Galway's women track team was the star of the show at the National Track and Field League final on Sunday in Tullamore.
The talented squad, on the podium for a fourth year in a row, won national bronze under the guidance of team supremo Sarah Finnegan, scoring a total of 99 points, eight points behind silver medal winners Tipperary, and 13 points behind the winners, Dublin club Dundrum South Dublin.
A huge achievement for the team, the women have been consistent over the last few years, and continued their winning senior streak in this competition.
There was representation from a number of clubs around the county on the team, including GCH, Craughwell, Loughrea, Tuam, Ballinasloe, Castlegar and South Galway.
On the day of the final, the team achieved four wins through Veronica Burke in the walk, 4x100m relay team (Sinead Treacy, Laura Nally, Nicole Quirke and Nicole Walsh ), Sinead Treacy in the 400m and Jade Moorhead in the high jump.
There were a number of top three finishes, including Alix Joyce in the 400m hurdles, Ella Rafferty in the discus, Leah Kivlehan in the triple jump, Aine O'Farrell in the steeplechase, Laura Nally in the 100m, Sinead Gaffney in the 800m and 4x400m relay (Alix Joyce, Sinead Treacy, Laura Nally and Rachel Finnegan ).
There were valuable points also achieved by other athletes, including Mary Barrett in the hammer, Aoife Sheedy in the 100m hurdles, Aoibhin Farrell in the long jump, Caitlin Griffin in the shot putt and javelin, Ella Rafferty in the eight for distance, Adara Salvo in the 3k, Isabella Burke in the 1500m, and Nicole Quirke in the 200m.
Galway City Harriers placed eighth in the men’s premier division, and heavy points scorers such as Andrew Egan, Robert Meagher, Robert Urquhart, Jack Maher and Pierce McManus contributed to the team total.
Galway County men’s team competed in division One, and led by manager Sean McDermott, was placed sixth overall. There were solid performances from the Raekwon Lucciano in the sprints, as well as Abbas Edris, Damien Landers and Hamsley Okomah.
National Masters Championships
Galway athletes enjoyed great success at the National Masters Championships for athletes over 35 in blistering heat in Tullamore on Saturday.
GCH secured national titles with some superb performances, notably by gold medal wins by Linda Nally over 100m and 200m at V50 level, Jim Phelan and Karen Quirke at V45 level in the 400m, as well as Niamh Hennelly in the 1500m at V35 level.
GCH Ladies won the 4x400m relay with the squad of Nally, Hennelly, Karen Quirke, and a standout performance by Sinead Foran, who led the team to glory.
Medals were also secured by Galway City Harrier' stars, Martin McEvilly, Seamus Lynch, Dick O Hanlon and Gerry Carty.
Mary Barrett for Loughrea was again dominant in her age category, winning double gold in the shot putt and discus.
Craughwell also sprinters struck gold with age category wins for Ronnie Warde, Cormac Kearney, Brian Malone, as well as a silver from David Mulligan, with the aforementioned quartet combining to win a great team relay bronze for good measure.
Castlegar veteran Ian Egan once again proved his class when winning 5000m bronze at master’s level.
Claregalway 10km
The Claregalway 10km returned for its 33rd edition on Saturday organised by Clare River Harriers.
Padraic Fallon won in a time of 35.54, ahead of Shane Scully of Nenagh Olympic and Paul Keane of GCH.
Clare Rowe of GCH was a dominant winner of the women's section in 40.34, with second place going to Triona Moran of Castlegar and Sinead Jordan of GCH in third.
