Galway teams have qualified for the National League finals to be held next month in Tullamore.
Galway City Harriers men’s team, and the Galway Ladies came through the National Track and Field League’s second and final qualifying round in Athlone, to advance to the finals.
Galway Ladies placed top of their pool on the day and qualified for the final comfortably. The team secured victories via wins by Maeve Curley in the 1500m walk, Nicole King over 400m, Emma O Hara in the hammer, and by the relay sprint squad over 4x100m. There were second place scores for team captain Sarah Finnegan over the 100m hurdles, Sinead Treacy in the 200m, Sarah Gilhooley on her debut in the 3000m steeplechase, and Barbara Dunne, who also debuted in the 3000m flat.
The squad also saw scores from Aisling Joyce in the 1500m, Aoife Sheehy in the 400m hurdles, Seren O'Toole in the long jump, Chloe Casey in the shot putt, Cian Reidy in the pole vault, Katie O'Donoghue in high jump, Laura Cunningham in triple jump, Sinead Gaffney over 800m, and Lydia Doyle in sprints and relay.
The GCH men’s squad had wins from Cillin Greene over 200m with a season best time of 21.60, and Brendan Staunton in the shot putt, with a PB throw. Staunton also placed well with second in the discus, with Brendan McDonnell clocking a fast 15.01 in the 5000m for second also. GCH also scored heavily via Henrique Nkolovata, who performed well in three events - sprint hurdles, the long jump and the triple jump - Seamus Leddy in the 3k walk, team manager Cliff Jennings in the hammer and weight throws, Jonah Erugo in the high jump and 400m, Darren Costello in the 100m, Eoghan Jennings in the pole vault and 400 hurdles, and James Frizzell and Neil Keane in the middle-distance races.
Galway Men's team performed strongly to take eighth place . National champion Brendan Lynch secured victory for the team in the 40m hurdles, alongside excellent second places for Tommy Farragher in the hammer, Daniel Callanan in the triple jump, and Ryan Gallagher in the high jump, and a strong all round team performance that cemented their second year in the division.
World U20 Championships
Jack Dempsey of Galway City Harriers travels to Tampere in Finland this week to compete on the Irish 4x100m relay squad at the U20 World Championships, one of the premier global athletics championships. The relay qualifying heats take place tomorrow. Coach Matt Lockett of GCH has been appointed as team endurance coach to the Irish distance athletes competing in Finland.
Headford 8k
Dariusz Monkiewicz was the winner of this year’s Headford 8k held on Saturday evening, clocking a time of 28.10 for victory. Daire Comer of Tuam AC was second, with local man David O'Connor, running with Trim AC, third.
Regina Casey of GCH was the first woman home in 29.43, with Emma Grimes of GCH making her debut with a fine time of 32.04 for second, just ahead of Joan Flynn from Mullingar who placed third.
Some 200 runners completed the 14th edition of the charity fundraising race.
