National Juvenile Indoor Championships
Sunday last saw yet more fantastic action at the final day of the National Juvenile Indoors in Athlone IT, and the event again yielded numerous medals for Galway athletes.
Craughwell AC athletes secured four medals, with the first of the day being a treasured National title for Laura Cunningham in the U18 Girls Triple Jump. Years of dedication and hard work in training under coach Michael Tobin have paid off for Cunningham, for whom this is the fourth National medal in less than a year. Her winning leap of 10.55m was also a club indoor senior record.
Craughwell’s second gold medal came via Darragh Kearney in the U12 Boys Shot Putt, with a huge throw of 9.01m on his 4th throw ensuring victory. Two more medals came to Craughwell via Niamh Duffy , who threw a brilliant 7.96m to take the bronze medal in the U12 Girls Shot Putt, and the final medal of the day came via impressive performance from Conor Hoade in the U14 60m hurdles who claimed the bronze in a tight finish in an excellent time of 9.50.
GCH athletes also took home plenty of silverware, with two gold medals - Lydia Doyle stormed to victory in the U18 Girls 60m hurdles, as did Emma Moore in the U14 girls 800m in a magnificent time of 2.17. Jack Dempsey claimed his third medal at the National Indoor Championships in AIT , securing bronze in a highly competitive U19 Boys 200m in a time of 22.32, as did Seren O'Toole in the U16 Girls 60m hurdles with a third-place finish.
Brendan Lynch of Loughrea AC won silver in the U19 Boys Triple Jump leaping 14.01m, while South Galway AC’s David Mannion also won a fine silver medal in the U13 Boys 60m hurdles.
New Inn 5KM
Former National marathon champion Michael O’Connor returned to action with a commanding victory at the New Inn 5km, held last Sunday, 2nd April last. O’Connor had to battle hard early on with runner up John Greaney also GCH, but pulled away strongly in the second half of the race running 15.51 to Greaney’s 16.05. Daire Comer was third in 17.06.
Barbara Dunne of GCH was a clear victor in the ladies ‘race, clocking 18.25, with her clubmate Niamh Hennelly second and Deirdre Devane of Craughwell third.
National 10km
This weekend sees the National 10k championships which will be held in the Phoenix Park in Dublin Sunday next as part of the Great Ireland Run. GCH will have some strong teams competing, with the Senior ladies’ squad including Grainne Ni Uallachain and the V35 Men’s team led by Sean Hanley and Gerry Carty likely to be in the hunt for team medals. Galway native Laura Shaughnessy of DSD AC is the one to watch individually, and will be among the medal favorites in the ladies’ race. The former Loughrea athlete is in fantastic form, after recently winning the Craughwell 10 mile, and clocking 34.29 in the K Club 10k.
IUAA Track & Field Championships (7th/8th April)
Another major event on the programme this weekend is the Intervarsities track and field championships in Cork IT. NUI Galway will have plenty of strong medal contenders, including Aisling Joyce in the 3000m, Nicole King in 200/400 m, Aengus Meldon over 800m and Damien Landers over 1500m.
