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Craughwell AC Park Closure

Craughwell AC Sports & Recreation Park is padlocked and closed until further notice in light of the new Covid-19 restrictions announced by the Government tonight.

Please respect the Government orders, stay safe and do not use the grounds.

COVID-19 Update

Coronavirus update, 12th March

In view of the Government’s decision today to close all schools, colleges, and childcare facilities until 29th March and to restrict mass gatherings, the club’s committee and coaches held a brief meeting this evening.

In the National interest, the club has decided that there will be no regular juvenile training sessions during this period.

Athletes may use the facility to exercise individually but observe the best practice on social distancing if others present. If doing so, athletes should contact their main coach for advice on what training to do and when to do it, especially those who qualified for the All-Irelands.

The club regrets having to do this but is guided by the need to protect the most vulnerable in society by significantly limiting social interaction for the period in question to help reduce the spread of the virus.

The club will review the situation towards the end of the period and hopefully will be able to resume normal activities at that point depending on the public health guidance.

Ronnie Leads the Crew to National Title

Today in AIT, Sprint guru Ronnie Warde led the way as Craughwell Sealed their first Masters team Sprint title with a fantastic victory in the 4x200m relay.  The team of John Walkin, Ronnie Warde, Evan Morgan and Cormac Kearney blazed away from the field to seal a comfortable victory ahead of Gowran AC in Second and Galway City Harriers in 3rd.

In addition to that Ronnie claimed two exceptional individual medals.  Ronnie won a 60m Silver in a fine time of 7.31 (the winner was 7.30!) and a 200m Bronze in 24.66.  

Mathys and Caron Shine in the Country!

The Irish Cross Country Season ended with a bang on Saturday in two venues on opposite ends of the Country and featured many fine performances from Craughwell AC Athletes.  The premier Schools Competition - the Irish Life Schools Cross Country, took place in a cold and windy Santry, while the University equivalient, the IUAA Cross Country finals took place in Cork.  The standards are always stellar, but the general rise in standards of Irish distance running has lifted things here too.  Mathys Bocquet finished a marvellous 5th in the Junior Boys race, guaranteeing him a selection for the SIAB Schools International in Scotland in 2 weeks, and Caron Ryan finished a marvelous 3rd, helping her TCD team to an historic team Gold.

Junior Boys: Mathys Secures first Irish Cap!

Mathys lines up with the rest of his new Irish International Teammates

This race was Mathys' target for the year and the popular youngest member of the Wolfpack was rewarded for his dedication and commitment over the past several months with a brilliant 5th place position and an Irish cap for the coveted International in Scotland.  The race winner took off like the clappers and left a large chasing pack behind him looking for a fade that never came - after that it was effectively two races - the leader on his own and a chasing group of about 10 who were duking it out over the 3500m route.  In the end there was nothing between the second 8 athletes but Mathys fought doggedly for his selection slot. 

Mathys and Oliver for Calasanctus at the start line

This is the SECOND member of Mathys family to gain an international selection (his sister Shauna represented Ireland brilliantly last year) and amazingly, he is the FIFTH member of the wolfpack training group to win an Irish cap within the last 12 months!!  We are very lucky to have such a deep pool of talent training in our village. Well done Mathys - enjoy it and do us proud!!

The Boyle Family keenly supporting Mathys in his race!

Mathys was joined in the race by the hugely talented Oliver Ginty who finished a superb 33rd despite having very little endurance training or cross country experience under his belt.  A lot more to come from Oliver in the future with that kind of performance!

Mathys, Oisin, William and Kyle

There were many other great performances from club athletes in the other races.  In the Senior Boys race, William Fitzgerald (representing Gort) was our first finisher in 23rd place, just pipped on the line onhis blindside.  William was followed by Oisin Davis (48th) and Kyle Moorehead (59th) representing Presentation College Athenry, both having solid outings in the deep and talented field.  

Emma Charges strongly for the line

In the Senior Girls race - Emma Boyle led the pres crew home in 47th place followed by her teamates Sarah Gilhooley and Ailbhe Miskella recently recovered from injury in 66th.  All the girls found it tough going against the wind in the second half - it really seemed strong for their race!

Ailbhe holding off a chasing Athlete on the home run

In the Intermediate Boys Race, Ross McGuinness unfortunately suffered an achilles injury early in the race and despite his best efforts to continue was forced to step aside. 

In the Intermediate Girls race, Emily Miskella had a solid run to finish in 58th - Emily was on crutches from a freak ankle sprain only 8 weeks ago, so this was a very strong result.  No doubt she will soon be back to the form that saw her finish top 18 last year.

Spot Emily at the start of the Intermediate Girls race!

In the Junior Girls race, Holly O'Boyle representing Calsanctious ran well to finish in 66th place in a very strong field followed by Leonore Church in 75th place.

Caron Seals Historic TCD Victory in IUAA Finals

Meanwhile in Cork the IUAA finals were held and it's a testament to the Club how many of its athletes featured on University teams.  Caron Ryan had yet another fabulous performance to seal an individual Bronze in a splendid contest - she finished neck and neck with the Silver medallist and just got pipped on the line.  It was a stunning display of bravery and strength from the talented athlete.  The excellent pictures below are by John O Connor.

This is an ambush if ever I saw one - they finished on an identical time! 

Jack Miskella scored on a crazy talented NUIG team that was so so unlucky to finish just outside the medals - it just goes to show how deep this competition has become that a team of such quality can be pushed outside the medals.   On the upside (for Craughwell), they were beaten by a TCD team that contained Luke Evans in his first year competing for the college.

Jack (center) with teammates Aaron Brennan (left) and James Frizzel who all had superb runs for NUIG

Luke Evans (394) Celebrating with his Teammates after their Victory

Ben Garrard also had a strong run for UL in the same event.

Ben (599) had a very Solid run for UL

Update on coronavirus

Ella and Shauna, Galway Athletes of the Year!

Huge congratulations to Ella Farrelly and Shauna Bocquet who have won the Galway Athlete of the Year Awards in the U12-15 Girls and U16-19 Girls categories.

2019 was a fantastic year for both athletes with Ella winning a multitude of county and regional track & field titles, 2 National titles (indoor long jump and outdoor hurdles) and National bronze (outdoor long jump) and Shauna selected by Paralympics Ireland to represent Ireland at the IPC World Para Athletics Junior Championships in  Switzerland where she won an incredible three gold medals (100m, 400m, 1500m) and two silvers (200m,  800m).

Galway Athletics Team of the Year!

Craughwell AC's U20 Women's Team at the European Club Championships in Portugal

Massive congratulations to Craughwell AC's history-making European U20 women’s team who have won the Galway Athletics Team of the Year Award for 2019. The team comprised from left-to-right above

• Sinead Gaffney (team physio)
• Shauna Tobin (discus)
• Arlene Earls (200m / 800m / 4x400m)
• Laura Cunningham (team captain and long jump / javelin / 4x100m)
• Ciana Reidy (pole vault / 4x400m)
• Leanagh Gilligan (triple jump)
• Siona Lawless (100m)
• Aoife Kelly (hammer)
• Caoilin Milton (shot)
• Lorraine Delaney (vice-captain and 400mh / 4x400m)
• Eva Whyte (4x100m sub)
• Aisling Keady (joint team manager)
• Sarah Woods (3000m)
• Ciara Sheppard (1500m)
• Ailbhe Miskella (steeplechase)
• Alisha Larkin (100m / 4x100m)
• Ava Finn (100m / 4x100m)
• Lauren McNally (4x100m sub)
• Ellie Cronin (high jump /100mh)
• Freya Bohan (400m / 4x400m / 4x100m)
  
  

The European Championships which were held in Portugal last September was the biggest team event in the club's history and its fantastic now that the team have also won the Galway Athletics Team of the Year Award.

Well done also and thank you to the hard-working volunteers in Galway County Board who organise these Awards and to the Galway 5k Series Committee whose hard-work has provided the funds for this and many other County Board initiatives over many years.

Everyone is now looking forwards to the awards ceremony on Friday week.

Great performances at National Senior Indoors

800m runners Paul Joyce, Gavin Cooney and Sinead Gaffney
at the National Senior Indoors in Dublin

A small contingent from Craughwell AC contested the National Senior Indoor Championships last weekend in the National Sports Arena in Dublin. Sinead Gaffney ran a powerful race in the heats of the women’s 800m, placing 6th in a time of 2.19.31 – literally just a metre and less than a breath away from breaking her own club record and PB of 2.19.10.

Paul Joyce put it all out there in the heats of the men’s 800m with his second fastest time ever of 1.57.72 which placed him just outside the qualifiers for the final and Gavin Cooney went ever so close again to going under the sub-2 holy grail time of 800m running when placing 5th in his heat in 2.01.54.

Jack Miskella battled hard in a tactical 1500m heat, recording a time 4.11.03 and only 2 seconds from the automatic qualifiers for the final. Sinead Treacy ran a lightning fast 57.13 to place 2nd in the heats of the 400m, just outside her recent PB and club record of 56.73 set earlier in February.

Membership, Club Gear & Lotto

Athletes Shine at U14-19 Connacht Indoors!

Craughwell AC's U16 Boys 4x200m team who won silver at the Connacht Indoors in Athlone IT
Evan Hallinan, Sean Cunningham, Ryan McDonnell, Evan Quinn

Another outstanding day of athletics action took place in Athlone IT for day 2 of the Connacht Championships where the U14 to U19 age groups were taking place. Highlights included a blistering 9.61 for Ella Farrelly to take gold in the U14 hurdles and fever pitch excitement in the relays where Craughwell AC’s U16 boys were pipped for the Connacht title by the tiny fraction of one-hundredth of a second and later in the day the Craughwell U15 Girls relay holding on to win the Connacht title by a similar margin.

Kyle Moorhead after his win in the 1500m in AIT and Ross McGuinness who ran 1500m (Silver) and 800m

In the older age groups, Kyle Moorhead controlled the field in the U19 1500m, finishing off a tactical race with three very fast laps to win in 4:25. Freya Bohan placed 5th in the U19 60m sprint in a swift 8.45 but had to withdraw from remaining events due to a recurrent knee problem.

Ellie Cronin leaped to the Connacht U18 high jump title with a 1.50m clearance before exiting at 1.55m. Despite struggling a little over the last few weeks with a knee injury, it was a good high jump performance from Ellie and one she followed up later in the day with bronze in the 60m hurdles in 10.21 – perfectly timing her dip (or was it a trip!) at the end to dive over the line and take the bronze by 0.02 of a second!

In the U18 800m, Oisin Davis ran well to win silver in 2.06.40. Alisha Larkin raced to bronze in the U18 Girls 60m in a time of 8.43 and later improved on this with a silver medal in the 200m in 28.32 and also adding silver in the long jump with a fine 4.68m leap.

Ellie Cronin, Connacht U18 High Jump Champion 2020 and 
Alisha Larkin who won triple medals in U18 60m. 200m and LJ

Saoirse Moore and Saoirse Pierce who won silver and gold in the U17 Girls High Jump

U18/19 athletes
Oisin Davis, Alicia Larkin,Freya Bohan and Ellie Cronin

In the U17 age group, Ross McGuinness kicked things off with a solid 4.33.99 to win silver is a strong U17 Boys 1500m field. In the U17 Girls 1500m, Emily Miskella, recently recovering from injury was 5th in a respectable 5.25.14. Saoirse Pierce won a fine Connacht High Jump title with a leap of 1.45, pipping her club-mate Saoirse Moore who won silver in the same event with 1.35m. Saoirse Pierce also won bronze in the 60m Hurdles later in the day in a time of 11.00. Ross McGuinness couldn't quite shake off the earlier 1500m from his legs and ran 2.16.21 for 6th place in the 800m later in the day. Saoirse Moore ran bravely to come 4th in the U17 girls 800m in a time of 2:36.52. Lukas Schukat took silver in the high jump with a 1.65m clearance and bronze in the long jump with a leap of 4.60m.

Lukas Schukat who won silver and bronze in the U17 HJ and LJ

and Emily Miskella recovering from her 800m race in AIT

The U16s kicked off their day of action with some scintillating performances in the relays. First onto the track, the girls’ team of Aoibhe Donnellan, Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis and Ella Lyons stormed to silver medals in their 4x200m in a time of 1:53.79 followed by the club’s second team in 5th place in a time of 2:02.67 which featured Leonore Church, Erin Kelly, Aoibhe Fahy and Clodagh O’Meara. The boy’s team ran a super race to lose out on the line just by one-hundredth of a second to a strong South Galway AC team, a team who routinely feature on the National podium. The Craughwell team were Ryan McDonnell, Sean Cunningham, Evan Hallinan and Evan Quinn and they took silver in an excellent time of 1:43.59.

U16 Girls 4x200m team who won silver in the relay
Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis, Ella Lyons, Aouibhe Donnellan

U16 Girls 4x200m team who placed 5th in the relay
Clodagh O'Meara, Leonore Church, Aoibhe Fahy, Erin Kelly

Ryan McDonnell had a super sprinting day with silver in the 60m in 7.96 and 4th place in the 200m in 25.81 despite some confusion at the start of the 200m which gave him a slow start out of the blocks. Sean Cunningham powered to bronze in the 200m in an excellent 25.45, knocking 0.25s off his Galway time in the process.
Clodagh O’Meara was very impressive in the 800m with an excellent 2:37.39 and an electric last lap to take 4th place in 2:37.39, only a half-second off the bronze position. Alana Grogan took silver in the 1500m race walk in an excellent time of 9:16.29. Siofra Davis stormed to silver in the 60m hurdles in 10.15, edging closer and closer to the elite sub-10 mark with Leonore Church 4th in 11.20 and Ella Lyons 5th in 11.91.

Jade Moorhed, Connacht U16 High Jump Champion 2020
and Alana Grogan who won silver in the U16 Girls walk

Cian Lavin and Evan Hallinan
who won bronze and silver in the U16 Boys High Jump

Jade Moorhead took a fantastic gold in the girls high jump with first time clearances from 1.40m all the way up to 1.55m, with Siofra Davis 4th with 1.40 and Leonore Church and Erin Kelly in 5th and 6th with 1.30 and 1.25. Evan Hallinan took double silver in the U16 Boys long jump with 5.28m and in the high jump with a big clearance of 1.65m, with Cian Lavan 3rd in the high jump with 1.50m Evan Quinn placed 4th in the long jump with 4.68m with Cian Lavan 7th with 4.51, Calvin Ryan 11th with 4.02 and Andrew Power 12th with 3.89.

Ella Lyons was the leading Craughwell jumper in the U16 Girls long jump with a best of 4.21 to place 6th followed by Siofra Davis 7th with 4.17, Erin Kelly 8th with 4.12 and Aoibhe Fahy 10th with 3.97. In the boys shot putt, Calvin Ryan took silver with an impressive throw of 9.18m and in the girls, Aoibhe Fahy placed 4th with a best of 8.51m.

U15 Girls 4x200m team, Connacht Indoor Champions 2020!
Ella Farrelly, Grace Keaveney, Issy Fitzgerald, Tara Morgan

In the U15 age group, Aoibhe Donnellan raced to a brilliant PB of 8.33 to claim the Connacht title in the 60m, with Tara Morgan and Adara Salvo also racing to excellent times also of 9.22 and 9.64. Oliver Ginty place 8th in the boys 60m in an impressive 8.49 and went on later to take the silver medal in an excellent 2:19.30. Holly O’Boyle gave it her all in the 800m sticking in the leading group through 600m but lactic acid kicking in for the last 200m to place her 8th in a time of 2:44.47.

Grace Keaveney and Issy Fitzgerald
who won silver and gold in the U15 Girls Long Jump and High Jump

Aoibhe Donnellan and Tara Morgan
pictured after Aoibhe won the U15 Girls 60m Connacht title

In the jumps, Issy Fitzgerald took silver in the high jump with a 1.30m clearance while Grace Keaveney led the way with a super 4.41m leap to take the silver medal in the long jump. Sean Liston took bronze in the high jump with a comfortable 1.55m clearance and earlier ran 9.04 in the 60m sprint. Oliver Ginty placed 5th in the boys’ long jump with a leap of 4.43m while Tara Morgan placed 7th in the girls’ long jump with a 3.94m PB and Issy Fitzgerald 15th with 3.74m. Issy also placed 4th in the shot put with 7.27m, closely followed by Tara Morgan in 6th with 6.86m with Holly O’Boyle 9th with 4.32m.

The relays saw the U15 boys team place 4th in a time of 2:02.39 with Sean Lavan, Fionn Higgins, Sean Liston and Oliver Ginty while a fascinating finish saw the girls team claim the Connacht title in an excellent 1:57.79 with Ella Farrelly, Grace Keaveney, Issy Fitzgerald and Tara Morgan – Tara holding on in the last 200m to win by 0.01 of a second!

In the U14 grade, Ella Farrelly had a super day with triple Connacht titles and a bronze. Ella started her day with bronze in the 60m in 8.72 and following it up with triple Connacht titles in the hurdles in a fantastic time of 9.61 and in the long jump with an excellent 4.59 and later in the U15 relay to take the Connacht title. Amelie Grogan produced an incredible PB to take the silver medal in the long jump with 4.52m. Isabel Schukat took 4 place in the high jump with a 1.30m PB and placed 10th in the long jump with 3.82m. Alysso Salvo raced to a time of 9.50 in the 60m while Matthew Coleman placed 12th in the boys’ event with 9.16. Sean Lavin placed 8th in the boys’ 60m hurdles in a time of 12.15.

Craughwell U14 Girls 4x200m relay team
who placed 6th at the Connacht Championships

Keely and Amelie Grogan recorded times of 12.47 and 12.54 in the girls’ 60m hurdles with Keely leaping 3.59m in the long jump followed by Beth and Gillian Crowe with 3.39m and 3.34m. Sean Lavan took 4th place in the boy’s long jump with 3.78m with Fionn Higgins close behind in 5th place with 3.75m.

Darragh Kelly was very impressive in the high jump, claiming the Connacht title with a 1.50m leap off the opposite to what he is used to, switching sides due to an injury to his jumping foot and accomplishing an extremely rare ‘feet’ feat to be able to jump so well off either foot. Darragh also placed 6th in the shot with a throw of 6.89m with Sean Lavin 8th with 5.82m. In the relays, the U14 girls placed 6th in a time of 2:06.41 with Isabel Schukat, Keeley and Amelie Grogan, and Gillian and Beth Crowe).

Oisin Davis with his Connacht 800m Silver

Spectacular Success for U12/13s at Connachts!

Craughwell AC's U12 group at the Connacht Indoors

The club’s U12s and U13s enjoyed spectacular success at day 1 of the Connacht Indoors last Saturday in Athlone with over 40 athletes taking and between them featuring on the podium 28 times throughout the day, the top performing club by a distance. Well done to the group and all their coaches!

Ronnie’s U13s report

Craughwell u13s had a superb day in Athlone at the Connaught indoors with a total of 24 athletes taking part during the day.

Long jump - Keevagh Barry taking gold and Emma O Donavan making the 4th place qualifier for the Nationals. Emily Kinane and Megan Devane both had great days in the pit. Lauren Kilduff broke 3 times but no doubt will amend her run up and be back to her usual top 4 placing once again. Sean Hoade placed 2nd and Cian Brady placed 5th

60 meters sprint - Keevagh Barry winning gold with a massive PB and Claudia Fitzpatrick with an amazing run and PB to take 4th place national qualifier place. Emily Kinane, Ciara O Connor, Chloe Keane, Lauren Kilduff, Megan Devane all ran extremely well also. Cian Brady had an outstanding run to place 5th and picked up a new PB for his great effort

60-meter hurdles - Katelyn Walsh and Emily Kinane both had fine runs. Conor Penny took silver followed by Sean Hoade in 3rd. Declan O Connell had a great run and PB for his efforts

High Jump – Emma O Donavan won Gold and Chloe Keane finishing 3rd. Ciara O Connor also jumping very well. Conor Penny won Gold and Keelan Moorhead taking 4th to qualify for the nationals

600 meters – This in my opinion is an extremely hard event as the standard is so high to qualify. Emma O Donavan took bronze with an outstanding finish in the last 6om, which got the crowd going to say the least. Ciara o Connor had a great run and I believe a PB also. Keelan Moorhead got a PB and Declan O Connell ran their hearts out but only 3 to qualify and not their day.

Shot Put- Kiera Mernagh was our only athlete in the circle and as she said herself, "not my day", but I have no doubt will keep training and working to get her just rewards in the coming years in the shot put.

1000 Walk – Lillian Walsh took Bronze, with a new PB to match!

Lastly were the relays. We fielded 3 teams for the girls and 2 for the boys

• Chloe Keane, Ciara Mernagh, Kelly Hallinan and Lillian Walsh- team A
• Emily Kinane, Katelyn Walsh, Megan Devane and Ciara O Connor – Team B
• Lauren Kilduff, Keevagh Barry, Claudia Fitzpatrick and Emma O Donavan Team C- This team won Gold

With the boys relay teams

• Jack Farrell, Declan O Connell, Stephen Ruane and Dara Sweeney – team A. Special mention to Stephen and Jack who were both sick and missed a lot of training came down to run with their team mates and not let them down. That’s respect and team work right there.
• Conor Penny, Cian Brady, Sean Hoade and Keelan Moorhead – Team B. This team took Silver on the day.

Evan’s U12s report

An absolutely dominant weekend by Craughwell ACs U12 contingent. Our U12 team took home almost 40% of the medals on offer!! There were magnificent performances today from every single athlete. Here is a summary of all our athletes’ incredible achievements this weekend:

Relays:

The boys Relay teams won both Gold medals and Bronze medals, ensuring that Craughwell AC is represented by two teams in the Nationals:

• Gold: Jack Cahill, Eanna Morrissey, Oran Collins, Sam Casey and Stephen Joyce
• Bronze: Stephen Joyce, Kai Watters, Tom Malone, Keelan Griffin and Ethan Stace

The girls not to be outdone by the boy went out and won the Silver medal:

• Silver: Aeveen Kelly, Remy Alymer, Lauren Morgan and Rachel Warde

60m Sprints:

Boys:
Gold - Jack Cahill
Bronze - Eanna Morrissey
Girls:
Bronze: Rachel Warde

60m Hurdles:

Boys:
Gold - Jack Cahill
Girls:
Silver - Rachel Warde

Shot Put:
Boys:
Gold - Oran Collins
Girl
Gold - Ava Doyle

Long Jump:
Boys:
Gold - Sam Casey
Bronze - Eanna Morrissey
Girls:
Gold - Lauren Morgan

High Jump:
Boys:
Gold - Sam Casey
Girls:
Silver: Gemma Cloonan
Silver: Ava Doyle

PBs:

• Stephen Joyce: Beat his 600m time by 4sec (1.54)
• Aeveen Kelly: Beat her 600m time by 8 sec (2.01)
• Claudia Coyle: Beat her 600m time by 5 sec (2.01)
• Jack Cahill: Improved his High Jump by 5cm to jump 1.20
• Beth Glynn: Set a new PB with a great 12.5 in the 60mH
• Ethan Stace: Threw a new Shot Put PB with a toss of 6.27