The National league is an annual team event where clubs and counties compete over the full range of athletic events. This year it consists of two rounds, and the preliminary round took place in the fantastic new Morton Stadium Saturday in stunning sunshine and thunderous downpours. Galway county fielded a full men’s and women’s team on the day with many Craughwell AC Participants. The most significant result of the day from a Craughwell perspective was Sinead Treacy who smashed her own club 400m record witha superb 55.20 clocking.

After the first round, the men’s team were sitting pretty in first place with 142 points and the women’s team were in 2nd with 110 points. All to play for on the final day

Siobhan Kelleher of South Galway was manager of the Men’s team. The leading scorer from Craughwell was Justin Lane who took the maximum points with a win in the Pole Vault with a 2m clearance. Justin also took 3rd in the hammer throw.

Evan Hallinan won the Long Jump, clearing 6.17m.

Sean Cotter sat in on the 800m and kicked with 240m to run, finishing in 1:58.9. Andrew Power came 3rd in a high-standard Javelin competition with a 37.79 throw. Andrew also came 4th in the men’s triple Jump clearing 11.11. Mark Davis was drafted in last-minute to the 5000m and finished 4th in 17:08. It was great to get the chance to represent Galway again but think father time may be kicking in a bit for me at this level – new blood for the finals hopefully!!

The Galway Senior women also featured several Craughwell AC Athletes and was managed by Craughwell AC’s own Sarah Finnegan. Síofra Davis was winner of the Pole Vault in a great day for the club’s pole vault squad.

Sinéad Treacy had one of the runs of the day to set a huge new club record of 55.20 to come 2nd in the 400m, knocking a HUGE 0.7s off her personal best! Sinéad Gaffney was 3rd in a tactical 1500m, closing for 4:51.08. Aoibhe Fahy came 4th in the Javelin with a fine 21.95 clearance. Eva Kelleher was 5th in the Long Jump. Team Captain Sarah Finnegan came 5th in the Triple Jump with a clearance of 8.98m. Michelle Duggan from Craughwell represented UCD in the teams competition and ran a fine 25.95 in the 200m.