Damien Larkin from Craughwell AC grabbed his second win on the trot in the penultimate race of the Galway 6km series.
Galway Airport in Carnmore was the welcome new venue for the series, and it proved a fast course for the Galway City Harriers' leg with Larkin crossing the line in 17.08, having won the previous event in Claregalway.
In perfect running conditions, more than 650 athletes completed the airport run with only seconds between the top three finishers in this tightly-fought race. Early leader Fergal Walsh finished a close second in 17.15, and two seconds behind, finishing in 17.17, was South Galway AC's Greg Lundon.
It was a double victory for Craughwell AC as wheelchair athlete Shauna Bocquet took the honours for the ladies, finishing in 18.18. Grainne Ni Uallachain of GCH was next home in 18.34 followed by Barbara Dunne, also GCH, in 18.42.
Tonabrucky Challenge
The Tonabrucky Challenge takes place on Saturday at 6pm, organised by Rahoon Newcastle GAA club, with race HQ at the clubhouse in Drum. This popular event takes a rolling loop over the 6km course and usually attracts many top local athletes and sportspeople.
Irish Schools Championships
Galway's young athletes won eight medals at the Irish Schools Championships in Tullamore on Saturday.
With some great performances, Galway athletes returned home with one team gold, five bronze individual medals, and two team relay bronzes.
St Enda's 4x100m minor girls were the toast of Galway with a superb gold team medal, running 52.64 for victory. Presentation Athenry and St Mary's College, Galway, teams both brought home bronze medals in the 4x100m senior boys and intermediate boys' events respectively.
At individual level, Samuel Samson of St Mary's College, Galway, took third in the senior boys 400m hurdles, running 57.82, Alannah Lally of Presentation Athenry took bronze in the senior girls 800m in a time of 2.14, and Sean Kilmartin of St Joseph's College, Galway, was third in the intermediate boys 200m with a time of 22.86.
Sinead Treacy of St Raphael’s won bronze in the senior girls 200m event in a time of 24.85, and also placed fourth in the 100m event . Jamie Fallon of Calasanctius College in Oranmore ran another fine race, clocking 15:32.69 for senior boys 5000m bronze.
There were many other good performances from Galway athletes in the finals, including Conor Duggan, Aidan Conneely, Matthew Mckiernan, Evan Quirke, Aisling Keady and Ryan O'Toole, in what is probably the most competitive event on the schools' sporting calendar.
In other events, Lyall Guiney of Athenry AC ran a good marathon in Cork on Monday, finishing in a time of 2.48, another sub three-hour performance for the Galway man, and in Mayo, Aubree Piepmeier of GCH took the ladies' win at the Mayo AC Streets of Castlebar 5km, running 17.52 .
