HELP NEEDED - CHURCH GATE COLLECTION

It is that time of year again when we hold our Church Gate collection in our Club Area and we are appealing for help.

We have masses in Carrick-on-Shannon, Cortober, Jamestown, Drumsna, Annaduff, Gowel and Leitrim Village to look after this Saturday and Sunday, April 14 & 15, so we are appealing to as many club members, athletes aged over 18 and parents to give a hand for around half an hour before each of the masses.

The masses we are looking after are as follows:

Saturday: Jamestown 7 pm
Annaduff 7 pm
Carrick-on-Shannon 8 pm

Sunday: Carrick-on-Shannon 9 am
Drumsna 9.30 am
Gowel 10.15 am
Leitrim Village 10.15 am
Annaduff 11.00 am
Cortober 12 noon
Carrick-on-Shannon 12 noon

If you are available, please contact John Connolly 0879446961

BRILLIANT BRONZE IN ATHLONE

Just like keeping the best wine till last, the last day of the Irish Life Health Athletics Ireland Juvenile Indoors provided the biggest highlights with our U15 Boys relay team of Gerard Murtagh, Shane Finn, Cian Mollohan and Toyosi Fagbo claiming a brilliant bronze in the relay.

In a final full of drama, thrills and spills, the four lads kept their heads and showed brilliant battling spirit to claim the bronze medal with a superb run.

It was also the first All-Ireland medal that any of the four have won so they join the Club's All-Ireland winners roll of honour and for Shane Finn and Gerard Murtagh, they join their mothers Mary Finn and Siobhan Murtagh on that list so a fantastic day all round.

The drama started early in the heats with Carrick up against a very good Nenagh Olympic team in the first heat. A strong opening leg from Gerard and strong performances from Shane and Cian in the middle left us a little adrift of the Munster men but a dropped baton at the changeover saw Toyosi produce some quick footwork to sidestep the two Nenagh runners and charge into the lead.

Toyosi was never going to be caught and could even ease up a little over the last 100m to win the heat with a place in the Final. Their time of 1.44.87 saw them qualify third fastest overall behind Cabinteely and Belgooley with GCH fourth.

The final saw a few switches and additions to our rivals and GCH got a huge start and soon they and Cabinteely detached themselves from the rest. Gerard, who is still U14, ran a really strong opening leg but improved performances from the other teams meant we were in sixth when Shane thundered round the top bend.

Shane ran a superb leg and kept us in contention with the medal places. The drama got even higher on the third leg when Cian was chasing a trio of runners ahead of him.

Disaster struck the Belgooley runner as he stumbled on the back straight but Cian spotted it and surged brilliantly over the final 100m, going from fifth into a clear third at the changeover.

Toyosi had a reasonable lead but was being chased by Belgooley's Glory Wenegiene who had beaten him for fourth in the 60m Final and the Cork runner made huge inroads into the Carrick lead, catching up to Toyosi with about 120m to go.

But Toyosi, who had run himself into exhaustion in the Connacht Finals, had run a clever race and had plenty left in the tank and despite a lot of looks over his shoulder, he held off the Cork runner going up the home straight until, 20 metres from the line, the Cork runner trod on Toyosi's heel.

Toyosi's shoes was ripped off but that didn't stop him as the Belgooley lad hit the deck, Toyosi keeping on his feet to claim the bronze medal.

Subject to correction, and I'm only going on memory here, it is our first relay medal since the days of Gerard O'Donnell's own relay team and Gerard celebrates the big 30 this year.

In terms of Indoor relays, a team of Siobhan McWeeney, Rachel Carr, Dearbhaile Doran and Michelle Clancy won medals in Nenagh while another girls team made up of Rachel Flynn, Orna Tiernan, Eadaoin McLoughlin, Gina Wimsey, Aisling Dolan and Deirdre Martin won several indoor medals.

And of course, not forgetting the team of John Feely, Ray Mulvey, Gerard Crossan, Liam McTiernan and Gerard O'Donnell who set a national record one year and won countless relays medals, indoors and out.

Many thanks to Siobhan Murtagh, Siobhan Whelan, Mary Finn and Linda Mollohan for getting the gang down to Nenagh and providing the cheering section and it was great to see Michael O'Brien there cheering on his grandson Shane to a medal.

Special mention for Mary O'Donnell recuperating at the moment after an operation, I'm sure she was dancing around with delight and everyone in Athlone sends get well wishes.

On to the outdoors now but congratulations once again lads.

See our Facebook page here for more photos. 

ANOTHER PB FESTIVAL IN ATHLONE

Congratulations to our athletes who were in action in Athlone last Sunday on day two of the Athletics Ireland Irish Life Health Juvenile Indoor Championships, with competitors in action in hurdles, sprints and middle distance.

Top finisher on the day was Patrick Kennedy who finished an excellent fifth in the U12 600m Final with his brother Declan eighth in the Final.

The lads both set new personal bests in the heats with Patrick running 1.45.49 while Declan ran 1.49.49 as both finished second in their different races.

In the Final, Patrick finished a superb fifth in 1.47.62 with Declan eighth in 1.52.08, a superb performance from both lads who probably found the distance a little bit short for them!

Interestingly, it is quite some time since we had two athletes contest the same National Indoor Juvenile Final once heats were involved. I’m open to correction but I think it may be when Gerard O’Donnell and John Feely finished 2nd and 4th in the U18 200m in Nenagh!

Gerard was down in Nenagh doing commentary for the Athletics Ireland online coverage and no doubt he was impressed by Alannah McGuinness’ seventh place finish in the U17 60m Hurdles, her second National Final in a week. Alannah only returned to the event this year and had about two or three sessions over the hurdles before Sunday’s Final.

In the heats, Alannah took a tenth of a second off her pb from the Connachts, running 8.81 to qualify for the Final before finishing seventh in the final with a fractionally slower time of 8.84 seconds. Well done Alannah.

Ellie O’Rourke also competed in her second National Final in a week, reaching the U16 800m decider. Ellie O’Rourke finished seventh in the Final with a time of 2.30.64 after running 2.29.81 in the heats.

Our final competitor in action was Niall Sheerin who finished third in his U18 200m Heat in a time of 24.94.

Well done to all our competitors and thanks to the parents who brought them.

Thanks to Siobhan McGuinness and Gerard O’Donnell for the photos.

The Indoor season comes to a close on Saturday, April 7, when our U15 Boys relay team compete in Athlone in the National Finals.

Six set for Sunday in Athlone

It is a small group for next Sunday's Athletics Ireland Juvenile Indoors in Athlone with six athletes competing and that includes two sets of twins! And both sets from Roscommon!

Clodagh and Niall Sheerin are down for the 200m heats on Sunday morning at 10 am while Declan and Patrick Kennedy go in the U13 600m heats/final at 11.15.

Our small crew is completed by Ellie O'Rourke in the U16 800m and Alannah McGuinness in the U17 60m Hurdles.

Best of luck to everyone.

PBS ALL THE WAY IN ATHLONE

When you get to the biggest stage of the year so far, delivering your best isn't always easy but we had a deluge of personal bests at the Irish Life Health Athletics Ireland Juvenile Indoors in Athlone on Sunday.

Gerard Murtagh came closest to a medal when he finished a superb fourth in the U14 60m Final but he smashed his personal best twice and broke the eight second barrier for the first time with a 7.99 second clocking in the Final for a major breakthrough.


Toyosi Fagbo defied illness over the last three weeks to smash his personal best in the U15 60m Final, his time of 7.58 taking him to fifth place and 0.11 faster than his Connacht winning time - and all without taking a step in training for three weeks after he fell ill following the Connachts! Quite an amazing performance.

Alannah McGuinness showed a lot of guts too to crack the eight second barrier for the first time with a 7.99 second clocking in the U17 Girls 60m heats, quite an amazing performance considering she had a bad fall off her bike on Friday and was running with badly bruised and skinned knees and arms! Quite a determined athlete!

Ellis Conway put in all on the line in the U18 400m, qualifying as one of the fastest losers and getting the unfavourable lane one for the Final. But that didn't deter her as she mixed it up with the leaders before finishing sixth in a time of 60.17, having run 60.34 in the heats.


Clodagh Sheerin also qualified for the U18 60m Final, finishing fourth in her heat in a time of 8.36 and improving to sixth in the final in a time of 8.31 seconds.

Ellie O'Rourke ran a season's best of 5.13.97 in an insanely fast U16 1,500m to take ninth and not far off her outright best, a strong run where the fast early pace took a heavy toll on athletes.





Eoghan Farrell knocked five seconds off his previous best over 1,500m in the U17 heats, running 4.42.03 while while Oisin O’Dowd (7.73), Niall Sheerin (7.89) and Sophie McCabe (8.63) all saw action in the 60m heats.

Shane Finn finished ninth in the U15 Shot with a fine throw of 10.46m with Dara Holmes throwing 7.37m for 12th in the U13 Boys Shot.

There was a little bit of heartache too as Lauren Reynolds had to withdraw from the U16 1,500m after injuring her back in the warm-up, a huge disappointment for a very committed athlete.

Congrats to all our athletes on some great performances. Thanks to all the parents for travelling down with the athletes and Siobhan Whelan, Siobhan McWeeney and Callum Whelan for looking after the gang in Athlone.

LADIES LEAD THE WAY IN ATHLONE AND WATERFORD

An incredibly successful and busy weekend for the Club as our Ladies Masters really showed they are Masters with three All-Ireland medals brought home from the National Masters Championships in Athlone.

 

At the other end of the scale, Lauren Reynolds also demonstrated her undoubted talent with a superb 14th place in the Junior Girls race at the All-Ireland Schools Cross-country in Waterford.

Ann Wynne was our first medalist of the day in Athlone when she ran a superb  2.47.41 to claim the silver medal in the W50 category, a great performance as she had to fight hard to ensure the second place finish.

Michelle Lannon, not long after a brilliant performance in the Masters Cross-country, ran an impressive 11.13.97 to take the bronze medal in a high standard W45 3,000m, her time ranking 11th overall.

And Susanne O’Beirne completed the day’s medal haul with a third bronze for Carrick AC as she finished third in the W45 1,500m, her time of 6.03.33 ranking her 15th overall on the day.

Down in Waterford, our gang of Lauren Reynolds, Iarlaith O’Brien and Cian Mollohan endured incredibly difficult conditions at Waterford IT in the Irish Schools Cross-country. A course was that was firm and solid but tough last December was turned into a quagmire by the rain and snow of recent weeks.

Lauren produced her best ever National performance to finish 14th in the Junior Girls race. In very difficult conditions, Lauren fought her way through a high quality field and was in 12th place going into the finishing straight only to be passed by two runners on the run-in.

To show how competitive the race was, Lauren’s time of 10.46 was just 11 seconds away from the International team and half a minute off the bronze medal.

Iarlaith and Cian had a tougher time in the Junior Boys race but showed great character to finish 76th, 78th and 80th respectively in their first time to compete in the championship.

Iarlaith led the way home but was chased all the way home by his schoolmates, eventually having nine seconds to spare over former member Emmet Regan, also running for Carrick CS, who just a second ahead of Cian.

A hard race was made all the harder for Cian who lost one of his shoes in the stampede to the first corner and ran almost the entire distance of an incredibly muddy course with one shoe.

Congratulations to everyone on some great performances.

NATIONAL RELAYS RESCHEDULED DUE TO BAD WEATHER

There is a change in the programme of events for the National Juvenile Indoors with the news that the first day featuring the relay events has been moved to Saturday April 7.

The decision was taken by Athletics Ireland after the final day of the Athletics Leinster Juvenile Championships this Saturday in Athlone has been cancelled due to the severe weather.

That means our U15 Boys relay team of Gerard Murtagh, Cian Mollohan, Shane Finn and Toyosi Fagbo will have to wait a few more weeks to take part in the U15 All-Irelands.

The following statement is from Athletics Connacht: Due to forecasted weather events over the next few days, the final day of the Athletics Leinster Juvenile Championships scheduled for AIT Arena this Saturday has been postponed. As this event is a qualifier for the All-Ireland Juvenile Indoors, Athletics Leinster will run their program on the 11^th March and Day 1 of the All-Ireland Juvenile Indoor Championships (Relays and older age field events) will be held on Saturday 7^th April.   The program on the 18^th and 25^th March is unaffected. This decision has been taken so that all athletes’ will be given an opportunity to compete and qualify for their All-Ireland Championships.