Fabulous sunshine and fabulous running were the order of the day at the Craughwell 10 mile run on the Sunday of St Patrick's Day weekend.


Athenry AC came through with 66 competitors on the day, over a tenth of the entire field. We were rewarded with a gold medal for our women's team in the Co. Galway 10 mile championship, a silver for the men in same, and a silver medal among all comers for Jane Ann Healy (and of course a gold for her in the Galway champs).


Athenry had six teams competing, and club captain Tomás Mangan elected for a weather-themed naming, including Athenry Thunder, Athenry Lightening, Athenry Cyclones, and Athenry Sunshine. (He has promised to name the teams after desserts next time). A notable aspect of our competing was the many clumps of maroon-singleted runners giving each other support as they did the big loop. So we had Johnny O'Connor, Tony Killarney, and Peter Delmer finish 67, 68, and 69, with Adrian Fitzmaurice on 72. And a little further back came Kieran Guiry, James Lundon, and John Langan finishing 135, 136, 137 with Philip Magnier in 140. (Mind you when the finish line is in sight, it's each man or woman for themselves, but I ask you: was it really necessary for them to stick out their tongues at me as they passed?)


The day proved to be eventful for George Livanos. Having had to stop for a "Paula" (the cause was tracked to a drink called CherryActive concentrate), he was subsequently taunted by a dinky-skirted Deirdre Hassett to try to outsprint her at the end. George surprised himself by doing so, gaining several yards by imagining he was running against his wife ;-)


This race has now established itself as one of the gems of Springtime Connacht running. The course is one of my personal favourites, and great credit is due to the Craughwell club for establishing this race so well in three short years.

Thanks to Iain Shaw for taking photos, including the one above.

UPDATE: As per second link below, in addition to the aforementioned medal winners, we had Mick Rice win gold at M40 in the Co. Galway champs, Tony Killarney win gold at M50, and Deirdre Quinn win silver in the Senior Women category. Congratulations to all.

A note from Deirdre Quinn:


There were a number of the Athenry F4L crew who completed their first 10k at Christmas time at our very own Fields of Athenry, so the next challenge on the to-do list was the Craughwell 10.  After a number of weeks of hard training, led by Jane Mangan and Sinead Reilly, it was a joy to see them one-by-one cross the finish line in Craughwell on Sunday.  Onward and upwards girls to your next challenge in May: your first Half marathon. Congrats to Darina Keating, Caroline Mitchell, Aura Lounasmaa, Marie Finn, Yvonne Dowling, Sheila Kelly, Niamh Butler, Francis Leahy and Mairead Blake.


Full results at http://www.redtagtiming.com/results/Craughwell_10Mile_2012.pdf.


The placings, overall and those of the County Galway championships, are (or will be) at http://www.craughwellac.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=964&Itemid=70.