Irish Schools Cross Country
The Irish Schools Cross country finals were held in Mallusk, Co. Antrim last Saturday and many of Galway’s schools were represented on a tough and true cross country course.
Cillian Jordan of St Enda’s finished a fantastic 8th place in the Junior Boys race and as a result made the Irish Schools team for the International Schools event to be held in Wales at the end of March next. Also in the Junior Boys, among the top finishers were Barry Murphy also St Enda’s who placed17th, Eoghan Jennings 29th, Kyle Moorhead 38th – for Pres Athenry, Luke Burke (Pres Athenry) 68th, Michael Dempsey (St Enda’s 72nd, Ruadhri Collins (Pres Athenry) -75th. Oisin Davis(Pres Athenry) 81st, Sean Forrest (Enda’s) 90th., Eli Sheedy (Pres Athenry) 93rd, James Furey (Pres Athenry) 96th, and Owen Okuro and Kaif Tahir both from St Enda’s who were 97th and 98th.
In the Senior Boys race, Galway athletes had some good runs in a competitive field, with Eanna Folan of Colaiste Na Coiribe in 14th spot, Gary Martyn of Galway Community College 26th, and Michael Healy of the Bish in 51st. In the Senior Girls races Aine O Farrell of Pres Athenry was 16th overall, closely followed by Aoife King of Presentation College Headford in 18th, and Pres Athenry girls Natasha Carrick in 49th, Aisling Kean 51st, Shannon Lee 55th Grainne McDaid, 61st Leona Rabbitte 63rd, Aoife Gavin 65th and Ciara O Boyle in 70th
In the Intermediate Boys Thomas McStay of Claregalway finished 46th, and Jack Maher of Clifden CS was64th
In the Minor Boys race Cillian Geraghty of Glenamaddy was 38th, while Liam Leen of Presentation Athenry, finished in 45th position, followed home by teammates Conor Hoade in 84th and Cillian Rabbit in 99th. At Junior girls’ level Ciara Sheppard (Calascantius College) was 53rd,while Pres Athenry girls Sarah Woods was 69th, Freya Bohan, 75th, Ciara McDonagh 82nd and Eadaoin Coffey 87th all ran strongly.
Sarah Gilhooley was 28th in the Inter Girls race for Pres Athenry, with teammates Ailbhe Miskella in 50th place, Caoilfhionn Hennessy 71st and Emma Boyle 77th, while Maebh Clancy of Claregalway was 56th, with her team mate McCarthy 74th
Abbey 8km
Martin Glynn took the honours at the Abbey 8km held Sunday last, running a fast 27.24 for victory Second home was Stephen McKeigue, with Daire Comer third. In the Ladies section, Mary Kealy of Athenry AC was the winner in 34.17, with Maeve Flannery second and Mairead Blake third
Fixtures
Craughwell 10 - Sunday 19th March 2017
The annual Craughwell 10mile road race takes place Sunday 19th March next at 11.15 am. The event incorporates the Galway AAI 10 mile championships for 2017, with individual, age category and team medals all up for grabs. Entry is open on Active.com and Race number collection is from 9.00am to 10.30am on race day 19th of March at our race HQ at St. Michael's Hall Craughwell.
Galway 5km Series
The ever-popular Galway 5KM series is back again this year, again sponsored by Bradley Renault.
Entries will open at 8pm on Friday March 24th on Active.com. As usual the series will more than likely sell out very quickly.
Entry will remain at €30 and a souvenir T-Shirt will be awarded to those who complete four legs.
The full schedule of races is
Galway City Harriers (Ballybrit) – 25th April 7:30pm
Caltra & District AC (Caltra) – 2nd May -8pm
Craughwell AC – 9th May - 8pm
Loughrea AC – 16th May - 8pm
Clare River Harriers (Claregalway) – 23rd May - 8pm
Athenry AC – 30thMay - 8pm
British Masters
Mary Barrett of Loughrea AC competed in the British Masters Athletics championships in Lee Valley recently, and took gold in the Shot putt with a season best and 4th in the hurdles with another seasons best
Chris McGrath
All at Galway Athletics and Galway City Harriers were deeply saddened to hear of the tragic death last weekend of Chris McGrath, a recent member of city club GCH. Chris competed with the club throughout his Juvenile career in the 1990s, and was a very talented and committed athlete who won numerous titles at underage level. In later years, he competed at senior level in cross country and road races at regional and National level for GCH and Galway county, and a terrific win at the Connacht Intermediate Cross Country in St Mary’s in 2012, and a top 50 National senior cross country finish in Tullamore in 2013 were among the highlights of his career. Chris was a hugely keen, enthusiastic, and competitive runner who always gave his best.
We wish to express our condolences and sympathy to his family and friends, and also to the many GCH members and athletes around Galway who grew up, coached, trained and raced with Chris over the years.
