Cathriona Farrell added yet another National title to her collection of silverware at the National Junior (U20) Track & Field Championships in Tullamore. The U20 and U23 competition was combined and Cathriona (an U18 athlete) not only beat all of the U20 competitors but also beat all of the U23s - a fantastic achivement for this rising star.

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Craughwell AC’s U9, 10 and 11 athletes ventured to Templemore on Saturday for the National Track & Field finals where they performed superbly with many PBs and 3 sets of medals travelling home from Tipperary in the pockets of our budding U10 stars!

I don’t have a full set of results yet or but will update this article when they come to hand.

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39 athletes lined up for the second race of the handicap series.  This was a much tougher fought affair than last week.  Again it was newly registered people leading the way but they will find it a lot tougher to repeat this performance next week!

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A muggy forecast might make PB's difficult to reach but you never know - sure we're getting used to tropical weather at this stage.  If a big 5k pb is your goal don't forget to try out the Galway Track & Field Series in DANGAN on Thursday night where the track 5k will be held.  Last year I set a pb of almost 20 seconds on the track at this time of year. 

For those that are racing on Friday night, the Craughwell handicap 5k will be starting from 8 depending on your handicap.  The handicaps have been adjusted again and you can see your start time below.  Last weeks hare and series leader Patricia will have someone in her sights and will find it tougher to get a good position this time.  Others will find it easier as your pre-series handicaps have been adjusted according to last weeks performance.

For those that didn't get to register last week we will be at the hall from 7:15 and you can collect your number there or at the start line from 7:50 on.  Again we will have a bucket to collect series entry fees on behalf of the local Order Of Malta (mainly for new registers but we won't stop anyone dropping some dosh in).

Take a look below, note your starting time and see you there!

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The third day of the Connacht outdoor track and field took place last Saturday with the U16s and older athletes in action.

Craughwell had a much smaller group in action than the other days - partly because there are less numbers in these age groups and partly because its not at a great time of the year been sandwiched between junior/leaving certificate examinations and holidays/Gaeltacht excursions. The same was true of the other Connacht clubs.

Despite the smaller numbers, Craughwell athletes had an incredible day of success with every single athlete either obtaining a PB or winning a medal or both of the above.

The highlights of the day both came in the long jump pit where Niall Rooney and Tomas Keehan added over a metre to their long jump PB if you combined them together and Ashley McDonnell broke the club's senior triple jump record in her first competitive outing.

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The AAI juvenile competition booklet has details of provisional times for each event on the various days of the All-Irelands.

Check out http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/juvenile-book-2009-june.pdf - pages 20-32.

The U9, U10 and U11 age groups are in action on next Sat 27th June in Templemore.  See pages 20-22 of above booklet. Summary:-

- relays commence at 2pm
- other events commence at 11am

If you are in an individual event, please be there at least one hour before your event in case the program starts early. All sprinters need to be there by 10am. For long jump and ball throw, assume that boys and girls will be in action at the same time on different pits and that it will take 30 minutes for each age group to complete. If in doubt, aim to arrive by 10am!

If you are in a relay, please be there by 12.30pm at the very latest in case the relays are brought forward to an earlier time.

AA route planner indicates Templemore is 1 hr 38 mins from Craughwell so best to allow 2 hours as AA route planner may be estimating for a turbo-charged sports car and mightn't have been updated since the recession left gaping pot-holes in many of our roads! The route it suggests is via Portumna, then Birr, then Roscrea.

For older age groups, there are 3 days for the individual events and the relays are on the 4th day (Sunday 19 July)  - all in Tullamore. The following are the details of the dates of the various events in which members of the club qualified.

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It has been a busy spring / summer for me.  After each marathon I promised I would write a race report but did not get around to it.  So I decided after Cork I would do just one.  This is it.

How did I ever think that as I was going to Malta with John, my husband, for a few days, that while I was there it was a good idea to run the marathon?  It felt all wrong.  The staying in the pub too late the night before (only drinking water) not enough carbo loading, I didn’t even have he porridge sorted for the early start the next morning.

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The AAI juvenile competition booklet has details of provisional times for each event on the various days of the All-Irelands.

Check out http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/juvenile-book-2009-june.pdf - pages 20-32.

The U9, U10 and U11 age groups are in action on next Sat 27th June in Templemore.  See pages 20-22 of above booklet. Summary:-

- relays commence at 2pm
- other events commence at 11am

If you are in an individual event, please be there at least one hour before your event in case the program starts early. All sprinters need to be there by 10am. For long jump and ball throw, assume that boys and girls will be in action at the same time on different pits and that it will take 30 minutes for each age group to complete. If in doubt, aim to arrive by 10am!

If you are in a relay, please be there by 12.30pm at the very latest in case the relays are brought forward to an earlier time.

AA route planner indicates Templemore is 1 hr 38 mins from Craughwell so best to allow 2 hours as AA route planner may be estimating for a turbo-charged sports car and mightn't have been updated since the recession left gaping pot-holes in many of our roads! The route it suggests is via Portumna, then Birr, then Roscrea.

For older age groups, there are 3 days for the individual events and the relays are on the 4th day (Sunday 19 July)  - all in Tullamore.

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Thanks to all the athletes that turned up on a smashing evening for the first race in the series.  44 runners took part which was nice from our perspective as the full quota of 85 might have been a pinch!! 

First home was Patricia Walshe who managed to "survive" in her hare role - holding on for a gritty finish to just edge it ahead of Maria McArdle in a time of 33:40. These two led from the front for the entire race which is not an easy thing to do.  In 3rd  was Mary Loughnane and actually Aine Rooney as well who crossed the finish line arm in arm (but someone has to win so we gave Mary the nod).

Fastest on the night was Johnny Lane (17:26) tracked by Darragh O'Brien (18:01).  Though this was a good performance, the lads might have overestimated their form a bit by starting off a 16:19 handicap!

This was a good start to the series - many people beat the time they set in the Craughwell 5k in May which is what it's all about.  Those that beat their handicap this week will find themselves with a shiny new handicap for next week so don't get too cocky - there's a long way to go yet!!

Also 177 euro was collected for the Order of Malta - we'll have the tub at all the races in case you want to run faster by lightening the pockets a tad :)

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Provisional order of events attached below. (ignore the wrong date at the top of the file!):

 http://www.craughwellac.com/images/attachments/OrderofEvents20thJune2009.pdf

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** UPDATE: Hi folks the entries are now closed.  I am just working now trying to figure out the handicaps, starting order, etc. Please log back on later on to see the list of entrants (waiting on an email with the last few names).**

Tony wins Race 2 in 07

Round 1: Friday June 19th 8:00 PM
Round 2: Friday June 26th 8:00 PM (I week later)
Round 3: Friday July 10th 8:00 PM (2 weeks later)
Round 4: Friday July 24th 8:00 PM (2 weeks later)

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it : if you are on the list and won't be able to do them
Send me a mail: if you are available to help out at the finish line (let me know the date)
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it : if you are on the list below and your handicap is blank or way off (to help me assign a handicap).

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The Olympic Council of Ireland announced the team yesterday which will contest the European Youth Olympics in Finland in the 2nd last week of July. And amidst the team of 14 athletes was Craughwell's own Cathriona Farrell.

This is a fantastic achievement for Cathriona and the highlight of her career to date. Cathriona joined the club at the age of 7 and took part in all of the athletic disciplines including sprints, cross-country and long jump. It was only when the club purchased its high jump equipment in early 2004 that Cathriona commenced high jumping then aged 12. After only a handful of training sessions (well, ok maybe 10 training sessions) she broke the National record for the U13 age group on her way to her first National title.

Since then it has been onwards and upwards for Cathriona, featuring on several Irish juvenile international teams, routinely winning National titles in Ireland, winning the Scottish National U17 title, winning the English AAA U17 National title, the Irish U20 National title, ... the list goes on.

The qualification standard for the European Olympics was 1.73m which Cathriona attained last and this year on several occasions, most recently jumping 1.75m to win the Irish Schools senior girls title and almost clearing 1.78m on that occasion. Cathriona achieved this honour of representing her country at the highest level while also studying for the hardest exam in the world - the Leaving Certificate.

The club are immensely proud of Cathriona's achivements and wish her the very best of good luck in Finland in July. While to some, this might be seen as the pinacle of their athletic achivements, for Cathriona its just the start on a higher stage!

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Provisional program for this Saturday is attached here.

Please note that its only a provisional order and the actual order can and will vary on the day. Note also that the hammer event starts at 10am and all other events at 11.30am.

If trying to estimate times of events, bear in mind that there likely be two long jump pits operating at the same time, with the boys at one and the girls at the other.

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The track and field events are coming hot and heavy these days between Community Games, schools track and field and club track and field. Tuesday was the turn of primary schools with the highly successful Galway City Sports which was held in Dangan.

The track in Dangan was thronged with children and teachers as the organisers got the events underway around 9.45am. Well done to the coordinators and in particular to Muiriosa on a very successful event.

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Craughwell AC’s youngest athletes led the way at the weekend in the Connacht track and field championships in Athlone IT where 20 teams from the club qualified for the National finals, with two other Galway clubs also to the fore - GCH with 14 teams and Athenry with 13 teams. These figures speak volumes for the strength of underage athletics within Co. Galway. 

Unfortunately after a week of strong sunshine, last Saturday resembled a summer’s day in Siberia more so that in Athlone. The drop in temperatures was bad enough but the accompanying rain dampened the day for parents, athletes and coaches alike. Despite this, athletes from the club served up some top notch performances in the Icelandic conditions.

(The photos above are deceiving - don't know how Julie found a sunny spot that day!)

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