National League Final
Three Galway track and field teams competed at last weekend’s National Track and Field League final, on Sunday in Tullamore, and Galway Ladies team were stars of the show, as the talented squad won National bronze under the guidance of team supremo Sarah Finnegan.
For the fourth year in a row, the team won medals and this year, the team won the bronze medals with a total of 99 points, 8 points behind silver medal winners Tipperary and 13 points behind the winners, Dublin club Dundrum South Dublin. This is a fantastic achievement for the team who have been very consistent over the last few years in winning senior medals in this competition. There was representation from a number of clubs around the county on the team including GCH, Craughwell, Loughrea, Tuam, Ballinasloe, Castlegar and South Galway. On the day of the final, the team achieved 4 wins (Veronica Burke in the walk, 4x100m relay team (Sinead Treacy, Laura Nally, Nicole Quirke and Nicole Walsh), Sinead Treacy in the 400m and Jade Moorhead in the high jump). There were a number of top three finishes including Alix Joyce in the 400m hurdles, Ella Rafferty in the discus, Leah Kivlehan in the triple jump, Aine O'Farrell in the steeplechase, Laura Nally in the 100m, Sinead Gaffney in the 800m and 4x400m relay (Alix Joyce, Sinead Treacy, Laura Nally and Rachel Finnegan). There were valuable points achieved by other athletes including Mary Barrett in the Hammer, Aoife Sheedy in the 100m hurdles, Aoibhin Farrell in the long jump, Caitlin Griffin in the Shot Putt and Javelin, Ella Rafferty in the Weight for distance, Adara Salvo in the 3k, Isabella Burke in the 1500m and Nicole Quirke in the 200m.
Galway City Harriers placed eighth in the Men’s Premier Division, and heavy points scorers such as Andrew Egan, Robert Meagher, Robert Urquhart, Jack Maher and Pierce McManus contributed to the team total
Galway County Men’s team competed in Division One, led by manager Sean McDermott, and placed sixth overall, with solid performances from the likes of Raekwon Lucciano in the sprints, as well as Abbas Edris, Damien Landers and Hamsley Okomah
National Masters Championships
Galway athletes had great success at the National Masters Championships for athletes Over 35 and upwards held in blistering heat in Tullamore on Saturday 13th August last
GCH secured National titles via some superb performances, notably by gold medal wins via Linda Nally over 100m and 200m at V50 level, Jim Phelan and Karen Quirke at V45 level in the 400m, as well as Niamh Hennelly in the 1500m at V35 level .
GCH Ladies won the 4 by 400m relay via the squad of Nally, Hennelly, Karen Quirke, and a standout performance by Sinead Foran to lead the squad to glory.
Medals were also secured via Gch stars Martin McEvilly, Seamus Lynch, Dick O Hanlon and Gerry Carty
Mary Barrett for Loughrea was again dominant in her age category, winning Double gold in the Shot Put and Discus
Craughwell sprinters struck gold, with age category wins for Ronnie Warde, Cormac Kearney, Brian Malone, as well as a silver from David Mulligan, with the aforementioned quartet combining to win a great team relay bronze for good measure
Castlegar veteran Ian Egan once again proved his class winning 5000m bronze at master’s level
Claregalway 10km
The Claregalway 10km returned for its 33rd edition Saturday last , with the race organised by Clare River Harriers. Padraic Fallon won in a time of 35.54, ahead of Shane Scully of Nenagh Olympic and Paul Keane of GCH. Clare Rowe of GCH was a dominant winner of the Ladies section in 40.34, with second place going to Triona Moran of Castlegar and Sinead Jordan of GCH in third.
