TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

Due to very poor attendances during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 25^th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual. Schools competitions are fast approaching!

Round 2 of the Juvenile League for athletes up to U15, will go ahead on Fri 21^st at the Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 19^th Apr.

 CLUB CAPTAINS

At our recent AGM we agreed to elect two Club Captains who will help and encourage our younger athletes and liaise between the coaches and the athletes on a regular basis. We are delighted to announce that Aoife Conroy & Conor Dempsey have agreed to accept the roles. Aoife & Conor have both been involved in athletics from an early age and have been competing for a number of years at all levels. They have experienced both the highs & the lows, have had the joy of standing on podiums, but also dealt with disappointment and with unwelcome injury & the long road to recovery. They have a wealth of experience which they are happy to pass on to our younger members and indeed have been passing on their skills at our training days for the past two years. We feel they will be a great help to those coming through in the future and will be happy to bring any concerns that athletes may have, to the coaches.

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

We had a great night at the club awards on the 24^st March and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2016. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, we will arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 26^th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

Our annual Good Attendance Trip took place on Saturday 8^th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Fiona Ryan for organising it and to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport.

The trip for our older athletes will take place on Apr. 22^nd to GoQuest.

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

Just over 80 athletes took the Mile Challenge on Saturday in glorious conditions in Greystones. Every club in the County was represented and the only word to describe the day was awesome. A better turnout from GAC this time, but still very small when you consider how many athletes could have been involved. Hopefully numbers will grow with each event.

Many of the athletes achieved a result well beyond their expectation and all were delighted with their wristbands. Next time they will aim even higher and try for the next colour band. Well done to all the athletes and thanks to all the coaches who motivated their athletes and gave them the opportunity to experience a great sense of achievement !!

WEBTEXT

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

CLUB SHOP

 The club shop will be open on Tues. 25^th Apr from 4.40 -5pm & 6.40 -7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have a good number of 2^nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. Reminders will be issued shortly for these unpaid amounts. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.  

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April. Entries to Theresa

2. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23^rd April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1^st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6^th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

6. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13^th/14^th May, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

7. Leinster Combined Events Championships, Claremont Stadium, Navan Sat 20^th May. Entry form will be on GAC website

8. Leinster Relays, Sun 22^nd May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

9. National Combined Events Championships Santry Entry form will be on GAC website

10. AAI Games, Santry (U17 upwards) Entry form will be on GAC website

RECENT RESULTS

Day 3 of the National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take bronze in the Long Jump in his first National Indoor Championships. Ailbhe Gordon, another first timer, threw a huge PB in the Shot Putt giving her a terrific 5^th place finish. A fantastic run from Joe Prendergast in the boys U15 800m heats and a 5th place finish after really taking on the final. 5^th place also for Ben Jones in the U17 boys 800m & for Richael Browne in the U19 girls. A new PB for Marcus Lalor in his 200m heat where he finished 4^th, with a 5^th place for Noah Daly in his and great hurdling from Emma Quirk saw her finish 4^th in her heat in the U15 girls 60mH. Well done to all who competed and represented the club so well!

Great running from the GAC athletes in the recent County road race where Brien Geraghty finished 3^rd overall, taking the M40 title with Caoimhin MacMaoláin finishing 7^th .Dermot Hughes finished 11^th in the M35 and William McCann finished 12th in the Senior men. Troy Scully finished 18^th overall, making him 2^nd in the Junior men’s to take the silver with Colm Flynn finishing in 5^th. Annette Cleary took silver in the W50, with Clodagh Manning finishing 6^th in the W45 & Christine McCann 6^th in the W55.Such a pity not to have full teams here, but hopefully we can improve on this for future events.

Troy Scully followed his 4.49 mile on Saturday with a 2nd place finish in the Great ireland 5K on Sunday, where he ran a fantastic 17.11, with William McCann running 39.48 in the 10K.