Connacht Indoors
The Connacht Indoor Championships were held last weekend over two days in Athlone and saw great success for Galway clubs in a very competitive series of events, which act as National qualifiers at Juvenile level
At senior level Laura Ann Costello of GCH impressed as she won both Senior 60m and 200m titles, clicking 7.8 seconds and 25.3 seconds respectively, with clubmate Nicole Quirke was just behind in both events
Reakwon Lucciano of Castlegar stormed to gold in the Men’s 60m clocking a fast with 6.96. Castlegar sprinters impressed at underage level also, with an U17 win for Leon Ukaga in 200m, and Lemar Lucciano won well in the 60m and 60m hurdles, with second over 200m also at U17. At U19 level 1Osioma Chinagorm claimed victory in 60 m hurdles
GCH Juveniles were also very prominent across the weekend, with the standout athlete being Louis Jean Hounkponou who bagged the maximum haul of five medals, a gold, silver and three bronze; he jointly won the 60m, was 2nd in Long Jump and bagged a Hurdles bronze to add to two Relay bronze.
Aisling Tauchen leaped 3.92m to win silver in the Long Jump. Roisin Osbourne's 1.30m leap at U13 High Jump.was enough to win bronze. Harrison Agnew also qualified in the Race Walk
Craughwell Juveniles also impressed, notably at U16 level which saw Claudia Coyle joining her brother Donal in winning the 800m, and Emma O’Donovan and Oisin O’Donovan also claiming Golds.
At U19 level Craughwell claimed the U19 4x200m relay via Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis, Ella Lyons and Leonore Church. Moorhead also retained her Connacht High Jump title with Church third. Evan Quinn took the Connacht Long Jump title, and Andrew Power took the Connacht Triple Jump title.
Tuam AC claimed a huge haul of medals across both days, and among the stand out performances were an amazing four gold medals for Danielle Moynihan including U17 60m, 200m and High Jump golds and a win as part of the Tuam winning relay squad. In the Race walks, there were wins and Connacht Championship Records for Savanagh O’Callaghan and Mathew Newell in the U16 1500m events
Double gold in U14 60m Hurdles and High Jump came the way of Rachel Treacy as well as bronze in the 1km Race Walk. Sprinter Aine Maguire won the U17 400m and claimed silver in the 200m, while there was middle distance success for Aoibhinn Redington and Sarah Hartnett who each won medals in the 800m and 1500m
Oisin Phelan won U18 400m gold silver in the Long Jump and bronze in the hurdles, while likewise there were three medals for Jakub Kostrrubiec including silver in U14 800m and bronze in the 60m as well as relay gold.
Athenry athlete Liam Shaw took the U19 Shot Putt title with a Championship best performance of 15.14m, breaking the previous record by 3.17m., while at U18 level clubmate Sean Doggett was 2nd in the 800m, 2nd in the 200m, and 3rd in the High Jump.
Clare River Harriers saw five qualifiers for the All Irelands via Ciara Murphy in Hurdles, Kieva Kelly - U12 60m, Brian Griffin - U12 Shot Putt and High Jump, Patrick Lee - U13 600m, and Isla Day over 800m
South Galway AC won 8 gold medals and had some outstanding performances in particular Orlaith Mannion in winning the U17 60m hurdles setting a new Championship record.
Sophie Farrell won gold in both U19 60m and 200m, Roisin Geaney also claimed gold in the Senior women's 1500m, Sean Kelleher was first in the U19 1500m walk, Sinead Maher claimed victory in the U18 1500m walk and there was team gold for the talented U19 boys relay team of David Mannion, Kieran Doyle, Seán Kelleher and Stephen Mannion.
Maree 8k
The annual Maree 8km Run celebrated its 14th year in 2023, with record numbers taking art, as almost 400 toed the line for last Sundays 8km race.
David Carter of GCH showed his getting back to his best with a clear victor over the rolling circuit, clocking 25.42 for victory, ahead of Darren McCann second place and Sean Hynes in third. First lady home was Jane Ann Meehan of GCH in 30.06, with clubmate Eimear O Leary second and Edel Kelly third
DNA Athletics
The Dynamic New Athletics Under 20s International Meeting was held in Spain last Wednesday and Galway had four participants representing Ireland.
DNA Athletics is fast-paced sequence of events lasting around two hours with teams scoring points based on each of 11 events. Included in Ireland’s 18-person team are Emma Moore from Galway City Harriers, Craughwell’s Evan Hallinan, Athenry’s Liam Shaw and South Galway’s David Mannion as they take on Czech Republic, Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal. The quartet all performed well across their events, leading the Irish team to an overall fifth place position behind Great Britain
Intervarsity Cross Country
The Intervarsity Cross Country championships takes place this Saturday in the University of Limerick, University of Galway will field strong teams, with the Men’s squad tipped for a medal including the likes of Tom McStay, Sean Cotter, Paddy Nooan and Cormac McDermott among others, while the Ladies event will see Fiona Everard go for glory.
