Ben Ryan receiving a gift from Craughwell AC for his first International vest
(presented by Marion (Chairperson), Craughwell AC)
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Ben Battles it out in the World Mountain Running Championships
Created: Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Written by Lisa Thomas
We all thought it was hot in Santry on Saturday, but by 10.00am in the Italian mountains, temperatures had soared to 34°C! Even sitting in temperatures this hot; is exhausting, one can only imagine the affects on the body when you have to run a 5k distance and run a significant part of it, uphill.
According to Ben (Ryan), it was an incredibly fast start to this race, with the first 200m covered in 30 secs; which you can liken to a 2 minute 800m pace. After the first lap Ben held a very strong comfortable position somewhere in the middle of the pack. Embarking on the second lap, he decided to give it his all and charge forward, overtaking several runners which left him at the end of the 2nd lap amongst the top 20 runners. This was a remarkable achievement demonstrating Ben's strength of character and motivation to ignore the feelings of fatigue attributable to the extreme temperatures. Unfortunately although the risk paid off, in him gaining signifcant places, it also meant that it led to him missing out on an all important water station and necessary hydration stop. The combination of the heat and dehydration resulted in Ben collapsing with a mere 1500m to go.
Speaking to his family after the race, they recounted how devastated Ben was not to have been able to finish the race, with such a short distance to go. Shortly after the race he indicated that he would "never" run in that heat again.
It was only later on that day speaking from the hotel Jacuzzi that Ben was able to reflect on the fantastic experiences he had gained and the benefits of such experiences going forward. He is now looking forward to the possibility of representing his country again.
I am always amazed at how effortless our long distance runners make their races look and to add to the equation of long distances (in this instance) were steep hills and extraordinarily high temperatures. A fantastic achievement Ben. Well done.
From Ben; "I'd like to thank Craughwell AC for their continued support".
Inflatable Colour Run Coming to Craughwell AC!
Created: Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Written by Mike Tobin
The highly popular Inflatable Colour Run which is currently running at venues throughout Ireland have selected Craughwell AC as their only Galway venue ... on Saturday 16th September. The organisers of this nationwide event will donate 20% of the entrance fee to the club's facility building funds for every ticket booked through the club's website/link. A further early-bird discount of 20% will be given for bookings this week and next that use the promotional code CRAUGHWELL.
Note its important to use this website link rather than the main eventbrite Galway link as the organisers use this to determine the bookings associated with the club and the funds raised for the club is determined by just the bookings though our own link.
The event will run back to back with the club's Xyea Family 5k on the same day. Families or individuals booking into both the colour run and the 5k will receive a discount on the 5k entry fee.
Who can forget the wonderful day we had last year when we hosted Operation Transformation at our colour run and our Xyea Family 5k. This year’s event promises to be even bigger and better. Pat Reidy's Xyea are back on board as the main sponsor of the Family 5k and we will be adding more prizes for dad/daughter pair, mum/son pair etc ... more information will be announced on this shortly.
The colour run is a seperate event and is part of a nationwide series of inflatable colour runs throughout Ireland with the organisers hiring our grounds for the day and donating
All funds generated from the event will go to the next phase of the club’s development – which is the provision of a walking pathway around the facility and the first phase of a fabulous multi-sport indoor training centre.
So the club is encouraging all of our members and supporters to check out www.craughwellac.com and book your tickets early through its link https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/inflatable-colour-run-craughwell-ac-galway-tickets-35641075416. Members and friends are asked to use this link in order for the organisers to pass 20% of the income to the club. It promises to be fabulous fun day out for all of the family and community right on our doorsteps, while at the same time raising much needed funds for what is becoming a wonderful community facility.
Flashback to last year's event
Most of our members and the community will have seen the work done on the facility so far. We have made such massive progress in a short space of time since buying the 8 acre side beside the school in September 2014. The event will be the 3-year anniversary of the site purchase and together with the purchase and initial development, the club has so far invested €460k in the project through a combination of fund-raising, loans and grants. Alongside this, our coaches and committee are working hard through the different age groups to make training and competition enjoyable and help our members achieve to their potential. Our facility will be instrumental in supporting our members to enjoy the sport even more and will make training easier in adverse weather conditions.
The next phase of the facility is another major undertaking but the club is strong and with everyone's support, it will be a succcess and our members and the community will have access to a fine indoor training centre. So please support our day. If not taking part, come on down to enjoy the fun and support us anyway as it promises to be a great community day out.
Artistic impressiion of our new facility by the talented Emma Urquhart
National League Rounds Off Busy Week of Athletics
Created: Monday, 26 June 2017
Written by Mike Tobin
Some of Craughwell AC's athletes representing County Galway in the National League on Sunday
Lorraine Delaney, Jerry Keary, Jack Miskella, Ben Garrard, Gavin Cooney, Aoife Walsh
It was another bumper week of athletics with competition ranging from the local Christy Kennedy Sports held in Craughwell NS on Wednesday to the Sligo County Sports in Sligo IT the same evening to the National U9-11 Track & Field finals in Tullamore on Saturday to the inter-provincial Taillteann Games in Santry on Sunday and finally on to Round 1 of the National League held in Athlone IT on Sunday. A busy busy week!
The Christy Kennedy Sports saw teams competing from local primary schools including Ballyglas, Ballymana, Carrabane, Coldwood, Clarinbridge, Craughwell and Killeeneen. Craughwell NS emerged victorious in the larger schools competition with Ballyglas NS taking the honours in the event for smaller schools. Later that day at the Sligo City Sports, Ben Garrard and Gavin Cooney put in a blistering start in their 800m race going through the bell in 59 seconds with Ben holding on to place 5th in a new PB time of 2.00.35 and Gavin fading slightly towards the end to cross the line in 2.07.50.
Saturday saw our U9 to U11 athletes battle for National honours in Tullamore with many fine performances and close shaves with long jump duo Ben Moran and Dara Zimmerer claiming a fantastic silver medal in the U10 boys’ event and heroic performances from all of our young athletes on the National stage. See separate report from Tracy for full details. Full results are on Athletics Ireland website.
Also on Saturday in Santry, a number of our secondary school athletes were in action in the Taillteann Games which are an inter-provincial schools competition with teams selected from the best performers in the schools track and field earlier in June. Oisin Lyons ran a brilliant PB of 2.01.65 in the Boys 800m to place 6th amongst top-class opponents while Chloe Casey threw a massive 29.02cm to place 5th in the Girls Discus and heaved the shot putt out to 12.37m to take 5th place – strong performances from Chloe who is young enough again for this age group next year. Siona Lawless ran strongly on the Connacht 4x100m relay time that placed 4th in a time of 51.36.
Sunday saw Round 1 of the National League take place in Athlone IT where the club had several athletes in action on the Galway mens and womens teams. With a nice blend of youth and experience on both teams, the teams put in some terrific performances with the women’s team leading the Premier League team rankings after round 1 and the men’s team in 5th place in Division 1. For the men’s team Jerry Keary led the way with a PB-equalling 2m clearance in the high jump and followed it up with a 23.73 time to take 4th place in the 200m in addition to anchoring the Galway 4x100m to 5th place in a time of 45.78. Peter O’Sullivan ran an impressive 4.16.91 to take 3rd spot in the 1500m while Ben Garrard took 2nd place in the 800m in 2.00.51 and Gavin Cooney close behind in 5th in a time of 2.05.19. Gavin earlier ran 55.98 to place 5th in the 400m and later in the day combined with Ben Garrard, Jack Miskella and Athenry’s Ryan McNeilis to take 5th place in the 4x400m in a time of 3.42.28. Kevin Mooney placed 7th on his track debut in the 5000m in a time of 17.10.60, with Jack Miskella in 9th place.
In the women’s events, Maeve Curley made a welcome comeback to the track with victory in the 1500m walk in a time of 7.18.84 while Sarah Finnegan took victory in the triple jump with a leap of 9.82m and took 3rd place in the 100m hurdles in a time of 18.76. In the jumps, Lorraine Delaney took 3rd place in the high jump with a leap of 1.45m while Aoife Walsh took 4th place in the pole vault with a clearance of 1.80m and Siona Lawless placed 5th in the long jump with a best of 4.78m. Rachel Finnegan was 4th in the 400m hurdles in 1.10.47 while Sinead Treacy took 5th place in the 200m in 26.57 having earlier anchored the Galway 4x100m team to an impressive victory in a time of 50.33.
Results of individual performances in the league are here: men women
Superstars Shine in All Ireland's
Created: Sunday, 25 June 2017
Written by Tracy Moran
What a great show of talent amongst our U9/U11 athletes yesterday in the All Irelands Championships.
We go along to enjoy the day and hope for PB's, which in all cases when pitched against the "best" in Ireland our kids certainly gave it their all..
One of my poor U10's were plagued today (sick tummy from a school bug), which forced our "super" athlete Kathlyn to forgo all her events and our brave Emma to step in last min to 500m with Kelly (not an easy run but what a brave Girl !!) And Kelly stepped up to the mark to partner with Emma in long jump where together they did themselves proud with PB's all round placing. This is a fantastic result considering they had just run 500m! SUch an effort showed their huge strength of character, not to shy away from a challenge.
Our relay team got shook up too , so again the girls went with the flow, placing 4th in the heat just outside the qualifying time ...what Brilliant Girls!
Our boys Ben/Dara missed out on bronze by a 8/100th of a second to place 4th (60m ) in Ireland; however, they were rewarded in the long jump by winning the Silver medal... The 2nd BEST in Ireland.!!!!! Dean and Sean jumped out of their skins to place 4th overall in Ireland...a massive achievement with massive improvements since the Galways! Sean and Joseph threw the turbo brilliantly in what was an expert field!
Alex and Keelan were also pitched against the fastest 500m runners and they held their own, never giving up right until the second they cross the line....always a tough race !
As Ben struggled also with a sick tummy, the boys relay they still managed to qualify into the final where we had to draft a replacement for Ben; young Tom (U9) straight after his final..Tom raced to the finish in fine form against boys an age group older than him....Good on you Tom!
Ella and Hannah placed a brilliant 4th in Ireland in U11 LJ in what was a very high standard and our U9 Lauren and Saoirse, again 4th by a centimeter with Lauren having the biggest jump in All-Irelands U9 of the day! .... cruel! 4th is always a hard one as its so close to that All Ireland medal..But to be 4th place against all our Irish athletes is as massive achievement!
So that's a quick round up of what I gathered during yet another eventful day out! Well done everyone, very proud of you all ranking in the top 13 teams/pairs In Ireland!! As coaches it a Pleasure to get part of your journeys , Thankyou for all yer hard work and fun loving characters !
Best of Luck to Ben Ryan in the International Youth Cup in Italy this weekend
Created: Monday, 19 June 2017
Written by Lisa Thomas
Ben Ryan (U17) has had a fantastic season so far and is going from strength to strength.
Below is a little background history over the past 6 months resulting in this amazing achievement of making an International Team.
Ben started his Cross-Country season with a superb run in the Connacht X Country championships held in Sligo in November where he came in at 4th position. This qualified him for the Cross Country All Ireland Championships held later in the month in Abbottstown. From the onsight of the All Ireland's race he held a dominate position by immediately charging down the first hill to get a good lead with the front runners, Ben held his strong position throughout the race and with only 300m to go, managed to take over a some of the leaders to storm to the finish in 16th place. This is a fantastic achievement as only a handful of athletes in Galway have such a finishing position in cross country at an All-Ireland Championship. Ireland’s greatest distance athletes meet for these coveted positions.
Following the All Ireland's Ben jetted off to New Zealand (during his transition year) to spend time with his Uncle and family. Taking full advantage of the mild climate he came back from NZ on fire!!! His newly improved running style coupled with his increased speed had him raring to take on the indoor track season. Unfortunately, he was only home a few days, when out for one of his many long cycles, he took a bad tumble from his bike. This left Ben unable to train for a good period. It wasn't long before Ben was up and running (literally).
His performances in Schools Athletics demonstrated his hard work getting back to training after his injuries where he placed 4th in the South Connacht Schools 1500m and 2nd in the Connacht Schools Finals in the 3000m.
Ben then proceeded to dominate the Galway 5k series. Entering the series Ben had a PB of 17.32 mins. With almost 700 athletes registered for this event he ran his first race in Ballybrit Racecourse storming into a finishing time of 16.51 in 2nd place, taking almost a minute off his original PB.
Below are some of Ben’s times and positions over this series:
Ballybrit: 16.21 (2nd Place)
Craughwell: 16.42 (2nd Place)
Loughrea: 17.55 (10th Place- Ben was a little tired this evening)
Athenry: 16.37 (3rd place).
As if all the above achievements were not enough for this talented runner, Ben decided to give mountain running a go. With little fuss and chat about the race (which we have learned is “his style”), Ben entered a Mountain Running Competition hosted by the Irish Mountain Running Association (IMRA).
IMRA: the governing body of the sport of Mountain Running in Ireland. It is affiliated through the Athletic Association of Ireland (AAI) to the World Mountain Running Association of (WMRA) for the purposes of competing in International Events.
Running as a junior male Ben for the first time in a mountain race, Ben had a tremendous race to come in second place, very close to the winner.
Ben describes his race; “the course was a technical one, 4.5km in distance with a 300m ascent and descent over rough terrain. This was my first mountain race and I didn't quite know what to expect! By halfway I had a comfortable lead but unfortunately after taking a wrong turn I lost my lead falling back to second place, I held this position to the end qualifying me for the international youth cup in Italy this year.”
The International World Mountain Championships are due to be held this coming Saturday 24th June in Cagliano del Capo, Italy.
Ben will have to run a distance of 4.7km with a climb of 580m in soaring temperatures.
We wish Ben every success in this event and will be eagerly waiting to hear his news after the race.
As a result of making this International Team, Craughwell AC presented Ben with a gift marking this success of achieving his first International vest in athletics.
Fantastic Performances at Connachts Day 2
Created: Sunday, 18 June 2017
Written by Mike Tobin
U18 Girls – Connacht 4x100m Relay Gold and Silver Medalists 2017
Left to right: Shauna Tobin, Laura Cunningham Aoife Walsh, Lorraine Delaney,
Ciana Reidy, Siona Lawless, Arlene Earls, Caoilin Milton
45 athletes from the club made the trip back to Sligo IT yesterday for day 2 of the Connacht Track & Field Championships with some fantastic success for the club on a warm humid day in Sligo. The day kicked off with the U18 Girls 4x100m relay where the club had 2 teams in action – first time ever that the club had 2 teams in action in this grade. The teams were evenly balanced and put in fantastic runs to take first and second place in times of 54.13 and 54.94 with the team of Aoife Walsh, Arlene Earls, Shauna Tobin and Laura Cunningham taking the silver medals and the team of Caoilin Milton, Ciana Reidy, Lorraine Delaney and Siona Lawless taking the gold medals.
It was a busy early start to the day for the U18s some of whom were competing in triple jump and pole vault at the same time as the relay. Laura Cunningham put in a good series of jumps into the wind in the triple jump with a best of 10.42m to take the Connacht title with Aoife Walsh in second place with a best of 9.00m. Aoife also tackled the pole vault for the first time putting in a remarkable series of jumps to clear a best of 2.05m. It was a brilliant day also for Ciana Reidy in the pole vault adding significantly to her PB with a best of 2.65m to win the Connacht title.
Double Triple for Craughwell AC in the U18 Girls Long Jump and High Jump
Long Jump 3 Aoife Walsh, 1 Arlene Earls, 2 Laura Cunningham
High Jump 3 Ciana Reidy, 2 Lorraine Delaney, 1 Laura Cunningham
Top 2 for Craughwell AC in the U18 Girls Triple Jump and Pole Vault
Triple Jump 2 Aoife Walsh, 1 Laura Cunningham
Pole Vault 2 Aoife Walsh, 1 Ciana Reidy
U9s to U13s in Top Form at Connachts (Updated)
Created: Sunday, 11 June 2017
Written by Mike Tobin
Congratulations to all of our athletes on wonderful performances at day 1 of the Connacht Track & Field yesterday in Sligo IT where our U9s to U13s age groups took part. On a windy and sometimes wet day, there were some marvellous performances, plenty of PBs and hopefully everyone enjoyed taking part regardless of where they finished. The standard of athletics at regional level is very high so all of our athletes should be proud of their achievement in getting this far. And best of luck to the many qualifiers from the club for the All-Irelands. The top 3 pairs in the U9, U10 and U11 age groups go forward to the All-Irelands to be held in Tullamore on Satueday 24 June, as do the top 3 relay teams in those age groups. The program for the day for the All-Irelands is on the AAI website.
In the U12 and 13 age groups, the top 3 athletes in the 600m races and the top 4 athletes in all the other individual events go forward to the All-Irelands to be held on 8, 9 and 16 July in Tullamore. Program for those days is on the AAI fixture list while the relays for the U12 and 13s take place on 2nd July in Athlone.
There were many many fine performances throughout the day with the club featuring on the podium 37 times across the 62 events, the most of any Connacht club ... with 10 Connacht titles, 15 silvers and 12 bronze and many other performances well worthy of a podium place but finishing just outside the medals on the day. Results of our athletes finishing in the top 4 in the Connachts are as follows:-
Brian Staunton RIP
Created: Sunday, 11 June 2017
Written by Mike Tobin
The club would like to offer its heartfelt condolences to one if its juvenile members Emily Staunton and her brother Eoin who is a former member of the club and to their mum Jenny and extended family on the death of their dad Brian at the weekend. Funeral arrangements Monday/Tuesday are at rip.i.e. Emily trains in our U13 training group and as a mark of respect tomorrow nights Monday U13 training session is cancelled.
Order of Events Connachts Days 1 and 2 (Updated)
Created: Tuesday, 06 June 2017
Written by Mike Tobin
Order of events as follows:
PLEASE NOTE THAT TRIPLE JUMP HAS BEEN MOVED FORWARD TO 10AM ON DAY 2
Great Performances in Ballinderrin
Created: Monday, 05 June 2017
Written by Mike Tobin
clarin
Kyle Moorhead and Finbarr McFadden
Silver and gold medalists in the U16 Boys 1500m at the Galway Community Games Finals
The customary June bank holiday trip to Ballinderrin arrived again yesterday with the 2017 Galway Community Games finals. In its 2nd year of the 1-day format, it’s a far more suitable format as I think participation suffered in previous years if people had to give up their full holiday weekend.
Athletes from the club and from the parish had another wonderful day out, none more so that Finbarr McFadden who powered to victory in the U16 1500m in his final year of Community Games with Kyle Moorhead a strong second only a day after running a 2.11 PB in the 800m at the Irish Schools Track & Field finals.
For Finbarr, his victory wraps up many years of consistency in the Galway Community Games finals placing 5th in the U10 200m in 2011 and winning bronze in the U10 mixed relay the same year, a finalist in the U12 600m in 2012, silver in the U12 600m in 2013, gold in the U13 mixed relay in 2014 and 7th in the U14 800m, silver in the U14 boys relay in 2015 and 5th in the U14 800m, bronze in the U16 1500m in 2016 and now gold in the U16 1500m in 2017. Great to see the individual gold after such consistency in previous years.
Chloe and Jerry Medal at the Irish Schools T&F
Created: Saturday, 03 June 2017
Written by Mike Tobin
Chloe Casey, St Raphaels Loughrea
Silver Medalist in the Intermediate Girls Shot Putt
at the Irish Schools Track & Field in Tullamore
On a blustery day in Tullamore with a few heavy showers to contend with, a dozen or so athletes from the club were in action in the finals of the Irish Schools Track & Field. These championships are generally regarded as the top level of juvenile athletics in the country with schools throughout Ireland north and south well represented.
Jerry Keary and Chloe Casey (both of St Raphael’s) led the way with impressive silver medals in the senior high jump and intermediate girls shot putt. Chloe heaved the 3kg shot putt out to 13.07m in her first year in the intermediate grade to continue her fine run of National medals. Jerry soared over 1.90m for a first-time clearance but ran into trouble at 1.95m in the sometimes windy conditions and had to settle for joint silver which he shared with GCH’s Bryan Ndego representing Sligo Grammar – great to see 2 Galway athletes medaling at the highest level in the same event.
Summer Camp 2017
Created: Friday, 02 June 2017
Written by Marion McEvilly
Well Summer is here and we appear to be getting the temperatures to confirm it is indeed Summer in Galway. Secondary schools are closed to non exam students and the rest are surrounded by piles of books for those last few days of studying.
All our primary schools will be finishing up before we know where we are and what then????? -- weeks of boredom. We can alleviate that and break the monotony. Are you looking for an activity break? Are you a member of an athletics club? If not then come along and see what you are missing. Club members (from any club) why not bring along a new friend - this may be the sport they having been looking for.
We are FIT4FUN and would love you all to come and join us. We have fun, games and you can learn new events. Already know things? then maybe you would like to get some more experience and improve your skills and techniques. Camp is run by qualified coaches and experienced older athletes who are ready and willing to share their knowledge and expertise with you and still enjoy a good laugh along the way.
The Summer Camp will be held on two different weeks over the summer break and we cater for children from Junior infants to 6th class. It runs from 9.30am -2pm daily.
July 17th - 21st
Aug 7th -11th
Flyers were distributed to local national schools in the past two weeks. They can also be requested directly from me. Drop an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Looking forward to two great weeks of Fun and learning and hopefully lots of sun