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Belated Report on Connacht Championships

Craughwell AC's 1500m and 3000m medalists at the Connacht Championships in Claremorris
William Fitzgerald, Catherine Noonan, Kyle Moorhead, Patrick Noonan, Sean Cotter, Luke Evans

Following on from an exciting day at the Connacht Championships in Claremorris on June 9th where the U9s to U13s were in action, the U14s to senior grades continued a fine run of performances from the club at the final day of the championships where were held on June 16th in Claremorris. Read on for full details of our athletes’ performances on both days. Check out Kevin Moore's brilliant action pics also at :- https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin-moore/albums/72157698099231625

Day 2's highlights included quadruple Connacht titles for Katie O’Donoghue in the Senior Women’s long jump (4.94), high jump (1.55), 100m (13.11) and shot putt (8.62 – a club record); quadruple Connacht titles for Laura Cunningham in the U19 Girls triple jump (10.09), long jump (4.98), high jump (1.55) and 4x100m as well as silver in the 100m (13.03); and a gruelling hat-trick of Connacht titles for Sean Cotter in the U16 Boys 800m (2:14.04), 1500m (4:33.06) and 3000m (9:42.12).

The strong windy conditions were both a help and a hindrance on the day depending on your event. They favoured the sprints but worked against the middle/long distance races with it being an almost uphill battle in the back-straight. Likewise, the strong winds didn’t help the jumps and throws which were into the gusting winds for the most part. Nonetheless athletes from the club shone across all of the age groups. Jack Miskella helped Craughwell AC to a clean sweep of the top 3 places in a tactical battle in the Senior Men’s 800m where a slow first lap went through the bell in 1:08 before the pace ratcheted up a few notches on the second lap with Jack moving clear just ahead of John Cormican. Gavin Cooney made a late break from the back of the race with 250m to go but just couldn’t reel in Jack and John who took gold and silver in times of 2:07.83 and 2:08.47 with Gavin third in 2:09.06. In the Senior Women’s race Sinéad Gaffney had a fine run to move clear with 250m to go to take the Connacht title in a time of 2.25.85.

Craughwell AC athletes competing in the long jump at the Connacht Championships in Claremorris
Siona Lawless, Shauna Tobin, Laura Cunningham, Katie O'Donoghue, Lorraine Delaney, Aleisha larkin, Ava Finn

For our U19s in action (Arlene, Laura, Lorraine, Shauna and Daniel), this was their last time running as a juvenile in the Connacht championships. Laura and Shauna made their first appearance all the way back in 2008 where they featured in the ball throw and the relay in the U9s event held in Sligo IT, qualifying for the National finals in the relay. Daniel made his Connacht debut the following year as an U10 featuring in the top 3 in the long jump, the 60m and the relay. Lorraine made her Connacht outdoors debut as an U14 in 2013 with silver in the long jump and bronze in the high jump, while Arlene debuted last year having represented both Athenry and Loughrea in her younger years and featured on the Connacht podium many times in long jump and middle distance. Remarkably our U19 girls 4x100m relay team have placed in the top 3 in every Connacht championships since they first appeared as U9s in 2009 and taking the Connacht title on 3 occasions during the last 11 years. And remarkably also, Laura missing just 1 Connacht championship in those years and has featured in top 4 in the long jump in the other 10 years and taking podium places in high jump and triple jump on many occasions also. Lorraine has been similarly prominent in the jumps, winning the long jump and high jump in 2015 and featuring on the podium many times in both events and in triple jump, while Shauna has gradually moved up the leader-board in the long jump over the years to make the podium this year. The club is very proud of their achievements and their dedication with nine U19 girls still involved in the club. While less boys stuck at the sport, the club is equally proud of the small group who stuck at it with Daniel, Jerry and Oisin also achieving extremely high standards in their events, winning many Connacht titles and all representing Ireland over the years and its particularly pleasing to see the fantastic performances of Luke Evans in this year’s Connachts.

Craughwell AC's U19 Girls 4x100m - Connacht Champions 2018
Shauna Tobin, Siona Lawless, Lorraine Delaney, Arlene Earls, Laura Cunningham

The U19 girls took the Connacht 4x100m title for the final time in 52.55 with Siona Lawless, Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney, Arlene Earls and sub Shauna Tobin. Laura wrapped up a distinguished 11 years in the Connacht juvenile championship with a hat-trick of individual Connacht titles in triple jump (10.09), long jump (4.98) and high jump (1.55) and an excellent PB of 13.03 to win the silver in the 100m. Lorraine won double silver in the long jump (4.86) and high jump (1.45) as well as bronze in the 400m hurdles in a time of 75.12 against strong winds. Arlene took gold in the 800m in 2:29.03 while Shauna took gold in the javelin (12.58) and bronze in the long jump (4.17).

Daniel took double gold in the U19 triple jump (12.11) and long jump (5.99), excellent jumps in the windy conditions. Luke had a fine run to take 4th place in the U19 800m where he took the pack through the bell in a blistering 58 seconds before slipping to 4^th in the second lap to come home in 2.04.21. He followed this up with silver in 10:22.58 in possibly the race of the day – the 3000m which featured from U16s up to Senior. The race ebbed and flowed like the mouth of the Corrib with the order of the leading runners interchanging several times throughout the race. The early laps saw Luke, Patrick Noonan (U18), William Fitzgerald (U18) and Sean Cotter (U16) well placed in the leading bunch. But with race leader Sligo’s Michael Morgan winding up and down the pace like a Kenyan at the front of the pack, the group started to split and for a time Patrick pulled away with a group of three. But the pace eased and the peleton caught up with the leading 3 before a lap or two later, another injection of pace this time saw Sean pull away with Sligo’s Morgan and GCH’s Cillian Jordan. William started to pick up the pace further back and overtook Patrick as the last lap loomed. The race ran out with Sean taking 2^nd in 9:42.12 (1^st U16), William 5^th in 9:50.65 (1^st U18), Patrick 6^th in 9:59.17 (2^nd U18) and Luke 10^th in 10:22.58 (2^nd U19). Luke had earlier placed 5^th in the 400m in 57.83.

Craughwell AC's Sinead Gaffney and Jack Miskella, Connacht Senior 800m Champions 2018

In the U18 grade Siona Lawless took bronze in the U18 long jump with 4.42 while Catherine Noonan took silver in the 3000m with 12:34.27 and placed 5^th in the 1500m in 5:39.66. Patrick Noonan added a bronze in the U18 Boys (4:26.20). In the U17 grade, Chloe Casey leaped an impressive 5.09 to take silver in the long jump as well as taking gold in the discus (28.22) and silver in the shot putt (11.91). Ryan Gallagher took gold in the U17 high jump with a leap of 1.60m and placed 6^th in the 200m in 25.24 while Kyle Moorhead took silver in the 1500m with a solid 4:42.77 in the windy conditions.

Ellie Cronin took double Connacht titles in the U16 Girls high jump (1.50) and triple jump (9.48) and added a silver in the 250m hurdles in 39.02. Aleisha Larkin had a brilliant day out with an impressive 12.94 to take bronze in the U16 100m and a leap of 4.89m to take silver in the long jump. She followed it up with a 4th place finish in the 200m in 27.82. Ava Finn just missed out on the podium in the long jump with a 4.61m leap in 4th place and had strong runs to place 7^th in the 100m (13.81) and in the 200m (29.26). Emmajane Moran took double bronze in the 250m hurdles (41.55) and triple Jump (8.80) with Aoife Kelly 4th in the triple jump (8.63). Aoife also raced to 11^th in the 100m in a time of 14.50. In the boys’ events, Sean Cotter was the King of Distance with victories in the 800m (2:14.04), 1500m (4:33.06) and 3000m (9:42.12). Paschal Walsh and James Furey took 3rd and 4th place in the U16 Boys 250m hurdles in 39.0 and 41.81. Conor Trehy won the triple jump with a leap of 10.66 and took silver in the long jump with 4.99 while James claimed silver in the triple jump with 9.62 and shared bronze position with Lughaigh Morgan in the high jump with a clearance of 1.40. Paschal placed 6^th in the long jump with a leap of 4.62 while Shaun Gilligan and Lughaigh placed 5^th and 6^th in the 100m in impressive times of 12.14 and 12.18.

In the U15 grade, Saoirse Moore hit the podium 3 times with silver in the 80m hurdles (13.90) ad bronze in the 250m hurdles (42.94) and high jump (1.35) while Saoirse Pierce took silver in the high jump (1.40). Carla Noone took silver in the javelin with 13.46 and placed 12^th in the long jump with 3.72. Robert Urquhart and Lukas Schukat were impressive in the boys’ events with Robert claiming silver in the 200m (26.73) and 80m hurdles (13.64) and despite a fall, bronze in the 250m hurdles (46.56) while Lukas took double Connacht titles in the high jump (1.45) and triple jump (9.66) and silver in the long jump (4.65). Oisin Keane and Liam McDonagh took 2nd and 4th place in the javelin with throws of 30.65 and 28.25 and 5^th and 6^th place in the discus with 24.41 and 23.14.

In the U14 grade, both girls and boys raced to silver in the 4x100m relays with the girls running 57.64 (Clodagh O'Meara, Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis, Ella Lyons, subs Erin Kelly and Alicia Locteau) and the boys running 57.04 (Evan Hallinan, Daniel Galvin, Evan Quinn, Cian Lavan). Jade leaped to the Connacht high jump title with a 1.45 clearance with Siofra winning silver with 1.40. Siofra added a bronze in the 75m hurdles in a time of 13.20 with Clodagh O’Meara winning her heat in 13.64 to finish 7^th overall.

Fauve Aylmer battled the wind in the U14 800m to take a fine bronze medal in a time of 2:35.63 and later placed 10^th in the 200m in 30.59. Clodagh put in a late surge in the 800m to take 6^th place in a time of 2:41.44. Aoibhe Fahy and Millie Geraghty took gold and bronze in the javelin with throws of 21.98 and 18.94, with Aoibhe also taking 4th in the shot putt with a PB of 8.13. Erin and Alicia battled hard in the high jump, placing 5^th and 7^th with clearances of 1.25 and 1.20 while Erin was unlucky to foul 2 of her jumps in the long jump which possibly would have put her in the medals, having to settle for 8^th place with 4.21. Ella had a fine run in the 80m sprint taking 7^th place in a time of 11.23 and took 5^th place in the long jump with 4.32 with Jade 6^th with 4.24, Siofra 11^th with 3.87, Aoibhe 16^th with 3.54 and Alicia 18^th with 3.23.

Evan Hallinan led a clean-sweep in the U14 Boys high jump with a 1.45m clearance followed by Cian Lavan with 1.40 and Calvin Ryan 1.35. Evan added further silverware with silver in the long jump (4.40) and 75m hurdles (12.83) while Calvin did likewise when taking bronze in the shot putt with a heave of 8.69. Cian took 4th spot in the hurdles in 13.07 and 7^th in the long jump with 4.22. Evan Quinn took 5^th in the long jump - just outside the qualifiers with 4.24 while Daniel Galvin placed 13^th with 3.66 and took 9^th place in the 800m with 2.42.98.

Day 1 of the Connacht Track & Field Championships took place the previous weekend, also in Claremorris and with plenty of success for Craughwell AC. The U13 grade saw several fine performances in particular Chloe Hallinan who took double Connacht titles in the 60m hurdles (10.77) and long jump (4.33) and bronze in the high jump (1.30), and from Evan Moran who did a sprint double in the 80m (11.00) and 60m hurdles (10.44) and took 4th place in the long jump (4.28). Eddie Silke also had a fine day with silver in the U13 Boys high jump (1.35), bronze in the long jump (4.38) and 8^th place in the 80m sprint final (11.66). Isabella Fitzgerald took gold in style in the U13 Girls high jump with a massive leap of 1.40 and placed 14^th in the long jump with 3.18. Tara Morgan took the Connacht title in the U13 Girls javelin with a throw of 13.35m and placed 9^th in the long jump (3.44), while Eabha Neary took silver in the javelin with 12.01 and Gavin Keenan took bronze in the U13 Boys shot putt with a 7m throw, 7^th in the javelin with 14.42 and 12^th in the long jump (3.61). Tara Molloy placed 9^th in the shot putt with 5.56 and 15^th in the long jump with 3.12. Holly O’Boyle took 5^th place in her 600m in a time of 2:13.76 having earlier taken 5^th in the javelin with a good throw of 9.80 with Isabella Fitz 6^th with 9.15.

Ella Farrelly and Darragh Kelly were particularly impressive in the U12 age group with Ella leaping 4.46m to take the Connacht long jump title and Darragh clearing 1.48m to take the Connacht high jump title. Darragh also took bronze in the shot putt with 7.39m and 4th place in the long jump with 4 metres. Sean Lavan took bronze in the U12 Boys high jump with 1.15 and placed 11^th in both the long jump (3.74) and the turbo javelin (14.67) as well as 5^th place in his heat of the 60m hurdles in 12.47. Tara Keane took the Connacht title in the shot putt with a throw of 7.05m with Shannon Quinn marginally behind when taking silver with 6.96m. Tara added a silver in the turbo javelin with a throw of 22.68m, took 4^th place in her heat of the 60m hurdles in 12.92 and placed 10^th in the long jump with 3.66, the same distance as leaped by Shannon Quinn in 10^th place.

The U12 girls went on to take bronze in the relay in a time of 61.47 with Isobel Schukat, Shannon Quinn, Gillian Crowe, Tara Keane and sub Maiah Fleetwood. Fionn Higgins placed 13^th in the long jump with 3.74 while Matthew Coleman was 20^th with 3.46. Fionn was unlucky later when placing 3^rd in his heat of the 600m in a good time of 1.54.28 but unfortunately the medal winners all came from the other heat. He also had a good jump of 1.10 to place 5^th in the high jump. Hannah Whitney Mangan was 12^th in the long jump with 3.63, followed by Gillian Crowe 15^th with 3.51, Beth Crowe 19^th with 3.41, Isabel Schukat 20^th with 3.31, Maiah Fleetwood 29^th with 3.06 and Ayla Hollingsworth 32^nd with 2.84. Maiah threw the turbo javelin out to 13.52m to take 7^th place and took 6^th place in her heat of the 60m hurdles in 14.53. Isabel took 6^th place in the high jump with a 1.15 clearance while Erin Fahy suffered the misfortune of a broken arm in the same high jump competition, landing awkwardly on the mat after clearing 1.05.

Keevagh Barry and Lauren Kilduff took a brilliant bronze in the U11 Girls 60m in times of 9.59 and 9.36, while Lauren later partnered with Emma O’Donovan to take the Connacht title in the long jump with excellent efforts of 3.75 and 3.55. Ben Moran and Dara Zimmerer took the silver medals in both the U11 Boys 60m in times of 8.91 and 9.48 and in the long jump with leaps of 3.79 and 3.60, while Riley Stenson and Keelan Moorhead raced to gold in the U11 600m in times of 1:55.28 and 1:55.96. Dean McNally and Harry Lynam combined with throws of 18.22 and 11.1 to take the bronze medals in the turbo javelin. The U11 boys relay completed a fine day of track performances with silver in the relay in a time of 60.19.

Saoirse Mullins and Gemma Cloonan took the team bronze in the U10 Girls 500m in times of 1:37.35 and 1:53.79, with Saoirse having earlier partnered with Lauren Morgan to take 4th place in the 60m sprint in times of 10.08 and 9.71. Lauren partnered with Mia Hollingworth to take a brilliant team gold in the long jump with Lauren leaping 3.75 and Mia 3.43. The U10 Boys raced to team silver in the 4x100m relay in a time of 64.89 with Eanna Morrissey, Daniel Gilmore, Calum McMahon, Oran Collins and Daniel Farrelly. Eanna Morrissey and Oran Collins just missed out on team bronze when placing 4th in the U10 Boys 60m in times of 9.83 and 10.17 as did Ciara Byrnes and Megan Smith in the U10 Girls turbo javelin with throws of 8.13 and 9.40.

In the U9 paired events, Calum McMahon and Alan Hallinan raced to the Connacht 300m title in times of 49.77 and 50.04 and added a team bronze in the 60m sprint in times of 10.25 and 10.23. Oisin O'Donovan and Ethan Horan combined with jumps of 3.28 and 3.07 to take bronze medals in the long jump while Daithi Lawless and Sean Dempsey just missed out on the podium when placing 4th with jumps of 3.06 and 3.05. The U9 Boys also took 4th place in the 4x100m relay in a time of 1.10.37.

Timetables for Connacht T&F Day 1 and 2

Best of luck to all of our athletes taking part in the forthcoming Connacht track & Field on the next 2 Saturdays,

The timetables are here:-

• Day 1 Sat 9th June: U9s to U13s OrderOfEventsConnachtDay1.pdf
  
• Day 2 Sat 16th June: U14s to Seniors OrderOfEventsConnachtDay2.pdf
  
  

The following are some notes from the Connacht Secretary:-

Read more: Timetables for Connacht T&F Day 1 and 2

Super Results at Galway Community Games

Kyle Moorhead, Galway Community Games U16 Boys 1500m Champion 2018

A very busy week of athletics concluded with the finals of the Galway Community Games in Ballinderrin where the parish had some tremendous success across the range of events.

The relays provided some of the highlights with Craughwell taking the victory in the U15 Mixed 4x100m with Ava Finn, Rebecca Lynch, Robert Urquhart and Lughaigh Morgan, and in the U14 Girls 4x100m with Fauve Aylmer, Siofra Davis, Erin Kelly and Jade Moorhead, and in the U12 Girls 4x100m with Grace Lynch, Isabel Schukat, Keevagh Barry and Isabella Boland. The U10 Mixed Relay won silver with Lauren Morgan, Paul Barry, Kelly Hallinan, Alan Hallinan and Remy Aylmer.

Read more: Super Results at Galway Community Games

Chloe and Sean star at Irish Schools T&F

Chloe Casey and Sean Cotter who both won silver at the Irish Schools Track & Field
with Chloe in the Intermediate Girls Discus and Sean in the IntermediateBoys 3000m

Possibly the busiest week on the athletics calendar all year saw 5 major competitions held in the past week with the Galway County Sports, Galway City Sports, Galway Senior Track & Field, Irish Schools Track and Field and Galway Community Games.

The highlight of the week was the fantastic silver medals won by Sean Cotter (Calasanctius) with an exceptional 9:09.04 in the Intermediate Boys 3000m and Chloe Casey (St Raphael’s) in the Intermediate Girls discus with a throw of 32.33m. Ellie Cronin (Pres Athenry) went close to the medals with 5th place in the Intermediate high jump with 1.55m.

Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney and Arlene Earls
at the Irish Schools Track & Field in Tullammore

There were strong performances also from Arlene Earls (St Brigids) 7th in the Senior Girls in an excellent 2:24.54; Laura Cunningham (Pres Athenry) 7th in the Senior Girls High Jump with 1.55 and Lorraine Delaney (Calasanctius) 8th with 1.50, with both girls also placing 9th and 11th in the triple jump with 10.18 for Laura and 9.88 for Lorraine; Luke Evans (St Raphael’s) 11th in the Senior Boys 2000m Steeplechase in 7:14.38; Alisha Larkin (St Raphael’s) 10th in the Intermediate Long Jump (4.47); Leanagh Gilligan and Caoimhe Gilligan (both St Brigids) 11th and 12th in the Intermediate Triple Jump with 9.54 and 9.07; Patrick Noonan (Pres Athenry) with an excellent 9:29.50 to place 7th in the Intermediate 3000m; Kyle Moorhead (Pres Athenry) with a PB of 2.05.60 in the Intermediate 800m; Oisin Keane (Calasanctius) 7th in the Junior discus with 26.26m; the Pres Athenry Junior relay team who placed 8th in the final in a time of 53.59; Ava Finn (Pres Athenry) who placed 12th in the Junior long jump; Lauren McNally 9th in the Junior javelin (21.99) and Caoimhe Starr 9th in both shot putt (8.33) and discus (19.10); and Lukas Schukat who placed 9th in the Minor long jump with 4.63.

Craughwell AC Extend Lead in Galway Senior League!

Craughwell AC's Senior 4x400m teams who both broke the club senior record at the Galway T&F
Men: Jack Miskella, Conor Duggan, John Cormican and Luke Evans
Women: Sinéad Treacy, Arlene Earls, Sinéad Gaffney and Dearbhaile Walsh

Day 2 of the Galway Senior League took place last Thursday evening with some super performances and great team spirit amongst the Craughwell AC men and women leading to a series of victories and top 8 finishes to put the team into a commanding lead of over 30 points ahead of second-placed GCH and third-placed Castlegar AC. Craughwell AC took victory in no less than 10 of the 22 events held on the day and second place in 6 of those events giving it an unassailable lead on the day.

Read more: Craughwell AC Extend Lead in Galway Senior League!

Super Performances at County & City Sports

Craughwell NS at the Galway City Sports 2018

A busy week of athletics saw the Galway County Sports held last Tuesday and City Sports held on Wednesday, both in Dangan for primary schools children. There were many fine performances from athletes from the club in several of the schools in action.

Read more: Super Performances at County & City Sports

Summer Camp 2018

Well we certainly know it is Summer time in Galway with the glorious weather we have been having.

Secondary schools are closed to non exam students and the rest are surrounded by piles of books for those last few days of studying.

All our primary schools will be finishing up before we know where we are and what then????? -- weeks of boredom. We can alleviate that and break the monotony. Are you looking for an activity break? Are you a member of an athletics club? If not then come along and see what you are missing. Club members (from any club) why not bring along a new friend - this may be the sport they having been looking for.

We are FIT4FUN and would love you all to come and join us. We have fun, games and you can learn new events. Already know things? then maybe you would like to get some more experience and improve your skills and techniques. Camp is run by qualified coaches and experienced older athletes who are ready and willing to share their knowledge and expertise with you and still enjoy a good laugh along the way.

The Summer Camp will be held on two different weeks over the summer break and we cater for children from Junior infants to 6th class. It runs from 9.30am -2.30pm daily. 

July 16th-20th 

Aug 13th-17th  

Flyers were distributed via email to local national schools in the past two weeks. They can also be requested directly from me. Drop an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. We also have a copy available on our website.

If you would like a paper copy of application form. I can be contacted at email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or phone number. 087 9390366. 

Looking forward to two great weeks of Fun and learning and hopefully lots of sun 

Galway Community Games Timetable

The attached is the order of events for next Sunday's Community Games finals: 2018GalwayCommunityGames.pdf

Start time of the events is 11am and participants would need to be there an hour before their event.

I will email our participants my guesses at actual start time for each event later tonight so that you can plan when to arrive.

Wrapup of Last Weekend

The Galway Community Games U14 Girls Cross Country team
who placed 4th in the National Finals at the weekend

The club’s athletes were in action last weekend in Scotland, Dublin and Limerick.

Sinéad Treacy represented the Irish Universities team at the annual international match with Scotland where she placed 4th in the 200m.

Evan Hallinan narrowly missed out on a podium spot when placing 4th in the U14 Boys Pentathlon at the National Championships in Santry with an impressive 1.60 in the high jump, 4.40 in the long jump, 13.16 in the 75m hurdles, 6.39 in the shot putt and 2:40.87 in the 800m.

Clodagh O’Meara helped the Galway U14 Girls to the podium in the National U14 Cross Country Relay held in the University of Limerick where the team won the pewter medals when placing 4th.

Massive well done to all on fantastic achievements!

Craughwell AC top the Galway Senior League!

Top 4 in the Women's Long Jump at the Galway Senior T&F Championships in Dangan
Aisling Keady, Sinéad Gaffney, Orla Ryan and Katie O'Donoghue

Some exceptional performances from Craughwell AC athletes on day 1 of the Galway Senior T&F in Dangan saw the club top the newly introduced Galway Senior League which will be ran over the 4 days of the senior track and field. This is a new initiative by Galway County Board to encourage participation across a larger number of events and it was a very enjoyable evening with alot of competition in all of the events. The format of the league is that a club's highest finisher scores points if they place in the top 8, with 9 for a win, 7 for 2nd, 6 for 3rd etc down to 1 for 8th. And it is a combined team of men and women. Craughwell AC proudly top the table after day 1 with nothing between them and second-placed GCH so all to play for in the next round which is on next Thursday,

Despite clashes with secondary school exams, the club fielded a small but powerful team of 11 athletes. Sineád Gaffney got the evening off to a roaring start with victory in the women's 1500m in a time of 5:20.55. Catherine Noonan and Ciara Sheppard completed a clean sweep of the top 3 places in the 1500m when placing 2nd and 3rd in times of 5:44.86 and 5:48.55. Sinéad's victory scored the maximum of 9 points in the League.

Up next, Jack Miskella and Patrick Noonan raced to brilliant times of 4:26.16 and 4:28.78 to take 2nd and 3rd places overall, great times considering there was a decent wind into their faces on the backstraight. The 100m got underway as soon as the 1500s completed where Conor Duggan powered his way to victory in the men's race with an impressive 11.20. In the women's' race, Katie O'Donoghue paused momentarily after leaving the blocks as she thought it was a false start/recall but then had to chase after the departing sprinters where she placed 4th in a very impressive 13.74 considering the start she had.

The 400m saw Sinéad Gaffney run a very comfortable 65.79 to take 3rd place, while Gavin Cooney and Jack Miskella raced to 6th and 7th place in the men's 400m in times of 56.14 and 57.03. Katie O'Donoghue continued her good form with a 20.66 victory in the women's 100m hurdles with Orla Ryan in 2nd place with 22.16.

Top 3 in the Women's  1500m at the Galway Senior T&F Championships in Dangan
Ciara Sheppard, Catherine Noonan and Sinéad Gaffney

Meanwhile when the track action was in progress, the field events were also underway. The women's long jump was all Craughwell with Katie O'Donoghue leaping to the Galway senior title with a super PB leap of 4.92m ... taking off from at least 30cm before the break-line so the magical 5 metre mark beckons for Katie sometime soon.  Aisling Keady took victory in the Junior category with a fine leap of 4.62 while Sinéad Gaffney make a rare appearance in the long jump with a superb 4.69m leap with Orla Ryan in close proximity with a best of 4.58 - a great competition between the 4 girls. Gavin Cooney was another to make a rare appearance in the long jump, taking 6th place with a best of 4.92m and scoring valuable points for the team.

The in-form Katie continued to clock-up the Galway Championship titles with victory in the women's shot putt with a throw of 8.49m and in the process breaking the club's senior record, a record which was already held by herself with 8.36m in 2012. Aisling Keady took victory in the Junior grade with a fine 6.38m - a PB for Aisling with the 4kg shot. Gavin Cooney took 9th place in the shot putt with a best of 6.90m - a great example of team spirit as he had never done the shot before and the 7kg weight is a considerable challenge when you have never done it before.

The last event of the day was the javelin where again our athetes were throwing it for the first time in some cases. John Cormican who was a late arrival due to work hours running late, glided the javelin out to a PB of 14.19 and 10th place. Jack Miskella threw it an excellent 20.60 to take 5th place. And Katie O'Donoghue completed a memorable day for herself with her 4th Galway title of the day when sending the javelin out to 18.51m to take the victory.

So a very pleasant evening of athletics in Dangan and great credit to our team of 11 athletes, in particular to Aisling who had to take an hour off work to come down to take part. Roll on next Thursday night for day 2 of the chmpionships and league with the following events on the program: 3000m (W) / 5000m (M), 200m, 800m, 400mH, High Jump, Triple Jump, Discus, WFD, 4x100 and 4x400.

And great work done by the competition secretary Iain Shaw on organising the day and getting the league standings and results out so quickly after the event. Results are here: Day_1_Results_v2.pdf

Strong Performances at Connacht Schools Finals

Luke Evans (St Raphaels) and Patrick Noonan (Pres Athenry)
who placed 2nd and 3rd in the Senior and Intermediate Boys Steeplechase
at the Connacht Schools Track and Field Championships in Athlone IT

Athletes from the club put in some wonderful performances at the finals of the Connacht Schools Track & Field which took place last Thursdayin Athlone IT. Highlights included double titles for Laura Cunningham in the Senior Girls high jump and triple jump, for Chloe Casey in the Intermediate Girls shot putt and discus, and for Lukas Schukat in the Minor Boys long jump and high jump. There was also impressive high jumping from Jerry Keary to win the Senior Boys event with a big leap of 1.95m and for Jade Moorhead and Saoirse Moore with leaps of 1.55m to place first and second in the Minor Girls event with Jade taking the Connacht title on countback. While unconfirmed, I think 1.55 either equals or breaks the Connacht record for this age group.

And the highlight of the highlights was the magficent run by Luke Evans in the Senior Boys Steeplechase. Luke hurdled most of the barriers on his way around the 2k distance but around halfway through, an undecided approach as to hurdle or vault off one of the barriers saw Luke catch the barrier with his foot and take a heavy fall. Undeterred he bounced up and raced on to take a commendable silver medal in his first time in action in the event.

Results of the athletes from the club were as follows:

Senior Girls

400m 3 Arlene Earls (St Brigids) 61.37
800m 2 Arlene Earls (St Brigids) 2.25.96
Javelin 5 Shauna Tobin (Pres Athenry) 14.22m
High Jump 1 Laura Cunningham (Pres Athenry) 1.55m, 3 Lorraine Delaney (Calasanctius) 1.45m
Long Jump 1 Siona Lawless (St Brigids) 4.88m, 4 Shauna Tobin (Pres Athenry) 4.10m
Triple Jump 1 Laura Cunningham (Pres Athenry) 10.56m, 2 Lorraine Delaney (Calasanctius) 10.04m

Lorraine Delaney (Calasanctius) and Laura Cunningham (Pres Athenry)
who placed 3rd and 1st in the Senior Girls High Jump
at the Connacht Schools Track & Field Championships in Athlone

Senior Boys

2000m Steeplechase 2 Luke Evans (St Raphaels) 7.30.85
800m 11 Luke Evans (St Raphaels) 2.13.88
High Jump 1 Jerry Keary (St Raphaels) 1.95m
Long Jump 2 Daniel Callanan-Forde (St Raphaels) 5.72m
Triple Jump 2 Daniel Callnan-Forde (St Raphaels) 12.08m

Jerry Keary (St Raphaels) Senior Boys High Jump Champion
at the Connacht Schools Track & Field Championships in Athlone

Intermediate Girls

80m Hurdles 5 Ellie Cronin (Pres Athenry)
100m 5 Freya Bohan (Pres Athenry) 13.56
3000m 4 Catherine Noonan (Pres Athenry) 12.25.53, 7 Ciara Sheppard (Calasanctius) 12.50.96
4x100m 3 Presentation Athenry
Javelin 4 Eva Kelly (St Brigids) 18.30m
Discus 1 Chloe Casey (St Raphaels) 33.70m
Shot Putt 1 Chloe Casey (St Raphaels) 11.51m
High Jump 2 Ellie Cronin (Pres Athenry) 1.60m
Long Jump 3 Alisha Larkin (St Raphaels) 4.67m, 5 Leanagh Gilligan (St Brigids) 4.47m, 7 Caoimhe Gilligan (St Brigids) 4.39m
Triple Jump 1 Leanagh Gilligan (St Brigids) 9.99m, 3 Caoimhe Gilligan (St Brigids) 9.48m, 4 Aoife Kelly (Pres Athenry) 8.67m

Intermediate Boys

1500m Steeplechase 3 Patrick Noonan (Pres Athenry)
800m 3 Kyle Moorhead (Pres Athenry), 8 Finbarr Mc Fadden (Pres Athenry)
1500m 2 Sean Cotter (Calasanctius)
3000m 2 Sean Cotter (Calasanctius), 3 Patrick Noonan (Pres Athenry)
High Jump 4 Ryan Gallagher (St Raphaels)
Triple Jump 2 Conor Trehy (Pres Athenry)

Junior Girls

100m 2 Chloe Farragher (St Brigids)
200m 6 Emma Jane Moran (Pres Athenry) 29.37
4x100m 1 Presentation Athenry 54.01
Javelin 1 Lauren McNally (St Brigids) 20.72m, 2 393 Rebecca Lynch (Pres Athenry) 17.83m
Discus 2 Caoimhe Starr (St Brigids) 18.43m
High Jump 1 Ava Finn (Pres Athenry) 1.45m
Long Jump 3 Ava Finn (Pres Athenry) 4.56m,
Triple Jump 2 Caoimhe Starr (St Brigids) 8.57m

Ava Finn (Pres Athenry) Junior Girls High Jump Champion
at the Connacht Schools Track & Field Championships in Athlone

The Pres Athenry Junior Girls Relay Team who won the Connacht title
at the Connacht Schools Track & Field Championships in Athlone
Ava Finn, Emily Miskella, Emma Moore and Emma Jane Moran

Junior Boys
80m Hurdles 3 Robert Urquhart (Pres Athenry)
Discus 2 Oisin Keane (Calasanctius)

Minor Girls
75m Hurdles 2 Saoirse Moore (Colaiste Iognaid) 12.99
Shot Putt 5 Millie Geraghty (Pres Athenry) 7.33m
High Jump 1 Jade Moorhead (Pres Athenry) 1.55m, 2 Saoirse Moore (Colaiste Iognaid) 1.55m
Long Jump 7 Jade Moorhead (Pres Athenry) 4.24m

Minor Boys 

High Jump 1 Lucas Schukat (Pres Athenry) 1.55m
Long Jump 1 Lucas Schukat (Pres Athenry) 5.11m

Full results of the day are here: ConnachtSchoolsTFResults2018.pdf

Saoirse Moore (Colásite Iognáid) and Jade Moorhead (Pres Athenry)
who won silver and gold in the Minor Girls High Jump
pictured with Cathriona Farrell at the Connacht Schools Track & Field Championships in Athlone

Lukas Schukat (Pres Athenry) Minor Boys High Jump Champion
at the Connacht Schools Track & Field Championships in Athlone

Club Record Falls at Southland Conference Championships!

Continuing on his return to form this season Damian stepped onto the Track to Break yet another club record last weekend in San Antonio,Texas at the University of Incarnate Word (UIW), bringing his total to 3 on the year.

Right in the mist of Final Exams, the team made their way across the State Border from Louisiana into Texas for the Pinnacle event of the regular season in the Southland Conference.
With Competition scheduled to begin Friday morning inclement weather and thunderstorms put a hold to proceedings before ultimately cancelling all but one event, the 10,000m.

Damian one of the entries on the starlist for the gruelling 25 lap race, joined only two other McNeese men on the start line, Nathan Jones and Enrique Soto both currently qualifying for the NCAA Regional Championships in the event.

With an 8pm start, darkness had all but descended on the track for the start of the race which went out in typically slow championship fashion. A Breakaway group of approximately 10 athletes began to appear after about a kilometre and this continued to separate further into 2 groups with Jones and Soto trading off the lead at the front and Damian holding strong in the chasing group.

A well separated field after stringing itself out in the later kilometres entered the closing laps and saw Damian making strong moves into 6th place and continuing to close strong into the last lap where he looked to be pulling away to secure the 6th spot only to find himself in a foot race coming off the last bend into the home straight which he ultimately lost by little more than a second on the finish line to finish 7th overall in the race behind Jones in 2nd also losing out on the foot race and Soto in 5th. Damian has again set a new club mark of 31:52.36, breaking the record on the Track of 35:41 by Johny Lane in 2010 at the Galway T&F and smashing his own personal best set on the road in Sligo back in 2016 when he ran 32:32 curiously also losing in a foot race on that day over the last 200m.

However this wasn’t to be the end of the competition for these men on this weekend as they all toed the line for the 5000m event only two days later on Sunday afternoon joined by no less than 5 more McNeese distance men in the 53 man field for this race.
The race appeared to be unfolding in a similar fashion to that of the 10000m with Jones, Soto and O’Boyle coming through in a breakaway top 10 through the 3k mark, but what appeared to be a combination of both the 90°F Texas Heat and a weekend of long hard racing already in the legs, Damian and Nathan dropped back over the last 2 kilometres to both finish outside of the top 8 scoring positions for their team, but with Enrique stepping up and taking the lead to charge home to victory taking 1st place on the podium.

The Cowboys Struggled to secure some vital points on the closing day of the meet finishing them 4th overall in the team scoring after a difficult year.
The Regular season now comes to a close for minority of the Cowboys team with one final meet held at home this coming weekend in an attempt to secure some of the coveted Regional Qualifying Positions ahead of the Regional and National Meets this coming June.