An action-packed 4 hours took place last Wednesday in Athlone IT with the inaugural Galway indoor Challenge superbly organized by Tuam AC’s Pierce O’Callaghan. With a lot of entries and a 4-hour window for everything, there wasn’t a minute to spare during a great event which ran off really well.

The highlight of the meet from a Craughwell perspective was the incredible leap by Evan Hallinan in the long jump to set a new Craughwell AC indoor club record with a superb 6.51m with his 3^rd effort. In fact one of his earlier jumps was just a hairline break and was measured at a distance of 6.61m!

Evan later went on to record a very impressive early season leap in the high jump with a 1.95m. Conor Penney was equally impressive in the same event with a 1.85m, with both lads jumps placing them 1^st and 2^nd on the 2023 indoor performance list for now:-

https://www.tilastopaja.eu/db/topirl.php?list=topirl&All=0&Ind=1&top=20&Season=2023

Darragh Kelly was also in fine form in the high jump with a new PB of 1.70 to win the U16 event. Conor Penney also starred in his less familiar jumping event with a very impressive 5.51m to win the U16 long jump. Toyosi George took 3^rd in the same event with 4.86m. Eva Kelleher was also in fine form with a 4.83m leap to win the U18 long jump. Josh White leaped 9.83m to win the U16 triple jump. Siona Lawless returned to competition after a long absence to win the Senior Womens long jump with a best of 4.59 with Siofra Davis just behind with 4.53. Cerys Johnson took 2^nd place in the U12 long jump with a best of 3.34m while Grace Drysdale took 3^rd in the U13s with a best of 3.27m.

Also in the high jump, Laoise Colleran and Cerys Johnson shared 2^nd place with a leap of 1.10m in the U12 Girls; Cormac Burke 2^nd in the U12 Boys with 1.00; Kate O’Leary 1^st in the U13 Girls with 1.25; Sean Colleran 3^rd in the U13 Boys with 1.25; Emma O’Donovan 2^nd in the U16 Girls with 1.40; and Eva Kelleher 1^st in the U18 Girls with 1.45.

In the throws, Cormac Burke took 2^nd in the U12 shot with 5.88m while Max Madden place 2^nd in the U14s with 7.91m.

On the track, the day kicked off in the race walks where Holly Shaughnessy took 2^nd place in the U18 2000m race walk with 12.15.1. Next up the 150s saw many fine performance by athletes from the club with Kate O’Leary 2^nd in the U13 150m with 22.3; Sean Cleare 2^nd in the U14 150m with 20.3; Rachel Warde and Aeveen Kelly 2^nd and 3^rd in the U15 150m with 20.5 and 21.0; Tom Malone 1^st in the U15 Boys 150m with 19.2 with Ethan Stace 3^rd with 21.5; Lauren Kilduff 1^st in the U16 Girls with 19.3 and Toyosi George 3^rd in the U16 Boys with 18.8; Paddy Malone 1^st in the U17 Boys with 19.4; Luke Forde 1^st in the Senior Mens 150m with 19.1.

The 150s were followed swiftly by the 600/800 races where Sophie Mullane got the middle distance off to a blistering start with a 2.09.8 to take 3^rd place in the U12 Girls 600m; Donal Coyle 2^nd in the U13 Boys 600mwith 1.53.6; Alan Hallinan 2^nd in the U14 Boys 800m with 2.24.0; Claudia Coyle 3^rd in the U14 Girls 800m with 2.32.3; Stephen Joyce 2^nd in the U15 Boys 800m with 2.26.0; Declan O’Connell 1^st in the U16 Boys 800m with 2.04.6 with Keelan Moorhead 3^rd in 2.19.4; and Oisin Davis dipping under 2 minutes to win the Senior Mens 800m in 1.59.5.

Next up the 300s with some brilliant victories for the club including Paddy Malone in the U17 Boys with 43.0; younger brother Tom in the U15 Boys with 42.3; Lauren Kilduff in the U16 Girls with 43.1; Laoise Colleran in the U12 Girls with 52.1. And more fine performances which also placed in the top 3 with Sean Colleran 3^rd in the U13 Boys with 48.0; Alan Hallinan 2^nd in the U14 Boys with 44.0; Aeveen Kelly 2^nd in the U15 Girls with 45.6; Emma O’Donovan 2^nd in U16 Girls 46.4; Declan O’Connell 2^nd in the U16 Boys in 40.5.

Full results of the day are attached below.