from Galway City Harriers Submitted by seamus
Photo-credit – Athenry ACUPDATE – there is a fantastic collection of photographs from FOA 2008 now available at the following location courtesy of Athenry AC: https://www.athenryac.com/image-galleries/fields-athenry-10km-2008-ar With his usual efficiency, Athenry AC’s James Lundon has a provisional set of results posted since earlier today for yesterday’s 10K road-race around the famous fields and heritage town of Athenry – as per the following with multiple formatted attachments for your delictation: https://www.athenryac.com/2008-provisional-results
In terms of GCH participation, the statistics tell a fairly complete story. We had at least 44 declared athletes out between male/female, junior/senior runners in a total field of 829. We had 7 finishers in the top 50 and those runners are now each in possession of one of the much coveted, black long-sleeved top-50 finisher t-shirts – lucky devils! While of course winning isn’t everything, of the 39 prize-winners, GCH claimed a magnificent 9, or as close to 25% of the spoils as makes no difference.
Gary Thornton takes most acclaim for retaining his Fields crown and coming close again to breaking the 30 minute barrier.
Conrad Conneely, Martin McEvilly, Mary McHugh (all seniors) and Nicola O’Ceallaigh (junior) were all winners in their respective categories, while Ian Egan, Brian Geraghty, Bernie Kelly (all seniors) and Keith Fallon (junior) all finished in second place in their categories. Great running all!
As for the rest of us, sure where else could or would you be on a calm, dry St. Stephen’s morning other than out in Athenry, soaking up the atmosphere around this great race? For most of us, this marks the final road-race of 2008, and this particular race and the host club of Athenry AC provides a fitting way to ring out the old and look forward to the new and what is to come in 2009. The athletics club-scene in county Galway is beginning to thrive again, the number and variety of road-races around our county is fantastic, the rivalry can be intense but is always friendly – let’s all get running again in 2009!