WELCOME BACK

 

Great to see so many athletes make it back to training last week and we hope you are all going to keep up your attendance level in the future, as attendance levels were very poor indeed during November and December. We don’t expect to be notified every time an athlete has to miss training, but we remind everyone that athletes who go missing for more than 3 weeks without contacting us are deemed to have left the club and places are passed on to those next on the waiting list.

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-shirts or hoodies 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.

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2019

Registration for this year will take place from 5pm -5.30pm and from 6.30-8.00pm on Tues. 22nd Jan. and also from 7pm-7.30pm on Fri 25^th Jan. 2019. Athletics Ireland have increased the Registration/Insurance costs for all athletes from Jan 1^st 2019, so GAC are increasing our annual fee to €35 for 1^st family member and €25 for 2^nd family member. We are holding the fee for 3^rd and fourth family members at €20 each. As we have had to update our membership forms to conform with the new GDPR rules, ALL returning athletes will need to fill out a new form this year. The new Membership Forms can now be downloaded from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times and Club Info’. Please complete these in advance which will save time at registration, but copies will be available if you are unable to download and print them. All club athletes must either register at these times or put new signed form and fee in an envelope and post it in our club dropbox at reception during registration week. A small number of athletes owe varying amounts for unpaid weekly subs. during 2018 and these will need to be paid when registering for 2019. A text message with amount owed will be sent to all concerned.

Un-registered athletes cannot be allowed on to the track from Tues. 29^th Jan. as they will no longer be insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Ellen McNally who won the Juvenile Girls Leinster Star Award for 2018, to Joseph Prendergast who won the Juvenile Boys award and to Richael Browne who won the Senior award. We are delighted to see GAC athletes winning all three awards once again. They received their awards at the annual dinner on Sat. 5^th Jan. in Tullamore.

 

Congratulations also go to Alana Ryan on her selection to the National Relay Squad, a tribute to her hard work and dedication over the years.

 

RELAY SQUAD

We will be organising training sessions for athletes who are interested in being considered for relay teams at the Indoor Championships on March 3^rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Tues. 15^th Jan. if you want to be included in the squad. Teams will be selected from the training squad!

 

SUNDAY RUN

It would be great to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run, which takes place each Sunday we don’t have a competition, in a variety of beautiful locations around the County. All of you are welcome to join in our Sunday run. Primary schoolgoers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Some parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up and start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 40-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s a very important part of the week’s training !!! Venues are posted on our website and FB page each week.

 

INDOOR TRAINING SESSION

Greystones AC and Inbhear Dee AC are arranging an Indoor training session in Abbottstown on Sat. 26^th Jan. from 9-11am. This is open to all athletes U12 – U19 (born 2001- 2008) who intend competing in the Leinster Championships on Feb 9^th and 10^th and will be a great opportunity to get some practice on the Indoor track before the event. It will be especially beneficial to those who have not run indoors previously. Only those who are entered for the Indoor competitions will be allowed to attend. Forms will be on our website shortly with full details.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

National Combined Events Sat 19^th Jan, Athlone

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 22^nd Jan, Avondale

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26^th Jan, Athlone

National Junior/U23’s, Sun27^th Jan, Athlone

AAI Games, Sat. 2^nd Feb., Abbottstown

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B and XC Relays. Sun 3^rd Feb, Dundalk IT

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 9^th Feb, Athlone

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun. 10^th Feb, Athlone

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 13^th Feb. Santry

AIT Grand Prix Wed 13^th Feb, Athlone

National Senior Indoors, Sat.16th and Sun.17^th Feb. Abbottstown.

LeinsterJun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day3,Sat.2^ndMarch, Abbottstown

Leinster Indoor Relays Day 4, Sun 3^rd March, Abbottstown

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 9^th March, Clongowes Wood, Clane

National Masters Indoors, Sun 10^th March, Athlone

INJURY PREVENTION/ REHAB

We are very lucky to have a top class Physio Matt Cox, working with our club every Tues. evening, who offers regular 20 mins. session to our athletes for a very reasonable price. A good number of our athletes have availed of these sessions throughout the year and as a result most stayed injury free. For those who were unlucky enough to sustain an injury, the quick access to Physio aided rapid recovery & soon had them back to full strength. Athletes generally have regular maintenance sessions once every 4 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. We have some places available at present, so anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0877730000.

 

HELP NEEDED!

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. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work and family commitments, like everyone else. The present group are overstretched trying to cover all the training hours and while we want to offer a big ‘Thank You’ to those who have joined our coaching team in the past couple of months and are delighted to welcome them on board, we are still very much in need of more helpers as we have to maintain the correct ratio of coaches to athletes at all sessions. If we do not get more volunteers, in future we may have to send athletes home on occasion if we don’t have enough coaches on a given night. Consequently, we are asking parents dropping children off to wait for coaches to arrive before leaving the track, as otherwise you will have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session!

 

NOTICE OF ANNUAL DAY TRIP, CLUB AWARDS NIGHT AND AGM WILL FOLLOW SHORTLY.