Letterkenny AC’s Ruairi Finnegan was the star performer at Saturdays Donegal Track and Field Championships held in Lifford. In his first race back on the track after a six month lay off through injury, Finnegan ran an excellent 3.50.34 in the 1500m, inside the B standard for the forthcoming European Juniors to be held in Italy in July. The leaving cert student has certainly set down a mark for the season with much more to come.

This was the first Donegal Championships held at the Lifford venue for over 15 years. With a new Mondo track in Lifford, the same as the fast track at last years London Olympics, quick times were expected. Prior to Finnegans European standard, City of Derry’s Conor Bradley ran an impressive 1.53.48 in the 800m. Lifford AC’s Ann Marie McGlynn won the Senior 1500m in 4.30.76, with Galway City Harrier athlete Alanna Lally blazing a trail in the 400m with a 57.68s run. Other impressive performances on the day included Rosses athlete Derek Gillespie taking the senior high jump with a leap of 1.80m and Finn Valleys John Kelly throwing the shot out to 17.35m. Veterans of Donegal Championships Hugh Gallagher from Milford and Killybegs native Bernie O’Callaghan collected golds in the shot and 1500m walk respectively.

A juvenile programme from U12 upwards also saw a number of fine performances from Donegal athletes. The Black twins from Cranford collected medals in the sprints, distance and long jump, Lifford AC’s Charlie McElwaine pipped Letterkenny’s Ben Carr in the U14 1500m, one of the races of the day, while Finn Valley’s Lauren Callaghan and Janine Boyle claimed gold both in the sprint and long jump.

All in all, this was a fine days athletics to bring down the curtain on the Donegal Championships for 2013. With over 200 athletes mid week in Letterkenny and nearly 150 athletes in Lifford on Saturday, this was a very successful Donegal Championships in 2013. A big thank you to all the officials that ensured the full programme ran off successfully and on time. Thanks to Paul and Georgina Drumm for their expertise in bringing electronic timing to Donegal yet again. Thanks to all the clubs and athletes both within Donegal and further afield who turned out to support the Championships.

RESULTS

Provisional results of today's championships are attached here.

A big thank you to everyone who helped out on the day and to the sponsors Avaya. It was good to see so many clubs there, in particular Corrib AC who I think were participating in this event for the first time.

And a big well done to the Craughwell athletes who had a marvellous day. There were many many highlights and I will get a report up together with photographs as soon as possible.

 

Dublin City’s O’Connell Street was transformed into a mini-athletics stadium this afternoon to help promote a unique fun-filled family sporting event.

Dublin City Council, together with Athletics Ireland, put on a series of fantastic athletics challenges for all the family in the shape of ‘Street Athletics’, but particularly aimed at children from the age of 6 upwards with the goal of encouraging and inspiring them to continue their sporting endeavours into the future, while have staying active and having real fun with it.

Dublin City’s Lord Mayor Naoise Ó Muirí was delighted with the turn-out and welcomed hundreds of families from near and far to the event.

Along with Athletics Ireland officials, parents and supporters, the Lord Mayor and Mayoress, both keen runners themselves, encouraged all the children on the day to push themselves in the series of varied athletic challenges on offer on O’Connell street, including ‘Speed Bounce’, ‘Standing Long Jump’, and a particular favourite, ‘Speed Gates’, where children had their best sprint efforts over 25 metres electronically timed, while family and friends cheered on outside the historic setting of the GPO.

The atmosphere was aided on the day by the clement weather, the 98FM Big Red Thunder Bus and the fact that O’Connell Street was closed to traffic for the afternoon which really let he children and their parents and friends relax and get stuck into some real active games and challenges.

Joining the young kids on the day to help inspire and cheer them on were one Ireland’s former great race-walking champions Olive Loughnane (Loughrea AC), and Siobhan Eviston (Raheny AC), one of our best up and coming 800m athletes. Both were really impressed with drive and the sheer fun-factor on display from the young challengers!

The main event of the day was the Lord Mayor’s Mile at 4pm which was open to all who fancied a dash on Ireland’s most famous thoroughfare. A sizeable crowd towed the line and ran up, down and around the broad street with gusto and passion, particularly the younger runners who enjoyed trying to outdo their parents and friends.

First across the line was Sligo’s Neal Higgins who broke the tape in a time of 5:53, followed closely behind by the first female finisher Rebecca McNulty of Bray who ran 5:58. McNulty was delighted to be able to run with her two children Noah (9) and Levi (5), who both received, like all runners on the day, a special medal to take home with them.

The real stars of the day however were the hundreds of children who ran, sprinted, jumped and threw themselves into the array of athletic challenges in the centre of O’Connell Street - the 2013 ‘Kids Street Athletics Challenge’ was without doubt a most capital event alright.

Laura Lynn was the focused Charity on the day.

Jane McKenna from Laura Lynn said “LauraLynn were delighted to be the chosen Charity for this event, especially with the lovely involvement of children. LauraLynn, Ireland’s first Children’s Hospice, is now bringing precious care and comfort to sick little ones and their families. A million thanks to all who supported us today, and thank you with to the Lord Mayor and Athletics Ireland and all who took part in this wonderful event”.

Most athletes born in 1997 or 1998 who believe that they will perform inside the guideline standards have submitted an ADC form already, however,

If there is any Youth Athlete (born 1997 or 1998 ONLY) that believes that they will achieve better than the Guideline Standard for the European Youth Olympic Festival 2013 and who has NOT yet submitted an ADC form to the Olympic Council, this must be done immediately by clicking on the link below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDNfaTdPa3hjOEc0QXlHYjV4ZjFPUEE6MA

On submission of this form, the athlete is asked to also send an email to:

jacqui@athleticsireland.ie stating your name, date of birth, club, your contact email, Event, Season’s best and your Coach’s name and contact details.

If an athlete achieves a performance inside the guideline standards and has not submitted an ADC by the end of this week (May 12th) they cannot be considered for selection as they will not be permitted by the LOC of the competition to compete.

Glenties was the venue today Friday for the first regional Q meet of the 2013 Donegal primary schools athletics at St Columbas Glenties. Despite miserable conditions throughout a full programme was delivered with 200 plus children from the Glenties /Portnoo/Ardara /Killybegs area in action. Further Q meets are organised for Buncrana, Finn Valley ( 2 days ) and the Rosses next week with the finals At Finn Valley Centre on May 29th 10.30 am start.

A new event added to the programme this year is a boys and girls wheelchair 100m which project director Patsy Mc Gonagle has welcomed and hopes to develope further in future years . As with every event such as this a huge shout out goes to the volunteers that organised, the teachers and parents, and on this particular occassion the Principal and staff of the Comprehensive Schol whose welcome was really appreciated .

Once next week is done and dusted its full steam ahead to May 29th . Further details if required from Patsy 0872226112 or email patsymcgonagle@hotmail.com . Its anticipated that in excess of 90 schools county wide will engage this year .

primary-schools-athletics-at-glenties

Avaya Galway Track & Field Championships: U9-11 Ages Groups will be held in Dangan on Sunday 12th May 2013 @ 12.30pm

All details on the timetable attached below

Note: There is NO training in Dangan for U11's on Sunday 12th.
And there will be NO training for Juveniles on Sunday 19th as the Ayaya Galway under 12-19 T&F is being held in Dangan on this date also.

Craughwell ICA ladies are holding their 2nd annual charity 5k walk/run in aid of NBCRI (Breast Cancer Research) this Sunday May 12th. Registration will take place at 2.30pm in St. Michael's Hall, Craughwell and the walk/run will start at 3pm. Why not bring the family and enjoy a lovely 5k walk in aid of a great charity. All donations are welcome on the day. *Please note this is not measured and there is no official timing or results*.

It was great to see over 150 of the next generation of young athletes out competing on a lovely warm evening at the Finn Valley Centre. From a sprint to a distance race or long jumping to the recently introduced Turbo Javelin, there was plenty on offer for everyone. Whether a child was first or last, each and every one was cheered home by supportive parents and coaches when the most important thing at these ages is that children are participating in and enjoying sport.

Many thanks to all who made the event possible.

RESULTS
Next up in a busy athletics calendar is Day 2 of the Donegal Track and Field Championships for Juveniles, Seniors and Masters which will be held in Lifford this Saturday 11th May with a 12pm start.

I counted over 50 Craughwell Ac athletes line out for the 2nd leg of the Galway 5k series in Claregalway last Tuesday evening. Johnny Lane was the first Cruaghwell man over the finish line in a time of 17.00 on the button followed by Niall Callanan and Barry Phelan.  Anne Moran was the first Craughwell lady home in a time of 22.14 followed by Treasa Gannon and Niamh Flavin.  Again it was great to see so many Craughwell AC members out

Craughwell's order of Malta are holding a table quiz in Cawley's Lounge Craughwell this Friday night 10th May at 9pm.  Entry fee is just €5 per person. All are welcome to support

Colaiste Einde, Threadneedle Rd, will host a 4×1 mile relays for the 3rd year at 7.30pm on 23rd May.
The event will be held at the school grounds on a mixed terrain with each athlete completes 1 mile of the course then hands over to their teammate.
Teams can be all male, female or mixed and distance is short enough that you should be able to find lots of capable friends or colleagues.
So why not encourage your work mates and colleagues to get involved and run a mile……………

Prizes for the fastest
- Work place team
- First team overall
- First mixed team (at least two women)

read more

The Great Limerick Run took place last Sunday May 5th 2013.

Congrats to Sinead Brody in the Half Marathon, wearing her GCH singlet for the first time came 6th in the ladies Half Marathon race in 1:32:32. And well done Donal Gill who also represented Friends of A on the day in 1.45.08 and new PB for Donal! Also running was Aoife Flanagan (2:04:37), Aisling McQuade (2:04:37), Audrey Flynn (2:12:29) and Ger Naughton (2:15:12).

read more

The European Race Walking Cup is due to be take place on the 19th of May in Dudince, Slovakia. Athletics Ireland are sending team of seven walkers to the event.

Robert Heffernan (Togher AC ), who placed fourth in the 2012 Olympics, will be looking to better his season’s best time of 1:21:59 which he set down earlier this year in the 20km walk in Lugano, Switzerland.

Cian McManamon (Westport AC), recorded 1:27:35 at the same event and will be hoping to get that little bit closer to the Athletics Ireland World Championships A performance standard of 1:22:30. Olympian Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny AC) achieved the B standard for the 2013 World Championships earlier in April, which sets him up nicely to deliver a good performance in the European Cup.

Micheal Doyle (Tara AC) will be the sole Irish competitor in the Senior men’s 50km walk. Evan Lynch and Luke Hickey (Leevale AC) will both be taking part in the Junior men’s 10km race. Hickey recently achieved a time of 43:52 for the 10km walk - a huge improvement on his previous best of 46:31. This time was also well inside the standard of 44:30 for the European Junior championships in Italy in July.

Olympian Laura Reynolds (Mohill AC) will be the only woman competing on the team and will be racing in the Senior women’s 20km walk.

EVENT

NAMES

COACH

CLUB

20km Senior (M)

Robert Heffernan

Togher AC

20km Senior (M)

Brendan Boyce

Robert Heffernan

Letterkenny AC

20km Senior (M)

Cian McManamon

Micheal Doyle

Westport AC

50km Senior (M)

Micheal Doyle

Daniel Jacinto Garzon

Tara AC

10km Junior (M)

Evan Lynch

Frank Lynch

Clonmel AC

10km Junior (M)

Luke Hickey

Robert Heffernan

Leevale AC

20km Senior (W)

Laura Reynolds

Colin Griffin

Mohill AC

The provisional timetable for next Sunday's track and field is attached here.

Best of luck to the large number of Craughwell AC athletes who will be taking part!

The 2nd leg of the Galway 5K Series was held last night, Tuesday 7th May in Claregalway with 64 participants taking part from the Galway City Harriers.

Congrats to Billy King who came 2nd in the Men’s Race in 16:57 and Regina Casey of GCH who was the 1st lady home in 18:48

A list of all the GCH participants is attached below and for full results go to http://www.redtagtiming.com/

The Galway 5K Series kicked off last week on Tuesday 30th April in Athenry.

Galway City Harriers have 85 participants registered for the race and of that 76 took part in the Athenry Leg.
With the new fast course, there were new lots of new PB’s to kick start the series.

Congrats to Owen Byre of GCH who came 1st in the Men’s Race in 16:34 and Billy King of GCH who followed closely in 3rd in 16:43.

A list of all the GCH participants is attached below and for full results go to http://www.redtagtiming.com/

The Roscommon Track and Field Championships are all set for Saturday the 11th May on the AIT track.

Due to the excellent facilities available to AAI Roscommon, all events can be offered to the athletes competing and with the exception of the pole vault, all events will have a competition. There is no Roscommon athlete , at present, training for the pole vault but that will change for 2014.

The competition will start at 11.0 am with entries closing Wed the 8th May.

North Roscommon AC will act as host for the championships on behalf of the county board and will also manage and publish the results. A fantastic day of competition is envisaged.

The Western Regional Track and Field competitions are also being held in Athlone this year with the team events on the 8th June and the individual track and field competition on the 16th June. Two great days of competition are expected.

St. Ronans Athletic Club based in the south of the county of Roscommon have also published details of their new website. The website will be the major source of information for the club and will also publish details of all forthcoming local, county and regional events. All members , past and present , are welcome to contribute to the site: www.ronans.ac

Notice:  Juvenile Track and Field Championships Please note change of Order

Day 3  Saturday 20th July  Inter Club and County Relays    
Day 4  Sunday 21st July Day 3 programme of competition

This change is due to Schools International being held in Ireland this year and accommodating athletes who wish to compete in both.

Athletics Ireland is delighted to announce details of our next Level 2 Coach Education course:

This course is open to all Athletics Ireland registered coaches who have attained Level 1 coaching qualification and have coached at that level for at least one year.

•The course will be three weekends in duration.
•The first weekend will be a ‘generic’ theory weekend.
•The second and third weekends will be event specific.
•Coaches must attend all three weekends and pass both written and practical assessments in order to be certified as a Level 2 Coach in an event area (e.g. Level 2 Jumps/ Level 2 Throws etc.)

Full Details and Dates for 2012/2013 Level 2 Course and on-line registration can be found here

Over 200 juvenile, senior and masters athletes turned out for an entertaining evening of competition with a wide and varied programme of events on offer. Among the highlights of the evening was the 3,000m where Foyle Valley’s Keith Shiels dipped under 9 minutes to take the senior title. Inishowens Pauric McKinney took the Masters tile with Lifford Ann Marie McGlynn taking the Senior Womens title.

In the 200m, Aaron Carlyle was the winner in 23.66s, while Tír Chonaill’s Kate McGowan just fell short in her attempt to qualify for the EYOF 100m Hurdles. Tir Chonaill’s Mary McLoone had a fine 5.70m jump in the Senior Long Jump event while Finn Valleys John Kelly followed up his recent World Junior qualification with a fine throw of 17.91m. Strabane’s Daniel Mullen had a fine throw of 55.75m to take the Senior Mens Javelin title.

Thanks to the Letterkenny club for hosting the event, to Paul and Georgina Drumm for their expertise on the electronic timing and to all the officials without whose help the programme of events could not have been run. Day 2 will move to the new Lifford track on Saturday next 11th May with a 12pm start.

The next event up on the calendar is the Donegal Childrens Games for U9 to U11 which will take place at the Finn Valley Centre on Tuesday the 7th with a 6.30pm start.

RESULTS