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Leanagh Claims National Bronze!

Leanagh Gilligan with a super performance at the Irish Schools Combined Events in Athlone
to place 3rd in the Senior Girls age group

A number of athletes from the club made the short trip to Athlone IT yesterday for the Irish Schools Combined Events where Leanagh Gilligan shined to claim the bronze medal in the Senior Girls Pentathlon.

It was Leanagh’s first individual national medal since soaring to the gold medal in the U12 Girls High Jump in 2013 despite going close on a number of occasions since then. It was so wonderful to see her claim a PB of 1.52m in the high jump and go on to claim the National bronze with performances of 4.90 in the long jump, 5.92 in the shot, 10.93 in the hurdles and 3:02.59 for a total of 2331 points.

Also in action Ellie Cronin placed 13th in the Intermediate Girls with a solid 2357 points including 4.39m in the long jump, 10.25 in the hurdles, 7.43m in the shot, 1.46m in the high jump and 3.:01.61 in the 800m.

Siofra Davis took 7th place in the Junior Girls grade with fine performances of 10.39 in the hurdles, 1.46 in the high jump, 7.50 in the shot, 4.21 in the long jump and 2.42.81 in the 800m for an impressive points total of 2483. Leonore Church was also impressive with 2.42.20 in the 800m, 1.46 in the high jump, 10.93 in the hurdles, 6.80 in the shot and 3.73 in the long jump for an overall total of 2243 points and 10th place.

Well done all!

Info for tomorrow's xcountry in Ballina

The Connaught Cross Country Championships (under 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, Seniors, Master’s) will take place in Belleek, Ballina on the 10th of November with the first race to start at 12:00. The finest cross country runners from the Western region encompassing the counties of Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon and Longford will descend on the beautiful North Mayo town to take on the beautiful but challenging parkland course.

Moy Valley Athletic Club, in consultation with Ballina Municipal District, are encouraging all who will travel to the event to use the Council owned parking facilities in Ballina (especially at (1) the Market Square; (2) adjacent to Dunne’s Stores and LIDL; and (3) Bachelor’s Walk) and then make the relatively short walk to Belleek. The cross country course is best accessed via the historic Belleek Gatehouse (https://goo.gl/maps/soKb35e4vSN2 ). There will be both Garda and club stewards in the area to minimise traffic delays so please observe their directions.

Registration

The race Headquarters will be Ballina Town Football Club (https://goo.gl/maps/FwAMjpvH7hm) but please note that race numbers will be given out in a designated tent on the cross country course itself until 11:30 am.

Course Map

The course will be laid out in two laps as detailed below. The small lap is 400m long and the blue lap is almost 1000m long with a run to the finish line of almost 100m, Where the 400m lap is required, athletes will run the shorter lap first. Therefore, the race distances will be covered as follows:

1500m = 1 small loop; 1 large loop

2500m = 1 small loop; 2 large loops

3500m = 1 small loop; 3 large loops

4000m = 4 large loops

5000m = 5 large loops

6000m = 6 large loops

8000m = 8 large loops

Autumn Gold in Stunning Sligo

The venue was Calry, Sligo - a course with a reputation for mud, hills and more mud. With the heavy rain of late spirits were muted in the cars on the nearly 2 hour drive from Craughwell - however when we got out and walked the mist-covered course, we had a pleasent surprise.  The long drags were still there, but the course was runnable with only about 200m of the 1km lap that were really muddy.  Rumour has it the farmer had switched from Cattle to Sheep, and we were all grateful for it!  The course is set in a spectacular setting in Yeats country and as the mist burned off we were treated to some great views.  Each lap is just over 1km, and consists of a 500m drop followed by a 500m drag.  The finish in particular is a gut-churning 250m straight up a long drag, brilliant for spectators and we saw some superb battles.

Craughwell athletes featured in almost every race and the results were smashing as usual with every child giving their all and doing themselves proud.  Craughwell did brilliantly in all the age groups, with the highlights being a superb individual gold from Caron Ryan and a brilliant team Gold from the u12 boys.

[note: results aren't released yet, let me know if there are errors or omissions, or if you know of some more results!]

Sisters in arms! - the u12 Bronze medal winning team

The u12 Girls 2000m kicked things off with a simply superb team effort to claim Bronze.  Aeveen Kelly, Emma O'Donovan, Keevagh Barry, Amelie Bocquet, Ciara O'Connor and Katelyn Walsh wore the green and white with pride and each had a big part to play in the result.

The u12 boys 2000m fared even better, with one of the runs of the day coming from Keelan Moorehead in their race, leading his teammates of Stephen Joyce (6th), Stephen Ruane (7th), Declan O'Connell (12th), Cian Brady,  and Jack Farrell to Gold.  With 3 finishers in the top 10 of a superb field, they always had a superb chance of winning.  Keelan was in Bronze position at the base of that long tough finish, but just got pipped to 4th at the end of the climb.

The u12 boys delighted after their superb performances!

Next up in the u14 boys 3000m race, Sean Liston and Mathys Bocquet donned the green and white for the 3km race. Mathys was my strong pre-race pick for the win as he has been training very consistently, but as they say "there is always someone!".  In this case the entire field looked strong up front.  Mathys and another fine (Swinford?) athlete  moved clear after a lap.  They ran close to each other, with Mathys just a few steps behind for the first two laps.  With about 1000m to go, the lead athlete put on a surge and the gap stretched from three paces to about 10 and try as he might, Mathys couldn't rein him in.  It was a superb race and no doubt these two will meet each other again in Abbotstown on the 24th!  Sean Liston finished strongly, running hard all the way.

Emily rightly delighted with her Silver

The u16 girls 4000m was the next Craughwell race, and we had one competitor in Emily Miskella.  This was a fascinating race to watch - many of the competitors familiar with each other from the Connacht endurance squad and other events.  It started out so tactically with the entire field grouped together and feeling each other out for a lap.  After they had completed the first lap, the leaders added an injection of pace from the middle of the hill and the field soon spread out into several groups.  Emily watched all the moves carefully and put herself in a good position in the first three.  This group of three eventually pulled clear of the field and it was all about the colours of the medals for them from about 2.5k on.  About half way through the final lap, one girl put on an almighty surge and broke clear so Emily was left in a battle for Silver.  She won that battle in a real barnstormer of a run down the back straight, broken clear by the bottom of the hill finish.  It was a real "give it all" performance from Emily, and an absolutely brilliant performance to watch.

The boys putting the athlete into triathlete!

In the boys u16 4000m, Ross McGuinness and Anthony Boyle represented Craughwell in yet another stacked field.  This race started at a pheonomenal pace and the field soon got spread out.  Ross attached himself to the leading group of three and they broke clear of the chasing pack.  Ross looked comfortable with about 2km ran, but at this stage another surge happened and he found himself unable to respond on this occasion and a gap developed.  He held on bravely for an excellent 3rd place finish.  Anthony was running his first ever Cross Country and he totally blew all my expectations out of the water!  He ran an exceptionally smart race.  He didn't get sucked into the early chaos, picking off runners all the way through his race.   At one stage he was in 6th position, but in the end I think he got 7th overall - an exceptional debut from Anthony!

Anthony in full flight

Emma Boyle was our sole competitor in the u18 girls 4000m race.  This race was exactly the kind I hate being in - it had a small field of about 10 athletes but everyone was good so there was nowhere to hide!  Emma was totally unphased and settled in over the first lap and found her rhythm.  In the end she came 4th which was a superb result.

In the boys u18/Junior 6000m race, the pace was ferocious!  Luke Burke was the only Craughwell competitor and he was running smartly in the early laps but unfortunately developed a pain in his foot so decided wisely to live to run another day.

Sinead, Emily and Ailbhe who is itching to get back!

In the Senior Women's 4000m race, Craughwell had two competitors - both on comebacks!  Caron Ryan hadn't raced all year and was itching to get her spikes on again.  Sinead Gaffney has been racing but this was her first competive Cross Country in many years.  Caron made a triumphant return with a superb solo run up front from the gun to claim a marvellous first position.  Sinead got carried away a little in the first Kilometer but ran a superb run and won't find a tougher course than that to test her!  Welcome back to both ladies!

Golden lady! Caron makes a fabulous return!

Last race of the day was the Senior men's 8000m race with quite a large field of 40 or 50 athletes from all over the province.  Craughwell fielded a strong team of Kevin Mooney, Jack Miskella, Gavin Cooney and Mark Davis.  The longer slogs can sometimes suit the old dogs and so it transpired on this occasion as I managed to work my way through the field until I ended up in a nice see-saw battle with a Moy Valley lad.  I had a good night's sleep and felt fresh enough to push for home early and was pretty surprised and happy with taking 3rd - a good boost two weeks out from the 5-nations in Aintree.  Next home for Craughwell was Jack in about 6th or 7th, followed by Gavin in 11th and the carefully building Kevin not far behind.   Exceptional running from all and results not out yet but I think Craughwell were most likely first club on the day.

All laughs - I'd say we were first team?

 

Cross Country Update

Best of luck to all of our athletes competing in Sligo this Sunday in the Connacht even age groups and senior cross-country!! 

The club has a rich history in the event. For those of you who like stats, names and placings ... check out this document for details of our performances since 2002 for the age groups from U11 to U20. Our most successful year ever was back in 2013 when we had 95 participants over the 2 days of the championships with 13 teams featuring on the podium.

Logistics for Sunday are as follows:

• Date: Sunday, 3rd Nov 2019
• Time: Starts 12 noon Sharp
• Venue: St. Josephs GAA Club, Hazelwood Road (R286), Sligo
  (do not go to Calry village)
• https://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Calry%2FSt.+Josephs+GAA+Grounds%4054.26957245675592,-8.41778039932251&t=h&z=16

NB. The course itself is on the fields behind the GAA pitch. Hazelwood Service Station which contains a shop (with tea/coffee and sandwiches etc.) is located close to the GAA club.

Race Distances

BOYS

• U12, 2000m
• U14, 3000m
• U16, 4000m
• U18, 6000m
• Junior, 6000m
• Novice, Senior, Masters 8000m
• O65, 4000m

GIRLS

• U12, 2000m
• U14, 3000m
• U16, 4000m
• U18, 4000m
• Junior, 4000m
• Novice, Senior, Masters 4000m
  
  

Course Map

 

Catch-up On Connacht Primary Schools XC

A little late in getting this report up onto the website but here it goes for historical purposes!

The Connacht finals of the primary schools cross country took place a couple of weeks ago at Moyne Community College in Longford. I know, people are always asking when did Connacht take over Longford– I guess with Galway now the 4th most popular place in the world, it’s cool to be from Connacht! Interestingly I see on Wikipedia that it says Longford was added to Leinster by King James I in 1608 and had previously been considered part of Connacht – so I guess the 1607 version of the race might have been held in Moyne too!

There with many superb performances by athletes from the club on the day. Races got underway at noon with the Junior Girls 800m where Craughwell NS’s Mia Hollingsworth was first home from the club in an excellent 15th place, leading her team to 5th place overall just 7 points shy of bronze medals – with Gemma Cloonan 31st, Beth Glynn 40th, Jenna Brady 59th and Aoileann O'Connor 65th. Seven points is nothing in a cross-country, less than 2 places per runner, probably less than 2 metres per runner – so the girls were very unlucky not to score a team medal. It would have extended a 9-year winning streak for Craughwell NS teams to feature in the top 3 in Connacht, but unlucky to miss out on this occasion.

However that close miss was quickly eclipsed by an outstanding run from the youngest member of the Moorhead running dynasty – with Keelan running an absolutely incredible race to place 6th overall in the Senior Boys – the highest place ever achieved by a pupil from Craughwell NS in that race. To do that a year out of age is testament to Keelan’s talent as there have been many fine runners from Craughwell NS taking part in this race down through the years.

The previous best finish was 8th place and was jointly held by Keelan’s older brother Kyle along with Ross McGuinness. We need to bottle the sibling rivalry that brought that run out of Keelan and reapply it as often as possible! If there was a battle for Craughwell’s most talented athletics family, the Moorheads would definitely be up there near the top with all three of Kyle, Jade and Keelan excelling at the highest levels.

Kyle is picrtured across after his 8th place finish in 2014.

Back to the races, Katelyn Walsh (Craughwell NS) had a fine run in the Senior Girls 1000m taking 16th place overall – a super run a year out of age and next year Katelyn will be eyeing up the top placing of 9th place held by Clodagh O’Meara in the senior girls race to become Craughwell NS’s top girl finisher! Full details of previous performances from the school are here.

Stephen Ruane (Scoil Iosaif Naofa Oranmore) had an outstanding run in the Senior Boys race to take 9th place and lead his school team to the silver medals with Sean Martyn also featuring in 31st place and Liam O’Donnell in 62nd and continue Oranmore Boys school’s long and proud history in the race. Cian Connaughton placed 25th overall to lead his Carrabane NS team to 6th place.

Ballymana Ns’s Laura Flynn had a strong run in the Junior Girls race placing 32nd while in the Junior Boys race, Stephen Joyce (Scoil Iosaif Naofa Oranmore) has a marvelous run to take individual 3rd place and lead his school to 5th place in the team event. Craughwell NS placed 10th in the junior boys race led home by Alan Hallinan in 14th place followed by Darragh O’Donnell, Sean Colleran, Charlie Daniels and Zach Keane. And misfortune befell the exceptionally talented Ballymana NS senior girls team who were warming up when their races started way earlier than expected and the Galway champions missed out.

Full results of this years Connachts are here.

Siofra Takes Connacht Pentathlon Title!

XC Success from Abbotstown to Bushfield

Marvellous Autumn Sunshine and cool fresh breezes bathed two of the finest cross country courses in Ireland - Abbotstown in Dublin and Bushfield in Loughrea as Craughwell AC sent teams out to battle on either side of the Country.

Autumn Open Success

The Autumn Open held at the National Cross Country Course in Abbotstown is one of the premier Cross Country events in the Irish Calendar, second only to the National XC.  It is an unusual event in that the top Juniors, Seniors and Masters athletes in Ireland are all launched off together in a massive and frenetic start.  The Juniors running 6k (4 laps) and the Seniors/Masters covering 7.5k (5 laps).  Abbotstown was in good shape, aside from the hill up the back which was muddy and almost unending, dragging up about 400m in total I'd guess.  In each event, a top 6 position put you in strong stead for international selection. As a whole, Craughwell enjoyed our best ever day at the event on Sunday!

Craughwell had 6 athletes in total entered - Jack Miskella (Senior), Paul Joyce (Senior), Mark Davis (Masters), Kyle Moorehead (Jun), William Fitzgerald (Jun) and Sinead Gaffney. 

In the Junior 6km event, both of the lads had fantastic runs - the popular and talented William Fitzgerald who is just 17 cruised through the field, attacking the hill on each round and maintaining a strong pace throughout to finish a wonderful 15th position overall among the very elite under 20s in Ireland. This is the best ever Craughwell Finish in this event, and a fantastic breakthrough run for a smashing and talented athlete.  If William keeps this steady level of improvement, he can challenge for honours at this event in the future, I have no doubt.  Next home for Craughwell in another breakthrough run was 16-year old Kyle Moorehead in a superb 33rd place.  Kyle ran a big PB for his 5k of 17.30 on a muddy hilly cross country course, which gives you an idea of his pace. 

Spot the Craughwellites!  Mark, Kyle and Paul are in here somewhere

In the Senior/Masters 7.5k event, I achieved one of my goals for the year (lifetime?) by claiming 4th and a guaranteed spot on the Irish M45 team for the British and Irish Masters in England next month.  The warm-up races in Castlegar and Tuam where I suffered in the second half served me well and my strategy was to take it a bit easy for the first two of the five laps, especially up the hills.  A glance at the watch 500m into the albeit downhill start showed 3:04 per km so I put the brakes on a bit and settled into things, hoping that patience would see people come back to me.  One nice feature of this race is that the masters guys have their age category on their backs so it was easier to see who you were up against... unfortunately my eyesight is not the best so sometimes I chased a lad down to dissapointedly see that he was an M35!.  Anyhow as things went on, people did come back and happily for me, the hard work of the last 3 months paid off, job done, really delighted! :).

Jack charging ahead!

In the Senior event, Jack Miskella had a super run, taking exactly the opposite strategy of mine.  He headed out hard and hoped that pride would bring him home!  It did bring him home but the last lap was a character test I'd say!  He finished with a fine 38th position overall in the Seniors.  Paul Joyce had one of those days by his high standards, but ran bravely to finish in a very respectable 42nd position.  A lot more to come from Paul.. watch this space!

The event also incorporated an "Experience" event which was similar to a road race, and Sinead Gaffney ran the higher standard version as a good hard training run.  Sinead performed brilliantly to finish 4th in the race of over 300 participants!  Fantastic stuff Sinead - rumour has it this track specialist might actually be starting to get the cross country bug!

Meanwhile... in Bushfield!

Bushfield was at its glorious best as the very best athletes in the County competed in the Even Ages Championships.  (I wasn't able to make today's event and am typing this report before the official results are out, so I might have some corrections to make - apologies if so - I'll correct when I get them, also - if you have pics of anyone not below, please send on!!)

The first race of the day was the under 10 Girls where a fantastic team led home by a brilliant run from Remy Aylmer included Anna Kelly, Avril Reidy, Aisling Lavan, Jenna Brady, Aoileann O'Connor, Ciara Havil, Laura Kelly, Ciara Niland, Faye Whelan, Sophie Meehan, Lily May Grealish and Allie Brady.  They all combined wonderfully to take a marvellous Silver medal.  You go girls!!

Cross Country is Serious Stuff!!

The under 10 boys matched the girls with a team Silver and added a wonderful individual Gold medal to things from Alan Hallinan!  People in attendance reported Alan's run as one of the performances of the day.  Congrats to him and his huge crew of teammates:  Alan Warde, Eoghan Geraghty, Luke Connaughton, Donal Coyle, Oisin O'Donovan, Dara Kavanagh, Oisin Molloy, Killian Burke, Eoghan Morrissey, Charlie Daniels, Michael Baylon, Daithi Lawless, Noah Brady, Rhys Whelan, Joshua Whiriskey, Darragh Higgins, Zach Keane, Oisin Fallon, Daniel Harty, Darragh O'Donnell, Sean Niland and James Niland!

The under 12 Girls won a fabulous GOLD with the super team of Keevagh Barry, Katelyn Walsh, Jessica Walsh, Emma O Donovan, Eabha Molloy, Ciara o Conor, Aeeven Kelly, Megan Smith and Claudia Coyle.  Keevagh, Katelyn and Emma all scored in the top 10 of a very strong field!

Again, the under 12 Boy's team matched their female counterparts with a fantastic performance.  They were led home by Declan O'Connell in a brilliant 2nd position, followed by Stepen Ruane in 3rd and Keelan Moorehead in 4th. Cian Brady was in the top 10 and Jack Farrell was not far behind him!

With the u14 Girls, Craughwell didn't have a team, but Holly O'Boyle ran excellently to finish well up the strong field in 7th position.  

In the u14 boys race, Mathys Bocquet put on one of his trademark displays of dominant front running to take GOLD by literally a country mile.  He was really not troubled from start to finish in the race, and all the early signs are positive for a smashing season from him.  Fionn Higgins and Sean Liston also ran strongly in the race.

Sadly, with girls athletics the numbers tend to drop off after Junior cert (especially in Connacht for some reason, something we need to work on!) so they combined the u16 and the u18 races into one 4000m event.  Combining them worked well as by all accounts the girl's u16 race was one of the most exciting races of the day for the spectators!  The field soon split up as a leading group of four took out the pace in a chess match to see who could claim top position.  Emily Miskella (u16) and Emma Boyle (u18) were well placed in that top group of four but as they moved into the final lap the pace increased once more and Emily and another u16 athlete broke away from the group to make it a straight shootout to the line with 300m to go.  However, Emily is a smart racer and had saved plenty in the tank - as they rounded the corner she eased into the lead to claim the GOLD in a solid display of tactical racing, completing a Galway double for her with both the u16 and u17 titles.  Emily's performance was enough to lead her u16 teammates of Clodagh O'Meara, Leonore Church, Siofra Davis and Allanah Grogan to a memorable GOLD, all of whom ran brilliantly on the day.  

Under 16 County Champions 2019!!  Doubling up!!

 

Em and Em! The u16 and u18 County XC Champions 2019!

The next race up was the u16 Boys Race where Ross McGuinness was hotly tipped to reclaim his crown from last year.  Ross went to the front but was joined by another fine athlete from GCH new to the scene, and as the 4500m race came to a finish, Ross got pipped in the home straight in a good battle that can only help him as the season progresses.  

Emma Boyle had a superb first outing in a good while to claim a smashing GOLD in the u18 girls in her first run for the club, hopefully the first of many successes for the popular athlete!

Luke Burke was the sole Craughwell Athlete, stepping up in the u18 Boys race and Luke performed strongly, winning Bronze in the u18 race.

In the men's Intermediate race, David Evans had a super run, picking up hugely from his Tuam performance - as he says himself he is "still learning!" - aren't we all!!  The women's intermediate race had one entrant - fellow endurance coach Lisa Thomas donned the spikes for the first time since her childhood and did herself proud in the event.  She went out too hard (don't we all!) but recovered strongly and has a base to build on!

Craughwell Blitz Galway Cross Country 1st Leg

Glorious sunshine lit up the beautiful grounds of Palace park in Tuam as the Galway Uneven and Senior Cross Country kicked off the season for 2019.  Storm Lorenzo might have departed without causing too much damage, but the weeks of heavy rain had taken their toll on the course and large sections were muddy and heavy going underfoot.  The route itself was changed slightly from previous years and was anything but boring always undulating and presenting the athletes with something fresh to consider (even if just "what the heck am I doing here?").

Clubs from all corners of the county were proudly sporting their colours and the grounds were full of smiling kids sporting wide grins.  None were grinning wider than the Craughwell kids who enjoyed spectacular success at all ages and all did themselves and their area proud. Kudos to Tuam AC and the Country board on a fantastic event.

[Results are not yet published so apologies if I miss someone - just send me a message and I'll edit the article!]

Under 9: Girls and Boys run a stormer for Bronze
It's a big moment lining up for your first ever Cross Country and these under 9s performed brilliantly over the tough course. 

First of the girls was Sophie Meehan, closely followed by Allie Brady and Lily May Grealish.  The boys had a quartet and it was strong enough to win a superb bronze, with James Niland leading the way followed by his brother Sean Niland, Ciaran McNena and Donal Coyle.  Well done guys and enjoy your athletics journey from here, it's going to be something special!

Under 11: GOLD for Hallinan! Girls take Bronze while Boys take Silver

Aisling Lavan ran spectacularly to lead her teammates Claudia Coyle, Aeveen Kelly, Ciara Niland, Laura Flynn, Ellie Niland, Leah Ryan and Laura Kelly to a richly deserved bronze.  All the girls had fine races.

The boys went one better as Alan Hallinan led the field home in a spectacular show of front running to win an amazing Gold medal.  WELL DONE Alan!!  He was followed by fast finishing teammates Alan Warde, Keelan Griffin, Noah Brady, Zach Keane and Oisin Fallon in a great finish.

Alan Hallinan Storms his way to Gold!

Silver (mud) Surfers!

Under 13: Girls and boys power home

Multitalented athlete Claudia McGuinness was first Craughwell girl home in the Under 13s.  Claudia was followed by Amelie Bocquet who after a smashing start had trouble catching her breath in the second half but finished very bravely. Third home for Craughwell was Katie Flynn in a fine run. 

Claudia driving home in a fabulous run!

Stephen Ruane stepped up in age and came home 4th in a tight finish in the boys race - an incredible result.  Keelan Moorehead ran hard all the way to finish in the top 10 overall in a very high standard and close-fought affair.  

Under 15: Two Golds and a Silver!

Dream Team!  The 2019 Galway Cross Country Champions from Craughwell, led home by Silver winning Aoibhe Carr

The under 15 girls race was one of the standout races of the day with incredible performances throughout.  The brilliant Aoibhe Carr had an absolutely amazing performance to build up through the field and power home to a marvellous individual Silver behind an exceptional South Galway Athlete.  It's the fact that she does almost of all of her running chasing after a sliotar that makes the achievement so remarkable. Holly O'Boyle who was stepping up to the age, had another incredible run to build up through her rivals and come second for the team.  Next home was Clodagh O'Meara in a great performance followed closely by Anna Cotter, Siofra Davis, Leonore Church, Alana Grogan and Jade Moorehead.  The team did enough to easily claim GOLD in a smashing team effort - well done ladies, you are just brill!!

Mathys all smiles after his Step-up win

In the U15 Boys Race, Mathys Bocquet stepped up in age to take GOLD in a typically fantastic run.  The popular Mathys has endless endurance and chewed up the hills to win ahead of a very talented Castlegar athlete.  In fact, the first 3 athletes home in this race were stepping up so we should see a similar battle again on the 20th in Bushfield!  Great to have 3 such talented youngsters in the county.  Killian Walsh had a smashing run to finish as next Craughwell athlete home in a great battle all the way with Liam Shaw of Athenry, followed by Evan Hallinan who is still recovering from injury.  

Killian won this particular battle!

Under 17: Another two GOLDs and a Silver!

As often happens since they run the same 4000m distance, it was decided to combine the u17, u19 and Senior ladies in the same race.  Emily Miskella ran with her traditional fluidity to a fine Gold in the u17 race, and in fact she was 4th overall in the entire field which included some very experienced and talented (not to mention tough!) ladies!.  A smashing run from Emily yet again.  Incidentally Craughwell AC Coach Jane Anne Meehan also race excellently after a rotten season with Injury to claim a Silver in the Senior ladies.

The u17 boys team won Bronze in the all Ireland last year, but were down a couple of members due to GAA and Snorkling commitments!  The remaining two members Oisin Davis and Ross McGuinness (stepping up) acquitted themselves admirably taking Gold and Silver respectively.  Oisin and Ross have a tradition of beating each other every second race and Oisin took his turn this time after Ross pipped him at Castlegar.  It was a smashing run from both guys as they decimated the field with a pretty brutal pace.  In 3rd place representing Caltra was honourary wolfpack member David Hillary.

 

Under 19 and Senior men: Craughwell win almost everything?

The u19 and Junior men started with the Seniors for the last race of the day, and had one of the best turnouts for many years.  The large field of Senior men ran 8 Kilometers, while the Juniors and u19s ran a little over 6km.  William Fitzgerald had perhaps the most head turning run of the day to drive home as first Junior.  He caught up with the leading Senior about 4km in and really turned the screw for the last two km in a faultless display of effortless running, sailing over the mud and hills.  Effortless is the only word to describe his running. Fellow u19 Patrick Noonan also had a cracking run to win a superb Silver medal, also beating the Senior men to the 6km mark.

Craughwell Men - Galway Senior Cross Country Champions 2019

In the Senior men's race, I (Mark Davis) had been training pretty hard recently and decided to push the boat out in the 8k at the start and see what would happen. As I ran around I could hear stuff like "Dad's gone off a bit mad again" from my peripheral hearing.  Turns out they were right as the wheels duly came off at about 5 or 6k and got passed by a fine GCH athlete John Moroney.  We were both suffering from the hard start but he bore it a lot better and had a decent lead by the end.  In truth I should have made him work a bit more for the win, but it would have been tough and the result probably the same!  Still, happy enough with second (or 1st o35 as it happens).. my best ever Galway finish I think! 

3rd man past the finish line and second Senior was a massive surprise to me as I honestly thought he would die a death (no offense Paul!).  Despite several years off and a very conservative training load, Paul Joyce breezed home comfortably in 3rd with just an outrageous run for someone at this stage - his ability is astonishing.  Next home for the club was Gavin Cooney in a fine run - I didn't quite get his position but the 800m specialist was well in the top 10 or 12.  Kevin Mooney who typically leads any Craughwell team home was 4th scorer in about 15th position.  This was basically Kevin's first run of any sort since he he got married a month ago and if he was trying to find out which works best - training or not training, I think he has his answer!.  He has signed up for a really interesting Spring Marathon so expect to see him revert back to the front shortly.  David Evans was next home for Craughwell and I think 3rd o50 in another fabulous run on not his favoured surface!  All in all it was enough to win the Senior County Cross Country championship for the first time in a good few years (I'd need to check the records but it's been a while since I was on one!).  This is a great achievement from a small village and something to be very proud of.

 

Local Schools Shine at Primary Schools XC Finals

Craughwell NS Squad at the Galway Primary Schools Cross Country Finals in Renmore

The Galway Primary Schools Cross Country finals took place last Tuesday in Renmore with some fantastic performances by athletes from the club and half of the medal winning teams featuring athletes from the club with Oranmore taking 2 Galway team titles, Ballymana 1 team title, Craughwell 1 team silver and 1 team bronze and Carrabane 1 team silver.

Oranmore Boys School led the way with super team victories in both the 3/4th class boys race and the 5/6th class boys race, continuing a fine tradition for the school who have been 1 of the top cross country primary schools in Galway over the last 20 years. In the 3/4th class race, Stephen Joyce put in a commanding performance to take the individual victory and lead his team to glory with David Casserly 3rd, Aaron Hanrahan 22nd, Ojay Emihian 29th, Patrick McGrath 59th and Sean Cleare 66th. Later their older schoolmates put in an equally convincing performance to take the senior boys title with Stephen Ruane leading the way with a fine 8th place followed by Stephen Caulfield 15th, Daniel Gilbert 28th, Sean Martyn 36th, Liam O'Donnell 62nd and Daithi McCearra 79th.

Ballymana NS won an historic Galway team title in the Senior Girls race with Keevagh Barry leading the team home in 7th place followed by Emma O’Donovan in 12th, Gillian Crowe 16th, Amelie Grogan 35th, Beth Crowe 71st and Keely Grogan 72nd – with the team overflowing with twins!

It was a super day also for Craughwell NS who took team silver in the Junior Girls 800m with Mia Hollingworth first home in 9th place followed by Gemma Cloonan 31st, Beth Glynn 35th, Jenna Brady 45th, Emilly Hewitt 80th and Aoileann O'Connor 85th. The school followed it up with a bronze medal winning performance in the Junior Boys race with Alan Hallinan leading the way in 8th place, Jack Cahill 23rd, Daniel Farrelly 33rd, Darragh O'Donnell 58th, Eoin Middleton 73rd and Sean Colleran 83rd.

Carrabane’s Louis Keary led his school to team silver in the Senior Boys with a 19th place finish followed by Cian Connaughton 20th, Alex O'Grady 27th, Thomas Gallagher 42nd, Phillip Walsh 56th and Jack Reidy 119th.

Katelyn Walsh led the Craughwell Senior Girls team to 6th place with an individual 14th place finish followed by Ciara O’Connor in 22nd, Lauren Morgan 56th, Claudia McGuinness 66th, Chloe Keane 83rd and Alanna Clancy 90th.

There were strong performances also from many more from the club notably Craughwell’s Keelan Moorhead 12th in the Senior Boys race, Ballymana’s Laura Flynn 12th in the Junior Girls, Clarinbridge’s Aeveen Kelly and Aisling Lavan 26th and 27th nm in the Junior Girls; Ballymana’s Oisin O’Donovan 28th in the Juniors Boys.

Full results of the finals are here and of the semi-finals a week earlier here. The top 3 teams and the top 15 individuals from the finals proceed to the Connacht finals which will be held at noon on Sunday 13th October on the grounds of Moyne Community School in Longford. Best of luck to all of the athletes from the club and local schools who are taking part!

Delirious in de Leiria!

Ireland Ireland together standing tall !!

Craughwell AC’s history making U20 women’s team enjoyed a fantastic weekend at the European Club Champions Cup held in Leiria Portugal. Months and months of preparation finally came to fruition last Saturday in the biggest team event in the club’s history. Having qualified in June 2018 for the 2019 edition of the U20 European Clubs Champions Cup, athletes and management have juggled family, work, leaving cert, junior cert, college exams, other sports, injuries, holidays etc to finally get to the big day.

The travelling party comprised team management Mike Tobin and Aisling Keady, team physio Sinead Gaffney, team gear sponsor Celia Miskella of PM Technical, team photographer Daithi Cronin, team captain Laura Cunningham and vice-captain Lorraine Delaney and squad members Ailbhe Miskella, Alisha Larkin, Aoife Kelly, Arlene Earls, Ava Finn, Caoilin Milton, Ciana Reidy, Ciara Sheppard, Ellie Cronin, Eva Whyte, Freya Bohan, Lauren McNally, Leanagh Gilligan, Sarah Woods, Shauna Tobin, Siona Lawless along with coaches and family members including Lisa Thomas, Eddie McNally, Alison Finn, Rita Kelly, Kevin Larkin, Lucy Cunningham, Maeve O’Toole, Caroline Earls, Joe Delaney, Mary Delaney, Declan Sheppard and Emily Miskella.

Competing against the cream of European athletics from right across the continent, the Craughwell AC girls put in a superb performance to place 8th in the competition. For a club from a small village in rural Ireland, it was an incredible achievement to be competing at the top level of European athletics and one that the athletes will remember forever. Very few athletes from any club make it to this level and the club is immensely proud of the 18 girls who represented Ireland with distinction and with great composure at these championships.

A lot of pieces of the puzzle fell into place in the last couple of weeks. The fabulous set of gear designed by team manager Aisling Keady and sponsored by Celia and Paul Miskella of PM Technical/D&S Construction had all arrived, the last piece just 2 days before we were due to fly; our pole vault and javelin equipment was confirmed as acceptable oversized baggage by Aer Lingus; the Portuguese organiser confirmed our accommodation arrangements; a few injuries cleared up particularly team captain Laura Cunningham’s knee injury. Everything was falling into place and worries were starting to fade.

Eddie and Kevin size up the photographer before agreeing to get on the bus with him

Departure day arrived. We met at noon at Jody’s Spar/Topaz who were sponsoring our team bus to and from Dublin Airport and allowing us to park in the rear yard for the weekend. After several photos and some admin work, we got ourselves organised to depart on the bus around 12.45pm with a police escort from local custodian of the peace Willie O’Connor to whisk us out of Craughwell before Irish Water dug up the road!

The gang before departing from Jody's who sponsored our bus transport
pictured with Jody and also Paul Miskella of PM Technical who sponsored our gear

Our flight was at 7pm from terminal 2 but we were giving ourselves plenty of time to get there as the group was so large and as we had oversized baggage to check in. After a brief stop at Applegreen, we got to the airport with 3 hours to spare and headed to the oversized baggage area with the bag of poles and javelin. The bag was quite light but very long … almost 4 metres. To our horror the chap at the oversized baggage check-in whipped out his measuring tape, measured the length and slowly shook his head from side to side – his conveyor belt could only take something 2.7 metres long. We protested that we had explained this to the group booking department but unfortunately that was not enough to magically make his conveyor belt capable of taking longer items – but he said we’d have to go to Aer Lingus help desk to check it in as cargo.

That sounded ok – so off went myself Ciana and Kevin to the help desk. We were dealt with by a wonderful lady who spent at least 30 minutes and 10 phone calls trying to sort out our problem and get several different management approvals to redirect our equipment to terminal 1 where she hoped it would be accepted on a different type of baggage check-in/x-ray belt. There was no guarantee that it would work though, but she got a colleague to tag the bag and go with us to terminal 1 saying that if anyone could make it work, he would as he had a way with people. So over he comes, let’s call him Joe (not his real name) a giant of a man at least 6’6” or more … should have been a pole vaulter himself! … and without doubt the most popular man in all of Dublin Airport for at every twist and turn on the way to terminal 1, his colleagues had a big welcome for him “Howya Joe!”, got a thumbs up and a witty greeting or whistle or wink back. We couldn’t go wrong with him on board. As we got near the oversized baggage check-in, four terminal 1 baggage handlers were walking four-abreast towards us, looking suspiciously at Joe … tensely saying “Hey Joe, a little out of your territory here aren’t you mate, heh heh” as they drew their shotguns … it looked bad … “Howya lads how’s it going? Having a ball! Here’s where it all started!” ... came the reply as they joked together … no problemo … onto the check-in and of course the poles flew through, Joe escorted us back to terminal 2 and shook our hands, and we sighed a big sign of relief. The people we dealt with are a huge advertisement to Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport – fair play to them – so helpful and so friendly – customer service at its best.

The team on arrival in Lisbon Airport

It was ‘plane-sailing’ after that as we got on the flight with no worries. The flight got into Lisbon close to 10pm and we got a little lost on our way to baggage reclaim but eventually got there with all 35 people accounted for and we collected the bags and popped over to the oversized conveyor belt where our 4m wonderbag popped out just as we arrived. Off we headed out to arrivals for our bus to Leiria – we had been told to look for the guy in the red t-shirt standing next to the Vodafone store. A quick glance at the nearby Vodafone store came up empty but he found us as we were late and he had wandered around looking for us. We stopped off for a few photos and then headed onto the bus. It was around an hour and 45 minutes to get to the hotel in Leiria to the north of Lisbon, around 20km from the coast and pretty close to Fatima. We were staying in the Eurosol Hotel in Leiria where the staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful. The only tiny issue was that the hotel was comprised of two adjacent buildings and our group was so big, they had to split us between both buildings – but nothing could be done about that at this stage. We got checked-in and it was quite late at this stage so an early night was had by all.

First from the club to set foot in the stadium !

The following morning, the first thing to do was to sort out the accreditation for the team, their ID badges, race numbers, lunch/dinner vouchers etc – which had to be done at the athletics stadium. So myself Aisling and Sinead headed off under Aisling’s googlemaps navigation and got to the stadium handy enough in around a 20-minute walk. We arrived around 11am nice and early before other teams, which was good as it meant we got all our athlete accreditation done in an hour and any questions we had answered. Plus we had the honour of being the first from the club to step into the stadium 😊. After sorting out all that admin work, we waited for the others to arrive as they were getting the bus at 12.30pm from the hotel to the stadium and we would get lunch and then do a light training session. Noon arrived, followed swiftly by the team with lots of excited oohs and aahs as they entered the stadium. We took some snaps and handed out the team badges and lunch vouchers. And headed upstairs to the canteen to sample the local cuisine. With the canteen accommodating 32 teams with perhaps a 1000 or so people in total as well as 100 or more officials, it was understandable that the food would be simple and mass-produced. It was grand – I won’t say anymore as I don’t want to knock the effort of providing it ... but we ate in restaurants nearer the hotel on the remaining days.

Second from the club to set foot in the stadium !

After lunch we sat around for a while and then did a light training session from around 3pm with the warmup led by Sinead and then we split into groups for relays, distance, throws, jumps, hurdles etc just to get a small bit done at everything. While just a light session, it still took quite a while as we had only a few coaches to cover all of the events. Most of the group were finished up by 5pm and headed back on the bus. But a few of us were delayed finishing up on javelin, shot putt, pole vault, long jump etc so Aisling Laura Sinead Lorraine Caoilin Ciana Shauna and myself headed back at 6pm. Conditions had turned wet by then unfortunately as you might see in the background below.

Mike Laura Lorraine Sinead Aisling Ciana and Caoilin finish training in the rain

Lauren, Alisha, Siona, Arlene and Leanagh at the stadium on Friday

Ailbhe, Ciara and Sarah at training in the stadium on Friday

Alison and Eddie put the 4x100 relay team through their paces on Friday

Leanagh, Shauna and Siona being ID-checked by the local Garda 

Aisling and myself had to do a quick turnaround at the hotel at that point as there was a technical meeting at 7pm in the stadium for the team leaders to receive information on the following days competition. So we got a taxi back down for 7pm for that meeting. It turned out to be a lengthy enough meeting with lots of information communicated and some interesting parts to it – in particular negotiation of the opening heights for high jump and pole vault by the different team managers and also a partly political debate at the end of the meeting about the future of the event. European Athletics are reviewing its format for future years and there is a fear that it will not be held – the clubs who have been at this event regularly were very strong on making the point that this event is vital for the future of athletics in Europe as it gives official European competition opportunities to a lot more club athletes than the individual European championships. So back to the hotel after the meeting and everyone hit down to nearby restaurants for some food. The hotel was in the centre of town so it was relatively easy to find good options for eating out which were not too far away. Bed early then for everyone as we had a busy day ahead.

Sinead and Aisling represent the club in the opening ceremony

We had agreed to go in a few waves to the track on Saturday to suit competition times – Lorraine and Ellie were on early so myself and Daithi went with them at 8am, again it was nice to be there early as it took the pressure off. Both had to be in the call room around 9.30am. For those reading who not clear on what a call room is, for the bigger competitions athletes do not go straight to their event, instead they warmup as normal and around 30 minutes before their event (there is a strict timetable for it), they must be in the call room where they get checked in, numbers check, spikes check etc and put on their spikes and then they exit the call room to the track around 10 or more minutes before their event depending on which event, e.g. field events come out earlier to warmup at the event.

Lorraine and Ellie our first competitors of the day, looking nervous on their way to the call room

So we familiarised ourselves with the location of the call room and Lorraine and Ellie warmed up. Unfortunately, it started raining at this point as they entered the call room and the rain persisted for their event making it a little more formidable as the 400m hurdles which Lorraine was doing and the high jump for Ellie are events where a slippy track does not at all help the performances. But it was the same for everyone, and perhaps we are a little more used to the rain than our opponents! 

There was a short opening ceremony where 2 leaders from each club were involved in a flag-carrying ceremony. Aisling and Sinead represented Craughwell in this and proudly waved the Irish flag and the Craughwell AC flag as they walked in procession with the other clubs onto the track.

Lorraine had the privilege of being the first athlete from the club into action where despite the rain streaming down during her event, she ran a 2-second PB for a time of 71.77 in the 400m hurdles – a super performance from an exceptionally dedicated athlete. Lorraine was followed quickly by Ellie in the high jump … with the rain pouring down at this point, conditions were very difficult for jumping but Ellie put in a fantastic performance with a 1.50m clearance which tied with 2nd and 3rd place but put Ellie 4th on countback of knocked bars. A tiny bit of luck at 1.55m would have seen Ellie take 2nd place in Europe!

Lorraine in lane 6 at the start of the 400m hurdles

The second wave of athletes had arrived over from the hotel at this stage. Caoilin was next into action for the club in the shot putt which was being held in the adjacent National Throwing Centre … a 500m walk from the stadium. Caoilin had made a return to the sport earlier in the summer after an almost 2-year absence due to Leaving Cert and college but fantastic to see her back and in the squad and willing to take on the shot putt, not her preferred event as sprints and hurdles are her forte when she is back at full fitness. It was doubly hard in the throws as the Europeans are very proficient in the throws and it is the weakest group of events in our club due to spending more time on jumps, sprints, hurdles and distance running. Nevertheless Caoilin demonstrated great spirit to take it on and heaved the 4kg shot out to a PB of 6.95m to score a point for the team.

Caoilin was swiftly followed by Arlene who ran a strong 800m in a time of 2.27.49 – slightly down on her PB from 2018 but also an athlete who had to juggle leaving cert and athletics for the last 12 months and great that Arlene was willing to step up from her preferred event the 400m. Arlene later ran a blistering PB of 27.03 in the 200m. In the 100m races, Alisha raced to a fine time of 13.42 narrowly outside her PB with Ava and Siona both hitting PBs in their 100m race with superb runs of 13.53 and 14.08.

Ava and Siona on their way to the 100m start line

Laura fired the javelin out to 19.16 and later leaped 4.97m in the long jump – super performances after having to ease back on training in the lead-in to the championships due to a bad knee injury and again super team spirit to take on the javelin which is not Laura’s preferred event despite being our club record holder in it. In the triple jump Leanagh leaped to a best of 9.95m – struggling a little with getting the mark right on the board but a very solid performance in elite European company. Ellie was back in action later when racing to a Craughwell club junior record of 16.97 in the 100m hurdles hitting the perfect 3 strides on each hurdle, a super achievement as Ellie had struggled to get the 3 strides the whole way in training but made it look so easy in Leiria.Freya knocked a whopping 1.5 seconds off her PB when placing an excellent 5th in the 400m in a time of 61.37 – a great reward for another exceptionally dedicated athlete who hardly ever misses a training session.

Eva, Ellie, Siona (back) and Freya, Leanagh, Arlene (front) during the competition

Ciana flying high over 2.40m in the pole vault

Ciana was another to exhibit fantastic team spirt in the pole vault. Ciana is our club record holder in the event which she had jumped in 2017 but again leaving cert and college got in the way of things and Ciana hadn’t done any pole vault training in almost 2 years but gamely restarted it this summer and had it not been such a wet day in Leiria, almost certainly would have jumped a PB. Ciana put together a string of nice clearances in Leiria up to 2.40m and exited at 2.60m.

Sarah, Ciara and Ailbhe with coach Lisa

In the distance races, the club had more fine performances with a PB of 5.30.55 from Ciara in the 1500m and two incredible 21-second PBs of 13.06.89 from Sarah in the 3000m and 7.58.02 from Ailbhe in the 2000m steeplechase despite a fall at the water barrier. The strong performances continued in the throws with Aoife slinging the hammer out to 20.60 and Shauna spinning the discus out to a PB of 17.30 – again against formidable opponents from the European countries who dwarfed our girls in some cases.

Rita and Aoife pictured after returning from the hammer at the nearby National Throwing Centre

Mike and Shauna prior to the discus competition

 

A rare picture of our fantastic team photographer Daithi with Ellie

The day wrapped up with two exhilarating performances in the relays with the team of Alisha, Freya, Ava and Laura racing to a time of 52.18 in the 4x100 and the team of Freya, Lorraine, Arlene and Ciana racing a time of 4.13.13 in the 4x400m. Arlene was particularly impressive in the relay, bombing around the track and closing in on the leaders – almost certainly Arlene’s preferred distance. The 4x400m is such an exciting race to watch as the race ebbs and flows depending on the relative strength of the athlete running each leg for opposing teams. Our girls’ time of 4.13.13 is a new club record – indicative of the standard of this event.

Our 4x100m relay team of Freya, Ava, Laura and Alisha before heading to the call room

Our 4x400m relay team in the mixed zone with Freya, Lorraine, Ciana and Arlene

When the team points were totaled at the end of the day, Craughwell AC placed 8th in the team event – a super performance with all the athletes close to or exceeding their best ever performances in their events. The club are immensely proud of the girls’ performances and their composure on the track when pitted against the best in Europe. It was certainly a step-up in grade for the club and the response of the 18 girls was tremendous. On a personal note, I could not have been prouder of the team as I had coached many of the older girls for nearly 14 years – more than three-quarters of their lifetimes! It was so lovely to see them get to the highest level of team competition in Europe as they approach 20 years old.

At the victory ceremony at the end, the team celebrated like champions, proudly racing around the infield with the Irish and the Craughwell AC flags. One could be forgiven for thinking that we had actually won the competition such was the excitement amongst the team! 

Our older group of athletes with coach Mike during the celebrations at the end
Siona, Lorraine, Aisling, Caoilin and Ciana (back) Arlene, Shauna and Laura (front)

Team manager and team captain Aisling and Laura enjoying the celebrations

Celebrations after the event with a few stray Leevale lads squeezing into the photo

 

Ciana on top of the world supported by Lorraine !!

Sinead, Aisling and Caoilin enjoying the celebrations

Ellie and Freya looking a little wet after leaping into the steeplechase water jump !

Eva, Lorraine and Arlene enjoying the celebrations

Ciana and Laura enjoying the celebrations

After an hour of celebrations, we collected our 4m equipment bag and headed off back to the hotel on the bus and dropped the bag in the lobby as it was too big to fit anywhere else! And headed off in smaller groups for food as we were all starving at this stage as we were at the track for almost 13 hours.

A nice meal and a few hours later (a good few hours) we got back to the hotel around 2am. The most bizarre incident of the weekend then occurred.

At 2am in the morning, the older girls in our group were amazingly telepathically aware of a potential problem with our pole vault bag and cunninghamly hatched a plan that kept me and Lucy up late on watch outside the building by pretending they wanted to head off to a party in another hotel at 2am. A group of foreign athletes were gathered under the windows of our girls’ first floor rooms at this stage trying to encourage them to come to this party. Naturally we felt that it wasn’t safe – a group of strangers, in an unknown location, in a strange city. So the ploy worked to get us on guard outside the building watching the group of foreign athletes yelling up at the windows and while we were there, the strangest thing happened.

The Estonian team were leaving for home at 2:30am in the morning and had got onto their bus just outside the hotel lobby. They arrived out with a large bag of poles marked Estonia. Then the driver and the team coach arrived out with our bag of poles and put it on their bus!!! So I stepped into the bus and tried to remonstrate with them that these were not their poles. They had no English and I had no Estonian so the argument didn’t really go anywhere quickly except they were quite agitated and I was quite insistent that this was our bag – pointing out that my name was on an A4 sheet of paper attached to the bag. Finally after what seemed like 10 minutes, they said “okei, sul võib see olla” and picked up the bag and passed it to me at the front of the bus. I said thank you in my best Estonian accent and walked off the bus and back into the hotel where the night manager locked it into a room for me. These bags are large awkward things. I am not accusing anyone of theft but it’s hard to imagine that if you came all the way from Estonia with 1 bag that you forgot you only had 1 bag and thought you had 2 bags to bring home.

Shortly after all that drama, Rita passed by me and Lucy and said “its ok I’m back safe” and headed into the hotel. What? Was she taken by the Estonians too? I hadn’t spotted her on the Estonian bus! Only to discover the next morning that when we parents were all dining in the town earlier, we had left the restaurant and walked back without Rita, leaving her abandoned and lost in the city. We were walking back in two groups – the men with Joseph and the women with Mary and Mary thought Rita was with Joseph and Joseph thought Rita was with Mary! It took her ages to find the way back to the hotel – her first thought when she saw us outside was that we were part of the search party and hence the “its ok I’m back safe” comment to us and then was very puzzled by our lack of response as we coped with an international crisis!

Anyways all’s well that ends well, we had our poles/bag back, we had Rita back, the girls decided not to go to the party and a quiet word with the foreign lads shouting up at the windows encouraged them to leave!

Chilling at the beach!

The next day was a down day … we had planned a trip to a water park and beach around a 40 minute bus journey away. People took the chance of a lie-in for the morning except a few who got up to watch the Ireland-Scotland rugby game. We had hired a bus at 1pm to go to the beach/waterpark in nearby Vieria. Unfortunately when we got there, we discovered a padlock on the waterpark – closed until next summer as it’s off season – a real pity their website doesn’t include that sort of information! But it was right beside a fine beach so we headed there, camped outside a beach restaurant and just soaked up the sun while some got into the water. The waves were huge and the locals said the water was not that safe so people only went waist high and let the waves bash them a bit.

After a lovely relaxing afternoon which was just what the doctor ordered after such a busy saturday, we headed back to Leiria around 5pm and some went shopping, others went to the hotel pool and later out for our final meal. Back to the hotel then as we had an early 7.15am start the next morning for the airport and a very straightforward journey back to Dublin.

Back in Dublin

And back in Craughwell courtesy of Jody's
(and thanks John O'Connor for the homecoming photos - the first chance Daithi got to get in a photo!)

And back to Jody’s in Craughwell where we had a lovely greeting party to welcome us home off the bus in miserable wet conditions! We left our poles behind in a secure room in the hotel – 2 poleaxed experiences are plenty for 1 weekend and Alison is going to organize a courier to bring them home during the week.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend for the club and the girls and one that all present will have fond memories of it for many years to come. The club would like to again acknowledge the support of Jody’s SPAR/Topaz and of Celia and Paul Miskella of PM Technical in sponsoring the trip, the support of parents and of team physio Sinead Gaffney, team manager Aisling Keady and press officer Daithi Cronin who accompanied the team at the event and the tireless work of coaches Mike Tobin, Lisa Thomas, Mark Davis and Eddie McNally in coaching and preparing the team for the event.

Onwards and upwards and hopefully the first of many European team adventures!

To see more fantastic photographs of before, during and after our wonderful trip, click on the flickr links below:-

• John O;Connor - Track    Homecoming
• Daithi Cronin

 A massive thanks to both Daithi and John for the super photographs.

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