Galway City Harriers Alanna Lally has posted a new personal best for the 400m.
The Athenry student, representing Ireland, performed tremendously well at the World Youth Championships in Donetsk in the Ukraine when running a PB of 55.15 in her heat. That result secured second place and a place in the semi-finals where she came in fifth in another great time of 55.40 and was just off qualifying for the final in her first major international event.
National Track and Field League
The Galway County ladies’ team managed by Sarah Finnegan put in a strong performance in the premier division section in round two of the National League which took place on Sunday in Sligo IT. The provisional results indicate the team has qualified for the National League final in Tullamore next month.
Covering 17 events, the Galway ladies scored 89 points in total and, when added to their achievement in round one (104 points ), they achieved total of 193 points. Competing for Galway on the day were Sarah Finnegan (high jump, triple jump and 100m hurdles ), Rachel Finnegan (400m hurdles and 4x400m relay ), Melissa Barrett (discus and javelin ), Maeve Curley (1500m walk ), Mary Barrett (shot and hammer ), Liz Maher (400m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay ), Maebh Brannigan (800m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay ), Roisin Dobey (100m and 4x100m relay ), Sinead Treacy (200m and long jump ), Caroline Whiriskey (1500m ) and Claire Ryder (4x100m relay and 4x400m relay ).
Galway City Harriers men’s team also competed in the premier division and pending final results will be in with a strong chance of making the league final.
Galway Track and
Field Championships
Day two of the annual Galway Track and Field Championships took place in scorching conditions in the NUI Galway track at Dangan on Thursday .
In the series of 200m races Conor Duggan won gold for Craughwell in the junior men’s event with the fastest time of the evening 23.13, Ben Cooney GCH was second in 23.67 and Janic Schulte of Loughrea third.
The senior men’s county title was won by Ronan Coyle GCH in 23.57, from Ivor Geoghegan and Peter Mannion both of GCH in silver and bronze places.
The masters men’s over 50 event was won by the evergreen Peadar Nugent of Athenry in a time of 35.46, while the over 35 heats were won by John King and Richard Ashe with the final next week.
The women’s 200m junior race was won by Sinead Treacy of Craughwell in 25.81 and the senior title by Rachel Finnegan Craughwell in 28.55. In the 200m masters women over 35 Yvonne Knight of Athenry took the honours, while in the masters 50 section, Majella Ni Chriocain GCH won gold. Fastest time of the day was from guest Louise Holmes with a time of 24.93.
It was a tough evening for the distance runners, it did not stop 5000m winner Matt Bidwell from gaining yet another senior title with a time of 15,53. Second was GCH clubmate Owen Byrne in 16.19 and guest Donal Hanratty third in 16.33
The masters over 35 winner was Gerry Carty of GCH in 17.24 , followed by Athenry’s Ray Somers and Eddie Corban . The M50 category was won by Pat Sherry GCH, with silver going to Tommy J Whyte of Tuam AC.
The 3000m women’s Galway championships saw a win for Regina Casey of Galway City Harriers in a time of 11.03, with Caroline Whiriskey of Loughrea in second and Gabrielle Donnellan East Galway AC third. The race was won by guest athlete of Alvy Carragher with a strong run of 10.30, leading from gun to tape.
The masters 3000m titles were won by Esther O Flaherty of Athenry (W 35 ) in a time of 12.06 and Majella Ni Chriochain of GCH the W 50 event in 14.05
GCH athlete Sean Breathnach took the senior men’s discus title with a massive 47.21m, ahead of Brendan Staunton and Igor Muntean in the other medal spots. David O’Neill won the M 35 category throwing 19.92m and Tommy Farragher’s throw of 35.04 m saw him take the M50 gold medal
Loughrea's Melissa Barrett won the women’s junior discus with a throw of 26.52m. In the masters categories, the W35 section was won by Siobhan Glynn and the W50 by Mary Barrett from Margaret Higgins of Corofin second. Higgins competed in every event and took home four medals from the evening’s action.
Igor Muntean of GCH took the senior high jump with a leap of 1.65m, while Loughrea’s athlete Janic Schulte won the junior title with 1.60m. In the masters Richard Ashe of AthenryAC won the M35 while Corofin's Tommy Farragher took the over 50 title.
Sinead Tuohy of Athenry AC took the women’s event with 1.55m jump, while Yvonne Knight and Mary Barrett took a second gold medal in the masters 35 category and over 50 respectively.
