by Noel Gorman

“The 36th edition ” of the Streets of Galway 8k road was held on Saturday, the 6th of August and it was a huge success. GCH again hosted the famous Streets of Galway race in the City of The Tribes. The crowds spectating added hugely to the atmosphere this year as cheers and well wishes echoed all round the course and some music also. Craughwell Ac had a big participation yet again with over 45 members in the race. There were a number of fit 4 life members who have been training throughout the summer, keeping up their two weekly sessions, specifically for the 8km race. This is fantastic to see and a credit to all those helping out at fit for life group meetings. The race saw over 2000 finishers. The first man in was Annett Andrew in 24mins10 , 2nd Ciobanu Sergiu and third pace Donal Devane. The first lady in was Ide Nic Dhomhnaill in 26mins50, her sister Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill was second and Laura Mooney was in third place.
Craughwell AC finishers included :
Cotter Sean
Jamie Fallon
Patrick Noonan
Kyle Moorhead
Kevin Mooney
Jack Miskella
Fergus Kelly
Linda Porter
Noel Gorman
Emily Miskella
Patrick Monahan
Mary Woulfe
Oliver Niland
Patrick Dolan
Orla O shea
Ailbhe Miskella
Kay Tuohy
Sharon Gilligan
Dearbhaile Walshe
Maura Walsh
Aine Hardiman
Lorraine Craven
Karen Donohue
Niamh Coffey
Gerry Treacy
Mike Finnerty

Helena Gorman
Brendan Treacy
Tom Maguire
Norman black
Kieran Quinn
Kevin O Connor
Celia Miskella
Paul Miskella
Paul Mcloughlin
John Smalle
Daniel O’Brien
Aine Mcguinness
Marie Rooney
Nina Topalova
Lucy Cunningham
Siobhan Moorhead
Maura Hardiman
Declan Craven
Michelle Nolan
The majority of Craughwell AC members and friends met at the fire station for the annual photoshoot. The race organisers orchestrated a great atmosphere this year at the start of the race with “Enter Sandman” getting the heartrates pumping just before off. The first few kms are always quite congested with a lot of concentration required not to trip or get tripped until the crowd filters out a bit . Crowds lined the streets like never before and the number of marshals and helpers were incredible and really made it a great race to participate in, hats off to GCH hosts. The weather was hot and there was a nice breeze throughout however the water stations were a blessing.
I had no real plan for this race, just to run a steady as possible race. I had to break my stride to stop and tie a shoelace around the 4km, which I then had to work to get my tempo back up. I was happy with my time and finished in around 36mins which was one of my faster streets times. The whole Miskella clann all ran in the race this year with Paul and Celia finishing together on the line. Wearing the singlet means you get cheered out by random people and is great encouragement when you are feeling the pressure. Great to see Thomas Porter on the last KM marker ,you know you are nearly home when you pass him and you are on your final push. It was great to see a few younger generation of our club members running at this event. Thanks again to John O’Connor for his photographing of the event , it’s in years to come when with look back at these that they become invaluable. There were plenty of smiling faces at the finishing area with everyone appearing happy to be back to normality with races again and it was another social outing for our club. Best of luck to members starting their marathon training for Dublin City Marathon , I’m sure we will see ye all pounding the byroads of Craughwell over the next few months.
Looking forward to next Year.