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Icy Toes and Warm Grins at South Connacht XC
(Note: I was only able to be there for about an hour, and results will be a while coming out, so will update this article with more details as they arrive - if you have pictures or details of any craughwell athletes that competed let me know and I'll update!!)
The conditions were baltic in Bushfield Loughrea today for the South Connacht Secondary Schools Cross Country championships. Frozen sleety rain pelted the competitors and spectators alike but most people managed to stay in pretty good cheer! The schools competition is not about clubs, but there is little doubt that Craughwell AC athletes did fantastically for their schools, with athletes winning many races and numbered among the top few in the others.
The day kicked off with the minor girls and Clodagh O'Meara had another exceptional run to come home in 2nd place. This is another great performance from Clodagh following her recent personal best in the 800m.
Mathys Bocquet representing Calsanctius Oranmore won his minor race using his old-school style of racing. Similar to the great Steve Prefontaine, the 2018 National XC medallist's strategy is to start strong and keep building the pace from the front until his opponents fall off. He took control of the race from about 500m and pushed on to a trademark dominant victory. Not far behind Mathys, his club and schoolmate Cian Lavin ran a smart and brave race, holding 10th position all the way until the home straight where a great drive for home put him in about 7th or 8th overall.
Fauve Aylmer of Raphaels Loughrea took control of the Junior Girl's 1500m race in similar fashion to Mathys - the 2018 Connacht Champion taking the lead early and pushing home to a clear and confident victory. Aoibhe Carr had a fantastic race and was not too far behind Fauve in second position and Jade Moorehead also made the top 10 to I believe cinch the team prize.
Evan Hallinan had a fine run in the Junior boys race - I didn't get his position but when asked about the race afterwards he summed it up as "hard!", but he looked to be running well when I arrived!.
Next up was the intermediate girls 2,500m race, and Emily Miskella from PCA got off to a fantastic start. Young for the age group, she was sitting nicely in 3rd place and looking very strong, fresh and in control of her race. Unfortunately there is a wide range of ability in the schools XC and the leaders quickly lapped and mingled with the chasing pack after the first lap, making for a confusing task for the poor frozen marshals. In the melee athletes ended up taking several different routes at junctions. This impacted the top 4 in particular - I'm not sure what the result will be at the end but the mixup was very unfortunate and regrettable. Regardless of the result, Emily ran a super race and it was a fine performance which deserved a medal.
In the intermediate boy's 4,000m race, the team result was never going to be in doubt - the PCA team had 4 members of the very successful Craughwell 2018 U16/U17 XC teams (Ross McGunness, Kyle Moorehead, Luke Burke and Oisin Davis) and they duly won the first team place with ease for their school. The 5th member of those Club teams, Sean Cotter of Calsanctius was back in the spikes after a rotten injury and in flying form. In fact the leading pack of 6 or 7 pals were visibly enjoying themselves throughout the 4k run, running as a pack well clear of the field and in jovial spirits. As the race entered the last kilometer, they broke with whatever unspoken pact they had and (led by Ross) ramped up the pace until an eventual surge for the line. In the end 5 Craughwell athletes were in the top 7 - Ross McGuinness was 2nd, Sean Cotter 3rd, Oisin Davis 4th, Kyle Moorehead 6th and Luke Burke 7th.
The Senior girl's race featured Ailbhe Miskella representing PCA over a 1500m distance that is a little shorter than the Cross Country she is used to! This time Ailbhe was very unlucky as she slipped on the increasingly muddy startline with a painful fall. She bravely got up and ran the race out, but especially over the shorter distance she had little opportunity to get back her position - she still finished strongly well up the field.
Carrying a bad cold, Patrick Noonan had another brilliant race to finish second in the Senior boy's race running strongly all the way. His brother Sean Noonan also had an exceptional run, the Canoe Ireland award winner was right at home in the wet and windy conditions and closed the race with his trademark kick in a fantastic 5th position.
Athletes Shine in Glasgow and Athlone
Sarah Finnegan (team captain), Arlene Earls and Ailbhe Miskella at the National Indoor League in Athlone
It was another busy weekend for Craughwell AC with athletes in action in Glasgow in the Scottish Indoors on Saturday, in Athlone in the National Indoor League also on Saturday and in Athlone on Sunday for the National Junior and U23 Championships.
At the Scottish Indoor Championships, Kyle Moorhead raced to a brilliant PB of 2:04.94 in the U17 Mens 800m, narrowly missing out on making the final by the slender margin of 0.18 seconds. Freya Bohan raced to a PB of 28.13s when placing 5th in the heats of the U17 Womens 200m while Ellie Cronin leaped a huge 1.58m to place 6th in the U17 Womens High Jump.
Meanwhile on Saturday in Athlone, Craughwell AC’s women’s team placed 7th in the National Indoor League following on from round 1 a fortnight ago. Round 1 saw strong performances from Sarah Finnegan 4th in the 60m hurdles in 11.27s and 7th in the long jump with 4.18m, Sinéad Gaffney 6th in the 800m in 2:24.35 and Tara McNally 6th in the shot putt with 6.54m and 7th in the 60m sprint in 8.61s. The team followed it up in round 2 with a 2nd place finish from Sarah Finnegan in the triple jump with a leap of 9.69m, 6th in the high jump with 1.25m and 8th in the 200m in 29.19s, Ailbhe Miskella 6th in the 1500m in 5:27.08 and Arlene Earls 6th in the 400m in 60.97s. In the absence of some key members of the team due to mock Leaving Cert and Junior Cert exams and due to the Scottish Indoors, team captain Sarah Finnegan really played the captain’s role when competing across 5 individual events over the 2 days.
Also in action on Saturday in Athlone, Gavin Cooney raced to a terrific PB of 2:00.36 in the senior men’s 800m, knocking almost a full second off his 2018 PB and coming ever so close to breaking the 2 minute barrier for the first time.
It was back to Athlone on Sunday for more action at the National Junior and U23 Indoor Championships, where Conor Duggan raced to a time of 7.32 in the heats of the U23 Mens 60m, not quite happy with his blocks start and later qualified for the finals of the 200m when almost equalling his PB of 22.59s; Jack Miskella raced to 7th place in the U23 Mens 800m in a time of 2:04.40 slightly down on his brilliant 2:00.87 recorded at the Offaly Indoors a week ago; Laura Cunningham placed 8th in a high quality U20 Womens High Jump, with a best of 1.50m and unlucky not to get the 1.55; and Luke Evans recorded 2:09.21 to place 7th in the heats of the U20 Mens 800m.
Full results of the aforementioned events are here.
Craughwell AC Juvenile AGM
Craughwell AC's Juvenile AGM will take place at 8.30 pm next Thursday 24th January in St Michael's Hall.
All parents and coaches are encouraged to attend as well as athletes aged 16 or older. The meeting will be limited to 1 hour so you can get in and out quickly.
So please come along to hear an update on the club's activities for last year and the club's facility development plans for the coming year. The picture above gives an overview of the facility plans that will be presented.
Magnificent Displays at Galway Indoors!
Erin Kelly, Galway U15 Long Jump Indoor Champion 2019
with Ella Lyons (bronze) and Siofra Davis (silver)
Craughwell AC had 2 magnificent days at the Galway Indoor Track & Field Championships which were held last weekend. With almost 250 athletes from the club in action, the indoor arena in Athlone IT was a sea of green and white over the 2 days of the championships.
Timetable for Galway Indoors
Timetable for the Galway Indoors Sat/Sun 12/13th January
GalwayIndoorTrackAndFieldProgram2019Final.pdf
Please note that times are provisional and may move forwards by up to 45 minutes
Provisional Entry List for Galway Indoors
The provisional entry list for the Galway indoors this Saturday and Sunday is at:-
Please contact your age group coordinator in the club asap today if any ommissions or errors. Note we are already aware that a small number of U12 athletes not listed for the hurdles and will be correcting that.
The timetable for the event will be available Wednesday evening. The two days are expected to start around 10am and conclude around 4.30pm:
- Saturday 12th January U8s to U12s
- Sunday 13th January U13s to Senior
Running round up Winter 2018/2019
Running roundup Winter 2018/2019
The Ballindereen 10k was held mid-November incorporating the Galway county 10k Championship. Congratulations to Kevin Mooney who was first overall in the race and to Rena Deely and Mags Treacy winning first and 2nd in their age category all receiving county medals for the 10k distance. Noel Gorman, Stephen Carty and Ian Clancy also represented the club on the day.
In November a group of 18 club members travelled to Laois to take part in the Gingerbread half Marathon and 10k event. Well done to Siobhan Niland, Kay Tuohy, Irene Fallon, Aine McGuiness, Fiona Kelly, Emer Molloy, Colm Mc Allen, Fiona Diviney, Lorraine Morrisey, Laura Dolan, Gerry Treacy, Carol Brady, Katie Gorman, Oliver Niland, John Fitzpatrick, Claire Callanan, Kieran O Leary and Breda Duke who took part in the event.
Meanwhile in Ballina it was a family affair for the Gormans where Noel participated in a unique event which consisted of half marathons back to back over the course of a weekend. Helena Gorman completed the 10k and the Gorman girls completed the kids race-well done!
Brian Matthews who has a had a great year in 2018 recording PBs in most of his races bounced back from a recent injury to complete the Clonakilty half marathon in December during gale force conditions-well done!
Athenry AC held the Annual fields of Athenry 10k on St Stephens day with approximately 35 club members participating in the famous event. Well done to Kevin Mooney and Mark Davis coming in 7th and 11th overall in a very competetive line up. Well done to all our members who ran with some personal course records achieved on the day. Craughwell men also won the team prize in a close battle with Galway City Harriers. Later that same day, William Fitzgerald had a fine run to come second in a fast Kilbeacanty 8k in a little over 28 minutes.
On New Year’s Day the Resolution Run 5k hosted by Galway City Harriers took place around the city and Claddagh on a beautiful sunny day. Approximately 15 club members ran the course all recording good times. The year is already looking very bright for Kevin Mooney who had a very successful running year in 2018 won the race and achieved a PB with a time of 15:57 on the course. Well done to Shauna bouquet also had a fine performance on the course finishing at 16.01 and William Fitzgerald who was first Junior male home in the race in a fantastic time of 16:17. Indeed - the Craughwell youth academy was out in force and the club shut out any team efforts with 6 of the top 13 in the competive field of over 350, with several others close behind!
Happy new year to all our members and best of luck with all your running goals in 2019!
Photos courtesy of John O Connor:
Kevin Mooney winner of the Resolution Run 5k New years day 2019
Resolution Run 5k 2019
Photos courtesy of Sebastien Locteau:
Kevin Mooney, Fields of Athenry 10k
Kieran O Leary and Marie Rooney, Fields of Athenry 2018
Damien Larkin, Fields of Athenry 2018
Fields of Athenry 2018
Mark Davis, Fields of Athenry 2018
Athletes In Form at the Northwest Games
Darragh Kelly and Evan Hallinan who won the
U12 and U14 Boys High Jump at the Northwest Games in Athlone
Craughwell AC athletes wrapped up a fine year of athletics with some super performances at the Northwest Games in Athlone IT at the weekend. The highlights included a fantastic 1.63m leap from Evan Hallinan to win the U14 Boys High Jump, a 4.34m leap from Ella Farrelly to win the U12 Girls Long Jump, a 1.45m jump by Darragh Kelly to win the U12 Boys High Jump and 1.43m leaps by Siofra Davis and Jade Moorhead to place 1st and 2nd in the U14 Girls High Jump and 1.50m from Saoirse Moore to take bronze in the U16 Girls High Jump.
Mathys delivers Spectacular end to 2018 XC Season
Navan Racecourse provided the stage for the final fixture of a spectacular year for Craughwell AC Cross Country as the All-Ireland Uneven and Novice Championships took place. The club had athletes in almost every race, undeterred by gloomy forecasts and yellow weather warnings. As it turned out - the day wasn't as bad as forecast, and the mud was actually not bad at all - just some patches in the corners to keep things interesting! It was a tough course however - very twisty and hilly with a long, seemingly never-ending 2km loop.
U13 Boys 2500m - Mathys wins bronze!
The standout performance for Craughwell was definitely that of Mathys Bocquet who was Galway's highest placed finisher on the day claiming a medal-winning 6th in the U13 race. After exceptional performances in the Galways, Mathys feared that his promising season was dashed when he pulled up with a torn calf muscle 100m into the first Connacht cross country. He showed great character and resilliance to return via cross training and ultimately easy jogging to get himself back in shape for the all-ireland. His excellent step-up of a few weeks ago showed promise with a super top-40 finish but it was still all to do. In the race itself he started hard but not too hard - settling in at 15th position after a Kilometer. On the second lap, his strength and endurance shone through as he worked his way through the leaders and closed out in a superb 6th place - well done Mathys on a remarkable performance! His clubmate Sean Liston (150) also had a super race - running hard all the way in this exceptionally high standard field.
Mathys and Sean celebrate great performances
U11 Boys 1500m - Keelan leads the way!
Keelan Moorhead was impressive also in the U11 boys 1500m when placed in the leading group for much of the race but picked up a foot injury mid-race and slipped to 38th place – still a fine performance and leading the club to 11th place out of over 20 teams with Stephen Ruane 72nd, Declan O'Connell 78th, Cian Brady 118th, Orrin Gilmore 127th and Jack Farrell 154th.
U11 boys Team
U11 Girls 1500m - Strong team performance!
The U11 Girls placed 17th in their race led by Emma O’Donovan 91st and followed by Amelie Bocquet 113, Ciara O'Connor 116, Kelly Hallinan 129, Keevagh Barry 149, Aeveen Kelly 150 and Erin Dillon 164. Well done all on a super performance!
U15 Girls 3500m - Emily and Aoibhinn do themselves proud
For the the 3500m u15 Girls we had two competitors - the fast improving Emily Miskella and the ever tough Aoibhinn Keane. Multi-talented Emily has shown fantastic application this year at training, mixing the running in with the Camogie and other sports. In recent weeks as she focused dilligently on her endurance the dividends were obvious in training and it showed clearly on Saturday as she finished well up the field in a fine time. Aoibhinn made a fantastic start up the long hill well to the front of the field but has been struggling with her hamstring all season and it gave her increasing trouble as the race went on. She would have bravely run the race to completion, but her Dad wisely chose to step her aside with about a km to go to avoid worsening the injury.
U15 Boys 3500m - fearless Ross stars in remarkable run
Ross McGuinness, was next up for Craughwell and he had a truly remarkable run. The Connacht Champion was not to be outdone by his good friend and fellow triathlete Mathys and he really took the race by the scruff of the neck. Ross pushed quickly into the top 5, then the top 2 then led for a period at the end of the first 1500m lap. He wisely settled back into second place at the start of the final 2km lap - but it was a precarious position due to the size of the chasing pack. Ross has tremendous endurance and his running style would probably have suited a faster pace in this section from 1.5km to 3km which would have really thinned out the chasing pack, however the pace settled and group behind the leading two got bigger until the big surge happened with 500m to go and 4 athletes went past Ross, pushing him into 7th place with 300m to go up the long hill finish. Ross tried to kick to the line but after the repeated late surges his legs just didn't react as he'd like and he got pipped into 13th place literally by a nose on the line. Incredibly unlucky and though understandably disappointed to have just missed out on a medal, he can be proud of a sensational run, and a tremendous display of heart, courage and smart running.
Ross fearlessly leading the field after 1.5km
U17 Girls 4000m - Ailbhe delivers when it counts!
The program quickly moved on to the u17 girls race where Ailbhe had a superb run, winning the coveted award of Craughwell's leading Miskella of the day by claiming a fine 40th position. Ailbhe has been improving steadily and consistently all season under the careful guidance of her coach Lisa and this was one of her best ever performances at the highest level of Irish endurance running. As usual for Ailbhe, she got stronger as the race progressed - however she showed a new string to her bow on Saturday with a fantastic sprint kick up the long uphill finish to fend off attackers and catch some of those ahead of her. Brilliant run!
U17 Boys 5000m - Kyle has a stormer!
Another athlete delivering a season's best performance at the right time was Kyle Moorehead. Kyle was as relaxed and strong as I've ever seen him - powering through the strong field to finish in 41st position. I would need to consult with "records-man" Mike, but I think this might be Kyle's highest ever Cross Country finishing position? This was a fine run from Kyle and further evidence if it were needed that the hard work and smart training is working for him - well done!
Novices Men 6000m - O'Boyle leads a decent squad home!
The novices event is the biggest Cross Country races in ireland in terms of the size of field. This combined with the relatively short 6km distance makes it a hillariously crowded spectacle of running both to watch and take part in. Craughwell had a really quite strong team of 5 athletes on the day - Piotr Prokop, Damian O'Boyle, Kevin Mooney, Jack Miskella and Mark Davis.
All smiles and clean legs before kick-off
Forget the "Novices" name, the field is always of a high standard and this year was no exception. In fact.. this was definitely the strongest novices field I have competed in in terms of the amount of decent runners in there - the top 80 are always very good but this one felt like it had strong athletes throughout and combined with the twisty course it made for some interesting and compact racing! Though the course was mostly firm, on each lap at the muddy corners, runners were falling and getting hurdled by the following hoardes to give a "grand national" feel to the thing.
The race got off with the "cavalry" charge up the 400m uphill start and curved around to the right. Kevin Mooney was in his second ever cross country race and had vowed to learn from his Ballina race by getting out of the blocks quickly. As it turned out, Kev had probably learned a little too much as his first km of 3.01 uphill was good enough to get him into the AAI event pictures!
1km Completed! Smile for the Camera!
As the Kilometers rolled past, either the oxygen debt or perhaps the lack of further photo opportunities motivated Kevin to moderate his pace and he settled into a still phenomenal-on-that-course 3:20/km for the remainder of the race. Behind him the experienced and quick Collegiate Damian O'Boyle ran a clever race, not getting drawn into things at the start and building from the top 60 to eventually pass Kevin and push on to ultimately finish as first Galway man in 31st position. It was a fine run from Damian who is really in a recovery phase after a hard Cross Season Stateside. There aren't too many hills in Tenesee and he's starting to re-acquiaint himself with them! Kevin finished close behind Damian in a fine 44th position - more valuable Cross Country experience for our talented club Marathon record holder who has some great days in his future.
Jack Miskella targetted this race and it really showed - the tough NUIG student started out hard and held his pace solidly throughout. 6km is a long way for a man that specializes in the 800m but the training he has done this season really showed and he finished ahead of many people that he had never beaten before - a great sign. His 91st place finishing position made him the 3rd Craughwell and Galway Athlete, but sadly for him he ended up getting the Miskella "Wooden Spoon" on the day, and his prize was waiting for him at home (hint: a bucket and mop was needed!). Seriously - it was a great performance, and it's smashing to think that one family had 3 athletes in different age races at the all Ireland finals.
Next home for 4th Craughwell and 5th Galwayman was Mark Davis (i.e. me). I went out quite hard but after another year of injury hadn't enough done really to sustain the pace and could really feel it in the last 4k where people seemed to flood past me. In the last 500m or so with the end was in sight I kicked pretty well for a respectable 117th place.
Piotr Prokop was taking part in his first national Cross Country and didn't really know what to expect. He "sandbagged" at the outset joking that his goal was not to finish last - fat chance!! Piotr ran magnificently. He finished well in the top-200, with over 60 finishers behind him (and reportedly about 10 DNFs) - very well done - a fine run, and there's definitely a lot more in Piotr in years to come if he keeps training like he has been!.
In the end, Craughwell were first Connacht club - 12th club team of 32, and provided 4 of the 6 Galway scorers who made 8th County team - not bad for a day's work!
After the race, I had to look back with renewed appreciation at Jason Broderick's fantastic run in Waterford 2015 where he was 3rd man home for a sensational bronze medal in an equally tough field. When you consider the quality of the guys behind him - some of whom made the top-6 in the sensational recent euro qualifiers at Abbotstown, it was a truly exceptional performance from him - definitely in my mind the finest cross-country run ever by any Senior in a Craughwell Singlet. If we can get Jason back injury free next year, there's no telling how far he can go!
Craughwell AC Gear Goes Online!
Click on the above picture to buy online
As part of the ordering process after adding an item(s) to your cart,
you will be asked to specify the size of the item(s) and also the name of
the coach in your child's training group from whom you can collect the gear when it arrives.
Note you need to click on the login button as part of the ordering process
before it asks you the above questions and completes the order.
Pre-Christmas Clothes Clearout??
The next clothes collection for the club will be shortly before Christmas.
If doing a pre-Christmas clearout, why not bring it up to our container on our athletics ground and help the club raise much needed funds for our facility development. The container is open 24x7.
Note no duvets or pillows please as the recycling company don't accept them. But all other old/new clothes and shoes, belts and bags accepted.