CONGRATULATIONS

 

All roads led to Tullamore for the first three weekends of July, as athletes, coaches & parents set off to the National Championships full of excitement and hopeful of ending the Track & Field season with good performances.

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed and who represented the club so well. Disappointing however that having put the work in & qualified for the Nationals, so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Many congratulations to the medal winners, to all who earned PB's and to everyone who put in so much effort. Congratulations also to those who competed in the National B Championships, where we had some great results and to all who took part in the Bray Invitational, where we retained both the Overall Cup & the Relay Shield once again.

 

National Championships

U19: Alana Ryan Silver in 100m & 200m, Marcus Lennon 4^th in 200m

 

U17: Alan Gordon Bronze in Pole Vault

 

U16: Ellen McNally Gold in Triple Jump with a CBP, Emma Quirk Silver in Triple Jump

 

U15: Jack McGlone Bronze in 800m

 

U14: Ailbhe Gordon Silver in Javelin

 

U13: Bronze for Boys Relay, Daniel Connety, Tom McCarthy, Rory McNally, Daniel Quirk Subs: Luca O’Shea Breen, Corey O’Brien.

 

 

National B Championships

U

16: Michael O’Shea Bronze in 800m

 

U14: Lucy Daly Bronze in Long Jump

 

U13: Luca O’Shea Breen Gold in 600m & Bronze in 80m. Rory McNally Bronze in Shot Putt.

 

FREE TICKETS & RELAYS
The National Senior Championships are being held in Santry this coming weekend & Athletics Ireland are inviting club members to the Championships on Sunday the 29^th of July Free of Charge. Juvenile athletes (U12 and U14) will be given the opportunity to race on the very same track as their heroes’ in a 4x100m club mixed relay event. If interested in taking part, please text your name to 0877730000. Children can also avail of face painting, Irish Life Health Goodie bags and meet the Stars of Irish Athletics throughout the day. The event will go Live on RTÉ from 17:30.

Also trying to make up teams for the Regatta Relays in Wicklow Town on Tues. 31^st July at 7pm. Teams of 3, primary schoolers 3x350m, older athletes 3x1100m. Lots of fun & medals to top 3 teams in each category & division! Please specify which relays you are interested in!

 

TRAINING

As most athletes have now finished competing and the attendance at training has been very erratic for the past few weeks, we notified all concerned & finished training on Fri. last 20th July, for everyone except those competing in the National Seniors & the League. Training throughout the summer for the League, will be by arrangement with the coaches involved.

 

For all our other athletes we recommend a two week break, which many have had by now, and then you should start back gradually, running 15-20 mins (younger groups 10-15m) every second day and adding a couple of mins each week. This way you will return in Sept. 'Fit to Train' and not have to spend the first few weeks trying to get fit. Our first events will come up very quickly, when we return in Sept. so you need to be ready to train when we return.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 4^th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7^th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11^th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.

 

Groups for Sept.'18 will be organised very shortly to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Athletes who have not attended for a number of weeks need to text us on 0877730000 by July 31st if they wish to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you in Sept.

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts over the past few weeks. A webtext reminder will be sent to those who owe weekly subs, entries fees where athletes didn't show up for events they had entered and club gear. These debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept.

 

COACHES & HELPERS

Greystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers, committee members and of course the athletes who give of their time. We have a very dedicated group of coaches & helpers, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. Over the past year we have found ourselves very stretched for volunteers to help out both with coaching and with administrative work. As you will all appreciate there are strict guidelines that we have to adhere to in terms of athlete-coach ratios, and therefore we are always in need of more coaches and assistants on the track. More and more official policies are being introduced which has meant that current volunteers are giving more of their time to familiarise themselves with these new policies and to ensure that the club is fully compliant. Pauline Dallaghan was a much valued coach and Competitions Secretary with the Club for many years and since she recently stepped down we are now looking for someone to fill that role. Pauline is very willing to talk to anyone who thinks they might be interested and to brief them on what is entailed. If you think you have the time to help with coaching, review of policy documents, administration, check-in, fundraising, organising the annual day-out... please do let us know and we would be delighted to welcome you on board

 

 

Best of Luck to those competing in the National Seniors next weekend and to our girls in the National League Final on Aug 19^th!