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Big Performances in Connacht Indoors!
A large contingent of athletes from the club descended on the international arena in Athlone IT at the weekend for the Connacht Indoor Track & Field Championships. With over 100 athletes in action, Craughwell AC had the largest representation at these championships which told in the podium finishes with 29 Connacht titles coming our way, 13 silver and 11 bronze podium finishes.
There were many highlights across the 2 days in particular an impressive 1.58.08 from Damien O’Boyle in the U19 800m, significantly helped by Peadar Harvey who paced the first 400m of the race. It was a generous act from Peadar who holds the club record of 1.57.xx and unselfishly paced Damien to an attempt to break that. As it was Damien came very close to that record and even closer to Paul Joyce’s junior club record of 1.58.05. Cathriona Farrell gave an exhibition of jumping in the senior high jump, attempting 1.80m and soaring 10cm above it but clipping it with her heels. Sinead Treacy came home with triple gold I the 60m, 200m and long jump – another fantastic performance from a great athlete. In the U16s, despite a bad enough injury picked up on Thursday night when practicing for hurdles, Lorraine Delaney had an impressive series of jumps to nail a new high jump PB of 1.50m having improved from 1.40m to 1.45m only a few weeks earlier at the Scottish Championships. Laura Cunningham had to settle for 2nd place but more than made up for this with her first Connacht long jump title in a few years.
Craughwell U16 4x200m Relay Teams at the Connacht Indoors
Luke Finn, Oisin Lyons, Jerry Keary, Cian Waters, Daniel Callanan-Forde
Shauna Tobin, Anna Farrelly, Laura Cunningham, Caoilin Milton, Lorraine Delaney
Calasanctius Shine at Connacht XC
There were a string of good performances from athletes from the club at the Connacht Schools cross country which was held in Sligo Racecourse last week.
Leading the way with an exceptional run was Jamie Fallon (representing Calasanctius) when taking the Senior Boys Connacht title. This continues a string of cross country successes for this dedicated athlete who can look forward to the Irish Schools finals next weekend with confidence. Also with a fine run, clubmate and schoolmate Damien O’Boyle also had a super run to take 4th place and help his team to Connacht gold. In the Senior Girls race, Ciara Greene (The Bower) finished a fine 6th place while Andrea Tobin helped the Pres Athenry to team bronze with a 14th place finish and Tara McNally (Loughrea VS) placed 41st.
Oisin Lyons (Calasanctius) replicated Jamie’s success when striding to victory in the Junior Boys race, leading his team to 5th place with Eoghan McDonagh 25th, Ultan Sheerin 46th, Louis Molloy 56th and Paul Molloy 66th. Gavin Forde (Pres) placed 48th in the same race. Rachael Hughes (Coláiste Bhaile Chláir) placed 14th in the junior girls, helping her team to 5th place while Pres duo Shauna Tobin and Fiona Commins placed 32nd and 35th to help their team to 7th place.
Sean Connaughton (St Raphael’s) placed 13th in the minor boys race, with the Noonan brothers Patrick and Sean (Pres Athenry) placed 20th and 27th. Cathal Walsh (Seemount) placed 21st helping his team to a fantastic silver medal. Catherine Noonan and Aisling Carr placed 31st and 51st in the minor girls with their Pres team placing 7th.
In the Intermediate Boys race, Jack Miskella (Pres) placed 38th while Caron Ryan (St Raphael’s) took a fine 3rd place in the Intermediate Girls. Grainne McDaid and Ciara O’Boyle featured on the victorious Pres Athenry team in 14th and 19th place (where the Pres took both team gold and team silver!) while Aoife Greene 25th helped the Bower Athlone take the bronze medals.
Full results of the day are at:- ConnachtSchoolsXCResults2015.pdf
Provisional Program for Connacht Indoors 2015
The provisional program for the Connacht Indoors this Sat/Sun is as follows:-
Cathriona Lands Senior Indoor Title
Cathriona Farrell completed a hat-trick of senior indoor titles when winning the high jump at the National Senior indoors on Saturday. After a winter disrupted by injury, Cathriona was in remarkable form with an exceptional jump over 1.77m to take the title. Her 2 previous indoor titles came in 2011 and 2012 where she won in Belfast with jumps of 1.70m. Yesterday she was pushed much harder with 3 jumpers clearing 1.71m and 2 over the 1.74m. In fact, Cathriona's winning jump was the highest winning jump in the last 7 years in this event. Having cleared the 1.77m, Cathriona requested that the bar go to 1.82m and had 3 excellent efforts at what would have been a new PB.
Also in action in Athlone, Conor Duggan made the next round (to be held Sunday) of the men's 60m with a fine time of 7.23 and narrowly missed out on making the 200m final with a time of 22.83 while Damian O'Boyle ran strongly in the heats of the 1500m to record a time of 4.04.25 which is a new junior record for the club and possibly also a senior record (tbc).
Amazing Mutaz!
We were treated to a real spectacle at the AIT Grand Prix on last Wednesday night. With our U13 boys and girls relay teams also in action on this international stage, it was a special special night. The U13s were magnificent, both relays winning their races to the rapturous applause of the capacity crowd – great experience for these young athletes. For the history books, our champion U13s were:- ...
Marvellous weekend at Scottish Indoors!
Most of the gang who travelled to the Scottish Indoors on Buchanan Street, Glasgow
(Credit: Daithi Cronin for most of the pics in this article)
A 30-strong group of athletes and parents from Craughwell AC journeyed to Glasgow for the Scottish Indoor Track & Field Championships at the weekend. With many athletes competing out of age, there were some fine performances over the 2-day event.
Pride of place went to Oisin Lyons who took the Scottish U15 1500m title with a superb display of front-running from gun to tape to take the victory in a time of 4.29.60, a fraction ahead of the 2nd place athlete. Oisin had earlier in the day ran a well-paced heat to comfortably qualify for the final in a time of 4.51.31 when taking 2nd place. In the final, Oisin led from the off and despite several challenges from the 2nd-placed Scottish athlete throughout the 7 and a half laps, Oisin held his ground at the front and took the Scottish title.
Daniel Callanan-Forde had some spectacular jumps in the U17 triple jump, eclipsing his previous PB of 10.75 by over a metre with jumps of 11.75, 11.76 and 11.77. Holding 3rd place with his 11.76 jump going into the final round, Daniel was just edged out of the medals by a leap of 11.89m on the last round - with Daniel improving slightly to 11.77m on his final jump but having to settle for 4th place. Earlier in the day Daniel took 6th place in the long jump with an impressive 5.62m - a 15cm improvement on his PB. All in all, while very dissapointed not to come home with some silverware, to take 4th and 6th place at this level when a year out of his age was a fantastic achievement for Daniel.
Oisin Lyons Takes National U15 title in Tuam
Craughwell AC' U15 Boys at the National Juvenile B Cross Country Championships in Tuam
Sean Noonan, Gavin Forde, Oisin Lyons, Louis Molloy, Paul Molloy, Luke Finn
County Galway hosted a National cross country championships for the first time since 1999 with the holding of the National Juvenile B Championships and Intermediate/Masters Championships in Tuam. Craughwell AC were well represented on the day with plenty of success. In the Masters Men race, Peter O’Sullivan placed 25th with Ollie Mullins in 32nd to help Galway to 5th place in the team stakes.
In the juvenile races, Oisin Lyons led the way with a fine victory in the U15 boys 2500m, with his team placing 5th (34 Luke Finn, 37 Gavin Forde, 38 Sean Noonan, 42 Louis Molloy, 47 Paul Molloy). Sean Connaughton also stepped onto the podium with a superb silver medal performance in the U13 boys 1500m, with Finbar McFadden 23rd and Kyle Moorhead 51st all helping Galway to the team bronze in the inter-county event. Jack Miskella had a fine run in the U17 boys 3000m with an 11th place finish followed by Ben Vahey in 14th.
The U11 girls ran brilliantly to take the bronze medals in both the club and county events with Emily Miskella 10th, Caoimhe Connolly 17th, Jade Moorhead 18th, Aoibhe Carr 26th, Anna Cotter 48th, Jade Whelton 69th and Alana Grogan 149th. The U11 boys placed 5th in the club event and 3rd in the county event with Luke Flynn leading them home in 15th, Evan Hallinan 28th, Daniel Galvin 37th, Fiachra Bond 51st, Darragh McCartin 52nd, Fabian Fleetwood 54th, Joshua Ryan 55th, Aaron Doyle 62nd, Mark Egan 63rd, Daire Crowe 65th, Shane Concannon 69th, Aaron Crowe 78th, Jack Deely 79th and Ryan McDonnell.
Ailbhe Miskella placed 32nd in the U13 girls 1500m, with Jennifer Hughes 58th, Aoife Kelly 59th and Sarah Woods 64th. Rachael Hughes led the way in the U15 girls 2500m with a 26th placed finish, followed by Catherine Noonan in 34th and Fiona Commins in 42nd.
Juveniles/Seniors combine for Nat League Silver
Some of the Craughwell AC team who competed in the 2015 National League
Sinead Treacy, Tara McNally, Michelle Duggan, Aisling Keady, Rachel Finnegan, Sarah Finnegan
Missing from photo Cathriona Farrell, Ciara Greene and Sinead Gaffney
Craughwell AC’s juveniles and seniors combined forces today in the National Indoor League final with some remarkable success in the women’s event. The club repeated its performance of 2014 when claiming the silver medals against the top track and field clubs in the country, losing out by the narrowest of margins of a single point which went down to the wire in the last event of the day – the 4x200m relay. The relay was won by the eventual champions Leevale of Cork in a battle to the line. The Craughwell quartet of Sinead Treacy, Tara McNally, Aisling Keady and Michelle Duggan ran a breathtaking time of 1.46.65 to knock over 3 seconds off the club’s record which was set in 2013.
Earlier in the day, there were double victories for Sinead Treacy in the sprints (60m 7.88 and 200m 25.24) and Cathriona Farrell in the jumps (long jump and high jump) with Cathriona equaling her own indoor club record of 5.25m in the long jump. Sarah Finnegan had a fine day also with a double second place finish in the triple jump (10.22) and 60m hurdles (10.01), her triple jump eclipsing her previous best to set a new club record. Tara McNally took second place in the shot putt (7.23) and ran an impressive 62.59 in the 400m to place third, while Rachel Finnegan and Ciara Greene battled hard in the 800m and 1500m to each place 6th in times of 2.33.5H and 5.32.32.
All in all it was a wonderful performance from the club to take the silver medals in a hotly contested event, particularly since the lack of a pole vaulter meant the club lost out on valuable points with just 3 athletes contesting that event where Leevale picked up a crucial 7 points with a 2nd place finish.
Craughwell Athletes in Blistering Form
Sinead Treacy resumed her National medal-winning ways at the National Junior Track & Field last weekend with a fine silver medal in the Junior Women’s 200m in a time of 25.20. Sinead is in breath-taking form having earlier won her heat in 25.41 and having run 25.57 last weekend in the Galway Indoors. Earlier in the day Sinead narrowly missed out on making the final of the 60m by the slim margin of .03 seconds when placing 4th in her heat in a time of 8 seconds flat.
Sinead’s good form continued in the National Senior League today where she raced to victory in the 200m in a 25.32 to earn the maximum 9 points for the Craughwell team. Sinead was joined in the action by Aisling Keady who was making her debut in senior competition. Aisling took part in the high jump in the absence of Cathriona Farrell due to work commitments and jumped exceptionally well at this level to take joint 1st place with a leap of 1.46m. Their scored combined with a 3rd place finish for Sarah Finnegan in the triple jump with 10.13m, a 5th place finish from Sinead Gaffney in the 400m in a time of 64.02 and 6th place for Ciara Greene in the 1500m in a time of 5.37.22. The team's performance over the 2 rounds of the league puts them unofficially at the top of the league table going into the final on 7th February.
Sinead Treacy, silver medallist in the National Junior Women’s Indoor 60m
along with gold and bronze medallists Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) and Sophie Becker (St Joseph’s AC)
Another athlete in blistering form at the National Juniors, Conor Duggan placed second in the heats of the 60m in a time of 7.12 before going on to race 7.09 to take 5th place in the final. By our reckoning Conor is now the 2nd fastest man to ever come out of Galway behind Olympian Paul Hession – we don’t have the detailed statistics to prove it but we are not aware of anyone faster other than the legendary Paul! Later in the day, Conor raced a time of 22.90 in the heats of the 200m, 0.25 seconds off the qualifying time that made the final.
There was good news also for both Sinead and Conor during the week with their selection onto the National Junior Relay Panel. This is a huge achievement for both athletes and comes on the back of years of steady progress under the guidance of their coaches Eddie, Martin and Patricia. All going well, both athletes will feature on Irish junior relay teams during the year leading up to the European Junior Championships this July in Sweden if the Irish team qualifies.
Also at the National Juniors, Damien O’Boyle had a fine 1500m with a time of 4.21.56 in the heats and followed it up with a blistering 4.08.40 to place 4th in the final, just missing out on the podium. John Cormican who is making the transition from middle to shorter distances ran a strong 400m to place 5th in his heat in a time of 54.38. Nicholas Sheehan was our last man in action with a time of 2.02.23 in the heats of the 800m, missing out on the final where his time would have taken the silver medal.
Back to Bushfield!
Sean, Patrick and Catherine Noonan
representing the Pres Athenry in the Minor Boys and Minor Girls 1500m Races
where they each performed heroically to place 8th, 2nd and 8th
A large number of athletes from the club took to the hills in Bushfield last Wednesday for the South Connacht Schools Cross Country Championships, representing a number of schools including Athenry VS, Calasanctius Oranmore, Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, Loughrea VS, Bower Athlone, Pres Athenry, Seamount Kinvara and St Raphael’s Loughrea.
There were some fine individual performances with 3 of the 4 boys titles going to members of the club with Sean Connaughton (St Raphael’s) taking the victory in the Minor Boys 1500m, Oisin Lyons (Calasanctius) in the Junior Boys 2500m and Jamie Fallon (Calasanctius) in the Senior 5000m. Damien O’Boyle (Calasanctius) made it a 1-2 for his school and the club in the senior 5000m when taking the silver medal ahead of Athenry VS’s Conor Gillen in 5th place. Sean Crowley (Calasanctius) placed 40th as part of a strong Calasanctius team who almost certainly took the team title.
Patrick Noonan (Pres Athenry) took the silver medal in the Minor Boys 1500m to also complete a 1-2 for the club. Patrick’s brother Sean took a fine 8th place in the same race, the exact position that their sister Catherine held onto in the Minor Girls 1500m to complete a strong triple for the Noonan triplets! Such was the coldness of the day, Patrick ended up with hypothermia after the race and had to be attended to by first aid. Thankfully he recovered fully - but something for us all to bear in mind on these wintery days that perhaps underarmour wouldn't go astray on such a day.
Big Turnout in Coldwood
There was a big turnout from the club in the Coldwood Fun Run last weekend with athletes featuring highly in the kids 3rd class and 6th class races. Some pics of the happy faces below! Results of the adult races are at:-
http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Coldwood4Mile_2015.pdf
Congratulations to Damien Larkin on yet another podium finish when taking second-place in an impressive time of 22:46. He's well on the way to becoming the most photographed man in the club with the amount of top-3 finishes he is collecting around the roads of Galway in the last while!
Provisional fixture list 2015
http://www.craughwellac.com/site/images/2015/fixtures2015.pdf