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Athletes Shine at Connacht Primary Schools XC

Ballymana NS's Keevagh Barry on her way to a fantastic
Connacht title in the Junior Girls 1000m

The Connacht Primary Schools cross country took place on a rain-sodden day in Bushfield Loughrea at the weekend but it failed to dampen the spirits of some wonderful performances by athletes from the club.

Foremost amongst them was Ballymana’s Keevagh Barry who raced to a superb Connacht title in the Junior Girls 1000m, emulating the achivement of former pupil Linda Porter several years ago in the senior category of the Connacht primary schools cross country. Having placed 20th in the county semifinals, Keevagh had a superb run in the county finals to take 4th place. But her Connacht final performance was one of the finest performances by an athlete from the club, running out a comfortable winner and clearly enjoying the wet conditions!

It was a super day also for the junior girls from both Craughwell NS and Clarinbridge NS with Katelyn Walsh leading Craughwell to team silver with a brilliant 17th place followed by Mia Hollingsworth 24th, Ciara O'Connor 29th, Kelly Hallinan 36th, Lauren Morgan 51st and Lillian Walsh 67th; and Clarinbridge’s Sadbh Walsh claiming 18th place to lead her school to team bronze with Erin Dillon 44th, Aeveen Kelly 49th, Aishling Lavan 58th, Niamh Kilgannon 71st and Zara Black 107th. A downpour erupted before the Junior Boys race where Killeeneen’s Declan O’Connell had another fine run with a 12th place finish, He was followed closely by the ever-improving Jack Cahill in 15th place and Keelan Moorhead in 16th, who together led Craughwell NS to a fine team bronze with Alex Ryan 51st, Daniel Farrelly 72nd, Iarlaith Doyle 84th and Ben Moran 92nd. Ballyglass’s Orrin Gilmore also had a fine run to take 27th place. In the Senior Races, Siobhan Carr (Scoil Mhuire Clarinbridge) was the club’s only representative with a strong run to place 47th.

Also in action on the same day, Craughwell had 3 participants in the senior races with Jack Miskella having 1 of his best days in cross country with a fantastic 5th place finish in the Senior Men's event and 3rd in the Novice Men category and Piotr Prokip a very strong 14th and 5th in the Masters men category while Ailbhe Miskella made her debut in Senior Women's cross-country with a fine 13th place finish out of the 40-strong finishers and 1st junior home.

Read more: Athletes Shine at Connacht Primary Schools XC

Laura claims National Pentathlon Title!

Laura Cunningham (Pres Athenry)
National Senior Champion at Irish Schools Combined Events held in Athlone IT

Laura Cunningham wrapped up an outstanding 12 years of juvenile athletics when taking the National title in the Senior Girls Pentathlon at the Irish Schools Combined Events Championships held in Athlone IT at the weekend. Laura’s cleared 1.50m in the high jump, raced to a 10.40s PB in the 2’9” 60m hurdles, heaved the 4kg shot putt out to 7.93m, leaped 4.78m to win the long jump and claimed the National title with a fine PB of 2:43.24 in the final event of the day the 800m. It caps a glittering juvenile career for Laura which included an Irish vest in the Celtic Games in 2017, numerous National podium finishes in long jump, high jump, triple jump, pentathlon and relays as well as 3 National titles in the triple jump and countless Galway and Connacht titles in a range of disciplines.

Read more: Laura claims National Pentathlon Title!

Promising start to the 2018 XC Season

Promising start to the 2018 XC Season

 X Country season kicked off today in the Palace Grounds in Tuam with Day 1 of the County Championships. 

We had a fantastic representation from all age groups and it was wonderful to see so many Craughwell vests. The day was perfect for x country running, although a little blustery, temperatures were mild and the rain held off. 

The first race of the day was the U10 Girls. This would be considered to be one of the tougher courses with plenty of long hills. However, all girls battled bravely and each and everyone of them had fantastic races with 6 of the runners finishing in the amongst the top 16 runners. Running today were Aeveen Kelly, Aisling Lavan, Gemma Cloonan, Laura Morgan. Mia Hollingworth, Megan Smith and Remy Alymer. They were all delighted to finish the race and even more delighted to discover they had won the U10 Gold County Team Medal.  

U10 Girls Galway County Champions

Next were are U10 boys team was made up of all U9 warriors; Daragh Higgins, Calum McMahon, Alan Hallinan and Sean Cloonan. These boys would only have a handful of races beneath their shoes, and yet still understood and embraced the challenge. Alan ran a brilliant tactical race to finish 1st overall and his team mates had strong performances and although they missed out on a team medal they managed to storm into to 4th place overall. 

U10 Craughwell AC Boys Team 

In the U12's girls race we had only 2 runners and Ameile Bocquet (younger sister of Shauna and Mathys) had a strong race to finish in 19th place followed by Claudia McGuiness with a fine finish in 24th place. 

Although U12 boys were unable to field a team, 3 brave runners (Fionn Higgins, Keelan Moorhead, Darragh Kelly) battled hard throughout the race to come in 6th, 16th and 26th positions.  

The girl's u14 was a close contest over the 3000m course with Craughwell girls winning Silver in the teams.  Despite having just run a big new 800m pb two days ago, Fauve Aylmer had a fine battle at the front all the way with eventual winner Isabella Burke of GCH.  A gap built, which Fauve was making inroads into over the last 500m, but not before the finish line arrived!  Clodagh O'Meara also ran a standout race, building from the mid pack and catching athletes all the way. With 100m to go she caught and passed the 3rd placed athlete from Ballinasloe, but was unable on this occasion to hold her off for the Bronze, finishing 4th.  Next home for Craughwell was Siofra Davis in 16th place, followed by Alana Grogan (18th), Holly O'Boyle (19th), Erin Kelly (21st) and Muireann Leen (23rd).  

Silver-medal winning u14 Girls Team

In one of the performances of the day, Mathys Bocquet stepped up in age from the u13s and put on a masterclass of front running to win with ease.  The talented athlete dominated a strong field of older athletes from the start, building an unassailable gap early on and extending it all the way. Cian Lavin shook off a recent injury to power his way to a strong 7th place finish, not far ahead of teammate Evan Hallinan (9th). Sean Liston (12th) rounded out a very strong Craughwell performance good enough to take Silver.

Silver Winning u14 Boys Team including Athlete of the day Mathys

The Craughwell U16's boys had only 3 athletes in this one, but they made up for the lack of a team by taking all the individual medals.  With his excellent track season, Sean Cotter of Craughwell was the clear pre-race favourite and he lived up to his billing by taking clear victory.  Running together with teammates Oisin Davis and Ross McGuinness, they used excellent teamwork to reel in and overtake the early South Galway leader and continued to extend their lead until Sean made his solo break with 1km to go. Oisin finished second with Ross a very close third.

U16 Boys County Winners: Sean Cotter Gold, Oisin Davis Silver, Ross McGuiness Bronze

U16 Boys at half-way

Gold Team Medal for U18's boys.

The start line saw an array of massive talent a wide range age categories U18-Senior Men.

Patrick Noonan (U18) immediately took off like a bullet and charged away from the crowd down the first hill. He soon settled into a very steady pace along this hilly 6km route. He maintained a fine position throughout the race and appeared very comfortable coming in the final straight to take a Bronze County Medal. Next across the finish line was Kyle Moorhead (U17) who stepped up from U17’s to help field a team and had a solid run and just missed out on the medals coming in at 4^th place.

William Fitzgerald (U18) who is normally seen taking the lead and dominating the race, went out hard, but found it difficult on this occasion to stay with the leaders as fatigue in his legs set in quickly. Nonetheless he had a great  6^th finishing position.

Sean Noonan (U18), has taken almost a year away from distance running and we are delighted to see him back in the field. After only a week’s training he agreed to run and help make up an U18 team. He retained a steady position throughout the race and coming into the home straight charged up the hill to take over a runner and finish in 8^th place. 

U18 Gold Medalist - Ailbhe Miskella

This is a superb start to Ailbhe's X Country season and a deserved award for an athlete that has put tremendous effort and demonstrated both patience and consistency in her approach to training. Ailbhe stepping up from U17 to U18 dominated her age group from gun to tape. Each Km split was run with precision. Amongst a field of athletes ranging from junior to senior athletes she placed along with her Gold U18 medal, 4th overall in the race showing a very promising season for her. 

Along with their gold U18's team medal our fine Craughwell team (Patrick Noonan, Sean Noonan, Kyle Moorhead and William Fitzpatrick) also gained a county junior mens Silver Team medal. 

A big thank you to Mark who provided information on many of the races above and for the report below. 

Senior Men's report by Mark 

The Senior Mens team is finally starting to show "Green Shoots" after a few years and a changing of the Guard in the squad. Jamie Fallon, ever-brave took to the front of a high-quality field and led strongly the chasing pack of Brendan McDonnell and Keith Fallon for the first 3km of the 8km course.  Young American McDonnell of GCH & NUIG showed incredible class to take charge from half way despite the weight of a 70-minute half marathon in his legs from yesterday.  He was irresistable on the day and when he made the push he quickly built an unassailable lead on his rivals for the remainder of the course.  Despite getting passed, Jamie pushed on and appeared to solidify Silver with a lap remaining, the gap growing to 15 seconds between himself and Keith.  However, stranded in second without a target is a hard position to defend and Keith is a formidable athlete with a "rabbit" to chase!  In the home straight Keith duly struck home to nick Silver.  Bronze for Jamie, but another brilliant performance from a man still very early on his comeback trail.

Jack Miskella had a lovely performance to take 8th overall and 7th Senior (which I think secures a position on the Galway County Cross Country team).  Jack had a great first half and conceded some positions in the second half and is only starting to scratch his potential.  Another 800m specialist with even less endurance work under his belt is Gavin Cooney - Gavin put on a sterling performance to come 16th overall and 8th Senior.  Despite his reservations, David Evans answered the call and without him we wouldn't have had a team.  The M50 athlete is made of incredibly tough stuff and ran brilliantly to take 22nd position - he embodied the spirit of cross country and emptying the tank.  The results are provisional but David almost certainly secured an individual M50 medal, I'm unsure yet of the colour.  The team score was 49 points which was 3rd, ahead of big town teams like Tuam and just two behind Castlegar on 47..

Overall - to me, Galway Cross country running is starting to look a little healthier!  Some positive signs for me:

1. Quality:The first 3 athletes were of the highest quality showing some support from the "elite" of galway running.  Let's make this a "best of the best" event at the front!
   
   
2. Youth: Of the top 10, 8 were "Senior" runners and only two were "Veteran" runners.  Compare this to, for example last years race where in the top 11 we had only ONE senior, and all the rest were vets!!  Nothing against veterans (I am one!), but really they should be the exception in the Galway XC top 10, not the rule.
   
   
3. Diversity: Being a west-city club and fortunate enough to have access to the NUIG track (and often, its athletes), GCH will always be a powerhouse of Galway Senior athletics, and this was very evident yesterday in the Senior race with the flock of red and white in the top 10 - however there is a sense of buzz starting in some other clubs that I hope will continue - the more colour the better!  Powered by Sean McDermott's charisma, Castlegar look to be on the rise and Tuam and ourselves are on the comeback too - and I know there are some brilliant athletes in other clubs like South Galway who haven't really started the cross country bug yet.  Hoping Athenry and Loughrea rise from the ashes soon to bring some more interest to affairs!  Looking forward to watching (who knows, even participating in?) some interesting battles over the coming months and years ahead!
   
   
4. Talent Shifts: It's interesting to see the trends in clubs supporting talent at younger level.  Craughwell has continued a record to be proud of here and this was clear in many age groups, especially from u14, u16 and u18 where we were very strong, and won the u10 as well.  However - at the under ages I was particularly impressed with host club Tuam AC who won 3 races strongly and were 2nd in another.  This is a great sign of the good work being done there and if they can keep these involved in the sport it will be super for the county.

The Senior Team with a couple of fans!

Kevin Mooney Crushes Club Half Marathon Record

In excellent conditions in Charleville, Kevin Mooney ran a sensational PB for the half-marathon, setting a new Club Record of 1:12.01 in the process!

This is a really great time, and a major breakthrough for Kevin - just what you want one month out from his main goal of a Marathon PB in Dublin.  The signs are that in this form, Kevin will smash the current club marathon record if conditions are in any way favourable.  He already has an excellent Marathon in horrendous conditions in Boston.  Well done Kevin and best of luck in the run in to Dublin!

Full results of the Charleville half marathon are here and feature some great performances and pbs from many Galway athletes -  Kevin was still the fastest Galwayman by almost 3 minutes.!!

(It should be said that the fastest club member to have ever run a half marathon is still Gerry Ryan, but Gerry ran his sensational 64 minute national championship winning time before he joined Craughwell AC!)

Another brilliant run was from John Fitzpatrick who had a massive pb of 1.26.  Fair play guys!

* Update!  Here are Kevin's Splits for the day - how long could you run with him? :-)

2018 NCAA Cross Country in Full Swing

After a 2 year absence from the Cross scene, Damian was back in action for the Cowboys of late having already completed two early season meets. Yet another injury plagued summer season seems to have been quickly forgotten this time around, by the 21 year old, after some early performances seeing Damian post vital points to the scoreboard for McNeese on both occasions despite only being back to fitness for little more than 4 weeks!

As is customary the Cowboys opened their season at home over 4,000m on a Friday evening back on August 31st. Having completed a tempo workout early that morning the new and rejuvenated young team, (having graduated all 4 scoring Seniors from the previous season) showed themselves respectably, if maybe a bit out of breath from the days heavy workload. Bunching closely and finishing together in 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 and 18.  Damian finished 13th on the day in a time of 13:08 after one of the smartest races of the day, coming right from the back over the first kilometre and moving up consistently throughout the race to finish strongly. McNeese finished 3rd in the team event behind Southeastern Louisiana and Louisiana-Lafayette.

Last Saturday, September 15, saw the team, somewhat weakened and altered due to a combination of illness, injuries and returners, travel to LSU (Louisiana State University), in the State Capital of Baton Rouge. with a ’short’ pitstop on the side of the interstate highway no less ……….just what we need a blow out on the way!!!!

With many of the same teams from the previous meet and the addition of the remaining in State Conference rivals, this was to make for a good test for the young squad at this stage of the season. A step up from the previous outing to 4 miles (6,400m), proved showing with a change-up in the finishing order from the Cowboys despite being fresh for this run. Damian rounded out the team scoring on this occasion in 17th, as the number 5 McNeese man, in a time of 21:35 with a similar performance to his last run out, coming through from the back of the field to finish strongly. The team still bunched quite well even considering the addition of other competitive teams. Finishing individually in 3, 11, 14, 15, 17 and 23 this time around to place Second(60) overall team behind again Louisiana-Lafayette(54) in poll position but ahead of Southeastern Louisiana(76) in Third.

The Coming Weeks will see the young squad trade off competing both at home in Lake Charles and in College Station at The University of Texas A&M

Remaining Meet Schedule

The Cowboy Stampede, September 29 (Home)

Arturo Barrios Invitational, October 13 (Texas A&M)

Southland Conference Championships, October 26 (Home)

NCAA South Central Regional Championships, November 9 (Texas A&M)

Resumption of juvenile athletics training

Juvenile athletics training resumes this week for all age groups. Training times are as follows. Click on picture for larger image. An updated fixtures list is also included below.

Fixtures:

Super Performances at Nat.League and CG Finals

Galway County team on the podium in the National Premier League Final !

Huge congratulations to several local athletes who featured prominently on the County Galway women’s team who took historic silver medals in the National League Premier Division final held on Sunday in Tullamore.

Team manager and captain Sarah Finnegan led the way with 5th place in the triple jump with 9.87, 6th place in the 100m hurdles in 18.03 and 8th place in the javelin with 11.94; Maeve Curley took victory in the 1500m race walk with a splendid 7.03.28; Chloe Casey took 2nd place in the shot putt with 10.58; Sinead Treacy raced to 2nd place in the 200m in 25.50; Arlene Earls took a fine 3rd place in the 800m with 2.23.89; Katie O’Donoghue took 4th place in the high jump with 1.50 while Sinead Treacy and Arlene Earls helped Galway to victory in the 4x400m with Sinead also prominent on the 4x100m team that took second place. Well done also to members of the squad who had helped the team qualify for the final from the earlier rounds including Sinead Gaffney, Ciana Reidy, Lorraine Delaney, Laura Cunningham, Aisling Keady and Dearbhaile Walsh.

In Division 1 where the County Galway men’s team had qualified for the final for the first time under the management of Castlegar AC’s Sean McDermott, there were some further fine performance from Craughwell AC athletes including Luke Evans who took 3rd place in the 3000m steeplechase in 11:28.36, John Cormican who placed 5th in the 1500m in 4.29.65 and helped the 4x100m to 6th place; and Jack Miskella who placed 6th in the 800m in 2.09.06 and featured prominently along with Luke Evans on the 4x400m team that took 2nd place in 3:37.18. The team placed 7th overall. Well done also to Gavin Cooney, Damien O'Boyle, Ryan Gallagher, Jerry Keary and Daniel Callanan-Forde who had helped the team qualify for the final from the earlier rounds.

Craughwell's U14 Girls representing Galway in the 4x100m
at the National Community Games finals in University of Limerick

Meanwhile at the Community Games National finals held at the University of Limerick there were some strong performances from local athletes. Kyle Moorhead qualified comfortably for the U16 Boys 1500m final when placing 2nd in the semi-finals on Saturday and in the final on Sunday was holding a top 3 position as the race entered the home straight but had to settle for 6th place in a sprint finish over the last 100m. Alisha Larkin sailed through the heats of the U16 100m and just missed out on making the final when placing 5th in the semis.

James Furey had a super performance in the U16 Boys high jump, clearing 1.55m and taking 5th place overall just outside the medals. Tara Morgan and Ella Lyons competed strongly in the U14 Girls javelin and long jump, great to be competed there as Galway Champions.

The U15 Mixed Relay team of Lughaigh Morgan, Ava Finn, Rebecca Lynch and Robert Urquhart just missed out on making the final of their relay when placing 5th in the semi-finals. A similar fate was in store for the U14 Girls 4x100m team of Fauve Aylmer, Jade Moorhead, Erin Kelly and Siofra Davis who raced to a brilliant 3rd place in their heats but had to settle for 5th place in the semi-finals – but great achievements nonetheless to be the Galway champions at the National finals.

Craughwell AC On Tour - Glasgow 2019 !!

Some of the group on the first trip many years ago in 2008
Back row: Sue Joyce,Mike Tobin,Padraic Tobin,Cormac Dillon,Ruairi Finnegan,Niall Rooney,Cathal Coppinger,Triona Coppinger
Middle row: Julie Gallagher,PJ Kelly,Peter Treacy,Benny Gallagher,Ashley McDonnell,Orla McDaid,Laura Porter,Orla Ryan,Claire Ryder
Front row: Shaun Gallagher,Linda Porter,Debbie Kenny,Caoimhe Quill,Katie O'Donoghue

Over the last 10 years, the club have travelled to Glasgow most years for the Scottish Indoor Championships, having first gone there in 2008 with a group of around 50 athletes plus parents. Every year it has been a super trip with lots of enjoyment and camaraderie and plenty of success too with many Scottish national medals coming the way of our athletes.

The trip is mostly targeted at our older athletes, i.e. those in secondary school or older as it’s something for primary school athletes to look forwards to in the years ahead when they reach secondary school. The age groups are U13, U15, U17, U20 and Senior. The cut-off date is different to what we are used to in Ireland – it goes by the age you are under on 1 September next year, so if for example you turn 16 before 1 Sept you are an U17, but if you turn 16 on or after 1 Sept you are an U15.

The events available in each age group are:-

• All ages: 60m, 60mH, 200m, 800m, 1500m, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt
• Plus the following for U15, U17, U20, Senior: 300/400m, Triple Jump, Pole Vault
  
  

The dates of next year’s event are not confirmed yet, but it’s likely to be the last weekend of January (senior and U17) and the first weekend of February (U20, U15 and U13). Often times it has clashed with mock JC/LC exams making it difficult for those students to travel – this looks like it will happen next year too with the mocks on from 4-15 February. The dates are usually confirmed around the end of September at which stage we can book flights and make accommodation arrangements.

We have usually stayed in Jury’s Inn which is near the city centre. Accommodation has worked out around £170 sterling for a twin room for 2 nights and £190 for a triple room. We will look at other hotels also. Flights have varied between €40 and €100 for the return trip depending on how quickly we book them. So it’s important we move fast once the event dates are confirmed (but not too fast as some years they have changed the provisional dates). And transport to/from the airport and the athletics arena might add another €20 per person.

I am starting to compile a list of those interested in going so can parents email or text me if interested (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 087 6591879). A parent normally travels with the athlete but we can accommodate a small number of the older juveniles travelling without parents. Plus this time we hope to have a small senior group travelling too. People can email me if they have any questions.

Club Yearbook 2019 !!

Plans are afoot to produce a new Club Yearbook to mark the 50th anniversary of the club in February this year. The club produced its first yearbook in 2005 and followed it up with its second yearbook in 2007 covering the years 2006-07. At the time, it was the intention to repeat the publication every few years but unfortunately this did not happen. But its never too late so to help mark the 50th anniversary of the club, work is now underway on a new yearbook.

Members are encouraged to send articles and photographs to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. between now and the end of February and an editorial committee will work over the following few months to try to put it all together into a new bumper yearbook covering the last 11 years and hopefully it won't be as long again before the next one.

We want to get everyone's photo into the yearbook so don't be shy in sending them in. And all articles small or large are weclome and from all ages. See small sample from the 2007 yearbook below. If anyone is interested in copies of the old yearbooks, they can still be purchased at a cost of €15 each.

Maeve race-walks to National bronze!

Maeve Curley, bronze medallist in the National Senior 5000m Race Walk in Santry

Maeve Curley raced to the bronze medal in the 5000m race walk at the National Senior Track & Field Championships yesterday in Santry. Maeve completed the grueling 12.5 laps of the track in an excellent 26.11.30 despite being penalised with a 30 second time penalty due to an infringement on the final lap. In new rules for race walking, some rule violations that used to result in yellow cards now result in time penalties. It meant Maeve had an anxious wait at the end of the race to get the official results and confirmation of her placing.

This is Maeve's fourth time on the podium at the National senior championships having won silver in 2015 and bronze in 2012 as well as indoor bronze in 2017. It brings to 28 the number of National medals won by athletes from the club in the outdoor track and field chammpionships this year, the clubs most successful year by a distance with the previous bests being 2015 and 2014 where the club won 20 and 22 National medals.

Also in action in Santry, Sinead Treacy raced to a splendid PB and new club record of 57.99, knocking over a second off her own previous club record of 59.31 and just missing out on making the final. Gavin Cooney completed the action from the club with a fine 2.00.40 in the heats of the men's 800m. With sub-2 being the target, Gavin went though 200m in 28 seconds pacing his own race very well as the race leaders went off at a crazy 1.48 pace. The sub-2 looked to be on but a strong head-win blowing down the home straight made it very difficult and Gavin finished strongly in 2.00.40 and a new PB which would certainly have been a sub-2 in better weather conditions. His time placed him 19th out of the 30 competitors in action across the 3 heats, a very strong performance in difficult weather conditions.

European U20 Club Track & Field

A nice write-up in today’s Connacht Tribune on the club and it’s qualification for the European U20 Club Track & Field. Get your copy today!!

The event takes place in September 2019 so we have a year to prepare our athletes for it. The venue is most likely Leiria in Portugal where it has been held for the last number of years. You can read about this year’s Europeans at www.leiria2018.com and previous championships at www.european-athletics.org.

It was a massive achievement for our squad of Aisling Keady, Caron Ryan, Laura Cunningham, Ciana Reidy, Lorraine Delaney, Shauna Tobin, Arlene Earls, Chloe Casey, Freya Bohan and Ailbhe Miskella to qualify. The squad will be greatly bolstered by a number of athletes who were unavailable for the Irish finals due to exams, injuries and holidays and also by the fantastic group of U16 athletes who will be old enough to take part in the U20 grade next year.

I will be emailing out more details to parents and athletes in the U16 to U20 age groups shortly as we will be trying to get athletes minds focussed on this event as their main target next year and try to revolve your year around it. It will be a huge honour for all of our athletes to represent club and country in a major European championships. We have approximately 25 eligible athletes in these age groups and we hope to bring everyone who wants to target the event to Portugal!