Irish Schools Cross Country Championships
The 123.ie All Ireland Schools Cross Country Championships 2025 (Hosted by Castlegar AC & Connacht Schools) were a huge success at a superb Ballybrit Racecourse last Saturday, with thousands in attendance. A top-class series of races took place on a true cross-country course with some exceptional performances, with Senior wins for Emily Bolton and Noah Harris, Intermediate gold for Mayo’s Freya Renton and Odhran McBrearty, Junior glory for Darragh Whelan and Madison Welby whilst Minor Gold went to Kate Kelly and Jack Brennan
Among the Galway schools, there was a superb bronze medal performance by David Frazer of Calasanctius College, Oranmore, in the Junior Boys race, and international selection for the trio of Frazer, Ciarán Considine and Luke Walsh. There were superb performances by Ciarán Considine of Seamount Kinvara 6th and Luke Walsh of Gort CS 11th in the Intermediate Schools race. As a result, Considine has been selected to run on the Irish Schools Boys team and Walsh on the 4x1500m mixed relay in the Schools International Cross Country competition in Scotland on the 22nd of March. Presentation College Athenry secured team bronze in the Minor Boys race via the squad of Noah Heaney, Patrick Lee, Harry Melia, Thomas Byrne, Neal O Callaghan, Daniel Forde. Conor Kerrins and Will Doran, while Donal Coyle of Seamount Kinvara excelled with ninth in the Minor Boys race
National Masters Indoors
The National Masters Indoor Track and Field Championship was also held last weekend in Athlone, on Saturday, March 8th. A full schedule of events is on the programme, with age categories from V35 right up to V85. Galway athletes secured multiple medals, with wins for the GCH Relay squad, Jim Phelan in the 400m V50, Martin McEvilly over 1500m, both for GCH, as well as Sarah Finnegan of Craughwell in the Triple Jump V35 section
National Indoor U20/23 Championships
Over 500 athletes battled it out on a bumper day of athletics at the 123.ie National U20 & U23 Indoor Championships which were hosted at the TUS International Arena in Athlone on Sunday last (March 9th). Galway clubs secured multiple medals across the two age groups.
U23 Summary: The first track medals of the day were decided in the 1500m with Alexandra Joyce (Tuam AC) taking gold in a stacked women’s race in 4:33.18. Joyce would also go on to claim silver in the 800m later in the afternoon. Defending champion Oisin Murray (of the University of Galway AC and An Riocht) retained his title in the men’s 1500m race, going for home early and fighting off the challenge of Louie Woodger (MSB) to cross in a winning time of 3:55.30. Oisín Davis of Craughwell closed off his indoor season next home for bronze. Andrew Egan of GCH secured bronze in the U23 200m race.
Junior Summary: Conor Penney of Craughwell AC is a medal-machine and he did it again with another superb championships today in Athlone at the National U20 Championships. Conor won the High Jump with his opening jump of 1.90m. The U20 400s were hotly contested, but it was Sean Doggett (Athenry AC) who stamped his authority on the men’s race, running away to gold in a new championship record of 47.63. The 3k walks saw Savanagh O’Callaghan (Tuam AC) defend her title in dominant fashion, clocking 14:52:98, while Matthew Newell from Tuam AC (pictured above) completed the Tuam double as he walked clear of the field to cross in isolation in 12:37:73. Triple jumper Darragh Fahy (Loughrea AC) saved his best for last to claim gold with 13.33m, while Jack Hession of Tuam AC claimed a fine Long Jump silver
Galway 5k Series
A reminder that this year’s EY-sponsored Galway 5km series will open for entry this week, Thursday, March 13th, on Eventmaster. The race is expected to sell out within days so early entry is vital. The first leg of the series will be hosted by Craughwell AC on April 22nd. This race will be a huge milestone for the Series, as it marks the 100th race since the event started 19 years ago. Link for registration will open on March 13th at 9am https://eventmaster.ie/event/pOLBuvyTyo
