Sligo FIT4LIFE Spring League 2011

Sligo FIT4LIFE Spring League 2011 is an event for all levels of runner/walker. 6 events will be ran on a handicap basis with slower walkers / runners starting ahead of faster competitors. Handicaps are continually adjusted to give every participant an equal chance. Date Time Distance Venue Tues 19 th April 6.30pm 2 mls Racecourse Tues 3rd May 6.30pm 2 mls Racecourse Wed 18th May 6.30PM 2K Riverside Tues 31st May 6.30pm 2 K Riverside Tues 14th june 6.30pm 2mls Cairns Hill Tues 21st june 6.30pm 2 mls Cairns Hill

• ENTRY FEE 2 EURO PER EVENT


• SCORING FIRST 1 PT, SECOND 2PTS DOWN TO LAST FINISHER OVERALL RESULT


• LOWEST POINTS WINS FOLLOWED BY NEXT LOWEST DOWN THE TO LAST


• MISS A RACE AND GET THE SCORE OF LAST FINISHER PLUS ONE


• PRIZES FOR TOP FIFTEEN AFTER SIX EVENTS

Registration between 6pm and 6.20pm.Absolutely no entries after 6.20pm

Sligo AC News Update: Running Shoes

A lot done, more to do. This was a famous, or is it now infamous, election slogan from one of our leading political parties some years ago. The same slogan could apply to our athletes as we look back on the cross country and indoor seasons that have just concluded. A cross country season that started with the primary schools county championships in Calry on a bright Saturday afternoon last October, ended in equally bright sunshine in a field in County Antrim on the last Saturday in March. On that day we took pride in watching two Sligo athletes, James McGeogh and William Crowe represent Ireland in an international match against Scotland , Wales and England . As these lads’ parents looked on and took pictures of them before during and after the races, I couldn’t help thinking how fortunate they were to be in a sport with an international outlet. The fact that they had avoided the clutches of the G.A.A. gave them the opportunity to compete internationally and I would imagine that this would be the first of many international opportunities for this duo. These two lads were only two of the many Sligo athletes who made a big impact on the cross country season. Tommy Casey picked his cross country races carefully and his fine performance in finishing 4th in the senior schools championships justified this. The glut of competition for juvenile athletes in the winter time is an ongoing concern and it is imperative that we in Athletics Ireland tackle this problem soon rather than later. The unluckiest Sligo athlete of the cross country season had to be Anna Reddin who led a couple of national championships but never got the result she deserved. Her time will come. The two most improved athletes of the season had to be Lea Doherty and Sharon Hodskins. Our senior cross country runners have had better seasons but a lot of this was down to injury and illness of our better runners. Mary Cullen was unlucky to get injured just as she looked set for a great season. Eimear O’Brien (pictured) kept the flag flying at national level with a bronze in the national novice. The indoor season started good with many medals at Connaught level and got better cumulating in two wonderful weekends at the national championships. Two gold medals for Zack Irwin in the 60 and 200 metres heralded his arrival on the national stage. Odran Gildea, William Crowe, Sinead Keogh, Lea Doherty and Kian McBride also got in on the medal winning act. Throw in Mary Cullen’s stunning performance in the national senior championships as well as her European qualification times achieved abroad and it will give some idea of the achievement of Sligo athletes this indoor season. Added to all that is an Irish under 15 relay indoor record set by the North Sligo boys. Of course, it’s not all about the medal winners and we had a host of personal best times recorded by athletes like Dermot McDermott and Tommy Casey as they reached finals of the national 800 metres and 3,000 metres . Alberto Sanchez also recorded a P.B. for 3,000 metres as he claimed a bronze medal in the university championships. Of course none of these achievements would be possible without the coaching input from the Sligo clubs.. A considerable number of new coaches have emerged in clubs in the past couple of years and this is now paying rich dividends for out sport here in Sligo . Yes, a lot has been done. More on the way.

Sligo AC Athletes compete in Spar Great Ireland Run!

A beautiful day and the humid conditions to go with it made Sundays 10k Great Ireland Run a great spectacle but tough on the competitors. Charlotte Purdue despite having ran the fastest five kilometres leg for her Aldershot club in the English National Road Relays the previous day, trounced her rivals when winning the womens race in a time of 32 minutes 42 seconds. Sligo's Mary Cullen, back after a short layoff, was disappointed with her time clocking 34.22 which was well short of her usual standard.

J.Espana produced a lethal finish in the final 1200 metres to clinch the men's title in a time of 29min 26sec ahead of Finland's Jussi Utriainen and Ireland's Martin Fagan. The Spaniard was content to follow the pace particularly when defending champion Fagan took charge in the second half of the race which saw the demise of the highly fancied Sergey Lebid of Ukraine and Portugal's Rui Silva. Sligo AC was well represented in both the mens and womens events with results listed below, well done to all who took part from all at the club!

Seamus Somers 00:36:33 Mel Casserly 00:37:22 Alan Kearns 00:38:42 Trevor Hunter 00:39:04 Jason Mc Morrow 00:39:07 Damien Kennedy 00:39:37 Enda Dineen 00:39:58 Declan Foley 00:40:41 Rory Connor 00:41:38 Aoife Quigley 00:44:13 Vanessa Foley 00:51:07 Linda Higgins 00:51:12 Fintan Conlon 00:51:46 Aishling Kennedy 00:53:02 Bernie Flynn 00:53:52 Sheila Lehany 00:53:56 Sharon Dineen 00:54:06 Rosie Friel 00:55:41 Aisling Gillen 00:55:49 Jill Connor 00:59:08

Connacht Development Squad, Sunday April 17th, Athlone IT, 12 noon

Athletes will not be notified individually of selection to the squad as per vote at congress. Notification will go through club or school only. Thus Sligo AC is now notifying Sligo athletes of their selection to Connacht Development Squad and their invitation to attend the above squad days. Sign in at 12 noon (in sports hall in AIT) Followed by presentation by guest speaker Coaching session from 1pm Wrap up at approx 2.30pm Please note final squad date for spring 2011 is Sunday May 22nd, venue TBC.

North Sligo AC Boys

Ben Roberts, Cian McBride, Feidhlim McGowan, Kevin McGlynn, Leigh Currid, Lorcan Roddy, William Crowe.

Sligo AC Boys

Boal Connell, Colm Bourke, David Lynch, Dylan Carty, Jack Roberts, James McGeough, Killian O'Connor, Shane Kilcawley, Tommy Casey.

North Sligo AC Girls

Rachel Oates, Sarah Oates, Sinead Keogh, Sorcha Fallon, Tory McGlynn.

Sligo AC Girls

Anna Reddin, Claire Conlon, Ennia Bedzoz, Rianne McHugh, Sarah McGeough, Stacey Kerr.

Irwin Gold medal the highlight of a really successful weekend for Sligo AC

A number of Sligo AC athletes made the very worthwhile trip up North this weekend to Magherafelt Co Derry for the National Juvenile All Ireland Indoor Championships. With an early start for the 60m heats there were great openers from both Kerrs, Graham and Stacey, and Ania Bednorz when all 3 athletes secured places in the 60m finals to be held later that day, Colm Bourke ran a fine race in his 60m heat just missing qualification for the final. Onto the finals, first up was Kevin McGlynn who went agonisingly close to a bronze medal in the u-19 boys 60m where he finished in 4th place but will have taken great confidence from his run, Ania Bednorz ran an excellent race where she mixed it all the way to the line to finish a close 7th in a new personal best time of 8.23 seconds. Both Kerrs went one after the other with Stacey first up and she flew out of the blocks and was involved in a blanket finish and resulted with a 5th place finish again with a new personal best of 8.25 seconds, Graham too can be really happy with his performance when he finished in a very close 5th place lowering his best to 8.39 seconds.
Onto our frst medal of the day, Zak Irwin (pictured no.458) drawn out on his own in lane 9 flew from the blocks and ran strong all the way to the line to win in fine style. Zak can be proud of his achievements as he is so new to sprinting at this level and has adopted to it in fine style. He will now concentrate on his 200m National bid in 2 weeks time.
Leo Doherty (pictured no 392) secured Sligo AC medal number 2 in the u-12 boys 600m, getting off to a slow start he quickly made up the ground going out onto the second lap of 2 and rounding into the home straight Leo took up the running only to be "collared" close to home by a young Donegal athlete. This was an amazing run by this fine young Sligo athlete and he can look forward to a very bright future. Colm Bourke did his confidence the world of good finishing a fine 6th in the boys u-18 triple jump as did Aishan Patil in the u-17 boys 1,500m where he too finished in 6th.
There was time for two more fine performances from Sligo athletes with first Sharon Hodgins running the most perfect race only to be pipped for 2nd place by a mere 0.2 of a second and had to settle for 4th place in a blanket finish - she held 2nd all the way up the straight until being pipped on the line. This is Sharons first indoor race so will learn so much from this. Then Killian O'Connor (pictured no.464) nearly pulled off the perfect run when he lead the boys u-19 1,500m all the way through the race, winding it up every lap and going out onto the final lap had kicked well clear, homing in on his first National title. However with 100m to go a Metro St Brigets athlete got onto his shoulder and out scrapped the gutsy O'Connor. But still a great performance and Killian came away with a brilliant silver medal.
Well done to all Sligo AC athletes and best of luck to all taking part in the second part of the National indoor programme in 2 weeks time in Nenagh.

Tubbercurry 10k Race Report

Tubbercurry's 38th Annual Road Race took place as usual on St. Patricks day and once again all participants were blessed with fine weather and great racing conditions. The added factor of this race being included in the new Credit Union Sligo Road Race Series added to the excitement before the event was underway. All local clubs were represented including Sligo AC, North Sligo, South Sligo, Mayo AC, Ballina AC and Tir Connaill and as such it promised to show a good battle for honours up front. Roger Barrett (Ballina AC) was the eventual victor crossing the line in 32.50 followed by road racing veteran John Byrne (Mayo AC) in second; 33.40. North Sligo's Phelim McGowan showed his obvious talent coming in third in a time of 34.12, a great result for this young athlete. Tir Connaill's Paul Ward closely followed hot on the heels of McGowan in a time of 34.19 and North Sligo's Thomas McBride took fifth place in a time of 34.41. A selection of the Sligo AC athletes that took part are as follows, Alan Kearins, Trevor Hunter, Rory Connor, Paul Deering, Willie Parke, Brendan Mullen, Dermot Cunningham, Deirdre Deering, Pauline Henry and Sheila Lehany. In the team event North Sligo took the mens honours whilst Sligo AC's female athletes took the womens title. This team was lead home by Rosanne Mitchell in a great time of 40.31 followed by Mari Johnson (41.21), Cindy McCarthy (43.55) and Corina Clarke (48.13). Deirdre Deering followed closely (48.18) ensuring the Sligo AC's womens had this title in the bag. Well done to them and to all club athletes who competed!