Athletics in Athenry back in Internet dark ages of late 1995:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~oreganathenry/oreganathenry/athenryjournal/alethicsinathenryparish.html

Athletics in Athenry Parish -



1995 - D. McNamara

The sport of athletics is very much a minority sport in



Ireland today and Athenry is no exception in this regard.

However, the sport does promote physical fitness and



offers a non-contact activity with equal opportunities for



both male and female participants. A commitment to



training and achievement of a basic level of physical



fitness is the key to enjoying satisfactory participation



in the sport, particularly at a time when there are so



many negative counter attractions available to the youth



of today.

There are two organisations which promote the sport of



athletics in Athenry parish at the present time: the



Athenry Community Games Committee and the Athenry



Athletics club.

Athenry Community Games

The committee of Athenry Community Games organises the



annual Parish Sports in the month of May. Community Games



offer a limited range of athletic, track and field events



to boys and girls from under 8 to under 17, with each



group participating in a set number of events. For



example, under 10 athletes compete in 100m and 200m, under



12 athletes have 100m, 600m and 4 x 100m relay, under 16



athletes compete in lO0m, 1500m and high jump. Athletes



progress from the Parish Sports to the County Games with



one athlete eligible to compete in each event. The winners



of the County Games held over two days in July qualify to



compete in the National Finals in Mosney on the first



Sunday in September each year.

Community Games also organise a Cross Country Competition



for boys and girls with the first five boys and first five



girls in the County Championships going forward to compete



in a National Final in Mosney in May each year.

The present officers of the Athenry Community



Games are as follows:

Chairman, Walter Burke;



Secretary, Breda Kelly;



Treasurer, Jimmy Somers;



PRO, Eileen Lyons;

Tom Page, who trains and coaches the Athenry athletes,



also holds the position of Community Development Officer



with Galway Community Games.

Athenry Athletic Club

Athenry has a long association with the sport of



athletics. In the sixties there were two adult clubs



located in the parish, Athenry De Wetts and the famed



Derrydonnell A.C.

In late 1989, Marion Freeney and Pat Melia were



instrumental in starting the present club. From small



beginnings the club has grown to be one of the leading



clubs in the entire western region. The club is affiliated



to BLOE, which is the juvenile branch of BLE, the National



Athletics body affiliated to the International Amateur



Athletics. To enable it to compete effectively with the



bigger clubs in the region and to offer some challenge to



the big clubs nationally, e.g. D.S.D, Leevale, M.S.B.,



etc., the club has to recruit athletes from outside the



parish.

Present membership is drawn mainly from the Newcastle and



Derrydonnell areas of Athenry plus Oranmore, Renmore and



the Aran Islands.

The present officers of the club are:

Chairman, Tommy Quinn;



Secretary, Dermot McNamara;



Treasurer, Marion Freeney;



Sprint Coach, Mary Kelly;



Middle Distance Coach, Tom Page;



Hurdles Coach, Dermot McNamara;

Committee: Bernie McCarthy, Oranmore; Jarlath Fahy,



Tiaquin; Martin O’Donnell, Aran Islands; Tom Page,



Derrydonnell; Dermot McNamara, Athenry; Mary Kelly,



Renmore. Dermot McNamara also acts as PRO for the Galway



County Board of BLOE.

The season for competition in BLOE is broken down a



follows:

September to December — Cross Country; January to March -



Indoor Championships; April to July - Field and Track



Athletics.

All three branches of the sport are organised at County,



Regional and All-Ireland level. Qualification for the



A1l—Ireland is from the Regional Championships. In



addition, Galway County Board organises a track and field



Inter—Club League in June and July each year. In 1995



Athenry Athletic Club were runners up in this competition



to Galway City Harriers.

Co-operation - The Key to Success

In a small community it is vital that duplication of



expenditure is avoided and that resources, where possible,



should be shared by different bodies with similar



objectives. For this reason there has always been close



co-operation between

Athenry Athletics Club and Athenry Community Games, with



the end result being the advancement of both



organisations. A special word of thanks is due to Tom Page



for his all-year—round commitment to coaching the



athletes.

Having conducted two or three training sessions weekly



plus weekend competitions for BLOE from September to July,



Tom then devotes the month of August to preparing the



local Athletes who have qualified for the National



Community Games in Mosney. This year most of this



preparation was done at the Regional Sports Centre in



Dangan, Galway, on the new synthetic track. Athletes from



Athenry, Craughwell, Monivea, Oranmore, Westside and



Renmore, all working under a variety of officials from



various areas, with each discipline grouped together.

Another example of co-operation was the recent staging of



the County Cross-Country County Championships in Raheen.



The field was provided by kind permission of Kathleen



Bane. Gerry McNamara, Tommy Quinn and Jimmy Fahy found



time to make over 100 flags for marking the course. Edddie



Fox cut the grass. Various clubs made their changing



facilities in Raheen available plus the room upstairs



available for the medal presentations.

Fund Raising

Being a minority sport there is little revenue, so all



monies for necessary expenditure must be raised through



some form of fund-raising. The main expenditure is sending



athletes to compete in Mosney and this is raised through



local churchgate collections.

The budget for Athenry BLOE Club would run to over £5,000



per annum at present. This was raised through: churchgate



collection, £800; bag packing at Super Value, Eyre Square,



£2,400; BLOE club draw, £500; plus member’s contributions



towards transport £l,300. The club wishes to thank the



people of Athenry for supporting the churchgate



collection, the management of Super Value and all who



supported the BLOE club draw. A most sincere thank you is



due to Mary Kelly for organising the bag packing at Super



Value and also to Martin Somers, who was always available



to transport athletes to the regional sports centre for



the weekly training sessions and to various locations for



competitions during the summer.



Roll of Honour –

Community Games

The following have qualified from Athenry since 1990 to



represent Galway in the National Finals in Mosney:

Paul McNamara



Conor McNamara



Martina Finnerty



Margaret Finnerty



Margaret Page,



Nicola Nally,



Padraic Ward



Stephen Kelly



William Donellan



Jarlath Fahy



Michael O’Grady,



Niall O’Brien



Paul Hession,



Damien Rooney,



Joseph Hynes



Claire McNamara



Joanne Page



Aileen McNamara



Tomas Kelly,



Sharon Fahy



Eimear McNamara



Cormac Brady

Ian Prendergast.

Sharon Kelly won an All-Ireland medal with the Galway



Marathon team in 1995

BLOE

The following members of Athenry Athletics Club won



All-Ireland medals in

Cross-Country, Indoor and Track & Field:

Paul McNamara, Margaret Page, Nicola Nally, Claire



Morrissey, Elaine Kelly,

Breda O’Donnell, Martina Finnerty, Martina Coffey, Jarlath



Fahy, Sharon Fahy, Martina McCarthy, and Conor McNamara.

D. McNamara for the Athenry Journal November 1995.