Irish
Schools Track and Field Juvenile Championships
The All Ireland Schools Track and Field Championships were
held on Saturday last June 1st in Tullamore, and there was great success for many
Galway athletes, including two gold medal wins in what is a hugely competitive event.
Liam Shaw of Presentation College Athenry impressed in
the Minor Boys, as he won the Shot Putt title by a huge margin, and set a new Irish
Schools record of 16metres 52cm.
Christian Ogbemudia of Merlin College Irish Schools was
another who struck gold, winning the Minor Boys 100m in a flying 11.90 seconds.
Robert McDonnell of Colaiste Na Coiribe in the city
won silver over 200m in the Senior Boys event and set a second European Youth
Olympics qualifying time in the process. McDonnell clocked a swift 21.77
seconds for 200m to finish just behind winner Aaron Sexton. The talented GCH
athlete also took a second medal later, winning bronze in the 400m.
There were further medal wins for Galway schools via
Carraroe athlete Daragh Jennings who won silver in the Junior Boys’ Discus,
Calum Healy of Presentation Athenry claimed silver in the Junior boys 80m Hurdles
and Aoife Deeley of St. Killians College New Inn, who secured bronze in the
Intermediate girls 80m Hurdles.
Merlin College had further sprint success with a
bronze medal team win in 4 x 100m Minor Boys event, a product of the excellent
work put in by the school in recent years.
Galway 5km
Series
The 2019 Galway 5km Series continued Tuesday last in Tuam,
with over 650 athletes finishing the fifth race of the series on a brand new
and fast course. Ross McGuinness of Craughwell AC was first athlete home in a
time of 16.45, to take his first win of the series. Local athlete Sean Burke of
Tuam AC came home next in a solid 16.56, with Ed Maher placing third in 17.02
First lady home was Regina Casey of GCH in time of 17.51,
again winning her second race of the series. Grainne Ni Uallachain came home
second for GCH in 18.07 and Edel Kelly of Athenry AC came in third. Shauna
Bocquet of Craughwell AC was first wheelchair athlete again in a fast time of
15.58
The final leg of the series is this Tuesday with GCH
hosting the grand finale in Kilcornan Estate in Clarenbridge on June 4th at 8pm
Galway Senior, Masters and Junior Track and Field
Championships
Day two of The Galway Senior, Masters and Junior Track
and Field Championships was held last Thursday May 30th with another full
programme of events
Jack Dempsey of GCH took the Senior Men’s 200m title,
with Jim Phelan also of GCH winning gold in the Masters. Sarah Quinn of NUI Galway
was the fastest lady over 200m, with Masters Gold going to GCH star Majella Loftus.
Brendan Lynch of Loughrea AC took gold in the
gruelling Men’s 400 hurdles event.
Keith Fallon of GCH impressed as he clocked 1.57 to win the
David Carter stormed to victory with a powerful display of front running to take the Men’s 5000m crown in 16.18 ahead of John Whiriskey of South Galway AC and GCH'S Gerry Carty. Regina Casey of GCH was equally impressive in claiming gold in the Ladies 3000m in 10.13
Michael Breathnach of GCH won the Senior Men’s Discus
and Weight throws competition with Sarah Finnegan winning the Senior Discus in the
Ladies. Mary Barrett of Loughrea AC struck gold claiming the Masters Discus title
and Leonie Hegarty of Tuam AC won the Ladies Weight for distance. Tommy
Farragher won O65 Gold in both of the throws.
Jerry Keary and Ellie Cronin, both of Craughwell AC
won the High Jump titles, with Daniel Callanan Forde of Loughrea and Leanagh
Gilligan of Craughwell taking the Triple Jump titles at Junior level and Craughwell’s Sarah Finnegan and Shane Rourke of Tuam
winning Senior gold.
Craughwell AC teams made it a clean sweep in the
Relays, winning all four events over 4x100m and 4x400m in men’s and Womens competitions,
The final night of events will be held in Dangan this Thursday,
the 6th June will see the 10000m, mile, plus two sprints events on the track over 300m.
Entry is 5 euro with entries in advance via clubs and some limited availability on the night from 6.30 pm. Guests are most welcome if with AAI registered clubs.
Connacht Juvenile Track and Field Championships
The Connacht Juvenile Track and Field Championships
take place next Saturday in Dangan, at the Regional Sports Centre track. The
vents will see the U9 to 11 pairs competitions, and the U12 and U 13 individual
events.
Day two of the Connacht championships will be held on
Saturday 15th June in Sligo IT
Tribal Games Castlegar
The annual Tribal Games track and field event hosted
by Castlegar AC were held Saturday, 1st June last on a pristine grass track in
Merlin Woods Park, Doughiska. A huge attendance took part in the programme
which featured children’s sprints, and
distance races, Shot, Javelin, and Long Jump, for U8s to U16 age groups
Exciting races were held late in the evening with some
top-class action in the adult events.
On the track, Jack Dempsey of GCH won the Men’s 100m while Paul Byrne of St
In the main events of the evening, Regina Casey gave
an impressive display of front running in winning the Ladies Mile in 5.24 with
a great race in the Men’s seeing Shane Fitzsimons of Mullingar Harriers holding
off a top-class field to claim victory in 4.33 ahead of Damien Landers of Ennis
Track and Jamie Crowe of Lamar, USA. Aoife
O’Brien and Rory Chesser were most impressive winners in the 2000m steeplechase
events.
Damien Landers of Ennis Track won the Castlegar 5k
held Sunday June 2nd at Galway Racecourse. Landers clocked 15.30 in a gale
force wind, just ahead of visitor Jamie Crowe and third home Kevin Chesser of
Ennis Track AC. Sinead Foran of GCH was first lady in 19.22, with Edel Kelly of
Athenry AC second and Sinead King third
Fixtures
The annual Portumna Forest 10k, Half Marathon, Full
Marathon, 50k and 100k series of races take place next weekend, Saturday, 8 the
June form 7 am. Races will be held in Portumna Forest Park.
