National
Indoor Senior Championships
The Irish Life Health National Indoor
Senior Championships were held last weekend over two days in the National
Indoor Arena in Dublin, and it was a weekend of great success for many of
Galway’s top track and field athletes, with three individual and one team medal
coming west.
Saturday’s action saw a phenomenal performance
from the hugely talented GCH sprinter Robert McDonnell. At just 17 years of age
McDonnell ran superbly to claim bronze in the Senior Men’s 200m, clocking 22.06
in the final after qualifying via the heats earlier in 21.9 seconds.
Veronica Burke of Ballinasloe and
District AC won silver in the Ladies 3000m Walk with a superb performance,
clocking 14.54 for silver behind Kate Veale.
Nicole Walsh of Galway City Harriers
continued her excellent form to claim bronze in the 400m final at Abbottstown
on Sunday. In a highly competitive final won by Sophie Becker in 53.75, Walsh sprinted
strongly to finish in the medals in a season's best time of 55.2.
There was a great finish for GCH’s relay
squad under the guidance of Coach Brendan Glynn, as the team claimed bronze in
the Men's 4 x 200m relay event, after a thrilling battle with Emerald and
Tallaght. The squad comprised Robert Meagher, Robert McDonnell, Jack Dempsey
and Owen Scully.
Also of note was the performance of NUIG
athlete Sarah Quinn, competing with her club of St Colman’s South Mayo AC, Quinn stormed to victory on Sunday winning the Senior
Women's 60m Hurdles event.
Gort
5km
The Gort 5km race was held Sunday 1st
March last, organised by local club South Galway AC.
First over the line was Rory Chesser of Ennis
Track in a time of 15.30, ahead of clubmate Liam Naughton in second in 16.10
and GCH athlete David Bohan in third in 16.23. Alma Walsh was first lady home
in 20.08 ahead of Athenry’s Edel Kelly and Linda Porter of Craughwell AC
Kinvara
Rock and Road races
The Kinvara Rock and Road series of
distance races will be held next Saturday 7th March in Kinvara, Co. Galway.
The full marathon starts at 10:00am, the
half marathon walkers start at 11:00am, the 10K runners and walkers start at
12:00pm and the half marathon runners start at 12:10pm.Registration is still
open on the Kinvara race website.
Irish
Schools Cross Country
The Irish Schools Cross Country Championships
take place next Saturday in Santry in Dublin and many of Galway’s schools will
be represented across the hugely competitive series of eight races.
Irish
Universities Cross Country
NUI Galway athletes will chase National silverware
this weekend in Cork Institute of Technology at the Intervarsities Cross Country.
NUIG Men’s team will feature the likes of Pierre Murchan, Thomas McStay and
Aaron Brennan, and the Ladies team has such talent as Rhona Pierce, Aoife O’Brien
and Eibhlin McCarthy at its disposal. Both squads will be in medal contention for
Saturday’s races and are among the strongest ever fielded by the college.
National
Masters Indoors Championships
This weekend sees the top Masters Athletes
in the country take to the Indoors, with the National Masters Indoors
Championships taking place in Athlone. Many of Galway’s most famous athletes
will compete for honours including Martin McEvilly for GCH, Ian Egan of
Castlegar, Kathryn Casserly, Majella Loftus and Sinead Foran of GCH among
others.
