Ballinasloe Athletic Club round-up

Eva Ruane winning Gold in the girls u14 3,000m at Galway Cross Country Championship, Galway Racecource.

Aoife Berrigan winning Bronze in the girls u12 2,000m and her sister Laura Berrigan running a strong race in the girls u10 1,000m to finish in 11th place - her first cross-country competition with the club

A great opportunity for committee and parents to come together and review the year gone by was provided by the Clubs Zoom AGM.
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Chairperson Ann Fitzpatrick welcomed all and  Club Secretary Paula Harley, Club Treasurer  Laura Kelly and Club PRO Marion Ruane provided detailed reports.    

A number of athletes competing in the Galway Indoor Competitions in January and the Connacht Indoor Competition in February, many got the opportunity to compete for the first time at those levels.    Despite the usual COVID 19  interruptions many athletes continued to train and were delighted to have the opportunity to compete in the Galway Cross Country Championships in October.  Some of the key highlights included: 

Galway Indoor Competition
Kate Kilkenny take home Silver in the girls u11 600m and Lauren Loughrey also winning Silver in girls u10 Long Jump and coming 4th in 60m sprint. Adam Murray ran a strong 600m in the u 12 boys to finish with a Silver medal also.  Aoife Berrigan finished in 4th place in a very competitive 600m as did Lisa Herity placing 4th in girls 60m.

Martin Keane won Gold in the Senior Shot Put and Cillian Ó'Tuairisg also winning Gold in the boys u13 Shot Put.  Jamie Fernandez took on the boys u18 3,000m to win Gold and secure a new PB.  Jamie also competed in the boys u18 60m.   Caoimhe Kilkenny also finished first in the girls u15 60m taking home another Gold for the club.

Connacht Indoor Competition
Luke Manning winning Bronze in the u15 boys 60 metre and Cillian ό Tuairisg, Ballinasloe & District Athletics Club winning Silver in the boys u13 Shot Put.

National Indoor Championship
Martin Keane won silver in weight for distance and 4th in Shot Putt and Veronica Burke also winning Silver in the 3,000 mts walk.

Galway Cross Country Championship
Laura Berrigan ran a great race under 10 on her Cross Country debut, finishing just one place short of winning a medal. Aoife Berrigan under 12 ran a super race in stiff competition to finish 3rd and win a bronze medal. Eva Ruane finished the day off in style for the club to win gold u14 and become Galway County Champion!

Ending an era for the Club with Ann Fitzpatrick and Paula Harley stepping down from their roles as Club Officers and Coaches.  The Club, and in particular the athletes past and present have been extremely fortunate to have had both Anne and Paula involved in coaching and mentoring .” We all share many great memories together and would like to express our sincere gratitude for the time they have given so willingly and the support and encouragement they have shown to everyone of our athletes”, stated new Chair Mags Kilkenny. 

Elected to serve for the next season were Chairperson Mags Kilkenny, Secretary Fidelma Herity, Assistant Secretary Antoinette Stephenson, PRO Marion Ruane, Treasurer Laura Kelly, Child  Welfare Officers Emma Bookless & Grace Loughrey.
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Details of registration and training plans will be published on our Facebook page (see below) as soon as updates from Government allow.  In the meantime, they encourage all athletes to stay active and to take every opportunity to get out and run!