National League Final
The final weekend of the National Track and Field League was held in Tullamore, with great success for Galway County Teams and a strong GCH men’s team result. The Galway Men’s Team won County Gold for the 3rd year in a row, under manager Siobhan Kelleher, sharing the podium with Donegal and Kerry - fitting for All-Ireland final day. The squad were led by Justin Lane, the inspirational captain of the men's team, and he duly won the pole Vault in a fine 2.30m clearance and was 5th in the Weight for Distance throw. Oisín Davis won the 1500m in a high-quality contest in a fast 3:53.21. Darragh Kelly won the High Jump in an excellent competition where the first three cleared an identical 1.80m. Keelan Moorhead blitzed a strong 53.49 for 5th in the Men's 400m and also ran strongly in the 4x400m relay. The team scores were boosted by strong performances from Abaas Edris of Castlegar (winner in the 3km Steeplechase), Ciaran Kelleher South Galway (second in the 1500m Walk), West Coast AC's Leon Ewere (winner of the 200m) and Lemar Lucciano, who won the 100m, Darragh Fahy (who won the Triple Jump and placed second in Long Jump), and Athenry AC's talismanic thrower Liam Shaw who won both the Shot Putt and Discus events. Squad members who also scored points included Ben Edeh, Oisin Phelan, Reakwon Lucciano, Christian Obegmudia and Nick Ukaga.
Sarah Finnegan managed the women's team, and they won Silver in the Premier Division in another fine performance. Sinéad Treacy delivered another top-class performance to win the 400m in a fine 55.39s. Other wins came via strong performances from Alix Joyce (winner of the 3km Steeple), Laura Nally (first over 100m), and Nicole Walsh (200m winner). In the field events, Leanagh Gilligan cleared 9.83 for second in the Triple Jump, with Alisha Larkin also second in the Long Jump. Jade Moorhead cleared 1.55m for 3rd in the High Jump. Arlene Earls took a late call-up to run a fine Season's best 2:23.6 for 5th in the 800m. Both Relay squads excelled in the 4x100 and 4x400m relay teams, with each winning the maximum points. Also featuring for the Galway Squad were Juno Hayes, Angela Cielecka, Mary Barrett, Fauve Aylmer, Izzy Kelly, Margaret Nnadi, Holly Shaughnessy, Danielle Moynihan, Alix Joyce, Aine Maguire, Niamh McWalter, Annalysse Nally, Danielle Fitzpatrick, Nicole Quirke and Aoibheann Redington
Galway City Harriers' Men's squad finished in a valiant fourth place in Division One, with a team mixed with youth and experience. Star athlete Robert McDonnell won a stunning 100m/200m double in season's best times, including 10.80s for the 100m. Also on the track, Shane McGovern secured the 400m with a perfectly timed finish. Tom McHugh made an eagerly awaited throws debut using Senior weights in some style, grabbing a hard-earned first place in Shot Putt and third place in Discus. Another debut from Adill Prochownik Mohamed resulted in a sensational 3rd in a first race over Senior 400m Hurdles, and Sean Danker put in a brave performance over the Steeplechase for 4th place on his debut. Pádraig Faherty delivered a massive 1:58 PB over 800m, while Michael Conway and David Carter both ran superbly in the 1500m and 3000m, respectively, to secure valuable team points at a crucial stage. In the field, Richard Kamson did three events with second in the Triple Jump, 3rd in Javelin and 4th in Hurdles, and Ben Sheehan secured points in both Hammer and Walk. Jonah Erugo was superb in both Relays and jumped a massive 5.33m best in Long Jump, while Igor Muntean did both High Jump & Weight for Distance and jumped 1.50m in the former for more valuable points across both
International News
Conor Penney and Matthew Newell represented Ireland as part of the Irish team in the European Youth Olympic Festival last week in Macedonia. The Craughwell athlete Penney made the High Jump final, placing a fine sixth overall with a best of 2.04 metres. Matthew Newell of Tuam AC had a superb race, narrowly missing a medal with a storming fourth place finish in the 5km Walk.
National Masters
The National Track and Field Masters Championships were held last Saturday in Tullamore. Among the highlights were a gold medal win for Tuam AC athlete Ger Hartnett on the track in the National M50 5000m. GCH Masters Athletes excelled also, notably Linda Nally and Jim Phelan brought home National silvers in their sprint events, with Nally claiming three silvers in 100m,200m and 400m, and Phelan dropping down in distance to win silver in 100m and 200m, both at M50 level. Alex Lee and Eoin Daly won silver and bronze in the M35 200m. Richard O'Hanlon took Gold in the Shot Putt in the morning, and then won a Bronze for both Discus and Weight for Distance, while Seamus Lynch was 3rd in his M50 Triple Jump. The Men's 4x100m team of Eoin Daly, Alex Lee, Ike and Jim Phelan finished the day with a super win.
Caltra Results
Caltra and District AC hosted their Summer 5k and 10k on 25th July last. Winners in the 5k were Rian Collins Athenry and Siobhan Lee GCH, while the 10k wins went to David Hickey of Westport AC and Gemma Creaton.
Fixtures
This weekend is the blue riband event of the National Track and Field season, the Outdoor Senior Championships take place in Dublin over two days. Once again, Galway athletes will aim for the podium, with the likes of Cillin Greene, Andrew Egan and David Mannion all going over 400m, Rob McDonnell and Laura Nally over 200m, and Alix Joyce and Padraig Faherty over the Steeplechase barriers among those with medal chances.
