There were a host of impressive Galway performances over the course of a busy weekend at the Irish Life Health Children’s Team Games, U12-U13 Championships and Juvenile Combined Events.
Craughwell AC had another superb championship day, winning five medals overall. In the children’s paired games, there was a fantastic double national title win for Craughwell duo Conor Mannion and Jack Hibbitt, who first sprinted to gold in the U9 60m and followed up within the hour to take a second title in the U9 300m.
Rachel Warde stormed to gold in the U13 60m hurdles in a swift 9.76, and also won silver in the 80m sprint.
Sean Hoade was another medal winner for Craughwell. Following his superb performance last week, he secured silver in the gruelling U14 combined event in the pentathlon.
GCH secured three medals - gold from Louis Jean Hounkponou and Darcy Noel in the U10 long jump, with the talented Louis Jean Hounkponou and Rory Tauchen combining to secure bronze in the U10 60m sprint. The city club also won bronze via Aisling Tauchen and Natalia Jaime-Stapleton in the U11 long jump.
National Track and Field League
Sunday last saw Galway County Men’s squad take centre stage at the National Track and Field League Division Final in a sunny Tullamore.The Galway County team under team manager Sean McDermott and assistant Michael Tobin emulated the Galway Ladies squad of last week as their composite squad from Castlegar, Tuam, South Galway, and Craughwell AC secured a fantastic bronze team medal.
The Galway team picked up two event wins along the way- in the 5000m via William Fitzgerald of Craughwell and in the 3000m Steeplechase via Abas Edris Adam of Castlegar AC, with strong scores across the rest of the busy programme ensuring bronze.
Ballinasloe Track and Field Meet
Tribal Running organised the final track and field meet of the local season in the scenic surrounds of Dunlo Park in Ballinasloe Track in conjunction with Ballinasloe and District AC.
A full day of events saw highlights including Arlene Earls of Craughwell winning a strong women’s 400m, Rory Chesser of Ennis Track won the 800m and 1500m double, and Shane Begley of Castlegar and Deirdre McCrae of GCH won the Galway County 10k titles over the 25-lap distance. In the field, Brendan Staunton secured wins in the shot put, and weight for distance.
