Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to our new National Indoor Champions, Alana Ryan in the Girls U15, 60m and Ben Jones in the Boys U14, 800m. Congratulations also to Padraig Lennon on his National bronze medal in the Boys U19, 1500m and to Ara Freeman on her 4th place finish in the Girls U17, 60m.
Well done to all our club athletes who took part in the Schools Invitational Track & Field here in Greystones last Friday and congratulations to the many medal winners, far too numerous to list.
Well done also to all who took part in the XC League in Aughrim on Friday evening, where once again we had terrific performances from our athletes. The last round of the League will be held in Greystones on Thurs 17th Apr. Check-in from 6.30pm with races for U7/9/11/13/15.  Hoping to see lots of our athletes taking part as we are in with a great chance of retaining the overall club trophy. Entry form is on the web-site now and will close on Wed. 16th.
Across the Atlantic, Greystones AC athlete Niamh Kearney is having an amazing year, running regular PB’s in the 1500m, the 3K and the 3K Steeplechase. She has twice recently been named Athlete of the week and has also set a new college record for the mile. Back home our other scholarship athlete Ellie Hartnett also continues to shine following up her medal winning indoor season with a 3rd place finish in the Intervarsities XC in Cork. She will start her T&F season at the Intervarsities in Waterford this week. GAC is mighty proud of their achievements.

COMPETITION DATES
Dates were sent out recently for competitions coming up shortly and all upcoming competitions from Apr – Aug ’14 will shortly be listed on the calendar on our website. The entry form for the Wicklow County Championships will be up shortly also and the closing date for entries will be Wed. 30th Apr. No late entries can be accepted.

NOTE RE SHORTS FROM AAI
While the rule about singlets is strictly adhered to, it is becoming increasing common for athletes to wear shorts which are inappropriate for the following reasons:
·      National Apparel is to be worn only when representing Ireland at International Competition.  No athlete should compete wearing Athletics Ireland shorts at a National Event.
      In general shorts should be single colour, not patterned. While a Nike/Adidas etc logo is acceptable, multi-coloured or patterned shorts are not.
·       Where possible shorts should complement the singlet, if in doubt black is always acceptable.
It is not in the best interest of any athlete that they be asked to changed their shorts when they appear in the assembly area, the most appropriate way to deal with this is through communication with the athletes/clubs in advance of events.

CLUB SHOP
GAC club gear is available from the Club Shop. The next shop night will be Tues. 29th Apr. from 7-8.30pm. All athletes should wear club singlet/T shirt & shorts when attending competitions. Hoodies, rainjackets etc. are also available.

TRAINING GROUPS
All club training groups are full at present and we have a waiting list for places, so we remind all athletes/parents that regular attendance at training is expected and athletes who go missing for up to 3 weeks without contacting us to explain why, will be deemed to have left and their places will be given to those on the waiting list. We also remind the athletes in the 7-8.30pm groups that they have committed to attend at least two sessions a week when moving up to these groups. Less than this means they struggle to keep up with the training, which consequently demoralises them and holds back the progress of the entire group.

CLUB HELPERS
Thanks to the parents who have agreed to help out with checking in the athletes at the track gate as this is a great help to the coaches, who can then concentrate on getting on with the training session. We are still looking for extra helpers  and also for extra coaches if anyone would like to get involved.

HEALTH & SAFETY REMINDER
We remind parents that they should not drop children off at the track without ensuring there are coaches present. GAC is only responsible for the athletes after they have checked in at the bottom track gate. We recommend that younger children be accompanied to this gate and collected here after their session, to avoid having them wandering around the busy Carpark/Sportspark on their own. We have a limited number of coaches available and cannot supervise drop off/collection, as coaches are trying to get ready for the training sessions.
We take this opportunity to remind parents using the carpark to be extra cautious on the premises. Inconsiderate driving or parking may cause injury to a child or inhibit emergency access. Also note that not all vehicles accessing the carpark during our club times are associated with the club and these drivers may not be anticipating the presence of small children.
A reminder also that Shoreline Sports Park is a business premises and is not our Clubhouse, therefore we must not use the reception area as a waiting room. Please do not gather in the reception area or in groups outside the entrance to the building, as this block access for other customers. This causes complaints from other users of the facilities and does not give a good impression of GAC athletes. Changing rooms and toilets are of course available for our use, other than this athletes should go straight to the track when they arrive for training. On occasions when parents are late picking up the older athletes on dark evenings, we do however encourage these children to assemble close to but not blocking the reception entrance in view of the camera.

ADULT RUNNING
Our BEGINNER2WINNER group took part in their first race last Thurs. evening in Shanganagh Park and all completed the course comfortably. We are really proud of them all and look forward to watching their progress over the coming weeks. We started a new programme this week, with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and hope to see lots of new faces coming along.
Don’t forget that our regular established Fit4Life sessions will continue as normal Mon/Wed at 8.30pm & Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member.
Our road run also continues on Tues evenings at 7.15pm and again we would hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join the group. This one is for club members, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining.


Forest Feast Launch with GAC 2015

https://youtu.be/XNR7iuI6ufg

SUNDAY RUN

Selection of Relay Teams

UPCOMING EVENTS

Leinster Indoor Champs.

2nd & 3rd March - Leinster Juveniles Day 1&2 - TUS Athlone

 

9th March - Leinster U20, Senior & Masters Champs - TUS Athlone

 

10th March - Leinster Juveniles Day 3 - TUS Athlone

 

ENTRY FORM OPEN!

MINI LEAGUE

R3 of our Juvenile League.

 

New date :Saturday 17th Feb at 11:00 am Venue: Shanganagh Park

 

Sat March 23rd  Greystones

Track

 

Sat Apr 13th Arklow

2K Challenge

REMINDER!!!
Please keep your race number from County XC's, as you will need it again for the Mini League events coming up shortly!