REGISTRATION FOR 2020

We have now completed renewal of Registrations for 2020 and will offer the small number of available places to those on our waiting list during this coming week.

 

Please note that there will be NO TRAINING for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups this coming week, because of the mid-term break. The 7-8.30pm groups will train as usual. It is very important that all relay runners attend on Tues & Wed evenings for training, before their event on Saturday next.

CONGRATULATIONS

Day 1 of the Leinster Indoor Championships on Sat 1^st Feb. saw Daniel Quirk U15 take Gold in the LJ & Silver in the 60m, with Rory McNally finishing 5th & Luca O'Shea Breen 8th. Exciting to see 3 GAC athletes lined up in the same sprint final & we had Camille Madden in the girls final also.
Jack McGlone had a fantastic race in the U17 400m taking gold in a terrific 53.73s and in the 1500m events we had lots of PB's with Joe Dowd taking silver U19 in 4.21.02 with Joe Prendergast 5th U18 in 4.18.33. We had 4 runners in the U17 where Paul Delahunty took silver in 4.21.48, with Andrew Brennan 6th in 4.28.82, Euan Brady 7th in 4.35.75 and Thomas French 9th in 4.43.62. Aodhán Daly took bronze in the U19 Long Jump & Chloe Hanley made the final 8 in the U14 Shot Putt, finishing 7th.

Day 2 Leinster Indoors on Sunday 2nd Feb. was another great day for GAC particularly in the middle distance events with 2 Golds, a silver, a bronze and a host of PB's in the 800m! In the Boys U15 Luca O'Shea Breen stormed to victory with a terrific 7.5 sec PB to go with his Gold medal. We had 4 runners in the Boys U17 where we had PB's all round with Paul Delahunty taking the Gold Jack McGlone taking silver only 0.33 of a sec behind, Andrew Brennan 8th, & Euan Brady, who set the pace for much of the race, taking 12th after a fall less than 30m from the finish line. In the Boys U18, which was the fastest race of the day, Joe Prendergast took Bronze and Michael O'Shea finished 8th with both setting new PB's. Rosanna Hickey also ran a PB to finish 7th in the Girls U14.
In the U15 60m Hurdles Daniel Quirk also stormed to victory with Tom McCarthy taking the Bronze and Camille Madden 8th in the Girls U15. Camille also finished 5th in the Long Jump and Catherine O'Shea finished 8th in the U14 Long Jump. There were many other fine performances during these two days also.

 

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National B Cross Country in Avondale on Sat 8^th Feb and huge congratulations to our U17 boys who not only took Individual Gold & Bronze but also collected team Gold for both Club & County. The lads packed well and were in contention from the start , with Paul Delahunty pulling away in the last lap to take the Gold, closely followed by Andrew Brennan in 3rd, Jack McGlone in 4th, Thomas French in 5th and Euan Brady 13th giving the boys a clear win in the Club team event and with Hugh Kelly from Inbhear Dee in 10th the County Team also took Gold. Great running boys!

In the Leinster schools XC on Wed 12^th Feb. Luca O’Shea Breen took silver in the Minor Boys and Paul Delahunty, Joe Prendergast, Andrew Brennan & Tom French helped the Junior boys take team silver for Templecarrig.

 

WICKLOW STAR AWARDS

The Wicklow Star Awards, which are being hosted by Inbhear Dee AC, will take place on Fri. 6^th March in the De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Wicklow Town at 7.30pm. All athletes, families & friends are invited to attend. Letters are on the way to the recipients and there are definitely some GAC athletes amongst them. We look forward to announcing the winners shortly and hope that they will get lots of support on the night.

 

LEINSTER STAR AWARDS

Congratulations to Jack McGlone & Niamh Kearney who received their Leinster Star Awards in Athlone on Sat 15^th Feb. This is a great achievement and GAC is very proud to have our club athletes taking two of the three Awards for 2019. Congratulations also to the Slí Cualann Juniors who won the Dew Shield for Best Junior Club.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 22^nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries closed.

 

Leinster Indoor Relays Day 4, Sun 23^rd March, Abbottstown. Entries closed.

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.29th Feb and Sun.1st March. Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by Tues 18^th Feb.

AAI Juvenile Star Awards Sat 29^th Feb, Bridge House, Tullamore

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7^th March, Santry

 

National Masters Indoors, Sun 8^th March, Athlone. Entries to Theresa.

 

National Juvenile Indoors Day 1 Sat 28^th March, Athlone. Qualification required

 

National Juvenile Indoors Day 2 Sun 29^th March, Athlone. Qualification required

 

NATIONAL XC IN AVONDALE

A huge Thank You to all the club athletes, coaches & parents who helped make the National XC event in Avondale such a success. It was a proud day for Wicklow Athletics and both Club & County appreciated your help. It was fantastic to see our U17 boys dominating their race and taking Individual, Club & County medals.

 

 

CLUB AGM

A reminder that the club AGM will be held on Thurs. 27^th Feb. at 8pm in Shoreline Sports Park. All members and parents of juvenile members are invited and encouraged to attend. The AGM is an opportunity for members to find out more about the running of the club, put ideas/suggestions forward and maybe get involved in helping the club to progress in the future. While we would welcome new members on to the club committee or any of our sub committees, we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night.

 

ATTENDANCE DAY TRIPS

Our club day trip for the 5-6 & 6-7pm groups, who met the required attendance percentage during 2019, has been arranged. The group will go to Jumpzone on Sat. 29^th Feb. where they will enjoy lots of trampoline fun followed by Pizza. All qualified athletes have been notified with full details of the trip and we hope everyone has a great day. A huge Thank You to Helen & Olivia for organising this and accompanying the young athletes.

 

Details of the trip for the 7-8.30pm groups will follow shortly!

 

REMINDER

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat and gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts and t-shirt or hoodie at this stage. It’s easy to take something off when you get too hot, but miserable if you have nothing to put on when you’re cold! Athletes should also wear appropriate runners and clothing to training sessions, as several are wearing astro turf shoes or street shoes and some children come in jeans which are not suitable.

 

CONTACTING THE CLUB

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers and committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Like everyone else, most are trying to fit this into their already busy lives as well as work, family and other commitments. It would therefore be a great help if athletes parents & guardians could respond to text messages & e-mails by the required dates, as it is unfair to expect our volunteers to have to send repeated requests for club registrations, race entries etc. etc.

 

We would also appreciate a little patience when you contact us, as we are not always in a position to respond immediately eg if replying to club text messages or e-mails, this doesn’t go directly to someone’s phone and won’t be seen until we next log in to the group text or e-mail account.