National Senior Championships
It was a golden weekend for the West at the National Senior Athletics Championships ,held over three days in Morton Stadium, Santry, with Cillin Greene and Sean Breathnach of Galway City Harriers both striking gold, amid a host of other Galway medal win, showcasing the depth of athletic talent in the county at present.
The hugely talented Cillín Greene delivered in stunning fashion on Saturday to claim National gold over 400m. Greene ran a perfectly timed race to take the Senior Men's National 400m title in 46.38 seconds from three-time Champion Chris O'Donnell of Sligo.
It was an enthralling battle between the duo in the home straight with Greene getting ahead in the final strides to take a well deserved National title . It was a 1,2 and 3 for Connacht Athletics with Robert McDonnell, the young rising star of GCH sprinting, running the race of his life to hold on for bronze in a time of 47.19 seconds.
The electric 400m race was one of the highlights of the day, with Irish Olympic selectors keeping a watchful eye ahead of the upcoming picks for the mixed 4x 400m relay . Greene is likely to be selected on the Olympic mixed relay squad and McDonnell will be well in contention for a spot on the same squad after his superb season.
The evergreen Sean Breathnach continues to add to his already huge National medal collection as he claimed double gold and a bronze medal at the Nationals. The competitive GCH athlete won the Wight for Distance throw Saturday with a best of 8.23 metres and added the Weight for Height title on Sunday with 4.70 metres. He also claimed third in the Shot Putt despite injury preventing his use of the rotational technique.
Veronica Burke of Ballinasloe and District AC continued her super championship Race walkingrecord with bronze in the Women’s 5000m event held Sunday. Burke clocked 25.23 in another great display of efficient race walking.
Other GCH athletes to impress included Aoife Sheehy put in a big performance to finish 4th in the 400m hurdles in 1.04.47. Laura Shaughnessy ran an excellent time of 16.41 in the 5000m to finish 8th overall ahead of teammate Aisling Joyce who ran a fine time of 17.54. Alex Lee took to the line in the heats of the highly competitive men's 100m clocking a swift 11.64 . Robert Meagher competed over 200m along with Lee, and special mention goes to young stars Emma Moore and Eimear Rowe who took on their first Senior event, at 800m and 400m respectively.
David Carter of GCH ran well over 5000 in the Men’s event with 15.20, as did Eoin Molloy of Castlegar who clocked 15.47. Abas Edris Adam jumped well in the Men’s 3k Steeplechase in his first National Senior for Castlegar .
Craughwell AC athletes Jack Miskella and Sinead Gaffney again impressed on the National stage . The dedicated Miskella made a hugely competitive 1500m final after an astute run in the heats saw him through. He then placed 15th in a very high-qualityfinal on Saturday afternoon. Gaffney ran a club record 2.18.53 outdoor best over 800 metres.Sinead Treacy and Brian Malone also competed in the heats for the Craughwell club over 400m.
Connemara Airport 5km
The first edition of the Seo Leat-5k! event will take place in the unique setting of Connemara Airport on Tuesday 29th June next. Two events will take place on the night, with Race 1 off at 6.30 pm..and Race 2 at 8pm. Both events are available for entry on Pop Up Races website and are capped at 100 entrants
Galway U12 to U19 competition
There will be two days of Juvenile competition held this week in Dangan at the Regional Sports Centre track. The Galway championship relays will be held Thursday evening at 730 pm, with the U12 to U19 individual competition on Saturday 3rd July all day from 9 am
Roger Rushe
Many tributes have been paid this week to the late Roger Rushe of Tuam Athletic Club, who died recently. Rushe had been involved in athletics as a competitive runner over many decades and a recent highlight was his performance on the medal winning Irish International Masters team at O75 level in2015.He was a regular competitor at all Galway road races and National Cross Country and a hugely respected figure in the sport. Galway Athletics extends its sympathies to his family and friends
