Field of Dreams Becoming Reality!
Yesterday marked another historic day for the club with the completion of the line-marking on our 6-lane 400m track and our adjoining 6-lane 110m sprint track. It is possibly the only track in the country where 12 sprinters could line up in individual lanes in the same race.
The lining and tartan layer were done by Sean Campbell’s Sports Ground Specialists from Co. Antrim while the groundwork for the 400m track was done by local contractor Seamus Coleman. Lorraine Delaney pictured below and Shauna Bocquet shared the honour yesterday of being the first 2 athletes to train on the newly lined 400m track.
The work is a major step forward in the vision for the club when we purchased our 8-acre site in 2014. The purchase was completed in early September that year so it’s just short of 9 years now since the commencement of the vision. In that time we have added
- Grass running routes, some floodlighting and car park (2014)
- High jump area (2016)
- Sprint track and long jump and more floodlighting (2016)
- Walking/jogging 800m pathway (2019)
- First phase of building (2020)
- Groundwork for 400m track (2021)
- Tartan and lining of 400m track (2023)
None of the above could have been achieved without the huge support from all families in the club, all our sponsors in particular our main sponsor Jody’s Craughwell, Community Finance Ireland for development loans and the Sports Capital Program and the LEADER Program for significant grant-aid over the years.
A fantastic team effort and just a stepping stone on the way to the next level!
Our next step is to pay for it! Most members of the club will have already receiving the fund-raising cards for our 12-hour relay and family fun day which has now been rescheduled to Saturday 30th September. This is a very important fundraiser for the club as we need to clear the balance of a bridging loan used to get the track works done. Group coordinators will be encouraging their groups to return their completed sponsorship cards during September – please support this as much as you can as its paying for such a fine facility of which you our members are now the proud owners. We also gratefully receive donations to the club – we are Revenue-approved for tax rebates on donations of €250 or more, e.g. if you donate €300, we can claim another €200 back from the Revenue Commissioners.
Some pics below of the progress since 2014.
