Galway secured a podium finish at the National Indoor League final in the new National Indoor Arena in Abbottstown in Dublin at the weekend.
The Galway City Harriers men's squad, managed by Brendan Glynn, secured bronze medals with 64 points, behind winners Clonliffe Harriers.
The squad secured maximum points in the shot putt won by Brendan Staunton, while young sprinter Jack Dempsey was an influential contributor to the team's effort, second in the 60m(7.0 ), third in the 200m(22,4 ), and anchoring a great GCH relay team home to second overall.
Robert Meagher produced a personal best time in the 400m, running in 50.25 and fourth overall, while Eoin Lyons placed fifth in the 800m, improving on his time from the National Juniors last weekend to 2.05. There was a sixth place finish for Eamon Hornibrook with a 4.33 in the 1500m, while Simon Callaghan was third in the 60m hurdles and fifth in the long jump.
Henrique Nkolovata put in a good performance in the triple jump to finish fourth, while also scoring a valuable point in the high jump. Cliff Jennings was third in the pole vault, while Darren Costello and Eoghan Dobey also competed on the relay squad.
The GCH ladies produced some great displays to achieve a sixth placed finish overall on their first final outing. Star of the show was Aoife Sheehy, who competed in three events, with a third place finish in the 400, seventh in the high jump and helped the 4x200m relay squad to seventh spot. Laura Ann Costello placed fourth in the 60m in 7.82, and then ran a fantastic 200m, breaking 25 seconds to secure second place points for the team.
Kathryn Casserly placed fourth in a competitive 1500m, while Solange Diogo placed seventh in long jump, and was third in the triple jump. Kate Greaney was eighth in the 60m hurdles in her first race in a number of years, while Maebh Brannigan had a good fourth place finish in the 800m. Laura Nally scored in the shot putt for the team, while Anna Giatraki secured valuable points in her first pole vault, rounding off a good day’s work for the GCH ladies.
The Craughwell ladies' team placed eighth in the final, led home by Lorraine Delaney with a fine 1.50m clearance in the high jump to claim second place. Sineád Treacy placed sixth in the 200m in a time of 26.49, and fifth in the long jump with a leap of 4.82. Sarah Finnegan placed sixth in the 60m hurdles in a time of 10.55 and fifth in the triple jump with an impressive 10.17.
Ciana Reidy placed fifth in the pole vault with a best of 2.20, while Caoilin Milton was sixth in the 400m in a time of 65.24. Laura Cunningham secured fifth in the shot putt with an 8.18m PB and was seventh in the 60m sprint in a time of 8.33. In the final event of the day, Sineád Treacy, Caoilin Milton, Lorraine Delaney and Laura Cunningham ran an impressive 1.48.26 to place fifth in the 4x200m relay.
National Masters
A number of Galway runners will head to Waterford on Sunday for the National Masters’ Cross Country Championships. Martin Kearney and Martin McEvilly of GCH, as well as Ian Egan and Sean Burke of Tuam AC, will aim to secure individual medals, as will the strong running Eilis Ni Dhuill of GCH in the ladies' race over 4km.
Alanna Lally, formerly of GCH and now running with UCD, placed third in a time of 2.08 behind Olympian Ciara Mageaan in a fast 800m race at the AAI Games last weekend, while Laura Shaughnessy, one of Galway's top runners, competed with DSD ladies' squad in the European Cross Country Clubs Cup in Albufeira, in Portugal recently, finishing 31st overall with the Dublin club sixth ladies' team overall.
Gort 8km
South Galway Athletic Club's annual Gort 8km road race is taking on Sunday (February 12 ) at 1.30pm.
Cost to register is €20 as an individual online, and a Valentine special couple entry of €35.
Race headquarters is the Gort Community Centre from 11.30am.
