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Best of luck to the Galway Rose !!

Best of luck to Galway Rose and former club member Orla McDaid in the forthcoming Rose of Tralee later this month.

Many younger members of the juvenile club may not be aware that Orla was a very prominent member of the club in her teenage years which were not too long ago. In fact, she featured as an u11 in the very first article posted on the club all the way back in 2005 ... craughwell-in-top-form-at-day-1-of-2005-connacht-cross-country-in-co-leitrim ... going on that year to place 34th in the National cross-country and her u11 team narrowly missing out on the podium when placing 4th in the team event.

She had many a successful day after that at Galway and Connacht level and at National level with teams including silver medals in the National U17 4x300m in 2011.

We wish Orla the very best of luck in the Rose of Tralee finals, a little more pleasant surrounds than what she will remember from her cross-country days! And you never know, maybe the Rose will bloom again on the cross country scene in years to come – you hit your peak running form between 26 and 32 years old Orla!

And to our club members and parents, come out and help send Orla off this Saturday evening in Cheevers. It would be lovely to have a nice group from the club there.

A few pics from the past below:

With her Craughwell NS Connacht Championship winning cross-country team (and a couple of Olympians :-)) in 2006– Debbie Kenny, Ailbhe Greaney, Sinead Gaffney, Katie O’Donoghue, Maria McNamara, Maireád McCann, Caoimhe Quill

With her U16 relay teammates at the Galway Community Games in Ballindereen in 2009
Debbie Kenny, Ashley McDonnell and Katie O’Donoghue.

With her U15 4x100m relay team at the National finals in Tullamore in 2009
Jessica Heneghan, Maria McNamara, Claire Ryder

With her U16 4x200m silver-medal winning relay team at the Connacht Indoors in Nenagh in 2010
Jessica Heneghan, Ella Bryan, Sinead Gaffney

With her U17 4x300m silver-medal winning relay team at the National finals in Tullamore in 2011
Jessica Heneghan, Muireann Maloney, Sinead Gaffney, Maria McNamara

Great day out at the Streets 2019

Craughwell had a great day out at the Streets of Galway 2019, with several people claiming PBs and several prizes.  The morning was hideous but by the time the race started it had eased to welcome drizzle and the muggy heat had faded, making for ideal running conditions.  In the team competition, there were several strong outfits in play including Ennis Track (regular winners), an impressive Castlegar crew, Loughrea led by Cathal O'Reilly, South Galway AC, GCH as always strong, Sportsworld and others.  Craughwell had a healthy mix of old and young and were not too far off the team prize at the end, pushing a top-class Ennis team very close.  Still - 2nd men's team was a savage result in this field - in fact 20% of the top 25 runners in the were from Craughwell and we took 3 prizes!

First home for Craughwell was Jamie Fallon who ran a very smart race to finish in 26.24, falling back at 5km to cool off before a smart push to the line.  Jamie is early in his build-up, and looking forward to the cross country!  He just pipped the hugely talented Kevin Mooney on the line in a finish so tight that the timing initially got them the wrong way around in the results!  Kevin is coming back from a break and is building really nicely, he missed Dublin marathon due to a cycling injury, but has plenty to look forward to - not least his wedding (Congrats Kevin and Orla on that!). 

Next home for Craughwell was Mark Davis (1st o45) in 26.56 closely followed by William Fitzgerald (2nd Junior) in 26:58.  It was a great run from William who felt super-comfortable (unlike me!) and given time, there's no telling how good he will be!  Jack Miskella was 5th for Craughwell - after a year of focusing on (and taking club records at!) 800m and 1500m, 8k was probably a shock to the system, but Jack had a brilliant run to smash 28 minutes with a 27:47. 

Everywhere you looked there was green and white, so we're from quite a fit village!  Brian Matthews beat his time from last year with less training,  Stephen Carty, Gavin Cooney, Brendan Treacy, Mark Campbell, Ollie Niland, Colm McAllen (pb), Reena Deely, Margaret Murphy, Laura Porter, Sharon Gilligan, Irene Fallon, Gerry Treacy, Brenda Casey, Aoife Mullane, Geraldine Fallon, Siobhan Gohery, Julie Gallagher and Marita Carolan all were listed in the results, but there were plenty others running that weren't listed against the club and I couldn't be bothered scrolling through the names to see the ones I recognize!!  One notable one is the distance coach, Lisa Thomas who had a great run herself in addition to coaching the 2nd Junior!  Well done to all, and to GCH on an impeccably organized event.

As usual, John O'Connor has the definitive set of pictures on his website (album 1, album 2, album 3).

Shauna Thrills at World Championships

In superb conditions, Craughwell's latest u17 International Shauna Bocquet represented club and country with pride in the World Para Athletics Junior Championships in Notwill Switzerland. Shauna won 3 Gold medals in the 400m, 100m, 1500m and took Silver in both the 200m and 800m.

Shauna displays one of her 3 Gold medals (this one was for 100m)

The popular Shauna will be a familiar face to many Galway athletes, regularly competing on the local and national road racing scene as part of her training, but this was a truly breakthrough week for this talented and dedicated athlete.

A Still from the TV Coverage of Shauna about to start the 400m

Shauna started off events by winning the 400m in a dominant front running display managing to keep her good start from getting eaten up by her strong finishing German opponent (see finish below).  The two athletes would go on to have many battles over the event, often trading places for Gold and Silver.

Shauna with a wide gap in her first victory

With the first event out of the way, Shauna proceeded to go on a dominant run, taking victories in the 100m, 1500m and a fantastic Silver in the 200m and 800m at the highest level of international competition.

Silver in the 200m

Shauna in still in Switzerland, but there will be a welcome home for Shauna at the track before training at Craughwell on Tuesday at 7:45PM.  All who know Shauna from any capacity (school, other clubs, road races) and want to give their congratulations are welcome to come along.

Results from the u17 events are here.

Buy-A-Block for Craughwell AC!

Construction work has recently got under way on the first phase of the club’s indoor sports facilities plans with the commencement of a 10x4m toilet block and 10x12m multi-purpose room. The project is 50% funded by the European LEADER Programme and the club will be adding significantly to its borrowings to help finance the construction. 

The club is asking its members and the community to help fund these facilities by supporting its Buy-A-Block fundraising campaign for the new building and toilets.

Many people are already benefiting from the club’s facility development through the use of its recently completed 800m walking/running pathway around the perimeter of its athletics grounds.

You can sponsor a block by paying €20 for a 10-week subscription to the club lotto via the club’s website www.craughwellac.com/lotto.

And each time you renew your subscription, the club will note your name against another block on a poster which will be on permanent display inside the building.

We are strongly appealing to parents and members to support the campaign. All funds go straight into the facility and you can cancel your subscription at any time.

Alternatively people can sponsor 1 or more blocks directly with a cheque payable to Craughwell AC and post it to Michael Tobin at Crinnage, Craughwell, Co. Galway along with your name so we can acknowledge you or your child’s name on the aforementioned display.

The construction work is being done by Luke McNamara of John McNamara Construction Ltd, along with engineering consultation from Iggy Greaney & Associates and design input from Kieran Quinn of Sean Dockery & Associates. Kieran and Luke are pictured on site below. The club is indebted to Kieran (whose family are in the club) for the design of the building and overseeing the procurement and building commencement process.  The club is also indebted to the 40+ coaches and committee members who have helped the club get to this stage. The club has invested over €520k in the facility since Sept 2014, largely funded by grants along with loans from Community Finance Ireland.

We are appealing now to our parents, our members and the community to support these volunteers and get behind our Buy-A-Block fundraising scheme by subscribing to our Lotto or making a donation. And help build facilities that will make a difference for all.

Weather permitting, it is hoped that the first phase of the building will be open by the end of January next year.

With the school building work due to start next year, it will be invaluable having toilets and indoor space on our own grounds. It is part of a longer-term plan to build an indoor training centre and to extend our running track subject to further grants being approved.

So please support our efforts, thank you!

Team Silver for Galway Women in National League!

County Galway Women's team who won silver in the Premier Division of the National League last weekend
Back row: Laura Cunningham (Craughwell), Aoife Sheehy (GCH), Sinead Treacy (Craughwell), Sarah Finnegan (Craughwell), Regina Casey (GCH); Front row: Rachel Finnegan (Craughwell), Sinead Gaffney (Craughwell), Kathryn Casserly (GCH), Arlene Earls (Craughwell), Nicole Walsh (GCH), Aisling Joyce (GCH), Lydia Doyle (GCH); Missing from photo: Freya Bohan (Craughwell), Mary Barrett and Aoibhin Farrell (Loughrea), Emma O'Hara (GCH)

Several athletes from the club starred with the County Galway women’s team which took team silver in the Premier Division of the National Senior League in Tullamore last Sunday. The team which was managed by Sarah Finnegan, came within a whisker of winning the League outright - just missing out by the slender margin of 4 points (which equates to the reversal of 1st and 2nd places in a single event with the winners Dundrum South Dublin).

Laura Cunningham flew over the 5m mark on all 4 of her attempts in the long jump to claim 2nd place with a best of 5.24m only 4cm shy of winning it – terrific jumping form to leap 5+ metres on all 4 jumps and in the process tripling the number of times she has cleared the magical 5m mark. Earlier Laura took 3rd place in the triple jump with a best of 10.13m and combined with Sinead Treacy and 2 GCH athletes to take 2nd place in the 4x100m in an excellent 49.38.

Sinead Treacy was also in top form, racing to a season’s best of 25.20 to place 3rd in the 200m and along with Sinead Gaffney leading the county to a comfortable victory in the 4x400m in an impressive 3:55.15. Rachel Finnegan took 4th place in the 400m hurdles in an excellent 70.24, Sinead Gaffney placed 7th in a tough battle in the 800m in 2:25.11 and Freya Bohan placed 8th in the javelin with a best of 18.83 into the wind.

It was a super performance from the club's athletes not to mention also the fine performances from several other athletes from the club who helped the county team qualify for the final in the earlier rounds including Ailbhe Miskella, Aisling Keady, Alisha Larkin, Aoife Kelly, Ellie Cronin, Leanagh Gilligan, Maeve Curley, Shauna Tobin and Tara McNally.

Also in action in Tullamore, the county’s men’s team took 5th place in the Division 1 final, helped by strong performances from Craughwell AC athletes including Gavin Cooney 3rd in the 800m in 2:00.87, Jack Miskella 3rd in the 1500m in 4:04.64 and 7th in the javelin with 14.65, William Fitzgerald 4th in the 5000m in 16:49.79, Luke Evans 5th in the 3000m steeplechase in 11:25.57, Ryan Gallagher 5th in the long jump with 5.50, and Gavin Cooney and Jack Miskella helping the county to 7th place in the 4x400m.

Kyle 6th on International Debut!

Kyle Moorhead made his international debut at the weekend in the Irish Schools international against England, Scotland and Wales which was held in Swansea, becoming the 23rd athlete from the club to represent Ireland in an international,

Kyle had a magnificent run in the 1500m steeplechase coming home as first Irishman across the line and 6th overall in a PB time of 4:41.33. It was a remarkable performance for the young man from Caherdevane who has been with the club since the age of 6 and fantastic to see his commitment take him to this level. And a proud moment for both his family and his local athletics club. Well done Kyle!!

Evan Hallinan Leaps to National Title

Evan Hallinan, National U15 Triple Jump Champion 2019

Craughwell AC’s juveniles were back in action again in Tullamore at the third weekend of the National Track & Field Championships where Evan Hallinan and Sean Cotter were amongst the highlights of the day. Evan leaped to a brilliant National title in the U15 Boys triple jump with a best of 11.09m sealing the gold medal. He later followed this up with a 7th place finish in the high jump, withdrawing due to injury at the medal-winning height of 1.60m. It was a remarkable performance for Evan as he has had an injury ridden few months due to a growth phase and training has been interruppted as a result. Evan's title adds to the Scottish triple jump title that he won earlier in the year.

Sean Cotter scorched to silver in the U17 Boys 1500m in an excellent 4:15.15 with Oisin Davis 10th in 4:22.13. It was a super performance for Sean who bounced back from the dissappointment the previous weekend of narrowly missing the finals of the 800m when placing 4th in a tactical heat.

Sean Cotter silver medallist in the National U17 1500m

James Furey took 5th place in the U17 Boys high Jump with a clearance of 1.50m and later placed 6th in the heats of the U17 3000m hurdles in 49.87. Lukas Schukat placed 6th in the U16 Boys triple jump with a best of 10.16m and 13th in the long jump with a leap of 4.94m. Ryan Gallagher had a massive PB jump of 6.21m to take 7th place in the U18 Boys long jump, only 11cm from the club’s U20 record in this event and unlucky not to take a medal due to the incredibly high standard on the day.

Ross McGuinness placed 7th in the U16 Boys 3000m in an impressive 9:58.22 in the sweltering conditions with William Fitzgerald equally impressive with 9:31.16 to place 8th in the U19 3000m. Aoibhe Fahy threw the javelin out to an impressive 26.10m to take 8th place in the U15 Girls event and followed it up later with 12th place in the shot with a throw of 8.36m. Freya Bohan raced to a 2-second PB when placing 4th in the heats of the U18 400m in a time of 62.82, just missing out on qualification for the final in 9th place overall and later placed 7th in the U18 heats in 13.75 and 11th in the shot with a throw of 6.71m. It was unlucky 9th place also for Aoibhe Donnellan who raced to a brilliant time of 11.03 in the heats of the U14 Girls 80m, just missing out on the final by 0.02 of a second.

There were strong performances also from Grace Keaveney 11th in the U14 Girls long jump with 4.22m; Alisha Larkin 12th in the U17 Girls long jump with 4.72m and 6th in the heats of the 100m in 13.79; Kyle Moorhead 13th in the U18 Boys 1500m in 4:27.79; Saoirse Pierce 6th in the heats of the U16 Girls 250m hurdles in 43.34; Millie Geraghty 13th in the U15 Girls javelin with 22.85; Andrew Power 13th in the U15 Boys javelin with 19.54; Ella Lyons 16th in the U15 Girls long jump with 4.49; and Ciara Sheppard 17th in the U18 Girls 1500m in a PB of 5:32.59.

Also in action at the weekend, Laura Cunningham leaped to a season’s best of 4.89 to take 2nd place in the Senior Women’s long jump at the IMC meet in Drogheda, leaping off her less-favoured right leg for the last 3 jumps which resulted in the season's best.

Thunderstorm and Downpours at Graded Meet

Laura and Lorraine competing in the Women's 100m at the Dublin Graded Meet

A small group of athletes made their way to meet number 6 of the Dublin Graded Meet last night, the first time this year that the club has taken part in it to my knowledge. The Dublin Graded Meets are a fantastic series of events with 8 meets taking place, one every second Wednesday from end of May through to August at 3 different venues in Dublin – Santry, Tallaght and Irishtown– and the officials are very welcoming to country clubs making the effort to travel up especially last night as thunderstorms greeted us as we arrived in Santry!

More information on the series can be found on www.dublinathletics.com. There are 2 meets left – 24 July Santry (200, 1500, mile, high jump, discus, shot) and 7 August Tallaght (400, mile, 3000, long jump, pole vault, hammer, shot). There is also a 4-series graded meet in Cork with the final day being next Monday with the following events: 200, 800, 3000, 4x100, high jump, discus, javelin.

Ben Garrard was in flying form in the 800m where he ran a blistering season’s best of 2:01.02 – faster than his indoor PB of 2.01.88 from the Connacht Indoors earlier this year and pretty close to his outdoor PB of 2.00.35 which he ran in sunny conditions in the National League in 2017. It leaves Ben nicely poised to break the magical 2-minute barrier this summer if the weather conditions are right.

Laura mid-hop on her way to a season's best of 10.31 in the triple jump

Despite the wet conditions, it was a good day also for Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney and Shauna Tobin who all recorded season’s bests in their events. All 3 girls had eased back on the training and competition in the previous 9 months due to the Leaving Cert but are coming into form now as the season progresses. Laura raced to a blistering 13.16s in the 100m with Lorraine recording 14.39s on the wet surface – both excellent times into a +1 headwind on a saturated track. Laura later followed this up with a fine series of jumps in the triple jump culminating with a season’s best of 10.31 on her 6th and final jump. Shauna got to grips with a slippy discus on the wet night, spinning it out to a season’s best of 15.10.

Shauna Selected for World Junior Championships!

Shauna crossing the finish line to win the Wheelchair Category at the 2019 Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon

There was some great news for Craughwell AC athlete Shauna Bocquet recently with the announcement by Paralympics Ireland that she has been selected to represent Ireland at the IPC World Para Athletics Junior Championships in Nottwill, Switzerland.

Shauna will compete across 5 distances (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m) in the U17 Female T54 category.  The event takes place in Switzerland from 1st to 4th August with a busy schedule for Shauna as follows:-

• Thursday PM - 400m
• Friday AM - 1500m
• Friday PM - 100m
• Saturday PM - 200m
• Sunday PM - 800m
  
  

It is a fantastic achievement for a very dedicated young athlete and the club wishes her every success in one of the biggest events of her young career to date.

Sinead and Ella in Top Form at National T&F

Sinead Treacy who raced to a club record 56.96 to win bronze in the National U23 400m 
and Ella Farrelly who raced to the National title in the U13 Girls 60m Hurdles in a blistering 9.98

Another weekend of National athletics action saw athletes compete in the National U20/23s Championships on Saturday in Tullamore and the National U13-19s on Sunday again in Tullamore.

Sinead Treacy had an outstanding race in the final of the U23 Women’s 400m to take the bronze medal in a club record time of 56.96 and later raced to a time of 25.40 to take 4th place in the 200m final. Jack Miskella recorded yet another sub-2 performance with 1.57.90 in the final of the U23 Men’s 800m to place 7th with Ben Garrard in close attendance when placing 8th in 2.02.33. Laura Cunningham took 6thplace in the U20 Women’s triple jump with a best of 10.14m and later placed 11th in the long jump with a best of 4.79m. Aoife Kelly continued her great improvement in the hammer with a throw of 21.29m to take 6th place in the U20 Women’s event. Alisha Larkin raced to 13.58 to place 5th in the heats of the U20 Women’s 100m and later leaped 4.74m to take 12th place in the long jump while Arlene Earls placed 6th in the heats of the U20 Women’s 400m in 63.61.

Jack Miskella, Laura Cunningham and Ben Garrard at tne National U20/23 Track & Field Championships

Meanwhile a day later in the same venue, Ella Farrelly powered through the heats of the U13 Girls 60m hurdles with a 10.08s time to win her heat and an hour later ran a blistering final to take the National title in an exceptional 9.98s. It completes a fantastic track and field year for the young athlete who won the National Indoor long jump title, added bronze in the National outdoor long jump and now added a National hurdles title to her achievements.

National U13 Girls 60m Hurdles Champion Ella Farrelly leaping for joy from the podium

Aoife Kelly took 5th place in the U17 triple jump with a best of 8.78 and threw the 3kg hammer out to an excellent 24.57m to take 8th place. In the high jump, Lukas Schukat was in fantastic form with a string of first-time clearances up to and including 1.70m before exiting at 1.75m – his 1.70m good enough to take 5th place overall. In the U15 high jump Siofra Davis, Jade Moorhead and Leonore Church all leaped 1.45m with Siofra and Jade placing 5th on countback and Leonore 8th – all 3 unlucky not to feature in the medals where 1.50m took the bronze. Saoirse Pierce jumped well to take 7th place with 1.45 in the U16 Girls event while Issy Fitzgerald leaped to a new PB when clearing the same height of 1.45m in the U14 Girls high jump after some very consistent jumps over the earlier heights.

Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis and Leonore Church who placed joint 5th and 8th
in the U15 Girls High Jump at tne National Championships in Tullamore

The 800s races always pose a challenge when they comprise heats and finals on the same day, with very tactical heats to try to qualify for the final with the minimum of effort. Having won a brilliant bronze at the National indoor finals in 2:22.45 earlier in the year, Fauve Aylmer was very unlucky not to make the outdoor final with a blanket finish in heat 1 leaving the top 4 separated by 1 metre. Fauve’s time of 2:28.09 placed her 4th and with only the top 3 automatically proceeding to the final, heat 2 had the advantage of knowing what was needed timewise to make the final and so it was with 5 from the second heat going through to the final and Fauve losing out. A similar fate befell Sean Cotter in the heats of the U17 Boys 800m with his time of 2:03.68 taking 4th place in heat 1 and he just missed out on making the final. Oisin Davis ran a strong race to record 2.07.71 in heat 2 of the U17 800m while an intensely tough U18 3000m steeplechase final saw Kyle Moorhead well placed in the early laps but the longer distance took its toll on Kyle and he drifted back out of the leading group to place in a respectable 7th place in a time of 11.34.79.

Oisin Davis and Sean Cotter at tne National U17 Track & Field Championships in Tullamore

Athletes Star on County Teams

Some of the Craughwell AC athletes who represented County Galway
in the Womens Premier Division at Round 2 of the National Senior League in Athlone
Freya Bohan, Sarah Finnegan, Sinead Gaffney, Shauna Tobin, Arlene Earls, Laura Cunningham

Several athletes from the club featured on the County Galway Women’s and Men’s team who were in action in round 2 of the National Senior League recently in Athlone.

The women’s team is managed by Craughwell AC’s Sarah Finnegan and they topped their Premier Division group with a score of 211 points to qualify for the final. There were some fine performances from the club's athletes on the day including

• Sinead Treacy, 1st in the 400m in 58.64
• Sinead Gaffney, 4th in the 800m in 2:23.26
• Sarah Finnegan, 4th in the 100m hurdles in 18.79
• Laura Cunningham, 3rd in the triple jump with a leap of 10.20
• Alisha Larkin, 4th in the long jump with a leap of 4.91
• Freya Bohan, 3rd in the javelin with a throw of 25.64
• Shauna Tobin, 5th in the discus with a throw of 14.98
• Aoife Kelly, guesting in the hammer and throwing the 4kg weight out to 17.23
• Arlene Earls who helped the county to 2nd place in the 4x400m in 4:11.37
• Tara McNally who combined with Sinead Treacy to help Galway to 2nd place in the 4x100m in a time of 50.23
  
  

The County Galway men’s team were also in top form, taking 3rd place in the Division 1 group on the day which was good enough to make the final in 4th place overall, assisted by strong performances from Craughwell AC athletes including:

• Ronnie Warde 4th in the 100m in 12.19, 3rd in the shot putt with 9.82 and combining on the 4x100m for 4th place in 47.15
• John Cormican 3rd in the 400m in 54.07
• Gavin Cooney 3rd in the 800m in 2.01.46
• Jack Miskella 2nd in the 1500m in 4.07.71 and 4th in the javelin with 12.59
• William Fitzgerald 5th in the 5000m in 16.51.25
• the 4x400m quartet of Ben Garrard, Jack Miskella, Gavin Cooney and John Cormican who placed 3rd in a time of 3.40.16

Super Success at Day 1 of National Juvenile T&F!

Craughwell AC U12 Girls 4x100m Team - National Bronze Medallists 2019 !!

Day 1 of the National Track & Field took place today in Tullamore with some fantastic performances by members of the club. I will update this article with more details as they come to hand but here's the quick summary.

Starting at the end, the day wrapped up with a brilliant brilliant bronze medal by the U12 girls in the final of the 4x100m. To even have qualified for today from the Connacht finals was a great achievement. To make it through the heats by winning our heat, fantastic! To medal in the final, a dream!! Its not often that we have medalled in the National relays in the U12 age group and to do it today with a squad of 6 top notch athletes was super. Well done to Keevagh, Emma, Claudia, Lauren, Moya and Katelyn!! And our U12 boys came close to the medals also with a 5th or 6th place finish in the final having made it through the heats with a strong performance from Conor Penney, Sean Hoade, Dara Zimmerer and Cian Brady.

Darragh Kelly National U13 Boys High Jump Champion 2019 and
Ella Farrelly National U13 Girls Long Jump Bronze Medalist at the Championships in Tullamore

There were exceptional performances also from Darragh Kelly in the U13 Boys High Jump when taking the National title with a record-equalling 1.56m and from Ella Farrelly in the U13 Girls Long Jump with a fantastic leap of 4.58m to take bronze. The medal-winning heroics were completed by Lauren Morgan and Mia Hollingsworth with a super silver medal in the paired U11 Girls Long Jump!

There were many more fine performances, several of which went ever so close to getting on the medal podium - but I have to get full details together tomorrow before adding them to this article.

Well done to all participants today, the club is so proud of you!

Craughwell AC U12 Boys 4x100m Team - National Relay Finalists 2019