Who'd a thunk it? We're four weeks into the Galway 5km series now and there's been a lot of running done. Our long sequence of dry races is history, but the series has been more successful than ever before with larger numbers completing each race than in any other year. Although this series of races is designed to encourage participation above all else, there have been some high quality performances in the races so far and Athenry athletes have been right up there each Tuesday.

From an Athenry AC perspactive perhaps the star performer has been Conor Dolan, who has raced each night and has improved significantly from last season. His times of 17:04 (Athenry), 16:51 (Tuam), 16:39 (Craughwell) and 16:46 (Claregalway) are of the highest quality. For both consistency and quality, Conor's performances in this year's series are hard to beat from an Athenry perspective. It's also clear that Conor's confidence is growing from race to race and I'm sure there's further improvement to come before the season is out.

In similar vein it has been fantastic to see Brian O'Connor right up there at the front of races in his Athenry singlet. We all know that Brian is one of the most talented road runners in Galway, but it's a little while since he has produced such good quality performances. Brian's schedule has only allowed him to compete in two of the series races so far but he has returned 16:24 and 16:39 in those two which a strong indication of his good current form.

Others to shine in the series thus far have been Adrian Fitzmaurice, Eimear Butler, Jane Anne Healy, Peadar Nugent and Maurice Clarke. I've probably missed others who have been in great form so please forgive me if I have. 

Extracted details of all of the Athenry runners attached courtesy of the aforementionned Adrian Fitzmaurice... 

Peadar Nugent