A little delayed in posting this article on some outstanding performances in the Galway Indoor Track & Field Championships which were held in Nenagh earlier this month.

There were many highlights to a fantastic day of athletics in Nenagh which saw Craughwell AC come out as the top club in terms of both participation and success with over 120 athletes from the club taking part across the range of senior and juvenile events.

Highlight of the day had to be the breathtaking performance by the U17 boys 4x200m which saw Conor Duggan snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, beating the two Galway City Harrier teams in the process and with all 3 teams credited with the same time of 1:46.7.

Even more impressive for the Craughwell team, this was the first time ever for some of the team to run a relay – with the team comprising mainly middle distance runners. John Cormican made his debut in a relay and also got the daunting task of starting out of the blocks. A fine run saw him close to the lead and hand off the baton to Damien O’Boyle who put in a fine performance to match GCH’s Aidan Conneely for pace and hand over to Conor Gillen in 2nd place. Conor made light of the myth that 200m speed is not his game, closing the gap on the leading GCH runner and handing over cleanly to Conor Duggan. As Conor started to close down further on the lead, GCH’s James Fleming in 3rd place started to eat up ground on both leading teams.

As they hit the final bend, Conor was on the heels of GCH’s Ronan Esslemont, biding his time to overtake on the straight but was surprised from behind as Fleming tore past on the outside. Having to check his stride on the bend to avoid a collision, it looked like Craughwell were destined for 3rd place when Conor seemed to find a 5th gear and started to close the now 2m gap on the leading 2 GCH teams. As they raced for the line, the gap closed, and closed, and closed, and bang, they hit the line instantaneously – creating a great big headache for the finishing judges. Normally the Galway relays are pretty simple to adjudicate on the finish line. To have 3 times tie on the line like this was incredible. After much deliberation, the finishing judges awarded victory to Craughwell with much jubilation from the Craughwell fans.

In the senior women’s events, Craughwell dominated proceedings led by Cathriona Farrell with a notable clearance of 1.75m to win the high jump and claiming the long jump title with a leap of 5.03m. Katie O’Donoghue was also in fine form winning the 60m and 200m in impressive PB times of 7.6 and 28.1 and followed this up with a 1.55m PB to place 2nd in the high jump and yet another PB of 7.78m to also take silver in the shot putt. Maria McNamara had a fine performance to win the 60m hurdles with an impressive PB of 9.6s and equalled her PB in the shot putt to take the Galway title with 8.23m, with Melissa Mullins in 3rd place with 7.74m. Jessica Heneghan took double silver in the 60m with 8.0s and in the 200m with 28.5s while Mairead McCan and Maria McNamara placed 2nd and 3rd behind Cathriona Farrell in a tightly contested long jump with jumps of 4.90m and 4.86m.

Sinead Gaffney, Ashley McDonnell and Orla McDaid almost made it a 1-2-3 for the club in the 800m with Sinead taking the title in 2:32.7, Ashley 2nd in 2:35.9 and Orla just pipped on the line for the bronze in a time of 2:45.8. The Craughwell senior women’s squad wrapped up a fine performance with gold and silver in the 4x200m relay with GCH in 3rd place. The Craughwell teams were 1st Jessica Heneghan, Claire Ryder, Sineád Gaffney and Maireád McCan in a time of 1:53.9 and 2nd Orla Ryan, Katie O’Donoghue, Ashley McDonnell and Cathriona Farrell in a time of 1:55.2.In the men’s events, David Farrell took the high jump title with 1.65m – his first time in action ni this event and illustrating heaps of potential with hopefully much more to come from him in this event. Eamonn Waters and our club chairman Tony Fitzpatrick took gold and silver in the shot putt with 11.19m and 8.69m.

In the distance races, Finn Stoneman ran an impressive 2:11.8 to take the gold with Pádraic Tobin taking the bronze with 2:18.8 while Peadar Harvey placed 2nd overall in the 3000m – taking the gold in the U20 category in a time of 9:24.6, with Conor Gillen 2nd in 9:51.2 and Jamie Spellman 3rd in 9:53.6.There were many other fine performances in the individual events, particularly Ellen Fitzpatrick’s 1.50m to win the U15 high jump and Aisling Keady-Cummins 1.46m to win the U14 high jump. Full details of the other medal winners in individual events were as follows:-

Girls Sprints: U10s 3 Leanne Lynskey 10.2; U12s 3 Siona Lawless 9.4; U14s 2 Eimear Loughnane 8.7, 3 Michelle Duggan 9.1; U15s 1 Tara McNally, 2 Grainne McDaid; U17s 3 Sinead Treacy 8.4. Boys Sprints: U13s 1 Daniel Callanan-Forde 8.9, 2 Jerry Keary 9.2, 3 Cian Waters 9.5; U15s 1 Jordan Connaughton 8.3.

Girls Middle Distance: U10 350m 1 Ava Finn 1.15.0; U11 550m 1 Sarah McCartin 2.04.4, 2 Ailbhe Miskella 2.06.4; U12 600m 1 Roisin Hansberry 2.15.5, 2 Niamh Treacy 2.17.9, 3 Emma Urquhart 2.21.7; U14 800m 1 Dearbhaile Walshe 2.47.6; U15 800m 1 Grainne McDaid 2.53.7; U17 800m 3 Ciara Greene 2.38.8. Boys Middle Distance: U11 550m 1 Finbarr Mc Fadden 1.54.3; U12 600m 3 Michael Hand 2.06.1; U13 600m 3 Dean Callanan 2.06.9; U14 800m 1 Liam Moran 2.43.62 Ben Sharkey 2.46.2; U15 800m 1 Jordan Connaughton 2.33.0; U17 800m 1 Conor Gillen 2.16.2, 2 Damien O'Boyle 2.17.3, 3 John Cormican 2.22.8.

Girls Long Jump: U10s 1 Kate Reilly 3.05, 2 Ava Finn 2.92, 3 Aine Kelly 2.92; U11s 2 Sarah McCartin 3.11; U12s 1 Siona Lawless 3.69; U13s 1 Laura Cunningham 3.76, 3 Caolin Milton 3.55; U14s 1 Emma Gaffney 4.00, 3 Michelle Duggan 3.94; U17s 1 Sinead Treacy 4.43, 2 Claire Ryder 4.26. Boys Long Jump: U10s 1 Fionn McArdle 3.14, 3 Conor Trehy 2.97, 3 Padraig Martyn 2.89; U11s 2 Ryan Gallagher 3.69, 3 Alex Evans 3.59; U12s 1 Micheal McFadden 3.92; U13s 1 Daniel Callanan-Forde 3.84, 2 Peter Martyn 3.82, 3 Cian Waters 3.74; U14s 2 Dylan Finn 4.00, 3 Jim Crowley 3.82; U15s 2 Jordan Connaughton 4.68, 3 Matthew McKiernan 4.42.

Girls High Jump: U13s 1 Aoife Walsh 1.25, 2 Ciana Reidy 1.15, 3 Laura Cunningham 1.15; U14s 1 Aisling Keady-Cummins 1.46, 3 Emma Gaffney 1.30; U15s 2 Tara McNally 1.40; U17s 1 Ellen Fitzpatrick 1.50. Boys High Jump: U13s 1 Jerry Keary 1.20, 2 Peter Martyn 1.15; U14s 1 Dylan Finn 1.30, 3 Jim Crowley 1.25; U17s 2 Damien O'Boyle 1.40.

Girls Shot Putt: U12s 2 Sarah Callanan 5.30, 3 Emma Urquhart 4.34; U13s 2 Shauna Tobin 6.17; U14s 1 Eva Prendergast 8.02, 2 Tara Hand 4.77. Boys Shot Putt: U12s 2 Michael Hand 6.25; U13s 1 Cian Waters 9.09, 2 Mark O'Brien 8.53; U14s 1 Sam McArdle 7.10, 2 Nathan Lynsky 6.85, 3 Ben Sharkey 6.25; U15s 1 Cathal O'Brien 10.22.

Girls 60m Hurdles: U13s 2 Caolin Milton; U14s 1 Emma Gaffney, 2 Aisling Keady-Cummins. Boys 60m Hurdles: U13s 1 Jerry Keary, 2 Peter Martyn, 3 Daniel Callanan-Forde; U14s 3 Jack Scully 13.2; U15s 1 Damien O'Boyle 10.3.

Girls Walks: U14 600m 1 Eva Prendergast, 2 Dearbhaile Walshe. Boys Walks:  U17 1000m 1 Christopher O'Connor 5.02.0, 2 Shane Finn 5.11.0.

Girls Relays: U10 4x100m 1 Kate Reilly, Leanne Lynskey, Aine Kelly, Ava Finn, Sub: Emma Malone 1.10.2; U11 4x100m 3 Ailbhe Miskella, Sarah Woods, Emily Miskella, Bryna Milton 1.13.2; U12 4x100m 1 Claire Broderick, Caoimhe Allen, Roisin Hansbury, Siona Lawless, Sub: Tara Stephens 1.05.6; 3 Sarah Callanan, Abilgail McNally, Niamh Treacy, Emma Urquhart 1.12.6; U13 4x100m 2 Aoife Walsh, Caolin Milton, Ciana Reidy, Laura Cunningham, Sub: Shauna Tobin 1.03.9; U14 4x200m 1 Eimear Loughnane, Dearbhaile Walshe, Erin Fitzpatrick, Michelle Duggan 2.00.7; U15 4x200m 1 Eimear Loughnane, Michelle Duggan, Grainne McDaid, Tara McNally, Sub: Andrea Tobin 2.02.4; U17 4x200m 2 Sinead Treacy, Claire Ryder, Ellen Fitzpatrick, Tara McNally.

Boys Relays: U10 4x100m 2 Gavin Kelly, Conor Trehy, Fionn McArdle, Padraig Martyn 1.12.5; U11 4x100m 3 Finbarr Mc Fadden, Ryan Gallagher, Cian Garman, Alex Evans, Sub: Garvin Surlis 1.12.6; U12 4x100m 2 Darren Lyons, Darragh O'Connor, Patrick Moonan, Michael McFadden 1.06.0; U13 4x100m 1 Jerry Keary, Peter Martyn, Micheál McFadden, Daniel Callanan-Forde, Sub: Mark O'Brien; 2 Diarmuid McCartin, Cian Waters, Dean Callanan, Luke Evans; U14 4x200m 2 Brian Loughnane, Dylan Finn, Sam McArdle, Jim Crowley 2.02.0; 3 Ben Sharkey, Liam Moran, Gearoid Treacy, Nathan Lynskey 2.09.9; U15 4x200m 2 Brian Loughnane, Dylan Finn, Jordan Connaughton 2.00.5; U17 4x200m 1 John Cormican, Damien O'Boyle, Conor Gillen, Conor Duggan 1.46.7.