Yes the summer is finally here – another fantastic weekend of running just gone. 

First-off at 11PM on Saturday morning, the Louisburgh to Westport half marathon took place.  I don't remember this race from before so am not sure if it is a new race.  In to my knowledge his finest performance to date, Athenry's Mick Rice powered home in an incredible 1:16:47 to take first place.  This is a truly sensational time and is a breakthrough performance from the up and coming Athenry youngster.  Athenry had a strong team at the race, with their next placed man, Peter Delmer taking 5th position in about 1:20.  Keep an eye on AthenryAC.com for race reports.

Later on in the day, the Streets of Galway kicked off.  At this premier Galway running event I was one of the T-Shirt hander-outers and got to see the finish of a race for a change.

The great Seamus Power lead the field by over 30 seconds, in a time of 23:47 which was sensational on the day – as it was quite a breezy evening.  Next Galway man home was Gary Thornton in 6th.  The team prize was won easily by Raheny who had a clutch of young guns in under the 25 minute mark. First lady home was Rosemary Ryan in a super time of 26:57.

First Craughwell Runner home was our glorious leader – Michael Tobin, in a highly respectible 29:08.  Michael now regards this as his PB (okay lets be open about it … none of us trust our times from Tuam – that course was a tad short we think!).  The other Craughwell Runners are detailed below – please excuse me if I missed anyone:

31:38 Gerry Fahy
32:58 John Heneghan
33:13 Jim Maher
34:26 Diarmuid Quill
34:47 Dara Dolan
34:56 Bernard Keane
37:05 Gerry Meehan
37:44 Gabriel Gardiner
39:38 Valerie Fogarty
41:12 Dervilla Darcy
43:00 Helen Hallinan
43:37 Oliver Niland
44:04 John Mannion
44:53 Niamh Dolan
45:06 Geraldine Fallon
47:45 Mary Prendergast

Another noteworthy performance of the day was from Gerry Broderick of Loughrea. Gerry is not too long at the running game and posted a fantastic time of 30:10.  Gerry is father of Jason, and the Broderick family definitely posted the best father-son total of the race to my knowledge, with Jason coming home in 26:52.