Galway Athletics Report

Greene competes for Ireland

Cillin Greene of
GCH competed in the 400m on the Irish team at the European Indoor Championships
in Glasgow last weekend. Greene was the first Irish athlete in action on Friday,
but he was most unlucky as he failed to finish his 400m heat after a mid-race
collision. The GCH runner got off to a strong start but at the 200m mark he
collided with Poland’s Karol Zalewski, although both runners quickly recovered.
Disaster was to follow however, as race favourite, Czech athlete Jan Tesar ran
into Zalewski before hitting the ground and Greene, who was right behind the
Czech, tripped over Tesar and was unable to finish out the race.

All in all, the
championships were a great experience for the talented Greene, who will no
doubt focus next on his outdoor season and look to further lower his personal
bests.

University Cross Country Championships

The IUAA Intervarsity
Cross-Country Championships were held Saturday 2nd March last at St Mary’s
College Galway, with the event attracting some of the country’s best cross-country
runners and teams. The rain cleared just in time for the races, but a
combination of high winds and a true cross-country circuit meant a real test
for the athletes who made the trip west.

The races were
of great quality, with double wins for DCU athletes, via Emma O’Brien in the
Ladies race and Paul Robinson in the Men’s in what were two dramatic races. DCU
combined well to win both team titles while NUIG took bronze team medals in the
Men’s event, and fourth in the Ladies.

In the Ladies
race, Emma O’Brien took control of the race early on and never took her foot
off the pedal, running hard all the way to claim a very impressive victory,
ahead of Avril Deegan also of DCU in second and the fast finishing Nadia Power
in third. Power pipped long time third Sorcha McAllister and Cliona Murphy of
Trinity in an exciting duel for the bronze medal.  Caron Ryan of Trinity was first Galway lady
home in eighth place with Aoife O’Brien first scorer for NUI Galway in a great
14th place. NUI Galway’s other scorers were Rhona Pierce, Orna Murray and Niamh
Hennelly with NUIG Ladies placing fourth team overall.

The Men’s race
was a much tighter affair, with a great battle for the title between Paul
Robinson, of DCU, Damien Landers of NUI Galway and UCD’s Paul O’Donnell, which
had the large attendance enthralled for the duration of the testing 8km race.
The lead group of three broke away on the second lap, and from then on each of
the trio tried to get away at various points on the classic St Mary’s circuit, It
was only on the last lap that O’Donnell fell off the pace, and Landers then
tried to break away from Robinson on the fast front section, but the determined
DCU athlete hung on, and sprinted away in the home straight for a well-earned
victory.

Damien Landers of the host college was slightly disappointed with second, a sign of the talented athlete’s desire and huge talent, and he surely has a great few years ahead of him. O'Donnell held on well for the bronze medal for UCD.  NUIG Men’s team, via scorers Landers, Donal Devane, Andrew O Donnghaile, Finley Daly, James Frizzell, and Jack Miskella combined well to secure bronze medals for the home team.

Ciaran Faherty Runs Superb Marathon In Tokyo

Congratulations
go out to Galway athlete Ciaran Faherty who ran a superb
2.18 marathon time in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday last. Now based in New Zealand, the
Spiddal native ran a great race in tough conditions to clock 2.18.49 for 40th
overall in what is one of the major marathons on the world circuit

Kinvara Rock and Road series of races

The Kinvara Rock and Road series of races took place on Saturday
last in wet and windy conditions in Kinvara, Co. Galway.

Laois athlete Colin
Maher of Ballyfin AC was first home in the 10k in a time of 33.08, ahead of
Louis McCarthy of Rathfarnham AC who clocked 33.48 and John McHugh third 36.40.

In the Ladies,
GCH athlete Sinéad Foran was the first woman home in the 10k in a time of 40:26,followed
by Tara Whyte, also of GCH, in second in 41:19 while third was Deirdre Galvin
of Westport AC in 41.28.

Kevin Mooney of
Craughwell AC continued his good form winning the half Marathon in a time 1.16.19,
just seven second ahead of David Murray of Tullamore Harriers with Westport’s
David Hickey third.

In the Ladies,
the podium spots went to Gráinne Uí Uallacháin of GCH in 1:27:20, Aine Kenny of
Crusaders in 1.30.13 and Elaine Walsh also of GCH in 1.31.

First home in
the Marathon was Kevin English in a good time of 2.42, ahead of Thomas Shanahan
of Limerick AC in 2.49 and Kerry’s Chris Grayson in 3.00.29 with first lady
home being Christine Kinsella of Brothers Pearse AC in 3 hours 25 minutes,
ahead of Deirdre Lynn and Paula Wright in second and third.

Fixtures

The All Ireland
Schools Cross Country championships take place next Saturday March 9th in
Clongowes College in Kildare. Galway will be well represented, with the likes
of Aaron Brennan of Claregalway, at Senior Boys level, Ailbhe Miskella in the
Senior Girls for Pres Athenry, Sean Cotter and Barry Murphy at Inter Boys,
Darragh Jennings in the Junior Boys for Carraroe, and Senan McDonnell of St
Joseph’s College in the Minor Boys l all aiming for top ten performances or better.

Indoors 

The National
Masters Indoors Championships will be held this Sunday 10th March in Athlone IT
with close to fifty Galway athletes competing including the likes of Jim
Phelan, Majella Loftus and Martin McEvilly of GCH, Mary Barrett of Loughrea,
Justin Lane of Tuam AC, and Ian Egan of Castlegar all likely to be in medal
contention.