National Masters Championships
Galway athletes secured multiple medals at the National Masters Track and Field championships held in Santry Stadium, Dublin on Sunday last.
Galway City Harriers secured 13 individual medals and 4 relay medals on a successful day for the city club. Highlight was gold in a quality 4x400m Women's race via the squad of Sinead Foran, Niamh Hennelly, Karen Quirke and Kathryn Casserly.
The Women’s squad also earned silver in their 4x100m Relaywith Linda Nally, Foran, Hennelly and Quirke all contributing,while GCH Men’s Relay squads chipped in with a great second place in their 4x400m event and bronze in the 4x100m race.
In the sprints Linda Nally struck double gold in the 100/200m V50 Ladies sprintsin a superbperformance, andKaren Quirke also excelled winning two bronze medals over 100m and 200m at V40 level. In the Men’s sprints, Jim Phelan won V45 Silver over 400m
In the distance events there were two further National titles for Martin McEvillywith wins at V70 level over 1500m and 5000m, with wins for the Ladies via Deirdre McRae over 3000m at V40,and Kathryn Casserly at V40level, and SineadForanin the V45 category over 1500m.
Also, on the track Niamh Hennelly won bronze at V35 inthe 1500m, as did Lloyd Malcolm in the V45 category over 5000m, while in the Field, Richard O'Hanlon secured double silver in the Discus and Shot Putt
Craughwell Sprinters had a great run of success via their Masters squad Cormac Kearney, David Mulligan, Brian Malone, John Walkin and the inspirational Ronnie Warde.
The crack squad won double gold in the 4x100m V40Relayvia Kearney, Warde, Mulligan and Malone, as didthe 4*400 m squad via Walkin, Warde, Mulligan and Malone
Individually, David Mulligan won 200m V35 silver, and Ronnie Warde won bronze over 200m at V40 level.
Castlegar Athletics Club athletes won on the double, with ReinerBothasuperb in winning gold in theMasters V35 LongJump, and Stephen Casserly powering home to silver in the Men's V40 1500m securing a personal best in the process
Mary Barrett of Loughrea AC continued her winning streak with double gold in the V60 Ladies Discus and Shot Putt events , and Andy Talbot struck silver for Clare River Harriers in the V70 Men’s 5000m .
East Galway 5km
East Galway AC hosted their annual 5k on September 4th last, on a fast course in Skehana
David Carter won for GCH in 16.09, with Gary Scully of Nenagh second in 16.29 and David Bohan also of GCH came home third in 16.34, First lady home was Aine Kenny of Crusaders in 20 minutes flat, ahead of Monika De Almeida and Lisa McGrath of Ennis Track
Road races
Also on the road, Eoin Molloy of Castlegar had a superb run at the weekend, placing 2nd the Seamie Wheldon 5km in Ardee, Co Louth,in a great time of 15.42.
Fixtures
There will be plenty of events taking place over the coming months with the return to open road races and cross-country fixtures in Galway and nationally. First up is the Castlegar AC sponsored Cross Country event, which takes place in the Racecourse in Ballybrit on Saturday 18th September next .
Tailteann Games
Several Galway athletes have been selected as team members for Connacht at the prestigious Tailteann Games (for under 17s) , which will be held this Saturday September 11th. Some of those picked include Margaret Nnadi over 100m & 200m, Nicole Quirke in the 100m, Ava McKeon over both 80m Hurdles and 300m Hurdles, Sean Duggan in the 200m, and Mathieu Madden in 400m Hurdles and High Jump
The Connacht squad will compete against the selected athletes from Munster, Leinster and Ulster.
From that event, an Irish team is selected each year to take on the best from England, Scotland and Wales in an international competition.
