and two silvers (200m,  800m).

Galway Athletics Team of the Year!

Craughwell AC's U20 Women's Team at the European Club Championships in Portugal

Massive congratulations to Craughwell AC's history-making European U20 women’s team who have won the Galway Athletics Team of the Year Award for 2019. The team comprised from left-to-right above

• Sinead Gaffney (team physio)
• Shauna Tobin (discus)
• Arlene Earls (200m / 800m / 4x400m)
• Laura Cunningham (team captain and long jump / javelin / 4x100m)
• Ciana Reidy (pole vault / 4x400m)
• Leanagh Gilligan (triple jump)
• Siona Lawless (100m)
• Aoife Kelly (hammer)
• Caoilin Milton (shot)
• Lorraine Delaney (vice-captain and 400mh / 4x400m)
• Eva Whyte (4x100m sub)
• Aisling Keady (joint team manager)
• Sarah Woods (3000m)
• Ciara Sheppard (1500m)
• Ailbhe Miskella (steeplechase)
• Alisha Larkin (100m / 4x100m)
• Ava Finn (100m / 4x100m)
• Lauren McNally (4x100m sub)
• Ellie Cronin (high jump /100mh)
• Freya Bohan (400m / 4x400m / 4x100m)
  
  

The European Championships which were held in Portugal last September was the biggest team event in the club's history and its fantastic now that the team have also won the Galway Athletics Team of the Year Award.

Well done also and thank you to the hard-working volunteers in Galway County Board who organise these Awards and to the Galway 5k Series Committee whose hard-work has provided the funds for this and many other County Board initiatives over many years.

Everyone is now looking forwards to the awards ceremony on Friday week.

Great performances at National Senior Indoors

800m runners Paul Joyce, Gavin Cooney and Sinead Gaffney
at the National Senior Indoors in Dublin

A small contingent from Craughwell AC contested the National Senior Indoor Championships last weekend in the National Sports Arena in Dublin. Sinead Gaffney ran a powerful race in the heats of the women’s 800m, placing 6th in a time of 2.19.31 – literally just a metre and less than a breath away from breaking her own club record and PB of 2.19.10.

Paul Joyce put it all out there in the heats of the men’s 800m with his second fastest time ever of 1.57.72 which placed him just outside the qualifiers for the final and Gavin Cooney went ever so close again to going under the sub-2 holy grail time of 800m running when placing 5th in his heat in 2.01.54.

Jack Miskella battled hard in a tactical 1500m heat, recording a time 4.11.03 and only 2 seconds from the automatic qualifiers for the final. Sinead Treacy ran a lightning fast 57.13 to place 2nd in the heats of the 400m, just outside her recent PB and club record of 56.73 set earlier in February.

Athletes Shine at U14-19 Connacht Indoors!

Craughwell AC's U16 Boys 4x200m team who won silver at the Connacht Indoors in Athlone IT
Evan Hallinan, Sean Cunningham, Ryan McDonnell, Evan Quinn

Another outstanding day of athletics action took place in Athlone IT for day 2 of the Connacht Championships where the U14 to U19 age groups were taking place. Highlights included a blistering 9.61 for Ella Farrelly to take gold in the U14 hurdles and fever pitch excitement in the relays where Craughwell AC’s U16 boys were pipped for the Connacht title by the tiny fraction of one-hundredth of a second and later in the day the Craughwell U15 Girls relay holding on to win the Connacht title by a similar margin.

Kyle Moorhead after his win in the 1500m in AIT and Ross McGuinness who ran 1500m (Silver) and 800m

In the older age groups, Kyle Moorhead controlled the field in the U19 1500m, finishing off a tactical race with three very fast laps to win in 4:25. Freya Bohan placed 5th in the U19 60m sprint in a swift 8.45 but had to withdraw from remaining events due to a recurrent knee problem.

Ellie Cronin leaped to the Connacht U18 high jump title with a 1.50m clearance before exiting at 1.55m. Despite struggling a little over the last few weeks with a knee injury, it was a good high jump performance from Ellie and one she followed up later in the day with bronze in the 60m hurdles in 10.21 – perfectly timing her dip (or was it a trip!) at the end to dive over the line and take the bronze by 0.02 of a second!

In the U18 800m, Oisin Davis ran well to win silver in 2.06.40. Alisha Larkin raced to bronze in the U18 Girls 60m in a time of 8.43 and later improved on this with a silver medal in the 200m in 28.32 and also adding silver in the long jump with a fine 4.68m leap.

Ellie Cronin, Connacht U18 High Jump Champion 2020 and 
Alisha Larkin who won triple medals in U18 60m. 200m and LJ

Saoirse Moore and Saoirse Pierce who won silver and gold in the U17 Girls High Jump

U18/19 athletes
Oisin Davis, Alicia Larkin,Freya Bohan and Ellie Cronin

In the U17 age group, Ross McGuinness kicked things off with a solid 4.33.99 to win silver is a strong U17 Boys 1500m field. In the U17 Girls 1500m, Emily Miskella, recently recovering from injury was 5th in a respectable 5.25.14. Saoirse Pierce won a fine Connacht High Jump title with a leap of 1.45, pipping her club-mate Saoirse Moore who won silver in the same event with 1.35m. Saoirse Pierce also won bronze in the 60m Hurdles later in the day in a time of 11.00. Ross McGuinness couldn't quite shake off the earlier 1500m from his legs and ran 2.16.21 for 6th place in the 800m later in the day. Saoirse Moore ran bravely to come 4th in the U17 girls 800m in a time of 2:36.52. Lukas Schukat took silver in the high jump with a 1.65m clearance and bronze in the long jump with a leap of 4.60m.

Lukas Schukat who won silver and bronze in the U17 HJ and LJ

and Emily Miskella recovering from her 800m race in AIT

The U16s kicked off their day of action with some scintillating performances in the relays. First onto the track, the girls’ team of Aoibhe Donnellan, Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis and Ella Lyons stormed to silver medals in their 4x200m in a time of 1:53.79 followed by the club’s second team in 5th place in a time of 2:02.67 which featured Leonore Church, Erin Kelly, Aoibhe Fahy and Clodagh O’Meara. The boy’s team ran a super race to lose out on the line just by one-hundredth of a second to a strong South Galway AC team, a team who routinely feature on the National podium. The Craughwell team were Ryan McDonnell, Sean Cunningham, Evan Hallinan and Evan Quinn and they took silver in an excellent time of 1:43.59.

U16 Girls 4x200m team who won silver in the relay
Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis, Ella Lyons, Aouibhe Donnellan

U16 Girls 4x200m team who placed 5th in the relay
Clodagh O'Meara, Leonore Church, Aoibhe Fahy, Erin Kelly

Ryan McDonnell had a super sprinting day with silver in the 60m in 7.96 and 4th place in the 200m in 25.81 despite some confusion at the start of the 200m which gave him a slow start out of the blocks. Sean Cunningham powered to bronze in the 200m in an excellent 25.45, knocking 0.25s off his Galway time in the process.
Clodagh O’Meara was very impressive in the 800m with an excellent 2:37.39 and an electric last lap to take 4th place in 2:37.39, only a half-second off the bronze position. Alana Grogan took silver in the 1500m race walk in an excellent time of 9:16.29. Siofra Davis stormed to silver in the 60m hurdles in 10.15, edging closer and closer to the elite sub-10 mark with Leonore Church 4th in 11.20 and Ella Lyons 5th in 11.91.

Jade Moorhed, Connacht U16 High Jump Champion 2020
and Alana Grogan who won silver in the U16 Girls walk

Cian Lavin and Evan Hallinan
who won bronze and silver in the U16 Boys High Jump

Jade Moorhead took a fantastic gold in the girls high jump with first time clearances from 1.40m all the way up to 1.55m, with Siofra Davis 4th with 1.40 and Leonore Church and Erin Kelly in 5th and 6th with 1.30 and 1.25. Evan Hallinan took double silver in the U16 Boys long jump with 5.28m and in the high jump with a big clearance of 1.65m, with Cian Lavan 3rd in the high jump with 1.50m Evan Quinn placed 4th in the long jump with 4.68m with Cian Lavan 7th with 4.51, Calvin Ryan 11th with 4.02 and Andrew Power 12th with 3.89.

Ella Lyons was the leading Craughwell jumper in the U16 Girls long jump with a best of 4.21 to place 6th followed by Siofra Davis 7th with 4.17, Erin Kelly 8th with 4.12 and Aoibhe Fahy 10th with 3.97. In the boys shot putt, Calvin Ryan took silver with an impressive throw of 9.18m and in the girls, Aoibhe Fahy placed 4th with a best of 8.51m.

U15 Girls 4x200m team, Connacht Indoor Champions 2020!
Ella Farrelly, Grace Keaveney, Issy Fitzgerald, Tara Morgan

In the U15 age group, Aoibhe Donnellan raced to a brilliant PB of 8.33 to claim the Connacht title in the 60m, with Tara Morgan and Adara Salvo also racing to excellent times also of 9.22 and 9.64. Oliver Ginty place 8th in the boys 60m in an impressive 8.49 and went on later to take the silver medal in an excellent 2:19.30. Holly O’Boyle gave it her all in the 800m sticking in the leading group through 600m but lactic acid kicking in for the last 200m to place her 8th in a time of 2:44.47.

Grace Keaveney and Issy Fitzgerald
who won silver and gold in the U15 Girls Long Jump and High Jump

Aoibhe Donnellan and Tara Morgan
pictured after Aoibhe won the U15 Girls 60m Connacht title

In the jumps, Issy Fitzgerald took silver in the high jump with a 1.30m clearance while Grace Keaveney led the way with a super 4.41m leap to take the silver medal in the long jump. Sean Liston took bronze in the high jump with a comfortable 1.55m clearance and earlier ran 9.04 in the 60m sprint. Oliver Ginty placed 5th in the boys’ long jump with a leap of 4.43m while Tara Morgan placed 7th in the girls’ long jump with a 3.94m PB and Issy Fitzgerald 15th with 3.74m. Issy also placed 4th in the shot put with 7.27m, closely followed by Tara Morgan in 6th with 6.86m with Holly O’Boyle 9th with 4.32m.

The relays saw the U15 boys team place 4th in a time of 2:02.39 with Sean Lavan, Fionn Higgins, Sean Liston and Oliver Ginty while a fascinating finish saw the girls team claim the Connacht title in an excellent 1:57.79 with Ella Farrelly, Grace Keaveney, Issy Fitzgerald and Tara Morgan – Tara holding on in the last 200m to win by 0.01 of a second!

In the U14 grade, Ella Farrelly had a super day with triple Connacht titles and a bronze. Ella started her day with bronze in the 60m in 8.72 and following it up with triple Connacht titles in the hurdles in a fantastic time of 9.61 and in the long jump with an excellent 4.59 and later in the U15 relay to take the Connacht title. Amelie Grogan produced an incredible PB to take the silver medal in the long jump with 4.52m. Isabel Schukat took 4 place in the high jump with a 1.30m PB and placed 10th in the long jump with 3.82m. Alysso Salvo raced to a time of 9.50 in the 60m while Matthew Coleman placed 12th in the boys’ event with 9.16. Sean Lavin placed 8th in the boys’ 60m hurdles in a time of 12.15.

Craughwell U14 Girls 4x200m relay team
who placed 6th at the Connacht Championships

Keely and Amelie Grogan recorded times of 12.47 and 12.54 in the girls’ 60m hurdles with Keely leaping 3.59m in the long jump followed by Beth and Gillian Crowe with 3.39m and 3.34m. Sean Lavan took 4th place in the boy’s long jump with 3.78m with Fionn Higgins close behind in 5th place with 3.75m.

Darragh Kelly was very impressive in the high jump, claiming the Connacht title with a 1.50m leap off the opposite to what he is used to, switching sides due to an injury to his jumping foot and accomplishing an extremely rare ‘feet’ feat to be able to jump so well off either foot. Darragh also placed 6th in the shot with a throw of 6.89m with Sean Lavin 8th with 5.82m. In the relays, the U14 girls placed 6th in a time of 2:06.41 with Isabel Schukat, Keeley and Amelie Grogan, and Gillian and Beth Crowe).

Oisin Davis with his Connacht 800m Silver

Spectacular Success for U12/13s at Connachts!

Craughwell AC's U12 group at the Connacht Indoors

The club’s U12s and U13s enjoyed spectacular success at day 1 of the Connacht Indoors last Saturday in Athlone with over 40 athletes taking and between them featuring on the podium 28 times throughout the day, the top performing club by a distance. Well done to the group and all their coaches!

Ronnie’s U13s report

Craughwell u13s had a superb day in Athlone at the Connaught indoors with a total of 24 athletes taking part during the day.

Long jump - Keevagh Barry taking gold and Emma O Donavan making the 4th place qualifier for the Nationals. Emily Kinane and Megan Devane both had great days in the pit. Lauren Kilduff broke 3 times but no doubt will amend her run up and be back to her usual top 4 placing once again. Sean Hoade placed 2nd and Cian Brady placed 5th

60 meters sprint - Keevagh Barry winning gold with a massive PB and Claudia Fitzpatrick with an amazing run and PB to take 4th place national qualifier place. Emily Kinane, Ciara O Connor, Chloe Keane, Lauren Kilduff, Megan Devane all ran extremely well also. Cian Brady had an outstanding run to place 5th and picked up a new PB for his great effort

60-meter hurdles - Katelyn Walsh and Emily Kinane both had fine runs. Conor Penny took silver followed by Sean Hoade in 3rd. Declan O Connell had a great run and PB for his efforts

High Jump – Emma O Donavan won Gold and Chloe Keane finishing 3rd. Ciara O Connor also jumping very well. Conor Penny won Gold and Keelan Moorhead taking 4th to qualify for the nationals

600 meters – This in my opinion is an extremely hard event as the standard is so high to qualify. Emma O Donavan took bronze with an outstanding finish in the last 6om, which got the crowd going to say the least. Ciara o Connor had a great run and I believe a PB also. Keelan Moorhead got a PB and Declan O Connell ran their hearts out but only 3 to qualify and not their day.

Shot Put- Kiera Mernagh was our only athlete in the circle and as she said herself, "not my day", but I have no doubt will keep training and working to get her just rewards in the coming years in the shot put.

1000 Walk – Lillian Walsh took Bronze, with a new PB to match!

Lastly were the relays. We fielded 3 teams for the girls and 2 for the boys

• Chloe Keane, Ciara Mernagh, Kelly Hallinan and Lillian Walsh- team A
• Emily Kinane, Katelyn Walsh, Megan Devane and Ciara O Connor – Team B
• Lauren Kilduff, Keevagh Barry, Claudia Fitzpatrick and Emma O Donavan Team C- This team won Gold

With the boys relay teams

• Jack Farrell, Declan O Connell, Stephen Ruane and Dara Sweeney – team A. Special mention to Stephen and Jack who were both sick and missed a lot of training came down to run with their team mates and not let them down. That’s respect and team work right there.
• Conor Penny, Cian Brady, Sean Hoade and Keelan Moorhead – Team B. This team took Silver on the day.

Evan’s U12s report

An absolutely dominant weekend by Craughwell ACs U12 contingent. Our U12 team took home almost 40% of the medals on offer!! There were magnificent performances today from every single athlete. Here is a summary of all our athletes’ incredible achievements this weekend:

Relays:

The boys Relay teams won both Gold medals and Bronze medals, ensuring that Craughwell AC is represented by two teams in the Nationals:

• Gold: Jack Cahill, Eanna Morrissey, Oran Collins, Sam Casey and Stephen Joyce
• Bronze: Stephen Joyce, Kai Watters, Tom Malone, Keelan Griffin and Ethan Stace

The girls not to be outdone by the boy went out and won the Silver medal:

• Silver: Aeveen Kelly, Remy Alymer, Lauren Morgan and Rachel Warde

60m Sprints:

Boys:
Gold - Jack Cahill
Bronze - Eanna Morrissey
Girls:
Bronze: Rachel Warde

60m Hurdles:

Boys:
Gold - Jack Cahill
Girls:
Silver - Rachel Warde

Shot Put:
Boys:
Gold - Oran Collins
Girl
Gold - Ava Doyle

Long Jump:
Boys:
Gold - Sam Casey
Bronze - Eanna Morrissey
Girls:
Gold - Lauren Morgan

High Jump:
Boys:
Gold - Sam Casey
Girls:
Silver: Gemma Cloonan
Silver: Ava Doyle

PBs:

• Stephen Joyce: Beat his 600m time by 4sec (1.54)
• Aeveen Kelly: Beat her 600m time by 8 sec (2.01)
• Claudia Coyle: Beat her 600m time by 5 sec (2.01)
• Jack Cahill: Improved his High Jump by 5cm to jump 1.20
• Beth Glynn: Set a new PB with a great 12.5 in the 60mH
• Ethan Stace: Threw a new Shot Put PB with a toss of 6.27

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