Galway Athletics Report (14th November 2021)

IUAA Road Relays

The Universities Road Relay championships were held Saturday last in Maynooth University, with NUIG fielding five teams, with their lead Men’s squad just missing out on a team medal ,in what were highly competitive fields

NUIG Ladies squad placed 11^th, with the B team 25^th. The Ladies A team squad saw Maebh Brannigan set off with a storming run of 5.16 over the mile, the fastest of the day, handing over to Aoife O Brien, with Emma Jourdan and Anna McGinley completing the finishing quartet

NUIG Men’s squad placed 4^th, with the B team 9^th and C team 11^th. The A squad comprised of Roland Surlis, Finley Daly, Donal Devane, Donal Farren and Jack Miskella over the five-leg race, with Miskella clocking the fastest time on the last leg.

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International Masters Cross Country

The Masters Cross Country International between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland was held last Saturday in Belfast. Galway were well represented, with Ger Hartnett of Tuam AC and Gerry Carty of GCH competing at V45 and V50 levels respectively, with Carty placing 51^st overall and Hartnett 53^rd in the combined Masters field for ages 35 to 64.

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National Cross Country

The National Cross Country championships day one takes place Sunday next 21^st November in Santry, Dublin. The event features the National Junior and Senior Men’s and Women’s races, which act as qualifiers for the European Cross Country event in Dublin in December, along with the Even Age Juvenile races for U12s through to U18 levels.

Some of Galway’s top distance runners will be competing in what is traditionally the blue riband event of the athletics season, with Thomas McStay of GCH the standout athlete, who is seeking to earn an Irish U23 call up should things go his way Sunday next. He is ably backed up in a strong GCH squad by Aaron Brennan, Dave Carter, Dave Bohan and Conor Byrne. Abbas Edris Adam will go for Castlegar AC, and William Fitzgerald and Jamie Fallon for Craughwell. In the ladies, Caron Ryan of Craughwell and Aine O Farrell of GCH will compete

Craughwell Junior Men’s team will challenge for National glory led by Sean Cotter with Oisin Davis, Kyle Moorhead, and Ross McGuinness among the talented squad assembled by coaches Mark Davis and Lisa Thomas

At Juvenile level, Galway will be well represented at all levels with club teams from Craughwell, Tuam, South Galway and Clare River Harriers all competing, plus athletes on regional teams from GCH, Athenry, Castlegar and Loch Lurgan stepping up to National level