Connacht
Indoor Championships
The 2019 Connacht Indoor Track and Field
Championships were held in the Athlone IT Arena last weekend over two days,
with huge numbers in attendance both days. There was great success for Galway
clubs and athletes on both days of competition.
Saturday’s action included the U12 and U13
age group events and the highlights saw Darragh Fahy of Loughrea AC winning
triple gold in the U13 Boys 60m sprint and 60m hurdles, as well as the Long
Jump, and Danielle Moynihan of Tuam taking double gold at U13 level
individually.
Also on Saturday’s programme, two of
Ireland best junior athletes Darragh McIlhenny of Bantry AC and Jamie Battle of
Mullingar Harriers both clocked European qualifying standards in an exciting
5000m standard chasing race. McIlhenny clocked an Irish junior indoor 5000m
record of 14.13 with Battle placing fourth behind U23 runners Michael Power and
Evan Byrne, but beating the 14.40 standard by three seconds
At Juvenile level on Saturday, Elisa
Jaime Stapleton of GCH won the U12 Girls 60m and JJ Oifoh of Tuam AC also took
gold in the U12 Boys 60m event. Galway City Harriers athlete Jessica Kay took
the honours in the U12 Girls 60m hurdles.
Lauren Kilduff of Craughwell AC was the
winner of the U12 Girls Long Jump with Ben Moran of GCH claiming gold in the
Boys section at U12 level. Ruby Casey of East Galway proved strongest in the
U12 Girls Shot Putt taking the title while in the High Jump, Craughwell
athletes made it a double victory for the club, with Conor Penny winning the
Boys and Emma Donovan taking gold in the Girls section.
Ruby Casey East Galway AC , U12 Girls Shot Putt winner, with coach Kevin McNama,
Danielle Moynihan of Tuam AC sprinted to
victory in a fast time of 8.81 seconds to win the U13 Girls, while Darragh Fahy
of Loughrea took gold in the U13 Boys sprint, just ahead of Ronan Duggan and
Richard McGrath of GCH. Ella Farrelly of Craughwell won gold in the U13 Girls Hurdles,
with Loughrea’s Fahy taking gold in the Boys ahead of Craughwells Darragh Kelly.
In the field at U13 level, Amy Ni
Chlochartaigh of Club Lúthchleas Conamara won the Long Jump with a huge jump of
4.96 metres, with the aforementioned Fahy winning the Boys section for
Loughrea.
Cian Rafferty of Tuam AC took Shot Putt gold
just pipping Caltra and District’s Jack O’Shaughnessy by three centimetres. In
the High Jump, Darragh Kelly took gold for Craughwell AC, with Danielle
Moynihan claiming her second individual gold with first in the U13 Girls Long
Jump.
In the distance events, Myah Gallagher
of Tuam was most impressive in clocking 1.46 for victory in the U13 Girls 600m,
while the relays saw great excitement with gold for Galway City Harriers in the
U12 Girls 4x200m relay and the U13 Boys equivalent. Tuam AC stormed to victory in
both U12 Boys event and the U13 Girls race.
Sunday’s action saw the older age group
competing from U14 upwards, with further Galway success across the packed event
programme. On the track in the U14 events, Aoibhe Donnellan of Craughwell AC won
gold in the U14 Girls 60m in 8.55. Her clubmate Chloe Hallinan won the 60m Hurdles,
while Evan Moran won the U14 Boys Hurdles title for GCH. In the field, Grace
Bermingham of South Galway AC took High Jump gold, and Craughwell’s Niamh Duffy
won the Shot Putt. Oisin Phelan leaped to Long Jump gold for Tuam in the U14
Boys event.
At U15 level, sprinter Mathieu Madden of
GCH produced a great performance to take gold in the 60m in 8.12. Fauve Aylmer
of Craughwell AC impressed winning the girls 800m gold while in the Boys, twins
Stephen Mannion and David Mannion of South Galway AC could only be separated by
one hundredth of a second with Stephen pipping David to victory in a time of
2.13.06 to 2.13.07.
Ava McKeon of GCH won the U15 Girls Hurdles
title by a clear margin, with David Mannion claiming gold for South Galway in
the Boys in a fast 8.43. In the U15 Relays, GCH won Girls gold with South
Galway AC winning the Boys race. In the U15 field events, Jade Moorehead and
Evan Hallinan made it a Craughwell double in the High Jump, with Stephen
Mannion taking his second gold medal in the Long Jump.
Liam Shaw’s U15 Shot Putt victory for
Athenry was one of the highlightsof the day, as he set a championship best,
throwing 16.10 metres.
At U16 level Conor Hoade doubled up as
he claimed Long Jump gold and won the Boys 60m Hurdles with a fast 9.08 clocking.
Ross McGuinness of Craughwell AC produced a superb performance in winning the
U16 Boys 1500m, as did Michael Leahy of South Galway in claiming the 800m gold
medal GCH won the U16 Girls Relay well.
In the jumps, Isabelle Moynihan of Tuam
AC took the honours in the U16 Girls High Jump, Matt Lawlor of South Galway AC
won the Shot Putt at U16 level, while Lucas Schukat of Craughwell won the Pole
Vault. Roisin Geaney continued South Galway AC’s good championship in winning
the U16 Girls race walk.
At U17 level, Shaun Gilligan of GCH
sprinted to 60m gold, and GCH also won the Relay gold. Sean Cotter of
Craughwell AC continued his good form winning U17 1500m gold. Eimear Rowe of
Galway City Harriers ran a great 200m to claim victory after taking silver in
the 800m. In the field, Ellie Cronin of Craughwell AC and Ryan O’Connor of Tuam
AC won both High Jump titles for Galway clubs.
In the U18 events,the hugely talented Robert
McDonnell of GCH won double gold in the Boys 200m and 400m events, with GCH
doubling up to take both Boys and Girls relay titles
Seren O’Toole ran a cracking 60m Hurdles
to take U18 gold, ahead of clubmate Chloe Casey and Aoibhe Deeley of Athenry AC,
and she later won her second gold in the 200m event. In the field, Leanagh
Gilligan of Craughwell AC won the Triple Jump title.
Aubrey O’Brien of Craughwell AC showed his
class in winning the U19 Boys 60m and 200m on the track, and made it three
golds winning the Long Jump as well. His clubmate Sean Noonan took the honours
in the U19 400m race. GCH won U19 Relay gold in the Girls event
At senior level Regina Casey took
Connacht gold in the Ladies 3000m with a fast time of 10.05 behind guest Abbie
Taylor of DSD. Tim Jones took third spot in the Men’s race for GCH.
In the sprints Lydia Doyle claimed gold
in the Ladies 60m for GCH, clubmate Laura Nally took senior 200m Ladies gold while
Aoife Sheehy also of GCH won the 400m flat. Jim Phelan took double Masters gold
for GCH at 200 and 400m, and Majella Loftus won 200m Masters Ladies gold.
The Ladies 800m race was exciting as
Aisling Joyce of GCH just held off Sinead Gaffney of Craughwell and the fast
finishing Kathryn Casserly also GCH to take 800m victory. In the Men’s, Jack Maher
and Gavin Cooney placed second and third in the 800m and both dipped under the two-minute
barrier.
Seamus Leddy of GCH returned to action,
with victory in the Men’s 1500m Walk, while both Relays went to Craughwell AC
teams
Mary Barrett of Loughrea AC took gold in
both the Ladies 60m hurdles and High Jump as well as victory in the Shot Putt
at Masters while Brendan Lynch of Loughrea claimed gold in the senior hurdles.
Claudia Matsumoto won senior Shot gold.
In the field, Sean Breathnach of GCH won
the Shot Putt from younger brother Michael Breathnach with Dick O’Hanlon
winning masters gold. In the Triple Jump, senior gold went to Lorraine Delaney of
Craughwell AC and Brendan Lynch of Loughrea picked up gold in the Men’s section.
Justin Lane of Tuam AC won the Senior Men’s High Jump and Pole Vault to cap a
superb event for Galway clubs.
Greene
competes for Ireland
Cillin Greene of GCH who runs in the European Championships for Ireland this weekend
Cillin Greene of GCH travels to Scotland
with the Irish team for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow this weekend.
This follows his superb win and qualifying time achieved in the 400m at the
National Indoor Championships in Dublin last week. The European Championships
take place over three days, from March 1st to 3rd next,
and Greene’s first race will be the 400m heats on Friday morning.
University
Cross Country Championships
The IUAA Cross Country Championships are
taking place on Saturday next at St Mary’s College Galway with two races on the
programme. The Ladies race starts at 2pm, and will be over 5km with the Men’s
running 8km at 2.40pm.
The University Cross Country
Championships are a traditionally strong cross-country event and one of the
highlights of the intervarsity athletics season. The event attracts some of the
country’s best up and coming cross country runners and teams and individuals
from almost all universities
This year’s race will be fought out on a
fast track in St Mary’s, with a couple of ups and downs to test the athletes,
notably the middle hill between the two major grass loops. The course has been
used before for National events, notably in the Irish Schools in 2012 when
local athlete Padraig Creaven ran away with the Boys race and the Senior Boys
race saw an epic battle between current internationals Kevin Dooney and Sean
Tobin.
In the Ladies race, some of the
favourites will be Orna Murray and Rhona Pierce of hosts NUIG while in the
Men’s Damien Landers of the host college, NUI Galway, will look to retain his
title. Landers has been in great form all winter and ran in the European Cross Country,
but will face stiff opposition from the likes of Michael Power and Daire
Fitzgibbon in defending his title. NUIG will fight hard for team honours, but
the likes of DCU will be hard to beat in this competition.
Fixtures
The Kinvara Rock and Road Half Marathon
and 10K Road Race takes place on Saturday 2nd March next in Kinvara, Co.
Galway. This will be the 8th running of the event and 2018 sees the addition of
a marathon distance for the first time. The Full marathon starts at 10 am, the
10k at 12 noon and the half marathon is off at 12.10pm.
