Tá an áthas orm 2 dúirt 2u that Craughwell AC will be taking part in Rith 2010 on Monday March the 15th!!!!

You can find out more about Rith 2010 at www.rith.ie. It is a relay around Ireland in celebration of the Irish language as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge. The club are delighted to be able to support it and will be running from the service station in Derrydonnell into Oranmore.

its probably just appropriate for older juveniles to take part (since it will be dark). There will be a convoy of cars before and after the runner so it will be safe. If younger juveniles wished to take part, providing they are accompanied by a parent that should be fine.

We will be meeting at the service station at 8pm and running shortly after that. Please let me know if you want to participate.

We'd also be delighted if any of our senior athletes joined us ... a recovery run after the Craughwell 10 the day before?

I'd encourage our athletes to wear their club singlet - it will enhance the occasion!!

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Thanks to all that attended the marshal's meeting on Saturday.  To those from the marshal's list that couldn't make it - don't worry - you're not off the hook!  However it's not all hard work - after we are done with standing around and cheering on the athletes there is some comfort for the marshals in knowing that Raftery's Blazers Bar in main st Craughwell will be feeding the hungry helpers. 

Prizegivings after the race will be at the race HP at the school, but the marshals and any participants that are still around are very welcome to meet in Rafterys afterwards to relax tired bodies and review the day's action.  See you there!

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Cathriona Farrell added yet another prestigious medal to her collection when competing in the English AAA U20 Indoor Championships in Birmingham today.

Up against the cream of the UK's athletic talent, Cathriona showed exceptional early season form to soar way over 1.75m on her first attempt - easily a 1.80m+ jump. 

Cathriona was in a strong position in the competition at this point - leading the way along with England's Isabel Pooley whom Cathriona had beaten last July in Finland. World Youth Heptathlon champion Katrina Thompson struggled at 1.75m before clearing it on her 3rd attempt. Pooley moved into the lead with a first time clearance of 1.78m, with Thompson clearing it on her second attempt. Craughwell's Cathriona hit it twice with her shoulder on the way up and then came very close to nailing 1.78m on her third and final attempt - just clipping it with her ankles and having to settle for bronze on this occasion. Thompson went on to win the competition at 1.81m.

To be competing alongside World champions and pushing them for a medal underlines the potential of Craughwell's leading athlete. Competing at this level is just a small step away from senior international athletics, a transition which looks like it will come easy to Cathriona.

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Breezy and sunny.  A cold day for standing round but ideal running conditions for the exceptionally scenic east Galway course.  The presence of the popular Gerry Ryan made the overall result a foregone conclusion and Gerry did what he usually does - finishing over a minute and half ahead of the second placed runner.  Everything was organised impeccably - a credit to the organisers and over 160 people finished in aid of the worthy Alan Kerins fund cause.  It was my first time taking part in the event and I was very impressed - I will certainly be back next year.

Full results are below (updated thanks to correction from eagle-eyed Audrey of Loughrea AC .  If anyone else sees errors or omissions please let me know!).

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Craughwell’s U13 boys cross country squad put in a big performance in Boyle on Sunday to claim the bronze medals in the National Cross Country championships. This is only the 3rd team from the club to claim medals at National level in cross country, the previous having been the U11 girls of 2002 and the U11 boys of 2005. The race in Boyle was a rerun of the U13 race held in Coleraine in December last year but which was declared null and void due to a myriad of problems at the race start.

The Craughwell team had run well in Coleraine only to have their medal hopes dashed by officialdom, so their achievement in Boyle was all the more deserved. The team members and their finishing places were Damien O’Boyle (11th), Oisin Doyle (22nd), Jamie Spelman (33rd), Gavin O’Toole (41st) and Cillian McDaid (55th).

Also in Boyle, the U11 boys were very unlucky in the B championship to finish in 4th place with 104 points, just 5 away from a set of bronze medals. Their team was Liam Moran (13th), Sam McArdle (25th), Isi Richards (31st), Dylan Finn (35th) and Jim Crowley (42nd). The club also had exceptional performances in the U11 and 13 girls races with Aoife Greene 11th and Dearbhaile Walsh 14th in the U11 race, and Grainne McDaid 9th and Hannah Rabbitte 35th in the U13 race. Matthew Moran also had a strong run in the U15 boys race to take 21st place.

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Martin, Mark, Peter

Fantastic news just in.  The most consistently excellent runner in the club,  Martin Corcoran has finally done it and taken a well-deserved individual medal in the National Cross-Country.  Martin has been 4th on several occasions so this is all the sweeter.  He ran a cautious race yesterday - starting off steady and pushing the pace so that he steadily caught people throughout the event.  I should know - as I was one of those that Martin passed on the penultimate lap of the hilly Lough Key course.  It was obvious from his expression that Martin was giving it his all.  I think this is the best individual senior cross country result ever for the club - perhaps the best senior running result.  Well done Martin on a superb achievement.

 Craughwell Club went well yesterday - with Peter running an absolute stormer to come in about 15th position, Martin in about 20th and me in about 26th position (exact places to follow when results are published), all leading the Galway team home, with Diarmuid also running a best for him in the event. 

Johnny led the Galway intermediates home in a best finish for him in this event and we also had super runs from Paddy and Muiriosa in their cross country debuts.  However there's no doubting the star of the day - Man of Bronze Martin Corcoran.

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Well - not long now!  Less than 3 weeks and it will all be over!  The list of entrants for the Craughwell 10 is below.

Looks like it's going to be a tight battle between GCH, Athenry, Mayo AC and Craughwell for the team prize, though I wouldn't rule out Loughrea AC either.  To check that your entry has been processed correctly could you please check in on the list below and drop me a line vie a comment or contact us if there are any errors or omissions. 

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Next Friday is the day to mark in your Diary.  If you don't get to a computer on that day then your summer could get off to the worst possible start....

Six Galway Athletics Clubs will once again come together to organise a series of low-key, no-frills 5km roads races around the county on six consecutive Tuesday evenings from the 27th of April 2010 through to the 1st of June 2010. The Athenry, Clare River Harriers, Craughwell, Galway City Harriers Loughrea and Tuam clubs have organised a similar series of races for the last four years and the initiative has proven very popular. As usual the races will take place on Tuesday evenings at locations around the county and will culminate in the final race evening in Galway City on Tuesday the 1st June. The now traditional social evening and distribution of series t-shirts and spot prizes will follow the final race.

As in previous years these evenings are specifically designed with the beginner in mind and are perfect for the many members of the Fit4Life groups that have become established all around the county. Runners of all standards are welcome to take part.

The race dates venues and start times will be as follows,

Athenry – Tuesday the 27th April 2010 at 7:45pm
Tuam – Tuesday the 4th May 2010 at 8:00pm
Craughwell – Tuesday the 11th May 2010 at 8:00pm
Claregalway - Tuesday the 18th May 2010 at 8:00pm
Loughrea – Tuesday the 25th May 2010 at 8:00pm
Galway City – Tuesday the 1st June 8:00pm

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Maria McNamara and Cathriona Farrell were both in action at the weekend in high profile high jump events, with Maria travelling to Scotland for the Scottish Indoors and Cathriona in action in Nenagh at the Irish Universities Track & Field.

Maria produced an amazing series of jumps to clear all heights up to and including 1.50m in the U15 girls high jump in Glasgow. With only 5 left at that stage of the competition, Maria knocked 1.55m on her first attempt but cleared it on the 2nd attempt with a fantastic leap to set a new personal best. Down to two jumpers now, Maria almost nailed 1.58m but had to settle for the silver medal. This was Maria's best ever performance in high jump competition and to produce it in the biggest event she has yet contested was brilliant and augurs very well for the future.

Maria joins Cathriona as the club’s 2^nd juvenile athlete to medal in high jump at international level. While I might be slightly biased, I would not think that there is an athletic club anywhere in the world that has produced two high jumpers of this calibre who live only 2 fields away from each other!

Meanwhile Cathriona added yet another National title to her collection when jumping in the Irish Universities Track & Field for the first time. Representing her college Dublin City University , Cathriona jumped clearly over 1.57m, 1.63m and 1.66m to win the competition at that height.  It was a fine performance from Cathriona who showed great determination and composure after a pretty hectic physical program midweek which included over 2 hours of gymnastics on Friday - not the ideal preparation for a National Championships but all part and parcel of the P.E. degree course in DCU.

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A busy week wrapped up on Sunday with the first day of the Connacht Indoor Track & Field in Nenagh with many outstanding performances across all of the age groups. The little village of Craughwell more than held its own on the day, with more than 100 athletes from the club participating and the club featuring near the top of the medal table with the big town/city clubs of Galway City Harriers and Westport.

Highlights of the day included a breathtaking race in the U15 boys 800m which saw Nicholas Sheehan and Conor Gillen battle it out for 1st and 2nd place in exceptional times of 2:19.44 and 2:20.82 minutes. The pair were drawn in the same heat and a ferocious battle ensued as the 2 boys zipped around the tight curves of Nenagh's indoor track. Neck and neck for the whole race, with 150m Nicholas made a decisive move to take over at the front and sprint for the line, opening a small gap on Conor and holding it to the line. Such was the pace of their heat, they took gold and silver when the results were announced. In the other heat, Keelan Ryan and Matthew Moran also recorded superb times when running 2:36 and 2:39 for the 800m and taking 3rd and 4th places in their heat. The battle between the two was just as intense with the lead been exchanged between them on several occasions. Matthew looked to have Keelan dead and buried as the race entered the final 200m but Keelan discovered his hidden sprinting talents to pull a huge finish out of the hat on the last lap to finish 3 seconds ahead of Matthew.

Sprinting talents also flourished in the 200m races where David Farrell and Tomas Keehan both put in top-class 200m performances in the U17 and U18 200m where both athletes recorded times in the low 25s - with David 5th in his race with 25.64 and Tomas 2nd with 25.11. Highlight of the sprints however was the U14 boys 60m - where Nenagh buzzed to the victory celebrations as not one, not two but three Craughwell sprinters took medals in the same sprint final - with Aidan Conneely the victor in 8.19s and Conor Duggan and Kelvin Olayemi sharing the bronze spot with 8.47s. This is first for the club at this level and says volumes for the sprint coaching by Martin Conneely and Triona Coppinger in that age group. Must be the new starting blocks that we got recently!

There were so many highlights, its hard to know where to stop - but I must also mention the race walking performances from Emma Byrne, Christopher O'Connor, Shane Finn and Maeve Curley. Many would expect to see a strong tradition of race walking in Craughwell given Ann Loughnane's exploits on the world stage - but it never really took off in the club until now. We were lucky to inherit another top-class race walker when Maeve Curley emigrated from remote plains of Westport a few years ago to the rich (and wet!) pasturelands of Ardrahan. But now, the sport of race walking is catching on in the club due to the efforts of Alison Finn - with several athletes training on a regular basis on the track around the astroturf. These efforts paid off on Sunday when Emma Byrne raced to a fine victory in the U14 girls 1000m, followed by Shane Finn taking bronze in the U14 boys 1000m and Christopher O'Connor taking bronze in the U15 boys event. And needless to say, Maeve Curley raced to victory in the U19 girls 1500m walk - setting a blistering pace but well outside her PB until she discovered from race officials that she had raced an extra lap!

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The sun smiled kindly on the grounds of St Mary's College last Thursday for the finals of the Connacht Seconday Schools Cross Country. Full credit to the staff at St Mary's for a very well laid out course which wound around the fine playing fields in the heart of the city - a super venue for cross country and hopefully one that will be repeated in future years.

The top performance from Craughwell AC athletes came from Conor Gillen (Athenry VS) who won the silver medal in a huge battle to the line in the Junior Boys 3000m. Conor had been dropped by the leading bunch very early in the race but slowly closed the gap on the group to pick off runner after runner and move towards the front. The eventual winner of the race, Con Doherty from Westport, however had opened a substantial gap on the leading group before Conor made it up to that group and had built up a lead which was too difficult to retrieve. Conor battled it out with Ciaran Treacy from Ballina, with Conor taking the lead with 100m remaining, Treacy overtaking him as they raced down the final stretch towards the line, Conor fighting back with 30m to go and overtaking about 10m from the line and holding that to claim the silver medal. A super race and fantastic experience for Conor. Matthew Freaney (Pres Athenry) also ran superbly in the same race to claim a top-twenty spot.

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A sizable contingent of athletes from the club took part in the rearranged Cumann na mBunscoil cross country last Wednesday and as has become the norm in recent years, featured very strongly across all four races in both the individual and team placings.

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To all parents of our juvenile athletes,

Craughwell AC is organising a major road race on Sunday 14th March and need your help.

Profits from the race are going towards the provision of facilities for the athletic club. And it is anticipated that the race will become a major fund-raiser for the club in the years ahead.

Headquartered at the national school, the race commitee need approximately 30 marshalls out on the course and many more helpers at race HQ at the school.

Please email Patrick at the following address if you are willing to help out on the day as a race marshall.

This will involve stewarding for approximately 2 hours at one of the many points on the course where traffic might be a problem. The county council are closing the roads for the duration of the race, so that will help make the job easier.

You can view the race route at:- http://www.mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=307126002270523561

For many parents of our juvenile athletes, this will pass close to or right by your front door, so maybe you'd consider giving a few hours of your time to helping the race go smoothly. You can read more about the race at:-

http://www.craughwellac.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=40&Itemid=91

The more help, the better the race will go. And the better the race goes, the better the experience for participants. And the better the experience,  the bigger the race will become next year. And the bigger the race becomes next year, the bigger the funds that are raised for facilities. And the bigger the funds, the better the facilities. So the more help, the better the facilities!

thanks
Michael

[p.s. adding the photograph above was Mark's work, not mine!! I think its a scary photo and will only frighten parents away!]

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Connacht Indoors 

The provisional order of events and rules/regulations for the Connacht Indoors on 14 Feb and 20 Mar are as follows:

- provisional order of events
- rules and regulations

Note for U11 athletes and younger (as some are asking this question), unfortunately Connacht and National indoor competition only starts at age group U12. We still hope to organise a friendly competition for these age groups in Nenagh some time during February - possibly during the schools' mid-term break. 

National Juvenile Indoors 

While no information has been published on the order of events for the National Juvenile Indoors finals, usually the order is the same as the previous year. The National finals are on the weekends of 27/28 March and 10/11 April in Nenagh. Last year, the events were spread over the 4 days as follows:-

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I was a spectator for this race last year through injury but don't plan on missing it again.  Last year it was won by Clare's Kenneth Rodgers who improved amazingly over 2009.  Kenneth finished ahead of our own Johnny Lane.  I have to say I was impressed with the quality of the race organisation, safety, accuracy of the course and the refreshments afterwards.  It's an impeccable race on a lovely scenic route.

One of the members of our club Niall Callanan is on the organising committee and since it's just up the road so we should give it our support. See you there!

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The club had a number of athletes in action at the National finals of the juvenile multi-events in Nenagh on Saturday.

Maria McNamara led the way in the U16 girls event with a points total of 2364 which included new PBs in the hurdles and in the 800m. Maria's scores were 60m hurdles 10.2, long jump 4.31m, shot putt 6.36m, high jump 1.41m and 800m 2.43.4. That was good enough for a 5th place finish overall, not far at all from the medals and only for the jumping events not going Maria's way today, she'd have come home with some silverware.

In the U14 boys event, Damien O'Boyle, Conor Duggan and Brian Concannon put in respectable performances in their events to take 10th, 13th and 16th place with results as follows. Damien's time was the fastest in the 800m while only for a bad fall in the hurdles Conor would have placed higher.

Damien: 1812 pts [hurdles 11.9, long jump 3.36, shot putt 6.73, high jump 1.22, 800m 2.33.8]
Conor: 1558 pts [hurdles 12.8, long jump 3.73, shot putt 6.95, high jump 1.22, 800m 2.56.6]
Brian:1333 pts [hurdles 12.9, long jump 3.45, shot putt 5.12, high jump 1.10, 800m 2.49.8]

In the U14 girls competition, Ellen Treacy and Ellen Fitzpatrick performed well to take 7th and 15th place with results as follows:

Ellen T: 1708 pts [hurdles 11.4, long jump 3.74, shot putt 5.56, high jump 1.30, 800m 2.59.5]
Ellen F: 1498 pts [hurdles 12.2, long jump 3.76, shot putt 6.03, high jump 1.21, 800m 3.04.3]

Full results are available at:-

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/juvenile-combined-events-2010-final-result.pdf

There were also good performances midweek in the South Connacht secondary schools cross country with the highlight being Peadar Harvey's victory in the senior boys race - I will update the website when full results are available so that I don't miss anyone!

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