The curtain fell on a long juvenile campaign this weekend with the third day of the National Juvenile Track and Field in Tullamore.  Athenry AC had just three competitors this weekend and all came away with massive smiles and even bigger PB's

Calum Healy:

Calum has had a fair run of misfortune over the past few years, and after pulling up very heavily as he crossed the line in the Connacht Championship  250m Hurdles race it looked yet again as if fate had dealt him a cruel blow, but Calum showed true strength of character and body to bounce back.  The amount of work this young man has put into training recently is unreal and his hunger for a medal was growing daily.  In the Connachts, Calum crossed the line in 37.20s and in the qualifying heats of the National final he clocked 36.44, taking almost a second off his PB.  Lining up next to eventual winner Harry Nevin on the start line, Calum rocketed down the finish straight to take the silver medal in a time of 35.30, taking another second off his PB.  What this meant to Calum was evident after the race and you can rest assured that the medal will have pride of place for time to come.  Calum has one final outing this year in the Community Games hurdles and we wish him luck.

Sarah Gilhooley: 

Sarah, like Calum has had a few mixed years, but this year has started to make some real progress and start to move back to the front of the races where she deservedly belongs.  Last week Sarah took Gold in the steeplechase which was testament to her hard work, and although there was no medal this weekend her performance in the 1500m was an equal testament to her dedication and perseverance in the sport.  For the first time Sarah dropped below the 5 min barrier for 1500m, clocking 4:59.53 and a 7 second PB. Sarah has plenty more to give and the prospect of two solid years at senior level in schools competition make Sarah a name to be watched.

Liam Shaw:

Four months ago, Liam had never thrown a discus, but his stature and over 7 foot 'wingspan' (his finger tip to finger tip measurement with arms outstretched) give him the physical attributes to do well in this discipline.  Going into the National finals, Liam was ranked third on provincial qualification mark.  In his first throw he set a mark of 39.12m, a PB by over 7m and a mark in excess of that which has won 16 out of the last 18 years discus competitions.  Liam extended that lead to 39.29m in the third round and then carried that lead into the 4th round, where the in-form Karlis Kaugars (Dunleer AC) put a disc out to 42.15m.  Liam responded to take a disc out past the 45m mark (third longest throw in over 20 years of U14 competition) only to see the red flag raised for a minor foot infringement on the front of the circle (rules is rules).  The final round saw no further progression from either Karlis or Liam and another National medal for Liam to bring his seasons total to 1x Gold, 2x Silver and 1x Bronze (a good haul by any measure).  With the Community Games 4x100m and Shot Put finals still to go, there is still more opportunity to increase this years tally.

Athenry AC are really proud to see our athletes on the podium in National competitions, for the few athletes we have enter these competitions, the return is very high.  However medals are not the only thing we value in the Juvenile section, we would like to acknowledge and applaud the commitment of every single one of our juveniles during this year and we very much look forward to seeing you after the summer when we head into a very busy schools combined event and cross country season, may the exploits of our merry band of high achievers give you inspiration in your own athletics pursuits

Iain Shaw, Athenry AC (Juvenile section)

Athenry AC took a small team to Day 1 and 2 of the National Juvenile Championships and came away with a couple of medals.  On the track, Calum Healy (U15), Liam Shaw (U14) and Aoibhe Deely (U17) went over the short hurdles with both Calum and Aoibhe progressing to the final.  Aoibhe put in a superb qualifying performance winning her heat and obviously putting some doubts into her opponents.  Calum qualified as a fastest loser in what was a very high calibre heat.  Both of these young hurdlers finished a very respectable 5th in their finals and shows definite progression in their hurdling careers.  Cian McNelis was our sole track representative on Day 1 that wasn't jumping over any sort of barrier and in a straight final for the U13 600m he came home 5th in a very tight race.  As Cians race was progressing, our sole field representative, Liam Shaw was out plying his trade in the shot put circle.  Unfortunately Liam was not able to reproduce his indoor placing from earlier this year, and threw a 40cm PB of 14.15m to come away with the silver.  This throw puts Liam into a very elite group of only 8 athletes who have thrown over 14 metres at this age group

Performance of the day for the club however came late on when Sarah Gilhooley, who has only recently made the move to Steeplechase put in a stellar performance to take the gold medal in the girls U18 event, beating her nearest rival by nearly 7 seconds.  Sarah certainly has been putting in the hard miles and has had to make regular trips to Athlone IT to use the steeplechase facilities there, and it certainly shows in the progression she has made.  Sarah now has an agonising wait to see if the National selection committee will select her for the Celtic Games to represent Ireland in the event.

Rounding off this weekends exploits was Aine O'Farrell who took on the U19 3000m event.  In what was a scrappy looking race, with the entire field spread out after just a few laps, Aine finished in 4th place behind some quality athletes such as Bandons Laura Nicholson who has represented Ireland both on track and in Cross Country.  Preparation for Aine coming into the race was not ideal being on holiday in France the day before and having to have a very long drive, a ferry crossing and then another drive across the country just to get to the track !! Aine now moves onto the national senior 5000m championships in 2 weeks time.

Results:

https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=140169

Photos:

https://www.facebook.com/clifdenLifeboat10k/

Race website:

http://www.clifden10k.com/

The ever so popular Portumna Forest marathon races were sold out early. Well done to all the Athenry AC members that took part including Myriam Shaughnessy (50k), Maeve Noone, Janet Clancy, Marie Coyne and PJ Tarpey (Half marathon).

Dante Aquino took first place in the full marathon. It was his second marathon in as many weeks having came fourth in Kinvara.

Great running also from Adam Leadbetter saw him take second place in the 50k ultra and earn a Boston qualifying time in the process. 

Full Results:

10k: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Portumna2018_10km.pdf

Half marathon: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Portumna2018_HalfMarathon.pdf

Full marathon: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Portumna2018_FullMarathon.pdf

50k: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Portumna2018_50km.pdf

100k: http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Portumna2018_100km.pdf

There were plenty of Athenry members taking part in the Kinvara races this year. Many did a fine job as pacers running at a steady pace throughout and encouraging and helping others along the way.

Sinead Foran came second in the 10k. Pat McDonagh came first in his age category for the 10k.

Jane Ann Meehan while pacing the Half Marathon was still first lady past the finish line.

Caroline Freeney came third in the marathon.

Event website:

https://www.rockandroad.ie/

Results available here:

https://www.sportsplits.com/m3/race?c=74&r=356

Photos available on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/rockandroad.ie/

Results attached from Galway County Day 2 Track & Field Results 31/05/18

Photos (Courtesy of John O'Connor):

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmkMeh3N

Results of the Mayfly 10k on Sunday May 20th 2018.

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/MayflyChallenge/

Photos:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmin2V4c

Really enjoyable night for Day 1 of T&F Championships and County League.

Results attached:

Wicklow Way Relay Report by Kenneth O'Hara.

After nearly two months of trash talk and banter the day finally arrived last Saturday for the biggest throw down event of the year as members went head to head in two teams as part of the Wicklow Way Relay. A 104km trail race with 3500ft of climbing across the Wicklow Mountains, it is the highlight of many runners year and this time it took on some extra significance with two teams entered for some additional friendly competition.

With the number of team entries limited to 35 only one official team is allowed per club. So on the day we had Athenry AC, comprising all club members, taking on the Lactic Lunatics which hosted one non-club member.

Athenry AC:

Brendan Galvin (Leg1), Colin Duane (Leg2), Frances Leahy (Leg3), Maeve Noone (Leg4), Aidan Madden (Leg5), Mark Mitchell (Leg6), Lyall Guiney (Leg7), Niall Lyons (Leg8).

Lactic Lunatics:

Frank Burke (Leg1), Kieran Walsh (Leg2), Stephen Troake (Leg3), Deirdre Brophy (Leg4), Kenneth O'Hara (Leg5), Aoife Callan (Leg6), Jim Leahy (Leg7), Fergal Walsh (Leg8).

With peoples fitness levels & confidence fluctuating on a surprising level in the run up to race day we were finding it hard to agree on who would win with people on both teams admitting to pre-race nerves for the first time in a while – there’s something about running in a team which gives the race a whole different feel to normal road racing.

If ever there were two trash talkers in the club it’s Brendan Galvin & Frank Burke so we had no choice to put them head to head. And after Frank’s amazing ability to get lost (which he proved to us so well during our recent training run in Wicklow) it was decided to put him in Leg 1 where he would have runners around him before the field spread out across the day. After what looked a very leisurely start by both men we wondered we’re they going to saunter around together and leave the racing to the later runners. But sure enough as the race progressed battle commenced.

Brendan made the first move & pulled away on the first climb circling around Kilmashogue Mountain. Never too far out of sight, Frank kept in touch and as they crested the second mountain by Prince Williams Seat he pulled level with Brendan, offering some ‘words of encouragement’ (for want of a better description) to Brendan. Brendan, sensing the effort put in by Frank to draw level, did indeed take encouragement from those words and took off again on the downhill and as they crisscrossed the switchbacks said he heard in the distance many more ‘words of encouragement’ from Frank behind him, spurring him on to finish in 1:12:12 with Frank a further 40 seconds behind.  

With such a small amount of time between the teams Kieran Walsh had a target in his sights setting off on Leg 2 and wasted no time settling into his stride. A tough and long leg with more climbing than any other, Kieran used it to his benefit as he passed Colin Duane early on and continued this trend, passing a further seven more teams as he powered to a 1:20:36 finish. On any other year Colin’s 1:26:29 would have ranked up there with one of our best runs on this leg but Kieran blitzed the course to break our record for that leg by four minutes & handing the lead to Lactic Lunatics.

Our single guest member, Stephen, took over from Kieran and with similar race times to Frances we expected a tight leg here but with a net downhill elevation on this route Stephen proved the more nimble descender and opened up big gap by the end. Even though Frances had a great run, improving four minutes on last year with a 47.38, Stephen ran a 40:36 to increase the Lunatics lead to around 12 minutes.

Leg four saw another debutant in the race as Deirdre Brophy took over from Stephen. Whilst on paper this leg was a mismatch with Deidre going up against Maeve, terrain & local knowledge can count for a lot. By her own admission, Deirdre will run uphill all day long but she’s not as comfortable on downhill & technical ground. She was also unable to get up to recce the route prior to race day so her first viewing of the course was during the race. Maeve on the other hand had ran this route on numerous occasions in race & training conditions.

Armed with some handwritten directional notes tied to her bag to guide her through the course Deirdre powered up  

the tough hilly two mile start and never looked back as she hit the rough stuff. Finishing in 54:00 and knocking another 10 minutes out of the Athenry AC team as Maeve came home in 64:37.

Next up was myself and Aidan. We left the leg 4 transition early to get to our starting area as we had a tough 4 mile climb to contend with and a good warm up was essential. Disaster struck though as two miles into our journey we met a double cattle trailer coming against the flow of traffic on the narrow country road. With nowhere to go it took nearly fifteen minutes to get by and in mild panic stations, as Aidan heads off on a warm up, I rush to get changed & ready to run. I arrive to the start line and manage less than 1km of a warm up when Deirdre arrives much earlier than expected. It’s great that we’re so far ahead but I know I’m going to suffer now once I hit the hills.

After the first flat mile we turn left to climb alongside the Poulanass Waterfall. It’s a steep climb with sections touching 30% gradients and I decide to power walk most of it to try and save my lungs. It’s tough going though & adrenaline alone tries to push me on faster. I get to the top of the first tough section and it flattens out a touch so that it’s more runnable but it’s still averaging 8 – 10% gradient with dirty little kickers up to 15%. The lack of a warm up is coming back to haunt me & my lungs are screaming. I’m reduced to a run / walk strategy very early on & dark thoughts start to creep in. At this stage I had nearly a further 3 miles of constant climbing before I crested Mullacor & could start the fast descent to Drumgoff. I guessed I had at least a 15min head start on Aidan but not knowing how Maeve was doing I didn’t know the full amount. I also knew that Aidan should gain at least five minutes on me even if I was at my best here. With the fact that I was struggling so early how much would he now pull back?

I try to push through, running as many of the gentler sections as possible but having to walk the steeper hills. After about three miles we hit a long open section between Derrybawn & Mullacor Mountains. I know it’s a fairly constant gradient here & I try to run it all but the pace is low & I get passed by three other teams in quick succession along this drag. It’s the only section of the course where you can see ahead for any long distance & I know if Aidan hits the start of that drag before I finish it that I’m giving him a big target to chase. I redline myself to the top to screen myself in the forest again & luckily I see no sign of him. The damage is done though & I’m goosed. I eventually get to the top of Mullacor & the timber boardwalks over the bog. These are easy underfoot & I like running them. I take a minute to recover & intend to blast the second half of the course which is all downhill. Unfortunately the recovery doesn’t come though. As hard as I’m pushing I can’t get air into my lungs and manage a fastest mile downhill of 7.20, over a full minute per mile off what I should be doing on the downhill sections. I arrive into Glenmalure Lodge disappointed but with no sign of Aidan behind me yet. I say to Frank that I reckon he’s put 8 or 9 minutes into me & sure enough, running a stormer, Aidan comes in soon enough after burying himself into the downhills, collapsing to the ground from his effort & indeed taking back 8 minutes for Athenry with a 1:04:20 ahead of my 1:12:20.

Next up was Aoife & Mark. With this leg reverting back to its original course for the first time in many years there was additional climbing compared to previous editions of the race. Both runners had recce’d it together in recent weeks though & knew what to expect. Another tough course with a lot of constant & steep climbs plus some very technical downhills, we knew Aoife would go well, being one of our strongest climbers in the club. Mark was an unknown though, at his peak he should put in a strong run but as he is only recently back from injury it was all to play for. On the day though Aoife prevailed running a 1.13.57, taking back 7 minutes for the Lunatics with Mark running a 1.21.05.

Sensing defeat creeping upon his team, Brendan started reverting to dirty tricks & it soon became apparent that Aoife had been reported for running an incorrect route & was given a 10 minute penalty. After some discussions with the marshal’s though we could prove via Aoife’s recorded distance on her watch that she had indeed ran the full route and we thankfully got the penalty removed. (Some people will try anything to win!)

So with two legs remaining the Lunatics held roughly a 20 minute lead. Insurmountable? Definitely not, as next up was Lyall Guiney for Athenry. Whilst Jim is no slouch, this is why the Lunatics were trying to bank as much time as possible early in the day. We reckoned there was going to be a minimum 10 minute swing here and with rumours circling that the Lunatics had received a 10 minute or maybe even 20 minute penalty for a parking violation the race was blown wide open.

At this stage it was midday on an absolutely scorcher of a day as they head out on the longest route of the race. At just over half marathon distance the course also held 610m of climbing. No easy job, never mind knowing that Lyall Guiney is hunting you down from behind! Nearly two hours later we wait in anticipation on the Wicklow / Carlow border to see who will appear from the wilderness first. With nearly 1.55 on the clock a weary looking Jim appears &  

tackles the last climb to finish his leg (never mind the distance he’d already run, the finish line is on top of a steep 200m climb). He hands over to Fergal Walsh & the countback begins.

Less than 5 minutes later and looking way too fresh for what he’d just put himself through Lyall arrives in after an amazing 1:36:45, clawing back 19 minutes for Athenry. Game on!

The last leg again on paper looked a mismatch with Fergal going up against Niall but with Fergal out injured for the previous month & Niall showing fast improving times over the 5k series we knew that the overall result could still be in the balance, especially if the rumoured time penalties came into play.

Both runners took off at a fast pace as we all jumped in our cars to head to the finish line. We knew Fergal should finish first but what would the advantage be. Would we clear the 10 minute barrier to allow for a time penalty? He duly appeared with a fast downhill sprint finish, gaining another overall position for the team as he rounded another runner in the last 20m to finish for a 41:55 & a total time for the Lunatics of 9 hours, 10 minutes & 25 seconds and 18th position. He also finished as 6th runner home on the day for that leg with notable runners ahead of him such as Olympian Linda Byrne.

We watch the clock as we wait for Niall, it creeps past the 10 minute barrier and the Lunatics begin to breathe a sigh of relief. Have they done enough? Niall powers through soon after for a 48:50 and a total time of 9 hours 22 minutes even and 20th position. The Lunatics take it by 12 minutes! Woo hoo.

The official results arrived & despite the many rumours circulating, no penalty materialised for the Lunatics (More of the dirty tricks campaign by Mr Chairman?) so the 12 minute win was confirmed. A great performance by both teams with some seriously impressive times across the day.

It really was a great day out & everybody who takes part in this event raves about it. The weather payed ball too this year which always adds to the event but even without it, the terrain, the location, the team aspect, the camaraderie and banter between teams all throughout the day make this event something special.

The added bonus of a second team of members this year also seems to have added a bit of extra impetus to proceedings as club records were broken on 7 of the 8 legs this year (It’ll be a while before Darragh McShane’s 55min record is broken on Leg 6).

I’ll leave the closing word to our Chairman who ended his speech in the pub afterwards with ‘Even though my team lost, I still feel victorious after beating Frank Burke……’

IMRA:

https://www.imra.ie/events/view/id/1619

Results:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/upeamgw515m2zwf/WWR2018_FullResults.xlsx?dl=0

The Athenry Leg of the 5K series will be taking place next Tuesday the 22nd of May at 20:00

Based on feedback from last year the start has been moved to the link road approximately 1.5km from the Train station. To get there go past last year’s start at the tennis courts (Raheen). At the link road junction take a right and continue on this road approx 300mtrs to the new start point. See map attached.

https://www.relive.cc/view/1521833944

Portable toilets will be located at the link road junction.

There is no parking at the start or at the Raheen Woods Hotel so please use parking facilities around the town making sure you do not block any roads, driveways or businesses.

Have fun and hopefully get a PB on the flat course!