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Fantastic Performances at Connachts Day 2
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)
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
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)
Order of events as follows:
PLEASE NOTE THAT TRIPLE JUMP HAS BEEN MOVED FORWARD TO 10AM ON DAY 2
Great Performances in Ballinderrin
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
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.
Timetable for Irish Schools T&F
The timetable for tomorrow's schools All-Irelands is on line at:-
Best of luck to all of our participants !!
Timetable for Galway Community Games
Click on the image below to download a printable version
Craughwell AC at the Galway Athletics Awards
Evan Hallinan receiving the Galway Athlete of the Year (U12-15 Age Group)
from the President of Athletics Ireland Georgina Drumm (Photo credit: John O'Connor)
The Galway Athletics Awards took place last Sunday in the Westwood Hotel in Galway City where Evan Hallinan was the club's star on this occasion when receiving the Athlete of the Year Award for the U12-15 age group. It was a tremondous honour for Evan as its very difficult to win these awards when pitted against the best Galway athletes spanning 4 age groups.
It was also a memorable evening for Conor Duggan and Sinead Treacy who were each recipients of Training Bursaries of €300 awarded by the Galway County Board for achievements in 2016/17.
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Conor Duggan, Sinead Treacy, Damien O'Boyle |
U13 Coaches with Evan at the Galway Awards |
The club selects its nominees for the Galway Awards from athletes nominated by the coaches in different training groups and all coaches get to vote for who should go forward as nominees to the Galway Awards. The club had many fine nominations to consider and the details are set out below to recognise the achievements of the nominees in 2016.
Quick look back at Craughwell NS in the Galway City Sports
Craughwell NS at the 2011 City Sports
Back: Ronan Nevin, Jack Miskella, Jack Craven, Cillian Dolan, Ian Connolly, Emma Gaffney, Aisling Keady, Grainne McDaid, Erin Fitzpatrick, Michelle Duggan
Middle: Conor Callaghan, Victor Costello, Dylan Fowler, Diarmuid McCartin, Darren Lyons, Cian Waters, Micheál McFadden, Dean Callanan, Aoife Walsh, Laura Cunningham, Sandra Greaney, Shauna Tobin, Anna Farrelly, Aoife Raftery, Sarah Phillips
Front: Emer Mulveen, Sarah McCartin, Cian Garman, Finbarr McFadden, Jack Walsh, Eanna McDaid, Ailbhe Miskella, Mia Waters, Jane Trehy, Zoe Gilligan
It’s being 12 years since Craughwell NS first took part in the Galway City Sports in 2005 with an uninterrupted record except for 2007 when we didn’t take part. Ashley McDonnell has the honour of being the first ever medal winner from the school in the City Sports with victory in the U13 800m when in 5th class in 2005. The same year the U13 girls relay team took our first relay medal with gold from Katie O’Donoghue, Debi Kenny, Orla McDaid, Maireád McCan and Maria McNamara.
Conor Duggan was the first boy from the school to medal with silver in the U11 sprint in 2008 while brothers Micheál and Finbar McFadden share the honour of being the first boys from the school to win individual gold with victory in the U9 sprint and 400m in 2010.
2015 was the club’s most successful year ever with 6 gold and 4 bronze medals, closely followed by 2010 with 5 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze. Grainne McDaid is the school’s most successful individual athlete in the City Sports with 2 golds in the U13 800m and bronze in the U11 400m.
The U13 Girls distance races are our most successful individual events with 5 victories in the U13 Girls 800m and 8 medals in the U11 Girls 400m.
The relays are our most successful event with 17 victories over the years and the U13 Girls are our most successful age group with ten Galway titles to their name together with four silver and six bronze medal performances.
Read on for more detail.
Read more: Quick look back at Craughwell NS in the Galway City Sports
Club 800m Record in Irishtown
Ben Garrard and Sinéad Gaffney at the impressive facilities in Irishtown Stadium
The 3rd meet of the Dublin Graded Meet took place tonight in Irishtown Stadium in Ringsend Dublin. It was my first time at this particular track and its well worth a visit, tucked away in a corner of Ringsend and literally thronged with runners of all abilities who took part in the 10000m, 400m and 800m races. There were 4 women's 800m races of different standards and around 6 men's races ... fantastic to see such numbers. We met some familar faces up there, bumping into Castlegar's Sean McDermott on the way in (who later ran a decent 2.15.66 in the 800m) and later on our own Peadar Harvey taking a break from his secondary school teaching duties in Dublin.
Peader ran a solid 2.06.67 in his 800m race, just getting back into track form. Ben ran am impressive 2.01.71 time in the Men's 800m A race ... coming real close to his PB of 2.01.53 from last Thursday in the Connacht schools and only "a matter of time" now before Ben breaks the magical 2 minute barrier for the 800m.
But the highlight of the evening was a new club record and PB from the in-form Sinéad Gaffney who ran a time of 2.21.34 in the Women's 800m A race, over a second inside Linda Porter's impressive club record of 2.22.60. The race was tightly bunched throughout which was both an advantage and a disadvantage as the pack running encouraged all runners but made it a little congested on the bends. It was a great race for Sinéad who is well positioned now to slice more time off her record in her international 800m race this coming Saturday.
Craughwell NS on Fire at City Sports
Craughwell NS continued its fine tradition in the Galway City Sports when contesting every event and featuring on the podium 9 times between individual events and relays. Here is a brief report on the day and I will update it with any missing information for athletes from the club later today once official results come out.
In the U13 age group. Ross McGuinness and Darragh McCartin ran a super 800m race with Ross taking the silver medal and Darragh the bronze despite a heavy fall with 300m to go – fantastic determination from Darragh to bounce up and take a bronze medal. Clodagh O’Meara and Jade Moorhead also had great 800s with Clodagh 5th and Jade 7th. The U13 boys had a magnificent victory in the relays winning by a considerable margin with Evan Hallinan, Lukas Schukat, Kieran O’Connor and Robert Urquhart. The U13 girls were unlucky to miss out on making the final with their team of Sarah Byrne, Erin Kelly, Jade Moorhead, Rebecca Lynch and Clodagh O'Meara.
The U11s age group saw Chloe Hallinan take a fine silver medal in the girls 400m with Aisling Whyte unlucky to just miss out on a medal in 4th place. In the boys Evan Moran strode to victory by over 20m in the 400m final. The relays saw the U11 girls run away with the victory with their team of Grace Keaveney, Ella Farrelly, Grace Lynch, Chloe Hallinan and sub Aisling Whyte while the boys battled valiantly in the heats and just missed out on making the final with Jamie Collins, Adam Jordan, Cormac McFadden, Evan Moran and subs Roan Budge and Danny Gilligan.
The U9s took double relay bronze with the girls excelling first with their team of Lauren Morgan, Abby Haugh, Ciara O’Connor, Kelly Hallinan and subs Jessica McGlynn and Kayleigh Rabbitte and the boys doing likewise with Colm Doyle, Jack Cahill, Keelan Moorhead, Ben Moran, Eanna Morrisey and sub Alex Ryan. Ben Moran earlier took a fine bronze medal in the final of the 60m sprint.
Well done to all!