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Strong Club Performances at Schools Track and Field Finals
Several Craughwell AC athletes travelled to Tullamore at the weekend (Sat June 3rd) for the Irish Schools Track and Field Championships. This event is widely regarded as the highest standard in juvenile athletics in the country as it covers all schools north and south and draws its competitors from all sports.
The club had its highest participation level ever in this event with Sarah Finnegan (hurdles and triple jump), Cathriona Farrell (hurdles, high jump and long jump), Leah Creaven (long jump and triple jump) and Maeve Curley (1200m walk) all qualifying in individual events and Kelly O'Donoghue, Rachel Kenny and Leah Creaven qualifying as part of the Pres Athenry relay team.
Read more: Strong Club Performances at Schools Track and Field Finals
Handicap Chase Final Results
On a perfect sunday morning for running, the Handicap chase concluded in great fashion. It was a day dominated by late arrivals to the series. In her first race, Fidelma Healy-Eames ran a great race to exceed her handicap predictions by 14 minutes - coming home in 70:35. Among the ladies, Fidelma was followed home by GCH's Bernie Kelly (45:58) and Craughwell's Dervilla Darcy (54:32).
In a genuinely great performance, Diarmuid Quill managed to shatter his previous PB by two minutes to come home in 45:09 as first man home - excellent running from him. In a day of PB's, a fit-looking James Lundon edged closer to his dream target in a cracking time of 40:23. Great running from James and given the tough nature of the Craughwell course, there is no doubt in my mind that he will shave those 24 seconds off with ease in more forgiving terrain. Owen Curren was third man home in a smashing time for him of 39:03 - again his best of the series, a full 1:30 faster than his first Craughwell race. Another great run worth mentioning was Wally Walsh's - he set a new PB for himself of 39:25 and was rightly thrilled with this.
The race for fastest runner was the highlight of this event, with Michael Tobin, Mick Rice and Darragh O'Brien all vying for the prize. Michael Tobin had the fastest time up to this week. They started together, and Michael and Darragh soon pulled away from Mick. However, you discount the Athenry man at your peril and sure enough after 3k Mick caught up and maintained a pace that was too tough for the two lads. He came home as fastest runner in 36:25 - a new course record, and the perpetual cup couldn't have a more worthy first name on it. Michael was second fastest in 36:46 - equalling the PB he set in Athenry late last year - a fantastic run given his injuries and the time he has had available to train. Darragh also broke 37 minutes for the second time in his life. Well done all.
Handicaps for race 4
Following are the handicaps for the 4th and final race:
(apologies for the delay in posting them here!)
Results from Craughwell 5k 23 May 2006
The third race of the Galway 5k Series took place Tuesday evening in Craughwell, with 73 participants completing the course in good times. The pre-race perception that the course was reasonably flat was quickly banished as runners gave their verdict on a challenging course at the finish line. Luckily the weather held fine for all but a couple of minutes during the race.
Check the photos of the race - album one courtesy of Wally Walsh and album two courtesy of Julie Gallagher. Thanks Wally and Julie!
Course records fell to the leading man and woman (predictable since this was the first 5k in Craughwell!) with Ruaidhrí Geraghty completing the race in 16:32 and Regina Casey in 19:12. 2nd and 3rd placed men were Conor Moloney in 17:09 and Ned O’Sullivan in 18:11, with 2nd and 3rd women being Anne-Marie Miskell (20:04) and Jane-Ann Healy (20:40).
Final race in the series is next Tuesday at 7.30pm in Dangan. Well done to all who took part in Craughwell and thank you to all who helped in its organisation and stewarding. Full results from Craughwell are as follows.
Results of Craughwell 10k Handicap Chase: Race 3
17 hardy souls turned up early Sunday morning to run the 3rd race in the Craughwell Handicap Chase 10k Series. Nice weather conditions early in the morning were replaced by some nasty showers shortly before the race started, with these easing to a steady drizzle by the time 8.30am arrived.
Youth Athlete Development Seminar 27th May
Please find attached details on the first IYCA (International Youth Conditioning Association) Youth Athlete Development Seminar in Europe, which takes place in Dublin City University on Saturday May 27th 2006 from 10.00am - 6.00pm.
The presenter will be Brian Grasso, an Athletic Development Specialist from the USA and IYCA Executive Director. Brian is the author of "Complete Functional Conditioning" and his latest book "Training Young Athletes - The Grasso Method"
For more information on Mr Grasso or the IYCA, please log onto www.IYCA.org or www.DevelopingAthletics.com
Handicaps for Race3 of the Handicap Series
This is a busy week in Galway road running. As well as the highly anticipated first race in the Galway 5K series which is on in Athenry on Tursday evening, (http://www.athenryac.com for details) , Race 3 of the handicap series is due on Sunday morning, 14th May. Though we encourage people to take part in both events, depending on your level of fitness it might be advisable to use one of the races as a training run if you are hoping to do both. A 5k race sounds easy after all the 10k's you have been doing, but be warned that shorter races are often much tougher experiences due to the higher tempo! Your legs will likely hurt more after a 5k than a 10k!
The Craughwell race on Sunday is the probably the better one to use as a training run, since it is a less competitive race. If you have a target pace in mind, you can tell this to the man at the start and we will let you off earlier for your slower-paced run (give him plenty of notice!!). Points gained in such a training run will not count towards prizes at the end of the series.
I say "man at the start", as unfortunately I will be away with work for 10 days starting Sunday and won't be available to admin the race. If you aren't planning on running and are interested in helping out, could you get in touch with me (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Michael (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) so that we can allocate an admin job for you.
The following tasks are involved in running a successful race:
- Helping Mike to put up the k-markers and chute (7:15 AM Start)
- Starting people off (ideally two people, 1 to organise runners and one to count them off)
- Operating the timing watch at the end
- Taking numbers at the end
- Directing people into the chute at the end
- Taking photos for the website at the end
Also, if you have a handicap > 1 hour and are not planning on running the next race could you let us know as this will make administration a bit easier for us (and give Michael an extra 30 minutes in bed!!!).
The handicaps for the next race are below.
Juvenile Information Update, 3 May 2006
Craughwell Athletic Club
Information Update, 3 May 2006
5km Race Series for Galway
Dig out your runners! Dust off your shorts and get running ...
A series of 5km races will take place around Galway on Tuesday evenings during May. The series is been organised to provide more local races for Galway runners and to encourage people to take up the sport. These races are ideal for anyone preparing for the mini-marathon or other races in the summer.
Results of Handicap Race 2
Due probably to the bank holiday weekend, numbers were reduced slightly this week with 20 runners turning up on a perfect morning for a 10k. It was bright, dry and cool, without a hint of a breeze – perfect conditions for setting a personal best!
The first athlete home was Tony Fitzpatrick in a fantastic personal best, almost 2½ minutes faster than two weeks ago. Tony had set himself a target of 50 minutes for this race and he smashed that time powering home in 48:08. Tony was followed home by Noel Gorman who maintained his steady progress by shaving another couple of minutes off his pb. In third place on the day was Gerry Fahey in 42:15.
First woman home was Bernie Kelly who ran very strongly to take over a minute off last weeks time, easing home in just over 48 minutes. Bernie was followed by Kathleen Waters who took a further 30 seconds off her pb of 2 weeks ago. Josephine Gardiner ran slower than usual but was still the third lady home and the fastest female in a time of 41:21.
10K Fever - Handicaps for next Craughwell Race
10K fever is gripping the country - the National 10K's were on last weekend and Craughwell had one runner (me) who came 63rd in the overall race, in a time of 35:30 on the official clock. The standard was very high.
Congratulations to Athenry AC who were fifth team on the day and had the high honour of winning individual honours through Paul McNamara for the second year in a row. More on this at AthenryAC.com.
Of course, that is only seconday to the racing event of the century - the Craughwell Handicap Series which continues this Sunday, 30th April 2006.
The Handicaps are posted below, along with the league table and an explanation of our innovative/needlessly complex scoring system!
Craughwell Handicap Chase Race 1 Results
Due to some administrative teething trouble and an errant runner or two, there was a little confusion with some of the times/places. The results in blue below are ones that we are not 100% sure about, but think we are roughly right – please let us know if we got your position wrong and we will adjust the places accordingly. It worked out fine, but some helpful suggestions from Athenry’s Alan Burke have been taken on board and will make timings for the next race smoother!