Galway 5km Series
Conor Dolan made it an incredible four wins on the trot with victory in the fourth leg of the 2017 Galway 5km Series, in Loughrea on Tuesday last. Dolan clocked 16.42 for the win, ahead of Timmie Glavey of Mayo AC and Kevin Bartholomew of Craughwell AC. First lady home was Caron Ryan of Craughwell AC in 18.29, with Jane Ann Meehan of Athenry AC,second and Sinead Brody of GCH in third. Shauna Bocquet of Craughwell AC took the wheelchair race honours in 18.37, on what is a more testing course than the other series races. Claregalway and Athenry are next up, with the series finale and social event being held after the last race in the Raheen Woods, Athenry.
Galway Athletics Awards
Galway AAI County Board held their annual Galway AAI Athletics Awards at a well-attended and successful reception in the Westwood Hotel in Dangan, on Sunday last. Guests of honour were Athletics Ireland President, Ms. Georgina Drumm, and new AI High Performance Director, Athenry man Paul McNamara. The award winners were -
Female Age 12-15: Seren O’Toole (GCH)
Male Age 12-15 Evan Hallinan (Craughwell AC)
Female Age 16-19: Nicole King (GCH)
Male Age 16-19: Cillin Greene (GCH)
Female Senior: Niamh Hennelly (GCH)
Male Senior: Sean Breathnach (GCH)
Female Master: Mary Barrett (Loughrea AC)
Male Master: Gary Thornton (GCH)
Outstanding Contribution Coyle (GCH)
Hall of Fame: Brian Geraghty (GCH)
Female Team: Senior Marathon team (GCH)
Male Team: National Premier League team (GCH)
The Award Winners are pictured above (photo by John O'Connor):
Back Row: Cillin Greene, Gary Thornton, PJ Coyle, Brian Geraghty and Sean Breathnach
Front Row: Nicole King, Seren O Toole, Evan Hallinan, Mary Barrett and AI President Georgina Drumm
Connacht Schools
The Irish Life Health Connacht Schools Track and Field finals were held in Athlone last Thursday, and there were several notable Galway performances. In the boys events, among the highlights were the sprints, Jack Dempsey of AHC Mountbellew won a closely-fought senior 100m in 10.82 secs; second was Cillin Green of Presentation Athenry in 10.83 secs, Greene later won the 200m in 22.2 secs.
Pupils from St Brigid’s Loughrea won all three boys’ triple jump titles. Brendan Lynch proved best of the seniors with a leap of 12.90m and also won the long jump with 6.27m. Conor Leahy was another double winner, with 11.64m in the inter boys’ triple jump and 6.00 in the long jump. Winning the junior triple jump was Anton Tarion with 9.89m. In the senior boys’ high jump, Jerry Keary of St Raphael’s was the winner with a height of 1.90m.
In the distance events Gary Martyn of Galway Community College won the 5000m Senior Boys. In the Inter boys, Ben Ryan of St Raphael’s Loughrea was second in 9 mins 33 secs, while
GCH athlete James Frizzell held off a strong challenge from Ben Garrard to win the 800m in a time of 2.01.
At Intermediate level Kacper Poniatowski stormed home to win the Boys 400m final in a new PB of 53.47. Diego Brule continues to go from strength to strength and took the 400m hurdles title in a new PB of 1.00. Aaron Brennan ran strongly to secure second in the 1500m and 3rd in the 800m. Others to qualify for the All Irelands in the middle distances were Eanna Folan of Colaiste na Coiribe, Uyi Uyiosa, Cillian Jordan and Barry Murphy of St Endas and Michael Healy of The Bish.
At Junior level, Eoghan Jennings was the winner of the Pole Vault leaping to a height of 2.30m and he was also 2nd in the Discus.
In the Senior Girls competition Aoife Sheehy ran a magnificent race to hold off the challenge of Ellie McGeogh in the 400m hurdles in a new PB of 68.00. Laura Nally had a comfortable win in the 400m running a season’s best time of 60.7. Lydia Doyle ran an impressive time of 12.52 to secure the second qualifying place in the 100m in a highly competitive field., Caron Ryan of Loughrea took the Senior Girls 3000m and Aine O Farrell of Pres Athenry won the 1500m.
In the Inter Girls, Seren O’Toole dominated both the 300m hurdles and 200m races achieving two new PBs on route, (26.2 in the 200m and 48.73 in the 300m hurdles). Laoise Geraghty ran strongly in the 300m to take the title in 44.1.
Eimear Rowe was a clear winner of the Junior Girls 800m in a time of 2.26 and Sinead Duggan was 2nd in the Long Jump. At Minor level Paula Crissan won the High Jump leaping to 1.35m.
Mayfly 10k
Greg Lundon of South Galway AC produced an excellent performance to win the annual Mayfly 10 held in Oughterard last Sunday. Lundon clocked 36.54 for victory on a tough course, with Daire Comer of Tuam second and Justin McDermott of South Galway AC in third. First lady home was Esther O Flaherty of GCH, returning to winning ways after a long injury lay off.
