NATIONAL INDOORS
.03 of a second seemed to be the order of the day for Greystones AC over the second weekend of the National Juvenile Indoor Championships in Nenagh! After some fantastic competition on the first weekend, where Conor Dempsey took Gold in the Long Jump and bronze in the 60m at U15 with Jamie Fallon setting a new PB in the Long jump, while Lynda Earls took bronze in the 60m hurdles, Claire Foley finished 4th in the 60m and Jamie Cullen finished 4th in the 1500m  in 4m10s, setting a huge PB of 8 secs. at U18’s, the second weekend proved to be equally exciting.
On Sat. Jamie Cullen, U18 finished 4th once again, this time in a very exciting 800m, with a fantastic PB 2.00.03......watch that 2 mins go this season! At U 17 Padraig Lennon set a new PB in the heat and ran an equally exciting race to set another in the final of 2.06.17, missing out on a medal by just .03 of a second. U15, Scott Howard made the final comfortably in 2.22 and finished 7th in the final.
Sunday was relay day and we had 4 teams competing. First up were the boys U15 Jamie Fallon, Luke Donoghue, Scott Howard, Steven Diggin and luke Campion. The boys ran a terrific race and narrowly missed out on the final by……..yes, you guessed it .03 of a second.
The girls U 19 team of Zoe Lematy, Amy Howard, Aoife Conroy and Lynda Earls qualified for their final and went on to win the bronze medals.
In the afternoon we had the even ages and Greystones AC had two teams qualified in the U14 girls, quite an achievement for any club. Team 1 was Alison Dawson Whelan, Rebecca Murphy, Sinead O’Neill and Richael Browne and team 2 Susie McParland, Lisa Dallaghan, Alannah O’Carroll and Hilary Gallagher, with sophieboylan as sub for both teams. Our first team had a super race and won their heat comfortably to go through to the final, but disaster struck for team 2 with a fall at the first changeover and a further clash on the 2nd leg. However with true spirit the baton was retrieved and the girls ran fantastically well to pull back to third place in their heat. Team 1 put in a great race in the final, but finished out of the medals in 4th place.
Well done to all the athletes and coaches on a two great weekends of competition!

FIT4LIFE  RACE
We had some tremendous racing at the mile challenge on 13th March. with great numbers from our club taking part.  Greystones athletes recorded the 2 fastest times of the night, as Jamie Cullen finished in 4.40 with Padraig Lennon close on his heals in 4.44, tremendous running by the 2 boys! We had 5 more of our juvenile athletes finish in under 6 mins, with Dylan Grimes Larkin on 5.13, Steven Diggin 5.14,  Cain Baldwin 5.53, Richael Browne 5.57 and Sinead O’Neill 5.59. There were many more terrific performances and full results are available on www.slicualann.com

ST. PATRICK’S  DAY  PARADE
We had a good turnout for the St Patrick’s Day parade and we are proud to announce that we won a prize as the  ‘Most Topical’ entry with our Olympic games theme. The plaque is on display down at the track. Well done to all the athletes and coaches who took part on the day!

TRAINING OVER EASTER
Normal training times will apply over the Easter holidays except for Good Friday when the track is closed!

XC  LEAGUE
The date and time for round 4 of the XC League should be set at tonight’s county meeting and we will let you all know asap. Don’t forget that everyone who takes part is building points for the club, as well as points for yourselves, towards the overall prizes! Unlike last year, when we won by a huge margin, this year we are lying in second place at the moment. We need lots of athletes in the next round to try to close the gap, so lets get out there!

SHOP
Club shop will be open on Tues 24th Apr from 7-8.30pm to facilitate athletes who wish to purchase t-shirts, singlets, shorts, spikes etc. before the Wicklow Championships.

RELAYS
To allow coaches an opportunity to sort out relay teams and work with these teams in advance of  Co. Championships on May 12th/13th and Leinster relays May 20th , ( all held in Greystones) names are now being taken from athletes who want to be considered for these teams. There will be opportunities for all age groups from U8 upwards, but those who put their names forward must be prepared to attend training on a very regular basis.  Team members who continually miss training sessions will be replaced.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Wicklow County Championships are being held on Sat/Sun 12th/13th May in Greystones. This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our athletes and we expect all club members to make a huge effort to attend……..this is what you all train for! There will be events fo all age groups, with the very popular Award Scheme taking place on the Sat. for everyone up to U12. Relays & Fun events (Tug-O-War, Obstacle races) will also be included. Parents, do please put this in your diary and come along and make it a family weekend!Help will be needed over this weekend, so please let us know if you are available!

JUMPS &THROWS
We are delighted that some of our older athletes have offered to give us a hand with coaching and we hope to be able to include a lot more jumps and throws from now on, because of the extra help. Please let Theresa know if you have a special interest in a particular event and we will arrange coaching for you.

LUCOZADE SPORT CAPS
Our club has signed up to be part of the Lucozade Sport promotion, where we collect as many caps as possible from Lucozade sport bottles and try to win up to €10,000 for the club. Collection  jars are available at the track reception  area and we would encourage all members to help with this collection, if you can. Ask all your friends and relatives to hold on to their bottle caps for you. A big ‘Thank You’ must go to Shoreline, for once again helping us with our collection!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
 XC League….to be arranged at tonight’s meeting Tues 3rd.
 Fit4Life race 4 in Shanganagh Park Thurs 26th Apr. at 7.30pm.
 Wicklow County Championships in Greystones for all ages Sat/Sun 12th/13th May.
 Leinster Relays in Greystones for U9-U19 Sun 20th May
 IMC meet in Greystones Sat 26th May
 Leinster Jun/U23 (probably Greystones) Sun 27th May U17-U23

We would appreciate any photos from recent events for the web-site. Please e-mail to  theresa@athleticswicklow.com