National Track and Field League Final Preview
The GCH men’s team and the Galway ladies team have both comfortably qualified for the National Track and Field League Final, which takes place in Tullamore Stadium on Sunday 7th August next (from 11.30am). The top 8 track and field teams in the country will be on show in each event and both Galway squads have a realistic medal chance. Both men’s and ladies’ squads are incredibly strong teams consisting of many National Champions and international athletes. The GCH men’s squad under manager Brendan Glynn will field the likes of Sean Breathnach , National Shot champion, and fellow Irish Internationals Keith Fallon, sprinter Cillin Greene , Bryan Ndego in the high jump, and hurdler Evan McGuire as well as stalwarts such as Igor Muntean, Cliff Jennings , and Brendan Staunton in the field events and throws.
The Galway ladies squad are managed by Sarah Finnegan and she has some great talent at their disposal including Cathriona Farrell in the high jump, Sinead Treacy in sprints, Maebh Brannigan at 800m, and Niamh Hennelly over 1500m, as well as Rachel and Sarah Finnegan and Mary Barrett in the field and jumps.
Both managers have appealed to all athletics fans to travel to Tullamore on Sunday to support the teams as they vie for an historic podium finish.
National Half Marathon
The 2016 National Half marathon championships take place Sunday morning next in Dublin, with strong Galway representation – Athenry AC will be led by marathon medallist Jane Ann Meehan, while GCH men’s squad will look the claim a team title- led by Gary Thornton, and ably backed up by Gerry Carty, Matt Bidwell, and Lloyd Malcom, a team medal is a strong possibility. Others such as Martin Kearney and Martin Mcevilly of GCH will look to land individual medals in the testing 13.1-mile distance
Radisson Blu Streets of Galway 8K 2016 – Race preview
Galway’s biggest road-race takes place this weekend, as the 2016 event sees the 31st running of the iconic ‘Streets of Galway” 8K road-race. The Galway City Harriers organized event, which is sponsored this year by the Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa Galway, takes place on Saturday 6th August next at 7pm. This year the race will have 3,000 participants with many top Irish athletes competing including some Irish internationals and top local road runners as well as thousands of fun runners and joggers.
The race itself starts as usual at School Road on the junction of Fr. Griffin Road and Fr. Burke Road (directly outside the entrance to the Galway Technical Institute) and the finish- is in Southpark, Claddagh. The 8km route takes in all the city highlights, winding through the city-centre and out into the Salthill suburbs, before returning on the roads along the coast-line to Southpark in the Claddagh. All of the most famous landmarks in the city are taken in on en-route including the Spanish Arch, Eyre Square, NUIG, the Cathedral, and the Salthill promenade making it a superb way to see the city by foot, and thousands line the route to see friends and family run the Streets each year!
Number collection for those registered is at the Claddagh hall, South park, Salthill, and is from 2-8pm Friday and 9-4 pm Saturday. Confirmation email must be brought to collect number and race t shirt. Parking on a limited basis is available at the Hall on Friday and on the Grattan Road prom on Friday and Saturday.
Entries will close in advance of race day, but can still be made via online race-registration partners, ACTIVE.com (until 2nd August) andlimited entries to the race can be taken at the Claddagh hall on Friday only.
This year’s event has a prize-fund of over 5,000 euro, many category prizes open to master’s athletes and team prizes in both the men’s and women’s races.
The race committee spends six months planning and organizing the race and much help is provided by race sponsors, the Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa, as well as the Gardai , Galway City Council and our suppliers, without whom the race would not go ahead. Also The longevity and success of the race also owes much to the original founders, the first committee of Jack Mahon, Mick Roche (Race Director), and co, of Cospoir, whose stalwart work from 1986 on established the race as one of the “must do” events each year in the city. GCH took on the organisation of the growing event in 1991, with Oliver and Teresa Geraghty, PJ Coyle, Brian Geraghty, Danny Carr and others among the driving forces behind the famous city athletics club involvement, .
There have been many famous winners down through the years, including Olympians Paul Donovan, Rosemary Ryan (the women’s record-holder at 26.01), Mark Kenneally, and joint men’s record holders Seamus Power and Josphat Boit (the men’s race record is currently set at 22.49). Rosemary Ryan with six titles and Paul Donovan with four wins tops the women’s and men’s leaderboards respectively.
This year’s field is again a high quality one and includes a host of current and former national champions at various racing distances, including a very strong ladies field including Irish internationals Caroline Crowley of Crusaders, Laura Shaughnessy DSD , and Siobhan O Doherty, top men including Northern Irish runners Andrew Annett, Lindsay Gordon and Seamus Lynch, club athletes from Crusaders AC and Sportsworld AC in Dublin including Vinnie McGuinness, Phil Kilgannon and Ger Forde , regular prize winners Brian Murphy Ennis Track, Davy Byrne of Clonliffe and masters international Pat Byrne Tinryland AC and a swathe of Galway’s elite road-runners such as GCH athletes Joe Tannian, Regina Casey, and the legendary Christine Kennedy now back with GCH , all of whom will battle it out on the fast and flat course for top honours in 2015.
The field also includes three notable ever presents – those who have run in every race to date, namely Patrick Larkin (Moycullen), Gerard Murphy (Clare River Harriers) and Gerard Meehan (Dooneen AC) who return for the 31st time to the start line of the Streets – go neirí go geal leo!
The race attracts many Galwegians young and old alike who take on the distance as a challenge or to try to beat their previous year’s time, as well as to run alongside top local and national athletes and always creates a great atmosphere throughout the city on the evening of the event.