Claire is one of the club's most consistent athletes for many years now. Having joined the club as a 7 year old, Claire was part of our U9 relay team who won All-Ireland gold in 2004 and followed this up with many fine performances in sprints and long jump, even adding a National medal in high jump at one point. She was also a strong member of our cross country squad in her younger years when the distances were shorter, finishing 4th in Connacht on one occasion. In fact, our header banner on this website since its inception shows a clip of Claire running in a Galway cross country race held in the field next to the school many years ago!

Her forte however is long jump and she has been an ever present in the top 4 of her age group at National level in the last 4 years, medalling on most occasions.

It is a huge encouragement for athletes and coaches in the club to look at her progress over these years – jumping 2.85m as an U9 in 2004, 3.45m in 2005, 3.70m in 2006, 4.38m in 2007, 4.58m in 2008, 4.86m in 2009 and 5.22m as an U15 this year. Hopefully that improvement curve will continue and we will see Claire representing Ireland as an elite senior athlete in the years ahead.

Claire becomes the 6th juvenile athlete from the club to be selected for Ireland – following Ann Loughnane (race walking), Cathriona Farrell (high jump), Tomas Keehan (high jump), Maeve Curley (race walking) and Conor Gillen (cross country).

The Celtic Cup is an annual international between Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The club are immensely proud of Claire and her achievements and wish her the very best of luck in Wales at the end of January.