***** UPDATE *****

Provisional program for the 2 days of the Galway Juvenile Outdoor Track & Field are at:-

• http://www.galwayathletics.com/dmdocuments/GalwayTF U9-11 Program 2009.pdf
• http://www.galwayathletics.com/dmdocuments/GalwayTF U12-19 Program 2009.pdf

This is a brief note on the dates of summer track and field competition for all juvenile age groups.

Parents are encouraged to read it and to advise the coaches of their athlete(s) availability for the dates in question. Parents will receive more information on this in the coming weeks from the coordinator/coach in each age group.

Please note that athletes in the club are strongly encouraged to take part in competition. The Galway championships is an ideal starting point if they have not competed before. It will help their interest in the sport to take part … it doesn't matter how they do in it but its important they participate.

Medals are not important – but self-improvement is important. And the only way to know the latter is to take part in competitions. In our experience, members of the club take a much greater interest in the sport once they have taken part in competition.

U9/10/11 Age Groups 

For the U9/10/11 age groups, the format of the competition is that each athlete can do 2 individual events and a relay.

For Connacht and National finals, 2 athletes pair together in an event and their combined times or distance determine the top 3 in each event.

For Galway competition, the athletes will not be paired in advance, but the results will be used by competition officials to determine the top 3 teams in each event and age group – e.g. the jumps from Craughwell's best two long jumpers will be combined and if the combined score is in the top 3 combined scores, that team of two will qualify for the All-Irelands.

The events for each age group are as follows (an athlete can only do two of these):-

– U9s : 60m, 300m, long jump, ball throw
– U10s: 60m, 500m, long jump, ball throw
– U11s: 60m, 600m, long jump, ball throw

In addition to two of the above, each athlete can be part of a relay team. We will enter as many relay teams as possible. Note unfortunately an U8 athlete is not allowed to compete in the U9 competition, i.e. you must be born in 2001 to compete in U9s.

The dates of the events are as follows:-

– 11am, Sat 2 May: Galway Championships (Dangan)
– Sat 6 June: Connacht Championships (Athlone)
– Sat 27 June: National Championships (Templemore)

U12 and older Age Groups 

The format of these age groups is the normal individual events and a relay in each age group.

For full details of the individual events available in each age group, check out page 25 of the juvenile competition booklet.

The dates of the events are as follows:

– 11am Sun 3 May: Galway Championships (Dangan)
– Sat 13 June: U12,13,14,15 Connacht Championships (Athlone)
– Sat 20 June: U16, 17, 18, 19 Connacht Championships (Athlone)
– Sat/Sun 11/12 July: Day 1 and 2 of National Championships (Tullamore)
– Sat 18 July: Day 3 of National Championships (Tullamore)
– Sun 19 July: U12-19 National Relay Championships (Tullamore)

For a breakdown of the events on the 3 days of the National finals, check out the juvenile competition booklet.