Primary Schools Cross Country
The Finals of the Galway Primary Schools Cross Country championships were held in Renmore, Galway City last Tuesday, with four races down for decision on the circuit around Nolan Park.
The Galway County Athletics Board organised events saw almost 100 schools from across the county compete across two great days of competition
Highlights of the day included Senior wins in the 5th and 6th Class races for Alan Hallinan of Craughwell NS and Eimear Fallon of Gardenfield NS, while in the Junior races; Anton O Conchúir of Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh and Roisin Sammon of Killeeneen won the 3rd and 4th Class events.
The team winners were Scoil Bhride in Lackagh with a great double win in both Girls events, while St Brendan’s Loughrea won the Junior Boys and Craughwell NS took gold in the Senior Boys event
The Top 15 in the Finals and Top 3 Teams from the Galway finals qualify for the Connacht Finals, which will be held in Moyne, Co. Longford on October 22nd next
Galway Cross Country Championships
The first day of the Club’s cross country event for Galway was held in superb conditions at the rolling course around Bushfield, Loughrea where the Juvenile Even Ages, along with the Senior and Masters Men’s and Women’s races took centre stage.
Winners at Juvenile level included Muireann Kelly of Craughwell AC who won the U10 Girls race, Emily Maloney of GCH won U12 gold, Eimear Fallon of Tuam was superb in claiming U14 victory, while Aisling Geaney of South Galway AC took U16 gold. In the Boys races, there were wins for Conor Mannion of Craughwell AC at U10 age category, Aaron Byrne of East Galway AC took the honours in the U12 race, Luke Walsh of South Galway AC won out at U14 level, Declan O’Connell of Craughwell AC with a runaway win in the U16 race and Mathys Bocquet of Craughwell AC in the U18 event
At Adult level, the Men’s race was won easily by William Fitzgerald of Craughwell AC who took off halfway through the race to take the honours by a distance, with GCH athletes John Mooney and Jack Maher taking the other podium spots. Padraig Faherty of GCH impressed as he won Junior Gold.
The Ladies event saw a dominant performance by Galway City Harriers athlete Jane Ann Meehan, who took gold ahead of Junior winner Leah Other and Siobhan Egan, both also of GCH, while Isabella Burke took the U18 Ladies gold for GCH
Galway Bay Races
The Galway Bay series of 10km, Half Marathon and Full Marathon races was held last Saturday, 1st October in Salthill, with 2,500 runners completing the course across the three races on a sunny but windy Salthill morning.
The 10km was won outright by Olympian Lizzie Lee from Cork, in 35.32, with Leevale clubmate Alfie Davis in second, and third. Next home and second lady was Ellen Moran of GCH, with Edel Gaffney of Trim AC third lady
Sergio Ciobanu of Clonliffe Harriers won the Half Marathon in 70.34, while Eimear O’Leary of Galway City Harriers was a popular winner of the Ladies race in 1 hour 32 minutes.
The Marathon turned into a great battle over the 26.2 mile distance, with John McElhill of Finn Valley AC outsprinting Peter Burns for victory, with just two seconds separating the pair in a thrilling finish. First lady home was Deirdre Martin of Carrick AC in a great time of 2 hours 57 mins, with Dolores Duffy second home.
