Three Galway veteran athletes, who qualified for the British and Irish Masters Home Nations Cross Country, were a central part of winning teams at the weekend.
Paul McNamara of Athenry AC led the M35 Irish team home (finishing fourth overall ), with Peter O'Sullivan of Craughwell AC in fifth place for Ireland (27th overall ). Gerry Ryan of Craughwell AC was another star for Galway, leading the Irish M45 team to victory and the entire field for much of the race. Ryan described the last 200m as "brutally fast" and finished in fifth place overall on an identical time to Athenry's McNamara.
The 2010 Uneven Age Groups and Novice Cross Country Championships took place in CoRoscommon and many Galway athletes were in the medals.
The girls u-11 championships was won easily by the Athenry AC team of Lydia Doyle (2 ), Niamh Hannon (3 ), Siobhan McGrath (5 ) and Caolfhinn Hennessy (12 ). Their finishing total of 22 points was less than a third that of the nearest opposition.
Craughwell AC boys had their best set of Connaght results with a clean sweep of all the boys events. Hugh Mulryan won silver medal with the Craughwell team of Brendan Commins, Conor Lee and Sean Delaney all doing enough to finish on identical points to Westport, but they won by having a faster fourth runner.
Athenry girls again prevailed narrowly in the u-13 event, beating Swinford by 54 points to 57. The Athenry team of Shannon Lee (9 ), Grace Cahill (11 ), Ciara Walsh (16 ) and Niamh Keane (18 ) did just enough to take gold. GCH athlete Maeve Hughes scored an individual silver in the event, with her teammates Sarah McDonnell, Catherine Connaire and Roisin Flynn doing enough to seal team bronze.
In the boys u-13, Craughwell again took gold with Oisin Doyle (silver ), Matthew Barrett (bronze ), James Cahalane and Liam Moran claiming the team prize.
Alanna Lally scored another victory for GCH in the u-15s, with her team mate Maebh Brannigan taking bronze. Annie Tynan Daly of Ballinasloe took the silver position. The Ballinasloe team of Daly, Michelle Burke, Veronica Burke and Maedbh Hurst won silver in the team event, with Galway team of Lally, Brannigan, Roisin Dobey and Elisabeth Maher taking bronze.
The u-15 boys brought another Craughwell victory with Conor Gillen (gold ), Nicholas Sheehan (slver ), Damien O'Boyle and Jamie Spelman taking first place. Craughwell also won the u-17 boys through David Concannon, Finn Stoneman, Padraic Tobin and Paul Fitzpatrick. The boys u-19 race was won clearly by Craughwell AC's Peadar Harvey.
Michelle Maher of GCH won the u-17s, followed by Kate Burke and Sive Brassil of Ballinasloe. Sive's sister Maeve Brasil won bronze in the u-19 event, with the Athenry AC team of Helen Geraghty, Yvonne Keary, Aideen Healy and Orla Grogan winning team gold.
Craughwell AC fielded their first senior women’s team in the novice event and came out victorious by two points. Maeve Curley led the field home.
The final race of the day was the novice men's championship in which the Craughwell men took third place through their team of Niall Callanan, Barry Phelan, Gabriel Gardiner and Al Callanan.
