Sun

16

Feb

2020

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

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 1st 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 M
cGlone 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 8th 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 12th 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. 6th 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 15th 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. 22nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries closed.

 

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

 

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

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

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7th March, Santry

 

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

 

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

 

National Juvenile Indoors Day 2 Sun 29th 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. 27th 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. 29th 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.

Thu

16

Jan

2020

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

LOTS OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ TO THE END!

Great to see so many athletes make it back to training during the last two weeks and we hope you are all going to keep up your attendance level during the coming months, as attendance levels were very poor 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-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.

 

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2020

Registration for 2020 is now due and fees remain the same as last year. Club Registration/Insurance is €35 for 1 family member, €60 for 2 family members, €80 for 3 family members or €100 for 4 or more family members. Those who are renewing membership do not need to fill out another form. New members can either download a form from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times and Club Info’ or pick one up when checking in at training. This year you can either put fee (with signed form if needed) in an envelope and post it in our club dropbox at reception or pay your fees directly to our bank account during the next two weeks. Acct details: BIC BOFIIE2D, IBAN IE42BOFI90113213191432. It is crucial that you include the athlete’s name in the narrative, otherwise we will not have a record of your payment and your athlete may be refused admission. A small number of athletes owe varying amounts for unpaid weekly subs. during 2019 and these will need to be paid when registering for 2020. A text message with amounts owed will be sent to all concerned this week.

Un-registered athletes will not be allowed on to the track from Tues. 28th Jan. as they are no longer insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Jack McGlone on winning the Juvenile Boys Leinster Star Award for 2019, and to Niamh Kearney who won the Senior award. We are delighted to see GAC athletes winning awards again this year. They will receive their awards at the annual dinner on Sat. 15th Feb. in The Radisson Blu Hotel.

 

 

CLUB AWARDS

Our club Awards night will take place this year on Friday 31st Jan. at 7pm in Greystones Ridge Angling Club, down at the Harbour. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2019, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year award. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2019, all athletes and their families are  welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. To facilitate this Awards night, there will be no training on Friday 31st Jan. We promise not to keep you all out too late as we hope a large number of the athletes will be competing on Sat. & Sun. in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone. The entry form is on our website and must close Tues 21st Jan.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

National Combined Events Sat 18th Jan, Athlone Entries closed. Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 21st Jan, Avondale. Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone. .Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sun 26th Jan, Athlone. Gust entries on the day.

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 1st Feb, Athlone. Entriy form closes 21st Jan.

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun. 2nd Feb, Athlone. Entry form closes 21st Jan.

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B and XC Relays. Sun 8th Feb. Avondale. Entry form closes 28th Jan.

 

AAI Games, Sun. 9th Feb., Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa

 

 

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 12th Feb. Santry

 

 

AIT Grand Prix Wed 12th Feb, Athlone

 

 

Leinster Star Awards Radisson Blu Hotel Sat.15th Feb.

 

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 22nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by 11th Feb.

 

 

Leinster Indoor Relays Day 4, Sun 23rd March, Abbottstown. ( see note below re relay squad)

 

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.29th Feb and Sun.1st March. Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by Tues 11th Feb.

 

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

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7th March, Santry

 

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

 

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 3rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training next Tues. & Wed. 21st/ 22nd Jan. if you want to be included in the squad. Teams will be selected from the training squad!

 

 

NATIONAL XC IN AVONDALE (VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE)

Athletics Wicklow have the honour of hosting a National XC event this year in Avondale. The event is the National Intermediate & Masters XC with the Juvenile B XC (shorter distances) & the U12/14 Juvenile XC Relays (4x500m). The Juvenile events will be 2019 ages, so a last opportunity to compete in this age group

The event takes place in Avondale on Sat 8th Feb. and the organising committee will need lots & lots of help to make this a huge success. All County Wicklow clubs must supply at least 8 stewards to cover all positions on the day. If a good number of people volunteer to help out then everyone can do a couple of hours rather than the same few working all day long. You don’t need to have experience at Cross Country as there are many positions to be filled stewarding on the course and helping with directing traffic, car parking etc. etc. Please text Theresa on 0868635797 or contact us through our website if you are available/willing to help out at this event. Names are needed asap, so that arrangements can be finalised quickly. We really need your help, so please volunteer if you possibly can!!!

 

 

CLUB AGM

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 27th 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 trips, for those who met the required attendance percentage during 2019, will take place shortly. List of qualified athletes will be posted on the website shortly and full details of trips will be sent out once arrangements are completed. Looking forward to great days out for everyone again this year!

 

 

CLUB SHOP

As we have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues. 28th Jan. from 4.45-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 

 

FINALLY

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. Help is also needed for about 20 mins. each night to assist with the check-in for the 7pm sessions.

Sun

15

Dec

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

Well done to Jack McGlone, Tom McCarthy, Colm O’Neill and Emma Wylie who competed in the National XC Championships recently in Abbottstown and Dunboyne.

 

Hugh congratulations to Brian Geraghty who led the Irish M45 team to silver medals in the Home Counties XC in Ainfield recently. Brian finished 5th overall in the M45 section, a fantastic performance particularly for someone so new to XC!

 

Well done to Joe Dowd running 16.29 in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec. 7th ,where he improved on last year’s time by 32 secs. Great running guys!

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor for the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we will presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and will offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment. Those who have not attended for a number of weeks but who wish to return in January need to let us know asap via ‘Contact Us’ on our website. Those we don’t hear from may not have a place in January.

 

XMAS TRAINING

Training will continue at the usual times this coming week finishing up for Xmas on Fri 20th Dec. The 7-8.30pm session on Fri 20th will be the ‘Solstice Mile’ which is a fundraiser for one of our young athletes who is going abroad with his school in 2020 to help disadvantaged children. He is a committed athlete and also one of out junior coaches, who helps with coaching the younger groups each week. The event will start at 7pm and will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards in the Party Room. Open to everyone from U12 up!

 

GAC will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session!

 

The track will close at 6pm on Mon 23rd Dec and will be closed all day on Dec 24th, 25th, 26th & 31st & also on Jan 1st. As the track closes at 6pm during Xmas week, athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Fri 3rd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 7th Jan.

 

WICKLOW INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Athletics Wicklow is organising an Indoor event to allow athletes start their Indoor season with a more relaxed fun competition

 

All events are finials - no heats - where numbers dictate, races will be run in sections with times deciding places. Competition will be for 2020 ages, ie U9 born 2012, U10 born 2011 etc.

 

Under 9, 10, 11 will be offered an Awards Scheme - 60m, 600m and Long Jump. These events will start at 1-00pm sharp and should be completed by 3-00pm latest.

 

Events for all other Age Groups, including Senior & Masters :

 

60m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, Long Jump, Shop Putt, High Jump

 

Other events could be added if there is a demand.

 

Athletes may compete in a max. of 3 events. If numbers are too big, this may be restricted to 2 so when entering, declare your events in order of preference.

 

The entry form is currently on our website and will close on Thurs. 19th , as entry must be with the organisers by Fri 20th latest.

 

After this date any additions will be accepted only if there are spaces available.

 

GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

Our annual Attendance Trips for those with good attendance during 2019, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. November attendances are now being added to the lists & the final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trip will be notified at the end of Dec.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

SOLSTICE MILE Fri 20th Dec at 7pm at Greystones Track.

 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Thurs. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 

WICKLOW CO. INDOORS, Abbottstown Sat. 4th Jan 1-5pm. All ages from U8 up.

 

COUNTY MASTERS XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan. 5th. 11am.

 

NATIONAL INDOOR LEAGUE R1, Sat 11th Jan, Abbottstown

 

NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS Sat 18th Jan, Athlone

 

NATIONAL JUNIOR/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone

 

 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & t-shirt 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

 

WISHING ALL OF OUR ATHLETES & COACHES & THEIR FAMILIES A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

 

Mon

11

Nov

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent Leinster XC Championships in Gowran & Ferbane. The Club greatly appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams. These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults.

 

 

We were very disappointed with the poor attendance on both days this year and failed to make up teams in most age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

Congratulations go to Joe Dowd on his 9th place medal in the U19 Boys, earning him individual qualification for Nationals & also a place on the Leinster Team. A super race from Andrew Brennan in the U16 boys, saw him just missing out on the medals, but qualifying for Nationals as part of the Wicklow team where he will be joined by Jack McGlone. Also qualifying as part of the Wicklow County teams are Colm O’Neill & Tom McCarthy U14 boys & Emma Wylie U11 girls.

 

Congratulations also to senior athlete Niamh Kearney who had a great race in Ferbane last Saturday to finished 4th in the Leinster Senior XC. Great to see Niamh doing so well as a senior and still enjoying her running.

 

Huge congratulations go to Brian Geraghty whose first XC outing in Abbottstown earned him qualification to the Irish Team for the International Masters event in Aintree next Sunday 16th Nov. We wish him the very best of luck in the event.

 


 

TRAINING

 

Attendance at training has been very poor indeed from some athletes over the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and we offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment.

 


 

SOLSTICE MILE

 

This year we will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile as a fund raiser for one of our young athletes, who is going abroad with his school in 2020 to help disadvantaged children. He is a committed athlete and also one of out junior coaches, who helps with coaching the younger groups each week. The event will be held on Fri 20th Dec @ 7pm and there will be tea/coffee and cakes afterwards as well as a cake sale.

 

This event will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice, starting at 7pm. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Open to everyone from U12 up! We will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session. !

 


 

GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

 

Our annual trips for those with good attendance during 2019, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. October attendances are currently being added to the lists and we will post the up to date list shortly. A good number of athletes are close enough to get their percentage up to 60% by improving their attendance over the coming weeks. The final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trips will be notified during Dec. Don’t forget that extra attendance points are awarded for attending competitions.

 

Separate trips for our older athletes are also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Round 5 Co. League Roundwood GAA this coming Fri 15th Dec. 7pm sharp. Uneven Ages U7-U15. Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Thurs. 14th.

 


 

National Senior & Even Ages XC, Abbottstown, Sun 24th Nov. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 


 

County Senior XC, Sun 9th Dec. in Avondale @ 11am.

 


 

Round 6 Co. League Bray Emmets Fri 6th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15. Form is on our website.

 

 

 

 

National Novice & Uneven Ages XC, Dunboyne, Sun. 15th Dec. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 


 

Solstice Mile, Fri 20th Dec. (fundraiser for one of our young athletes to help disadvantaged kids)

 


 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Thurs. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 


 

Wicklow Co. Indoors, Abbottstown Sat. 4th Jan 1-5pm. All ages from U8 up.

 


 

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan. 5th. 11am.

 


 

Celtic XC, Sat 11th Jan. Stirling, Scotland.

 


 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 11th Jan, Abbottstown

 


 

National Combined Events Sat 18th Jan, Athlone

 


 

National Junior/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone

 


 

National Indoor League R2, Sun 26th Jan, Athlone

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 26th Nov. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have some secondhand hoodies & a good number of spikes available. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! (Multi coloured shorts are not acceptable) If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

Co.Wicklow had our first Indoor T&F event in Jan. 2019 and it was a great success, so a bigger & better event is currently being planned for 2020. This event will be open to all registered athletes from U8 up and will take place from 1-5pm on Sat. 4th Jan in the NIA in Abbottstown. A programme is currently being worked on and full details will follow shortly, so keep a look out for them as entries will need to be taken well in advance of the event.

 


 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Attendance at the organised Sunday Run is very poor indeed and we would really love to see a big improvement. These long easy runs take 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 school children should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s an important sessions of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 


 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics. Athletes should also bring a drink to training with them and should please use the toilets before coming down to the track. We understand that occasionally children will need to go again especially when it’s cold, but coaches constantly having to leave the track to accompany children to the toilets disrupts the training for all the children in the group.

 

Tue

15

Oct

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent County XC Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams. These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults. We were disappointed with the very poor attendance both days and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

 We had lots of medal winners, Individual Gold medals: Luca O’Shea Breen U14, Andrew Brennan U17, Abbie Tyrrell U18, Individual Silver: Joe Dowd U18, Megan O’Brien U18, Abbie Tyrrell Junior Women, Joe Dowd Junior Men, Individual Bronze: Ava Foley U14, Team Gold for Junior Women: Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien & Isobel Radford Dodd. The girls also won the U18 team Gold, Team Gold also for the U14 Girls : Ava Foley, Charlotte Hudson, Rosanna Hickey, Amy D'Arcy, Ailbhe Kelly, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, Chloe Hanley. Team silver for U13 Girls Rosanna Hickey, Charlotte Hudson, Ailbhe Kelly, Keeva Brennan, Lizzie McIllroy Team Bronze for the U10 Girls, Kate Patchell, Rachael Kennedy, Laura Stanley, Eve Smyth, Katie O'Neill and Ellie O'Neill. Team Bronze for the Boys U11: Daniel Anderson Luke Lennon, Luke Joyce, Jack Deegan, Hugh Woodley, Bronze also for Boys U10, Harry Coghlan, Luke Joyce, Hector Marrinan and Timur Barkevic. Well done to all! Hopefully we will get lots more out running the League XC Races & the Leinster XC & will be able to field lots of teams!

 

More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

 

 

XC LEAGUE

The Wicklow Juvenile League consists of 5 races, 2 Track & 3 Cross Country. The distances are far shorter than the Championship ones, so very suitable to all levels of fitness. Athletes who complete all 5 races receive a gold medal, 4 races a silver medal and 3 races a bronze medal and there is an overall Shield for the Best Club each year.. A good number of our athletes have already taken part in the track races, so get your entries in and complete the full League. For new members or those who missed the track races, you can still earn yourself a bronze medal if you complete the 3 XC races and you can also help your club build up points and hopefully win the Overall Shield for 2019.

 

The first of the 3 XC League races is this coming Friday 18th Oct. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Check-in at 6.30pm, 1st race 7pm, all over in less than an hour. Entry form is on our website and athletes need to get their entries in right away.

 

Round 4 is in Roundwood GAA on Fri Nov.15th and Round 5 is at Bray Emmets grounds on Fri Dec.6th. Entry forms for all 3 rounds are on our website!

 

 

 LEINSTER XC

 The Leinster XC Championships are coming up fast also, with the Even Ages on Sat Oct.27th & the Uneven Ages on Sat Nov 9th. Hopefully we will see a big improvement in numbers running for our club at these events and remember that you will also be running for Wicklow County, so please sign up and help make teams for Club and County. Entry forms for these are also on our website!

 

 

 SUNDAY RUN

Nice to see some GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are hoping to see many more over the coming weeks. These long easy runs take 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 school athletes should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

Next Sunday’s run is round the reservoir in Roundwood. Meet by the filter beds at 9.20 for short warm-up and ready to run by 9.30am. Alternatively as some of our older athletes are running in Abbottstown on Sunday a few others are going up to support them and will do their run up there if anyone would like to join that instead.

 

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks would get their registrations in this coming week please. Registration forms will be available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. You can put the form & fee in an envelope and drop it into our club letterbox in the reception area at the track.

 

 

 ADULT TRAINING GROUP

Our new adult training group is building slowly and is going very well so far. This involves regular club training sessions for senior and masters athletes on the track at Shoreline every Tuesday and Friday night, from 7 - 8:30pm. We have had a great variety of sessions so far and the group is working very hard and really enjoying the challenges. If you are 18+, fit-ish, and harbour even the smallest bit of curiosity about getting back on the track, you are welcome to come along and give it a go. For those who think this might be a step too far the Fit4Life & Beginner2Winner sessions are still going ahead at the usual times.

 

 

 NEW CLASSES AT SPORTS PARK

If running is not for you, Shoreline Sports Park have new classes on Tues. evenings which may be of interest to parents dropping off children to athletics. There’s ‘Work it Out’ on Tues 6.15-7pm, which is a full body workout and the timing is perfect for parents of the 6-7pm training groups. At 7.15pm there’s ‘Step to Fitness’ also a full body workout which should suit those dropping off for the 7-8.30pm session. Both classes are ‘Pay as you Go’ and are just €7 each.

Tue

24

Sep

2019

SENIOR AND MASTERS TRACK TRAINING SESSIONS

Greystones AC has a long and proud tradition of catering for athletes of all ages and abilities in the community, and has achieved particularly strong engagement and membership levels in our junior and juvenile categories.
In line with our tradition of catering for ALL ages and abilities, one of our goals for the coming season is to develop our senior and masters sections.
Developing our senior and masters categories is really important so that we provide continuity of our athletic community to our junior athletes as they graduate to senior levels, and hopefully entice them to stay in the sport long enough to reach the masters category! 
To achieve this, we are doing a couple of things:
  • We have appointed a (volunteer) liaison to act as a point of contact for any questions, suggestions or feedback: please contact Jenny on 087-2328401. Suggestions, particularly, would be very welcome as we create something new!
  • Starting on Tuesday 1st October, we will have regular club training sessions for senior and masters athletes on the track at Shoreline every Tuesday and Friday night, from 7 - 8:30pm.
Who should come? 
If you are 18+, fit-ish, and harbour even the smallest bit of curiosity about getting back on the track, come along and give it a go. Once we understand people's running goals, we will aim to have suitable training plans.
I am a complete beginner, should I come? If you are a complete beginner then the "Beginner2Winner" programme (also hosted at Shoreline) is probably a better fit for you - it caters for people with little or no fitness levels, and those who want to get into a fitter and healthier lifestyle.
I have been running with the "Fit4Life" programme. How is this different? The main reason you would participate in the senior and masters sessions rather than "Fit4Life" is because you have an interest in competing (without any obligation to) at cross-country, track or road events in the future. The senior and masters sessions will be structured differently from "Fit4Life", with the goal of competition in mind. It doesn't mean you have to be good, just that you find the idea of competing exciting!
I used to run with Greystones AC as a junior, but haven't run recently. Is this for me? Absolutely yes! See you on Tuesday!
So, please JOIN us, help us shape it and try it out - no decisions are required for a few weeks!
If you have any query at all, call or message Jenny on 087-2328401.
"Nobody said it was easy!"

Sat

21

Sep

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We have now been back training for three weeks (two for the younger groups) and while attendance so far has been great by many with tremendous work being done, it has been poor in some groups, particularly Group 2. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that we cannot hold places indefinitely for athletes who don’t attend regularly, as we still have a long waiting lists on most groups.

 

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

 

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks could get their registrations in this coming week please. Registration forms will be available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. You can put the form & fee in an envelope and drop it into our club letterbox in the reception area at the track.

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

Thanks to all who responded to our reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. The fee from Sept 23rd to Dec will be 26 if you wish to pay in advance. Any overdue subs will need to be paid also. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 


 

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY

 

Competition is coming up fast with our first event of the season taking place on Sunday 6th Oct in Knockraheen, Roundwood (located approximately 2km outside Roundwood Village on the R765 ). This is the Wicklow County Novice and Even Ages (U8/10/12/14/16/18/Junior/Novice) Athletes CAN move up an age.                  Start time is 11am with the girls U8, boys U8, girls U10 etc.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/8 500m, U/10 1000m, U/12 2000, U/14 3000m U/16
4000m. Girls U/18 and Junior 4000m. Boys U/18 and Junior 6000m
Novice Men 6000m, Novice Women 4000m. Entry form
will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Thurs 3rd Sept.

 

 

Hoping to see a really good turn out of club athletes at this event!

 

New members who wish to compete need to get their registration forms in asap.

 

 

Our 2nd event is the Wicklow County Intermediate and Uneven Ages
Date: Sunday,
13th October, Venue: Avondale Forest Park, Start Time: 11 am.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/7
300m, U/9 800m, U/11 1500m, U/13 2500m,,U/15 3500,
U/17 Girls 4000m, U/17 Boys 5000m, U/19 Girls 4000m, U/19 Boys 6000m.
Intermediate Men 8000m Intermediate Women 4000m. Entry form will be on our website & entries will close on Thurs
10th Oct.

 


 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Our Sunday runs take 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 school-goers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages can & do participate....... up to very old!! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s a very important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week. This Sunday 22nd Sept. we are in Avondale!

 


 

WICKLOW LEAGUE (XC Dates)

 

Juvenile League Round 3 Roundwood GAA, Fri 18th Oct. 7pm (Even ages) U8/400m, U10/800m, U12/1200m, U14/1600m

 

 

Juvenile League Round 4 Rathdrum (Rugby Club or Ballinakill), Fri 15th Nov. (Uneven ages) U9/400m, U11/800m, U13/1200m, U15/1600m

 

 

Juvenile League Round 5 Bray Emmets, Fri 6th Dec.(Even ages)

 

U8/400m, U10/800m, U12/1200m, U14/1600m

 

 

 

THROWS TRAINING

 

Anne Marie Kelly of Inbhear Dee AC is coaching throws most Saturdays at the track from 11am-12.30pm and GAC throwers are welcome to go along to these sessions. There is none next Sat. 28th Oct, but she will be back on Sat. 4th Oct.

 

 


NEW CLASSES AT SPORTS PARK

 

Shoreline Sports Park have new classes on Tues. evenings which may be of interest to parents dropping off children to athletics. There’s ‘Work it Out’ on Tues 6.15-7pm, which is a full body workout and the timing is perfect for parents of the 6-7pm training groups. At 7.15pm there’s ‘Step to Fitness’ also a full body workout which should suit those dropping off for the 7-8.30pm session. Both classes are ‘Pay as you Go’ and are just €7 each.

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 6th Oct. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 13th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

 

Juvenile League Round 3, Roundwood GAA, Fri 18th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm (Even ages)

 

 

Autumn Open XC, Sun. 20th Oct., Abbottstown, Dublin. Junior/Senior/Masters

 

 

           Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 26th Oct. Nov. and Even Ages, Gowran              Co Kilkenny.

 

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 9th Nov. Sen & Uneven Ages, Ferbane, Co Offaly

 

 

         Juvenile League, Round 4, Rathdrum Fri 15th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm -    Uneven Ages

 

 

         National XC Championships, Sun. 24th Nov. Even Ages, Jun & Sen,    Abbottstown, Dublin.

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we will have athletes looking for club gear before the upcoming Cross Country (XC) the club shop will be open on Tues. 1st Oct. from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and some hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red), is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good number at present!

 


 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, we are very happy to have you on board. We are always in need of more helpers, so if you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed.

 

Mon

24

Jun

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster Championships recently and many congratulations to all who qualified for the upcoming Nationals. Lots of super performances in a variety of events and a great selection of medals & qualifiers to the All Ireland’s as a result!

 

 

U18: Joe Dowd gold in the 3000m Steeplechase & a very close 4th in the 3000m. Ronan Dempsey silver in the 400m, the 400m hurdles & the 200m (a very busy & successful weekend indeed), Aodhan Daly silver in the 100m & bronze in the Long Jump. Aodhan also qualified for the 200m final, which unfortunately clashed with the Long Jump.
U17: Ellen McNally Silver in the Triple Jump & Bronze in the Long Jump, Emma Quirk Bronze in the Triple Jump.
U16: Jack McGlone Gold in the 800m & the 400m, Paul Delahunty gold in the 3000m
U14: Daniel Quirk Gold in the 75m hurdles, gold in the Long Jump & 4
th in the 200m, Ailbhe Gordon Gold in the Javelin & bronze in the Shot Putt, Camille Madden 4th in the High Jump.

 

There were many more fine performances over the two days & several PB’s!

 

Congratulations & well done to everyone who took part & many thanks to our coaches & officials & all the mums & dads who travelled over the two days. Best of luck in the All Ireland’s!

 

 

The combined events took place this weekend and our only juvenile entry Daniel Quirk won the U14 boys event,130 points clear of the 2nd placed athlete. Well done Daniel!

 

 

There were great results from the All Ireland schools also with Jack McGlone taking Gold in the 800m Junior Boys and Bronze in the 4x100m relay. Daniel Quirk taking silver in the Long Jump and 4th place in the Minor Boys 75m hurdles after two off-putting false starts from other athletes. Joe Dowd had the race of his life in the Inter boys 1500m Steeplechase, finishing a very close 4th place. There were many other fine performances here also.

 

 

Ellen McNally & Emma Quirk were selected from their Leinster schools results to compete in the Tailteann Games this weekend. Ellen finished in 2nd place which means she has qualified to represent Ireland at the Schools International in Swansea and Emma finished in 5th with a new PB. Great jumping from the girls & huge congratulations to Ellen on her International selection.

 

 

We had two great evening’s of local competition at the Flash event & the Co. Team event. Great performances from our athletes and great fun had by all present. It was lovely to see the teams pull together so well and support one another throughout the event. Results will be posted on our website once available.

 


 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

 

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 25th June in Greystones. Entries are now closed and we look forward to a great evenings competition as always. Athletes need to arrive by 6pm, as the first events are at 6.30pm & they will need to get started on time.

 

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 


 

SUMMER TRAINING

 

Training for our 5-6 pm group will finish up for the summer this Tues. 25th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 28th. We will finish up with a fun competition on Tues for the 5-6 pm group & on Fri for the 6-7pm groups. Group 3 athletes have the option to come along to the 7-8.30pm sessions during July, as some will have the opportunity to move up to this group in Sept.

 

 

We hope everyone has a great summer & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, as some coaches will not be available to return, so we can’t continue without help. Please get in touch if you can help out with any of the groups from Sept. If we don’t get more help we will have to cancel some sessions from Sept. The 5pm & 6pm groups will return on Tues 10th Sept, allowing a week for the younger ones to settle back into school.

 

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues throughout July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. We will take a short break once competition finishes and return on Tues 3rd.Sept. with this group. We recommend a two week break 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.

 


 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Don’t leave it until late July or August as places will be given to those on our long waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you in Sept. No exceptions to this rule!

 


 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

 

  1. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 25th June. (Entries closed)

  2. National Juvenile Games (U9-U11) & U12/U13 Field Events, Tullamore, Sat. 29th July

  3. National League Round 2, Athlone or Santry, Sun.30th June

  4. Wicklow County Road Race, Jack White’s, Brittas Bay, Wed 3rd July @ 7.15pm

  5. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat. 6th July. (Entries close Wed 26th June)

  6. National Juvenile T&F Championships Day 1, Tullamore, Sun. 7th July

  7. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Day 2, Tullamore, Sat. 13th July

  8. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Day 3, Tullamore, Sun. 14th July

  9. National League Final, Tullamore, Sat. 20th July

  10. National Juvenile B Championships & Relays, Tullamore, Sun. 21st July

  11. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 27th/Sun 28th July, Santry.

  12. Cork City Sports, Wed 14th Aug. CIT Cork

  13. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sun. 18th Aug. Tullamore

  14. Morton Games, Wed 21st Aug. Santry

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

We still have some outstanding debts from unpaid subs or races entered where athletes didn’t show and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! Further entries cannot be accepted from athletes until all debts are paid.


Have a great summer everyone!

 

 

Sun

26

May

2019

CLUB NEWS

 

Well done to all our club athletes who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible. Considering the large number of athletes in the club, athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, but what we lacked in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by all those who did attend.

 

 

There were fantastic individual & team performances which saw many club athletes go home loaded down with medals on both days. Many thanks to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over two great days.

 

A huge Thank You to those who helped with set up & tidy up and to all our coaches who acted as both club & county officials over the two days helping to make it all happen and a special mention here for some of our older athletes, Rachel, Alana & Troy who helped out at every opportunity, assisting at the finish line, relay zones and anything that was asked of them. They were fantastic on Sunday assisting during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them. Full results are now on our club website!

 

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and subsequently the Leinster Schools and best of luck to Joe Dowd 3rd in the Steeplechase & 3K, Jack McGlone 1st in the 800m & 3rd in the 100m, Paul Delahunty 3rd in the mile, Emma Quirk 3rd in the TJ, Daniel Quirk 1st in the LJ & 2nd in the 75mH, Ailbhe Gordon 3rd in the Javelin, Alex Mulcahy 3rd in the HJ who all qualified for the All Ireland’s on Sat. 1st June. All results to date are on the AAI website under schools!

 

 

 

 

It was great to host the Leinster Juniors & the Combined events in Greystones on Saturday. We had a great turn out from Greystones for the Combined Events with lots of top performances. Congrats to all, especially to Daniel Quirk who took the Gold in the U14’s. We had a great number of Juniors also competing for Slí Cualann. On track, Troy Scully took gold in the 3K, Abbie Tyrrell gold in the 1500m, Megan O’Brien silver in the 800m, Ronan Dempsey Silver in the 400m & Michael O’Shea bronze in the 800m. In the field events Ellen McNally took gold in the Triple Jump with a big PB and silver in the Long Jump, Aodhan Daly took bronze in the LJ and Emma Quirk was 4th in the TJ and 5th in the LJ. Great results, particularly as most of these athletes have only just moved up to Junior level (U17-U20). A huge Thank You to all who helped out on the day and to those who helped with the set up on Fri night and/or the tidy up on Sat, especially Aidan, Pat, Darren, Sinéad, Emer & Linda............who needs a gym with all that lifting & carrying!

 

On Sunday the boys relay team of Daniel Quirk, Luca O’Shea Breen, Tom McCarthy & Colm O’Neill took silver in the U14 event in Leixlip. Well done boys!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Wicklow Invitational Athletics Flash Meet, Greystones, Fri 31st May 7-9pm, Entries to Theresa at training on Tues 28th or Wed 29th May. See details below.

  2. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore Sat. June 1st. Qualification required.

  3. Leinster U23/Sen/Mast, Tullamore Sun. June 2nd. Late entries close 27th May.

  4. Leinster Team Event U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 3rd. Late entries close 27th May

  5. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Champs, Tullamore Sat. June 8th. Entries by 28th May.

  6. Leinster U12 – U19 Champs, Tullamore Sat/Sun 15th/16th June. Entries close 6th June.

  7. Wicklow U9/11/13/15 Team Comp, Greystones Wed 19th June. Entries by 14th June.

  8. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 22nd June. Invitation only.

  9. AAI Games & National Combined Events Day1, Santry Sat 22nd June. Entries close 12th

  10. National Combined Events Day 2 & Juvenile Combined Events, Santry, Sun. 23rd June

  11. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 25thJune. (limited entry) Entries by 21stJune.

  12. AAI Childrens Games & Limited U12-U13 Events, Tullamore, Sat 29th June. Qualification

 

We remind everyone once again that while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted from these athletes until all debts are paid.

 

Please make sure you get your entries in by the original closing date, as those who miss it will have to pay the extra fees incurred themselves.

 

 

 

WICKLOW INVITATIONAL ATHLETICS............FLASH MEET!

 

Summer Championship Warm up event @ Shoreline Sports Park, Greystones

 

Friday May 31st. 7-00pm - 9-00pm

 

Age Group / U12 + i.e all athletes must be 11 this year or older.

 

Events : Track Field

 

80m High Jump

 

250m Long Jump

 

1000m Shot Putt

 

2000m Javelin

 

Names & events to Theresa at training on Tues 28th or Wed 29th May.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Our training times are; Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, age 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session. Younger athletes should be collected from the bottom gate if leaving early.

 

 

Athletes joining Greystones AC make a commitment to attend training regularly and we remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for up to 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club. Many have very poor attendance, so we are now taking all those we haven’t seen or heard from off our check-in sheets and are offering the places to those on our long waiting list.

 

 

 

CLUB INFORMATION

 

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. Text is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. Greystones AC is run entirely by volunteers and while we do our best to respond to texts & e-mails quickly, this is not always possible especially when at work, so please be patient and we will get back to you asap. Time is very very precious and while we are very lucky to have so many people willing to freely give their time to our young athletes we are struggling to cover some of the training sessions especially the 6-7pm ones, which is putting a lot of pressure on a few of our coaches. If you can spare an hour a week or even every second week, please get in touch. It can be very rewarding working with young children and watching them progress. We promise we won’t drop you in the deep end!

 

 

Sun

05

May

2019

WICKLOW COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is this coming Wednesday May 8th and events take place on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th May, starting at 11am each day. Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2019) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2019) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

 

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin. Please list all the events you wish to compete in on your entry form!

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2019.

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT ALLOW INSIDE THE TRACK AREA!

 

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!

Tue

16

Apr

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

As per text, due to the very poor attendance during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 30th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual except on Fri.19th Apr. as we have arranged a training day for Friday. You can get details of Friday’s session at training or contact Theresa.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

The recent National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take Gold in the U14 Long Jump & Bronze in the 60m Hurdles, Ailbhe Gordon take Gold in the U14 Shot Putt, Luca O’Shea take Silver in the U14 800m, Jack McGlone take Bronze in the U16 800m and the boys team of Daniel Quirk, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy, Luca O’Shea Breen & Colm O’Neill take Bronze in the U14 4x200m relay.

 

 

 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

What a fantastic day we all had at the first ever Wicklow Indoors held on Sat. 16th March in Abbottstown. A huge number of athletes entered and we had a great morning’s competition and great results for the club. Everyone was delighted with the event and the plan is for bigger & better next year. Well done & thank you to everyone who helped out on the day.

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

We had a great night at the club awards on March 29th and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2018. Many thanks to all the coaches and to everyone who brought all the lovely food on the night. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, contact us & we can arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 30th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

 

Our annual Good Attendance Trips for athletes who have 60% or more attendance during the year, took place on Saturday 13th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Helen Dempsey & Olivia Dallaghan for organising a great day at Bray Bowl for our younger athletes & to Mary Carruth & Emer McNally for organising the trip to GoQuest for our 12 & 13 yr old athletes. Thanks to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport. The feedback from both trips has been very positive, with everyone having a terrific day and making lots of great memories. An event for our older athletes will take place shortly.

 

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

 

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.   We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

 

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 22nd April. Entries to Theresa

  2. Juvenile Track League R2: for athletes up to U15, will take place on Fri 26th April at the Athletic Track in Arklow at 7pm. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 24th Apr.

  3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 28th April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

  4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

  5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 4th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

  6. National 5K Sat 4th May, Dublin.

  7. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 11th/12th May, Shoreline, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website nearer the date.

  8. Leinster Schools Track and Field - Day 1, Wed 15th May, Santry,

  9. Leinster Schools Track and Field - Day 2, Sat 18th May, Santry,

  10. National Outdoor League – R1 Sun 19th May, Templemore and Belfast. Contact Theresa

  11. Leinster Juniors & Combined Events Championships, Shoreline, Greystones Sat 25th May. Entry form will be on GAC website nearer the date.

  12. Leinster Relays, Sun 26th May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

 

 

 

 

CLUB AGM

 

A reminder that the club AGM which had to be postponed, will now take place on Thurs. 25th April 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.

 

 

Mon

11

Mar

2019

Club News & Information

 

There is a lot of News & Information in this, so members are asked to please read to the end!

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us re injury/illness, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to the waiting list.

 

 

***All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.20am, which is a very important & very enjoyable part of the training week, especially for our endurance runners. If you cannot make this, you will need to do a run yourself later in the day.

 

 

 

HELP STILL NEEDED

 

We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional helpers. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

National Star Award: Congratulations to Alana Ryan who won the National Star Award for Wicklow for her terrific performances in 2018. Alana received her award at a function in Tullamore on Sat. 16th Feb.

 

 

County Star Awards: Congratulations to the following Greystones athletes who were presented with Wicklow Star Awards on Friday 1st March in Jacob’s Well, Rathdrum. Ellen McNally, Girls U14-16, Alana Ryan Girls u16-19, Pippa Rogan Senior Women & Jack McGlone Boys U14-16, Joe Prendergast Boys U16-19, Tope Adeyeye Senior Men. A great night was had by all!

 

 

 

We had a big entry in the recent Leinster Championships, with a number of first timers taking to the Indoor track for the first time. Unfortunately quite a number of those who entered didn’t manage to make it to their events and we take this opportunity to remind everyone that while we pay all the entry fees for our juvenile athletes, those who fail to turn up to compete are expected to refund these fees to the club. On this occasion the entry fee was €3.50 per event, but fees can be up to €15/€20 an event and the club cannot continue to pay these and then not have the athletes turn up to compete.

 

 

Well done to all who took part over the three days. Some really top performances, with a big number qualifying for event finals and several medal winners and qualifiers to Nationals at the end of March. Gold for Daniel Quirk in the LJ & 60mH & Gold for Ellen McNally in the TJ with a new Championship Best Performance & bronze in the LJ. Silver for Jack McGlone in the 800m & 4th in the 60m, Silver for Emma Quirk in the TJ, and for Ronan Dempsey in the 60mH. Bronze for Luca O’Shea Breen in the 800m, Andrew Brennan in the 1500m, Aodhan Daly in the LJ & Ailbhe Gordon & Rory McNally in the SP. 4th place for Georgia Hogan in the 60mH & 5th for Alex Mulcahy in the HJ with a jump of 1.45M.

 

Gold in the relays on Day 3 for our U14 boys team of Daniel Quirk, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy, Luca O’Shea Breen & Colm O’Neill. Gold in the Senior Championships 1500m for Niamh Kearney. Well done to all!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Wicklow County Indoors, Sat 16th March, Abbottstown (Entries closed)

  2. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 Sat 30th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  3. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun 31st March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  4. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, Sat 6th April, Athlone (Must qualify)

  5. National Spring Throws, Sun 7th April, Athlone

  6. AAI National 10k Championships , Sun 14th Apr, Dublin

  7. Leinster 10 Mile, Mon 22nd Apr, Raheny

  8. AAI National Road Relays , Sun 28th Apr, Raheny

 

 

 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

Best of Luck to all the GAC athletes who have entered for the Wicklow Indoors next Sat. 16th March in Abbottstown. This is an exciting new addition to the athletics calendar & we hope everyone will have a great day. We have access to the track from 12.45pm & events will start at 1pm sharp and must finish by 3pm. Athletes need to arrive at the venue by 12.30pm for check-in. As our time is very short we ask you to please arrive on time, as we must start promptly and cannot wait for anyone.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open this Tues. 12th March from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

CLUB AWARDS

 

The club Awards night will take place on Friday 29th March at 7pm in Greystones Ridge Angling Club, down at the Harbour. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2018, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year award. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2018, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. To facilitate this Awards night, there will be no training on Friday 29rd March.

 

 

 

CLUB AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 11th April 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 trips for those who met the required attendance percentage during 2018, will take place during April. Athletes who qualify from Little Athletics & Groups 3-6 (age U8-U11) will have their trips on Sat. 13th April. Athletes from Groups 1 & 2 (U12-U15) will also have their trip on Sat. 13th April. A separate trip for athletes U16 up will be arranged shortly. Lists of qualified athletes will be posted on the website shortly with full details of trips & those who wish to attend will need to notify us by March 31st at the latest. Looking forward to great days out for everyone!

 

 

 

FINALLY

 

Can we appeal to parents once again to ensure that all athletes bring a raincoat, hat & gloves to training, as it is very cold on the track some nights. Gloves are a real necessity, as when cold the children are inclined to run with their hands in their pockets, which is likely to result in head or facial injury if they fall, as they have no way of saving themselves.

 

Mon

14

Jan

2019

CLUB NEWS AND INFORMATION

 

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 25th Jan. 2019. Athletics Ireland have increased the Registration/Insurance costs for all athletes from Jan 1st 2019, so GAC are increasing our annual fee to €35 for 1st family member and €25 for 2nd family member. We are holding the fee for 3rd 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. 29th 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. 5th 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 3rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Tues. 15th 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. 26th Jan. from 9-11am. This is open to all athletes U12 – U19 (born 2001- 2008) who intend competing in the Leinster Championships on Feb 9th and 10th 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 19th Jan, Athlone

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 22nd Jan, Avondale

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26th Jan, Athlone

National Junior/U23’s, Sun27th Jan, Athlone

AAI Games, Sat. 2nd Feb., Abbottstown

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

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

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

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 13th Feb. Santry

AIT Grand Prix Wed 13th Feb, Athlone

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

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

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

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

National Masters Indoors, Sun 10th 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.

 

Sun

02

Dec

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster XC Championships and Congratulations to medal winners Luca O'Shea Breen 4th U13, Joe Dowd 8th U17 & Troy Scully 12th U19 at the Leinster uneven ages XC in Adamstown.

Congrats also to Luca O'Shea Breen & Tom McCarthy on their silver county team medals & to Colm O'Neill, Louise O'Riordan, Jack McGlone & Paul Delahunty on qualifying to Nationals on their respective County teams. We wish them all the very Best of Luck in the All Irelands on Dec 15th in Navan.

 

Congratulations go to Brian Geraghty & Joe Dowd on their terrific runs in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec 1st, with Brian clocking a fantastic 15.35 & 16 yr old Joe finishing in a terrific 17.01. Great running guys!

 

 

TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor indeed for the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment before being moved up to these groups to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and we offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment.

 

 

XMAS TRAINING

Training will continue at the usual times for the next 3 weeks finishing up for Xmas on Fri 21st Dec. The track will be closed on Dec 24th, 25th, 26th & 31st & on Jan 1st. As the track closes at 6pm during Xmas week, athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Wed 2nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 8th Jan.

 

 

SOLSTICE MILE

Slí Cualann will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile again this year on Fri 21st Dec @ 7pm. This will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice, starting at 7pm. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards. Open to everyone from U12 up! GAC will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session!

 

 

 GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

Our annual Attendance Trips for those with good attendance during 2018, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. November attendances are now being added to the lists & the final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trip will be notified during Dec, which means you still have time to get your attendance percentage up. Extra attendance points are awarded for attending competitions.

 

Separate trips for our older athletes are also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Round 5 Co. League GAA school of Excellence, Rathdrum, next Fri 7th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15 Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Wed.5th.

 

County Senior XC, Sun 9th Dec.

 

National Novice & Uneven ages XC, Navan, Sat. 15th Dec. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Wed. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan..

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 12th Jan, Abbottstown

 

National Combined Events Sat 19th Jan, Athlone

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26th Jan, Athlone

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

XC LEAGUE

Round 5 of the Juvenile XC League takes place on this coming Fri 7th Dec at the GAA school of Excellence, Rathdrum. This is the final round of the league & your last chance to secure that attendance medal or get yourself on to the medal table. Entry form is on the website.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 11th Dec. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We now have hoodies back in stock, but unfortunately the new singlets won’t be in until the New Year. We also have some secondhand hoodies available & also a good number of spikes. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! (Multi coloured shorts are not acceptable) If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are very impressed with how well they are doing. These long easy runs take 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

INJURY PREVENTION/ REHAB

We still have some places available on our Physio rota, where athletes can avail of regular monthly 20 mins. sessions at a very reasonable price from our top class Physio Matt Cox, who works with our club every Tues. evening. A good number of our athletes have availed of these sessions over the last year & a half and as a result most have 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. Extra sessions can be added should the need arise. Anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0868635797.

 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

Wishing all of our athletes & coaches & their families a very happy Christmas!

Wed

17

Oct

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent County XC Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams.

 

These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults. We were disappointed with the poor attendance both days and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

We had lots of individual medal winners, Individual Gold medals: Luca O’Shea Breen U13, Luca O’Shea Breen U14, Paul Delahunty U16, Joe Dowd U18, Troy Scully U19, Individual silver: Joe Dowd U17, Callum Flynn U18, Troy Scully Junior Men, Individual Bronze: Michael O’Shea U16, Abbie Tyrrell U17, Joe Dowd Junior Men, Troy Scully Novice Men. Team Gold for Junior Men Troy Scully, Joe Dowd, Colm Flynn, Team silver for U8 Boys Conor Stanley, William Hance, Hector Marrian, Aidan McLaughlin, Quade Scully, U9 Boys: Harry Coughlan, Andrew McCarron, Jack Deegan, Sean Lawless Rebello, Zach Hayes, Aidan McLaughlin, U13 Girls: Ava Foley, Charlotte Hudson, Tara Casey, Georgia Hogan, Lizzie McIllroy, Zoe Kenna, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, U14 Girls: Ava Foley, Cliodhna Kennedy Howe, Georgia Hogan, Tara Casey, & U17 Girls: Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien & Isobel Raddford Dodd, Team bronze for U12 Girls Amy D’Arcy, Charlotte Hudson, Amber Scully, Grace Rush, Shana O’Dowd, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, Lizzie McIllroy, Teagan Griffiths, U13 Boys: Luca O’Shea Breen, Tom McCarthy, Colm O’Neill, Alex Goff. Conor Stanley finished 2nd in U7 Boys & 3rd in the U8, with William Hance 3rd U7. Well done to all! Hopefully we will get lots more out running the Leinster XC & will be able to field lots of teams!

 

More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

 


 

TRAINING HALLOWEEN WEEK

 

As attendance at training tends to be very poor when schools are on mid-term/holidays due to children being away or doing camps, there will be no training for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups on Tues. 30th Oct. or Fri.2nd Nov. Training will go ahead as usual for the 7-8.30pm groups.

 

 

 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Nice to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are very impressed with how well they are doing. These long easy runs take 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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 from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

Next Sunday is the Autumn Open XC in Abbottstown and we are planning to do our Sunday run on the course beforehand and then watch the events, which are always top class. Each attendee is asked to bring something for sharing and we plan to have a lovely picnic while waiting for the event to start.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Leinster XC Championships 27th October Novice and Even Ages, Navan Adventure Park.

 

 

Leinster XC Championships 1th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Wexford.

 

 

Round 3 County League, Aughrim on Friday 19th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm - Even Ages U6-U14/15

 

 

Round 4 County League, Bray Fri 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages U7-U15

 

 

Round 5 Co. League Rathdrum Even Ages U6-U14/15 . Details to follow.

 


 

Entry form for next Fridays XC in Aughrim on Fri 19th is now on our website and must close Wed.17th.

 

Entry form for Leinster XC in Navan on Sat 27th is now on our website and must close Fri.19th.

 

Please be careful to enter the correct event!

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues. 23rd Oct. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

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 during both the Indoor & Outdoor T&F seasons. 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 4-5 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. Great to see some of our younger athletes now taking advantage of this facility & as we still have some places available, anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0868635797.

 

Mon

24

Sep

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We have now been back training for three weeks and while attendance so far has been great by many with tremendous work being done, it has been poor in some groups particularly on Friday nights. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that we cannot hold places indefinitely for athletes who don’t attend regularly, as we have waiting lists on most groups.

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

 

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks could now get their registrations in please. Registration forms are available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. Please put form & fee in an envelope and hand in at check-in this coming week.

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

Thanks to all who responded to our reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. The fee from Sept to Dec is €30, or from Oct to Dec €22. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 


 

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY

 

Competition is upon us already with our first event of the season taking place this coming Sunday 30th Sept in Knockraheen, Roundwood (located approximately 2km outside Roundwood Village on the R765 ). This is the Wicklow County Novice and Even Ages (U8/10/12/14/16/18/Junior/Novice) Athletes CAN move up an age. Start time is 11am with the girls U8, boys U8, girls U10 etc.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/8 500m, U/10 1000m, U/12 2000, U/14 3000m U/16
4000m. Girls U/18 and J
unior 4000m. Boys U/18 and Junior 6000m
Novice Men 6000m, Novice Women 4000m. Entry form is on our website and entries close on
Thurs 27th Sept.

 

Hoping to see a really good turn out of athletes on Sunday at this event!

 

New members who wish to compete on Sunday need to get their registration forms in asap.

 

Our 2nd event is the Wicklow County Intermediate and Uneven Ages
Date: Sunday, 7th October, Venue: Avondale Forest Park, Start Time: 11 am.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/7 200m, U/9 800m, U/11 1500m, U/13 2500m,,U/15 3500,
U/17 Girls 4000m, U/17 Boys 5000m, U/19 Girls 4000m, U/19 Boys 6000m.
Intermediate Men 8000m Intermediate Women 4000m. Entry form will be on our website from Sunday 30
th & entries will close on Thurs 4th Oct.


UPCOMING EVENTS

 

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 30th Sept. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 7th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

Autumn Open XC, Sun. 21st Oct., Abbottstown, Junior/Senior/Masters

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 27th Oct. Novice and Even Ages, Navan Racecourse, Co. Meath

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sun.11th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Co Wexford

 

Round 3 County League, Aughrim on Friday 19th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm - Even Ages U6-U14/15

 

Round 4 County League, Bray Fri 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages U7-U15

 

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we have a number of athletes looking for club gear before the upcoming Cross Country (XC) the club shop will be open this Tues. 25th Sept. from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

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 during both the Indoor & Outdoor T&F seasons. 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 4-5 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. Due to some athletes moving on to college etc. we now have some places available, so anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0877730000.

 


 

PILATES CLASSES

 

Physio Matt Cox will also be running Pilates classes on Tues. evenings from 6 - 6.45 pm and these are open to everyone. Great opportunity for mums or dads dropping off their athletes to training for 6-7pm and the 6.45pm finish also allows 15 mins, if you need to pick up athletes for the 7pm session. There will be a block of 5 classes at just €50 (only €10 per class) and you can contact Matt on 0879500262 for more info. or to book a place. Classes start on Tues 2nd Oct. and places are limited.

 


 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, we are very happy to have you on board. We are always in need of more helpers, so if you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed.

 

Sun

26

Aug

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFO

WELCOME BACK

We hope you all had a great summer and what an amazing summer it was! Here’s hoping the great weather continues on into September. We hope you all had a good rest and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks,

as requested in our last Newsletter in July and are all now coming back 'Fit to Train' and won’t have to spend the first few weeks trying to get fit. There’s still time for those who haven’t made a start yet! Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with the first County XC League for U6-U15 due in Sept. & the first of the XC Championships. on Sunday 30th Sept.

 

For anyone who would like to see where their present fitness levels are:

Inbhear Dee are running a mile challenge on the track in Greystones at 7-00pm next Friday August 31st. You are all welcome to join in. No entry fee........wristbands indicating your time for all! There will also be a 3000m run if any seniors are interested.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 4th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times have all now been confirmed, so if you haven’t heard from us your training is at your usual time.

 

All 6-7pm groups are now at capacity and there is no room at present to add new athletes or to move athletes between the groups. A number of new athletes are doing two weeks trial & a small number of places may arise after this. Anyone who wishes to go on to our waiting list should send details through ‘Contact Us’ on our website.

 

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 without whom there would be no club. From time to time some of these coaches have to move on and as there are strict guidelines that we have to adhere to in terms of athlete-coach ratios, we are always in need of more coaches and assistants on the track. If you think you have the time to help out at any of the coaching sessions, even occasionally, please do let us know and we would be delighted to welcome you on board.

Mon

23

Jul

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

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 4th 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 29th 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. 31st 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. 4th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11th 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 19th!

Wed

20

Jun

2018

CLUB NEWS

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster Championships recently and huge congratulations to all who qualified for the upcoming Nationals. Lots of super performances in a variety of events and a great selection of medals & qualifiers to the All Irelands as a result!

 U19: Marcus Lennon silver in 100m & 200m, Louis Lalor Gold in 400m Hurdles, Bronze in 110m hurdles & 200m, Troy Scully silver in 3000m Steeplechase.
U18: John O'Connor Gold in 400m, Sarah O'Connor Bronze in 2000m Steeplechase, Katie Lawless Bronze in 400m hurdles.
U17: Ronan Dempsey silver in 100m & 100m hurdles, Alan Gordon silver in Pole Vault,
U16: Ellen McNally Gold in Triple Jump & Silver in Long Jump, Emma Quirk Silver in Triple Jump, Joe Prendergast silver in 800m, 1500m & Long Jump, Sarah Farrell Silver in 80m hurdles, Enya Conroy Bronze in 250m hurdles & 4th in 80m Hurdles & Maks Slusarczyk 4th in 100m.
U15: Jack McGlone Gold in 800m, Silver in 100m & 4th in 200m, Paul Delahunty silver in 800m & 1500m, Louise O'Riordan 4th in 800m, Ciaran Dillon Roberts 3rd in Triple Jump
U13: Ailbhe Gordon Gold in Javelin & Silver in the Shot Putt, Daniel Quirk Bronze in 60m hurdles & Bronze in the Long Jump, Daniel Connerty Silver in the 600m & Camille Madden 4th in the High Jump.

 

Congratulations & well done to everyone who took part & many thanks to our coaches & officials & all the mums & dads who travelled over the two weekends. Best of luck in the All Ireland’s!

 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 26th June in Greystones. We are only allowed a limited number of athletes for this event and so priority will be given to those who have competed in the recent County & Leinster events. Any places left after this will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The entry form is on our website and will close this coming Sat. 23rd.

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 

TRAINING

Training for our 5-6 pm group will finish up for the summer on Tues. next 26th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 29th. We will finish up with a fun competition on Tues for the 5-6 pm group & on Fri for the 6-7pm groups. Athletes who were born in 2006/7, have the option to come along to the 7-8.30pm sessions during July. Some will have the opportunity to move to this group in Sept.

 

We hope everyone has a great summer & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, we can’t continue without it. Have a great summer everyone!

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. Those competing in the final of the League in August will continue to train by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Don’t leave it until August as places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you for Sept.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

  1. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 23rd June.

  2. National League Round 1, Templemore, Sun. 24th June.

  3. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 26th June. (Form on website)

  4. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat. 30th June. (Entries close Fri 22nd June)

  5. National Juvenile Games (U9-U11) & U12/U13 Field Events, Tullamore, Sun. 1st July

  6. National Juvenile Inter Club Relays U9-U11, Tullamore, Sun. 1st July

  7. National Juvenile B Championships & Relays, Tullamore, Sat. 7th July

  8. National League Round 2, Athlone or Santry, Sun. 8th July

  9. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sat. 14th/Sun. 15th July, Tullamore.

  10. Cork City Sports Mon 16th July, CIT Cork

  11. Morton Games, Thurs 19th, Santry

  12. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sun. 22nd July, Tullamore.

  13. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 28th/Sun 29th July, Santry.

  14. Celtic Games, Sat 4th Aug. Scotland

  15. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sat 18th Aug. Tullamore

  16. National League Final, Sun 19th Aug, Tullamore

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

We still have some outstanding debts from unpaid subs or races entered where athletes didn’t show and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! We will text amounts owed during the coming week. Further entries cannot be accepted from athletes until all debts are paid.

Mon

21

May

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

Well done to all our club athletes who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible. Considering the large number of athletes in the club, athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, but what we lacked in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by all those who did attend.

 

 

There were fantastic individual & team performances which saw many club athletes go home loaded down with medals on both days. Many thanks to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over two great days.

 

A special mention here for some of our older athletes, who act as Junior coaches each week before their own training sessions. These athletes not only competed for our club on both days, they also helped out at every opportunity, assisting at the finish line, the High Jump, relay zones and anything that was asked of them, while still managing to produce magnificent performances in their own events. They were fantastic on Sunday assisting Anne Marie during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them.

Full results are now on our club website!

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and subsequently the Leinster Schools and best of luck to Alana Ryan, Joe Prendergast, Ellen McNally, Jack McGlone & Louise O’Riordan in the All Ireland’s on Sat. June 2nd. All results are on the AAI website under schools!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. National Combined Events, Santry Sat/Sun May 26th/27th. Entries closed.

  2. AAI Games, Santry Sun. May 27th. Entries closed.

  3. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore Sat. June 2nd.

  4. Leinster U23/Senior/Masters, Tullamore Sun. June 3rd. Entries close Tues. 29th May.

  5. Leinster Team Event for U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 4th. Entries close Fri 25th May.

  6. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Champs, Tullamore Sat. June 9th. Entries close Wed. 30th May.

  7. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 16th/17th June. Entries close Wed. 6th June.

  8. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 26th June. (limited numbers)

  9. Leinster Juniors, Drogheda, Thurs. 24th/31th May & 7th June. Entries to Theresa by Tues before the event.

  10. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 23rd June.

  11. National League Round 1, Templemore or Belfast Sun. 24th June.

  12. National Juniors/U23’s, Tullamore, Sat 30th June

 

 

 

We remind you once again that, while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Our training times are Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session.

 

 

Attendance at training has been very poor for quite a few athletes of late and we remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for up to 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club, so if you haven’t been attending & we haven’t seen or heard from you by the end of this week (Fri 25th May), we will be removing you from our lists. We cannot hold places indefinitely, as we have waiting lists on most groups at present.

 

 

 

CLUB INFORMATION

 

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. Greystones AC is run entirely by volunteers and while we do our best to respond to texts & e-mails quickly, this is not always possible, so please be patient and we will get back to you asap. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number or Facebook page may lead to long delays, as we don’t always have access to it and generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

Sun

06

May

2018

County Championships

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Wednesday May 9th and events take place on Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th May, starting at 11am each day.

 

 

Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

 

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2018) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2018) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

 

 

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

 

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

 

 

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

 

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2018.

 

 

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

 

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!

 


 

Mon

09

Apr

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

March proved to be a fairly chaotic month, with high winds, lots of rain & even more snow, which resulted in competitions having to be re-arranged, but we managed to hold all training sessions despite the weather. Well done to all the coaches & athletes who turned up in all weathers to train.

Glad to report that we finally finished the Indoor competitions yesterday and we congratulate all the athletes who performed so well, especially our fantastic medal winners. No time to sit back however as the first of the outdoor track & field events is this coming Thursday evening. Round 1 of the Juvenile League will be held this Thurs. 12th April on the track in Arklow. Check-in at 6.30pm, with 1st race at 7pm. Entry form is on our website and will close on Wed. evening. This one is for even ages, U6,8,10,12,14/15, but athletes may move up one age group, so everyone up to U15 can take part. Round 2 will be held in Greystones on Sat. 28th April.
 
NEW AAI SAFEGUARDING POLICY
As a member of the Athletics Association of Ireland, Greystones Athletic Club adheres to the Child Safeguarding Policy of the organisation. A copy of their new policy is on display on our Notice Board in Shoreline Sports Park, along with all our club policies and also photos & contact nos. of our Child Welfare Officers. You can also find this policy here & on our website. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzJWHOC0iH1qU1BFemt3WHdVd0NvMUNwTDkwUHp3RkNWRXBB/view?usp=drive_web
 
CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the athletes who performed so well at the recent Indoor Championships and congratulations to all the medal winners and those who got new PB’s.
Leinsters Results: Gold Medals to Emer McNally in the U16 Long Jump & Triple Jump, with a CBP in the Triple Jump. Gold also to Alana Ryan in the U19 60m & 400m, to Ailbhe Gordon in the U13 Shot Putt and to the U19 boys relay team of Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon & John O’Connor. Silver Medals to Joe Prendergast in the U16 800m, 1500m & Long Jump, to John O’Connor in the U18 400m, Aodhan Daly in the U17 Long Jump, Emma Quirk in the U16 Triple Jump, Jack McGlone in the U15 60m & the U13 boys relay team of Daniel Connerty, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy & Daniel Quirk. Bronze Medals to Sarah Farrell in the U16 60m Hurdles & to Daniel Quirk in the U13 60m Hurdles.
National Results: Silver Medals to Alana Ryan in the U19 200m & to Ellen McNally in the U16 Long Jump
Bronze Medals for Ailbhe Gordon in the U13 Shot Putt & Daniel Quirk in the U13 Long Jump.
 
TRAINING
Our training times are Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session.
Attendance at training has been poor for quite a few athletes recently and we will expect to see a big improvement over the coming weeks. We will be working hard to prepare for the Wicklow Championships which are coming up very soon and it’s important not to miss out on the opportunity to try out the different events before the competition.
Please ensure all athletes continue to bring a coat to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. While the weather is improving, it can still be very cold on the track in the evenings. 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.
 
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wicklow Juvenile Track League R1, Thurs.12th Apr, Arklow Track.
Wicklow Sec. Schools T&F, Tues 17th Apr, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
Wicklow Primary Schools Relays, Tues. 24th Apr, Avondale.House & Gardens.
Wicklow Juvenile Track League R2, Sat. 28th Apr., Shoreline Track, Greystones.
East Leinster Schools T&F Day 1, Mon..30th Apr, Santry.
East Leinster Schools T&F Day 2, Thurs. 3rd May Santry.
GAC/IMC T&F event Sat. 5th May, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
Wicklow County Championships, Sat/Sun 12th/13th May, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
 
CLUB AGM
The club AGM will be held this Thurs. April 12th at 8pm. at the 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 promise we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night.
 
CLUB AWARDS NIGHT
Our club awards night for 2017 was held in Greystones Tennis Club on Friday. 23rd March and a great evening was had by all who attended. While some didn’t manage to make it, it was great to see so many athletes collecting their Awards for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2017. We had 5yr club membership awards for Ava Foley, Hannah Large, Keelin McGuire, John O’Connor, Sarah O’ Connor, Chase Scully, Troy Scully this year & 10yr club membership awards for Katie Lawless & Conor Dempsey. There were International selection awards for Alana Ryan & Conor Dempsey and Championship Best Performance awards for Alana Ryan & Niamh Kearney. This year the Juvenile Athlete of the Year went to Joe Prendergast, the Senior to Niamh Kearney, the Masters to Carol Costello and the overall Athlete of the Year went to Alana Ryan. A huge Thank You to those who put in all the work preparing for this event and thanks also to everyone who supplied the lovely cakes & to all who helped out on the night. I think the Easter Eggs for all the athletes were probably the hit of the night.
 
CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues. 17th April from 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good selection of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! This will be the last opportunity to buy club gear before the County Championships!
 
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, so hope to see you there, as it’s a very important part of the week’s training, especially for the endurance athletes !!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

Sat

03

Mar

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

Hope everyone has managed to stay nice & warm this week and you have all had lots of fun in the snow. We hope to get back to normal training this coming week, with all groups back on Tues. evening at their usual times. However this will be subject to weather conditions and the track being open, so please keep an eye on our website & FB page for updates.

 

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 


 

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Due to the present weather conditions, the final day of the Athletics Leinster Juvenile Championships scheduled for the AIT Arena this Saturday has been postponed. As this event is a qualifier for the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Athletics Leinster will run their program on the 11th March and Day 1 of the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships (Relays and older age field events) will be held on SATURDAY 7th APRIL. The program on the 18th and 25th March is unaffected.

 

This decision has been taken so that all athletes’ will be given an opportunity to compete and qualify for their National Championships.

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

All Ireland Schools Cross Country, Sat 10th March, Waterford IT

 

National Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 10th March, Athlone

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 4, Sun. 11th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 2, Sun 18th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 3, Sun 25th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 1, Sun. 7th April, Athlone

 

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2017 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club on Friday. 23rd March at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2017, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2017, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. There will be no training on Friday 23rd to facilitate this Awards night.

 

 

 

AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. April 12th at 8pm. 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.

 

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............another chance to catch up with 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

Fri

09

Feb

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

A big welcome to all our new members, a welcome back to all members who have re-registered for 2018 and an urgent reminder of our regular message about suitable attire for winter training.

 

 Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

TRAINING

Due to unavailability of some of our coaches over the mid-term break, we regret that we will not be able to maintain the required ratio of coaches to athletes for the younger groups and consequently we are cancelling the 6-7pm sessions for the week.

 

To avoid this being an issue again in the future, we would be very grateful for any new volunteers who might be willing to help out at any of the sessions. A couple of people alternating weeks often works well as it allows for a swap when someone can’t make it. Training is provided for all volunteers.

 

Normal training will take place for the 7-8.30pm groups. Hoping to see a good turnout from these group as we have Leinster competition over the next few weeks.

 

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Best of luck to all our athletes taking part in Day 1 of the Leinster Indoor Championships this Sat. 10th Feb. Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Entry forms for Days 2,3 & 4 of the Championships are now open and entries need to be in by Tues 13th Feb latest. No late entries can be accepted!

 

Training sessions for all relay teams competing in Abbotstown on February 25th take place every Wed. evenings from 7-8.30pm and also on some Fridays. Athletes who wish to be included in these teams, need to attend these sessions regularly.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 10th Feb, Athlone

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B & XC Relays. Sun 11th Feb, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway

 National Senior Indoors, Sat.17th & Sun.18th Feb. Abbottstown.

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sat. 24th Feb, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day 3, Sun. 25th Feb, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 4, Sat. 3rd March, Athlone

 

National Masters Indoor Championships, Sun 4th March, Athlone

 

All Ireland Schools Cross Country, Sat 10th March, Waterford IT

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 1, Sun. 11th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 2, Sun 18th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 3, Sun 25th March, Athlone

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to Richael Browne on winning the National Star Award for her achievements in 2017. Richael will receive her award at a function in the Tullamore Court hotel on Sat. 17th Feb.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues.20th Feb. from 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good selection of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts!

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with 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 & FB page each week. This Sun 11th Feb. we’re in Glendalough!

 

Tue

09

Jan

2018

Club News & Information

WELCOME BACK

 

Well done to all the athletes & coaches who made it back to training last week in challenging conditions. Some great sessions were done despite the weather! Hoping to see everyone else back this week, as all groups are back training from tonight Tues 9th Jan

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & t-shirts or hoodies at this stage. It’s easy take something off when you get too hot, but miserable if you have nothing to put on when you’re cold!

 

 

 

RELAY SQUAD

 

Training sessions for all athletes in Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm groups) who are interested in being considered for relay teams at the Indoor Championships on February 24th in Abbotstown, will take place every Wed. evenings from 7-8.30pm. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend these sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Wed 10th Jan.

 

 

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2018

 

Registration for this year will take place from 4.45-5.15pm and 6.30-7.30pm on Tues.16th Jan & from 6.30-7.30pm on Fri 19th Jan. 2018. All club athletes must either register at these times or hand in form & fee in an envelope at check-in during that week. Membership forms will be available at registration, or can be downloaded from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ to save time on the night. Please make sure to get your registrations done during this week! Un-registered athletes cannot be allowed on to the track from Tues 23rd Jan. as they will no longer be insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to Alana Ryan who won the Juvenile Girls Leinster Star Award for 2017 and to Aoife Conroy who won the Senior award. The girls received their awards last Sat. Night in Tullamore.

 

 

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

 

We had a fantastic day with the Endurance Squad on Tues 2nd Jan. when 56 athletes took to the track to try their hand at Laser Tag. It was a very enjoyable experience and we discovered that we had some fantastic shooters among the group. Many thanks to Pentathlon Ireland for organising this part of the day for us and we hope to try it again in the future. We followed this with a run down to the swimming pool for an excellent Pool Recovery session, many thanks to Eamonn Whelan for this, and finished the day with a fantastic lunch, supplied by all the athletes. We look forward to the next session, which will be open to all interested athletes age 10 upwards.

 

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 13th Jan, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Juv XC Relay, Inter/Master Champs, Sun 14th Jan, Dunboyne

 

 

 

National Combined Events Sat 20th Jan, Athlone (Form on the website)

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun28th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Indoor League Final, Sat 3rd Feb, Athlone

 

 

 

AAI Games, Sun th Feb., Athlone

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 10th Feb, Athlone

 

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B & XC Relays. Sun 11th Feb, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.17th & Sun.18th Feb. Abbottstown.

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sat. 17th Feb, Abbottstown

 

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day 3, Sun. 18th Feb, Abbottstown

 

 

 

REMINDER: HELPERS STILL NEEDED

 

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers & committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work & 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. 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 may have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session!

 

Sat

09

Dec

2017

Club News & Information

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed at the Leinster XC Championships and congratulations to all the medal winners. Sadly, numbers were well down this year, but those who did run produced some great performances, with several athletes qualifying for Nationals.

Some great runs at the first of the Nationals in Abbottstown also and great to see the Junior Girls take the bronze medals. Best of Luck to all those heading for Waterford for the Uneven ages next weekend.

 

 

TRAINING OVER THE XMAS PERIOD

We will train as usual next week and all groups will have training on Tues 19th Dec. with the 7-8.30 pm group also training on Wed 20th. The track closes at 6pm on Fri 22nd Dec. so any training on Fri. will be by arrangement with coaches, if they are available. As the track also closes at 6pm during Xmas week, any training sessions will be by arrangement with coaches, or athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes, during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Tues 2nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 9th Jan.

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2018

Registration for next year will take place from 4.45-5.15pm and 6.30-7.30pm on Tues.16th Jan & from 6.30-7.30pm on Fri 19th Jan. 2018 and all club athletes must register at this time. No un-registered athletes will be allowed on to the track from Tues 23rd Jan.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open this coming Tues.12th Dec. From 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! The new order of hoodies has arrived for that night, in case Santa needs any.

 

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

We had a better attendance from GAC athletes for the last two Endurance Group sessions where great work was done by all the athletes present and friendships were formed with athletes from all over the county. We saw the benefits when 6 County Teams qualified for the National XC’s.

The next session, which will be held in Greystones on Tues 2nd Jan, looks like being a very exciting day indeed. This one will be invitation only, as it is confined to athletes who have attended previous sessions. There will be further opportunities for new members to join the squad at sessions arranged in 2018!

 

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Solstice Mile: Sli Cualann AC will host a series of graded 1 ml races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice on Wed. 20th Dec. at 7pm. Entry donation 5euro for Adults, 3euro for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards. Open to everyone!

 

 

National XC Championships Sun.17th Dec. Novice and Uneven Ages, Waterford

 

 

Streets of Wicklow 5K Tues 26th Dec in Wicklow Town @ 11am

 

 

Roundwood Biathlon: Charity Biathlon on Tues 27th Dec. Starting at 2pm, walkers 1.45pm.

 

Endurance Squad Training Tues 2nd Jan, Greystones Track (Invitation only)

 

 

County Masters XC Sun. 7th Jan, Shanganagh Park, Bray

 

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 13th Jan, Abbottstown

 

 

Leinster Juv XC Relay, Inter/Master Champs, Sun 14th Jan, Dunboyne

 

 

 

National Combined Events Sat 20th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun28th Jan, Athlone

 

 

HELPERS STILL NEEDED

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers & committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work & 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. 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 may have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session.

 

We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

Stronger! Higher! Faster” for 2018!

 

Mon

23

Oct

2017

Club Newsletter

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all who competed in the recent County Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that those athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams.

These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits and are less likely to droptheir fitness as young adults. So we were disappointed with the poor attendance and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

We had lots of individual medal winners, with Individual Gold medals for Richael Browne U19, Sarah O’Connor U18, Abbie Tyrrell U17, Joe Prendergast U15, Paul Delahunty U14, Individual silver for David Coyle Novice & Intermediate men, Katie Conroy Intermediate Wm, Troy Scully U19 & U18, Rachel Casey U19, Joe Prendergast U16, Paul Delahunty U15, Louise O’Riordan U14. Team Gold for U17 Boys John O’Connor, Colm Flynn, Joe Dowd, Ronan Dempsey, U16 Boys Joe Prendergast, Michael O’Shea, James Smartt, Ronan Dempsey. Team silver for U16 Girls Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien, Erin Howard, Enya Conroy, Team bronze for Novice Men David Coyle, Jamie Lennon, Robert Costello, AJ Cotter, U13 Boys Chase Scully, Conor Keogh, Tom McCarthy, Cian Smyth, Calum Flynn, U12 Boys Tom McCarthy, William O’Riordan, Rory McNally, Nathan Donlon, Calum Flynn, U11Girls Lucy Garvey, Ailbhe Kelly, Amber Scully, Chloe Hanley, Teagan Griffiths, U10 Girls Grace Rush, Holly Goodwin, Shana O’Dowd, Sarah Jane McCarthy, Teagan Griffiths, Ella Dallaghan. More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

We had the 1st big event of the XC season yesterday with huge fields in the Autumn Open in Abbottstown and we had great performances from Richael Browne & Sarah O’Connor in the Junior Women’s event & Katy Conroy in the Senior Women’s. Well done girls!

 

TRAINING NEXT WEEK

As schools are on mid-term next week and children will be out ‘Trick or Treating’ for Halloween on Tuesday night, there will be no training for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups next week. Training will go ahead as usual for the 7-8.30pm groups.

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

We had a fantastic morning in Shanganagh Park on Sunday Oct.15th, when athletes from all over Wicklow gathered for the Endurance Squad session and happily we had a better attendance from GAC athletes this time. It was wonderful to watch so many young athletes working together and I think many surprised themselves by what they were able to achieve. This is a great opportunity to work together and will really benefit everyone who makes the effort to attend.......... and you get to make lots of new friends also!

The next two sessions are being held on Fri 3rd Nov. in Rathdrum & Fri 1st Dec. in Aughrim. As Friday is already a training night for GAC, we are hoping to see a much better attendance at these. There is still time to get involved in this group and great plans to develop it in the future! It will not only improve our County team’s, it will improve Individual & club performances also.

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the new friends! Hope to see you there. Its the most important session of the week !!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Leinster XC Championships 28th October Novice and Even Ages, Navan Adventure Park

 

Leinster XC Championships 12th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Wexford

 

Endurance Squad Training Fri Nov 3rd @ 6.30pm Rathdrum Rugby Club

 

 

Round 4 Co. League Rathdrum Rugby Club 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages

 

Endurance Squad Training Fri Dec.1st @ 6.30pm Aughrim GAA Grounds

 

Round 5 Co. League Arklow Track 8th Dec. Check-in 6.30pm – Even Ages

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open this Tues. 24th Oct from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! Orders can be taken for any club gear that might be needed in Dec. so that we can make sure we have this available on our next Shop opening in Dec.

 

COACHES & HELPERS

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, however we are still very much in need of more helpers. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are still very much in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training, so don’t be afraid to offer.

 

In particular we need help at Tuesday’s 6-7pm session & Friday’s 7-8.30pm session. Please help if you can, as we really don’t want to have to cancel these training sessions!

Mon

18

Sep

2017

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

RETURN TO TRAINING

We have now been back training for two weeks and attendance so far has been poor in many groups. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club, so if we haven’t seen or heard from you by the end of this week (Fri 22nd Sept), we will be removing you from our lists. We cannot hold places indefinitely, as we have waiting lists on most groups.

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We will allow another week’s trial this week and will then hold a Registration night for all new members on Tues 26th Sept from 4.45-5pm for Little Athletics and again from 6.45-7.30pm for everyone else. Registration forms will be available on the night, or to prevent delays you can downloaded one in advance from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’..

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

Thanks to all who responded to our text reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

Earlier this year County Wicklow set up an endurance training squad for all athletes from age 10 upwards, with the aim of improving our County results in this year’s XC events. It was well attended generally, but very few GAC athletes have availed of the opportunity to be part of it so far. However there is still time to get involved, as the next session takes place this coming Saturday 23rd Sept. from 11am -1pm in Avondale, Rathdrum. It would be great to see lots of our athletes taking advantage of these sessions, so do come along if at all possible. It will not only improve our County team’s, it will improve Individual & club performances also.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 County Endurance Squad training Sat 23rd Sept in Avondale 11am-1pm

 

Wicklow County XC Championships Sun. 1st Oct in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

Wicklow County XC Championships Sun. 8th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

Leinster XC Championships 29th October Novice and Even Ages Tyrrells Pass

 

Leinster XC Championships 12th November Senior and Uneven Ages Venue TBC

 

Round 4 Co. League Rathdrum Rugby Club 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages

 

Round 5 Co. League Arklow Track 8th Dec. Check-in 6.30pm – Even Ages

 

COACHES & HELPERS

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, however we are still in need of more helpers. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are really in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with either check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed

In particular we need help at Tuesday’s 6-7pm session & Friday’s 7-8.30pm session. Please help if you can, as we really don’t want to have to cancel these training sessions!

 

 

 

Thu

31

Aug

2017

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

WELCOME BACK

 

We hope you all had a great summer and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks, as requested in our last Newsletter in July and so are all coming back 'Fit to Train'. Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with Round 1 of the XC League for U8-U15 on Fri 15th Sept in Roundwood and the County XC Champs at the beginning of Oct.

 

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. & Little Athletics returning on Tues. 12th Sept. This allows our younger athletes a chance to settle in to school before starting back. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified of this.

 

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

In response to requests from a small number of parents, we are offering an alternative means of paying the weekly sub this term. Athletes have the option to pay €30 at the beginning of this term, which will cover the subs for the remaining 15 training weeks of 2017. This will be recorded on the check-in sheets, but athletes will still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Prepaid fees will not be refunded where athletes fail to attend training. The usual option of paying €2 once a week will still be available to those who prefer to use this method, however we appeal to everyone not to run up bills, as it is very time consuming trying to collect these. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 

 

 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

Greystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers & committee members, who volunteer so much time each week to help make Greystones AC such a successful club. We have a very dedicated core group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. There is a natural turnover of coaches as their children pass through the club, but obviously we need replacement volunteers for these as they leave. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. We strongly recommend that 2 or more parents buddy up to share the slot to support your athletes in the club whether it be to assist, coach or check-in. The number of volunteers determines the number of athletes we can facilitate and the number of nights we can hold training. As we return for the new season, we find that we are very short of coaches, particularly for the 6-7pm groups, so if you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did!

 

 

 

 

OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW CLUB POLICIES

 

Greystones AC is currently reviewing our Policies & Procedures and we are offering parents & members an opportunity to contribute to this. Please forward any suggestions you may have to greystonesathletics@gmail.com, before our next meeting at the end of Sept. If there are any amongst our members/parents with relevant experience in formulating policies, we would be delighted to have your assistance. Current policies can be found on our website under “Training Times & Club Info”

 


 

Tue

18

Jul

2017

Club News & Information

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the National Championships recently and who represented the club so well, though it was disappointing that so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Many congratulations to the medal winners and to all who earned PB's.

Congrats also to those who competed in the National B’s last Saturday and in the Bray Invitational, where we retained both the Overall Cup & the Relay Shield once again.

Huge congratulations to Alana Ryan who has been selected to represent Ireland in the 200m & the 4 x 100m relay at the Celtic Games on Saturday August 5th. As the Games are in Ireland this year, it’s a great opportunity to go along to Santry and support Alana and the rest of the Irish team!
Congratulations also to Alex Campbell who represented Ireland in the Triple Jump at the Schools International last weekend!
 
TRAINING
As most athletes have now finished competing and the attendance at training has been very erratic for the past few weeks, we feel it is time to give our hard working coaches a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from several of our athletes. Consequently we will finish training tonight Tues. 18th 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 full two weeks 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 5 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 Cross Country events will come up very quickly, when we return in Sept.
Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. Little Athletics will return on Tues. 12th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.
 
Groups for Sept.'17 will be organised very soon to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Parents of athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if your children intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept. (Text 0868635797 or use Contact Us on our website)
 
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.
 
THANK YOU
A big 'Thank You' also to Christina & Dermot Browne for organising another successful Bagpack for the club and also to all those who helped out over the two days.
 
COACHES & HELPERS
Geystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers, committee and of course athletes who give of their time. We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did.  If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. The number of volunteers will determine the number of athletes.

Thu

15

Jun

2017

Newsletter

 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

 

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 20th June in Greystones. We are only allowed a limited number of athletes for this event and so priority will be given to those who have competed in the recent County & Leinster events. Any places left after this will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The entry form is on our website and will close on Sat. 17th.

 

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 

 

TRAINING

 

Training for our younger groups ie 5-6pm & 6-7pm sessions, will finish for the summer at the end of June. We will finish up with a fun competition on Friday 30th for all our younger athletes (5-6 & 6-7pm groups) and we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, we can’t continue without it. Have a great summer everyone!

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. Those competing in the final of the League in August will continue to train by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

  1. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 17th/18th June.

  2. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 20th June. (limited numbers)

  3. Leinster Juniors, Leixlip Fri 23rd June.

  4. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 24th June.

  5. National League Round 1, Athlone or Tallaght Sun. 25th June.

  6. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat 1st July.

  7. National Juvenile Inter Club Relay Championships, Athlone Sun 2nd July.

  8. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sun 2nd July.

  9. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sat. 8th/Sun. 9th July, Tullamore.

  10. Morton Games 2017 T&F , Wed 12th July, Santry

  11. National Juvenile ‘B’ Championships, Sat. 15th July, Tullamore.

  12. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sun. 16th July, Tullamore.

  13. Cork City Sports, Tues 18th July, CIT Cork.

  14. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 22nd/Sun 23rd July, Santry.

  15. National League Round 2, Sun 30th July.

  16. National League Final, Sun 20th Aug, Tullamore.

 

 

BAGPACK FOR GAC

 

Don’t forget our Fundraising Bagpack for the club which is being held this Friday 16th June and Saturday 17th June at Tesco Greystones. All support will be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

We still have a small number of outstanding debts and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

Mon

22

May

2017

Club News, Bag Pack & Upcoming Competitions

Well done to all who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible.

 

Athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, especially on the Saturday, but what was lacking in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by those who did attend. We saw great individual & team performances and many club athletes went home loaded down with medals on both days. Thanks also to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over the two days.

A special mention here for our older athletes, four of whom act as Junior coaches each week before their own training sessions. These older athletes not only competed for our club on both days, they also helped out at every opportunity, assisting at Long jump, High Jump, relay zones and anything that was asked of them, while still managing to produce magnificent performances in their own events. They were like a well organised army on Sunday during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them.

Full results are now on our club website!

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and the Leinster Schools and best of luck to everyone in the All Ireland’s on June 3rd. All results are on the AAI website under schools!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. National Combined Events, Santry Sat/Sun May 27th/28th.

  2. AAI Games, Santry Sun. May 28th.

  3. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore

  4. Leinster U23/Senior/Masters, Tullamore Sun. June 4th.

  5. Leinster Team Event for U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 5th.

  6. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Championships, Tullamore Sat. June 10th.

  7. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 17th/18th June.

  8. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 20th June. (limited numbers)

  9. Leinster Juniors, Leixlip Fri 23rd June.

  10. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 24th June.

  11. National League Round 1, Athlone or Tallaght Sun. 25th June.

 

BAGPACK FOR GAC

Many thanks to Dermot Browne who has managed to arrange a Fundraising Bagpack for the club again this year, on Friday 16th June and Saturday 17th June at Tesco Greystones. We require volunteers for 2 hour slots from 11am to 8pm on the Friday and 11am to 6pm on the Saturday. Email Christina Browne on Christinamary123@gmail.com with your availability. All help greatly appreciated from all parents & from athletes & siblings ages 14 and upwards.

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on this coming Tues. 23rd May from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts!

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those who responded to our appeal and paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. However we still have a small number due and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. Reminders will be sent out this week.

We also remind you once again that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

CLUB INFORMATION

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we don’t always have access to it and generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Heartiest congratulations from everyone at Greystones AC to club athlete Rachel Casey, who this week receives the ‘Greystones Special Person of the Year Award’ for 2017. Rachel specialises in Race Walking & has been a committed club member for over 7 years. She is one of our regular Junior coaches, who helps out twice a week with the younger athletes before doing her own training sessions. She also helps out with Bray Lakers on a regular basis and is a very active member of the Greystones Rowing Club. Check out the link below for more details: http://www.greystonesguide.ie/my-greystones-rachel-casey/

Fri

05

May

2017

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS!

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Tuesday May 9th and events take place on Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th May, starting at 11am each day.

 

 

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in the relays on both days. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2017) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2017) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. Athletes take part in a sprint, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each. All athletes who complete the three events will receive an award, Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score. On Saturday these younger athletes have their longer race, fun Obstacle relays & the Even Aged relays, with the uneven age relays on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. The programme is on the sidebar on the front page of our website and also on our notice board down at the track. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes and we sincerely hope that everyone will make the effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2017.

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

Looking forward to watching all of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics!

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Mon

10

Apr

2017

CLUB NEWS

 

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

Due to very poor attendances during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 25th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual. Schools competitions are fast approaching!

 

Round 2 of the Juvenile League for athletes up to U15, will go ahead on Fri 21st at the Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 19th Apr.

 CLUB CAPTAINS

At our recent AGM we agreed to elect two Club Captains who will help and encourage our younger athletes and liaise between the coaches and the athletes on a regular basis. We are delighted to announce that Aoife Conroy & Conor Dempsey have agreed to accept the roles. Aoife & Conor have both been involved in athletics from an early age and have been competing for a number of years at all levels. They have experienced both the highs & the lows, have had the joy of standing on podiums, but also dealt with disappointment and with unwelcome injury & the long road to recovery. They have a wealth of experience which they are happy to pass on to our younger members and indeed have been passing on their skills at our training days for the past two years. We feel they will be a great help to those coming through in the future and will be happy to bring any concerns that athletes may have, to the coaches.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

We had a great night at the club awards on the 24st March and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2016. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, we will arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 26th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

Our annual Good Attendance Trip took place on Saturday 8th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Fiona Ryan for organising it and to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport.

The trip for our older athletes will take place on Apr. 22nd to GoQuest.

 

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

Just over 80 athletes took the Mile Challenge on Saturday in glorious conditions in Greystones. Every club in the County was represented and the only word to describe the day was awesome. A better turnout from GAC this time, but still very small when you consider how many athletes could have been involved. Hopefully numbers will grow with each event.

Many of the athletes achieved a result well beyond their expectation and all were delighted with their wristbands. Next time they will aim even higher and try for the next colour band. Well done to all the athletes and thanks to all the coaches who motivated their athletes and gave them the opportunity to experience a great sense of achievement !!

 

WEBTEXT

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

CLUB SHOP

 The club shop will be open on Tues. 25th Apr from 4.40 -5pm & 6.40 -7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. Reminders will be issued shortly for these unpaid amounts. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.  

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April. Entries to Theresa

  2. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

  3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23rd April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

  4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

  5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

  6. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13th/14th May, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

  7. Leinster Combined Events Championships, Claremont Stadium, Navan Sat 20th May. Entry form will be on GAC website

  8. Leinster Relays, Sun 22nd May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

  9. National Combined Events Championships Santry Entry form will be on GAC website

  10. AAI Games, Santry (U17 upwards) Entry form will be on GAC website

 

RECENT RESULTS

Day 3 of the National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take bronze in the Long Jump in his first National Indoor Championships. Ailbhe Gordon, another first timer, threw a huge PB in the Shot Putt giving her a terrific 5th place finish. A fantastic run from Joe Prendergast in the boys U15 800m heats and a 5th place finish after really taking on the final. 5th place also for Ben Jones in the U17 boys 800m & for Richael Browne in the U19 girls. A new PB for Marcus Lalor in his 200m heat where he finished 4th, with a 5th place for Noah Daly in his and great hurdling from Emma Quirk saw her finish 4th in her heat in the U15 girls 60mH. Well done to all who competed and represented the club so well!

 

Great running from the GAC athletes in the recent County road race where Brien Geraghty finished 3rd overall, taking the M40 title with Caoimhin MacMaoláin finishing 7th .Dermot Hughes finished 11th in the M35 and William McCann finished 12th in the Senior men. Troy Scully finished 18th overall, making him 2nd in the Junior men’s to take the silver with Colm Flynn finishing in 5th. Annette Cleary took silver in the W50, with Clodagh Manning finishing 6th in the W45 & Christine McCann 6th in the W55.Such a pity not to have full teams here, but hopefully we can improve on this for future events.

Troy Scully followed his 4.49 mile on Saturday with a 2nd place finish in the Great ireland 5K on Sunday, where he ran a fantastic 17.11, with William McCann running 39.48 in the 10K.

 

 

Thu

30

Mar

2017

DAY TRIP FOR OLDER ATHLETES

This year we are going to GoQuest with the older athletes for our annual day trip.

GoQuest is an indoor, multi-challenge themed arena for teenagers and adults. The 27 custom-designed rooms are a mix of physical and mental challenges with three levels of difficulty. People work in teams of 3 – 4 in order to complete the challenges.

Whilst the club will subsidise the cost for those athletes who had high attendance during 2016, other athletes (U17 and up) are more than welcome to come along but will be asked to contribute the full cost.

Date: Saturday 22nd April 2017

Time: 5.30 pm

Full-Cost: €16.00 per person plus the cost of pizza afterwards

Subsidised Cost: €12.00 to include GoQuest & Pizza

Since we need to confirm numbers in advance against this reservation, please text Fiona Ryan on 086-7333319 by Saturday 2.00 pm at the latest to confirm whether you will be participating. Please bring along the cost in an envelope (with your name and enclosed amount noted on the outside of the envelope) to training on Friday evening if possible, if not on Tuesday evening at latest.

To minimise the cost we will arrange car-pooling.

See www.goquest.ie for futher information.

GoQuest Indoor Challenge Zone

 

Exit 5 M50

 

Unit 23 North Park Business Park

 

North Road

 

Dubin 11

 

List of those with qualifying attendance,

 

Niamh Conroy

Alana Ryan

Sarah O'Connor

Rachel Casey

Richael Browne

Alannah O'Carroll

Katie Lawless

Aoife Conroy

Ara Freeman

John O'Connor

Troy Scully

Noah Daly

Louis Lalor

All other club athletes U17 up are welcome to attend!

Tue

28

Mar

2017

GREYSTONES AC GOOD ATTENDANCE TRIP 2016

As our last trip was such a success, this year’s trip for good attendance will be to Jumpzone in Sandyford again and has been arrange to take place on Sat. 8th April from 4.00-5.00 pm.

We reduced the percentage qualification for the trip to 50% attendance this year to allow more athletes to attend. Points have been awarded for each training night attended during 2016, with bonus points for every competition attended.

Athletes will need to be at the Jumpzone Centre by 3.45pm latest, where we will have a full hour on the trampolines. We will pay a trip to McDonalds afterwards and expect to arrive back in Greystones about 7.00 pm.  As it would make the trip very expensive for everyone if we have to hire a bus, we will be depending on parents to drop off and collect the athletes, but if we carpool nobody should have to make more than one journey. If you can let us know whether drop off or pick up suits best, we will do our best to arrange this. Those doing the return journey will need to pick up at Jumpzone at 5.00 pm and  accompany the group to McDonalds. The trip will be subsidised, so cost to the athletes will be €10, which includes food.  If participants have their own Jumpzone socks they should bring them along or they will have to be purchased at the venue on the day (€2.00).

.

Below is a list of the athletes who have qualified for the trip. If you wish to attend, please text your name to 0877730000 by Friday 31 March at the latest, as we have to confirm numbers asap. All athletes attending will be issued with a waiver form which must be signed and returned to the club. Jumpzone will not allow anyone in without this form.

 

To avoid having to deal with cash on the day, and in order for us to be able to confirm final numbers with Jumpzone, payment can be made to Fiona Ryan at the gate at 7 pm tonight or tomorrow night, Wednesday 29 April, or to Louise on Friday night.  Please bring along an envelope with your child’s name and the amount clearly marked on it, and waiver form enclosed (form can be downloaded from Jumpzone’s website).

 

Enya Conroy,  

Erin Howard,

Abbie Taylor

Megan O’Brien ,

Isobel Radford Dodd                                                                                               

Ella Shanley                                                                                                                         Emma Quirk                                                                                                                 

Ellen McNally                                                                                                            

Michael O’Shea                                                                                                              

Joe Prendergast
Paul Delahunty                                                                                                                 Aodhan Daly 

Ronan Dempsey                                                                                                       

Eimear Ryan                                                                                                               

Maebh O’Neill                                                                                                            

Sophie Dallaghan                                                                                                     

Isabelle Donnelly                                                                                                            

Lucy Daly                                                                                                                    

Salley Shanley                                                                                                            

Louise O’Riordan                                                                                                                  Chase Scully

Ailbhe Gordon

Daniel Quirk

Tara Casey

Rory McNally

Ava Foley                                                                                                                                     Camille Madden                                                                                                             

Tom McCarthy                                                                                                              

Sarah Hayes                                                                                                               

Georgia Hogan                                                                                                            

Alex Mulcahy                                                                                                                   

Jack Golden                                                                                                                  

Óisin O’Malley                                                                                                                            Amber Scully                                                                                                                              Zoe Kenna                                                                                                                              Daniel Garvey                                                                                                               

Lucy Garvey        

Evan Quirk                                                                                                                           Tristan Jolyet Cunningham                                                                                                  Aine Hayde                                                                                                                          Georgia Cullen                                                                                                                       Ella Dallaghan                                                                                                                     Isaac Leahy                                                                                                                           Kate Smith

Chloe Hanley

Charlotte Hudson

Nathan Donlon

 

Mon

27

Mar

2017

NATIONAL JUVENILE INDOORS 2017

 

The first weekend of the National Juvenile Indoors saw GAC athletes produce some top class performances with some great results.

 The track on Saturday was all about the Relays, with our U15 boys team making the final in one of the tightest races of the day.

 They gave a great performance in the final where another very close finish left them 5th overall

It was the turn of the U18 boys in the afternoon and having finished a comfortable second in their heat, they went on to take the silver medals in style in the final.

 

We had a number of field eventer’s competing on Saturday and some great results in the Long Jump, with Ellen McNally taking Bronze in the U15 Girls with 5m 05 and Emma Quirk finishing 6th with 4m 79, James Nicholson taking Bronze in the U15 boys with 4m 98, with Joe Prendergast taking 5th with 4m 77 and Aodhan Daly taking 6th in the U17 boys with 5m 34. Sophie Nicholson had a 7th place finish in the U17 high jump and Alannah O’Carroll a 5th place in the U19 pole Vault.

 

Sunday saw our distance runners take to the track for the 1500m and they produced some very exciting races with great results. Richael Browne had a fantastic run in the U19, controlling the race right from the start and pulling away from the field in the last two laps to comfortably take the Indoor title for the second year in a row. Sarah O’Connor took on the girls U17 race right from the gun and had a fantastic run that resulted in her taking the bronze medal and setting a new 1500m PB.

 

Troy Scully had to cover the distance twice, as there were heats in the boys U18, but as always he rose to the challenge running a PB in the heat to qualify comfortably for the final where he followed up with yet another PB and a 10th place finish.

 

A fantastic race from Rachel Casey in the U18 Walk to finish 6th with a huge PB of 7.59m. Rachel has progressed hugely and has taken 49 secs off her time for this distance in the past year.

 

A good win in her heat saw Alana Ryan safely through to the 60m final where she finished 4th , but disappointment for Jack McGlone after an unfortunate break at the start of his.

 

Silver in the U19 Long Jump for James Vance, losing out on the gold by a mere .01 of a centimeter and 13th place finishes for Ellen McNally in the U15 High Jump and for Sophie Nicholson in the U17.

 

Well done to all who competed over the two days & a huge Thank You to the parents & coaches who supported them during the weekend.

 

Best of luck to everyone on the final day next Saturday !

 

Mon

20

Mar

2017

Newsletter

CLUB NEWS

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2016 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club this coming Friday. 24st March at 7pm.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2016 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club this coming Friday. 24st March at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2016, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2016, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week.

 

There will be no training on Friday 24th to facilitate this Awards night.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

 

 

Our annual Attendance Trip for those with good attendance during 2016, has been arranged for Sat 8th April.at 4pm. As Jumpzone proved to be so popular last year, we are returning this year, with the customary stop off at McDonald’s on the way back. The full list of athletes who qualify to go on this trip will be published on our website in the next couple of days.

 

A separate trip for our older athletes is also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 

 

 

JUVENILE & JUNIOR RESULTS

 

Congatulations to Sarah O’Connor who won Gold in the 1500m on Day 3 of the Leinster Champ. and Alannah O’Carroll who won Gold in the Pole Vault, Ben Jones who won bronze in the 1500m & Sophie Nicholson who won bronze in the HJ.

 

Gold in the Relays for U15 Boys: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Michael O’Shea, Jack McGlone & U18 Boys: Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon, John O’Connor with Silver for U19 Boys: Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon, James Vance. Good Luck in the Nationals!

 

Day 4 was the Junior/Senior/ Masters Champs:

 

Junior medals: Gold for James Vance in the LJ. Silver for Ara Freeman in the 60m, Alana Ryan in the 200m, Rosa Kirwan in the TJ and Bronze for Rosa Kirwan in the 400m & HJ & Katie Lawless in the 60mH.

 

 

 

SENIOR & MASTERS RESULTS

 

Indoor Track & Field: Senior: Silver for Niamh Kearney in the 3K & Silver for Aoife Conroy in the 60mH & bronze in the 400m.

 

Masters: Gold for Carol Costello in the Leinster 800m, while the National Masters saw Carol Costello take silver in the 800m & Nick Russell take silver in the 400m.

 

Road & XC: Brian O'Murchu finished in an excellent 6th place in the Clane 10k in a time of 34:44, as well as picking up another 6th place finish in the BHAA 5 mile XC. Brian Geraghty won the M40 title in the Enniscorthy 10k in a time of 33:33, while also clocking a very impressive 56:14 in the Ballycotton 10 miler. Robert Costello followed up a 10th place finish in the IMRA mountain race at Ticknock with a trail marathon in the Blue Mountains while holidaying in Australia, where he also posted a time of 39:30 in the Sydney Striders 10k race. Dermot Hughes has also been competing recently, but at a more local level, including running a 44 minute 10k in the Wicklow Hospice race in Avondale, finishing 11th overall out of a field of over 200 runners. Finally, GAC racing stalwart AJ Cotter has recently completed his 100th parkrun! Congratulations to all!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 25th March, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  2. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, 26th March, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  3. County Road Race, Fri 31st March in Ashford @ 7.15pm.. U17 upwards.

  4. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, 1st April, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  5. Wicklow Invitational Secondary Schools T&F, Greystones 10.30am

  6. National 10k Championships Dublin Sun 9th Apr. Adult event.

  7. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April.

  8. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages

  9. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23rd April, Raheny. U17 upwards.

  10. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event.

  11. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6th May, Greystones. U17 upwards

  12. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13th/14th May, Greystones. Open to all ages.

 

 

 

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

 

There was a great turnout in Avondale last Saturday afternoon at the first gathering of athletes for the new County Initiative for athletes from 10-20 yrs of age, although GAC was poorly represented. After a good warm-up, the athletes broke into groups to go for a run over a variety of distances and on their return they were divided into groups for team building games. There was a fantastic atmosphere with everyone present having a great time and hopefully building bonds for the future. There are some pictures from the day on our website & FB page.

 

The next event in early April, will be a mile challenge on the track and hopefully we will see many more GAC athletes taking part in this and becoming part of what promises to be a great development squad for Wicklow athletes.

 


 

Sun

19

Feb

2017

Club Newsletter

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THIS WEEK

 

Due to very poor attendances during school holidays & breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups this coming week, ie Tues 21st & Fri 24th Feb. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual.

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us re injury/illness, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to the waiting list.

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do a run yourself later in the day.

 


HELP STILL NEEDED

 

We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 


CONGRATULATIONS

 

Congatulations to Aoife Conroy, Alana Ryan, Ara Freeman, Richael Browne, Rosa Kirwan, Alannah O’Carroll, Claire Earls, Laura Kavanagh & Niamh Conroy, who made up the Slí Cualann women’s team in the National Indoor League recently. Terrific performances from all the girls in both rounds and a great battle in the final won them the Silver medals. A great effort from the men’s team saw them make the final also, with some top class individual performances. Well done also to all who competed in the AAI Games and again some terrific individual performances on the day.

 

We had a big entry in the Leinster Championships, with a number of first timers taking to the Indoor track for the first time. Unfortunately quite a number of those who entered didn’t manage to make it to their events and we take this opportunity to remind everyone that while we pay all the entry fees for our juvenile athletes, those who fail to turn up to compete are expected to refund these fees to the club. On this occasion the entry fee was €3.50 per event, but fees can be up to €15 an event and the club cannot continue to pay these and then not have the athletes turn up to compete.

 

Well done to all who took part over the two days. Some really top performances, with a big number qualifying for event finals and several medal winners and qualifiers to Nationals at the end of March. Gold for Alana Ryan in the 60m & 200m, James Vance in the Long Jump, Ben Jones in the 800m & Ailbhe Gordon in the Shot Putt, Silver for Joe Prendergast in the 800m and James Nicholson & Ellen McNally in the LJ, Bronze for Richael Browne in the 800m & for Aodhan Daly, Sophie Nicholson, Jack McGlone & Daniel Quirk in the LJ and 4th place and qualification to Nationals for Rachel Casey in the 1500m walk, Emma Quirk in the Hurdles & LJ, Ellen McNally in the HJ, John O’Connor in the 800m, Marcus Lennon in the 200m & Joe Prendergast in the LJ. Best of luck to all those competing in the 1500m & Relays next Saturday and to all our Juniors, Seniors & Masters competing on Sunday!

 


UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 3+ Relays in Abbottstown on Sat 25th Feb. Entries closed

  2. Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters Indoors in Abbottstown on Sun 26th Feb. Entries closed.

  3. Sportshall, Shoreline Community Hall, Greystones Saturday 4th March 2-5pm.

  4. National Masters Indoor Championships, Athlone Sunday 5th March. Entries close

  5. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 25th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  6. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, 26th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  7. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, 1st April, Athlone (Must qualify)

 


CLUB AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 2nd March at 8pm at 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.

 


SPORTSHALL COMPETITION

 

Our Sportshall competition for our younger athletes will take place on Sat 4th March in the Community Hall at Shoreline swimming pool from 2.00-5.00pm. This is a really fun event, where the athletes are put into teams and take part in a number of running, jumping & throwing events, finishing with a relay. As this is a team competition, athletes must be available for the entire event. If an athlete leaves early, their entire team loses out, as they will not be able to finish the competition. Open to all athletes up to U14 in 2017 (born 2004 or after). Teams will be made up on the day! Please arrive on time as once the teams have been made up we will not be able to include late comers and we don’t want to disappoint anyone! Lots of help will be needed for this one, so if you are available, please let us know asap. Help from our older athletes is invaluable for this event, so please let us know if you can come along and help. As we need to get an idea of numbers taking part we’ll have an entry form on our website which will close on Wed 1st March.

 

Wed

25

Jan

2017

Newsletter

 

CLUB NEWS

 

CONGRATULATIONS

We had a great start to the indoor season on Sat. 14th Jan with the 1st round of the National League, where our girls team, Aoife Conroy, Richael Browne, Ara Freeman, Alannah O’Carroll & Laura Kavanagh made a great start in the defence of their title from last year.

 They are lying 2nd by a single point going into R2 this coming Sat. The boys team didn’t fare quite as well, despite an outstanding performance of 6.78m from James Vance in the Long jump. We had 8 athletes in the 800m Endurance Initiative races that day, with most running PB’s on the day and a terrific 1st run over senior height hurdles from Katie Lawless as well. We also had great performances from Emma Quirke, Ellen McNally, Enya Conroy & Nell Berney in the Combined events last Sun.

 

 

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2017

 A big thank you to everyone who helped with registrations last week and to all the athletes & parents for getting them in on time. We are now all registered & insured for the year ahead. Places that were not taken up have now been offered to those on our waiting list and we welcome our new members for 2017.

 

HELP STILL NEEDED

 We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

 FEBRUARY COMPETITIONS (another busy month!)

  1. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. Guest & endurance initiative events.

  2. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

  3. National Indoor League Final in Abbottstown on Sat 4th Feb + Endurance Initiative Events 800m, 1500m, 3K. Entries close Thurs 26th Jan.

  4. AAI Games in Abbottstown on Sun 5th Feb. Entries close Thurs 26th Jan. (Adult event)

  5. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 1 in Athlone on Sat 11th Feb. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  6. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 2 in Athlone on Sun 12th Feb. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  7. National Masters & Juvenile B XC Championships in Waterford on Sun 12th Feb. These races are open to all athletes who did not medal at the National XC. Races for U11/13/15/17 age groups (2016 ages and athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A' XC Championships. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  8. National Senior Indoors Day 1 in Abbottstown on Sat 18th Feb. Entries close Feb.9th.

  9. National Senior Indoors Day 2 in Abbottstown on Sun 19th Feb. Entries close Feb.9th.

  10. Leinster Juvenile Indoors  Day 3+ Relays in Abbottstown on Sat 25th Feb. Entries close Feb.16th.

  11. Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters Indoors in Abbottstown on Sun 26th Feb. Entries close Feb.16th.

 

Entry forms for all of these events are on our website. Please get your entries in asap, as this will help us to arrange as much training as we can for all athletes, in their chosen events!

 

CLUB AGM

 The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 2nd March at 8pm. 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.

 

SPORTSHALL COMPETITION

 Our Sportshall competition for our younger athletes will take place on Sat 4th March in the Community Hall at Shoreline swimming pool from 2.00-5.00pm. This is a great fun event, but as it is a team competition, athletes must be available for the entire event. If an athlete leaves early, their entire team loses out. Open to all athletes up to U14 in 2017 (born 2004 or after). Teams will be made up on the day! Please arrive on time as once the teams have been made up we will not be able to include late comers and we don’t want to disappoint anyone! Lots of help will be needed for this one, so if you are available, please let us know asap. Help from our older athletes is invaluable for this event, so please let us know if you can come along and help.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 As Feb. is so busy with preparation for competitions this year, we will leave our awards night until early March. A number of awards will be given out for both individual & team performances during 2016, as well as our 5yr/10 yr membership awards, Athlete of the Year & our 3A’s awards for Attendance, Attitude, Achievement which will be given to all age groups. Light refreshments will be follow and an opportunity to chat with your child’s coaches. All athletes & their families are welcome to attend.

 

ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

 The attendances for 2016 are being counted and a list will be put up on our website shortly with the names of those who have qualified and the details of the Good Attendance Trip.

 

WICKLOW COUNTY ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

 A meeting for coaches & parents interested in the propose Endurance Initiative will take place on Mon. next 6th Feb.at 7.30pm in Shoreline Sports Park. There will be a presentation by Steve Macklin - AAI Junior Endurance Coach at 7.30pm followed by a planning session at 8.30pm. Well worth attending!

 

 SPRINTS INITIATIVE

 Details of a sprints Initiative will follow shortly

 

Tue

03

Jan

2017

Newsletter

CLUB NEWS
We hope all our athletes & coaches had a lovely Xmas and that you are all ready to get back to work now. Training for all groups resumes tonight Tues 3rd Jan.

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2017
All club athletes must register for 2017. Registration will take place on Tues 17th Jan from 5-8pm, & Fri 20th Jan from 6-8pm. Registrations can be handed in at check-in before these dates provided they are in an envelope with the athlete’s name on it, but cannot be accepted after these dates, as all available places will have been given to those on our waiting list. Please note that Shoreline Sports Park cannot accept registration forms or payments for Greystones AC.

 

HELP NEEDED
We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

CONGRATULATIONS & CELEBRATIONS!
The Wicklow Star Awards will take place in Roundwood Parish Hall on Fri. 13th Jan at 7.30pm. Once again Greystones AC athletes have done really well, taking 3 of the 4 Juvenile awards with Alex Campbell winning the Boys U14-16, Richael Browne winning the Girls U16-19 & Ben Jones winning the Boys U16-19. GAC take both Junior awards, with Ara Freeman winning the girls & James Vance winning the boys. GAC’s Claire Foley & Jamie Cullen receive International Merit Awards for representing the Irish Universities in Scotland.
The Leinster Star Awards will take place in Carlow on Sat. 22nd Jan. and Geystones AC athletes take all 3 awards, with Richael Browne winning the Juvenile Girls, Josh Pyper winning the Juvenile Boys & Aoife Conroy winning the Senior Award.
Congratulations to all of these athletes on their awards. It’s great to see their hard work paying off!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
1. Wicklow Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Shanganagh Park on Sun. 8th Jan @ 11am.
2. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 14th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website. Closing Fri 6th Jan. We won the Ladies League in 2016, so have a title to defend girls! We want a full men’s team also this year lads!
3. Leinster Intermediate & Masters and Juvenile Relays (U12/14/16, 4 x 500m) will take place on Sun. 15th Jan. In Dunboyne. If you are interested in being on a team, please fill in the form which will close on Fri 6th.
4. National Combined events for athletes from U14 upwards will take place in Athlone on Sat. 21st Jan. Form on the website will be closing Wed Jan 11th.
5. The National Intermediate XC & Inter Club Relays ((U12/14, 4 x 500m) will take place in Tuam on Sun. 22nd Jan. Form up & closing Wed 11th Jan.
6. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up.
7. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

 

News of Club AGM, Club Awards night, Attendance Day Trip & Sportshall Competition for our younger members, will all follow shortly

Sun

18

Dec

2016

XMAS NEWSLETTER & INFO

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National XC’s and represented us so well.

 

Congratulations to Richael Browne who won Gold with both the Co. U18 team & the Co. U19’s, silver with the Leinster U18’s, silver with the Slí Cualann junior team & bronze with the Co Junior team. Congrats also to Joe Prendergast on his silver medal with the Leinster U14 team. Great running from everyone who competed & congrats to all on a great XC season.

 

Well done also to all who competed in R6 of the XC League. Great running from everyone and some terrific wins once again! Most of the medals have now been given out, but we still have a few in hand due to athletes not being present at training. If you think you are due a medal from either the Co. Champs or the League, please ask Theresa on Tues. night, as they may get forgotten when we come back in the new year and we really do want you to have them.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS (Busy month ahead!)

  1. Solstice Mile: Sli Cualann AC will host a series of graded 1 ml races (4laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice on Wed 21st Dec. at 7pm. Entry donation 5euros for Adults, 3euros for U12’s U16’s. Refreshments afterwards.

  2. STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K A great way to run of the turkey on Stephen's day is The Streets of Wicklow 5K at 11am. Always a great event, with lots of prizes & spotprizes & great refreshments afterwards. There's also a kids 1 mile race just before the big event on the day!

  3. Roundwood Biathlon: Roundwood AC host a Charity Biathlon on Tues 27th Dec. supporting leukaemia & Cancer Research at Vartry House Kavanagh's. Starting at 2pm, walkers 1.45pm.

  4. Wicklow Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Shanganagh Park on Sun. 8th Jan @ 11am.

  5. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 14th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website. We won the Ladies League in 2016, so have a title to defend girls! We want a full men’s team also this year lads!

  6. Leinster Intermediate & Masters and Juvenile Relays (U12/14/16, 4 x 500m) will take place on Sun. 15th Jan. In Dunboyne. If you are interested in being on a team, please fill in the form which will be up shortly.

  7. National Combined events for athletes from U14 upwards will take place in Athlone on Sat. 21st Jan. Form will be up shortly.

  8. The National Intermediate XC & Inter Club Relays ((U12/14, 4 x 500m) will take place in Tuam on Sun. 22nd Jan. Form will be up shortly.

  9. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up.

  10. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

CELEBRATIONS!

The County Star Awards will take place in Roundwood Parish Hall on Fri. 13th Jan at 7.30pm. We have a number of GAC athletes in the running for awards and all athletes and their families are invited to come along and support our stars! Award winners will be announced shortly.

 

XMAS TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS

All groups have training this Tues. 20th Dec. and this will be the final session for the younger groups. The 7-8.30pm session will go ahead as usual on Wed, but this will be the last session before Xmas. as the centre closes at 6pm on Fri. Training will officially resume on Tues 3rd Jan, but some coaches may make their own arrangements with groups over the holiday period. Do keep running and keep your fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 
We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

Stronger! Higher! Faster!” for 2017!”

 

Sat

26

Nov

2016

Newsletter

 CLUB NEWS

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

The National even ages events for U12-18 and the Junior & Senior adults are taking place tomorrow Sun. 27th Nov.

GAC competitors for Sunday: Joe Prendergast U14 boys representing Greystones & Leinster, Ella Shanley, Louise O’Riordan, Eimear Ryan, Enya Conroy, Salley Shanley U14 girls representing Wicklow. Ben Jones, Fernando Ruiz, John O’Connor, Enrique Rancon U16 Boys representing Wicklow, Richael Browne & Rachel Casey U18/Junior girls representing Greystones & Wicklow, with Richael also representing Leinster. Troy Scully U18 boys representing Greystones. Katy Conroy Junior girls representing Slí Cualann & Wicklow. We congratulate them all and wish them well on Sunday!

 

The National uneven ages event for U11-19 and the Novice adults will take place on Sunday 11th Dec. in Dundalk. GAC competitors for Sun 11th: Louise O’Riordan, Eimear Ryan, Salley Shanley U13 girls representing Wicklow, Abbie Tyrrell, Ella Shanley, Megan O’Brien, Enya Conroy U15 girls representing Wicklow, with Abbie also representing Leinster, Sarah O’ Connor U17 girls representing Greystones & Leinster, Richael Browne U19 girls representing Greystones, Wicklow & Leinster. Troy Scully U17 boys representing Greystones. Best of luck to everyone!

 

XC LEAGUE ROUND 6: The 6th and final round of the League will be held in Bray Emmetts on Fri 2nd Dec. Registration 6.30pm, first race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 6, 8, 10, 12 & 14/15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website and will close on Thurs. 1st Dec. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in 5 events get gold, in 4 events get silver & in 3 events get bronze medals. Present standing after 5 rounds is listed on the sidebar of our website. Have a look and see if you can improve your medal standing or get yourself into the medals by attending the final round.

Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 2nd Dec, as coaches will be at the XC League. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

 

SPORTSHALL

We intend holding a Sportshall competition for our younger athletes around mid January. This will be a team event for U7/9/11/13/15 and so will be open to all athletes aged 5 - 14 in 2017. This is always a really fun competition and is a great first event if you haven’t ventured into competition yet. We will be practising for this over the coming weeks, with groups rotating each week, so do try to come along to training each week and get to know the events involved. Medals for the 1st three teams in each age group for both girls & boys. It really is great fun!

 

COACHING DAY

We had a very successful club coaching session in late Oct. and are planning to hold the next session on Sat. 10th Dec. from 11.30 -2pm. Once again we will cover Hurdles, Sprints, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin & Discus as required. Application form is now on the website and will close on Thursday 8th Dec. These sessions are helpful in preparing the athletes for the Indoor season and are open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006). Registration form now on our website. Please list three events in order of preference. We will do our best to give you your top two choices, if at all possible.

 

TEAM MEDALS

We have been trying to hand out the team medals won at the Co. Championships over the past few weeks, but still have a good number in hand, as some athletes have not been attending training sessions. If you are due a medal, please collect from Theresa asap.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congratulations go to Richael Browne, who has been offered a full scholarship at Georgia State University for next September. This is a fantastic opportunity for Richael to develop as an athlete while getting a first class education and we hope she enjoys her time in the USA. Richael is following in the footsteps of another Greystones athlete Niamh Kearney, who has recently returned with a Masters in Nutrition, after a very successful 5 yrs in Georgia State. Just goes to show that if you make the commitment, work hard and progress steadily, your athletics can open doors to a great future for you.

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor in some groups during November and we remind everyone that athletes who disappear for up to 3 weeks without contacting us are deemed to have left the club. Check-in sheets are reviewed at the end of each month, names of those who aren’t attending are removed from the check-in sheets and places are given to those on our waiting list. Please contact us before the end of the month if you fall into this category.

 

NB: Athletes in groups 1 & 2 have agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions per week and need to do this to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group, but is not being adhered to. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

 

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week, particularly from U12 up. If you cannot make this, you really need to do the run yourself later in the day. Venue varies from week to week and is posted on our website & FB page each week. This long, easy run can be very enjoyable and lays the base for everything we do.

 

So far this season the attendance on Sunday mornings is poor and we would really love to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues. Dec.13th from 4.45-5pm and again from 7-8pm, in case anyone needs extra Xmas pressies........Santa has already put in his order! We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available and souvenir club pens also. The new batch of smaller singlets were delayed, but should have arrived by then. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have some second-hand spikes for sale at very reasonable prices. Some of these have hardly been worn!

 

FINALLY

Can we appeal to parents once again to ensure that all athletes bring a raincoat, hat & gloves to training, as it is very cold on the track some nights. Gloves are a real necessity, as when cold the children are inclined to run with their hands in their pockets, which is likely to result in head or facial injury if they fall as they have no way of saving themselves.

Mon

31

Oct

2016

Newsletter

TRAINING IS AT THE USUAL TIMES ALL THIS WEEK

 

LEINSTER XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

A very disappointing turn out of just 15 athletes for the first of the Leinster XC Championships on Saturday last, with only 9 girls & 6 boys from the club taking part. This is hugely disappointing for the athletes who do take part as we fail to fill teams for them and for the coaches who put in so much time and effort in preparing the athletes for these events.

 

Congratulations to those who did take part as we had some fantastic running on the day. A first outing for Cian Smyth in the boys U12 saw him finish 97th, with Chase Scully 108th. In the boys U14 Joe Prendergast finished in 5th place to qualify as an individual and also as part of the Leinster team for the Nationals. Paul Delahunty (U13) stepping up an age, also had a great run to finish 38th. In the girls U14 Ella Shanley finished 25th, Louise O’Riordan (U13) 37th, Eimear Ryan (U13) 51st, Enya Conroy 65th, Salley Shanley (U13) 78th & Erin Howard 90th. Ella, Louise, Eimear, Enya & Salley qualify for Nationals as part of the Wicklow team. A great run from Abbie Tyrrell (U15) stepping up in the girls U16 where she finished 18th and a 21st place finish for Ben Jones in the boys U16, with Joe Dowd (U15) taking 61st. Richael Browne had a terrific race to take 6th in the girls U18, also qualifying as an individual and as part of the Leinster team and Rachel Casey (U17) finishing 32nd. A terrific race also in the U18 boys from Troy Scully, (U17) who finished just out of the medals in 13th, with Cormac Gilnagh (U17) 45th. Well done to all and here’s hoping for a much better turn out for the Uneven Ages.

 

Form for Uneven Ages is now on our website and will close on Fri. 4th Nov.

 

 

 

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

The uneven ages event for U11-19 and the Juniors & Senior adults will take place on Sun. 13th Nov. It will be on the same course as the Even Ages, in New Forest Golf Club, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will make an effort and turn out for this one to run for Club & County. First race is at 12 o’clock, so athletes will need to arrive at 11am for check-in & warm up, as numbers will be big. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is this Friday 4th Nov. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out.

 

 

 

XC LEAGUE ROUND 5: Thursday 17th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13 & 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will be on our website and will close on Tues. 15th Nov. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in all 6 events get Gold, in 5 events get silver & in 4 events get bronze medals.

 

 

 

COACHING DAY

 

We had a relatively small attendance at the club coaching session on Saturday 22nd Oct. but coaches & athletes present all agree that it was a really worthwhile session. Those who turned up really enjoyed the morning and got a lot out of it. We hope to run one of these sessions each month to help prepare for the Indoor season and they are open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006).

 

 

 

TEAM MEDALS

 

We have not yet received team medals from the County Champs, but should get them at Tuesday’s meeting this week and will give them out on Wed/Fri.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rain jacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!

 

 

NB: Groups 1 & 2 are required to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

 

 

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week, particularly from U12 up. If you cannot make this, you really need to do the run yourself later in the day. Venue varies from week to week and is posted on our website & FB page each week. This long, easy run can be very enjoyable and lays the base for everything we do.

 

So far this season the attendance on Sunday mornings & also on Fri nights is poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

 

Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

 

 

 

Mon

17

Oct

2016

Newsletter

A VERY LONG NEWSLETTER THIS TIME, BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AS IT CONTAINS A LOT OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR CLUB ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

 

WICKLOW XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Fantastic results from both Sunday’s at the Wicklow XC Championships, despite a very big percentage of our club athletes failing to attend. On day 1 we had barely 20% of our athletes in attendance, but despite this we got 7 individual medals and team medals in the Girls U10, U14 & U16 and Boys U16 & U18

Congratulations to our County Champions Ella Shanley, Richael Browne & Joe Prendergast, Silver medal winners Sarah O’Connor & Troy Scully and bronze winners Abbie Tyrrell & Paul Delahunty and well done to all who ran so well.

 

On day 2 we did a little better, but not much, and again we saw fantastic running from those who did come with County Championships going to Sarah O’Connor, silver medals to Abbie Tyrrell, Louise O’Riordan, Paul Delahunty & Troy Scully & bronze medals to Katy Lawless & Ella Shanley. A few more teams this time, with team medals, for every team we managed to fill, Girls U9, U11, U13, U15 & U17, Boys U17 & our Intermediate Men. Great running from everyone who took part, but disappointing for all the coaches who put so much time and effort in, to see so many athletes not taking part on either day.

 

Full results from both days are now on the sidebar of our website home page. Medals to follow!

 

 

 

COACHING DAY

 

We are holding a special coaching session on next Saturday 22nd Oct. from 10-12 o’clock at Shoreline Track. This is open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006) and will cover Hurdles, Sprints, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin, Discus. Application form is now on the website and will close on this Thursday 20th Oct. Don’t just turn up on the day please, as we will not be able to facilitate you. Each athlete can take part in two events only. Please list 3 events in order of choice and we will do our best to give you your first preferences. Cost for the day is €5. We intend holding a number of these sessions over the coming months, to help prepare for the Indoor season.

 

 

 

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

We are now looking forward to the first of the Leinster Championships, which will take place on a new course this year in New Forest Golf Club, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath. This is the even ages event for athletes from U12-18 (U11’s can move up) and also for Novice & Masters athletes. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will make an effort and turn out to run for Club & County on Saturday 29th Oct. First race is at 12 o’clock, so athletes will need to arrive at 11am for check-in & warm up, as numbers will be big. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is this Friday 21st Oct. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out. There will be open (non championship) races for girls & boys U10, with entries taken on the day, at the event. Start time for this is 11.40am.

 

The uneven ages event for U11-19 (U10’s can move up) and the Intermediate adults will take place on Sun. 13th Nov. Venue has yet to be confirmed for this. To avoid confusion, entry form for this will only go up when the even ages comes down.

 

 

 

LEAGUE ROUND 5 : Friday 17th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will go up after the Leinster events close, to avoid confusion.. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in all 6 events get Gold, in 5 events get silver & in 4 events get bronze medals. A list of standings for the 2016 League will go up on our website shortly.

 

Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 17th, as coaches will be at the XC League. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

 

 

 

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS

 

Arrive on time, as late arrival puts unnecessary stress on everyone, especially the young athletes. Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. Club coaches will generally take charge of the younger groups. Warm up should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walking around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

 

We know how easy it is to get carried away during a race and while love to hear everyone cheering on our athletes, in keeping with the ethos of our club, parents, coaches & supporters should try to ensure that we are always being supportive of all our athletes and not critical of how they are performing. Not every race will go to plan, but they are all out there doing their very best, so lets leave the race analysis to the coaches/athletes at the next training session and just be there for them offering your unwavering support and encouragement! Please note that running beside an athlete during a race is termed pacing and you will most likely get the athlete disqualified if you do this.

 

 

 

 

PLEASE READ AND INFORM/REMIND ATHLETES:

 

We are asking once again that athletes make sure to use the toilets before coming down to training as it causes huge problems if a coach has to leave a group to bring them up, during the session. On this note, we remind athletes that the toilets and changing rooms must be left as we find them and not in a mess. Recently we have had a lot of tissue etc. thrown about and water everywhere, coinciding with athletic club’s use of the facility, and this needs to stop. Shoreline have the right to refuse access to groups who do not respect the track and other facilities. Please remember that the building is not our club house, it is a business premises and athletes are asked not to gather in the reception area or just outside the front door, as this interferes with other customers access. We now have access to the container nearest to the track for check-in on wet evenings, so please go directly there to check-in, if it is raining. You may leave your bags here on wet nights.

 

 

We remind you once again that all athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!

 

 

Athletes who may need an inhaler, should always make sure to bring it with them. You should not share other athletes inhalers, as they may not be the same medication/dosage as yours.

 

 

Athletes who are not fit to train due to injury or illness should not attend training sessions. Athletes who arrive and are not fit to train will be sent home, as it is far too cold to stand around on the track waiting for the session to end.

 

 

NB: Groups 1 & 2 are required to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.

 

 

So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

 

Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

 

 

 

LEINSTER PERFORMANCE SQUAD

 

 

Congratulations to GAC athletes Alana Ryan  Sprints, Alex Campbell TJ, Ara Freeman Sprints, Ben Mooney  Sprints, James Vance  LJ, Josh Pyper  Sprints, Louis Lalor  Hurdles, Niamh Conroy  Sprints, Rachel Casey  Walks, Rachel Whitten  Javelin, Sophie Nicholson  HJ, who were selected for the Leinster performance squad for the 2016/17 season. They had their first session last Sat. in Santry with the second one coming up on Dec. 3rd in Athlone covering all events except endurance, which is organised separately. A developmental squad, open to all athletes aged 12 yrs +, runs on the same day from 11am-1pm. The Dec. 3rd session for this one covers Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump and costs €5.

 

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. 25th Oct. from 4.40-5pm and again from 7-8pm only. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Unfortunately the new batch of smaller singlets are not due to arrive until the 31st Oct., but they can be purchased on the 25th and we will deliver them as soon as they arrive. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have a small number of secondhand spikes for sale at very reasonable prices.

 

 

 

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS

 

We have a large number of athletes registration cards which have still not been collected. These have the athletes Life No. and will not be replaced, so we don’t want to give them to young children in case they get lost. A lot of them were given out at the Awards night, but for those who haven’t received them yet, we will have them at the gate this week, so please ask when you are dropping off your child, if you have not collected them previously. Cards for recently registered athletes will not be available yet.

 

Sun

25

Sep

2016

Newsletter

 

WELCOME BACK

 

Welcome back to all our athletes and coaches and a big welcome to all our new athletes. We hope everyone is well settled in at this stage, enjoying the training and looking forward to the Cross Country (XC) season. Attendance at training has been poor in a couple of groups and we are now removing all athletes who have not returned at this stage, as we have long lists of people waiting for places. We cannot hold places indefinitely!

 

REGISTRATION NIGHT

 

We will be holding a registration night for all of our new athletes on this coming Tues 27h Sept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be taken between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms will be available on the night and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2016 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. Those already registered for 2016, do not need to register again.

 

 

 

COMPETITIONS

 

We had our first competition last Friday with a good number of our athletes taking part in the Cross Country (XC) League. Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to all who helped out on the night.

 

 

 

VERY IMPORTANT

 

The County XC Championships are coming up fast and will take place on next Sun 2nd Oct in Ashford & the following Sun 9th Oct. in Roundwood. We need as many athletes as possible to take part in these events, so please try to come along. We would really love to have full teams in every age group! (See FB/GAC Website for maps)

 

The entry forms are now on the website and entries need to be in asap. Entries for the Even Ages (U6/8/10/12/14/16/18/Novice) on Oct. 2nd will close on Thurs. 29th Sept. and for the Uneven Ages (U7/9/11/13/15/17/ Intermediate) on Oct. 9th will close on Thurs. 6th Oct.

 

Certs for all athletes who complete the course from U7-U10’s. U11’s upwards are Championship events, with medals for the 1st three finishers and the 1st three teams. Events are open to all registered athletes and all athletes may move up one age group (U7 can run U8 etc.) allowing everyone to compete both weeks.

 

Tue

30

Aug

2016

Club News & Information

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We hope you have all enjoyed a good rest at this stage and are all now eagerly preparing to return to training. We sincerely hope that you have all followed our request to start back running, are now doing a reasonable run every second day and will be more than ready to start training when we return.

 

 

We hope you have all enjoyed a good rest at this stage and are all now eagerly preparing to return to training. We sincerely hope that you have all followed our request to start back running, are now doing a reasonable run every second day and will be more than ready to start training when we return. If you have not started yet, you can still make a difference by starting now. Run 15-20 mins (younger groups 10-15m) every second day and you will reap the benefits. The first Cross Country event will be held in Greystones in late Sept.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 6th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 9th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 13th Sept. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified. Those who did not respond to the invite will now stay in their original group, as all available places have now been allocated.

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts before taking their break. Those who still owe for weekly subs/entries are reminded that these debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in. If this continues to be an issue, we may have to refuse entry to those who arrive without their €2 and we would rather not have to do this.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered for, are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short of coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues. to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. You will have help and we will ensure you get some basic training. We won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with our younger groups!

 

We also need helpers to look after the check-in on all three nights. This generally only takes about 20 mins, but is a huge help to the coaches, as it allows training to begin on time.

 

FIT4YOUTH

 

We plan to revive our Fit4Youth group this Sept. and have places available in this group. This group is for age 12 yrs upwards and is aimed at those who want to run for fitness rather than take part in competitive athletics. Athletes will warm up on the track with the rest of the groups and will then be taken on a run by a qualified coach. Group members can also join in with the Core/Circuits session on Wed. evenings.

 

 

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Over the next few weeks we plan to re-vamp our adult programmes as we are keen to build the adult section of our club for both serious and recreational runners. For the moment our Beginner2Winner group continues with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we hope to see lots of new faces coming along.

 

Our regular established Fit4Life sessions continue on Mon/Wed at 8.30pm & Wed/Fri at 10am and our road run takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm with Caoimhin MacMaolain. This group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones. All level & abilities will be catered for at our sessions. All club members young & old are welcome to the Sunday morning run, but U12’s must be accompanied by an adult. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 

Tue

09

Aug

2016

Club News & Info

 

TRAINING

 

Most athletes & coaches are now on a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from many of our athletes. Enjoy the rest, but do spare a thought for the girls still training and wish them well as they continue their preparation to compete in the European Clubs Cup in Portugal in September, where they took the bronze last year!

 

 

TRAINING

 

Most athletes & coaches are now on a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from many of our athletes. Enjoy the rest, but do spare a thought for the girls still training and wish them well as they continue their preparation to compete in the European Clubs Cup in Portugal in September, where they took the bronze last year! Training throughout the summer for this event, will be by arrangement with the coaches involved.

 

For all our other athletes we recommend a full two weeks 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 5 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 Cross Country event will be less than two weeks after we return in Sept.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 will resume on Tues. 6th Sept, with groups 3-6 returning on Fri. 9th Sept. Little Athletics will return on Tues. 13th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.

 

 

 

Groups for Sept.'16 will be organised very soon to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Parents of athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if their children intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 

 

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts over the past few weeks. Those who still owe for weekly subs/entries are reminded that these debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in. If this continues to be an issue, we may have to refuse entry to those who arrive without their €2 and we would rather not have to do this.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered for, are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 


 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the National Championships recently and who represented the club so well, though it was disappointing that so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Huge congratulations to the medal winners and to all who earned PB's.

 

U14: Ellen McNally took bronze in the Long Jump with a huge PB.

 

U16: Alex Campbell took Silver in the Triple Jump.

 

U18: Richael Browne took Silver in the 1500m with a 4 sec. PB and 4th place in the 800m.

 

U19: Ara Freeman Gold in 100m & Bronze in 200m.

 

Great performances from Joe Prendergast U14, Aodhan Daly & Ronan Dempsey U15, Sarah O'Connor, Ben Mooney, Josh Pyper & Ben Jones U16, Troy Scully, Rachel Casey, Alana Ryan & Niamh Conroy U17, Alannah O'Carroll U18

 

Relays: Bronze for the U17 boys Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney and 4th place for the U14 team Darragh Rush, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast & Michael O'Shea.

 

Great performances also from everyone who took part in the National B Championships, with Emma Quirk U14 the star of the day winning the Long Jump and breaking the Championship Best 3 times while doing it. She also finished 5th in the 80m In the 800m, a great win from Katie Lawless U16 leading all the way from the gun and a great run from Erin Howard to win silver U14, with Enya Conroy finishing 7th. Silver also for John O'Connor in the U16 High Jump. A super run and a huge PB from Danny Jones U14 who was just shaded for the bronze medal in a terrific finish, a 6th place finish for Paul Delahunty U13 600m and 4th place for Lucy daly U12 in the 60m.

 

A small turn out for the Inter Counties event in Leixlip, but a fantastic day's competition and a real team spirit with several athletes competing in multiple events during the day, finishing with some very exciting relays. Well done to all!

 


 

A long trip to Cork for R2 of the National League and another great performance from our Slí Cualann teams. Once again many of them went above and beyond the call of duty, giving everything they had and more to get every possible point available. A huge Thank You to PJ Scully who gave up his day off to drive the bus for us........ and a long day it was, but so worthwhile, with the girls team finishing 2nd overall and qualifying for the Final.

 

Unfortunately we had a depleted team for the final last Sunday, as several athletes were not available. Despite this the girls put in a tremendous effort as always and finished in 5th place overall. Well done to all the girls who competed so well throughout the entire League!

 


 

Tue

05

Jul

2016

Club Newsletter

 

TRAINING

 

Training for our younger groups ie 5-6pm & 6-7pm sessions, has now finished for the summer. We hope all our young athletes enjoyed the final night's games & the goodies afterwards & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge 'Thank You' to our coaches and an appeal for more help in Sept. please. Have a great summer everyone.

 

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes are still competing up to the first weekend in August. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. However our Junior Girls, who are off to compete in Europe in Sept., will continue to train throughout the summer, by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 


OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A number of athletes regularly forget to bring their weekly €2 track fee and some owe for several weeks, built up over a period of time. Our check-in crew regularly remind athletes of outstanding fees owed, often to no avail, and so we are now asking that all money owed to the club should be paid off before we take our summer break. We can then start back in Sept. with a clean slate. We know it is easy to forget, but it is unfair that some athletes run up debts while others always pay their fees. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 


UPCOMING EVENTS (Still lots happening)

 

  1. National B Championships Sat 9th July in Tullamore

  2. National Relays Sat 9th July in Tullamore

  3. Day 1 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 10th July

  4. 4 Counties Event in Leixlip on Sat 16th July ( U14 – U17) This is an Inter-County event and athletes interested in being selected for the teams should fill in the form on our website. Closing Fri 8th July. The programme of events is on the sidebar of our website.

  5. Round 2 National League in Cork on Sun. 17th July

  6. Day 2 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sat. 23rd July

  7. Day 3 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 24th July

  8. Celtic Games Sat. 6th Aug in Wales

  9. National League Final in Tullamore on Sun. 7th Aug.

  10. National Masters Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 21st Aug.

 


CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the Leinster Championships this year. We had some great performances and some top results once again.

 

 

 

 

U13: Jack McGlone Gold in the LJ & Bronze in the sprint.

 

U14: Joe Prendergast Gold in the LJ & 5th in the 1500m, Michael O'Shea 4th in the 80m, Ellen McNally Bronze in the LJ & 6th in the 75mH, Emma Quirk 5th in the LJ & 5th in the 75mH, Enya Conroy 6th in the 75mH, James Nicholson 6th in the 800m

 

 

U15: Ronan Dempsey Bronze in the 80mH & 250mH, Aodhan Daly Bronze in the 200m & the 100m & 4th in the LJ, Isobel Radford Dodd 5th in the 1500m

 

 

U16: Ben Jones Gold in the 800m & Silver in the 1500m, Sarah O'Connor Silver in the 1500m & 5th in the 800m, Josh Pyper Gold in the 100m, Ben Mooney Bronze in the 200m, Alex Campbell Gold in the TJ, Katie Lawless 5th in the 250mH & 80mH.

 

 

U17: Niamh Conroy Silver in the 400m & 5th in the 200m, Rachel Casey Bronze in the 3K Walk

 

U18: Richael Browne Gold in the 800m, the 1500m & the HJ, Alannah O'Carroll 4th in the 400m & 5th in the 200m.

 

 

The Bray Invitational Event saw another great night of athletics in Greystones. Disappointing that a number of selected athletes didn't bother to show up, especially as places were so limited and they were denying others a chance to compete. Those who did show up put on another great performance and GAC once again won the Bourke Cup for top club & the Medley Relay Shield.

 

The Invitational Mile saw Richael Browne take the honours in the women's event, with Carol Costello 2nd and Cillian Browne take 3rd in the men's event. Well done to all!

 

Great results again at the National Juniors/U23's on Sat 2nd July.

 

 

U23: Claire Foley Gold in the 100m & Bronze in the 200m, Aoife Conroy Bronze in the 400mH.

 

 

Junior: Gold for our relay team Alannah O'Carroll, Alana Ryan, Katy Conroy, Richael Browne.

 

The National Combined Events on Sun 3rd saw Ellen McNally & Emma Quirk produce several PB's throughout the day leaving them in 4th & 5th position going in to the final 800m where they finished a creditable 8th & 10th.

 

 

Great performance also from our Slí Cualann teams in R1 of the National League, with the

girls team lying 3rd overall going into R2 on July 17th and looking good for a place in the final. A depleted Men's team struggled a bit for points, but with a bigger team going to Cork, we hope for a better showing in R2.

 

 

Congratulations to all the medal winners and qualifiers for the All Irelands!

 

 

Best of Luck to all those who are competing in the many events listed over the next couple of weeks!

 

 

 

Mon

30

May

2016

Newsletter

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our athletes who competed in the County Championships this year. Most of the results are now posted on our website and I will post the rest as soon as I receive them. Well done also to all who competed in the Leinster Relays & Juniors Championships.

 

 

 Some great running here and good results. In the relays we took Gold in the U16 Boys & the U14 Boys, with our 2nd team taking 4thplace. We took silver in the U13 Boys and had 4th place finishes in the U11 & U15 Boys. In the Junior competition Congratulations go to Rachel Casey, who took Gold in the 3K walk, her first race at this distance, to become Leinster Junior Champion, Richael browne who took silver in the 800m, Troy Scully who took silver in the 3K, Noah Daly who took bronze in the Long Jump and the girls 4x100m team, Alana Ryan, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy, Alannah O'Carroll, who took bronze in the relay. Great results also from the Combined Events where Aoife Conroy took Silver in the Senior with Isobel O'grady taking the bronze. Great performances in their first Combined Events from Ellen McNally 6th, Emma Quirk 8th, Enya Conroy 11th, Erin Howard 14th, in the Girls U14's. Lots more to come from these girls!. In the Leinster Schools, congrats go to Ben Jones 1st & Sarah O'Connor 2nd in the 1500m events, Josh Pyper 2nd in the 100m & Alex Campbell 2nd in TJ at Junior level & James Vance 1st in the LJ at Intermediate level. We wish them well in the National Finals on Sat. Very well done to Richael Brown on her bronze medal in the 800m at the AAI Games!

 

Best of Luck to all those who are competing in the Schools on Sat. 4th, Leinster Sen/Mast on Sun. 5th & the Team Competition on Mon. 6th June.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Training during club training times, is carried out by coaches on a voluntary basis. Occasionally the club will organise specialist training sessions. Otherwise private training sessions outside of these times are not carried out under the remit of the club.

 

While the club encourages involvement in other sports and activities, athletes, parents and coaches are reminded to take a holistic view of all activities while planning training sessions, with the aim of injury prevention. Please communicate with the coaches to best coordinate appropriate levels of training to avoid injury or stress on the athletes.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Leinster U23's, Senior & Masters in Tullamore on Sunday 5th June. Entries close Mon. 30th.

  2. Leinster Team Competition in Tullamore on Monday 6th June for U9/10/11/12/13/15. Closed.

  3. Round 1 National League on Sun 12th June. U17 up. Contact Theresa if interested in selection.

  4. Leinster U9,10,11 Pairs & U12 & U13 Championships in Tullamore on Sat 11th June. Entries close on Tues. 31st May.

  5. Leinster U14-19 Championships in Tullamore on Sat/Sun 18/19th June. Entries close June 6th.

  6. Bray Invitational on Tues 21st June in Greystones. Limited numbers allowed. Priority given to those who compete regularly, then first come first served.

 

 

 

FURTHER REMINDER RE WEBTEXT

 

Once again a reminder that the webtext is mainly used to send out notifications/ reminders of events. If you have a question that requires a quick response, you should text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number leads to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if message is not urgent.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. June 7th from 4.45-5pm & 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt

 

Tue

03

May

2016

Club News & Information

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our athletes who competed in the 1st night of the County Championships, the East Leinster schools and the Primary schools relays recently. Fantastic results for our athletes at all of these events. Full results will be published later.

 

 Well done to our club athletes, Richael Browne & Carol Costello who put in fantastic performances on the Slí Cualann medal winning teams at the National Road relays. Well done also to all the adults who competed so well at the County road race in Ashford & the Leinster road race in Gowran. Special Congrats to Troy Scully who won the Junior event in Ashford.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Wicklow County Championships remaining events are on this weekend on Fri 6th May & Sunday 8th May. Programme is on the GAC website and entry forms also. Entries will close on Wed. 4th May to allow time to process them and sort relay teams. There are events for all ages and we hope that all of our athletes will make a big effort to take part in these championships. Coaches and helpers needed also, as we are required to officiate at all 3 days and also need sufficient cover to look after our athletes. Please note that athletes may not compete in events on the day, if they haven't pre-entered these events.

    For our younger athletes taking part in the Award Scheme, all athletes do a run, a jump & a throw and are scored on these. Scores are tallied and all receive a medal according to these results. This is a very enjoyable & rewarding event for these young athletes and we look forward to seeing a large attendance from GAC!

  2. The Leinster Relays will be held in Greystones on Saturday 21st May and entries close on Mon 9th May. If you are interested in being considered for a team, please get your entry in asap. Absolutely no late entries will be accepted by Leinster!

  3. The Leinster Juniors also take place on Sat. 21st May in Greystones. These are open to all athletes born 1997-2000. A full programme except for PV & SC which will be held on Sun. 5th June in Tullamore. Entries close on Mon 9th May. Absolutely no late entries will be accepted by Leinster!

  4. The Leinster Combined events for U14 up, are being held in Enniscorthy on Sunday 22nd May. Entries also close on Mon 9th May.

 

WEBTEXT

 

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

THANK YOU!

 

A huge Thank You to everyone who helped out with the very successful bagpack in Tesco on Fri 21st/Sat 22nd Apr and many thanks to all who donated so generously. The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club. Special thanks go to Christina & Dermot Browne who secured the slot for us and did all the organising leading up to and during the event.

 

AWARDS NIGHT

 

We had a very successful Club Awards night on Thurs. 21st Apr. where many athletes received certificates & Awards for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement. There were awards for longevity in the club, team awards, Special achievement awards, International Selection awards & our Athlete of the Year. A very enjoyable night was had by all who attended.

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to this list.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. May.10th from 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with all of our present groups!

 

We are also looking for some extra coaches for the 7-8.30pm sessions on Tues/Fri if anyone is available to help out.

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Our Beginner2Winner group continues on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we 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 to take part.

 

Our club road run has been going for several weeks now. It takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm and we say a big Thank You to Caoimhin MacMaolain who is looking after this for us. The group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones and all level & abilities are catered for. We hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join this group and help grow the adult section of our club. This one is for club members only, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 

 

 

 

 

Thu

28

Apr

2016

Good Luck!

Best of Luck to all of our athletes taking part in the County Championships tomorrow Fri 29th Apr. Check-in at the track at 6pm, first race at 6.30pm. Full programme is on the sidebar on our website. Entries are closed for this Fri, but entry forms for Fri 6th & Sun 8th May are still open on our website! Please come out and compete for your club at these championships!

Sat

02

Apr

2016

Club News & information!

 

Please take the time to read this, as it contains crucial information!

 


CLUB FUNDRAISER

 

We would ike to remind everyone that we will have a fundraising bagpack in Tesco, Greystones on Fri 22nd Apr. & Sat 23rd Apr. 2016. We will be packing from 11am - 7 pm Fri & from 10 am – 6pm on Sat.

 

 

A great deal of help will be needed for this fund-raising event, so all athletes from age 16 upwards & all parents are asked to try to come along and cover a shift or two. We will break the days up into 2 hr shifts and if we get a good response, then nobody will have to put in too much time. Please contact Christina on 0871459959 and let her know what time/times you will be available to help out, so that she can put together a plan to ensure we have sufficient cover throughout both days. The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club, so please help out if at all possible. It's not fair to always leave the effort to the same small group of people, who already do so much for our club!

 

 

 

AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2015 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club on Thurs. 21st Apr. at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, team awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIP

 

We are presently working on arranging our annual club day trip for athletes with 60% plus attendance in 2015. Attendances have been added up and the list of those eligible to attend should be available at the Awards night, along with details of the trip. These will also be posted on our website, once finalised.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to this list.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Round 3 of the Track League takes place on Thurs 7th April at the track in Greystones. Entry form is now on our website and entries close on Wed 6th. Events are open to all athletes up to U14. Check-in from 6pm, first race at 6.45pm sharp.

  2. Wicklow Sec. Schools T&F is being held on Tues. 5th Apr. in Greystones

  3. Wicklow Primary Schools XC Relays is being held on Tues 12th Apr. in Avondale

  4. Wicklow County Championships will be held this year on Fri 29th Apr., Fri 6th May & Sunday 8th May. Programme will be posted on the GAC website as soon as it is available. There will be events for all ages and we hope that all of our athletes will make a big effort to take part in these championships.

  5. Wicklow County Road Race is being held in Ashford on Wed. 20th Apr. @ 7.15pm. Entries to Theresa by lunchtime Monday 18th. Open to athletes age 16 and upwards.

  6. The annual GAC/IMC T&F event will take place in Greystones on Saturday afternoon 30th Apr. This has quickly become a very successful event at which National records have been set & qualifying times achieved for International competitions. It is well worth coming along to view & is a great opportunity to see some of our club Junior & Senior athletes compete with the best in the country.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. 4th Apr. from 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. If you didn't manage to get one of our club calendars, they are still available and now at a reduced price. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet!

 

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with all of our present groups!

 

We are also looking for some extra coaches for the 7-8.30pm sessions on Tues/Fri if anyone is available to help out.

 

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Our Beginner2Winner group starts a new 6 week programme this week, with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we 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 to take part.

 

We're delighted to announce that our road run is back for the past few weeks. It now takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm and we say a big Thank You to Caoimhin MacMaolain who is looking after this for us. The group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones and all level & abilities will be catered for. We hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join this group and help grow the adult section of our club. This one is for club members only, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 


 

Mon

14

Mar

2016

NATIONAL JUVENILE INDOORS 2016

 

 

Thrills & spills for GAC athletes at the first two days of the National Indoors, where we had top class performances and some great results. On Saturday, Richael Browne took on the U18 1500m right from the gun and stormed to victory with a huge PB of 4.45!

 

 

Thrills & spills for GAC athletes at the first two days of the National Indoors, where we had top class performances and some great results. On Saturday, Richael Browne took on the U18 1500m right from the gun and stormed to victory with a huge PB of 4.45! Despite waking with a cold on Sunday she took on the 800m, running a beautifully controlled race to again win her heat. However as the day & the cold progressed, sense had to prevail & sadly she had to withdraw from the final. Huge disappointment for Ara Freeman on Saturday as a break saw her DQ'd from her favoured 60m, but what a comeback on Sunday when she ran a new PB of 24.82 to take silver in the 200m. A terrific bronze for Louis Lalor in the U17 60m hurdles on Sunday also. Another good weekend for Troy Scully who ran a big PB of 4.32 to qualify for the U17 1500m on Saturday, followed by a gutsy run in the final to finish 12th overall. A big PB also for Rachel Casey in the U17 1500m walk where she finished 7th in 8.48. Disappointment for Sarah O'Connor, who was tripped up & crashed to the ground in the first lap of the U16 1500m, but she showed great guts & determination and soon got herself back into contention. However the fall, the battered knees & the fight back took it's toll and Sarah finished in 11th place. Alana Ryan mainly used her indoor season this year to try out the 400m, but still qualified for both the 60m & 200m finals this weekend finishing in 5th place. An early stumble saw Josh Pyper have to fight hard for his place in the 60m final where he later finish in 5th place. Jack McGlone U13, finished 6th in his 60m heat in his first ever National event.  In the field events, Aodhan Daly finished 4th in the Long Jump & 13th in the High Jump U15, Sophie Nicholson finished 8th in the U16 Long Jump & James Nicholson 8th in the U14 Long Jump, with Noah Daly 13th in the U17 Long Jump. Well done to all & best of luck to our relay teams next Saturday and to our Masters on Sunday!

 

 

 

 

 

Sun

13

Mar

2016

LEINSTER RESULTS 2016

 

LEINSTER INDOOR RESULTS 2016

 

Well done to each and every athlete who competed in the Leinster Juvenile Indoors and Best of Luck to those taking part in the National Juvenile & Masters events over the next two weekends. We had many, many qualifiers for semi-finals and finals and we are so proud of you all. Our Medal winners are listed below. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.

 

 

U13: Jack McGlone Bronze in 60m.

 

U14: James Nicholson Silver in Long Jump

 

U15: Aodhán Daly, Silver in Long Jump & Bronze in High Jump.

 

U16: Josh Pyper, Gold in 60m

 

Ben Mooney, Bronze in 200m

 

Sarah O’Connor, Bronze in 1500m

 

Sophie Nicholson, Bronze in Long Jump

 

U17: Alana Ryan, Gold in 200m & Silver in 60m

 

Louis Lalor, Bronze in 60m Hurdles

 

Noah Daly, 200m???

 

U18: Richael Browne, Gold in 800m (Championship Best Performance) Gold in 1500m & Bronze in H J

 

U19: Ara Freeman, Gold in 60m (Championship Best Performance) & Gold in 200m

 

Relays

 

Boys U14 Gold: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Paul Delahunty, Michael O'Shea

 

Boys U17 Gold: Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Ben Mooney

 

 

 

Junior Girls: Ara Freeman Gold in 60m & Bronze in 200m

 

Susie McParland Silver in 3K

 

Katy Conroy Bronze in 800m

 

Relay Silver: Alannah O'Carroll, Niamh Conroy, Katy Conroy, Ara Freeman.

 

Junior Boys: Troy Scully Bronze in 3K

 

Senior Women: Isobel O'Grady Bronze in 400m & Long Jump

 

Masters Women: Carol Costello Bronze in 800m

 

Masters Men: Conor O'Reilly Gold in Shot Putt

 

Thu

03

Mar

2016

CLUB FUNDRAISER

 

Greystones Athletic Club

 


 

Greystones AC have a fundraising bagpack in Tesco, Greystones on Fri 22nd Apr. & Sat 23rd Apr. 2016. We will be packing from 11am - 7 pm Fri & from 10 am – 6pm on Sat.

 

A great deal of help will be needed for this fund-raising event, so all athletes from age 16 upwards & all parents are asked to try to come along and cover a shift or two. We will break the days up into 2 hr shifts and if we get a good response, then nobody will have to put in too much time.

 

Please contact Christina on 0871459959 and let her know what time/times you will be available to help out, so that she can put together a plan to ensure we have sufficient cover throughout both days.

 

The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club, so please help out if at all possible. It's not fair to always leave the effort to the same small group of people, who already do so much for our club!

 

 

 

Thu

18

Feb

2016

Worth Reading!

 

Sonia O’Sullivan: Enjoyment is an important part of winning

Nurturing a competitive instinct in children is healthy – just don’t apply pressure

Photograph: Inpho

Photograph: Inpho

 

 

Athletics is going through a rough period, and I’ve spoken before about losing some of my emotional attachment to the sport. But I still believe athletics is where competition is at its most basic and stinctive, partiularly at a grassroots level! 

These days I often find myself on the sidelines watching young athletes race, and there is no better place to see competition in its most natural state: it doesn’t take much to realise who is the best, the fastest, the most competitive.

 

 

 

There aren’t a lot of tactics employed, as they almost all rely on natural competitive instinct. Young athletes are always fighting for the lead, whether it’s a 400m or a 1,500m race, simply because they believe to be in with a chance of winning you need to be as close to the lead as possible at all times.

 

Last Friday night I found myself inside the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, a nice blue track alongside the Albert Park lake. It was a full weekend of athletics, the Victorian Junior Championships. As a parent, I was required to volunteer some time to my club, Glenhuntly AC, to help out with the running of the programme. I figured if I took the first two hours on Friday evening I would be free to relax and enjoy the races for the rest of the weekend.

 

Simple instructions

 

I was given the job of tape puller in the shot put circle, not something that I am too familiar with, although with a few simple instructions and corrections in the first few attempts I had it down to a tee.

 

That was until the 1,500m races started, when I had to multitask, keeping my eye on the races while continuing the shot put measuring. Now I may be slightly biased, but to me the middle-distance races are the most exciting, entertaining and competitive events on the programme.

 

I am involved a little with coaching in Australia, although not my daughter Sophie, who was running in the under-16 1,500m. No wonder I was distracted.

 

 

Second Captains

 

I see a lot of myself in the way Sophie races. Not the times she runs, but just her instincts, her ability to race. She is always jostling for a lead position, similar to when I used to compete in junior races around Cork and Munster.

 

The best thing about these races is the aftermath: all the girls are the best of friends, rolling around on the grass laughing, not a care in the world – when only minutes before they were battling on the track. Sophie finished second, in her best time, and she was happy. I sensed, without any discussion, that she was already looking ahead to the next race.

 

At this level, it’s not the time that matters: the competition is so fierce that the times just come with the pure racing. Watching these races, I always have an eye on the clock because I understand if you go too fast at the start there is a good chance you will slow down and the winner is rarely predictable.

 

It’s also easy to pick out the athletes who are training and more physically prepared. However, it is those who have trained less, but possess a more competitive instinct, who are more fascinating to watch.

 

Sometimes these athletes do things that shouldn’t be possible, based on their preparation, but being involved in the competition allows them to regularly finish in the top three, or run faster times. This is partly due to natural talent and an ability to rise to the occasion, a fearless and instinctive ability to react to any challenge.

 

The longer you can contain this natural competitiveness in children, without pressure or expectation, the more likely that they will continue to be competitive throughout their adult life.

 

The enjoyment of sport and the ability to be competitive must balance out. As soon as the competitiveness becomes more important than the enjoyment, then the level of competitiveness will drop. A bit like hitting a golf ball; the harder you try, the worse your shot. You need to be at one with what you are doing, and to produce a balanced effort, in order to achieve more. 

 

There is a competitive instinct in all of us. Some people may not even know it, as they think to be competitive means you must be involved in a sporting activity. But this competitive instinct is the driving force that allows each person to fulfil their potential. It comes out in the variety of activities, from schoolwork to office work, to simply cooking the dinner each day.

 

It’s not always obvious, but if you find yourself being very particular about how you do something, take the time to perfect it, then you’re clearly competitive in some sense, and it’s only the beginning of the natural competitive instinct that drives us every day of the week.

 

You also need to be able to relax and enjoy what you do, to be able to get the best results. If we can instil this ability in our children, they are more likely to have a competitive and enjoyable life in sport.

 

Stay on the sidelines

 

The difference now to when I was young is the greater involvement of parents in their child’s sporting lives. I believe parents should be there for transport and support and other peripheral matters, but outside of that should stay on the sidelines and simply enjoy the competition.

 

Let the children be the driving force. Let them find a way to be competitive and get the best from themselves. The place for this to begin is on the school field, and then let it reinvent itself in some other area of life later on.

Mon

15

Feb

2016

Notice from County Secretary

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF TIME!
Round 2 of the Juvenile League will take place on Friday 26th Feb. at Shoreline Track.
Entry form now open closing Thurs 25th. No late entries accepted.
6.00pm Registration
6.30 pm First Race
Distances :
U/7 100M
U/9 300M
U/11 500M
U/!3 600m
U/15 800m
Please do arrive on time as races must start promptly.
No 6-7pm training Fri. due to this event. 7-8.30pm training sessions go ahead as normal.

Sat

13

Feb

2016

NOTICE OF AGM

 A.G.M.

 A reminder that the club AGM will be held on this coming Thurs. 18th Feb. at 8pm. 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.

 

Nominations & Motions for the AGM should be sent to the club Sec. by Tuesday next 16th Feb. @ theresa.kinane@gmail.com or 0868635797

 

 

The Outgoing committee are as follows:

 

Chairperson: Aidan Hartnett

 

Vice Chair: Helen Dempsey

 

Secretary: Theresa Kinane

 

Treasurer: Fiona Gordon

 

Competition Sec: Theresa Kinane

 

PRO: Theresa Kinane

 

Registrar: Fiona Ryan

 

Welfare Officer: Fiona Ryan, Aidan Hartnett, Deirdre Kearney

 

Shop: Deirdre Kearney, Fiona Ryan

 

Fundraising Committee: Helen Dempsey, Christina Browne, Fiona Ryan, Sinead Daly

 

Social Committee: Fiona Ryan, Aidan Hartnett

 

As you can see a number of people are doing several jobs, so extra volunteers are definitely needed and would be most welcome, we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night. Nominations are welcome for any and all positions on the committee.

 

Mon

01

Feb

2016

Newsletter

 

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 


 

Registrations are finally completed and hopefully those athletes who have moved up are now settling in to their new groups. We welcome any new members and hope that they too are settling in to their groups.

 

 

 

 

The Indoor season is now well and truly under way. Our Junior & Senior athletes have already competed in several competitions during Jan. with great success and we congratulate them on their results so far. We have a very busy time ahead during Feb. & March. with competition most weekends. Please note that closing dates for entries will be strictly adhered to and late entries cannot be accepted for any events!

 


 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. The National League Final is on Sat. 6th Feb. In Athlone and our ladies team have qualified for this.

  2. The AAI Games are on Sun. 7th Feb. in Athlone and we have a small no. of athletes competing in this event also.

  3. The Leinster Juvenile Indoors (U12 up) are being held on Sat/Sun 13th/14th Feb. & Sat 5th March. Entry Form for Feb. is currently on our website and entries close on Tues 2nd Feb. The full programme is on the sidebar on our website and athletes can choose a max of 3 individual events across the 3 days. No late entries can be accepted!

  4. The Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters is on Sun. 6th March in Athlone. A Junior athlete is U17-U20. Closing date for entries is 23rd Feb. No late entries!

  5. The National Seniors are on Sat/Sun 27th/28th Feb. in Athlone. Open to U17 up. Closing date for entries 18th Feb. No late entries!

  6. Greystones AC host the next round of the Fit4Life series on Thurs. 11th Feb. It is a 2 mile out & back race and is open to everyone from age 13 up. Great event for those who are not competing at the Leinsters. We will need some help with stewarding etc. on the night. Check-in 7pm at the track. Entry on the night. Lots of Spotprizes.

    Please note that entries for the relay squad are now closed, as per webtext!

 

 

 

AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 18th Feb. at 8pm. 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.

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open this coming Tues. From 6.30-7.30pm only for singlets, shorts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We still have Club Calendars & Club Pens available also. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet!

 

 

 

 

 


 

Wed

30

Dec

2015

Newsletter

Training will resume on Tues 5th Jan. for all groups. Coaches gave out programmes or arranged sessions with groups for the holiday period, but many athletes were missing in the weeks beforehand. All competitive athletes who missed this should try to keep running and keep fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. The National 'B' XC Championships are being held in ALSAA (beside the Airport) on Sat. 9th Jan at 11.30am. These races are open to all athletes who did not medal at the National XC. (correction to previous note, which said qualifiers couldn't run) Races for U11/13/15/17 age groups (2015 ages and athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A' XC Championships. Form is now on the website and entries need to be in asap if you would like an opportunity to represent your Club & your County at this event! Very poor entry so far, but hoping for a big improvement over the next few days.

  2. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am. Entries to Theresa.

  3. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 16th Jan. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website asap. Events for R1 are 60m, 60mH, 800m, LJ, SP, PV

  4. Leinster Senior XC, an Open Junior XC and XC Relays for U12/14/16 will be held in Kilmacow on Sun. 17th Jan. Form will go up on the website shortly for this one.

 

 CLUB CALENDAR

  If you didn't manage to get a copy of our beautiful Club Calendar before Xmas, you'll be delighted to hear that they are still available. You can buy one when we return to training next week, or pick one up at Shoreline Sports Park! Remember this is a fundraiser and all money raised will go to help support our club and help our fees remain low!

 So far the calendar has not been very well supported. You will appreciate that equipment needs to be maintained and replaced throughout the year. The calendar will become, with your help, a source of regular annual income for this purpose. The calendar contains all competition dates for 2016 known at the time of publishing. Please feed photographs into the club following each event or occasion during the season so that this initiative will be more successful. Support your athletes please. 

 

 AWARD WINNERS

 Once again Greystones AC athletes are the recipients of both County & Provincial awards, with club athletes winning 3 of the 4 Juvenile award, both the Junior awards in Wicklow and both Juvenile awards in Leinster for 2015.

 Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Josh Pyper for the U14-16 section, Louis Lalor for the U16-19 section & Ara Freeman & Conor Dempsey for the Junior section in Wicklow. These will be presented in Ashford on Fri. 22nd Jan. along with awards for International selections and other achievements during the year. Slí Cualann Fit4Life & other club awards will also be presented that night and club members are welcome to come along and support our many winners!

Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Conor Dempsey for the Leinster Juvenile awards, which will be presented on Sat 9th Jan. at The Seven Oaks in Carlow. GAC would like to congratulate Tim Grummell on winning the Senior award at Leinster.

 

 REGISTRATIONS FOR 2016…………..VERY IMPORTANT!

 All club athletes now need to renew their registration/insurance for 2016. Registrations will take place at training times for one week only and athletes who have not registered cannot be admitted to the track on the following week, as they will not be covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area on Tues.12th Jan. Wed 13th Jan & Fri 15rd Jan. during training times only. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. If you have changed address or phone number, or wish to change the mob. we use for webtext messages, please fill out a new club form when registering. These forms will be available at registration, or can be downloaded from our website. Up to U19’s need to fill the Juvenile form and Parents/Guardians must sign the form at the back, but please do not sign your child’s name. If your child is too young to sign, just leave that line blank. Athletes born 1997 and before should use the adult form. There is no need to fill another form if details haven’t changed. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. The club covers all entry fees for juvenile athletes, but covers team entries only for adults.

 

Overdue weekly subs. need to be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2016 with a clean slate please. Some athletes owe several weeks fees which need to be paid off right away, as it is unfair that some athletes run up debts when most pay weekly.

 

Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at any time as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. If you cannot make registration week, fees may be put in an envelope with the child's name on it and handed in at check-in during the previous week.

 
HELP STILL NEEDED

 You should be aware by now, following frequent appeals, that the club needs more commitment from parents to participate as leaders or coaches. We have significant gaps in the 6-7 pm session on Tuesday. We are obliged to maintain safe ratios between coaches and athletes. Without your commitment athlete numbers cannot be sustained. Please contact Theresa 0868635797 if you can help!

 

 TRAINING & WEATHER

 We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

 

We hope all our members had a great Christmas, enjoyed the rest, kept up the running and are now ready to get back to training for the New Season!

 

 

 

Sat

19

Dec

2015

Xmas Newsletter

 

XMAS CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CLUB CALENDAR

 Our beautiful Club Calendar is still available, so if you are in need of a lovely gift for someone this Xmas, just want a souvenir of another great year for GAC or a reminder of what a great club you are all part of, you can contact Helen Dempsey, Fiona Ryan, Christina Browne or Theresa Kinane or pick one up at Shoreline Sports Park! Remember this is a fundraiser and all money raised will go to help our club and help keep our fees low! Club pens also available!

 CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National XC and represented us so well. Congratulations to Richael Browne on her Silver medal with the County team and to our U15 girls team Sarah O'Connor, Abbie Tyrrell, Sophie Nicholson, Megan O'Brien on their 5th place finish. Great finish places from Ben Jones & Joe Prendergast, and great running also from Troy Scully, Eimear Ryan & Enya Conroy.

 

Well done also to all the athletes who took part in the Inter-County (Kildare, Laois, Meath, Wicklow) Indoor Competition in Athlone. Wicklow were well short of having a full team, with mostly GAC athletes and a few from Kilcoole & Roundwood. We didn't let that worry us though and had some top class performances throughout the day. Well done to all and hopefully County Wicklow will fill the team for the Outdoor event in the summer.

 

Well done also to all who competed in R3 of the XC League. Great running from everyone and some terrific wins once again!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. The National 'B' XC Championships are being held in ALSAA (beside the Airport) on Sat. 9th Jan at 11.30am. These are open to all athletes who did not qualify for the National XC. U11/13/15/17 age groups (athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A's. Form is now on the website and entries close on Jan 2nd. There are individual, club & County team events.

  2. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am.

  3. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 16th Jan. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website.

 

XMAS TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS

 Attendance at training during the month of December has generally been poor and, as we had only 5 athletes at Little Athletics 5-6pm last Tues and had very small numbers at the 6-7pm training on both Tues & Fri., we have decided to finish up with all of these groups until Tues 5th Jan. It seems unfair to bring up to ten coaches out at this busy time of year, when so many athletes are not attending. The 7-8.30pm session will go ahead as usual this coming Tues. and this will be the last session before Xmas. Training will officially resume on Tues 5th Jan, but some coaches may make their own arrangements with groups over the holiday period. Do keep running and keep your fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 

 We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

 “Stronger! Higher! Faster!” for 2016!”

 

Tue

01

Dec

2015

December News & information

DECEMBER CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION



CLUB CALENDAR

The Club Calendar is gone to print and will be on sale from Tues. 8thDec. at a cost of just €10. This is a fantastic record of great memories from 2015, with many, many photos of all age groups from our Little Athletics Group launching the National Forest Feast programme, to County, Leinster, National & International competitions and much more

DECEMBER CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION



CLUB CALENDAR

The Club Calendar is gone to print and will be on sale from Tues. 8thDec. at a cost of just €10. This is a fantastic record of great memories from 2015, with many, many photos of all age groups from our Little Athletics Group launching the National Forest Feast programme, to County, Leinster, National & International competitions and much more! A huge amount of work has gone into producing this calendar and our sincere thanks go out to Fiona Dempsey who did a fantastic job designing the calendar and also to Helen Dempsey, Fiona Ryan & Christina Browne for all their work. Many thanks also to our sponsors Goldfish (Gordon O'Neill) Avalon Gardening Services (Paschal Casey) and ALPHACC( Jonathan Donnelly)

This calendar will be a great reminder of a great year for GAC and will make a great Christmas present, as will our lovely club pen. Both will be on sale from Dec. 8thright up to Xmas and are being used as a fundraiser for the club! Front Cover is now on our website & FB page!



CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to all the GAC athletes who qualified for the National XC and who will now represent Club, County & Leinster teams next Sunday in Dungarvan. Best of Luck to: Joe Prendergast, Ella Shanley, Eimear Ryan, Enya Conroy U13, BenJones, Abbie Tyrrell, Sarah O'Connor, Sophie Nicholson, Megan O' Brien U15, Richael Browne, Susie McParland, Troy ScullyU17 and to the Novice men's team!



UPCOMINGCOMPETITIONS

  1. There is an Inter-County (Kildare, Laois, Meath, Wicklow) Indoor Competition for U14/15/17 (U16's move up) athletes on Sat 12th Dec at 2.30pm in Athlone. All age groups have 60mH, 60m, 200m, 800m, 1500m. U15/17 also have Walk, HJ, LJ, SP and U14's can compete in these with the U15's. If you are interested in being considered for any of these teams, please enter right away and list events in which you are interested. Entry form is now on the website and we need names asap, so that the teams can be selected and entered. This is a great opportunity to get some early competition indoors.

  2. A very small turnout for Round 2 of the XC League in Rathdrum, but great running and great results once again from those who did compete on the night. Round 3 ( the final round) will be held in Bray on Fri 11th Dec. at 6.30pm. Usually held on the Bray Emmet's Astro Pitches, but I'll confirm after tonight's meeting. Entry form is now on the website. Open to all athletes up age 14. Please enter once only, as some athletes are being entered over & over for every event.

  3. The Co. Senior & Junior XC will be held in Avondale on Sun. 13th Dec @ 11am. Jun Men 6K/Women 4K & Sen. Men 10K/Women 5K. For those not old enough to race, our Sunday run that day will be in Avondale!

  4. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am.



CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues 8rdDec. from 4.40-5pm & again from 6.30 – 7.30pm, to allow a chance for Santa to pick up any club gear he might need. We have club singlets, shorts, hoodies, rain jackets, T-shirts, leggings etc. for sale, all at cost price and also some second hand spikes at very reasonable prices. Our fabulous Club Calendar@ €10 and Club Pens @ €3 each or two for €5, will also be on sale andwill make great Xmas pressies!



WEBTEXT

Despite several reminders that thewebtext no. is only for communicatingchanges or sendingreminders, I am still gettingqueries on this mob. all the time. If you have an urgent query,you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number, asI can only answer thisfrom my laptop, so if I am at work or training, you may have a long wait for a reply.




Tue

27

Oct

2015

Club News & Information

TRAINING AND COMPETITION

Regular training continues this week at the usual times, for all age groups!


Entry form for the Leinster Uneven ages (U11-17) & Intermediate XC in JFK Park, New Ross will shortly beon the website and entries close on Sat. Night 31stOct. Leinster will not accept any late entries, so do it asap and don't miss out! Please enter only once, as some athletes are being entered over & over. We had 14 entries for one athlete for one of the events.

CONGRATULATIONS

Hot on their success at the European Cup in Portugal, we learnt this week that the junior girls team have again qualified for this competition in 2016 from their great results in the National Junior competition during the Track & Field season. We are absolutely delighted for them and so very, very proud of them. The girls are very excited and already planning fund-raising events towardsit.


WARM WEATHER TRAINING

Anyone who is interested in the proposed warm weather training trip next Easter, but has not handed back their 'show of interest form' needs to do so immediately. Open to all athletes U16 up in 2016, who regularly attend training & competition. Younger athletes may go if accompanied by an adult. Forms available at training, but need them back quickly. Places are limited.


CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues 3rdNov. from 4.40-5pm & again from 6.30 – 7.30pm, before the next Leinster competition. We have club singlets, shorts, hoodies, rain jackets, T-shirts, leggings etc. for sale, all at cost price and also some second hand spikes at very reasonable prices. We also have club pensfor sale @ €3 each or two for €5, which are being used as a fund raiser for the away trip. They will make great stocking fillers! The committee are also looking into organising a club calendar, which will be available early in Dec and will make a great Xmas pressie, so hold off on buying any 2016 ones.


REGISTRATION FOR NEW ATHLETES

We have handed out registration forms to all our new athletes and while most have returned them, there are still a few outstanding. It is essential that these are returned asap, as we cannot have unregistered athletes at training sessions. If you have not done so already please return your form, as we do not want to have to refuse admittance to any child. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.


WEBTEXT

We use webtext to communicate changes or send reminders, but I must remind you once again that if you have a query that requires an answer then you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number. While I am set up to receive the webtext msg. on my phone, I can only answer them from my laptop, so if I am at work or training, you may have a long wait for a reply.


XC RACE REPORTS

Huge congratulations to all the athletes who competed in the XC over the last couple of weeks.


Wicklow XC Championships, in Roundwood. Uneven ages & Intermediate

Better numbers this time, but still small when you consider how many train each week.

We had only two girls for the U9 Lucy Garvey & Amber Sculy and just one boy Tristan Joylrt Cunningham. We had 11girls in the U11 race Sarah Hayes, Tara Casey, Lucy Willoughby, Camille Madden, Lucy Daly, Alex Mulcahy, Juliette Madden, Keelin McGuire, Kate Kennedy Whelan, Aoibhin Downey & Georgia Hogan and some great running saw the girls finish 4thteam overall. 6 in the U11 boys where we had a great run from Ed Nicholson to take the bronze medal, with the boys team Davey Kennedy Whelan, Chase Scully, Tom McCarthy, Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally taking the silver medals. At U13 we had 10 girls competing with Ella Shanley having a great race to finish 4thand Eimear Ryan close behind in 6th. Along with team members Louise O'Rordan, Ellen McNally, Enya Conroy, Erin Howard, Emma Quirk, Alannah Guilfoyle, Maebh O'Neill & Robin Carroll the girls also took the silver team medals. Gold medals for the U13 boys, with a really strong run from Joe Prendergast to take the individual Gold medal, Jack McGlone 4th, Danny Jones 5thand Paul Delahunty 6th& Michael O'Shea 8th. Gold medals also for the U15 girls, with Abbie Tyrrell having a super race to take the individual silver medal and Megan O'Brien, Katie Lawless, Sarah O'Connor, Frances Dallaghan Alice O'Neill & Grace Kirwan. Only three U15 boys with Alan Gordon taking individual bronze, John O'Connor 4th& Ronan Dempsey 5th. As there were no teams of 4, the boys were awarded the gold medals. Only two U17 girls Megan Healy 5th& Rachel Casey 9th. Cillian Browne had a great race in the U19 boys and won very comfortably. A bronze medal for Jamie Cullen on his return to XC led the Intermediate men's team Caoimhin MacMaolain, Dermot Hughes & AJ Cotter to a 4thplace finish.


Leinster XC Championships, in Moyvalley. Even ages, Novice & Masters.

Very disappointing numbers for the first of the Leinster events, where we only managed to fill two teams. Lets hope for a much better turnout at the uneven ages in Wexford on Nov 8th. Congratulations to all the athletes who competed so well on the day.

Four girls took part in the Open U10 race Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Alex Mulcahy, Amber Scully, with great running from all four. There were huge numbers in all the Championships races where we had five girls in the U12 with Eimear Ryan having a great run to finish 39thout of a field of 129. Team members were Isabelle Donnelly 103, Rachel Jones 111, Lucy Jones 113 Maebh O'Neill 118. A huge field in the boys race also where we only had two athletes, Paul Delahunty 59 & Chase Scully 95. Another big field in the U14 girls where Abbie Tyrrell had another great race to finish 18thoverall, with Ella Shanley 56, Megan O'Brien 60, Enya Conroy 115. The U14 boys saw another great run from Joe Prendergast to finish 20thout of age, with Joe Dowd 47 & Danny Jones 63.Again only two in the girls U16, with a fantastic race from Sarah O'Connor for a 16th place finish out of age, with Holly Byrne in 30th.Only one in the boys, where despite the strapped kneeBen Jones, also out of age, finished 20th. The U 18 girls saw Richael Browne 9th& Susie McParland 12thin the medals and also Katy Conroy 7thin the U19. These girls were all part of the Slí Cualann junior girls team who won both club & County gold medals. Carol Costello finished 15thin the M2 & AJ Cotter 26thin the M4.


Photos from recent XC events can be found on the club website & FB page!

Tue

06

Oct

2015

Newsletter

A warm welcome to our new members and while it's greatto see our athletes settling in to training again, the attendance by quite a fewhas not been great so far, especially on Friday nights. Please remember that we have a waiting list for places at all times, so if you are only turning up once in a while we may have to consider giving the place to someone who really wants it. We cannot hold places indefinitely, unless notified of ongoing injury or illness!

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congratulations to all the athletes who competed at the Wicklow XC Championships last Sunday in Avondale, but huge disappointment also that so few of our athletes actually made it to the event! We had so many age groups with just 3 athletes when one more would have given us a full team and team medals. Grace Rush was our only U8 runner as our only other entry Evan was injured on the day. And she had a great race to finish a close 2nd. We have at least 60 U8's in the club and up to 50 eligible athletes for each of the other age groups.The best turn out of the day was at U10, with 6 girls making it and 3 boys. All had terrific runs, particularly Ava Foley who led the girls from start to finish for a great victory. Only 2 girls at U12 & 3 boys and one more runner here would have guaranteed the boys team medals. We managed to get 5 girls out at U12 (still awaiting team results) and with our 3 U14 boys finishing 3rd, 4th& 5thanother runner here would have guaranteed the boys Gold medals. A fantastic race from Sarah O'Connor in the U16 for 2ndplace out of age, but again we missed out as one of the team didn't turn up. Yetanother fantastic race from Ben Jones witha great finish, to win the boys U 16, also running out of age, but again only 3 runners, so no team. Looking good for both these athletes in the U15's next week. We had no U18's or Novice women, but to our delight we did get a team out in the Novice men's race. Cillian Browne had a super race to take the bronze medal and he and team mates Caoimhin MacMaolain, Dermot Hughes & AJ Cotter also await team results. So while we are delighted with the results and the great performances from all who attended, you can understand the disappointment of these athletes at the lack of teams and the frustration of our coaches who work so hard each week to prepare the athletes for these events.

We sincerely hope that this coming Sunday will see a lot more athletes taking to the field for the uneven ages in Roundwood. Sunday's event is not at the usual Roundwood venue, but is opposite the GAA centre on the right hand side of the road. First race is 11am, so athletes should arrive at 10.30am. Most of you will be done and on the way home in under an hour. Entry form is on the website and will close on Fri. Night, to allow time to process entries. Please, please make an effort this week!!!



URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are againmaking an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue as we are!



REGISTRATION FOR NEW ATHLETES

We are presently handing out forms to all our new athletes and these can also be found onthe website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2015 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. These need to be filled out and returned to training asap please. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.



WEBTEXT

We use webtext to communicate changes or send reminders, but I must remind you once again that if you have a query that requires an answer then you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number. While I am set up to receive the webtext msg on my phone, I can only answer them from my laptop, so if I am not at home, you may have a long wait for a reply.



Tue

15

Sep

2015

Newsletter

WELCOME BACK

A big welcome back to all of our athletes and coaches. Attendance so far has not been great and we are now asking that athletes who have not made it back by tonight Tues 15th Sept. let us know if they do intend to return, as we have very long lists of people waiting for places. If we haven't heard from you by the end of this week, we will have to assume that you are not returning to the club. We cannot hold places indefinitely!

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

As you are all aware, Greystones AC is a completely voluntary organisation, with some of our coaches putting in up to 9 hrs a week coaching plus many hours spent helping out with competitions and the endless admin. involved in running a club like ours. While we know you all appreciate the time and effort given by our volunteers, many of whom have no children in the club, we must appeal to all parents to consider giving us some help or we will not be able to continue. This is a really urgent appeal as we no longer have enough people helping, particularly with the 6-7pm groups. Some of our long time coaches are no longer available to help at these sessions due to changes in their work hours and most of our young helpers are not available this year due to changes in their school schedules. We have 100 children in the 6-7pm groups with only 3 parents from these groups helping with the coaching, and a further 5 with the check-in. We are now making an urgent appealing to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on either Tues or Fri to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue!



REGISTRATION NIGHT

We will be holding a registration night for all of our new athletes on Tues 29thSept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be collected between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms will be available on the night and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2015 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.



FIRST COMPETITIONS

Athletics Wicklow are holding the first round of the Cross Country (XC) League on Fri 25th Sept. This will be hosted by our own club and will take place on the football field at the top of the Sports Park. Check-in by 6.30pm latest, with the first race starting at 6.45pm sharp, due to fading light. This one is for even ages, but athletes can move up 1 age group. It is open to all athletes up to age 14 (U15) in 2015 and is a participation event, with Certs for all who complete the course. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who complete 3 or more races in the League. An entry form will go up on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed night 23rd Sept. No late entries accepted. There will be no 6-7pm training that night, as coaches/athletes will be busy with the League.



County XC Championships will take place on Sun 4thOct in Avondale & Sun 11th Oct. In Roundwood. We need as many athletes as possible to take part in these events, so please put the dates in your diaries! More info in the next newsletter!





Mon

31

Aug

2015

Newsletter

RETURN TO TRAINING

Hopefully you have all been following the plan outlined in the last Newsletterand you are now all ready to return to training “fit to train” and not totally out of condition, making training for the winter season a whole lot easier for all of us!

No changes to the information in the last newsletter, with the 7-8.30pm groups returning tomorrow Tues.1st Sept. and the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups returning on Tues 8th Sept, allowing them a week to settle back in to school first. Looking forward to seeing you all back, full of enthusiasm for the coming season!

 

OUR EUROPEAN VENTURE

As you probably all know by now our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection. More than half the team are Greystones athletes and we are still trying to raise the funds to cover this.

Thisis a fantastic opportunity for these young athletes to go out and experience International competition. They are very proud indeed to be representing their club & country and we have set up a Crowd Funding site at www.gofundme.com/europeanclubcupand all donations big & small will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, donations can be handed in to Theresa at the track, at Shoreline Sports Park or to any of the coaches involved. We really need your help with this!






Wed

22

Jul

2015

Club Newsletter


OUR VERY EXCITING NEWS
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection.


OUR VERY EXCITING NEWS
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection.
For those who are new to the clubs set-up, Slí Cualann is an amalgamation of five Co. Wicklow clubs, Greystones, Inbhear Dee, Roundwood, Bray Runners & Parnell, who’s athletes compete at juvenile level under their individual clubs, but become Slí Cualann at Junior & Senior level.
 A group of up to 20 athletes will compete on this team and it is a fantastic opportunity for these young athletes to go out and experience International competition. They are very proud indeed to be representing their club & country and we are very busy fundraising towards this at present, as flights etc. are quite expensive. We have set up a Crowd Funding site at http://www.gofundme.com/europeanclubcup and all donations big & small will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, donations can be handed in to Theresa at the track at Shoreline Sports Park or to any of the coaches involved.
If anyone has any ideas for further fundraising or knows anyone who might like to help sponsor the team, please get in touch with Theresa asap.

SUMMER BREAK FOR ATHLETES
The majority of our athletes are now on a short break, with just the small number who are still competing  continuing to train. As it has been a long hard season, unless athletes have alternative instructions from their coaches, we recommend taking a complete break for about 2 weeks, after which athletes should start running every other day to gradually build up fitness again. Start with 10-15 mins and after 3 or 4 runs increase this by 5 mins. Continue in this way and you will return in Sept. “fit to train” and not totally out of condition, making training for the winter season a whole lot easier. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to training on Tues.1st Sept. and the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups will return on Tues 8th Sept, allowing them a week to settle back in to school first.

THANKS
As they finally get to take a well earned break, we would like to say a huge ‘Thank You’  to every one of the many volunteers who give up their time week in week out to help make Greystones AC such a fantastic club! Our coaches: Aidan Hartnett, Buntu Mlisana, Christina Browne, Deirdre Kearney, Deirdre O’Neill, Eamonn Whelan, Emma O’Brien, Emer McNally, Fiona O’Connor, Helen  Dempsey,  Joanne O’Shea,  Joanna Pluck,  Julie Fallon, Laura O’Neill,  Muriel Drinkwater, Neil Brooks, Pauline Dallaghan, Ronan Nicholson, Sinead Daly, Steve Jones, Theresa Kinane. Our junior coaches: Alannah O’Carroll, Ara Freeman, Conor Dempsey, Isobel Kenny, Lisa Dallaghan, Richael Browne, Susie McParland. Our check-in crew: Breda Hayes, Celina Purcell, Fiona Ryan, Louise Casey, Louise Willoughby , Sandra Colgan. Apologies if I’ve left anyone out!

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE
All athletes who have not attended training for more than 3 weeks before their group finished, need to contact the club if they intend to return in Sept. Otherwise they will be deemed to have left the club. All groups for Sept.will be organised over the next couple of weeks and any available places offered to those on the waiting lists. There will be no way of adding athletes back into the groups in Sept., so please use ‘Contact Us’ on www.greystonesac.com to leave us a message, if missing for a while and planning to return.

CONGRATULATIONS
Every weekend we are on the road to Tullamore, Belfast, Athlone etc. but what a fantastic Track & Field season we had again this year, with superb results from National Juveniles & Juniors Championships and also from the League.
Three of our club athletes qualified to represent Ireland this year, with Alana Ryan qualifying for the Schools International in Scotland last weekend and winning a bronze medal on the 4 x 300m relay. Well done Alana! Amaris Borel & Ara Freeman are also off to Scotland for the Celtic Games on the 1st August.


RESULTS


U12-19 National Championships
U19: Martha Hassett Gold in PV , Katy Conroy 6th in 400m, Katy Conroy 6th in 400m, 10th 1500m
U18:  Ara Freeman silver in 100m & 200m, Amaris Borel silver in 100mH & in 400mH, Conor Dempsey bronze in 200m & 400mH & 6th in 100m, Rosa Kirwan bronze in HJ
U17: Richael Browne 5th in 400m & 8th in 800m
U16: Alana Ryan gold in 200m & silver in 100m, Louis Lalor 4th in 250mH & 5th in 100mH, Noah Daly 12th in LJ
U15: Ben Jones silver in 800m & 1500m, Josh Pyper silver in 100m & 4th in 200m, Ben Mooney 5th in 200m, Sarah O’Connor 5th in 1500m, Katie Lawless 8th in 250mH & Sophie Nicholson 12th in High Jump.
U14: Aodhan Daly silver in LJ, 11th in HJ & 3rd in 200m heat (injured)
U13: James Nicholson 5th in LJ, Joe Prendergast 12th in LJ, Ellen McNally 15th in LJ & Emma Quirk 16th

Juniors/U23's Championships
Junior athletes:  Katy Conroy gold in the 3K Steeplechase, Amaris Borel silver in 100mH & 6th in the 400mH, Ara Freeman 4th in the 100m with a new PB & 5th in the 200m, Conor Dempsey 8th in 200m, Richael Brown trying out a new event and just missing out on the 400m final, Isobel O'Grady 6th in the Long Jump & Jamie Wood 11th in 800m.
U23's : Claire Foley took bronze in the 200m & 4th in the 100m and Aoife Conroy 4th in the 400mH.

National ‘B’ Champs & Relays
U16: Cachel Casey gold in Shot Putt, Holly Byrne silver in 800m, Troy Scully bronze in HJ & 4th in 800m, Marcus Lennon 5th in 100m & 7th in 800m,  Sarah Lalor 5th in 100m, Niamh Conroy in medal position with 10m to go taking a very bad tumble in the 100m.
U15: John O’Connor gold in HJ,
U14: Ronan Dempsey silver in 80m & bronze in LJ, Alan Gordon silver in HJ & bronze in 80m, Megan O’Brien 13th in 800m
U 13: Danny Jones bronze in LJ, Erin Howard 7th in 600m & 10th in LJ
U12: Eimear Ryan 4th in LJ & 10th in 600m
The U15 boys team took silver in the 4 x 100m relay.

National League:
Top performances from everyone on both days means both the Women’s & Men’s teams have qualified for the finals on Aug. 2nd, making for another busy weekend. Best of Luck to both teams and to Ara & Amaris in the Celtics in Scotland.


The National Senior Championships on 7th/8th Aug. brings the domestic T&F season to a close for 2015, but athletes involved in the European Cup will continue training for this prestigious event in Sept.

Mon

22

Jun

2015

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
What a weekend for GAC at the Leinster Championships! Well done to each and every athlete who competed over the weekend. We are so proud of you all.

CONGRATULATIONS
What a weekend for GAC at the Leinster Championships. Well done to each and every athlete who competed over the weekend. We are so proud of you all. Medal winners, 4th place qualifiers & finalists below. There are a lot of them, so apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.
U14: Aodhán Daly, Gold in LJ, bronze in 200m, 4th in HJ,
         Ronan Dempsey 6th in 75mH
         Alan Gordon 9th in 80m

U15: Ben Jones, Gold in 1500m and 800m,
         Josh Pyper, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Ben Mooney, Silver in 100m & 200m
         Sarah O’Connor, Bronze in 1500m,
         Sophie Nicholson, Bronze in HJ
         Katie Lawless, 4th in 250mH & 200m & 5th in 80mH

U16: Alana Ryan, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Louis Lalor, Gold in 250mH, Silver in 100mH & 4th in 200m
         Noah Daly, 4th in LJ & 200m
         Niamh Conroy 7th in 100m
         Troy Scully 5th in 3K

U17: Richael Browne, Silver in HJ & 4th in 800m also 5th in 800m in Tailteann games.
         Alannah O’Carroll,  Bronze in 400m, 6th in 200m

U18: Conor Dempsey, Gold in 100m, 200m, 400mH & Silver in 400m
         Amaris Borel, Gold in 400mH, Silver in 100mH, & 400m
         Ara Freeman, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Rosa Kirwan, Bronze in  800m ,4th in HJ
 
U19: Katy Conroy Gold in 800m & bronze in 3K Steeplechase
         Martha Hassett, Gold in Pole Vault
         Lorcan Lalor, Silver in 400mH & bronze in 400m
         Cillian Browne, Bronze in 3K
         Niall Martin 6th in 200m
         Eoin Doyle 6th in 400m

Boys U 19 Club Team Gold Conor Dempsey, Niall Martin, Lorcan Lalor, David O’Flynn

Inter County Relays  Wicklow Teams
Boys U15 Gold: Ben Jones, Josh Pyper, Ben Mooney & John O’Connor
Boys U19 Gold Conor Dempsey, Niall Martin, Lorcan Lalor, Eoin Doyle

Can those who have qualified for Nationals please let us know if not competing!

The previous weekend, the Leinster Combined events saw Aodhan Daly take gold in the U14 boys, Sophie Nicholson silver in the U15 girls, Louis Lalor bronze in the U16 boys, Hilary Gallagher silver in the U17 girls & Rosa Kirwan bronze in the U18 girls..

URGENT: A reninder that the Bray Runners Invitational event is being held this coming Tues 23rd June.at the track in Greystones. Entries closed last Wed. night and only athletes who have entered can compete, as we are only allowed a limited number of athletes. Athletes need to arrive at 6pm for check-in and warm-up as events must start at 6.30pm sharp.
No training on that night for 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups due to this event!
Little Athletics will go ahead as usual from 5-6pm!
Absolutely no entries on the night!.


. SUMMER BREAK FOR YOUNGER ATHLETES
We will take a break from training for the summer for the age 5-6 & age 7-11groups (ie 5-6pm and 6-7pm), finishing up with a fun evening on Tues. 30th June. Already the numbers have dropped off a lot, particularly on Fri evenings, so there is little point in trying to carry on. U12 Athletes competing in the National B Championships on Saturday 18th July may attend the later training sessions. We will return on Tues.8th Sept., which allows a week to settle back in to school first. Please note that  the older groups which train from 7-8.30pm will continue throughout the summer, as we have a lot of competition during this time. We will take a short break in August before returning on Tues. 1st Sept. to prepare for the XC season.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We will make a final attempt to give out the awards and medals on Tues 30th June between 6.30 & 7.30pm, as there are still a lot that haven’t been collected. Registration cards will also be available again that night. If anyone is available to help for an hour on that Tues evening we would really appreciate it. Athletes may collect their awards themselves, but the registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Most  cards have arrived, but there are still a few to come.

FURTHER REMINDER RE WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions, but the number is still being used a lot for queries!


Mon

08

Jun

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent Leinster Relays & Juniors, held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. We had a good number of teams in the U9-16 Relays and the boys in particular did really well.

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent Leinster Relays & Juniors, held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. We had a good number of teams in the U9-16 Relays and the boys in particular did really well. Our U13/14/15/16 boys all took the silvers, our U16 Girls won bronze, our U9B were 4th & our U11B were 6th in their finals.
Junior results saw Richael Browne take gold and Katy Conroy take bronze in the 800m, Rosa Kirwan take gold & Richael Browne silver in the HJ, Ara Freeman take silver in the 100m & bronze in the 200m, Conor Dempsey take silver in the 200m & Isobel O’Grady take silver in the LJ…….a good day’s work!
Last Sat. saw us on the road very, very early for a 9am start in Tullamore for the U9/10/11 pairs & u12 & 13 Championships. It was a very long day for all the athletes, but each & every one of them did GAC proud. Great performances from our athletes and some great results too. Gold for Joe Prendergast in the U13 LJ with a 4th place for James Nicholson, Silver for Michael O’Shea in the U13 60m, bronze for Emma Quirk in the U13 LJ, with a 4th place for Ellen McNally, 4th place for Darragh Rush in the U12 60m. Finals places for Eimear Ryan in the U12 600m & 60m hurdles, Emma Quirk in the U13 hurdles, Erin Howard & Joe Prendergast in the U13 600m & Jack McGlone in the U12 LJ. In the pairs events, Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally U10,won silver in the LJ & bronze in the 60m, Ava Foley & Ailbhe Gordon U10 won silver in the Turbo Javelin. Other notable performances, Ailbhe Gordon & Camille Madden had a 5th place finish in the U10 LJ, Ava Gordon & Camille Madden had a 10th place finish in the U10 60m & Lucy Willoughby & Lucy Daly had a 10th place finish in the U11 LJ.  Well done to all and we wish the qualifiers well in the All Ireland’s!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
LEINSTER Combined events for U14 + will be held on Sat 13th June in Celbridge this coming Saturday. Best of Luck to those competing.
LEINSTER U14-19 championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat & Sun 20th/21st June. Entries close on this coming Tues 9th June. Absolutely no late entries can be accepted, so get your entries in now!
Forms will be on our website shortly for the Bray Runners Invitational event, which will be held on Tues 23rd June. As we are only allowed a limited number of athletes in each event, we will give priority to athletes who compete regularly for the club. If there are any places left, these will be given on a first come, first served basis, as per previous years. No training on that night for any groups, due to this event!
Forms will also go up shortly for the National Juniors/U23’s which will be held in Tullamore on Sunday 5th July (Juniors are U17-20) get those entries in.
.
EXCITING NEWS
Our Junior Girls (as part of Slí Cualann) have been selected to take part in the European Clubs Track and Field Junior B competition, to take place in Portugal on the 19th September 2015. This selection is as a result of their performance in 2014 and is a great honour for our athletes and we are very proud indeed to accept the offer. While some of our costs will be covered, we will need to fundraise to help towards flights and other expenses. As our first fundraiser, we will be providing stewards (age 17-adult) for the Sonia 5K on Sat. next in Dunlaoghaire. You will be needed for a maximum of two hours from 6.30-8.30pm and the club will be paid for each steward we provide. Please let us know asap if you can help out with this event and start the ball rolling towards our much needed funds! We really need your help with this!

OVERDUE SUBS
A number of athletes owe money to the club for unpaid weekly subs. We do remind the athletes about this at check-in, but get little response. We would appreciate it if parents could check this with us and pay off these debts asap. It is easy to forget that you missed some weeks, but unfair on the athletes who always pay if others don’t and it all adds up to quite a bit. 

SUMMER BREAK FOR YOUNGER ATHLETES
We will take a break from training for the summer for the age 5-6 & age 7-11groups (ie 5-6pm and 6-7pm), finishing up with a fun evening on Fri 30th June. Already the numbers have dropped off a lot, particularly on Fri evenings, so there is little point in trying to carry on. U12 Athletes competing in the National B Championships on Saturday 18th July may attend the later training sessions. We will return on Tues.8th Sept., which allows a week to settle back in to school first. Please note that  the older groups which train from 7-8.30pm will continue throughout the summer, as we have a lot of competition during this time. We will take a short break in August before returning on Tues. 1st Sept. to prepare for the XC season.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We gave out a number of  the registration cards and the awards and medals on Tues 2nd June, but there are still a lot not collected.  If anyone is available to help for an hour on a Tues evening we could try once more. Athletes may collect their awards themselves, but the registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Not all cards have arrived yet.

WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions, but the number is still being used a lot for queries!

Thu

21

May

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent County Championships Great performances from our athletes and lots & lots of medals won. There are far too many to list here.......

Most results are now on our website. Many thanks to all who helped out during the 3 days. The effort & commitment from some of our coaches was far & above anything we could have asked for. We cannot thank them enough!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
The Leinster Relays and Juniors are being held in Greystones on this coming Sat. 23rd May. Best of luck to all our teams and to all our Junior athletes also. Uneven age teams are billed to start at 11.30 and even ages at 3pm. Please arrive an hour beforehand as it will be very busy and also to allow for events running ahead of schedule. Relay Teams are now posted on the sidebar! Please let us know asap if you cannot attend as we don’t want disappointed children, arriving to discover they no longer have a team. Athletes need to wear club colours please, ie club singlet or T-shirt with red, white or black short only. (no pinks, blues, yellows etc. please) We are suppose to wear club gear only, for all of these events! Juniors athletes (U17-20) must wear Slí Cualann gear for this event!
As GAC is the host club, help will be needed to set up on Sat., to monitor events during the day and to clean up afterwards. Two coaches have to act as officials on the day and others willl be needed to look after teams, so if anyone else is free to help it would be greatly appreciated.
LEINSTER U9,U10,U11 Pairs Competition & U12-U13 Championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat. 6th June. Entries will need to be in by Tues 26th May. latest.
LEINSTER Combind events for U14 + will be held on Sat 13th June (no venue yet) and entries for these close on Tues 2nd June.
LEINSTER U14-19 championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat & Sun 20th/21st June. Entries close on Tues 9th June.
Forms will be on our website shortly for all of these events. Please ensure you enter in the correct competitions, as there are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster!

CARPET PIECES WANTED
Due to all the recent rain, the ground around the track is very wet & muddy. The track has being cleaned this week and is looking very well. In an effort to keep it this way, if anyone has reasonable large sized pieces of carpet they don’t need we would be grateful for these, as they could be put down around the gates and may help to keep some of the mud off the track.

WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions!

TESCO COLLECTION
Before training on Tues. evening a number of our coaches & athletes went along to Tesco where they were presented with a cheque for €325 for the club, from the Tesco Charity Fundraiser. We are absolutely delighted to receive this cheque which will go towards extra equipment for the athletes. Many thanks to Emma O’Brien for arranging to have us included as one of the charity groups and for collecting the cheque.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We are still looking for a couple of volunteers to help hand out the registration cards and the awards that weren’t collected. If anyone is available to lend a hand with this we will organise to make them available at  training on a given Tues. Registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Not all cards have arrived yet.

CLUB SHOP
We try to open our shop once each month and just before competitions. Our next club shop opening will be  on Tues. next 26th May  from 7-8pm. If you need singlet, shorts or any other club gear, please try to come along on Tues.26th. As we are all volunteers and many are covering more than one job, unfortunately we cannot manage to open the shop outside of these times.

HELP STILL NEEDED URGENTLY
We  still need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.


Tue

05

May

2015

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the 1st day of the County Championships last Fri. evening. There were many fine performances and lots & lots of medals won. There are far too many to list here, but full results will be published after the Championships are

completed. Many thanks to all who helped out on the night and especially to Rachel Casey who, I’m reliably informed, did a tremendous job with the admin. on the night. Fantastic to see a young athlete step up and take on these responsibilities and manage to compete and win medals as well. Many thanks Rachel.
Day’s 2 & 3 will take place this weekend on Fri 8th & Sat 9th May. We have a good number of entries, despite the clash with First Communions, and look forward to two more days of top class competition and lots & lots of fun! . Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. Entries are closed.

GREYSTONES AC/IRISH MILERS CLUB
Despite atrocious weather conditions, we had a great day's athletics with the IMC on Sat 2nd May, with several athletes reaching qualifying standards throughout the day! A huge Thank You to everyone who helped out, with special thanks to the ever reliable Cyril Smyth, Terry Kavanagh, Noreen O'Reilly, Oran O'Toole and the small but hardworking GAC crew, all of whom went above & beyond the call of duty to make the day a success. Many, many thanks to the IMC for all their work, to the Irish Sprinters & Irish Hurdlers for their welcome input and to Dave Sweeney for organising the Javelin event. Thanks also to Shoreline Sports Park for all their help! Lets hope for better weather next year!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
The Leinster Relays for U9-U16 ( athletes born 2000 – 2007) will be held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. As it is on our home track and there is no travelling involved, we hope to have lots & lots of teams running. Form will be on the website shortly and will close on Sunday 10th May and teams will be announced by Tues 12th latest. We need 4 members for each team and athletes can move up one age group to run on two teams.


The Leinster Juniors (U17-U20….. born 1996-1999) is being held on the same day and again as we are on home turf we hope to have lots of athletes competing on the day. Please list the events you wish to take part in. Form will be up shortly.

AWARDS NIGHT
Our Awards night went off well although quite a number of our athletes didn’t make it along to pick up their awards on the night. Once the County Championships are behind us, we will organise to make these awards available at check-in one Tuesday evening. It would be a huge help if we could have a couple of volunteers to look after this.

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
A further batch  of Registration cards have arrived, but there are still many more to come. These too will be available for collection on the same night as the awards. As athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year, they are addressed to the parents and so need to be collected by them. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries.

HELP STILL NEEDED URGENTLY
We  urgently need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.




Mon

20

Apr

2015

AWARDS REMINDER

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
AWARDS NIGHT
We remind you all that our awards night for 2014 is this coming Tues. 21st Apr 2015 and will

be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Awards for Attitude, Achievement & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to see your children’s efforts being rewarded and a chance to meet the coaches and have a chat!
These awards are being presented for 2014, so athletes who only joined this year or late in 2014 will not have the required Attendances etc. You are however very welcome to attend and hopefully you will work hard during the remainder of this year and be back here next year receiving your own awards!
THERE WILL BE NO TRAINING THIS TUESDAY FROM 6-7PM pm & 7 –8.30PM DUE TO THE CLUB AWARDS  NIGHT! ! LITTLE ATHLETICS WILL RUN AS NORMAL FROM 5-6PM!       

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
This year all athletes are being issued with  Life Registration cards. Some of these have arrived and we will hand them out to parents at the Awards night.  These cards now have just a Life Number., which members will have for their entire athletic career instead, of getting a new registration number every year. This is the number that will be used for all entries. Consequently athletes/parents need to look after these cards, as they will no longer be replaced every year.

HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
We  urgently need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website and there is a link on our entry form. All GAC athletes of all ages who want to compete in this year’s Championships must register on our website for each day they intend to compete. You must also list the events you intend to compete in each day.  Form is now up on our web site and closing date for all entries will be Tues. 28th Apr. No entries can be accepted after this date, so make sure you are in on time!


EXPLANATION OF AWARD SCHEME FOR NEW PARENTS.
Children up to age 10 in 2015 (U11), take part in an award scheme at the County Championships on Saturday 9th May, there are no individual events for these age groups. Each child competes in 3 events, a sprint, a long jump and a turbo javelin throw, and their points are calculated to get a finishing score. All athletes who compete in all 3 events will get a medal on the day. The top scorers will get gold, the next group silver and the remainder bronze.  Those who don’t complete the competition, ie all 3 events,  will not receive a medal. It will take a while to get through all the events for all the age groups and as the relays for the younger age groups are also on the Sat. afternoon, please come prepared to spend the day.  If we are lucky enough to get good weather it can be a very enjoyable day!
There are longer races and Obstacle Relays on Fri 1st May for these younger age groups, which start at 6.30pm and will be done within the hour.  We have not included events on Fri 8th to leave them fresh for the Sat. competitions.

CLUB SHOP
Our club shop will be open on Tues. 28th Apr.at 5pm and again from 7-8pm to allow athletes to purchase club gear before the County Championships. We now have new girls red shorts in stock in all sizes and also some ¾ length & full length red leggings. We also have a good number of secondhand spikes available as well as rain jackets, lightweight showerproof  trousers and club hoodies, club singlets & T shirts. We also have some black Nike tracksuit bottoms reduced to just €10.

Tue

07

Apr

2015

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
The final day of the National Indoors brought more fine performances and more medals for GAC athletes Alana Ryan had yet another fantastic day, cruising through her heat of the U16 200m......

..... and winning the final in great style to take another National title. Fantastic running once again from Richael Browne in the U17 800m, where she took the silver medal in a new indoor PB of 2.19.88.  A great run also from Katy Conroy in the U19 800m where she finished in 8th place. Conor Dempsey ran 22.87 in his heat in the U18 200m to qualify for the final where he finished 5th. Noah Daly qualified for the final of the U16 LJ where he finished 5th with a jump of 5.36m and Aodhán Daly jumped 4.49m in the U14 LJ to finish 9th.  Well done to all of our athletes! A little time to recover now, but we are looking forward to a great outdoor season!

HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
Once again we have to appeal for help at the 6-7pm sessions. We have big groups at these sessions and have lost some coaches recently due to changed circmstances. As well as this we have coaches covering these sessions at present who are having to arrange minders and transport for their own children, now all in the later groups, to allow them to cover the 6-7pm sessions. We need to allow these coaches to move to the 7-8.30pm time asap. We have  100 children in the 6-7pm sessions and urgently require parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING
There are a number of athletes who’s attendance at training is very poor indeed. Athletes are expected to attend training regularly and Group 1 & 2 athletes have committed to attending a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level. We have a constant waiting list for places and we can not be expected to hold places for those who do not use them. Once again we must remind everyone that athletes who disappear for over 3 weeks without letting us know why, (ie illness, injury etc.) are deemed to have left the club and their places are offered to those on the waiting list. We will always hold the place for an injured/ill athlete and once we are made aware it is not necessary to notified us at every session. Lists are reviewed at the end of each month.

AWARDS NIGHT
We remind you all that our awards night for 2014 has been arranged for Tues. 21st Apr 2015 and will be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Consequently there will be no training that night! Awards for Attitude, Achievement & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the coaches and have a chat!

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
This year all athletes are being issued with  Life Registration cards. Many of these have arrived this week and we will hand them out to parents at the Awards night.  These cards now have just a Life Number., which members will have for their entire athletic career instead, of getting a new registration number every year. This is the number that will be used for all entries. Consequently athletes/parents need to look after these cards, as they will no longer be replaced every year.

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION
Well done to all the athletes who attended the coaching session on Good Friday. This was another great success and we thank the coaches who did such a great job on the day. We will organise a follow up session for these athletes over the next couple of weeks.

RELAY SQUADS
Apologies for the error with the Relay Squad date as we were not training on the given date. Our next training night for our Relay Squads is this Fri. 10th April. It is particularly important that all members of the squads attend these training sessions!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Junior & Senior men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Names to Theresa by Sunday 19th April latest. No late entries accepted this year..

CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. All GAC athletes of all ages who want to compete in this year’s Championships must register on our website for each day they intend to compete. You must also list the events you intend to compete in. Form will be up on our web site shortly and closing date for all entries will be Tues. 28th Apr. No entries can be accepted after this date, so make sure you are in on time!


EXPLAINATION OF AWARD SCHEME FOR NEW PARENTS.
Children up to age 10 in 2015 (U11), take part in an award scheme at the County Championships on Saturday 9th May, there are no individual events for these age groups. Each child competes in 3 events, a sprint, a long jump and a turbo javelin throw, and their points are calculated to get a finishing score. All athletes who compete in all 3 events will get a medal on the day. The top scorers will get gold, the next group silver and the remainder bronze.  Those who don’t complete the competition, ie all 3 events,  will not receive a medal. It will take a while to get through all the events for all the age groups and as the relays for the younger age groups are also on the Sat. afternoon, please come prepared to spend the day.  If we are lucky enough to get good weather it can be a very enjoyable day!
There are longer races and Obstacle Relays on Fri 1st May for these younger age groups, which start at 6.30pm and will be done within the hour.  We have not included events on Fri 8th to leave them fresh for the Sat. competitions.

Wed

25

Mar

2015

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
Nationals Indoors in Athlone last weekend and it was yet another great weekend for GAC !  We had 5 teams in the National relays on Sat. of which 4 made the finals. The 5th, moving a little

too quickly, unfortunately exchanged just outside the zone just exchanging. Our U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney led from the gun and took the gold medals comfortably, while our U18 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Isabel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman put up a great battle to take the bronze, while U17 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Niamh Conroy, Richael Browne & Alana Ryan finished 5th and U13 boys, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones, James Nicholson & Michael O'Shea finished 6th. Sunday was individual events and all of our 60m sprinters comfortably made their finals. In the U 16 boys Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney put in another terrific effort and this time Josh took the bronze medal with Ben finishing in 4th place. Alana Ryan had another fantastic race, pushing all the way to the line to take yet another gold medal and National Championship in the girls U16. Ara Freeman had her usual fantastic start in the girls U18 and she too fought all the way to the line where she unfortunately took a nasty fall at the finish line. Delighted to report that she is recovering well and has a bronze medal for her efforts. Many thanks to all her well wishers! Cillian & Richael Browne were in action again in the 1500m. Richael had another great race to finish 4th in the girls U17 in a time of 4.58 with Cillian running 4.14 for 8th place in the U19 boys. Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey both qualified for their 400m finals wih Amaris finish 5th & Conor 6th after a clash at the break line. Alan Gordon cleared 1.30m in the HJ for 12th place. Well done to all who competed and good luck to everyone next Sat. when we get to do it all again!

STILL VERY  IMPORTANT
Please come to training properly prepared for training! Despite constant reminders that we train in all weathers, wind, hail, rain or snow, and regular requests that our athletes always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, we still have many who don’t bring sufficient clothing with them. It is easy to remove layers if you get too hot, but there is nothing we can do if you are cold and you don’t have enough clothing with you and you cannot train properly if you are cold. So wear plenty layers, bring a jacket and gloves and don’t forget your water bottle!

AWARDS NIGHT
Our awards night for 2014 has been arranged for Tues. 23rd Apr 2015 and will be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Consequently there will be no training that night! Awards for Attitude, Achievement  & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the coaches and have a chat!

COACHES MEETING
A reminder to all coaches that we have a coaches meeting tomorrow evening at 8pm at the track. If anyone is interested in getting involved with coaching or helping out at training session, you are most welcome to come along to this meeting.

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION
We are arranging a specialised coaching session for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 or before) who intend to compete throughout the coming Track & Field season. As we have limited places available, athletes who take advantage of this extra coaching will be expected to compete at Leinster competitions as well as at County level.. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, provided the applicant is a regular attendee at club training sessions.
The coaching sessions will take place on Good Friday 4th Apr from 10.30 – 12.30am and athletes may take part in two events during the morning. Events being coached will be
 Long Jump  High Jump  Hurdles  Javelin/ Turbo  Shot Putt  Discus  Sprints (concentrating on starts/blocks )
Form will be on the website shortly and will close on Wed. 2nd Apr. Please give your name and list three events in order of choice. We will do our best to give you your first two choices, but it may not be possible, when dividing the groups, to facilitate everyone. There will be a €5 fee to help cover costs for the day.
Please note that athletes will need to arrive on time, as the Sports Centre is closed for business on Good Friday and there will be nobody to open the gate once we have gone on to the track. Gates will only be open from 10.20- 10.35  latest. I’m sorry, but we can not be running up and down to open the gate to late comers, as this disrupts the coaching sessions.

RELAY SQUADS
Next training night for our Relay Squads is Fri. 4th April. It is particularly important that all members of the squads attend these training sessions!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 5
Don’t forget that the last race in the XC League takes place on this Friday 27th March in Bray Emmets. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website www.greystonesac.com  and can be found under  Entry Forms at the top of the page. Entries will close on Thurs 26th at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on this Friday 27th March, as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

FIT4LIFE RACE
The next Fit4Life race will be held in Shanganagh Park on Thursday 2nd April. Check-in at 7pm, race at 7.30pm. This is open to everyone from 14 up and while there are prizes for each category and some spot prizes, it is very much  a participation event and a great way to start racing.  Refreshments afterwards!

COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Juniors & Seniors men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Entries to Theresa by Sunday 19th April latest.

CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. entries in advance this year. A reminder will be posted nearer the time!

Sun

22

Mar

2015

National Indoors

Yet another great weekend for GAC athletes. We had 5 teams in the National relays on Sat. of which 4 made the finals.......

while the 5th, moving a little too quickly, unfortunately exchanged just outside the zone. Our U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney led from the gun and took the gold medals comfortably, while our U18 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Isabel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman put up a great battle to take the bronze, while U17 girls Alannah O'Carroll,Niamh Conroy, Richael Browne & Alana Ryan finished 5th and U13 boys, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones, James Nicholson & Michael O'Shea finished 6th. Sunday was individual events and all of our 60m sprinters comfortably made their finals. In the U 16 boys Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney put in another terrific effort and this time Josh took the bronze medal with Ben finishing in 4th place. Alana Ryan had another fantastic race, pushing all the way to the line to take yet another gold medal and National Championship in the girls U16. Ara Freeman had her usual fantastic start in the girls U18 and she too fought all the way to the line where she unfortunately took a nasty fall at the finish line. Delighted to report that she is recovering well and has a bronze medal for her efforts. Many thanks to all her well wishers! Cillian & Richael Browne were in action again in the 1500m. Richael had  another great race to finish 4th in the girls U17 in a time of 4.58 with Cillian running 4.14 for 8th place in the U19 boys. Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey both qualified for their 400m finals wih Amaris finish 5th & Conor 6th aftera clash at the break. Alan Gordon cleared 1.30m in the HJ for 12th place. Well done to all who competed and good luck to everyone next Sat. when we get to do it all again!

Wed

11

Mar

2015

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Another great weekend for GAC at the Leinster Indoors!
Off to a great start on Saturday, with gold for Alana Ryan in the U16 200m and for Amaris Borel in the U18 400m, Silver for Conor Dempsey in the U18 400m, for Richael Browne

in the U17 High Jump, for Noah Daly in the U16 Long Jump, for Louis Lalor in the U16 60m hurdles and for Aodhan Daly in the U14 Long Jump and Bronze for Amaris Borel in the 60m hurdles. A 5th place finish for Noah Daly in the U16 200m and fine performances also from many others, with U14 Alan Gordon and Ronan Dempsey making the 60mH final finishing 4th & 5th,respectivily & U13 Emma Quirk making the 60mH final and James Nicholson & Joe Prendergast making the 600m final! Well done to our younger athletes, many making their first appearance at indoors and showing great promise for the future of our club! This all left us looking forward to another great day on Sunday!


The 4th and last day of the Leinster Indoors again saw top performances from GAC athletes with U 19 Katy Conroy taking bronze in the 8oom,18's Ara Freeman taking double gold in the 60m & 200m and setting a new Championship Best in the 60m, Conor Dempsey having a superb race to take silver in the 200m, Amaris Borel winning her 200m heat comfortably and Isobel Kenny making the 60m final after a great 200m run earlier in the day and 4th place finishes for Rosa Kirwan in both the 800m & the High Jump. Championship Best performance also from Richael Browne running a fantastic race to win the U17 800m. Alana Ryan added the U16 60m title to her 200m title from yesterday and only .01 separated Ben Mooney & Josh Pyper who took Gold & Silver in the u15 60m in one of the closest races of the day. Bronze as well for Ben in the Long Jump and a bronze for Alan Gordon in the U14 High Jump having finished 4th in the 60m hurdles yesterday. Aodhan Daly had 3 great runs in the U14 60m to progress through the heats & semi- finals, as did older brother Noah in the U16 and  Michael O'Shea in The U13 with Emma Quirk also getting to her semi-final U13 and Sophie Dallaghan in the U12. Emma also finished 5th in her Long Jump. Another very successful weekend for GAC. Nationals............ here we come!.


Huge congratulations go to Alana Ryan on winning the National Juvenile Star Award for 2014. We are very proud to see Alana receive this well deserved award for her achievements last year and as you can see from the report above, she has made a terrific start to 2015. This is the 6th year in a row that a GAC athlete has won this National Award, so keep up the good work guys!


GAC  also won the National Developmental Award for 2014 and we congratulate all the athletes involved in what was a great day for the club back in July. U15 Troy Scully, Niamh Conroy, Rachel Casey, Catherine Casey & Rachel Purcell, U14 Sarah O’Connor, Katie Lawless, Eva Roche & Frances Dallaghan, U13 Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Alan Gordon, U12 Michael O’Shea, Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally &, Erin Howard.

VERY  IMPORTANT
Please come to training properly prepared for training! Despite constant reminders that we train in all weathers, wind, hail, rain or snow, and regular requests that our athletes always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, we still have many who don’t bring sufficient clothing with them. It is easy to remove layers if you get too hot, but there is nothing we can do if you are cold and you don’t have enough clothing with you and you cannot train properly if you are cold. So wear plenty layers, bring a jacket and gloves and don’t forget your water bottle!

AGM
A reminder that our club AGM, which will be held in Shoreline Sports Park on this Thurs 12th March at 8pm. This is open to all members and/or parents of juvenile members and is your opportunity to come along and find out how our club is run and what goes on in the background to keep it all running smoothly. It is also an opportunity to make suggestions that you think might improve things, or maybe even come on board and lend a hand on the club committee or one of our sub-commitees. Motions and nominations for the AGM are still being taken and should be e-mailed to theresa.kinane@gmail.com by Tues 10th March please.


RELAY SQUADS
Due to the Leinster Indoors at the weekend we deferred the first relay squad session until this coming Friday 13th March. This means that there is still a chance to add your name to the list if you are interested in being considered for relay team selection in the future. The form will stay on the web site until Thurs. 12th and we will have our first training session on Fri evening. After this, specific relay training sessions for all club teams will be held on the 1st Friday of each month. All athletes who want to be considered for future teams, must fill out the form on the website declaring their interest and of course will need to attend the training sessions regularly.
It is particularly important that all members of the teams who have qualified for the National Relay Championships attend this training session!

FIT4YOUTH GROUP
In Sept.’14 we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past number of months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups. We do have some places available in this group at present.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 5
This takes place on Friday 27th March in Bray. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will be on our website www.greystonesac.com shortly and can be found under  Entry Forms at the top of the page. Entries will close on Thurs 26th at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday  , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

NATIONAL INDOORS
National Indoors take place on Sat/Sun 21st/22nd March and on Sat 28th March. Well done to all who have qualified for these. While we are trying to give as much time as possible to all events, we may not be able to cover every event each night and so qualified athletes, including relay teams, need to make a big effort to attend all sessions to ensure they get in as much practise as possible.

FIT4LIFE RACE
The next Fit4Life race will be held in Shanganagh Park on Thursday 2nd April. Check-in at 7pm, race at 7.30pm. This is open to everyone from 14 up and while there are prizes for each category and some spot prizes, it is very much  a participation event and a great way to start racing.  Refreshments afterwards!

COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Juniors & Seniors men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Entries to Theresa by Sunday 19th April.

Sun

08

Mar

2015

LEINSTER INDOORS

Another good day for GAC on Saturday 7th march, with gold for Alana Ryan in the U16 200m and for Amaris Borel in the U18 400m, Silver for Conor Dempsey in the U18 400m, for Richael Browne in the U17 High Jump, for Noah Daly in the U16 Long Jump, for Louis Lalor in the U16 60m hurdles and for Aodhan Daly in the U14 Long Jump and Bronze for Amaris Borel in the 60m hurdles.

A 5th place finish for Noah Daly in the U16 200m and fine performances also from many others, with Alan Gordon and Ronan Dempsey making the 60mH final U14 & Emma Quirk U13 and also James Nicholson & Joe Prendergast making the 600m final U13! Well done to our younger athletes, many making their first appearance at indoors and showing great promise for the future of our club! This all left us looking forward to another great day on Sunday!

The 4th and last day of the Leinster Indoors again saw top performances from GAC athletes with U 19 Katy Conroy taking bronze in the 8oom,18's Ara Freeman taking double gold in the 60m & 200m and setting a new Championship Best in the 60m, Conor Dempsey having a superb race to take silver in the 200m, Amaris Borel winning her 200m heat comfortably and Isobel Kenny making the 60m final after a great 200m run earlier in the day and 4th place finishes for Rosa Kirwan in both the 800m & the High Jump. Championship Best performance also from Richael Browne running a fantastic race to win the U17 800m. Alana Ryan added the U16 60m title to her 200m title from yesterday and only .01 separated Ben Mooney & Josh Pyper who took Gold & Silver in the u15 60m in one of the closest races of the day. Bronze as well for Ben in the Long Jump and a bronze for Alan Gordon in the U14 High Jump having finished 4th in the 60m hurdles yesterday. Aodhan Daly had 3 great runs in the U14 60m to progress through the heats & semi- finals, as did older brother Noah in the U16 and  Michael O'Shea in The U13 with Emma Quirk also getting to her semi-final U13.

Tue

24

Feb

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
What a great start we had over the first two days of the 2015 Leinster Indoor Championships. Fantastic running from all our GAC athletes with great results on Saturday from the Relays and distance events. Gold medals all round for our U18 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Isobel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman, U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney & U15 boys, Josh Pyper, Aodhan Daly, John O’Connor & Ben Mooney...

... Silver for our U17 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan  & U13 boys, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones & Michael O’Shea, with 4th place finishes for U16 girls, Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan & U14 boys, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Joe Dowd, Alan Gordon & James Nicholson.. Fantastic running from Cillian Browne finishing 3rd in the U19 1500m, Richael Browne finishing 3rd in the U17 1500m & Sophie Nicholson finishing 4th in the U15 800m!
Sunday proved to be another fantastic day for our club athletes competing for Slí Cualann at the Leinster Juniors. Following on from the previous day’s great results, brother & sister Cillian & Richael Browne went for gold today ,with Cillian winning the Junior 3K & Richael winning the 800m. Gold too for Amaris Borel in the 60m Hurdles, and Amaris also had a Season's Best in the 400m. Gold again for Ara Freeman in the 60m with a new Leinster Championship Best Performance and Ara also had a fourth place finish in the 200m. Silver medals for Susie McParland in her first track 3K and for Conor Dempsey in the 400m, a Bronze medal for Rosa Kirwan in the High Jump and another new 800m PB for Katy Conroy! What a top weekend's competition it was!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS


XC LEAGUE ROUND 4
This coming Friday 27th Feb. in Roundwood GAA centre. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website now and entries close on Thurs 26th Feb at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on this Friday 27th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


LEINSTER INDOORS DAYS 3&4
Days 3&4 of the Indoors are Sat/Sun 7th/8th March. Entries are all gone in and athletes are training hard for their specific events. While we are trying to give as much time as possible to all events, we may not be able to cover every event each night and so athletes need to make a big effort to attend all sessions to ensure they get practise at their chosen events.


LEINSTER DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
Day 4 of the Leinster Development Squad takes place from 11am – 1pm on this coming Sat. Feb 28th, in Morton Stadium, Santry. As always ,each day and is open to all athletes aged 12 years +. The squad will cost €5 per athlete each day. Please check-in at the stand in Morton Stadium from 10.30am. Events covered this weel will be Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump. This is a great opportunity for some extra coaching on your event!

AGM
Time again for our club AGM, which will be held in Shoreline Sports Park on Thurs 12th March at 8pm. This is open to all members and/or parents of juvenile members and is your opportunity to come along and find out how our club is run and what goes on in the background to keep it all running smoothly. It is also an opportunity to make suggestions that you think might improve things, or maybe even come on board and lend a hand on the club committee or one of our sub-commitees. Motions for the AGM should be e-mailed to theresa.kinane@gmail.com by Fri 6th March to allow time to send these out.

RELAY SQUADS
Following on from our success at the Indoor Relays, GAC intends to work on developing our relay squads for future events and so we will have specific relay training sessions for all club teams on the 1st Friday of each month. Athletes who wish to be considered for future teams need to fill out the form on the website declaring their interest and of course will need to attend the training sessions regularly.

REGISTRATIONS
These are all now completed and all training groups are re-organised for the coming season. Prospective new members should send us their details, to include Name & DOB, to ‘Contact us’ on our website. www.greystonesac.com

TRAINING GROUPS
While our aim is to promote athletics and foster a love of the sport in all our members, we would like to remind you all that Greystones AC is first and foremost a competative club and so athletes are expected to attend training regularly and take part in the various competitions that the club competes in during the year.
Athletes in Groups 1 & 2 agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions each week before moving to these groups and we expect this to be adhered to. This is necessary to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.30am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day. So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.

FIT4YOUTH GROUP
In Sept.’14 we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past number of months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups.

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues 3rd March from 7-8pm to facilitate those who need singlets etc.for the Leinster Championships. We now have new girls red shorts in stock in all sizes and also some ¾ length & full length red leggings. We also have a good number of secondhand spikes available as well as rain jackets, lightweight showerproof  trousers and club hoodies & T shirts. We also have some black Nike tracksuit bottoms reduced to just €10.

Once again we must remind you all that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, as we still have many who don’t bring suficient clothing. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents!

Sun

15

Feb

2015

WHAT A WEEKEND!

Fantastic running from all our GAC athletes this weekend in Athlone with great results on Saturday from the Leinster Indoor Relays in Athlone. Gold medals all round for our U18 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Isobel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman, U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney & U15 boys, Josh Pyper, Aodhan Daly, John O’Connor & Ben Mooney. Silver for our U17 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan  & U13 boys, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones & Michael O’Shea, with 4th place finishes for U16 girls, Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan & U14 boys, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Joe Dowd, Alan Gordon & James Nicholson.. Fantastic running from Cillian Browne finishing 3rd in the U19 1500m, Richael Browne finishing 3rd in the U17 1500m & Sophie Nicholson finishing 4th in the U15 800m!

Sunday proved to be another fantastic day for our club athletes competing for Slí Cualann at the Leinster Juniors. Following on from yesterday's great results, brother & sister Cillian & Richael Browne went for gold today ,with Cillian winning the Junior 3K & Richael winning the 800m. Gold too for Amaris Borel in the 60m Hurdles, and Amaris also had a Season's Best in the 400m. Gold again for Ara Freeman in the 60m with a new Leinster Championship Best Performance and Ara also had a fourth place finish in the 200m. Silver medals for Susie McParland in her first track 3K and for Conor Dempsey in the 400m, a Bronze medal for Rosa Kirwan in the High Jump and another new 800m PB for Katy Conroy! Well done to all our athletes and congratulations to team mate & training partner Tim Grummell on his gold in the Senior 1500m and to Terry Kavanagh with Silver medals in the Masters 400m & 800m. What a top weekend's competition it has been!

Thu

22

Jan

2015

FINAL REMINDER

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2015…………..FINAL REMINDER!
Club Registrations for 2015 have been taking place all this week during all training sessions and the final opportunity to renew club registrations is tomorrow Friday 23rd Jan. Athletes who have not renewed their registrations by Fri 23rd will be deemed to have left the club and their places will be offered to those on the waiting lists. Those who are not registered will not be on the check-in sheets next Tues evening and can no longer be admitted to the track, as they are no longer covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area during training times on Fri 23rd Jan. only, ie 6-8.30pm. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at other times as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. In an effort to get all records up to date again, all members need to fill out a new club form this year. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. Overdue weekly subs. should also be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2015 with a clean slate please.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We are already well into our competition for 2015, with several events already completed. Wel done to all who took part, report to follow. Next events are:
 Sun 25th Jan National Jun (1996-1999)/U23 (1993-95) Indoors, Athlone
 Tues 27th Jan. East Leinster Schools XC, Avondale
 Sat 31st Jan Round 2 Indoor League, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun 1st Feb AAI Games, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat 7th League Final, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun. 8th Feb Juvenile B XC , Tuam (1996-2004)
 Sun 8th Feb. Nat. Intermediate XC, Tuam
 Wed 11th Feb. Leinster Schools XC, Santry
 Sat 14th Feb. Leinster Indoor relays + walks, PV, TJ & 800/1500m races (born 1996-2004), Athlone 
 Sun. 15th Feb. Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters, Athlone on Feb 15th.
 Sat/Sun 21st/22nd Feb. National Senior Indoors, Athlone
The remainder of the Leinster events are on the 7th/8th March.


All athletes who intend to compete at any of the Juvenile events up to & including 8th March, should fill out the appropriate form, which is on our website, by Tues next 27th Jan. Indoor events are for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 and before) and athletes can enter up to 3 events + relays.  Don’t forget to list your events and availability for relays. Teams + subs will be sorted asap.  U11’s, ie born 2005 can compete in the relays. Leinster programme of events can be found on www.athleticsleinster.org

We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.


Wed

07

Jan

2015

Newsletter

NEWSLETTER 2015
Normal service resumes this week and we welcome back  all those we haven’t seen since before Xmas. We hope you all had a great time and wish everyone a Happy New Year! Small numbers at the sessions and runs over the holidays, but well done to those who put the effort in, it will pay dividends at the upcoming competitions!

AWARD WINNERS
Once again Greystones AC athletes are the recipients of both County & Provincial awards, with club athletes winning 3 of the 4 Juvenile awards & both Junior awards in Wicklow and all 3 awards in Leinster for 2014. Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Ben Jones for the U14-16 section, Cillian Browne for the U16-19 section & Amaris Borel & Padraig Lennon for the Junior section in Wicklow and to Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey for the Leinster Juvenile awards & David Coyle for the Senior award. The Leinster Awards will be presented this Sat 10th Jan in Carlow and the Wicklow Awards will be presented in Wicklow town on Fri. 16th Jan. Fit4Life prizes will also be presented that night and club members are welcome to come along and support our many winners!

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2015…………..VERY IMPORTANT!
All club athletes now need to renew their registration/insurance for 2015. Registrations will take place at training times for one week only and any athletes not registered at the end of that week can no longer be admitted to the track, as they will not be covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area on Tues 20th Jan. Wed 21th Jan & Fri 23rd Jan. during training times only. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at other times as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. In an effort to get all records up to date again, we will be asking members to fill out a new club form this year. These forms will be available at registration, but can be downloaded from our website, or collected at check-in next week, if you want to have it ready in advance and avoid long delays. Up to U19’s need to fill the Juvenile form and Parents/Guardians must sign the form at the back, but please do not sign your child’s name. If your child is too young to sign, just leave that line blank. Athletes born 1996 and before should use the adult form.  We would really appreciate it if anyone who’s details haven’t changed, would indicate this on their form. It will save a great deal of time double checking everything. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. Overdue weekly subs. should also be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2015 with a clean slate please.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We have a very busy year ahead and I have listed the first two months events below:
 Sunday 11th Jan.  Round 1 of the Indoor League, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat. 17th Jan. National Combined events, Athlone (2002 up)
 Sun 18th Jan Leinster XC for Jun (1996-1999) & Sen (1995 and before) Dunboyne
 Sun 18th Jan Leinster XC Relays in Dunboyne. Relays are for U12/14/16 (2015 ages, so born 2000-2005) Distances are short and we would love to have teams in all the age groups, so interested athletes should fill out the form on the website asap, as entries close very soon. We will let you know the teams at training on Tues. next  latest.
 Sun 25th Jan National Jun (1996-1999)/U23 (1993-95) Indoors, Athlone
 Tues 27th Jan. East Leinster Schools XC, Avondale
 Sat 31st Jan Round 2 Indoor League, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun 1st Feb AAI Games, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat 7th League Final, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun. 8th Feb Juvenile B XC , Tuam (1996-2004)
 Sun 8th Feb. Nat. Intermediate XC, Tuam
 Wed 11th Feb. Leinster Schools XC, Santry
 Sat 14th Feb. Leinster Indoor relays + walks, PV, TJ & 800/1500m races (born 1996-2004), Athlone 
 Sun. 15th Feb. Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters, Athlone on Feb 15th.
 Sat/Sun 21st/22nd Feb. National Senior Indoors, Athlone
The remainder of the Leinster events are on the 7th/8th March. All athletes who intend to compete at any of the Juvenile events should fill out the form, which will be on the website shortly, as we want to start event specific training right away. Indoor events are for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 and before) and athletes can enter up to 3 events + relays.  Don’t forget to list your events and availability for relays. Teams + subs will be sorted asap.

We also have to arrange our Sportshall event, which is always very popular with the younger athletes and always a fun day. Details will follow asap!

HELP NEEDED
Once again we have to appeal for help at the 6-7pm sessions. We have big groups at these sessions and have lost two coaches recently due to family circumstances. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out, even a little, please let us know.

We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

Tue

09

Dec

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to our GAC athletes who took part in the National XC in Santry on Sunday. Illness struck again this week with only four athletes, Megan O’Brien, Ben Jones, Susie McParland and Cillian Browne, making it to the start line. and some of those were still not back to top form. Great running as always with silver medals going to Ben Jones in the boys U15 and Susie McParland in the girls U17 on their silver medals with the Leinster teams.

CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE RUN
Many thanks to all who turned out for our Candlelight run and in particular a huge Thank You to those who put so much effort into setting out the candles & lighting them and to those who did the lovely baking. It couldn’t happen without you guys and the whole place looked amazing when it was all lit up! All the jars were collected next day & have been stored, as we hope to make this an annual event. We raised €285 for Aware, so thanks to all who contributed to this!

GROUP TRAINING SESSION
Athletes who participated in the athletes assessment day on Sat.15th Nov. are invited to a follow up session at the track on this coming Sat.13th Dec. from 10-12pm. This session will concentrate on sprints, starts, running technique etc. and will be beneficial to all. Your results from the previous day will be available and this will act as your baseline for our follow up sessions.  We also hope to organise a further session during the Xmas break. Details will be sent out to those concerned.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Just two events left to go this year:
Round 3 of the XC League is in Arklow Rugby Club this coming Friday evening 12th Dec. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8,10,12,14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is now on the website and entries close on Thurs.11th Dec. at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 12th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


County Senior & Junior XC will take place on this coming Sunday 14th Dec. in Shanganagh Park. First race at 10.30am. GAC would love to have teams in all 4 categories, so please let Theresa  know if you are available to run.


Please note that our Sunday morning run will take place in Shanganagh Park at 9.30am, that way we’ll be finished in time to cheer on our runners in the races!

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open tonight Tues 9th Dec. from 7-8pm, just in case Santa needs any club gear this year! We have singlets, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets and tracksuit bottoms. Some of the gear hasn’t arrived yet, but hoodies & T-shirts can be paid for tonight and will be available before we finish for Xmas. The girls shorts have not arrived and unfortunately we don’t have a delivery date for those. Samples of the new red leggings and sprint shorts are available to view and orders will be taken for these tonight. Leggings and sprint shorts only come in Sm, Med, Lg , there are no children's sizes available.

XMAS TRAINING TIMES
The 5-6pm group will finish next Tues evening 16th Dec. and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 19th. We will have a Xmas games evening to finish up and maybe a few Xmas treats! These groups will return to training on Tues. 6th Jan 2015.


Our 7-8.30pm groups will finish up on Tues 23rd Dec and will return to training on Fri 2nd Jan., as we have Indoors  and Schools XC  approaching fast for these age groups.


We remind you again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

Tue

25

Nov

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all our GAC athletes who took part in the National XC in Dundalk today. Great running from Eimear Ryan, Ella Shanley, Erin Howard & Emma Quirk in the U12's and from Sarah O'Connor, Sophie Nicholson & Katie Lawless in the U14's. Congratulations to Sarah on her gold medal with the Leinster team. Fantastic running from Ben Jones in the boys U14 with an individual medal for his 6th place finish and a bronze medal with the Leinster team. Congrats also to Susie McParland & Richael Browne on their silver medals with the County team and fine running from Irene Gomez Romro U16 and from Steven Diggin in the U18/Jun event.  Unfortunately we lost a few to illness this weekend, but hopefully most will be up and running again for the uneven ages in Santry on Sun. 7th Dec.

Very well done indeed to the club athletes/coaches who braved the awful weather conditions on Fri last to take part in Round 2 of the XC League in Rathdrum. Fantastic performances from all 15 who attended and had to battle mud, wind & rain for the points. They never gave up! Evan Quirk, Daniel Quirk, Tom McCarthy, Chase Scully, Louis Kelly, Troy Scully, Amber Scully, Georgia Hogan, Eimear Ryan, Rebecca Leahy, Sophie Dallaghan, Sally Shanley, Emma Quirk, Erin Howard, Ella Shanley.


Well done also to athletes & coaches alike who come out night after night and battled the tough training conditions we’ve been having recently. 

SPORTSHALL  REPORT  by Helen Dempsey
Great performance by the boys under 13, winning silver in both the 4 x1 lap ( Michael O Shea, Ronan Dempsey, Aodhan Daly, Alan Gordan) and the 4 x 2 lap ( Michael O Shea, Joe Prendergast, Aodhan Daly, Alan Gordan) relays. Joe Prendergast took home two gold in the 6 Lap Individual and the Speed Bounce and a silver in the Vertical Jump. Joe along with Alan Gordon gave a very impressive performance in the 8 Lap Paarlouf bringing home the silver. Alan took the silver in the Shott Putt as well as the bronze in the Vertical Jump. The 2 Lap Individual again saw a strong performance from the Greystones athletes, with Aodhan Daly and Ronan Dempsey taking Silver and Bronze respectively. The pair added to their cache taking Gold and Bronze respectively in the Standing Long Jump.  Aodhan went on to take the bronze in the Standing Triple Jump.


The under 9 girls were not to be outdone by the boys, taking bronze in both the Tunnel Relay (Ava Foley, Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Amber Scully) and 1 x Lap Relay (Ailbhe Gordon, Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Amber Scully). Ava Foley gave an outstanding performance throughout the day’s events, winning three silver medals in the 3 x Lap Individual, the 2 x Lap Individual and the Speed Bounce. Ailbhe Gordan gave a mighty throw to the Foam Javelin  to bring home the silver and along with Tara Casey took joint gold in the standing long jump. Tara went on to add a silver to her medal count for the 5 strides event.
The Portarlington Sportshall event was superbly organised and was a great day for athletes and parents.  A big thanks to Buntu for putting the athletes through their paces prior to the event.

COMMUNICATION (Please read & note)
Greystones AC uses it’s club Newsletters as our regular means of communication. All new members are asked to sign up for this when they first join, so if you are not getting them please go on to our website www.greystonesac.com and sign up right away. These Newsletters are also available on the front page of the website and on our Facebook page. The club also uses webtext to communicate information, but as we have limited characters for each text this is mainly used for reminders or urgent messages. Please note that while you are occasionally asked to use the webtext no. to sign up for an event, if you have a question that requires a same day reply you should send it by e-mail or text to Theresa on 0868635797. I cannot answer messages on the webtext no. from my mob. and so there may be a long delay before I can reply to you due to work/coaching  commitments. Likewise, if you send messages via our FB page there may be a long delay in getting a reply, as this is mainly used for information purposes and is not constantly monitored.

TRAINING
We train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE RUN -------------- EVERYONE WELCOME!
A reminder that we are holding our Candlelight Remembrance Run/Walk on Sun. 30th Nov. from 4.30pm. This year we are holding the event at Shoreline Sports Park , Charlesland. Starting at the front gates, our route will take us up the back road to the soccer pitch, around the pitch, down the winding hill behind reception, out through the side gate and across the carpark to the track gate, down the hill and around the roadway behind the track bringing us back out to the carpark beside Zoom, approx 1500m in all. The route will be candlelit all the way and hopefully will be as magical an experience as last year’s was. We will have refreshments afterwards in the Shoreline building. Once again there will be a bucket available for donations to Aware


We need jars for the candles, so if you have a jar or two lying around at home, could you please bring them to training this week. Jam/coffee jars or anything of that size will be greatly appreciated. We would also appreciate help from anyone who is free to lend a hand on Sunday!
Please note that if Sunday is wet we will not be able to go ahead, as the candles will go out!

ATHLETE ASSESSMENT DAY
We held a very successful Talent ID day for our juvenile  athletes on Sat. 15th Nov. We had over 60 athletes in attendance and all were put through a series of  tests for jumps, throws, sprints, distance and had their height, peak flow etc. measured. Th results are an indication of potential at various events and give the athletes a base line to work from. We intend to follow up from this with event specific workshops which will help the athletes to take up, or progress at, their chosen events.

 
Members of the Slí Cualann development squad have a similar event on Sat 28th Nov from 12-2pm in the Shoreline hall, with lunch afterwards.  Squad T-shirts have arrived and will be given out on the day!

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues 9th Dec. from 7-8pm, just in case Santa needs any club gear this year! We have singlets, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets and tracksuit bottoms. We have new girls shorts on order and we will also have new red leggings and sprint shorts available. Leggings and sprint shorts (Sm, Med, Lg only) can be viewed and ordered at training this week.


 

Sun

09

Nov

2014

Club News

CONGRATULATIONS
Tremendous running from our athletes at the first day of the Leinster XC in Avondale and some great results Congratulations to Ben Jones who won the championship in the boys U14 and to Sarah O’connor who finished in the medals in 9th place in the U14 girls. Both these athletes will represent Leinster at the All Ireland’s. We also have several athletes qualified for the All Ireland’s as members of  Wicklow County teams, as the U14 & 16 girls teams won gold and the U12 girls were 4th. Congratulations and good luck to our athletes for Nov 23rd in Dundalk: U12 Girls: Eimear Ryan, Erin Howard, Ella Shanley & Emma Quirk, U14 Girls: .Sarah O’Connor, Rachel Diggin, Katie Lawless & Sophie Nicholson, U14 boys: Ben Jones, U16 girls:  Susie McParland, Richael Browne, Hilary Gallagher, Irene Gomez Romero, U18 girls: Katy Conroy & U18 boys:  Steven Diggin & Cillian Browne.
A disappointingly small number of club athletes took part in the 3rd and final day of the Leinster XC  in Adamstown today Sun. 9th Nov. and unfortunately due to the small numbers, we were unable to fill teams in any age groups. Some great running from those who did come along with individual medals for Cillian Browne in the boys U19 & Ben Jones in the boys U15. Co. team gold for Susie McParland & Richael Browne on the girls U17 team and a qualification place for Megan O’ Brien on the girls U15 Co. team. Best of Luck to all in the Nationals.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 2
Friday 14th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is now on the website and entries close on Wed next 12th Nov. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 14th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS (for those who missed it last time)
Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. This should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off  and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walk around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

SPORTSHALL
We are presently selecting teams for a Sportshall competition on Sun. 23rd Nov. in Portarlington. This is open to Boys & Girls U9 - U13 (born 2002 – 2007) If you are available & interested in taking part, please let us know asap on 0877730000 . We hope to enter teams in all categories.

TRAINING GROUPS
While our aim is to promote athletics and foster a love of the sport in all our members, we would like to remind you all that Greystones AC is first and foremost a competative club and so athletes are expected to attend training regularly and take part in the various competitions that the club competes in during the year.
Athletes in Groups 1 & 2 agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions each week before moving to these groups and we expect this to be adhered to. This is necessary to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day. So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.


FIT4YOUTH GROUP
This Sept. we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past few months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups.

ATHLETE ASSESSMENT DAY
We are holding a Talent Identification Day for our juvenile athletes born 2004 or before, who intend to compete in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone in March 2015.  If you are interested, come along and give each event a go and discover where your talents really lie. We also hope to have a Specialist in Steeple Chase there on the day, to coach those athletes eligible to enter the Steeple Chase (born 1999 or before).
Date: Sat 15/11/14, Time: 10-12 (reg at 09:45), Venue: Shoreline Track, Fee: €2 per athlete
Eligibility: Born 2004 and before and competing in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone in March 2015.
If you wish to attend please text your name and dob to 0877730000 by Wed. 12th November latest.
Members of the Slí Cualann development squad will have a similar event on Sat 28th Nov from 12-2pm in the Shoreline hall, with lunch afterwards.

REMEMBRANCE RUN
Last year we held a Candlelight Remembrance Run/Walk in Kindlestown Wood which received tremendous support and we have been asked by many if we would repeat it this year. As November is traditionally the month that  we remember those we have lost, we will hold  a similar event on Sun. 30th Nov. from 4.30pm. Due to the narrow road, parking and traffic control were a problem last year, so this year we will hold the event at Shoreline Sports Park , Charlesland. Starting at the front gates, our route will take us up the back road to the soccer pitch, around the pitch, down the winding hill behind reception, out through the side gate and across the carpark to the track gate, down the hill and around the roadway behind the track bringing us back out to the carpark beside Zoom, approx 1500m in all. The route will be candlelit all the way and hopefully will be as magical an experience as last year’s was. We will have refreshments afterwards in the Shoreline building. Once again there will be a bucket available for donations to Aware.

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS
We arranged to give out Registration cards for 2014 on Tues. 21st Oct. but very few bothered to collect them. As we do not want to give these cards to children and risk having them lost, we will try again on Tues. next 11th Nov. between 6.30 & 7.30pm and we ask that you please come and pick them up. There is a hotel voucher, courtesy of Athletics Ireland, with each card. Cards for athletes who registered in Sept. have arrived, but later registrations are still not here.



Thu

16

Oct

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

A LENGTHY ONE, BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AS IT CONTAINS A LOT OF  IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR  CLUB ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

WICKLOW XC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Fantastic results from both Sunday’s at the Wicklow XC Championships, despite a very big percentage of our club athletes failing to attend. On day 1 we had barely 20% of our athletes in attendance, but despite this we got  8 individual medals and 18 top ten finishes in the U12-18’s , with Gold team medals for all 4 teams that we managed to fill at U12 & U14. We had great performances in the U8-10 races, with 7 top ten finishes and we had the winner of the Novice ladies. Congratulations to our County Champions James Nicholson, Ben Jones, Troy Scully, Katy Conroy, Cillian Browne & Carol Costello, to silver medal winner Joe Prendergast and bronze winner Sophie Nicholson and well done to all who ran so well.
On day 2 we did a little better, but not much, with 24% attending and again we saw fantastic running from those who did come with County Championships going to Eimear Ryan, Troy Scully, Steven Diggin & Cillian Browne & silver medals to Sarah O’Connor & Katy Conroy and once again we had 18 top ten finishers. A few more teams this time and lots of team medals, with gold for U11 Girls, Silver for U13, U15 & U17 girls and 4th place to U13 boys.  Once again great performances from our younger athletes in the U7-9 groups and great to have an Intermediate men’s team out, who finished 4th overall, with 2 members in the top 10.  Great running from everyone who took part, but disappointing for all the coaches who put so much time and effort in, to see so many not taking part on either day.
Full results from both days are now on the sidebar of our website home  page.

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
We are now looking forward to the first of the Leinster Championships which will take place here in our own Co. Wicklow, once again in beautiful Avondale. This is the even ages event ( same course as Oct 5th) for athletes from U12-18 (U11’s can move up) and also for Novice & Masters athletes. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will take advantage of home turf  and turn out to run for Club & County on Sunday 26th Oct. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is Sunday 19th. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out. There will be open U10’s races for girls & boys on the day, so anyone interested in taking part should enter on our website form.


The uneven ages event for U11-19 (U10’s can move up) and the Intermediate adults will take place in Adamstown, Co. Wexford on Sun. 9th Nov. To avoid confusion, entry form for this will only go up when the even ages comes down.

LEAGUE ROUND 2 : Friday 14th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will go up after the Leinster events close, to avoid confusion.. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 14th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS
Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. This should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off  and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walk around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

LEINSTER PERFORMANCE SQUAD
Congratulations to GAC athletes Amaris Borel, Ara Freeman, Richael Browne, Rosa Kirwan, Isobel O’Grady, Cillian Browne, Padraig Lennon, Conor Dempsey, and Lorcan Lalor who were selected for the Leinster performance squad. They had their first session last Sat. in Santry with the second one coming up on Nov 1st and covering all events.  A developmental squad, open to all athletes aged 12 yrs +, runs on the same day from 11am-1pm. The Nov 1st session for this one covers Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump and costs €5.
 
PLEASE READ AND REMIND ATHLETES:
We are asking once again that athletes make sure to use the toilets before coming down to the track, as it causes huge problems if a coach has to leave a group to bring them up during the session. On this note, we remind athletes that the toilets and changing rooms must be left as we find them and not in a mess. Recently we have had a lot of tissue etc. thrown about and water everywhere, coinciding with our club’s use of the facility, and this needs to stop. Shoreline have the right to refuse access to groups who do not respect the track and other facilities. Please remember that the building is not our club house, it is a business premises and athletes are asked not to gather in the reception area or just outside the front door, as this interferes with other customers access. On wet evening we will check-in in the bottom changing room on the right, so please go directly there, check in and then head to the track, as we do not have enough space to keep athletes indoors.. You may leave your bags here if you wish.


We remind you once again that all athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should  wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!


Athletes who may need an inhaler, should always make sure to bring it with them. You should not share other athletes inhalers, as they may not be the same medication/dosage as yours.


Athletes who are not fit to train due to injured or illness should not attend training sessions. Athletes who arrive and are not fit to train will be sent home, as it is far too cold to stand around on the track waiting for the session to end.


Groups 1 & 2 are required  to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their groip. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.


So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.


Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on next Tues.21st Oct. from 4.30-5pm and again from 7-8pm only. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have Foam Rollers on sale at a very reasonable €14 if anyone wants one and a small number of secondhand spikes.

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS
Registration cards for 2014 arrived recently and we will have them available on Tues 21st Oct.also. Two club members will hand these out, to parents and older athletes only, between 6-7pm. They will be in the room behind the reception area in the Shoreline building. As the girls will need to leave for training just before 7pm, please collect before this time. There are a lot of cards and it may be busy, so please allow for this. Cards for Little Athletics can be collected in the shop. Cards for recently registered athletes will not be available yet.

Thu

25

Sep

2014

XC League

Directions to The Murrough for XC League this Friday.
Approaching Wicklow from Rathnew  take the left on new road (before bridge), signposted Port.
Go approx 1K along this road over the bridge and the car park is on the left….

Distances for Juvenile League  as agreed at last Co Board meeting are as follows:
U/8    400M
U/10    800m
U/12    1200M
U/14/15    1600M
Toddlers Race we usually go for 50m.

Sun

21

Sep

2014

Club Newsletter

AS THE CLUB IS RUN ENTIRELY BY VOLUNTEERS WHO ALL HAVE DAY JOBS, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO  CONTACT EACH MEMBER INDIVIDUALLY ABOUT COMPETITIONS AND OTHER CLUB INFORMATION, SO WE ASK THAT YOU PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ OUR REGULAR  NEWSLETTERS  AS THEY CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

TRAINING
We are back in action for three weeks now and are settling into our new training regimes. These first weeks back are always hard, as we work on getting fitness levels back up and getting ready for the rapidly approaching Cross Country (XC). Regular attendance at training will help you get fit quickly and will make it easier for you to keep up with your group.


All athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should  wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. Children will not be allowed to train in jeans, sandals or street shoes. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!


Groups 1 & 2 are required  to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.


So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor indeed, but we expect to see a huge improvement from here out.


We take this opportunity to remind everyone that athletes who disappear for over 3 weeks without letting us know why, (ie illness, injury etc.) are deemed to have left the club and their places are offered to those on the waiting list. We will always hold the place for an injured/ill athlete and once we are made aware it is not necessary to notified us at every session.


For Insurance reasons, parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
We are now looking forward to a great Cross Country (XC) season which is coming up very quickly indeed, with the Wicklow XC League begins this coming Fri evening on the Murrough in Wicklow Town.
ROUND 1 : The Murrough, Wicklow Friday 26th September. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm
This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. There will be a toddlers race if required U/6.   Certs for all finishers at League events.
Entry form is now up on the website  and anyone who wants to run this Fri in the Murrough will need to complete it by 6pm Thurs 25th latest.  Athletes must be registered to compete. Cerates to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training this Friday, as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


County Wicklow XC Championships, (separate events to the league), will take place on the first two Sundays of October. Both events are in Rathdrum this year, exact venues TBC later. The even ages on Oct. 5th and uneven ages on Oct. 12th, both starting at 11am. All registered athletes are eligible to compete in all competitions, as athletes can move up one age group at XC. We will be trying to fill teams for these events, so hope to see everyone making a big effort to attend.. Athletes up to U10 all receive certs for completing their events. Form for Oct 5th will be up shortly.

DAY TRIP
The 2013/2014 club trip for good attendance took place on Sat 20th & Sun 21st Sept. and we are delighted to report that everyone had a really good time at Jumpzone on both days. Well done to everyone who made the 60% attendance and don’t forget that we are already counting for next year. All attendance’s. are counted and scored out of the full number of training nights for the group, with additional points added for attending competitions. If you regularly miss one night a week or miss a week here and there, it is very easy to drop below the qualifying score, so keep your attendance up and add those points for competing, to guarantee making next year’s trip.

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues.30th Sept. from 6-8pm. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have Foam Rollers on sale at a very reasonable €14 if anyone wants one.

Sat

06

Sep

2014

CLUB NEWS

WELCOME BACK
A big welcome back to all of our athletes and if the first week’s training is anything to go by we can look forward to a great XC season. We had a huge turnout on both Tues and Wed, but attendance in some groups was rather poor on Fri evening. Hopefully this was just due to tiredness after the first week back at school and we anticipate a big improvement in future weeks. 


To those athletes who didn’t make it back this week, we would appreciate it if you could let us know whether you are returning or not, as we still have waiting lists on most age groups.


Don’t forget our Sunday runs are back on and are a very important part of the training week. This Sun. we are meeting in Djouce woods at 10.15, ready to run by 10.30am.

REGISTRATION NIGHT
We will be holding a registration night for all new athletes on Tues 16th Sept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be collected between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms are available at check-in each week and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ It would be very helpful if you could arrive with the forms filled out, as it really helps speed everything up and prevents queues forming.

ATTENDANCE TRIP
This year’s trip for good attendance will be to Jumpzone in Sandyford and has been arrange to take place over the weekend of the 20th/21st Sept  We have had to arranged two separate days, as there are restrictions on the numbers they can cater for.
Qualification for the trip requires 60% attendance from Sept to May. Points have been awarded for each training night attended since Sept 2013, with bonus points for every competition attended.

 

The list of qualified athletes has been posted in the sidebar on our website.  Qualified athletes who wish to go on the trip need to let us know right away, as we need to confirm numbers asap.

FIT4YOUTH
A new running programme for 12-17 yr olds begins on Mon 22nd Sept, and sessions will be held on Mon & Thurs evenings from 5-6pm and will cost just €2 per session. This programme will offer a chance to Get Fit, Have Fun, Make New Friends & Feel Good. It will begin with an introduction to running & will go on to offer an opportunity to try out throws and jumps, for those who might be interested in these. You will be encouraged to run with others of  similar ability & fitness levels and you will progress at your own pace without pressure. There will be options to go on and join the athletic club later on, for those who might want to.
So come along and get fit in a non-competitive environment, you just need runners and comfortable clothes!

 

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member, but members get a reduced rate. Our Sunday morning run is for club members, but you are more than welcome to come along for a trial session before joining.


HELP NEEDED
Once again we must appeal for help with coaching and with checking-in the athletes.  A few coaches are no longer available to help at the 6-7pm sessions so we are appealing to anyone who is free to help out either Tues or Fri to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797.
Last year a number of parents took on the roll of checking in the athletes at the track gate and this is a fantastic help to the coaches, who can then get on with the training session. Unfortunately several have given up and the coaches are back trying to multi-task, especially on Friday’s. If anyone is free to give 20-30mins a week to help with this, please let us know.  It is an invaluable help and makes a huge difference to the smooth running of our training sessions.

Tue

19

Aug

2014

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS to each and every athlete who competed over the recent Track and Field season. It has been a terrific season for our club where we finished in top spot on the medals table on ARCU Rankings. We have 8 National Championship wins including two doubles, with Alana Ryan taking both the 100m & 200m titles U15 and Ben Jones taking the 800m & 1500m titles U14, Amaris Borel taking the 300mH U17, Padraig Lennon the 3K steeplechase U19, Martha Hassett the Pole Vault U18 and newcomer Ben Mooney the 200m U14. Fantastic silver medal performances from Richael Browne in the 800m, Ara Freeman 100m U17 and Padraig Lennon 1500m U19, and bronze for our other newcomer Josh Pyper in the 200m U14.


The Girls U 17 team Alannah O’Carroll, Amaris Borel, Ara Freeman & Richael Browne took the bronze medals in the National Relays and Ara & Amaris were joined by Aoife Conroy & Isobel Kenny on the junior team to win the silver medals.


The pairs event saw Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally win gold in the 60m U9 and Ailbhe Gordon & Ava Foley  win bronze in the Turbo Javelin U9.


We had a great day at the National ‘B’ Championships, when we brought home a barrow load of medals: U12: Michael O'Shea gold in 60m & silver in Long Jump (LJ), Ellen McNally gold in LJ, Emma Quirk silver in 60m, Erin Howard 4th in High Jump (HJ), Liam Phibbs 5th in 600m. U13: Aodhan Daly gold in 80m & LJ, Ronan Dempsey silver in LJ & bronze in 80m, Alan Gordon gold in HJ & silver in Shot Putt (SP) U14: Sarah O'Connor gold in 800m, Katie Lawless 4th in 800m, U15: Troy Scully silver in 800m & HJ, Rachel Purcell silver in SP, Catherine Casey bronze in HJ & 4th in LJ, Rachel Casey 4th in SP. Niamh Conroy 4th in 100m.


A fantastic win for Amaris Borel in the schools 300mH saw her get her first Irish Vest this summer. Amaris went on to produce an outstanding performance in Wales to win the International event.


We ended the season with 3 of our athletes, Richael Browne, Ara Freeman & Alana Ryan, getting selected as members of the Irish Developmental Squad for the Celtic Games, giving them their first taste of International competition also.


Many of our older athletes were members of the Slí Cualann teams who competed in the League again this year. this year it was the girls team who made the final and had a fantastic competition on the day, missing out on the bronze medals by half a point and the silver by one point. Well done to club members Amaris Borel, Aoife Conroy, Ara Freeman, Carol Costello, Connie Thiel, Isobel Kenny, Isobel O’Grady, Katy Conroy, Martha Hassett and their team mates Claire Earls, Denise O’Shea and Laura Kavanagh.


We congratulate and thank all of our coaches who worked so hard and committed so much time and energy to helping our athletes with their achievments. We also thank them and all of the parents for the many long days spent at various track throughout the season supporting all of our athletes so well. At least they were mostly nice sunny days this year!

RETURN TO TRAINING
All groups return to training on Tues Sept 2nd . With such a short time from our return date until the Cross Country (XC) season starts, it is crucial that athletes who intend to compete start getting fit ahead of our return. This is easily achieved by doing short runs every other day and gradually increasing the time over the next couple of weeks. Start with 10 mins every second day this week and gradually increase this to15mins next week. This will help you to return ‘fit to train’ so that we don’t have to spend these few precious weeks of training just getting fit.

VERY IMPORTANT
While the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups finished training on Tuesday 31st June, the 7-8.30pm groups continued right through July and into early August. However many of the members of these groups have not been seen since long before this date. As we are now trying to organise the training groups for our return in Sept, we are asking that all athletes, who have not attended for a prolonged period of time, but who wish to return to training, would TEXT US on 0877730000 ASAP, otherwise we will not have a place for you in Sept. As well as trying to find spaces to move athletes up the groups, we also have long lists of people in most age groups waiting to join the club.

ATTENDANCE TRIP
With so much happening throughout the summer, we didn’t get a chance to organise the Day Trip for those who have an average of 60% attendance from Sept to June. We are now in the process of organising this event for early Sept. Details of the trip and a list of those who are eligible to attend will be sent out by newsletter and also posted on our website over the next couple of days. Those who are eligible will need to let us know if they are coming asap, so that we can confirm numbers. As numbers are large we will be dividing the athletes (by age group) into two different trips this year

2013 AWARDS
We didn’t get around to organising our 2013 awards night either this year. We are also working on this during our short break and hope to hold it during Sept. as well. Please note that this will be for ‘Attendance, Attitude, Achievement’ during 2013 only and will not include the Indoors last Spring or the recent T&F. These will count towards the 2014 awards.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also 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.

Sun

29

Jun

2014

Leinster Championships!

Fantastic weekend at the Leinster Championships with GAC athletes winning 9 Gold, 8 Silver, 6 Bronze and two 4th places.
Results to hand:
U19; Katy Conroy 3rd in 800m

Isobel O'Grady 2nd in TJ
U18: Cillian Browne 2nd in 1500m & 3K
Lorcan Lalor 2nd in 400mH
U17: Ara Freeman 1st in 100m & 200m
Amaris Borel 1st in 300mH & 400m
Conor Dempsey 2nd in 400m & 300mH and 3rd in 100m & 200m
U16: Richael Browne 3rd in 800m & 4th in HJ & 5th in the 1500m.
U15: Alana Ryan 1st in 100m & 200m
Louis Lalor 2nd in 250mH
Noah Daly 3rd in LJ

Aoife McTague 4th in 2K Walk
U14: Ben Jones 1st in 800m & 1500m
Ben Mooney 1st in 200m
Josh Pyper 2nd in 200m
Sophie Nicholson 3rd in 800m & 4th in HJ
Some great performances from several of our other competing athletes also, in particular from Troy Scully in the U15 800m & 1500m finishing 5th in both with new PB's and also from Sarah O'Connor in the U14 1500m.
Well Done to all the athletes and coaches!

Thu

12

Jun

2014

RESCHEDULED JAMBOREE

Athletics Ireland are hosting a series of Little Athletics Jamborees around the country to showcase Little Athletics as they have a new sponsor on board. This is a Sportshall Competition for all athletes from age 5 up to U12’s, with fun indoor games and activities and also relays and will largely be of a non-competitive nature. Just something for the kids to have some fun with. It will be held in the Hall in Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones and has been rescheduled to Monday June 23rd from 7.00-9.00pm. Form will be up shortly and closing date is Thurs.19th May, as they need to get an idea of numbers.

 

Don't forget that entries for the U14-19 Leinster Championships close today! No late entries accepted.

Wed

11

Jun

2014

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
It continues to be a really busy time for GAC with non stop competition at all levels and there are still many more to go, so no let up for a while yet. We congratulate all the athletes who have competed so well over recent weeks and commend everyone on their great results:


At the All Ireland Schools: In the Senior boys, Stephen Rice won Gold in the Javelin, Padraig Lennon won Silver in the Steeplechase and Martha Hassett finished 5th in the Pole Vault. In the Intermediate Girls Amaris Borel won Silver in the 300mH and in the Junior Girls, Alana Ryan won Silver in the 200m & Bronze in the 100m. Great results all round and several PB's as well.


At the Leinster Relays: Girls U16, Richael Browne, Alana Ryan, Alannah O’Carroll, Rebecca Murphy won Gold & Boys U15 Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Ben Jones, Troy Scully won Silver. Girls U15 4th, Girls U13 4th, Boys U9 4th


At he Leinster Juniors:Aoife Conroy won bronze in 400mH, Ara Freeman won bronze in 100m & 4th in 200m, with Amaris Borel 5th. Cillian Browne won gold in the 3K and Padraig Lennon won silver.


At the Leinster Pairs: Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally won silver in the U9 Boys Long Jump & bronze in the 60m, Ava Foley & Ailbhe Gordon won silver in the U9 Girls Turbo Javelin


At the Leinster U12/13 Championships: James Nicholson won bronze in the Long Jump & Emma Quirk was 4th in the 60m hurdles qualifying for All Irelands.


At the Wicklow Schools: tremendous results and lots of medals for so many GAC athletes,( too numerous to list),  at both the Schools Invitational & the Cumann Na mBunscoil events.


At the Leinster Seniors/Masters: David Coyle won bronze in the Senior 1500m & Carol Costello won silver in the M2 800m.

NEW SQUAD
Congratulations to GAC athletes Amaris Borel, Richael Browne, Aoife Conroy, Alison Dawson,Claire Foley, Ara Freeman, Alannah O’Carroll, Rachel Purcell, Alana Ryan, Cillian Browne, Noad Daly, Conor Dempsey, Lorcan Lalor, Louis Lalor, Jamie lennon, Padraig Lennon, Stephen Rice, who achieved the standard and have been invited on to the newly formed Slí Cualann developmental squad for athletes aged 14-22yrs. It is a great priviledge to be invited on to this squad and we encourage all of you to attend the sessions and make the most of the opportunities being given to you.  We hope to see more of our athletes make the standards for this squad during the present T&F season.

COMBINED EVENTS FOR U13’s
Leinster are including an Introduction to Combined Events to next Sat programme in Lourdes Stadium Drogheda. Open to athletes born in 2002,  athletes compete in 3 events,  LJ, 200m and Shot Putt. Entries will be accepted on the day of competition.

COMPETITIONS
A busy time ahead again with:
Date 14/06/14:U14 up Combined events Sat 14th June in Drogheda
Date 18/06/14: Fit4Life + BBQ on Wed 18th June in Roundwood
Date 21/06/14: National U 9/10/11 Pairs  in Tullamore
Date 22/06/14: Round 2 of the  National League in Santry
Date 24/06/14: Bray Runners Invitational in Greystones ( Limited numbers)
Date 28& 29/06/14:U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore
Date 05/07/14: National Juvenile Relays in Tullamore
Date 06/07/14: National Juniors in Cork IT
Date 12/07/14; National Juvenile Developmental Events in Tullamore
Date 13/07/14: National Juvenile Day 2 in Tullamore
Date 19 & 20/07/14: National Seniors in Santry
Date 26 & 27/07/14: National Juvenile Day 3 & 4 in Tullamore
Date 02/08/14: National Combined Events in  Tullamore
Date 03/08/14: National League Final in Tullamore
Date 09/08/14: Celtic games in Santry
Date 10/08/14: National Masters in Tullamore

 Entry forms are now up for:
Date 28& 29/06/14: U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore.

Forms going up shortly for:
Date 24/06/14: Bray Runners Invitational in Greystones ( Limited numbers)
Date 06/07/14: National Juniors in Cork IT
Date 12/07/14: National Juvenile Developmental Events in Tullamore
Please watch out for these forms and make sure you don’t miss the closing dates, as we are no longer able to do late entries to these events.

BRAY RUNNERS INVITATIONAL
The Bray Runners Annual Invitational Event will take place on the Greystones track on Tues 24th June. Each club is allowed a limited number of participants to ensure that the programme can be completed in the time available. An application form will be on our club website shortly for those who are interested in taking part. Closing date will be Wed 18th June and a list will be published on the website by Fri 20th. As numbers are limited, (and in the interest of fair play) we will prioritise athletes who regularly travel to competitions and will then fill any remaining places on a first come, first served basis.


Please note that there will be no training on Tues 24th June, due to this competition!

CLUB SHOP
Our club shop wil be open on Tues 17th June from 7-8.30pm. Singlets in all sizes available. Also Hoodies, T- shirts, shorts and lightweight  waterproof jackets & leggings.

SUMMER BREAK
The 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups will finish training on Tuesday 31st June with an evening of Fun Games for all! We will facilitate the small number who are competing the following week, at the later training times. The 7-8.30pm groups will continue training into early August as they continue to have competitions until then. We will then take a short break and all groups will return to training on the first Tuesday of September.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member. these will continue throughout the summer! 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.

Fri

16

May

2014

Greystones AC Teams for Leinster Relays Sat 24th May



U9 Girls: Keelin McGuire, Ava Foley, Amber Scully, Jill Shanley

U11 Girls: Ruby Dowd, Sophie Dallaghan, Maebh O’Neill, Eimear Ryan

U12 Girls: Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally, Nell Berney, Erin Howard

U12 Girls: Ella Shanley, Molly Crowe, Eimear Ryan, Ruby Dowd

U13 Girls: Danielle Crowe, Megan O’Brien, Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally

U13 Girls: Jenny Marshall, Alice O’Neill, Nell Berney, Erin Howard

U14 Girls: Katie Lawless, Aislinn Smyth, Sophie Nicholson, Sarah O’Connor, Rachel Diggin

U14 Girls: Jessica McDonald, Ella Curtis, Danielle Crowe, Megan O’Brien, Alice O’Neill, Jenny Marshall

U15 Girls: Alana Ryan, Niamh Conroy, Katie Lawless, Sophie Nicholson, Aislinn Smyth

U15 Girls: Sinead Mahon, Megan Healy, Etain Pegman, Rachel Diggin, sarah O’Connor

U16 Girls: Alana Ryan, Richael Browne, Alannah O’Carroll, Rebecca Murphy, Niamh Conroy

U9 Boys: Rory McNally, Frank O’Shea, Turlough McCracken Browne, Daniel Quirk

U10 Boys: Ed Nicholson, Chase Scully, Davey Kennedy Whelan, Daniel Quirk

U12 Boys: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Liam Phibbs, Michael O’Shea, Danny Jones

U13 Boys: Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Michael O’Shea

U13 Boys: Joe Dows, Jay Cafolla, Michael O’Shea, Danny Jones, Liam Phibbs

U14 Boys: Ben Jones, David Phibbs, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey

U14 Boys: John O’Connor, David Prendergast, Oscar Cafferky, Joe Dowd

U15 Boys: Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Troy Scully, Ben Jones, David Phibbs

 

This is not the running order


Mon

12

May

2014

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
The last few weeks have been extremly busy for GAC with non stop competition at all levels and it is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
If you didn’t make it down to the track on Sat 10th, you missed out on an absolutely top class competition, which saw many of the top athletes in the country competing here in our town. We witnessed an Irish Record being set in the Men’s 300mH and saw a number of top athletes achieve qualifying standards for upcoming European and World events.


Well done to our young GAC athletes who took on the challenge of competing with seniors in a very high calibre competition. This event is an opportunity for athletes to test their metal against athletes they would not normally meet as a juvenile. It affords our young athletes a “no pressure” arena to gain more experience. Results speak for themselves, with Ara Freeman winning her 100m in 12.87 and clocking 26.46 for the 200m, Amaris Borel clocking 67.37 for the 400mH, Conor Dempsey clocking 54.19 for 400m and in the 800m we had Jamie Lennon with 2.03.14, Richael Browne with 2.25.30 and Aoife Conroy 2.37.10. Tremendous running in far from ideal conditions. We are very proud of all of them!


The previous weekend we had the Wicklow County Championships, where GAC athletes dominated many of the events and produced many fine performances throughout the competition. Club athletes put their hearts and souls into the weekends events and took home barrow loads of medals, with lots and lots of PB's and top class performances! Well done to each and every athlete who came out and competed and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who looked after our athletes and who ensured that this was an excellent Championships for everyone.
It was great to see so much red & white around the track, but it may surprise many to know that we still had well under 50% attendance. Full results on www.athleticswicklow.com  shortly.
A huge amount of preparation work goes into the organisation and set up for events like these and it would not happen without the very dedicated and committed people who put so much time, effort and behind the scenes work into it all.  Many thanks to all involved.


Many of our club athletes were out competing for their schools in the week leading up to these championships and there were a host of great results here also. Those we know about are as follows: Seniors: Padraig Lennon gold in 2K Steeplechase, Cillian Browne gold in 1500m, Katy Conroy silver in 800m, Jamie Lennon set a new PB in 800m,  Intermediate: Amaris Borel gold in 400mH & silver in 300m, Richael Browne silver in 800m & bronze in 1500m, Ara Freeman silver in 100m & 200m, Steven Diggin silver in 1500m, U16: Alannah O’Carroll silver in 200m, Junior: Alana Ryan gold in 100m & 200m, Noah Daly gold in LJ, Rachel Purcell 4th in Jav. Minor:Lorcan Lalor silver in LJ and hurdles, Troy Scully bronze in 1500m.


Greystones AC athlete Niamh Kearney continues her medal winning performances in the US where she took bronze in the 3K steeplechase in 10.38 on Sat and followed up on Sun with a 4.38 in the 1500m. This helped Niamh’s college to a 2nd place finish overall in the Sunbelt Conference. Niamh also picked up a prestigious award from Georga State University  recently. Well done Niamh!

FUNDRAISER
There will be no training next Friday evening as we are holding a fundraising event with the emphasis on FUN. One of our own athletes, Ellie Hartnett, who joined GAC when she was 7 yrs old and who is now studying Physiotherapy in UCD, is heading off to India to spend her summer holidays helping poor children out there. Not only does she have to pay her own expenses, she also has to raise funds for the project. Ellie and her friends ( many are club members) will host a fun event next Fri on the track. Check-in will open at 5.30pm, teams will be arranged and the fun will start. It will be all fun events, Obstacle relays, Wellie throw, Bean bag war, Backwards t-shirt races etc……… fun, fun, fun!  This event is open to everyone (you don’t have to be a club member) all ages and the entry fee is just €3, which goes to the charity. There will be a bucket available also if anyone would like to make a donation. Please come along and support this event!

 

JAMBOREE
Athletics Ireland are hosting a series of Little Athletics Jamborees around the country to showcase Little Athletics as they have a new sponsor on board. This is a Sportshall Competition for up to U12’s, with fun indoor games and activities and relays which will largely be of a non-competitive nature. Just something for the kids to have some fun with. It will be held in the Hall in Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones on Monday May 26th from 7.30-9.30pm. Form will be up shortly and closing date is Fri. 16th May, as they need to get an idea of numbers.


COMPETITIONS
A busy time ahead with
Date 15/05/14: Primary Schools Invitational event on Thursday next 15th in Greystones
Date 15.05/14: Fit4Life on Thurs evening 15th in Greystones
Date 14 & 17/05/14:Leinster schools are on Wed 14th & Sat 17th in Santry
Date 18/05/14: Round 1 of the National League is in Waterford on Sun 18th
Date 24/05/14:Leinster Relays and the Leinster Juniors, in Greystones on Sat 24th May.
Date 26/05/14:Athletics Jamboree, (Up to U12) Mon 26th May in Shoreline Leisure Centre, Greystones

Entry forms are now up for:
  Date 01/06/14: Senior/Masters on Sun June 1st in Tullamore
  Date 02/06/14: U9-U15 Team event on Mon June 2nd in Tullamore.
Entries close on Wed next 14th May. We need teams of four for the ‘Team Event’ This is an excellent competition and fosters a great team spirit, so we would love to see lots of names going down in order that we can fill the teams. 

Forms going up shortly for:
Date 07/06/14: U9/10/11 pairs and U12/13 Championships Sat 7th June in Tullamore
Date 14/06/14: U14 up Combined events Sat 14th June in Drogheda
Date 28& 29/06/14: U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore
Please watch out for these forms and make sure you don’t miss the closing dates, as we are no longer able to do late entries to these events.

TRAINING
As notified in previous newsletters, athletes who go missing for up to 3 weeks without contacting us to explain why, are deemed to have left the club and their places are given to those on the waiting list. Consequently several names have now been removed from the check-in sheets and these athletes will have to go back on our waiting list if they wish to return. If you have not attended for over 3 weeks, you will no longer be on the list and cannot be admitted to training, as places have been filled. We are constantly under pressure with requests from potential new members to join and these are currently on the waiting list.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also 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.

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 child.

Sun

11

May

2014

Letter from Ellie re fundraiser!

Hello ,

 
This is an email informing you about the Fun Sports Day which will be held in Charlesland Sports and Recreation Park on Friday the 16th May (Thats's next Friday).
 
My name is Ellie Hartnett and I will be hosting this as a Charity Fundraiser  event in aid of my trip to South India this summer. I will be travelling as part of UCD Volunteers Overseas Programme. All proceeds will go directly towards the project. 
 
While in India I will be working as a student Physiotherapist in the local hospital . Here I will be treating children from the ages of 2 - 17 who are suffering with physical disabilities , such as cerebral palsy. I will also be working closely with the Care and Share  Charity , who are a local charity involved in teaching, recreation, aid and construction work in the local orphanage. As part of my role with this organisation I will be teaching in the Kindergarden there and will be obliged to carry out various construction tasks .
 
I would very much appreciate your support next week. Each child will be asked to give 3 euro to take part and al proceeds go directly to the project.I decided to base this charity fundraiser at the running track as I am a keen athlete myself , having been a member of Greystones AC for over ten years and am now continuing my athletics with UCD. However, next friday the emphasis will be COMPLETELY ON FUN! Activities will be fun , team based games with nothing to difficult ! Everyone and anyone can join in . We will have obstacles, BACKWARDS TSHIRT RACE, scooters, well toss , tug of war , bean bag war and plenty more.
 
Attached is a simple information leaflet which explains everything .Arrive at 5.30pm to give names, be put into group etc.!! Feel free to circulate this leaflet and this email to anyone you think be be interested in taking part .
 
The more the merrier.
 
Kind Regards,
Ellie

Sun

04

May

2014

County Championships!

The track at Shoreline Sports Park was a sea of Red & White for the Wicklow Championships on Friday night and again on Saturday. Club athletes put their hearts and souls into their performances and took home barrow loads of medals, with lots and lots of PB's and top class performances! Well done to each and every athlete who came out and competed and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who looked after our athletes and who ensured that this was an excellent Championships for everyone. A huge amount of preparation work goes into the organisation and set up for an event like this and it would not happen without the very dedicated and committed people who put so much time, effort  and behind the scenes work into it all. Many thanks also to the Shoreline staff who put a lot of effort into preparing the track and setting out equipment for us and also for looking after the parking and keeping access open for everyone. Results are far too many to list here, but will be up on our web-site as soon as they are available. This too is a very time consuming job, so will take a little while!

Tue

15

Apr

2014

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION

We have arranged a specialised coaching session for athletes from U12 up (born 2003 or before) who intend to compete throughout the coming Track & Field season. As we have limited places available, athletes who take advantage of this extra coaching will be expected to compete at Leinster competitions as well as at County level. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, provided the applicant is a regular attendee at club training sessions.
The coaching sessions will take place on Fri next from 10.30 – 12.30am and athletes may take part in two events during the morning. Events being coached will be
 Long Jump
High Jump
Hurdles
Javelin/ Turbo Javelin
Shot Putt
Discus
Sprints ( concentrating on starts/blocks )
If interested, please text Theresa on 0868635797 to ensure your place. Please give your name and list three events in order of choice. We will do our best to give you your first two choices, but it may not be possible, when dividing the groups, to facilitate everyone. There will be a €5 fee to help cover costs for the day.
Please note that athletes will need to arrive on time, as the Sports Centre is closed for business on Friday and there will be nobody to open the gate once we have gone on to the track. Gates will only be open from 10.20- 10.35  latest. I’m sorry, but we can not be running up and down to open the gate to late commers, as this disrupts the coaching sessions.

Tue

08

Apr

2014

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.


Sat

29

Mar

2014

Upcoming Competitions

COMPETITIONS (please read and save details)
Lots of Competition ahead, with the final two rounds of the XC League coming up rapidly and then on to the Track & Field (T&F) season. Entry forms will be on our club website shortly.


 Round 5 of the XC League will be held next Fri evening 4th April in the Community Field in Aughrim. Check-in from 6.30pm with 1st race at 6.45pm. This time it is even ages, U6/8/10/12/14/15, but as usual athletes can move up one year, so all can compete. The Aughrim committee have informed us that there will be a sign on Rednagh Rd to direct people to the correct field.  A good number of our athletes are in the running for medals in this League, so keep your attendance up to make sure you get one.  Attend all 6 to get Gold, 5 to get Silver, 4 to get Bronze. Closing date for entry is this Thurs 3rd Apr. No late entries.  Fee €2 if not paid on Tuesday at training.


 Round 6 will be held in Greystones on Thurs. 17th April in the top field down at Shoreline Sports Park (track) This will be un-even ages U7- U15.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Fri due to the League races, as a number of coaches have to be available to help out at the event. Otherwise our athletes will not be allowed to compete.


 Wicklow County Championships:  this year the Co. Champs are being held on a Fri evening and all day Sat instead of the usual Sat/Sun arrangement. Dates are Fri 2nd May, checking in at 6pm for a 6.30pm start. Younger athletes (up to age 10 in 2014) will just have a short programme that evening and their Award Scheme and relays will be held on Sat 3rd May. Older athletes will have their programme spread across the two days. Full programme will be available after next Tues. nights county meeting and will be published on our web-site along with entry forms.  This is the biggest T&F event for all County clubs and we expect to see a huge atendance from or athletes. This is what you all train for!


 St. Abban’s T&F event will be held on Mon 5th May at 12.30 pm at their track in Monavea, Crettyard, Co Laois. This is always a very well organised event and of a high standard and is well worth the trip. GAC athletes have done very well here over the years. Entry €3 on the day for anyone interested in attending.  Programme will be on our club noticeboard at the track.


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 the 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.

Sun

16

Feb

2020

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

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 1st 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 M
cGlone 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 8th 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 12th 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. 6th 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 15th 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. 22nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries closed.

 

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

 

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

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

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7th March, Santry

 

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

 

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

 

National Juvenile Indoors Day 2 Sun 29th 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. 27th 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. 29th 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.

Thu

16

Jan

2020

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

LOTS OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ TO THE END!

Great to see so many athletes make it back to training during the last two weeks and we hope you are all going to keep up your attendance level during the coming months, as attendance levels were very poor 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-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.

 

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2020

Registration for 2020 is now due and fees remain the same as last year. Club Registration/Insurance is €35 for 1 family member, €60 for 2 family members, €80 for 3 family members or €100 for 4 or more family members. Those who are renewing membership do not need to fill out another form. New members can either download a form from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times and Club Info’ or pick one up when checking in at training. This year you can either put fee (with signed form if needed) in an envelope and post it in our club dropbox at reception or pay your fees directly to our bank account during the next two weeks. Acct details: BIC BOFIIE2D, IBAN IE42BOFI90113213191432. It is crucial that you include the athlete’s name in the narrative, otherwise we will not have a record of your payment and your athlete may be refused admission. A small number of athletes owe varying amounts for unpaid weekly subs. during 2019 and these will need to be paid when registering for 2020. A text message with amounts owed will be sent to all concerned this week.

Un-registered athletes will not be allowed on to the track from Tues. 28th Jan. as they are no longer insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Jack McGlone on winning the Juvenile Boys Leinster Star Award for 2019, and to Niamh Kearney who won the Senior award. We are delighted to see GAC athletes winning awards again this year. They will receive their awards at the annual dinner on Sat. 15th Feb. in The Radisson Blu Hotel.

 

 

CLUB AWARDS

Our club Awards night will take place this year on Friday 31st Jan. at 7pm in Greystones Ridge Angling Club, down at the Harbour. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2019, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year award. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2019, all athletes and their families are  welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. To facilitate this Awards night, there will be no training on Friday 31st Jan. We promise not to keep you all out too late as we hope a large number of the athletes will be competing on Sat. & Sun. in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone. The entry form is on our website and must close Tues 21st Jan.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

National Combined Events Sat 18th Jan, Athlone Entries closed. Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 21st Jan, Avondale. Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone. .Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sun 26th Jan, Athlone. Gust entries on the day.

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 1st Feb, Athlone. Entriy form closes 21st Jan.

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun. 2nd Feb, Athlone. Entry form closes 21st Jan.

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B and XC Relays. Sun 8th Feb. Avondale. Entry form closes 28th Jan.

 

AAI Games, Sun. 9th Feb., Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa

 

 

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 12th Feb. Santry

 

 

AIT Grand Prix Wed 12th Feb, Athlone

 

 

Leinster Star Awards Radisson Blu Hotel Sat.15th Feb.

 

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 22nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by 11th Feb.

 

 

Leinster Indoor Relays Day 4, Sun 23rd March, Abbottstown. ( see note below re relay squad)

 

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.29th Feb and Sun.1st March. Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by Tues 11th Feb.

 

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

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7th March, Santry

 

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

 

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 3rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training next Tues. & Wed. 21st/ 22nd Jan. if you want to be included in the squad. Teams will be selected from the training squad!

 

 

NATIONAL XC IN AVONDALE (VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE)

Athletics Wicklow have the honour of hosting a National XC event this year in Avondale. The event is the National Intermediate & Masters XC with the Juvenile B XC (shorter distances) & the U12/14 Juvenile XC Relays (4x500m). The Juvenile events will be 2019 ages, so a last opportunity to compete in this age group

The event takes place in Avondale on Sat 8th Feb. and the organising committee will need lots & lots of help to make this a huge success. All County Wicklow clubs must supply at least 8 stewards to cover all positions on the day. If a good number of people volunteer to help out then everyone can do a couple of hours rather than the same few working all day long. You don’t need to have experience at Cross Country as there are many positions to be filled stewarding on the course and helping with directing traffic, car parking etc. etc. Please text Theresa on 0868635797 or contact us through our website if you are available/willing to help out at this event. Names are needed asap, so that arrangements can be finalised quickly. We really need your help, so please volunteer if you possibly can!!!

 

 

CLUB AGM

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 27th 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 trips, for those who met the required attendance percentage during 2019, will take place shortly. List of qualified athletes will be posted on the website shortly and full details of trips will be sent out once arrangements are completed. Looking forward to great days out for everyone again this year!

 

 

CLUB SHOP

As we have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues. 28th Jan. from 4.45-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 

 

FINALLY

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. Help is also needed for about 20 mins. each night to assist with the check-in for the 7pm sessions.

Sun

15

Dec

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

Well done to Jack McGlone, Tom McCarthy, Colm O’Neill and Emma Wylie who competed in the National XC Championships recently in Abbottstown and Dunboyne.

 

Hugh congratulations to Brian Geraghty who led the Irish M45 team to silver medals in the Home Counties XC in Ainfield recently. Brian finished 5th overall in the M45 section, a fantastic performance particularly for someone so new to XC!

 

Well done to Joe Dowd running 16.29 in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec. 7th ,where he improved on last year’s time by 32 secs. Great running guys!

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor for the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we will presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and will offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment. Those who have not attended for a number of weeks but who wish to return in January need to let us know asap via ‘Contact Us’ on our website. Those we don’t hear from may not have a place in January.

 

XMAS TRAINING

Training will continue at the usual times this coming week finishing up for Xmas on Fri 20th Dec. The 7-8.30pm session on Fri 20th will be the ‘Solstice Mile’ which is a fundraiser for one of our young athletes who is going abroad with his school in 2020 to help disadvantaged children. He is a committed athlete and also one of out junior coaches, who helps with coaching the younger groups each week. The event will start at 7pm and will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards in the Party Room. Open to everyone from U12 up!

 

GAC will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session!

 

The track will close at 6pm on Mon 23rd Dec and will be closed all day on Dec 24th, 25th, 26th & 31st & also on Jan 1st. As the track closes at 6pm during Xmas week, athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Fri 3rd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 7th Jan.

 

WICKLOW INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Athletics Wicklow is organising an Indoor event to allow athletes start their Indoor season with a more relaxed fun competition

 

All events are finials - no heats - where numbers dictate, races will be run in sections with times deciding places. Competition will be for 2020 ages, ie U9 born 2012, U10 born 2011 etc.

 

Under 9, 10, 11 will be offered an Awards Scheme - 60m, 600m and Long Jump. These events will start at 1-00pm sharp and should be completed by 3-00pm latest.

 

Events for all other Age Groups, including Senior & Masters :

 

60m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, Long Jump, Shop Putt, High Jump

 

Other events could be added if there is a demand.

 

Athletes may compete in a max. of 3 events. If numbers are too big, this may be restricted to 2 so when entering, declare your events in order of preference.

 

The entry form is currently on our website and will close on Thurs. 19th , as entry must be with the organisers by Fri 20th latest.

 

After this date any additions will be accepted only if there are spaces available.

 

GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

Our annual Attendance Trips for those with good attendance during 2019, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. November attendances are now being added to the lists & the final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trip will be notified at the end of Dec.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

SOLSTICE MILE Fri 20th Dec at 7pm at Greystones Track.

 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Thurs. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 

WICKLOW CO. INDOORS, Abbottstown Sat. 4th Jan 1-5pm. All ages from U8 up.

 

COUNTY MASTERS XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan. 5th. 11am.

 

NATIONAL INDOOR LEAGUE R1, Sat 11th Jan, Abbottstown

 

NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS Sat 18th Jan, Athlone

 

NATIONAL JUNIOR/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone

 

 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & t-shirt 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

 

WISHING ALL OF OUR ATHLETES & COACHES & THEIR FAMILIES A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

 

Mon

11

Nov

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent Leinster XC Championships in Gowran & Ferbane. The Club greatly appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams. These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults.

 

 

We were very disappointed with the poor attendance on both days this year and failed to make up teams in most age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

Congratulations go to Joe Dowd on his 9th place medal in the U19 Boys, earning him individual qualification for Nationals & also a place on the Leinster Team. A super race from Andrew Brennan in the U16 boys, saw him just missing out on the medals, but qualifying for Nationals as part of the Wicklow team where he will be joined by Jack McGlone. Also qualifying as part of the Wicklow County teams are Colm O’Neill & Tom McCarthy U14 boys & Emma Wylie U11 girls.

 

Congratulations also to senior athlete Niamh Kearney who had a great race in Ferbane last Saturday to finished 4th in the Leinster Senior XC. Great to see Niamh doing so well as a senior and still enjoying her running.

 

Huge congratulations go to Brian Geraghty whose first XC outing in Abbottstown earned him qualification to the Irish Team for the International Masters event in Aintree next Sunday 16th Nov. We wish him the very best of luck in the event.

 


 

TRAINING

 

Attendance at training has been very poor indeed from some athletes over the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and we offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment.

 


 

SOLSTICE MILE

 

This year we will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile as a fund raiser for one of our young athletes, who is going abroad with his school in 2020 to help disadvantaged children. He is a committed athlete and also one of out junior coaches, who helps with coaching the younger groups each week. The event will be held on Fri 20th Dec @ 7pm and there will be tea/coffee and cakes afterwards as well as a cake sale.

 

This event will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice, starting at 7pm. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Open to everyone from U12 up! We will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session. !

 


 

GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

 

Our annual trips for those with good attendance during 2019, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. October attendances are currently being added to the lists and we will post the up to date list shortly. A good number of athletes are close enough to get their percentage up to 60% by improving their attendance over the coming weeks. The final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trips will be notified during Dec. Don’t forget that extra attendance points are awarded for attending competitions.

 

Separate trips for our older athletes are also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Round 5 Co. League Roundwood GAA this coming Fri 15th Dec. 7pm sharp. Uneven Ages U7-U15. Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Thurs. 14th.

 


 

National Senior & Even Ages XC, Abbottstown, Sun 24th Nov. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 


 

County Senior XC, Sun 9th Dec. in Avondale @ 11am.

 


 

Round 6 Co. League Bray Emmets Fri 6th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15. Form is on our website.

 

 

 

 

National Novice & Uneven Ages XC, Dunboyne, Sun. 15th Dec. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 


 

Solstice Mile, Fri 20th Dec. (fundraiser for one of our young athletes to help disadvantaged kids)

 


 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Thurs. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 


 

Wicklow Co. Indoors, Abbottstown Sat. 4th Jan 1-5pm. All ages from U8 up.

 


 

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan. 5th. 11am.

 


 

Celtic XC, Sat 11th Jan. Stirling, Scotland.

 


 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 11th Jan, Abbottstown

 


 

National Combined Events Sat 18th Jan, Athlone

 


 

National Junior/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone

 


 

National Indoor League R2, Sun 26th Jan, Athlone

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 26th Nov. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have some secondhand hoodies & a good number of spikes available. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! (Multi coloured shorts are not acceptable) If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

Co.Wicklow had our first Indoor T&F event in Jan. 2019 and it was a great success, so a bigger & better event is currently being planned for 2020. This event will be open to all registered athletes from U8 up and will take place from 1-5pm on Sat. 4th Jan in the NIA in Abbottstown. A programme is currently being worked on and full details will follow shortly, so keep a look out for them as entries will need to be taken well in advance of the event.

 


 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Attendance at the organised Sunday Run is very poor indeed and we would really love to see a big improvement. These long easy runs take 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 school children should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s an important sessions of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 


 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics. Athletes should also bring a drink to training with them and should please use the toilets before coming down to the track. We understand that occasionally children will need to go again especially when it’s cold, but coaches constantly having to leave the track to accompany children to the toilets disrupts the training for all the children in the group.

 

Tue

15

Oct

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent County XC Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams. These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults. We were disappointed with the very poor attendance both days and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

 We had lots of medal winners, Individual Gold medals: Luca O’Shea Breen U14, Andrew Brennan U17, Abbie Tyrrell U18, Individual Silver: Joe Dowd U18, Megan O’Brien U18, Abbie Tyrrell Junior Women, Joe Dowd Junior Men, Individual Bronze: Ava Foley U14, Team Gold for Junior Women: Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien & Isobel Radford Dodd. The girls also won the U18 team Gold, Team Gold also for the U14 Girls : Ava Foley, Charlotte Hudson, Rosanna Hickey, Amy D'Arcy, Ailbhe Kelly, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, Chloe Hanley. Team silver for U13 Girls Rosanna Hickey, Charlotte Hudson, Ailbhe Kelly, Keeva Brennan, Lizzie McIllroy Team Bronze for the U10 Girls, Kate Patchell, Rachael Kennedy, Laura Stanley, Eve Smyth, Katie O'Neill and Ellie O'Neill. Team Bronze for the Boys U11: Daniel Anderson Luke Lennon, Luke Joyce, Jack Deegan, Hugh Woodley, Bronze also for Boys U10, Harry Coghlan, Luke Joyce, Hector Marrinan and Timur Barkevic. Well done to all! Hopefully we will get lots more out running the League XC Races & the Leinster XC & will be able to field lots of teams!

 

More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

 

 

XC LEAGUE

The Wicklow Juvenile League consists of 5 races, 2 Track & 3 Cross Country. The distances are far shorter than the Championship ones, so very suitable to all levels of fitness. Athletes who complete all 5 races receive a gold medal, 4 races a silver medal and 3 races a bronze medal and there is an overall Shield for the Best Club each year.. A good number of our athletes have already taken part in the track races, so get your entries in and complete the full League. For new members or those who missed the track races, you can still earn yourself a bronze medal if you complete the 3 XC races and you can also help your club build up points and hopefully win the Overall Shield for 2019.

 

The first of the 3 XC League races is this coming Friday 18th Oct. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Check-in at 6.30pm, 1st race 7pm, all over in less than an hour. Entry form is on our website and athletes need to get their entries in right away.

 

Round 4 is in Roundwood GAA on Fri Nov.15th and Round 5 is at Bray Emmets grounds on Fri Dec.6th. Entry forms for all 3 rounds are on our website!

 

 

 LEINSTER XC

 The Leinster XC Championships are coming up fast also, with the Even Ages on Sat Oct.27th & the Uneven Ages on Sat Nov 9th. Hopefully we will see a big improvement in numbers running for our club at these events and remember that you will also be running for Wicklow County, so please sign up and help make teams for Club and County. Entry forms for these are also on our website!

 

 

 SUNDAY RUN

Nice to see some GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are hoping to see many more over the coming weeks. These long easy runs take 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 school athletes should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

Next Sunday’s run is round the reservoir in Roundwood. Meet by the filter beds at 9.20 for short warm-up and ready to run by 9.30am. Alternatively as some of our older athletes are running in Abbottstown on Sunday a few others are going up to support them and will do their run up there if anyone would like to join that instead.

 

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks would get their registrations in this coming week please. Registration forms will be available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. You can put the form & fee in an envelope and drop it into our club letterbox in the reception area at the track.

 

 

 ADULT TRAINING GROUP

Our new adult training group is building slowly and is going very well so far. This involves regular club training sessions for senior and masters athletes on the track at Shoreline every Tuesday and Friday night, from 7 - 8:30pm. We have had a great variety of sessions so far and the group is working very hard and really enjoying the challenges. If you are 18+, fit-ish, and harbour even the smallest bit of curiosity about getting back on the track, you are welcome to come along and give it a go. For those who think this might be a step too far the Fit4Life & Beginner2Winner sessions are still going ahead at the usual times.

 

 

 NEW CLASSES AT SPORTS PARK

If running is not for you, Shoreline Sports Park have new classes on Tues. evenings which may be of interest to parents dropping off children to athletics. There’s ‘Work it Out’ on Tues 6.15-7pm, which is a full body workout and the timing is perfect for parents of the 6-7pm training groups. At 7.15pm there’s ‘Step to Fitness’ also a full body workout which should suit those dropping off for the 7-8.30pm session. Both classes are ‘Pay as you Go’ and are just €7 each.

Tue

24

Sep

2019

SENIOR AND MASTERS TRACK TRAINING SESSIONS

Greystones AC has a long and proud tradition of catering for athletes of all ages and abilities in the community, and has achieved particularly strong engagement and membership levels in our junior and juvenile categories.
In line with our tradition of catering for ALL ages and abilities, one of our goals for the coming season is to develop our senior and masters sections.
Developing our senior and masters categories is really important so that we provide continuity of our athletic community to our junior athletes as they graduate to senior levels, and hopefully entice them to stay in the sport long enough to reach the masters category! 
To achieve this, we are doing a couple of things:
  • We have appointed a (volunteer) liaison to act as a point of contact for any questions, suggestions or feedback: please contact Jenny on 087-2328401. Suggestions, particularly, would be very welcome as we create something new!
  • Starting on Tuesday 1st October, we will have regular club training sessions for senior and masters athletes on the track at Shoreline every Tuesday and Friday night, from 7 - 8:30pm.
Who should come? 
If you are 18+, fit-ish, and harbour even the smallest bit of curiosity about getting back on the track, come along and give it a go. Once we understand people's running goals, we will aim to have suitable training plans.
I am a complete beginner, should I come? If you are a complete beginner then the "Beginner2Winner" programme (also hosted at Shoreline) is probably a better fit for you - it caters for people with little or no fitness levels, and those who want to get into a fitter and healthier lifestyle.
I have been running with the "Fit4Life" programme. How is this different? The main reason you would participate in the senior and masters sessions rather than "Fit4Life" is because you have an interest in competing (without any obligation to) at cross-country, track or road events in the future. The senior and masters sessions will be structured differently from "Fit4Life", with the goal of competition in mind. It doesn't mean you have to be good, just that you find the idea of competing exciting!
I used to run with Greystones AC as a junior, but haven't run recently. Is this for me? Absolutely yes! See you on Tuesday!
So, please JOIN us, help us shape it and try it out - no decisions are required for a few weeks!
If you have any query at all, call or message Jenny on 087-2328401.
"Nobody said it was easy!"

Sat

21

Sep

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We have now been back training for three weeks (two for the younger groups) and while attendance so far has been great by many with tremendous work being done, it has been poor in some groups, particularly Group 2. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that we cannot hold places indefinitely for athletes who don’t attend regularly, as we still have a long waiting lists on most groups.

 

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

 

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks could get their registrations in this coming week please. Registration forms will be available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. You can put the form & fee in an envelope and drop it into our club letterbox in the reception area at the track.

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

Thanks to all who responded to our reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. The fee from Sept 23rd to Dec will be 26 if you wish to pay in advance. Any overdue subs will need to be paid also. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 


 

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY

 

Competition is coming up fast with our first event of the season taking place on Sunday 6th Oct in Knockraheen, Roundwood (located approximately 2km outside Roundwood Village on the R765 ). This is the Wicklow County Novice and Even Ages (U8/10/12/14/16/18/Junior/Novice) Athletes CAN move up an age.                  Start time is 11am with the girls U8, boys U8, girls U10 etc.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/8 500m, U/10 1000m, U/12 2000, U/14 3000m U/16
4000m. Girls U/18 and Junior 4000m. Boys U/18 and Junior 6000m
Novice Men 6000m, Novice Women 4000m. Entry form
will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Thurs 3rd Sept.

 

 

Hoping to see a really good turn out of club athletes at this event!

 

New members who wish to compete need to get their registration forms in asap.

 

 

Our 2nd event is the Wicklow County Intermediate and Uneven Ages
Date: Sunday,
13th October, Venue: Avondale Forest Park, Start Time: 11 am.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/7
300m, U/9 800m, U/11 1500m, U/13 2500m,,U/15 3500,
U/17 Girls 4000m, U/17 Boys 5000m, U/19 Girls 4000m, U/19 Boys 6000m.
Intermediate Men 8000m Intermediate Women 4000m. Entry form will be on our website & entries will close on Thurs
10th Oct.

 


 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Our Sunday runs take 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 school-goers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages can & do participate....... up to very old!! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s a very important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week. This Sunday 22nd Sept. we are in Avondale!

 


 

WICKLOW LEAGUE (XC Dates)

 

Juvenile League Round 3 Roundwood GAA, Fri 18th Oct. 7pm (Even ages) U8/400m, U10/800m, U12/1200m, U14/1600m

 

 

Juvenile League Round 4 Rathdrum (Rugby Club or Ballinakill), Fri 15th Nov. (Uneven ages) U9/400m, U11/800m, U13/1200m, U15/1600m

 

 

Juvenile League Round 5 Bray Emmets, Fri 6th Dec.(Even ages)

 

U8/400m, U10/800m, U12/1200m, U14/1600m

 

 

 

THROWS TRAINING

 

Anne Marie Kelly of Inbhear Dee AC is coaching throws most Saturdays at the track from 11am-12.30pm and GAC throwers are welcome to go along to these sessions. There is none next Sat. 28th Oct, but she will be back on Sat. 4th Oct.

 

 


NEW CLASSES AT SPORTS PARK

 

Shoreline Sports Park have new classes on Tues. evenings which may be of interest to parents dropping off children to athletics. There’s ‘Work it Out’ on Tues 6.15-7pm, which is a full body workout and the timing is perfect for parents of the 6-7pm training groups. At 7.15pm there’s ‘Step to Fitness’ also a full body workout which should suit those dropping off for the 7-8.30pm session. Both classes are ‘Pay as you Go’ and are just €7 each.

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 6th Oct. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 13th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

 

Juvenile League Round 3, Roundwood GAA, Fri 18th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm (Even ages)

 

 

Autumn Open XC, Sun. 20th Oct., Abbottstown, Dublin. Junior/Senior/Masters

 

 

           Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 26th Oct. Nov. and Even Ages, Gowran              Co Kilkenny.

 

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 9th Nov. Sen & Uneven Ages, Ferbane, Co Offaly

 

 

         Juvenile League, Round 4, Rathdrum Fri 15th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm -    Uneven Ages

 

 

         National XC Championships, Sun. 24th Nov. Even Ages, Jun & Sen,    Abbottstown, Dublin.

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we will have athletes looking for club gear before the upcoming Cross Country (XC) the club shop will be open on Tues. 1st Oct. from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and some hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red), is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good number at present!

 


 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, we are very happy to have you on board. We are always in need of more helpers, so if you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed.

 

Mon

24

Jun

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster Championships recently and many congratulations to all who qualified for the upcoming Nationals. Lots of super performances in a variety of events and a great selection of medals & qualifiers to the All Ireland’s as a result!

 

 

U18: Joe Dowd gold in the 3000m Steeplechase & a very close 4th in the 3000m. Ronan Dempsey silver in the 400m, the 400m hurdles & the 200m (a very busy & successful weekend indeed), Aodhan Daly silver in the 100m & bronze in the Long Jump. Aodhan also qualified for the 200m final, which unfortunately clashed with the Long Jump.
U17: Ellen McNally Silver in the Triple Jump & Bronze in the Long Jump, Emma Quirk Bronze in the Triple Jump.
U16: Jack McGlone Gold in the 800m & the 400m, Paul Delahunty gold in the 3000m
U14: Daniel Quirk Gold in the 75m hurdles, gold in the Long Jump & 4
th in the 200m, Ailbhe Gordon Gold in the Javelin & bronze in the Shot Putt, Camille Madden 4th in the High Jump.

 

There were many more fine performances over the two days & several PB’s!

 

Congratulations & well done to everyone who took part & many thanks to our coaches & officials & all the mums & dads who travelled over the two days. Best of luck in the All Ireland’s!

 

 

The combined events took place this weekend and our only juvenile entry Daniel Quirk won the U14 boys event,130 points clear of the 2nd placed athlete. Well done Daniel!

 

 

There were great results from the All Ireland schools also with Jack McGlone taking Gold in the 800m Junior Boys and Bronze in the 4x100m relay. Daniel Quirk taking silver in the Long Jump and 4th place in the Minor Boys 75m hurdles after two off-putting false starts from other athletes. Joe Dowd had the race of his life in the Inter boys 1500m Steeplechase, finishing a very close 4th place. There were many other fine performances here also.

 

 

Ellen McNally & Emma Quirk were selected from their Leinster schools results to compete in the Tailteann Games this weekend. Ellen finished in 2nd place which means she has qualified to represent Ireland at the Schools International in Swansea and Emma finished in 5th with a new PB. Great jumping from the girls & huge congratulations to Ellen on her International selection.

 

 

We had two great evening’s of local competition at the Flash event & the Co. Team event. Great performances from our athletes and great fun had by all present. It was lovely to see the teams pull together so well and support one another throughout the event. Results will be posted on our website once available.

 


 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

 

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 25th June in Greystones. Entries are now closed and we look forward to a great evenings competition as always. Athletes need to arrive by 6pm, as the first events are at 6.30pm & they will need to get started on time.

 

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 


 

SUMMER TRAINING

 

Training for our 5-6 pm group will finish up for the summer this Tues. 25th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 28th. We will finish up with a fun competition on Tues for the 5-6 pm group & on Fri for the 6-7pm groups. Group 3 athletes have the option to come along to the 7-8.30pm sessions during July, as some will have the opportunity to move up to this group in Sept.

 

 

We hope everyone has a great summer & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, as some coaches will not be available to return, so we can’t continue without help. Please get in touch if you can help out with any of the groups from Sept. If we don’t get more help we will have to cancel some sessions from Sept. The 5pm & 6pm groups will return on Tues 10th Sept, allowing a week for the younger ones to settle back into school.

 

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues throughout July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. We will take a short break once competition finishes and return on Tues 3rd.Sept. with this group. We recommend a two week break 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.

 


 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Don’t leave it until late July or August as places will be given to those on our long waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you in Sept. No exceptions to this rule!

 


 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

 

  1. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 25th June. (Entries closed)

  2. National Juvenile Games (U9-U11) & U12/U13 Field Events, Tullamore, Sat. 29th July

  3. National League Round 2, Athlone or Santry, Sun.30th June

  4. Wicklow County Road Race, Jack White’s, Brittas Bay, Wed 3rd July @ 7.15pm

  5. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat. 6th July. (Entries close Wed 26th June)

  6. National Juvenile T&F Championships Day 1, Tullamore, Sun. 7th July

  7. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Day 2, Tullamore, Sat. 13th July

  8. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Day 3, Tullamore, Sun. 14th July

  9. National League Final, Tullamore, Sat. 20th July

  10. National Juvenile B Championships & Relays, Tullamore, Sun. 21st July

  11. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 27th/Sun 28th July, Santry.

  12. Cork City Sports, Wed 14th Aug. CIT Cork

  13. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sun. 18th Aug. Tullamore

  14. Morton Games, Wed 21st Aug. Santry

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

We still have some outstanding debts from unpaid subs or races entered where athletes didn’t show and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! Further entries cannot be accepted from athletes until all debts are paid.


Have a great summer everyone!

 

 

Sun

26

May

2019

CLUB NEWS

 

Well done to all our club athletes who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible. Considering the large number of athletes in the club, athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, but what we lacked in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by all those who did attend.

 

 

There were fantastic individual & team performances which saw many club athletes go home loaded down with medals on both days. Many thanks to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over two great days.

 

A huge Thank You to those who helped with set up & tidy up and to all our coaches who acted as both club & county officials over the two days helping to make it all happen and a special mention here for some of our older athletes, Rachel, Alana & Troy who helped out at every opportunity, assisting at the finish line, relay zones and anything that was asked of them. They were fantastic on Sunday assisting during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them. Full results are now on our club website!

 

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and subsequently the Leinster Schools and best of luck to Joe Dowd 3rd in the Steeplechase & 3K, Jack McGlone 1st in the 800m & 3rd in the 100m, Paul Delahunty 3rd in the mile, Emma Quirk 3rd in the TJ, Daniel Quirk 1st in the LJ & 2nd in the 75mH, Ailbhe Gordon 3rd in the Javelin, Alex Mulcahy 3rd in the HJ who all qualified for the All Ireland’s on Sat. 1st June. All results to date are on the AAI website under schools!

 

 

 

 

It was great to host the Leinster Juniors & the Combined events in Greystones on Saturday. We had a great turn out from Greystones for the Combined Events with lots of top performances. Congrats to all, especially to Daniel Quirk who took the Gold in the U14’s. We had a great number of Juniors also competing for Slí Cualann. On track, Troy Scully took gold in the 3K, Abbie Tyrrell gold in the 1500m, Megan O’Brien silver in the 800m, Ronan Dempsey Silver in the 400m & Michael O’Shea bronze in the 800m. In the field events Ellen McNally took gold in the Triple Jump with a big PB and silver in the Long Jump, Aodhan Daly took bronze in the LJ and Emma Quirk was 4th in the TJ and 5th in the LJ. Great results, particularly as most of these athletes have only just moved up to Junior level (U17-U20). A huge Thank You to all who helped out on the day and to those who helped with the set up on Fri night and/or the tidy up on Sat, especially Aidan, Pat, Darren, Sinéad, Emer & Linda............who needs a gym with all that lifting & carrying!

 

On Sunday the boys relay team of Daniel Quirk, Luca O’Shea Breen, Tom McCarthy & Colm O’Neill took silver in the U14 event in Leixlip. Well done boys!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Wicklow Invitational Athletics Flash Meet, Greystones, Fri 31st May 7-9pm, Entries to Theresa at training on Tues 28th or Wed 29th May. See details below.

  2. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore Sat. June 1st. Qualification required.

  3. Leinster U23/Sen/Mast, Tullamore Sun. June 2nd. Late entries close 27th May.

  4. Leinster Team Event U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 3rd. Late entries close 27th May

  5. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Champs, Tullamore Sat. June 8th. Entries by 28th May.

  6. Leinster U12 – U19 Champs, Tullamore Sat/Sun 15th/16th June. Entries close 6th June.

  7. Wicklow U9/11/13/15 Team Comp, Greystones Wed 19th June. Entries by 14th June.

  8. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 22nd June. Invitation only.

  9. AAI Games & National Combined Events Day1, Santry Sat 22nd June. Entries close 12th

  10. National Combined Events Day 2 & Juvenile Combined Events, Santry, Sun. 23rd June

  11. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 25thJune. (limited entry) Entries by 21stJune.

  12. AAI Childrens Games & Limited U12-U13 Events, Tullamore, Sat 29th June. Qualification

 

We remind everyone once again that while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted from these athletes until all debts are paid.

 

Please make sure you get your entries in by the original closing date, as those who miss it will have to pay the extra fees incurred themselves.

 

 

 

WICKLOW INVITATIONAL ATHLETICS............FLASH MEET!

 

Summer Championship Warm up event @ Shoreline Sports Park, Greystones

 

Friday May 31st. 7-00pm - 9-00pm

 

Age Group / U12 + i.e all athletes must be 11 this year or older.

 

Events : Track Field

 

80m High Jump

 

250m Long Jump

 

1000m Shot Putt

 

2000m Javelin

 

Names & events to Theresa at training on Tues 28th or Wed 29th May.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Our training times are; Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, age 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session. Younger athletes should be collected from the bottom gate if leaving early.

 

 

Athletes joining Greystones AC make a commitment to attend training regularly and we remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for up to 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club. Many have very poor attendance, so we are now taking all those we haven’t seen or heard from off our check-in sheets and are offering the places to those on our long waiting list.

 

 

 

CLUB INFORMATION

 

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. Text is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. Greystones AC is run entirely by volunteers and while we do our best to respond to texts & e-mails quickly, this is not always possible especially when at work, so please be patient and we will get back to you asap. Time is very very precious and while we are very lucky to have so many people willing to freely give their time to our young athletes we are struggling to cover some of the training sessions especially the 6-7pm ones, which is putting a lot of pressure on a few of our coaches. If you can spare an hour a week or even every second week, please get in touch. It can be very rewarding working with young children and watching them progress. We promise we won’t drop you in the deep end!

 

 

Sun

05

May

2019

WICKLOW COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is this coming Wednesday May 8th and events take place on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th May, starting at 11am each day. Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2019) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2019) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

 

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin. Please list all the events you wish to compete in on your entry form!

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2019.

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT ALLOW INSIDE THE TRACK AREA!

 

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!

Tue

16

Apr

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

As per text, due to the very poor attendance during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 30th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual except on Fri.19th Apr. as we have arranged a training day for Friday. You can get details of Friday’s session at training or contact Theresa.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

The recent National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take Gold in the U14 Long Jump & Bronze in the 60m Hurdles, Ailbhe Gordon take Gold in the U14 Shot Putt, Luca O’Shea take Silver in the U14 800m, Jack McGlone take Bronze in the U16 800m and the boys team of Daniel Quirk, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy, Luca O’Shea Breen & Colm O’Neill take Bronze in the U14 4x200m relay.

 

 

 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

What a fantastic day we all had at the first ever Wicklow Indoors held on Sat. 16th March in Abbottstown. A huge number of athletes entered and we had a great morning’s competition and great results for the club. Everyone was delighted with the event and the plan is for bigger & better next year. Well done & thank you to everyone who helped out on the day.

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

We had a great night at the club awards on March 29th and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2018. Many thanks to all the coaches and to everyone who brought all the lovely food on the night. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, contact us & we can arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 30th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

 

Our annual Good Attendance Trips for athletes who have 60% or more attendance during the year, took place on Saturday 13th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Helen Dempsey & Olivia Dallaghan for organising a great day at Bray Bowl for our younger athletes & to Mary Carruth & Emer McNally for organising the trip to GoQuest for our 12 & 13 yr old athletes. Thanks to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport. The feedback from both trips has been very positive, with everyone having a terrific day and making lots of great memories. An event for our older athletes will take place shortly.

 

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

 

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.   We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

 

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 22nd April. Entries to Theresa

  2. Juvenile Track League R2: for athletes up to U15, will take place on Fri 26th April at the Athletic Track in Arklow at 7pm. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 24th Apr.

  3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 28th April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

  4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

  5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 4th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

  6. National 5K Sat 4th May, Dublin.

  7. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 11th/12th May, Shoreline, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website nearer the date.

  8. Leinster Schools Track and Field - Day 1, Wed 15th May, Santry,

  9. Leinster Schools Track and Field - Day 2, Sat 18th May, Santry,

  10. National Outdoor League – R1 Sun 19th May, Templemore and Belfast. Contact Theresa

  11. Leinster Juniors & Combined Events Championships, Shoreline, Greystones Sat 25th May. Entry form will be on GAC website nearer the date.

  12. Leinster Relays, Sun 26th May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

 

 

 

 

CLUB AGM

 

A reminder that the club AGM which had to be postponed, will now take place on Thurs. 25th April 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.

 

 

Mon

11

Mar

2019

Club News & Information

 

There is a lot of News & Information in this, so members are asked to please read to the end!

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us re injury/illness, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to the waiting list.

 

 

***All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.20am, which is a very important & very enjoyable part of the training week, especially for our endurance runners. If you cannot make this, you will need to do a run yourself later in the day.

 

 

 

HELP STILL NEEDED

 

We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional helpers. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

National Star Award: Congratulations to Alana Ryan who won the National Star Award for Wicklow for her terrific performances in 2018. Alana received her award at a function in Tullamore on Sat. 16th Feb.

 

 

County Star Awards: Congratulations to the following Greystones athletes who were presented with Wicklow Star Awards on Friday 1st March in Jacob’s Well, Rathdrum. Ellen McNally, Girls U14-16, Alana Ryan Girls u16-19, Pippa Rogan Senior Women & Jack McGlone Boys U14-16, Joe Prendergast Boys U16-19, Tope Adeyeye Senior Men. A great night was had by all!

 

 

 

We had a big entry in the recent Leinster Championships, with a number of first timers taking to the Indoor track for the first time. Unfortunately quite a number of those who entered didn’t manage to make it to their events and we take this opportunity to remind everyone that while we pay all the entry fees for our juvenile athletes, those who fail to turn up to compete are expected to refund these fees to the club. On this occasion the entry fee was €3.50 per event, but fees can be up to €15/€20 an event and the club cannot continue to pay these and then not have the athletes turn up to compete.

 

 

Well done to all who took part over the three days. Some really top performances, with a big number qualifying for event finals and several medal winners and qualifiers to Nationals at the end of March. Gold for Daniel Quirk in the LJ & 60mH & Gold for Ellen McNally in the TJ with a new Championship Best Performance & bronze in the LJ. Silver for Jack McGlone in the 800m & 4th in the 60m, Silver for Emma Quirk in the TJ, and for Ronan Dempsey in the 60mH. Bronze for Luca O’Shea Breen in the 800m, Andrew Brennan in the 1500m, Aodhan Daly in the LJ & Ailbhe Gordon & Rory McNally in the SP. 4th place for Georgia Hogan in the 60mH & 5th for Alex Mulcahy in the HJ with a jump of 1.45M.

 

Gold in the relays on Day 3 for our U14 boys team of Daniel Quirk, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy, Luca O’Shea Breen & Colm O’Neill. Gold in the Senior Championships 1500m for Niamh Kearney. Well done to all!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Wicklow County Indoors, Sat 16th March, Abbottstown (Entries closed)

  2. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 Sat 30th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  3. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun 31st March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  4. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, Sat 6th April, Athlone (Must qualify)

  5. National Spring Throws, Sun 7th April, Athlone

  6. AAI National 10k Championships , Sun 14th Apr, Dublin

  7. Leinster 10 Mile, Mon 22nd Apr, Raheny

  8. AAI National Road Relays , Sun 28th Apr, Raheny

 

 

 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

Best of Luck to all the GAC athletes who have entered for the Wicklow Indoors next Sat. 16th March in Abbottstown. This is an exciting new addition to the athletics calendar & we hope everyone will have a great day. We have access to the track from 12.45pm & events will start at 1pm sharp and must finish by 3pm. Athletes need to arrive at the venue by 12.30pm for check-in. As our time is very short we ask you to please arrive on time, as we must start promptly and cannot wait for anyone.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open this Tues. 12th March from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

CLUB AWARDS

 

The club Awards night will take place on Friday 29th March at 7pm in Greystones Ridge Angling Club, down at the Harbour. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2018, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year award. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2018, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. To facilitate this Awards night, there will be no training on Friday 29rd March.

 

 

 

CLUB AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 11th April 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 trips for those who met the required attendance percentage during 2018, will take place during April. Athletes who qualify from Little Athletics & Groups 3-6 (age U8-U11) will have their trips on Sat. 13th April. Athletes from Groups 1 & 2 (U12-U15) will also have their trip on Sat. 13th April. A separate trip for athletes U16 up will be arranged shortly. Lists of qualified athletes will be posted on the website shortly with full details of trips & those who wish to attend will need to notify us by March 31st at the latest. Looking forward to great days out for everyone!

 

 

 

FINALLY

 

Can we appeal to parents once again to ensure that all athletes bring a raincoat, hat & gloves to training, as it is very cold on the track some nights. Gloves are a real necessity, as when cold the children are inclined to run with their hands in their pockets, which is likely to result in head or facial injury if they fall, as they have no way of saving themselves.

 

Mon

14

Jan

2019

CLUB NEWS AND INFORMATION

 

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 25th Jan. 2019. Athletics Ireland have increased the Registration/Insurance costs for all athletes from Jan 1st 2019, so GAC are increasing our annual fee to €35 for 1st family member and €25 for 2nd family member. We are holding the fee for 3rd 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. 29th 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. 5th 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 3rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Tues. 15th 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. 26th Jan. from 9-11am. This is open to all athletes U12 – U19 (born 2001- 2008) who intend competing in the Leinster Championships on Feb 9th and 10th 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 19th Jan, Athlone

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 22nd Jan, Avondale

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26th Jan, Athlone

National Junior/U23’s, Sun27th Jan, Athlone

AAI Games, Sat. 2nd Feb., Abbottstown

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

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

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

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 13th Feb. Santry

AIT Grand Prix Wed 13th Feb, Athlone

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

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

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

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

National Masters Indoors, Sun 10th 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.

 

Sun

02

Dec

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster XC Championships and Congratulations to medal winners Luca O'Shea Breen 4th U13, Joe Dowd 8th U17 & Troy Scully 12th U19 at the Leinster uneven ages XC in Adamstown.

Congrats also to Luca O'Shea Breen & Tom McCarthy on their silver county team medals & to Colm O'Neill, Louise O'Riordan, Jack McGlone & Paul Delahunty on qualifying to Nationals on their respective County teams. We wish them all the very Best of Luck in the All Irelands on Dec 15th in Navan.

 

Congratulations go to Brian Geraghty & Joe Dowd on their terrific runs in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec 1st, with Brian clocking a fantastic 15.35 & 16 yr old Joe finishing in a terrific 17.01. Great running guys!

 

 

TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor indeed for the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment before being moved up to these groups to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and we offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment.

 

 

XMAS TRAINING

Training will continue at the usual times for the next 3 weeks finishing up for Xmas on Fri 21st Dec. The track will be closed on Dec 24th, 25th, 26th & 31st & on Jan 1st. As the track closes at 6pm during Xmas week, athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Wed 2nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 8th Jan.

 

 

SOLSTICE MILE

Slí Cualann will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile again this year on Fri 21st Dec @ 7pm. This will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice, starting at 7pm. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards. Open to everyone from U12 up! GAC will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session!

 

 

 GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

Our annual Attendance Trips for those with good attendance during 2018, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. November attendances are now being added to the lists & the final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trip will be notified during Dec, which means you still have time to get your attendance percentage up. Extra attendance points are awarded for attending competitions.

 

Separate trips for our older athletes are also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Round 5 Co. League GAA school of Excellence, Rathdrum, next Fri 7th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15 Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Wed.5th.

 

County Senior XC, Sun 9th Dec.

 

National Novice & Uneven ages XC, Navan, Sat. 15th Dec. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Wed. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan..

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 12th Jan, Abbottstown

 

National Combined Events Sat 19th Jan, Athlone

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26th Jan, Athlone

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

XC LEAGUE

Round 5 of the Juvenile XC League takes place on this coming Fri 7th Dec at the GAA school of Excellence, Rathdrum. This is the final round of the league & your last chance to secure that attendance medal or get yourself on to the medal table. Entry form is on the website.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 11th Dec. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We now have hoodies back in stock, but unfortunately the new singlets won’t be in until the New Year. We also have some secondhand hoodies available & also a good number of spikes. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! (Multi coloured shorts are not acceptable) If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are very impressed with how well they are doing. These long easy runs take 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

INJURY PREVENTION/ REHAB

We still have some places available on our Physio rota, where athletes can avail of regular monthly 20 mins. sessions at a very reasonable price from our top class Physio Matt Cox, who works with our club every Tues. evening. A good number of our athletes have availed of these sessions over the last year & a half and as a result most have 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. Extra sessions can be added should the need arise. Anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0868635797.

 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

Wishing all of our athletes & coaches & their families a very happy Christmas!

Wed

17

Oct

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent County XC Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams.

 

These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults. We were disappointed with the poor attendance both days and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

We had lots of individual medal winners, Individual Gold medals: Luca O’Shea Breen U13, Luca O’Shea Breen U14, Paul Delahunty U16, Joe Dowd U18, Troy Scully U19, Individual silver: Joe Dowd U17, Callum Flynn U18, Troy Scully Junior Men, Individual Bronze: Michael O’Shea U16, Abbie Tyrrell U17, Joe Dowd Junior Men, Troy Scully Novice Men. Team Gold for Junior Men Troy Scully, Joe Dowd, Colm Flynn, Team silver for U8 Boys Conor Stanley, William Hance, Hector Marrian, Aidan McLaughlin, Quade Scully, U9 Boys: Harry Coughlan, Andrew McCarron, Jack Deegan, Sean Lawless Rebello, Zach Hayes, Aidan McLaughlin, U13 Girls: Ava Foley, Charlotte Hudson, Tara Casey, Georgia Hogan, Lizzie McIllroy, Zoe Kenna, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, U14 Girls: Ava Foley, Cliodhna Kennedy Howe, Georgia Hogan, Tara Casey, & U17 Girls: Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien & Isobel Raddford Dodd, Team bronze for U12 Girls Amy D’Arcy, Charlotte Hudson, Amber Scully, Grace Rush, Shana O’Dowd, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, Lizzie McIllroy, Teagan Griffiths, U13 Boys: Luca O’Shea Breen, Tom McCarthy, Colm O’Neill, Alex Goff. Conor Stanley finished 2nd in U7 Boys & 3rd in the U8, with William Hance 3rd U7. Well done to all! Hopefully we will get lots more out running the Leinster XC & will be able to field lots of teams!

 

More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

 


 

TRAINING HALLOWEEN WEEK

 

As attendance at training tends to be very poor when schools are on mid-term/holidays due to children being away or doing camps, there will be no training for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups on Tues. 30th Oct. or Fri.2nd Nov. Training will go ahead as usual for the 7-8.30pm groups.

 

 

 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Nice to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are very impressed with how well they are doing. These long easy runs take 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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 from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

Next Sunday is the Autumn Open XC in Abbottstown and we are planning to do our Sunday run on the course beforehand and then watch the events, which are always top class. Each attendee is asked to bring something for sharing and we plan to have a lovely picnic while waiting for the event to start.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Leinster XC Championships 27th October Novice and Even Ages, Navan Adventure Park.

 

 

Leinster XC Championships 1th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Wexford.

 

 

Round 3 County League, Aughrim on Friday 19th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm - Even Ages U6-U14/15

 

 

Round 4 County League, Bray Fri 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages U7-U15

 

 

Round 5 Co. League Rathdrum Even Ages U6-U14/15 . Details to follow.

 


 

Entry form for next Fridays XC in Aughrim on Fri 19th is now on our website and must close Wed.17th.

 

Entry form for Leinster XC in Navan on Sat 27th is now on our website and must close Fri.19th.

 

Please be careful to enter the correct event!

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues. 23rd Oct. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

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 during both the Indoor & Outdoor T&F seasons. 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 4-5 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. Great to see some of our younger athletes now taking advantage of this facility & as we still have some places available, anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0868635797.

 

Mon

24

Sep

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We have now been back training for three weeks and while attendance so far has been great by many with tremendous work being done, it has been poor in some groups particularly on Friday nights. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that we cannot hold places indefinitely for athletes who don’t attend regularly, as we have waiting lists on most groups.

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

 

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks could now get their registrations in please. Registration forms are available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. Please put form & fee in an envelope and hand in at check-in this coming week.

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

Thanks to all who responded to our reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. The fee from Sept to Dec is €30, or from Oct to Dec €22. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 


 

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY

 

Competition is upon us already with our first event of the season taking place this coming Sunday 30th Sept in Knockraheen, Roundwood (located approximately 2km outside Roundwood Village on the R765 ). This is the Wicklow County Novice and Even Ages (U8/10/12/14/16/18/Junior/Novice) Athletes CAN move up an age. Start time is 11am with the girls U8, boys U8, girls U10 etc.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/8 500m, U/10 1000m, U/12 2000, U/14 3000m U/16
4000m. Girls U/18 and J
unior 4000m. Boys U/18 and Junior 6000m
Novice Men 6000m, Novice Women 4000m. Entry form is on our website and entries close on
Thurs 27th Sept.

 

Hoping to see a really good turn out of athletes on Sunday at this event!

 

New members who wish to compete on Sunday need to get their registration forms in asap.

 

Our 2nd event is the Wicklow County Intermediate and Uneven Ages
Date: Sunday, 7th October, Venue: Avondale Forest Park, Start Time: 11 am.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/7 200m, U/9 800m, U/11 1500m, U/13 2500m,,U/15 3500,
U/17 Girls 4000m, U/17 Boys 5000m, U/19 Girls 4000m, U/19 Boys 6000m.
Intermediate Men 8000m Intermediate Women 4000m. Entry form will be on our website from Sunday 30
th & entries will close on Thurs 4th Oct.


UPCOMING EVENTS

 

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 30th Sept. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 7th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

Autumn Open XC, Sun. 21st Oct., Abbottstown, Junior/Senior/Masters

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 27th Oct. Novice and Even Ages, Navan Racecourse, Co. Meath

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sun.11th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Co Wexford

 

Round 3 County League, Aughrim on Friday 19th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm - Even Ages U6-U14/15

 

Round 4 County League, Bray Fri 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages U7-U15

 

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we have a number of athletes looking for club gear before the upcoming Cross Country (XC) the club shop will be open this Tues. 25th Sept. from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

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 during both the Indoor & Outdoor T&F seasons. 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 4-5 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. Due to some athletes moving on to college etc. we now have some places available, so anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0877730000.

 


 

PILATES CLASSES

 

Physio Matt Cox will also be running Pilates classes on Tues. evenings from 6 - 6.45 pm and these are open to everyone. Great opportunity for mums or dads dropping off their athletes to training for 6-7pm and the 6.45pm finish also allows 15 mins, if you need to pick up athletes for the 7pm session. There will be a block of 5 classes at just €50 (only €10 per class) and you can contact Matt on 0879500262 for more info. or to book a place. Classes start on Tues 2nd Oct. and places are limited.

 


 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, we are very happy to have you on board. We are always in need of more helpers, so if you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed.

 

Sun

26

Aug

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFO

WELCOME BACK

We hope you all had a great summer and what an amazing summer it was! Here’s hoping the great weather continues on into September. We hope you all had a good rest and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks,

as requested in our last Newsletter in July and are all now coming back 'Fit to Train' and won’t have to spend the first few weeks trying to get fit. There’s still time for those who haven’t made a start yet! Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with the first County XC League for U6-U15 due in Sept. & the first of the XC Championships. on Sunday 30th Sept.

 

For anyone who would like to see where their present fitness levels are:

Inbhear Dee are running a mile challenge on the track in Greystones at 7-00pm next Friday August 31st. You are all welcome to join in. No entry fee........wristbands indicating your time for all! There will also be a 3000m run if any seniors are interested.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 4th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times have all now been confirmed, so if you haven’t heard from us your training is at your usual time.

 

All 6-7pm groups are now at capacity and there is no room at present to add new athletes or to move athletes between the groups. A number of new athletes are doing two weeks trial & a small number of places may arise after this. Anyone who wishes to go on to our waiting list should send details through ‘Contact Us’ on our website.

 

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 without whom there would be no club. From time to time some of these coaches have to move on and as there are strict guidelines that we have to adhere to in terms of athlete-coach ratios, we are always in need of more coaches and assistants on the track. If you think you have the time to help out at any of the coaching sessions, even occasionally, please do let us know and we would be delighted to welcome you on board.

Mon

23

Jul

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

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 4th 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 29th 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. 31st 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. 4th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11th 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 19th!

Wed

20

Jun

2018

CLUB NEWS

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster Championships recently and huge congratulations to all who qualified for the upcoming Nationals. Lots of super performances in a variety of events and a great selection of medals & qualifiers to the All Irelands as a result!

 U19: Marcus Lennon silver in 100m & 200m, Louis Lalor Gold in 400m Hurdles, Bronze in 110m hurdles & 200m, Troy Scully silver in 3000m Steeplechase.
U18: John O'Connor Gold in 400m, Sarah O'Connor Bronze in 2000m Steeplechase, Katie Lawless Bronze in 400m hurdles.
U17: Ronan Dempsey silver in 100m & 100m hurdles, Alan Gordon silver in Pole Vault,
U16: Ellen McNally Gold in Triple Jump & Silver in Long Jump, Emma Quirk Silver in Triple Jump, Joe Prendergast silver in 800m, 1500m & Long Jump, Sarah Farrell Silver in 80m hurdles, Enya Conroy Bronze in 250m hurdles & 4th in 80m Hurdles & Maks Slusarczyk 4th in 100m.
U15: Jack McGlone Gold in 800m, Silver in 100m & 4th in 200m, Paul Delahunty silver in 800m & 1500m, Louise O'Riordan 4th in 800m, Ciaran Dillon Roberts 3rd in Triple Jump
U13: Ailbhe Gordon Gold in Javelin & Silver in the Shot Putt, Daniel Quirk Bronze in 60m hurdles & Bronze in the Long Jump, Daniel Connerty Silver in the 600m & Camille Madden 4th in the High Jump.

 

Congratulations & well done to everyone who took part & many thanks to our coaches & officials & all the mums & dads who travelled over the two weekends. Best of luck in the All Ireland’s!

 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 26th June in Greystones. We are only allowed a limited number of athletes for this event and so priority will be given to those who have competed in the recent County & Leinster events. Any places left after this will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The entry form is on our website and will close this coming Sat. 23rd.

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 

TRAINING

Training for our 5-6 pm group will finish up for the summer on Tues. next 26th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 29th. We will finish up with a fun competition on Tues for the 5-6 pm group & on Fri for the 6-7pm groups. Athletes who were born in 2006/7, have the option to come along to the 7-8.30pm sessions during July. Some will have the opportunity to move to this group in Sept.

 

We hope everyone has a great summer & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, we can’t continue without it. Have a great summer everyone!

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. Those competing in the final of the League in August will continue to train by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Don’t leave it until August as places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you for Sept.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

  1. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 23rd June.

  2. National League Round 1, Templemore, Sun. 24th June.

  3. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 26th June. (Form on website)

  4. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat. 30th June. (Entries close Fri 22nd June)

  5. National Juvenile Games (U9-U11) & U12/U13 Field Events, Tullamore, Sun. 1st July

  6. National Juvenile Inter Club Relays U9-U11, Tullamore, Sun. 1st July

  7. National Juvenile B Championships & Relays, Tullamore, Sat. 7th July

  8. National League Round 2, Athlone or Santry, Sun. 8th July

  9. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sat. 14th/Sun. 15th July, Tullamore.

  10. Cork City Sports Mon 16th July, CIT Cork

  11. Morton Games, Thurs 19th, Santry

  12. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sun. 22nd July, Tullamore.

  13. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 28th/Sun 29th July, Santry.

  14. Celtic Games, Sat 4th Aug. Scotland

  15. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sat 18th Aug. Tullamore

  16. National League Final, Sun 19th Aug, Tullamore

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

We still have some outstanding debts from unpaid subs or races entered where athletes didn’t show and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! We will text amounts owed during the coming week. Further entries cannot be accepted from athletes until all debts are paid.

Mon

21

May

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

Well done to all our club athletes who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible. Considering the large number of athletes in the club, athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, but what we lacked in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by all those who did attend.

 

 

There were fantastic individual & team performances which saw many club athletes go home loaded down with medals on both days. Many thanks to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over two great days.

 

A special mention here for some of our older athletes, who act as Junior coaches each week before their own training sessions. These athletes not only competed for our club on both days, they also helped out at every opportunity, assisting at the finish line, the High Jump, relay zones and anything that was asked of them, while still managing to produce magnificent performances in their own events. They were fantastic on Sunday assisting Anne Marie during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them.

Full results are now on our club website!

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and subsequently the Leinster Schools and best of luck to Alana Ryan, Joe Prendergast, Ellen McNally, Jack McGlone & Louise O’Riordan in the All Ireland’s on Sat. June 2nd. All results are on the AAI website under schools!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. National Combined Events, Santry Sat/Sun May 26th/27th. Entries closed.

  2. AAI Games, Santry Sun. May 27th. Entries closed.

  3. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore Sat. June 2nd.

  4. Leinster U23/Senior/Masters, Tullamore Sun. June 3rd. Entries close Tues. 29th May.

  5. Leinster Team Event for U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 4th. Entries close Fri 25th May.

  6. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Champs, Tullamore Sat. June 9th. Entries close Wed. 30th May.

  7. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 16th/17th June. Entries close Wed. 6th June.

  8. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 26th June. (limited numbers)

  9. Leinster Juniors, Drogheda, Thurs. 24th/31th May & 7th June. Entries to Theresa by Tues before the event.

  10. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 23rd June.

  11. National League Round 1, Templemore or Belfast Sun. 24th June.

  12. National Juniors/U23’s, Tullamore, Sat 30th June

 

 

 

We remind you once again that, while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Our training times are Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session.

 

 

Attendance at training has been very poor for quite a few athletes of late and we remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for up to 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club, so if you haven’t been attending & we haven’t seen or heard from you by the end of this week (Fri 25th May), we will be removing you from our lists. We cannot hold places indefinitely, as we have waiting lists on most groups at present.

 

 

 

CLUB INFORMATION

 

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. Greystones AC is run entirely by volunteers and while we do our best to respond to texts & e-mails quickly, this is not always possible, so please be patient and we will get back to you asap. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number or Facebook page may lead to long delays, as we don’t always have access to it and generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

Sun

06

May

2018

County Championships

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Wednesday May 9th and events take place on Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th May, starting at 11am each day.

 

 

Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

 

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2018) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2018) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

 

 

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

 

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

 

 

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

 

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2018.

 

 

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

 

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!

 


 

Mon

09

Apr

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

March proved to be a fairly chaotic month, with high winds, lots of rain & even more snow, which resulted in competitions having to be re-arranged, but we managed to hold all training sessions despite the weather. Well done to all the coaches & athletes who turned up in all weathers to train.

Glad to report that we finally finished the Indoor competitions yesterday and we congratulate all the athletes who performed so well, especially our fantastic medal winners. No time to sit back however as the first of the outdoor track & field events is this coming Thursday evening. Round 1 of the Juvenile League will be held this Thurs. 12th April on the track in Arklow. Check-in at 6.30pm, with 1st race at 7pm. Entry form is on our website and will close on Wed. evening. This one is for even ages, U6,8,10,12,14/15, but athletes may move up one age group, so everyone up to U15 can take part. Round 2 will be held in Greystones on Sat. 28th April.
 
NEW AAI SAFEGUARDING POLICY
As a member of the Athletics Association of Ireland, Greystones Athletic Club adheres to the Child Safeguarding Policy of the organisation. A copy of their new policy is on display on our Notice Board in Shoreline Sports Park, along with all our club policies and also photos & contact nos. of our Child Welfare Officers. You can also find this policy here & on our website. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzJWHOC0iH1qU1BFemt3WHdVd0NvMUNwTDkwUHp3RkNWRXBB/view?usp=drive_web
 
CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the athletes who performed so well at the recent Indoor Championships and congratulations to all the medal winners and those who got new PB’s.
Leinsters Results: Gold Medals to Emer McNally in the U16 Long Jump & Triple Jump, with a CBP in the Triple Jump. Gold also to Alana Ryan in the U19 60m & 400m, to Ailbhe Gordon in the U13 Shot Putt and to the U19 boys relay team of Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon & John O’Connor. Silver Medals to Joe Prendergast in the U16 800m, 1500m & Long Jump, to John O’Connor in the U18 400m, Aodhan Daly in the U17 Long Jump, Emma Quirk in the U16 Triple Jump, Jack McGlone in the U15 60m & the U13 boys relay team of Daniel Connerty, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy & Daniel Quirk. Bronze Medals to Sarah Farrell in the U16 60m Hurdles & to Daniel Quirk in the U13 60m Hurdles.
National Results: Silver Medals to Alana Ryan in the U19 200m & to Ellen McNally in the U16 Long Jump
Bronze Medals for Ailbhe Gordon in the U13 Shot Putt & Daniel Quirk in the U13 Long Jump.
 
TRAINING
Our training times are Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session.
Attendance at training has been poor for quite a few athletes recently and we will expect to see a big improvement over the coming weeks. We will be working hard to prepare for the Wicklow Championships which are coming up very soon and it’s important not to miss out on the opportunity to try out the different events before the competition.
Please ensure all athletes continue to bring a coat to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. While the weather is improving, it can still be very cold on the track in the evenings. 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.
 
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wicklow Juvenile Track League R1, Thurs.12th Apr, Arklow Track.
Wicklow Sec. Schools T&F, Tues 17th Apr, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
Wicklow Primary Schools Relays, Tues. 24th Apr, Avondale.House & Gardens.
Wicklow Juvenile Track League R2, Sat. 28th Apr., Shoreline Track, Greystones.
East Leinster Schools T&F Day 1, Mon..30th Apr, Santry.
East Leinster Schools T&F Day 2, Thurs. 3rd May Santry.
GAC/IMC T&F event Sat. 5th May, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
Wicklow County Championships, Sat/Sun 12th/13th May, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
 
CLUB AGM
The club AGM will be held this Thurs. April 12th at 8pm. at the 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 promise we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night.
 
CLUB AWARDS NIGHT
Our club awards night for 2017 was held in Greystones Tennis Club on Friday. 23rd March and a great evening was had by all who attended. While some didn’t manage to make it, it was great to see so many athletes collecting their Awards for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2017. We had 5yr club membership awards for Ava Foley, Hannah Large, Keelin McGuire, John O’Connor, Sarah O’ Connor, Chase Scully, Troy Scully this year & 10yr club membership awards for Katie Lawless & Conor Dempsey. There were International selection awards for Alana Ryan & Conor Dempsey and Championship Best Performance awards for Alana Ryan & Niamh Kearney. This year the Juvenile Athlete of the Year went to Joe Prendergast, the Senior to Niamh Kearney, the Masters to Carol Costello and the overall Athlete of the Year went to Alana Ryan. A huge Thank You to those who put in all the work preparing for this event and thanks also to everyone who supplied the lovely cakes & to all who helped out on the night. I think the Easter Eggs for all the athletes were probably the hit of the night.
 
CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues. 17th April from 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good selection of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! This will be the last opportunity to buy club gear before the County Championships!
 
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, so hope to see you there, as it’s a very important part of the week’s training, especially for the endurance athletes !!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

Sat

03

Mar

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

Hope everyone has managed to stay nice & warm this week and you have all had lots of fun in the snow. We hope to get back to normal training this coming week, with all groups back on Tues. evening at their usual times. However this will be subject to weather conditions and the track being open, so please keep an eye on our website & FB page for updates.

 

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 


 

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Due to the present weather conditions, the final day of the Athletics Leinster Juvenile Championships scheduled for the AIT Arena this Saturday has been postponed. As this event is a qualifier for the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Athletics Leinster will run their program on the 11th March and Day 1 of the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships (Relays and older age field events) will be held on SATURDAY 7th APRIL. The program on the 18th and 25th March is unaffected.

 

This decision has been taken so that all athletes’ will be given an opportunity to compete and qualify for their National Championships.

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

All Ireland Schools Cross Country, Sat 10th March, Waterford IT

 

National Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 10th March, Athlone

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 4, Sun. 11th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 2, Sun 18th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 3, Sun 25th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 1, Sun. 7th April, Athlone

 

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2017 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club on Friday. 23rd March at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2017, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2017, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. There will be no training on Friday 23rd to facilitate this Awards night.

 

 

 

AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. April 12th at 8pm. 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.

 

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............another chance to catch up with 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

Fri

09

Feb

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

A big welcome to all our new members, a welcome back to all members who have re-registered for 2018 and an urgent reminder of our regular message about suitable attire for winter training.

 

 Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

TRAINING

Due to unavailability of some of our coaches over the mid-term break, we regret that we will not be able to maintain the required ratio of coaches to athletes for the younger groups and consequently we are cancelling the 6-7pm sessions for the week.

 

To avoid this being an issue again in the future, we would be very grateful for any new volunteers who might be willing to help out at any of the sessions. A couple of people alternating weeks often works well as it allows for a swap when someone can’t make it. Training is provided for all volunteers.

 

Normal training will take place for the 7-8.30pm groups. Hoping to see a good turnout from these group as we have Leinster competition over the next few weeks.

 

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Best of luck to all our athletes taking part in Day 1 of the Leinster Indoor Championships this Sat. 10th Feb. Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Entry forms for Days 2,3 & 4 of the Championships are now open and entries need to be in by Tues 13th Feb latest. No late entries can be accepted!

 

Training sessions for all relay teams competing in Abbotstown on February 25th take place every Wed. evenings from 7-8.30pm and also on some Fridays. Athletes who wish to be included in these teams, need to attend these sessions regularly.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 10th Feb, Athlone

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B & XC Relays. Sun 11th Feb, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway

 National Senior Indoors, Sat.17th & Sun.18th Feb. Abbottstown.

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sat. 24th Feb, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day 3, Sun. 25th Feb, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 4, Sat. 3rd March, Athlone

 

National Masters Indoor Championships, Sun 4th March, Athlone

 

All Ireland Schools Cross Country, Sat 10th March, Waterford IT

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 1, Sun. 11th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 2, Sun 18th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 3, Sun 25th March, Athlone

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to Richael Browne on winning the National Star Award for her achievements in 2017. Richael will receive her award at a function in the Tullamore Court hotel on Sat. 17th Feb.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues.20th Feb. from 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good selection of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts!

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with 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 & FB page each week. This Sun 11th Feb. we’re in Glendalough!

 

Tue

09

Jan

2018

Club News & Information

WELCOME BACK

 

Well done to all the athletes & coaches who made it back to training last week in challenging conditions. Some great sessions were done despite the weather! Hoping to see everyone else back this week, as all groups are back training from tonight Tues 9th Jan

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & t-shirts or hoodies at this stage. It’s easy take something off when you get too hot, but miserable if you have nothing to put on when you’re cold!

 

 

 

RELAY SQUAD

 

Training sessions for all athletes in Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm groups) who are interested in being considered for relay teams at the Indoor Championships on February 24th in Abbotstown, will take place every Wed. evenings from 7-8.30pm. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend these sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Wed 10th Jan.

 

 

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2018

 

Registration for this year will take place from 4.45-5.15pm and 6.30-7.30pm on Tues.16th Jan & from 6.30-7.30pm on Fri 19th Jan. 2018. All club athletes must either register at these times or hand in form & fee in an envelope at check-in during that week. Membership forms will be available at registration, or can be downloaded from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ to save time on the night. Please make sure to get your registrations done during this week! Un-registered athletes cannot be allowed on to the track from Tues 23rd Jan. as they will no longer be insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to Alana Ryan who won the Juvenile Girls Leinster Star Award for 2017 and to Aoife Conroy who won the Senior award. The girls received their awards last Sat. Night in Tullamore.

 

 

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

 

We had a fantastic day with the Endurance Squad on Tues 2nd Jan. when 56 athletes took to the track to try their hand at Laser Tag. It was a very enjoyable experience and we discovered that we had some fantastic shooters among the group. Many thanks to Pentathlon Ireland for organising this part of the day for us and we hope to try it again in the future. We followed this with a run down to the swimming pool for an excellent Pool Recovery session, many thanks to Eamonn Whelan for this, and finished the day with a fantastic lunch, supplied by all the athletes. We look forward to the next session, which will be open to all interested athletes age 10 upwards.

 

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 13th Jan, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Juv XC Relay, Inter/Master Champs, Sun 14th Jan, Dunboyne

 

 

 

National Combined Events Sat 20th Jan, Athlone (Form on the website)

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun28th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Indoor League Final, Sat 3rd Feb, Athlone

 

 

 

AAI Games, Sun th Feb., Athlone

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 10th Feb, Athlone

 

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B & XC Relays. Sun 11th Feb, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.17th & Sun.18th Feb. Abbottstown.

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sat. 17th Feb, Abbottstown

 

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day 3, Sun. 18th Feb, Abbottstown

 

 

 

REMINDER: HELPERS STILL NEEDED

 

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers & committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work & 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. 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 may have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session!

 

Sat

09

Dec

2017

Club News & Information

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed at the Leinster XC Championships and congratulations to all the medal winners. Sadly, numbers were well down this year, but those who did run produced some great performances, with several athletes qualifying for Nationals.

Some great runs at the first of the Nationals in Abbottstown also and great to see the Junior Girls take the bronze medals. Best of Luck to all those heading for Waterford for the Uneven ages next weekend.

 

 

TRAINING OVER THE XMAS PERIOD

We will train as usual next week and all groups will have training on Tues 19th Dec. with the 7-8.30 pm group also training on Wed 20th. The track closes at 6pm on Fri 22nd Dec. so any training on Fri. will be by arrangement with coaches, if they are available. As the track also closes at 6pm during Xmas week, any training sessions will be by arrangement with coaches, or athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes, during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Tues 2nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 9th Jan.

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2018

Registration for next year will take place from 4.45-5.15pm and 6.30-7.30pm on Tues.16th Jan & from 6.30-7.30pm on Fri 19th Jan. 2018 and all club athletes must register at this time. No un-registered athletes will be allowed on to the track from Tues 23rd Jan.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open this coming Tues.12th Dec. From 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! The new order of hoodies has arrived for that night, in case Santa needs any.

 

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

We had a better attendance from GAC athletes for the last two Endurance Group sessions where great work was done by all the athletes present and friendships were formed with athletes from all over the county. We saw the benefits when 6 County Teams qualified for the National XC’s.

The next session, which will be held in Greystones on Tues 2nd Jan, looks like being a very exciting day indeed. This one will be invitation only, as it is confined to athletes who have attended previous sessions. There will be further opportunities for new members to join the squad at sessions arranged in 2018!

 

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Solstice Mile: Sli Cualann AC will host a series of graded 1 ml races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice on Wed. 20th Dec. at 7pm. Entry donation 5euro for Adults, 3euro for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards. Open to everyone!

 

 

National XC Championships Sun.17th Dec. Novice and Uneven Ages, Waterford

 

 

Streets of Wicklow 5K Tues 26th Dec in Wicklow Town @ 11am

 

 

Roundwood Biathlon: Charity Biathlon on Tues 27th Dec. Starting at 2pm, walkers 1.45pm.

 

Endurance Squad Training Tues 2nd Jan, Greystones Track (Invitation only)

 

 

County Masters XC Sun. 7th Jan, Shanganagh Park, Bray

 

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 13th Jan, Abbottstown

 

 

Leinster Juv XC Relay, Inter/Master Champs, Sun 14th Jan, Dunboyne

 

 

 

National Combined Events Sat 20th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun28th Jan, Athlone

 

 

HELPERS STILL NEEDED

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers & committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work & 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. 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 may have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session.

 

We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

Stronger! Higher! Faster” for 2018!

 

Mon

23

Oct

2017

Club Newsletter

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all who competed in the recent County Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that those athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams.

These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits and are less likely to droptheir fitness as young adults. So we were disappointed with the poor attendance and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

We had lots of individual medal winners, with Individual Gold medals for Richael Browne U19, Sarah O’Connor U18, Abbie Tyrrell U17, Joe Prendergast U15, Paul Delahunty U14, Individual silver for David Coyle Novice & Intermediate men, Katie Conroy Intermediate Wm, Troy Scully U19 & U18, Rachel Casey U19, Joe Prendergast U16, Paul Delahunty U15, Louise O’Riordan U14. Team Gold for U17 Boys John O’Connor, Colm Flynn, Joe Dowd, Ronan Dempsey, U16 Boys Joe Prendergast, Michael O’Shea, James Smartt, Ronan Dempsey. Team silver for U16 Girls Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien, Erin Howard, Enya Conroy, Team bronze for Novice Men David Coyle, Jamie Lennon, Robert Costello, AJ Cotter, U13 Boys Chase Scully, Conor Keogh, Tom McCarthy, Cian Smyth, Calum Flynn, U12 Boys Tom McCarthy, William O’Riordan, Rory McNally, Nathan Donlon, Calum Flynn, U11Girls Lucy Garvey, Ailbhe Kelly, Amber Scully, Chloe Hanley, Teagan Griffiths, U10 Girls Grace Rush, Holly Goodwin, Shana O’Dowd, Sarah Jane McCarthy, Teagan Griffiths, Ella Dallaghan. More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

We had the 1st big event of the XC season yesterday with huge fields in the Autumn Open in Abbottstown and we had great performances from Richael Browne & Sarah O’Connor in the Junior Women’s event & Katy Conroy in the Senior Women’s. Well done girls!

 

TRAINING NEXT WEEK

As schools are on mid-term next week and children will be out ‘Trick or Treating’ for Halloween on Tuesday night, there will be no training for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups next week. Training will go ahead as usual for the 7-8.30pm groups.

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

We had a fantastic morning in Shanganagh Park on Sunday Oct.15th, when athletes from all over Wicklow gathered for the Endurance Squad session and happily we had a better attendance from GAC athletes this time. It was wonderful to watch so many young athletes working together and I think many surprised themselves by what they were able to achieve. This is a great opportunity to work together and will really benefit everyone who makes the effort to attend.......... and you get to make lots of new friends also!

The next two sessions are being held on Fri 3rd Nov. in Rathdrum & Fri 1st Dec. in Aughrim. As Friday is already a training night for GAC, we are hoping to see a much better attendance at these. There is still time to get involved in this group and great plans to develop it in the future! It will not only improve our County team’s, it will improve Individual & club performances also.

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the new friends! Hope to see you there. Its the most important session of the week !!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Leinster XC Championships 28th October Novice and Even Ages, Navan Adventure Park

 

Leinster XC Championships 12th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Wexford

 

Endurance Squad Training Fri Nov 3rd @ 6.30pm Rathdrum Rugby Club

 

 

Round 4 Co. League Rathdrum Rugby Club 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages

 

Endurance Squad Training Fri Dec.1st @ 6.30pm Aughrim GAA Grounds

 

Round 5 Co. League Arklow Track 8th Dec. Check-in 6.30pm – Even Ages

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open this Tues. 24th Oct from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! Orders can be taken for any club gear that might be needed in Dec. so that we can make sure we have this available on our next Shop opening in Dec.

 

COACHES & HELPERS

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, however we are still very much in need of more helpers. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are still very much in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training, so don’t be afraid to offer.

 

In particular we need help at Tuesday’s 6-7pm session & Friday’s 7-8.30pm session. Please help if you can, as we really don’t want to have to cancel these training sessions!

Mon

18

Sep

2017

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

RETURN TO TRAINING

We have now been back training for two weeks and attendance so far has been poor in many groups. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club, so if we haven’t seen or heard from you by the end of this week (Fri 22nd Sept), we will be removing you from our lists. We cannot hold places indefinitely, as we have waiting lists on most groups.

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We will allow another week’s trial this week and will then hold a Registration night for all new members on Tues 26th Sept from 4.45-5pm for Little Athletics and again from 6.45-7.30pm for everyone else. Registration forms will be available on the night, or to prevent delays you can downloaded one in advance from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’..

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

Thanks to all who responded to our text reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

Earlier this year County Wicklow set up an endurance training squad for all athletes from age 10 upwards, with the aim of improving our County results in this year’s XC events. It was well attended generally, but very few GAC athletes have availed of the opportunity to be part of it so far. However there is still time to get involved, as the next session takes place this coming Saturday 23rd Sept. from 11am -1pm in Avondale, Rathdrum. It would be great to see lots of our athletes taking advantage of these sessions, so do come along if at all possible. It will not only improve our County team’s, it will improve Individual & club performances also.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 County Endurance Squad training Sat 23rd Sept in Avondale 11am-1pm

 

Wicklow County XC Championships Sun. 1st Oct in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

Wicklow County XC Championships Sun. 8th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

Leinster XC Championships 29th October Novice and Even Ages Tyrrells Pass

 

Leinster XC Championships 12th November Senior and Uneven Ages Venue TBC

 

Round 4 Co. League Rathdrum Rugby Club 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages

 

Round 5 Co. League Arklow Track 8th Dec. Check-in 6.30pm – Even Ages

 

COACHES & HELPERS

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, however we are still in need of more helpers. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are really in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with either check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed

In particular we need help at Tuesday’s 6-7pm session & Friday’s 7-8.30pm session. Please help if you can, as we really don’t want to have to cancel these training sessions!

 

 

 

Thu

31

Aug

2017

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

WELCOME BACK

 

We hope you all had a great summer and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks, as requested in our last Newsletter in July and so are all coming back 'Fit to Train'. Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with Round 1 of the XC League for U8-U15 on Fri 15th Sept in Roundwood and the County XC Champs at the beginning of Oct.

 

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. & Little Athletics returning on Tues. 12th Sept. This allows our younger athletes a chance to settle in to school before starting back. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified of this.

 

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

In response to requests from a small number of parents, we are offering an alternative means of paying the weekly sub this term. Athletes have the option to pay €30 at the beginning of this term, which will cover the subs for the remaining 15 training weeks of 2017. This will be recorded on the check-in sheets, but athletes will still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Prepaid fees will not be refunded where athletes fail to attend training. The usual option of paying €2 once a week will still be available to those who prefer to use this method, however we appeal to everyone not to run up bills, as it is very time consuming trying to collect these. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 

 

 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

Greystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers & committee members, who volunteer so much time each week to help make Greystones AC such a successful club. We have a very dedicated core group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. There is a natural turnover of coaches as their children pass through the club, but obviously we need replacement volunteers for these as they leave. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. We strongly recommend that 2 or more parents buddy up to share the slot to support your athletes in the club whether it be to assist, coach or check-in. The number of volunteers determines the number of athletes we can facilitate and the number of nights we can hold training. As we return for the new season, we find that we are very short of coaches, particularly for the 6-7pm groups, so if you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did!

 

 

 

 

OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW CLUB POLICIES

 

Greystones AC is currently reviewing our Policies & Procedures and we are offering parents & members an opportunity to contribute to this. Please forward any suggestions you may have to greystonesathletics@gmail.com, before our next meeting at the end of Sept. If there are any amongst our members/parents with relevant experience in formulating policies, we would be delighted to have your assistance. Current policies can be found on our website under “Training Times & Club Info”

 


 

Tue

18

Jul

2017

Club News & Information

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the National Championships recently and who represented the club so well, though it was disappointing that so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Many congratulations to the medal winners and to all who earned PB's.

Congrats also to those who competed in the National B’s last Saturday and in the Bray Invitational, where we retained both the Overall Cup & the Relay Shield once again.

Huge congratulations to Alana Ryan who has been selected to represent Ireland in the 200m & the 4 x 100m relay at the Celtic Games on Saturday August 5th. As the Games are in Ireland this year, it’s a great opportunity to go along to Santry and support Alana and the rest of the Irish team!
Congratulations also to Alex Campbell who represented Ireland in the Triple Jump at the Schools International last weekend!
 
TRAINING
As most athletes have now finished competing and the attendance at training has been very erratic for the past few weeks, we feel it is time to give our hard working coaches a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from several of our athletes. Consequently we will finish training tonight Tues. 18th 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 full two weeks 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 5 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 Cross Country events will come up very quickly, when we return in Sept.
Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. Little Athletics will return on Tues. 12th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.
 
Groups for Sept.'17 will be organised very soon to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Parents of athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if your children intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept. (Text 0868635797 or use Contact Us on our website)
 
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.
 
THANK YOU
A big 'Thank You' also to Christina & Dermot Browne for organising another successful Bagpack for the club and also to all those who helped out over the two days.
 
COACHES & HELPERS
Geystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers, committee and of course athletes who give of their time. We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did.  If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. The number of volunteers will determine the number of athletes.

Thu

15

Jun

2017

Newsletter

 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

 

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 20th June in Greystones. We are only allowed a limited number of athletes for this event and so priority will be given to those who have competed in the recent County & Leinster events. Any places left after this will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The entry form is on our website and will close on Sat. 17th.

 

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 

 

TRAINING

 

Training for our younger groups ie 5-6pm & 6-7pm sessions, will finish for the summer at the end of June. We will finish up with a fun competition on Friday 30th for all our younger athletes (5-6 & 6-7pm groups) and we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, we can’t continue without it. Have a great summer everyone!

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. Those competing in the final of the League in August will continue to train by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

  1. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 17th/18th June.

  2. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 20th June. (limited numbers)

  3. Leinster Juniors, Leixlip Fri 23rd June.

  4. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 24th June.

  5. National League Round 1, Athlone or Tallaght Sun. 25th June.

  6. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat 1st July.

  7. National Juvenile Inter Club Relay Championships, Athlone Sun 2nd July.

  8. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sun 2nd July.

  9. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sat. 8th/Sun. 9th July, Tullamore.

  10. Morton Games 2017 T&F , Wed 12th July, Santry

  11. National Juvenile ‘B’ Championships, Sat. 15th July, Tullamore.

  12. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sun. 16th July, Tullamore.

  13. Cork City Sports, Tues 18th July, CIT Cork.

  14. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 22nd/Sun 23rd July, Santry.

  15. National League Round 2, Sun 30th July.

  16. National League Final, Sun 20th Aug, Tullamore.

 

 

BAGPACK FOR GAC

 

Don’t forget our Fundraising Bagpack for the club which is being held this Friday 16th June and Saturday 17th June at Tesco Greystones. All support will be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

We still have a small number of outstanding debts and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

Mon

22

May

2017

Club News, Bag Pack & Upcoming Competitions

Well done to all who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible.

 

Athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, especially on the Saturday, but what was lacking in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by those who did attend. We saw great individual & team performances and many club athletes went home loaded down with medals on both days. Thanks also to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over the two days.

A special mention here for our older athletes, four of whom act as Junior coaches each week before their own training sessions. These older athletes not only competed for our club on both days, they also helped out at every opportunity, assisting at Long jump, High Jump, relay zones and anything that was asked of them, while still managing to produce magnificent performances in their own events. They were like a well organised army on Sunday during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them.

Full results are now on our club website!

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and the Leinster Schools and best of luck to everyone in the All Ireland’s on June 3rd. All results are on the AAI website under schools!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. National Combined Events, Santry Sat/Sun May 27th/28th.

  2. AAI Games, Santry Sun. May 28th.

  3. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore

  4. Leinster U23/Senior/Masters, Tullamore Sun. June 4th.

  5. Leinster Team Event for U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 5th.

  6. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Championships, Tullamore Sat. June 10th.

  7. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 17th/18th June.

  8. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 20th June. (limited numbers)

  9. Leinster Juniors, Leixlip Fri 23rd June.

  10. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 24th June.

  11. National League Round 1, Athlone or Tallaght Sun. 25th June.

 

BAGPACK FOR GAC

Many thanks to Dermot Browne who has managed to arrange a Fundraising Bagpack for the club again this year, on Friday 16th June and Saturday 17th June at Tesco Greystones. We require volunteers for 2 hour slots from 11am to 8pm on the Friday and 11am to 6pm on the Saturday. Email Christina Browne on Christinamary123@gmail.com with your availability. All help greatly appreciated from all parents & from athletes & siblings ages 14 and upwards.

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on this coming Tues. 23rd May from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts!

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those who responded to our appeal and paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. However we still have a small number due and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. Reminders will be sent out this week.

We also remind you once again that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

CLUB INFORMATION

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we don’t always have access to it and generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Heartiest congratulations from everyone at Greystones AC to club athlete Rachel Casey, who this week receives the ‘Greystones Special Person of the Year Award’ for 2017. Rachel specialises in Race Walking & has been a committed club member for over 7 years. She is one of our regular Junior coaches, who helps out twice a week with the younger athletes before doing her own training sessions. She also helps out with Bray Lakers on a regular basis and is a very active member of the Greystones Rowing Club. Check out the link below for more details: http://www.greystonesguide.ie/my-greystones-rachel-casey/

Fri

05

May

2017

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS!

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Tuesday May 9th and events take place on Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th May, starting at 11am each day.

 

 

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in the relays on both days. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2017) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2017) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. Athletes take part in a sprint, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each. All athletes who complete the three events will receive an award, Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score. On Saturday these younger athletes have their longer race, fun Obstacle relays & the Even Aged relays, with the uneven age relays on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. The programme is on the sidebar on the front page of our website and also on our notice board down at the track. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes and we sincerely hope that everyone will make the effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2017.

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

Looking forward to watching all of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics!

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Mon

10

Apr

2017

CLUB NEWS

 

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

Due to very poor attendances during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 25th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual. Schools competitions are fast approaching!

 

Round 2 of the Juvenile League for athletes up to U15, will go ahead on Fri 21st at the Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 19th Apr.

 CLUB CAPTAINS

At our recent AGM we agreed to elect two Club Captains who will help and encourage our younger athletes and liaise between the coaches and the athletes on a regular basis. We are delighted to announce that Aoife Conroy & Conor Dempsey have agreed to accept the roles. Aoife & Conor have both been involved in athletics from an early age and have been competing for a number of years at all levels. They have experienced both the highs & the lows, have had the joy of standing on podiums, but also dealt with disappointment and with unwelcome injury & the long road to recovery. They have a wealth of experience which they are happy to pass on to our younger members and indeed have been passing on their skills at our training days for the past two years. We feel they will be a great help to those coming through in the future and will be happy to bring any concerns that athletes may have, to the coaches.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

We had a great night at the club awards on the 24st March and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2016. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, we will arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 26th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

Our annual Good Attendance Trip took place on Saturday 8th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Fiona Ryan for organising it and to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport.

The trip for our older athletes will take place on Apr. 22nd to GoQuest.

 

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

Just over 80 athletes took the Mile Challenge on Saturday in glorious conditions in Greystones. Every club in the County was represented and the only word to describe the day was awesome. A better turnout from GAC this time, but still very small when you consider how many athletes could have been involved. Hopefully numbers will grow with each event.

Many of the athletes achieved a result well beyond their expectation and all were delighted with their wristbands. Next time they will aim even higher and try for the next colour band. Well done to all the athletes and thanks to all the coaches who motivated their athletes and gave them the opportunity to experience a great sense of achievement !!

 

WEBTEXT

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

CLUB SHOP

 The club shop will be open on Tues. 25th Apr from 4.40 -5pm & 6.40 -7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. Reminders will be issued shortly for these unpaid amounts. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.  

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April. Entries to Theresa

  2. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

  3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23rd April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

  4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

  5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

  6. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13th/14th May, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

  7. Leinster Combined Events Championships, Claremont Stadium, Navan Sat 20th May. Entry form will be on GAC website

  8. Leinster Relays, Sun 22nd May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

  9. National Combined Events Championships Santry Entry form will be on GAC website

  10. AAI Games, Santry (U17 upwards) Entry form will be on GAC website

 

RECENT RESULTS

Day 3 of the National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take bronze in the Long Jump in his first National Indoor Championships. Ailbhe Gordon, another first timer, threw a huge PB in the Shot Putt giving her a terrific 5th place finish. A fantastic run from Joe Prendergast in the boys U15 800m heats and a 5th place finish after really taking on the final. 5th place also for Ben Jones in the U17 boys 800m & for Richael Browne in the U19 girls. A new PB for Marcus Lalor in his 200m heat where he finished 4th, with a 5th place for Noah Daly in his and great hurdling from Emma Quirk saw her finish 4th in her heat in the U15 girls 60mH. Well done to all who competed and represented the club so well!

 

Great running from the GAC athletes in the recent County road race where Brien Geraghty finished 3rd overall, taking the M40 title with Caoimhin MacMaoláin finishing 7th .Dermot Hughes finished 11th in the M35 and William McCann finished 12th in the Senior men. Troy Scully finished 18th overall, making him 2nd in the Junior men’s to take the silver with Colm Flynn finishing in 5th. Annette Cleary took silver in the W50, with Clodagh Manning finishing 6th in the W45 & Christine McCann 6th in the W55.Such a pity not to have full teams here, but hopefully we can improve on this for future events.

Troy Scully followed his 4.49 mile on Saturday with a 2nd place finish in the Great ireland 5K on Sunday, where he ran a fantastic 17.11, with William McCann running 39.48 in the 10K.

 

 

Thu

30

Mar

2017

DAY TRIP FOR OLDER ATHLETES

This year we are going to GoQuest with the older athletes for our annual day trip.

GoQuest is an indoor, multi-challenge themed arena for teenagers and adults. The 27 custom-designed rooms are a mix of physical and mental challenges with three levels of difficulty. People work in teams of 3 – 4 in order to complete the challenges.

Whilst the club will subsidise the cost for those athletes who had high attendance during 2016, other athletes (U17 and up) are more than welcome to come along but will be asked to contribute the full cost.

Date: Saturday 22nd April 2017

Time: 5.30 pm

Full-Cost: €16.00 per person plus the cost of pizza afterwards

Subsidised Cost: €12.00 to include GoQuest & Pizza

Since we need to confirm numbers in advance against this reservation, please text Fiona Ryan on 086-7333319 by Saturday 2.00 pm at the latest to confirm whether you will be participating. Please bring along the cost in an envelope (with your name and enclosed amount noted on the outside of the envelope) to training on Friday evening if possible, if not on Tuesday evening at latest.

To minimise the cost we will arrange car-pooling.

See www.goquest.ie for futher information.

GoQuest Indoor Challenge Zone

 

Exit 5 M50

 

Unit 23 North Park Business Park

 

North Road

 

Dubin 11

 

List of those with qualifying attendance,

 

Niamh Conroy

Alana Ryan

Sarah O'Connor

Rachel Casey

Richael Browne

Alannah O'Carroll

Katie Lawless

Aoife Conroy

Ara Freeman

John O'Connor

Troy Scully

Noah Daly

Louis Lalor

All other club athletes U17 up are welcome to attend!

Tue

28

Mar

2017

GREYSTONES AC GOOD ATTENDANCE TRIP 2016

As our last trip was such a success, this year’s trip for good attendance will be to Jumpzone in Sandyford again and has been arrange to take place on Sat. 8th April from 4.00-5.00 pm.

We reduced the percentage qualification for the trip to 50% attendance this year to allow more athletes to attend. Points have been awarded for each training night attended during 2016, with bonus points for every competition attended.

Athletes will need to be at the Jumpzone Centre by 3.45pm latest, where we will have a full hour on the trampolines. We will pay a trip to McDonalds afterwards and expect to arrive back in Greystones about 7.00 pm.  As it would make the trip very expensive for everyone if we have to hire a bus, we will be depending on parents to drop off and collect the athletes, but if we carpool nobody should have to make more than one journey. If you can let us know whether drop off or pick up suits best, we will do our best to arrange this. Those doing the return journey will need to pick up at Jumpzone at 5.00 pm and  accompany the group to McDonalds. The trip will be subsidised, so cost to the athletes will be €10, which includes food.  If participants have their own Jumpzone socks they should bring them along or they will have to be purchased at the venue on the day (€2.00).

.

Below is a list of the athletes who have qualified for the trip. If you wish to attend, please text your name to 0877730000 by Friday 31 March at the latest, as we have to confirm numbers asap. All athletes attending will be issued with a waiver form which must be signed and returned to the club. Jumpzone will not allow anyone in without this form.

 

To avoid having to deal with cash on the day, and in order for us to be able to confirm final numbers with Jumpzone, payment can be made to Fiona Ryan at the gate at 7 pm tonight or tomorrow night, Wednesday 29 April, or to Louise on Friday night.  Please bring along an envelope with your child’s name and the amount clearly marked on it, and waiver form enclosed (form can be downloaded from Jumpzone’s website).

 

Enya Conroy,  

Erin Howard,

Abbie Taylor

Megan O’Brien ,

Isobel Radford Dodd                                                                                               

Ella Shanley                                                                                                                         Emma Quirk                                                                                                                 

Ellen McNally                                                                                                            

Michael O’Shea                                                                                                              

Joe Prendergast
Paul Delahunty                                                                                                                 Aodhan Daly 

Ronan Dempsey                                                                                                       

Eimear Ryan                                                                                                               

Maebh O’Neill                                                                                                            

Sophie Dallaghan                                                                                                     

Isabelle Donnelly                                                                                                            

Lucy Daly                                                                                                                    

Salley Shanley                                                                                                            

Louise O’Riordan                                                                                                                  Chase Scully

Ailbhe Gordon

Daniel Quirk

Tara Casey

Rory McNally

Ava Foley                                                                                                                                     Camille Madden                                                                                                             

Tom McCarthy                                                                                                              

Sarah Hayes                                                                                                               

Georgia Hogan                                                                                                            

Alex Mulcahy                                                                                                                   

Jack Golden                                                                                                                  

Óisin O’Malley                                                                                                                            Amber Scully                                                                                                                              Zoe Kenna                                                                                                                              Daniel Garvey                                                                                                               

Lucy Garvey        

Evan Quirk                                                                                                                           Tristan Jolyet Cunningham                                                                                                  Aine Hayde                                                                                                                          Georgia Cullen                                                                                                                       Ella Dallaghan                                                                                                                     Isaac Leahy                                                                                                                           Kate Smith

Chloe Hanley

Charlotte Hudson

Nathan Donlon

 

Mon

27

Mar

2017

NATIONAL JUVENILE INDOORS 2017

 

The first weekend of the National Juvenile Indoors saw GAC athletes produce some top class performances with some great results.

 The track on Saturday was all about the Relays, with our U15 boys team making the final in one of the tightest races of the day.

 They gave a great performance in the final where another very close finish left them 5th overall

It was the turn of the U18 boys in the afternoon and having finished a comfortable second in their heat, they went on to take the silver medals in style in the final.

 

We had a number of field eventer’s competing on Saturday and some great results in the Long Jump, with Ellen McNally taking Bronze in the U15 Girls with 5m 05 and Emma Quirk finishing 6th with 4m 79, James Nicholson taking Bronze in the U15 boys with 4m 98, with Joe Prendergast taking 5th with 4m 77 and Aodhan Daly taking 6th in the U17 boys with 5m 34. Sophie Nicholson had a 7th place finish in the U17 high jump and Alannah O’Carroll a 5th place in the U19 pole Vault.

 

Sunday saw our distance runners take to the track for the 1500m and they produced some very exciting races with great results. Richael Browne had a fantastic run in the U19, controlling the race right from the start and pulling away from the field in the last two laps to comfortably take the Indoor title for the second year in a row. Sarah O’Connor took on the girls U17 race right from the gun and had a fantastic run that resulted in her taking the bronze medal and setting a new 1500m PB.

 

Troy Scully had to cover the distance twice, as there were heats in the boys U18, but as always he rose to the challenge running a PB in the heat to qualify comfortably for the final where he followed up with yet another PB and a 10th place finish.

 

A fantastic race from Rachel Casey in the U18 Walk to finish 6th with a huge PB of 7.59m. Rachel has progressed hugely and has taken 49 secs off her time for this distance in the past year.

 

A good win in her heat saw Alana Ryan safely through to the 60m final where she finished 4th , but disappointment for Jack McGlone after an unfortunate break at the start of his.

 

Silver in the U19 Long Jump for James Vance, losing out on the gold by a mere .01 of a centimeter and 13th place finishes for Ellen McNally in the U15 High Jump and for Sophie Nicholson in the U17.

 

Well done to all who competed over the two days & a huge Thank You to the parents & coaches who supported them during the weekend.

 

Best of luck to everyone on the final day next Saturday !

 

Mon

20

Mar

2017

Newsletter

CLUB NEWS

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2016 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club this coming Friday. 24st March at 7pm.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2016 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club this coming Friday. 24st March at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2016, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2016, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week.

 

There will be no training on Friday 24th to facilitate this Awards night.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

 

 

Our annual Attendance Trip for those with good attendance during 2016, has been arranged for Sat 8th April.at 4pm. As Jumpzone proved to be so popular last year, we are returning this year, with the customary stop off at McDonald’s on the way back. The full list of athletes who qualify to go on this trip will be published on our website in the next couple of days.

 

A separate trip for our older athletes is also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 

 

 

JUVENILE & JUNIOR RESULTS

 

Congatulations to Sarah O’Connor who won Gold in the 1500m on Day 3 of the Leinster Champ. and Alannah O’Carroll who won Gold in the Pole Vault, Ben Jones who won bronze in the 1500m & Sophie Nicholson who won bronze in the HJ.

 

Gold in the Relays for U15 Boys: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Michael O’Shea, Jack McGlone & U18 Boys: Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon, John O’Connor with Silver for U19 Boys: Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon, James Vance. Good Luck in the Nationals!

 

Day 4 was the Junior/Senior/ Masters Champs:

 

Junior medals: Gold for James Vance in the LJ. Silver for Ara Freeman in the 60m, Alana Ryan in the 200m, Rosa Kirwan in the TJ and Bronze for Rosa Kirwan in the 400m & HJ & Katie Lawless in the 60mH.

 

 

 

SENIOR & MASTERS RESULTS

 

Indoor Track & Field: Senior: Silver for Niamh Kearney in the 3K & Silver for Aoife Conroy in the 60mH & bronze in the 400m.

 

Masters: Gold for Carol Costello in the Leinster 800m, while the National Masters saw Carol Costello take silver in the 800m & Nick Russell take silver in the 400m.

 

Road & XC: Brian O'Murchu finished in an excellent 6th place in the Clane 10k in a time of 34:44, as well as picking up another 6th place finish in the BHAA 5 mile XC. Brian Geraghty won the M40 title in the Enniscorthy 10k in a time of 33:33, while also clocking a very impressive 56:14 in the Ballycotton 10 miler. Robert Costello followed up a 10th place finish in the IMRA mountain race at Ticknock with a trail marathon in the Blue Mountains while holidaying in Australia, where he also posted a time of 39:30 in the Sydney Striders 10k race. Dermot Hughes has also been competing recently, but at a more local level, including running a 44 minute 10k in the Wicklow Hospice race in Avondale, finishing 11th overall out of a field of over 200 runners. Finally, GAC racing stalwart AJ Cotter has recently completed his 100th parkrun! Congratulations to all!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 25th March, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  2. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, 26th March, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  3. County Road Race, Fri 31st March in Ashford @ 7.15pm.. U17 upwards.

  4. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, 1st April, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  5. Wicklow Invitational Secondary Schools T&F, Greystones 10.30am

  6. National 10k Championships Dublin Sun 9th Apr. Adult event.

  7. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April.

  8. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages

  9. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23rd April, Raheny. U17 upwards.

  10. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event.

  11. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6th May, Greystones. U17 upwards

  12. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13th/14th May, Greystones. Open to all ages.

 

 

 

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

 

There was a great turnout in Avondale last Saturday afternoon at the first gathering of athletes for the new County Initiative for athletes from 10-20 yrs of age, although GAC was poorly represented. After a good warm-up, the athletes broke into groups to go for a run over a variety of distances and on their return they were divided into groups for team building games. There was a fantastic atmosphere with everyone present having a great time and hopefully building bonds for the future. There are some pictures from the day on our website & FB page.

 

The next event in early April, will be a mile challenge on the track and hopefully we will see many more GAC athletes taking part in this and becoming part of what promises to be a great development squad for Wicklow athletes.

 


 

Sun

19

Feb

2017

Club Newsletter

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THIS WEEK

 

Due to very poor attendances during school holidays & breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups this coming week, ie Tues 21st & Fri 24th Feb. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual.

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us re injury/illness, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to the waiting list.

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do a run yourself later in the day.

 


HELP STILL NEEDED

 

We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 


CONGRATULATIONS

 

Congatulations to Aoife Conroy, Alana Ryan, Ara Freeman, Richael Browne, Rosa Kirwan, Alannah O’Carroll, Claire Earls, Laura Kavanagh & Niamh Conroy, who made up the Slí Cualann women’s team in the National Indoor League recently. Terrific performances from all the girls in both rounds and a great battle in the final won them the Silver medals. A great effort from the men’s team saw them make the final also, with some top class individual performances. Well done also to all who competed in the AAI Games and again some terrific individual performances on the day.

 

We had a big entry in the Leinster Championships, with a number of first timers taking to the Indoor track for the first time. Unfortunately quite a number of those who entered didn’t manage to make it to their events and we take this opportunity to remind everyone that while we pay all the entry fees for our juvenile athletes, those who fail to turn up to compete are expected to refund these fees to the club. On this occasion the entry fee was €3.50 per event, but fees can be up to €15 an event and the club cannot continue to pay these and then not have the athletes turn up to compete.

 

Well done to all who took part over the two days. Some really top performances, with a big number qualifying for event finals and several medal winners and qualifiers to Nationals at the end of March. Gold for Alana Ryan in the 60m & 200m, James Vance in the Long Jump, Ben Jones in the 800m & Ailbhe Gordon in the Shot Putt, Silver for Joe Prendergast in the 800m and James Nicholson & Ellen McNally in the LJ, Bronze for Richael Browne in the 800m & for Aodhan Daly, Sophie Nicholson, Jack McGlone & Daniel Quirk in the LJ and 4th place and qualification to Nationals for Rachel Casey in the 1500m walk, Emma Quirk in the Hurdles & LJ, Ellen McNally in the HJ, John O’Connor in the 800m, Marcus Lennon in the 200m & Joe Prendergast in the LJ. Best of luck to all those competing in the 1500m & Relays next Saturday and to all our Juniors, Seniors & Masters competing on Sunday!

 


UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 3+ Relays in Abbottstown on Sat 25th Feb. Entries closed

  2. Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters Indoors in Abbottstown on Sun 26th Feb. Entries closed.

  3. Sportshall, Shoreline Community Hall, Greystones Saturday 4th March 2-5pm.

  4. National Masters Indoor Championships, Athlone Sunday 5th March. Entries close

  5. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 25th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  6. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, 26th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  7. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, 1st April, Athlone (Must qualify)

 


CLUB AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 2nd March at 8pm at 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.

 


SPORTSHALL COMPETITION

 

Our Sportshall competition for our younger athletes will take place on Sat 4th March in the Community Hall at Shoreline swimming pool from 2.00-5.00pm. This is a really fun event, where the athletes are put into teams and take part in a number of running, jumping & throwing events, finishing with a relay. As this is a team competition, athletes must be available for the entire event. If an athlete leaves early, their entire team loses out, as they will not be able to finish the competition. Open to all athletes up to U14 in 2017 (born 2004 or after). Teams will be made up on the day! Please arrive on time as once the teams have been made up we will not be able to include late comers and we don’t want to disappoint anyone! Lots of help will be needed for this one, so if you are available, please let us know asap. Help from our older athletes is invaluable for this event, so please let us know if you can come along and help. As we need to get an idea of numbers taking part we’ll have an entry form on our website which will close on Wed 1st March.

 

Wed

25

Jan

2017

Newsletter

 

CLUB NEWS

 

CONGRATULATIONS

We had a great start to the indoor season on Sat. 14th Jan with the 1st round of the National League, where our girls team, Aoife Conroy, Richael Browne, Ara Freeman, Alannah O’Carroll & Laura Kavanagh made a great start in the defence of their title from last year.

 They are lying 2nd by a single point going into R2 this coming Sat. The boys team didn’t fare quite as well, despite an outstanding performance of 6.78m from James Vance in the Long jump. We had 8 athletes in the 800m Endurance Initiative races that day, with most running PB’s on the day and a terrific 1st run over senior height hurdles from Katie Lawless as well. We also had great performances from Emma Quirke, Ellen McNally, Enya Conroy & Nell Berney in the Combined events last Sun.

 

 

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2017

 A big thank you to everyone who helped with registrations last week and to all the athletes & parents for getting them in on time. We are now all registered & insured for the year ahead. Places that were not taken up have now been offered to those on our waiting list and we welcome our new members for 2017.

 

HELP STILL NEEDED

 We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

 FEBRUARY COMPETITIONS (another busy month!)

  1. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. Guest & endurance initiative events.

  2. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

  3. National Indoor League Final in Abbottstown on Sat 4th Feb + Endurance Initiative Events 800m, 1500m, 3K. Entries close Thurs 26th Jan.

  4. AAI Games in Abbottstown on Sun 5th Feb. Entries close Thurs 26th Jan. (Adult event)

  5. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 1 in Athlone on Sat 11th Feb. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  6. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 2 in Athlone on Sun 12th Feb. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  7. National Masters & Juvenile B XC Championships in Waterford on Sun 12th Feb. These races are open to all athletes who did not medal at the National XC. Races for U11/13/15/17 age groups (2016 ages and athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A' XC Championships. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  8. National Senior Indoors Day 1 in Abbottstown on Sat 18th Feb. Entries close Feb.9th.

  9. National Senior Indoors Day 2 in Abbottstown on Sun 19th Feb. Entries close Feb.9th.

  10. Leinster Juvenile Indoors  Day 3+ Relays in Abbottstown on Sat 25th Feb. Entries close Feb.16th.

  11. Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters Indoors in Abbottstown on Sun 26th Feb. Entries close Feb.16th.

 

Entry forms for all of these events are on our website. Please get your entries in asap, as this will help us to arrange as much training as we can for all athletes, in their chosen events!

 

CLUB AGM

 The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 2nd March at 8pm. 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.

 

SPORTSHALL COMPETITION

 Our Sportshall competition for our younger athletes will take place on Sat 4th March in the Community Hall at Shoreline swimming pool from 2.00-5.00pm. This is a great fun event, but as it is a team competition, athletes must be available for the entire event. If an athlete leaves early, their entire team loses out. Open to all athletes up to U14 in 2017 (born 2004 or after). Teams will be made up on the day! Please arrive on time as once the teams have been made up we will not be able to include late comers and we don’t want to disappoint anyone! Lots of help will be needed for this one, so if you are available, please let us know asap. Help from our older athletes is invaluable for this event, so please let us know if you can come along and help.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 As Feb. is so busy with preparation for competitions this year, we will leave our awards night until early March. A number of awards will be given out for both individual & team performances during 2016, as well as our 5yr/10 yr membership awards, Athlete of the Year & our 3A’s awards for Attendance, Attitude, Achievement which will be given to all age groups. Light refreshments will be follow and an opportunity to chat with your child’s coaches. All athletes & their families are welcome to attend.

 

ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

 The attendances for 2016 are being counted and a list will be put up on our website shortly with the names of those who have qualified and the details of the Good Attendance Trip.

 

WICKLOW COUNTY ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

 A meeting for coaches & parents interested in the propose Endurance Initiative will take place on Mon. next 6th Feb.at 7.30pm in Shoreline Sports Park. There will be a presentation by Steve Macklin - AAI Junior Endurance Coach at 7.30pm followed by a planning session at 8.30pm. Well worth attending!

 

 SPRINTS INITIATIVE

 Details of a sprints Initiative will follow shortly

 

Tue

03

Jan

2017

Newsletter

CLUB NEWS
We hope all our athletes & coaches had a lovely Xmas and that you are all ready to get back to work now. Training for all groups resumes tonight Tues 3rd Jan.

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2017
All club athletes must register for 2017. Registration will take place on Tues 17th Jan from 5-8pm, & Fri 20th Jan from 6-8pm. Registrations can be handed in at check-in before these dates provided they are in an envelope with the athlete’s name on it, but cannot be accepted after these dates, as all available places will have been given to those on our waiting list. Please note that Shoreline Sports Park cannot accept registration forms or payments for Greystones AC.

 

HELP NEEDED
We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

CONGRATULATIONS & CELEBRATIONS!
The Wicklow Star Awards will take place in Roundwood Parish Hall on Fri. 13th Jan at 7.30pm. Once again Greystones AC athletes have done really well, taking 3 of the 4 Juvenile awards with Alex Campbell winning the Boys U14-16, Richael Browne winning the Girls U16-19 & Ben Jones winning the Boys U16-19. GAC take both Junior awards, with Ara Freeman winning the girls & James Vance winning the boys. GAC’s Claire Foley & Jamie Cullen receive International Merit Awards for representing the Irish Universities in Scotland.
The Leinster Star Awards will take place in Carlow on Sat. 22nd Jan. and Geystones AC athletes take all 3 awards, with Richael Browne winning the Juvenile Girls, Josh Pyper winning the Juvenile Boys & Aoife Conroy winning the Senior Award.
Congratulations to all of these athletes on their awards. It’s great to see their hard work paying off!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
1. Wicklow Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Shanganagh Park on Sun. 8th Jan @ 11am.
2. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 14th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website. Closing Fri 6th Jan. We won the Ladies League in 2016, so have a title to defend girls! We want a full men’s team also this year lads!
3. Leinster Intermediate & Masters and Juvenile Relays (U12/14/16, 4 x 500m) will take place on Sun. 15th Jan. In Dunboyne. If you are interested in being on a team, please fill in the form which will close on Fri 6th.
4. National Combined events for athletes from U14 upwards will take place in Athlone on Sat. 21st Jan. Form on the website will be closing Wed Jan 11th.
5. The National Intermediate XC & Inter Club Relays ((U12/14, 4 x 500m) will take place in Tuam on Sun. 22nd Jan. Form up & closing Wed 11th Jan.
6. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up.
7. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

 

News of Club AGM, Club Awards night, Attendance Day Trip & Sportshall Competition for our younger members, will all follow shortly

Sun

18

Dec

2016

XMAS NEWSLETTER & INFO

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National XC’s and represented us so well.

 

Congratulations to Richael Browne who won Gold with both the Co. U18 team & the Co. U19’s, silver with the Leinster U18’s, silver with the Slí Cualann junior team & bronze with the Co Junior team. Congrats also to Joe Prendergast on his silver medal with the Leinster U14 team. Great running from everyone who competed & congrats to all on a great XC season.

 

Well done also to all who competed in R6 of the XC League. Great running from everyone and some terrific wins once again! Most of the medals have now been given out, but we still have a few in hand due to athletes not being present at training. If you think you are due a medal from either the Co. Champs or the League, please ask Theresa on Tues. night, as they may get forgotten when we come back in the new year and we really do want you to have them.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS (Busy month ahead!)

  1. Solstice Mile: Sli Cualann AC will host a series of graded 1 ml races (4laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice on Wed 21st Dec. at 7pm. Entry donation 5euros for Adults, 3euros for U12’s U16’s. Refreshments afterwards.

  2. STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K A great way to run of the turkey on Stephen's day is The Streets of Wicklow 5K at 11am. Always a great event, with lots of prizes & spotprizes & great refreshments afterwards. There's also a kids 1 mile race just before the big event on the day!

  3. Roundwood Biathlon: Roundwood AC host a Charity Biathlon on Tues 27th Dec. supporting leukaemia & Cancer Research at Vartry House Kavanagh's. Starting at 2pm, walkers 1.45pm.

  4. Wicklow Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Shanganagh Park on Sun. 8th Jan @ 11am.

  5. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 14th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website. We won the Ladies League in 2016, so have a title to defend girls! We want a full men’s team also this year lads!

  6. Leinster Intermediate & Masters and Juvenile Relays (U12/14/16, 4 x 500m) will take place on Sun. 15th Jan. In Dunboyne. If you are interested in being on a team, please fill in the form which will be up shortly.

  7. National Combined events for athletes from U14 upwards will take place in Athlone on Sat. 21st Jan. Form will be up shortly.

  8. The National Intermediate XC & Inter Club Relays ((U12/14, 4 x 500m) will take place in Tuam on Sun. 22nd Jan. Form will be up shortly.

  9. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up.

  10. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

CELEBRATIONS!

The County Star Awards will take place in Roundwood Parish Hall on Fri. 13th Jan at 7.30pm. We have a number of GAC athletes in the running for awards and all athletes and their families are invited to come along and support our stars! Award winners will be announced shortly.

 

XMAS TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS

All groups have training this Tues. 20th Dec. and this will be the final session for the younger groups. The 7-8.30pm session will go ahead as usual on Wed, but this will be the last session before Xmas. as the centre closes at 6pm on Fri. Training will officially resume on Tues 3rd Jan, but some coaches may make their own arrangements with groups over the holiday period. Do keep running and keep your fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 
We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

Stronger! Higher! Faster!” for 2017!”

 

Sat

26

Nov

2016

Newsletter

 CLUB NEWS

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

The National even ages events for U12-18 and the Junior & Senior adults are taking place tomorrow Sun. 27th Nov.

GAC competitors for Sunday: Joe Prendergast U14 boys representing Greystones & Leinster, Ella Shanley, Louise O’Riordan, Eimear Ryan, Enya Conroy, Salley Shanley U14 girls representing Wicklow. Ben Jones, Fernando Ruiz, John O’Connor, Enrique Rancon U16 Boys representing Wicklow, Richael Browne & Rachel Casey U18/Junior girls representing Greystones & Wicklow, with Richael also representing Leinster. Troy Scully U18 boys representing Greystones. Katy Conroy Junior girls representing Slí Cualann & Wicklow. We congratulate them all and wish them well on Sunday!

 

The National uneven ages event for U11-19 and the Novice adults will take place on Sunday 11th Dec. in Dundalk. GAC competitors for Sun 11th: Louise O’Riordan, Eimear Ryan, Salley Shanley U13 girls representing Wicklow, Abbie Tyrrell, Ella Shanley, Megan O’Brien, Enya Conroy U15 girls representing Wicklow, with Abbie also representing Leinster, Sarah O’ Connor U17 girls representing Greystones & Leinster, Richael Browne U19 girls representing Greystones, Wicklow & Leinster. Troy Scully U17 boys representing Greystones. Best of luck to everyone!

 

XC LEAGUE ROUND 6: The 6th and final round of the League will be held in Bray Emmetts on Fri 2nd Dec. Registration 6.30pm, first race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 6, 8, 10, 12 & 14/15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website and will close on Thurs. 1st Dec. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in 5 events get gold, in 4 events get silver & in 3 events get bronze medals. Present standing after 5 rounds is listed on the sidebar of our website. Have a look and see if you can improve your medal standing or get yourself into the medals by attending the final round.

Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 2nd Dec, as coaches will be at the XC League. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

 

SPORTSHALL

We intend holding a Sportshall competition for our younger athletes around mid January. This will be a team event for U7/9/11/13/15 and so will be open to all athletes aged 5 - 14 in 2017. This is always a really fun competition and is a great first event if you haven’t ventured into competition yet. We will be practising for this over the coming weeks, with groups rotating each week, so do try to come along to training each week and get to know the events involved. Medals for the 1st three teams in each age group for both girls & boys. It really is great fun!

 

COACHING DAY

We had a very successful club coaching session in late Oct. and are planning to hold the next session on Sat. 10th Dec. from 11.30 -2pm. Once again we will cover Hurdles, Sprints, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin & Discus as required. Application form is now on the website and will close on Thursday 8th Dec. These sessions are helpful in preparing the athletes for the Indoor season and are open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006). Registration form now on our website. Please list three events in order of preference. We will do our best to give you your top two choices, if at all possible.

 

TEAM MEDALS

We have been trying to hand out the team medals won at the Co. Championships over the past few weeks, but still have a good number in hand, as some athletes have not been attending training sessions. If you are due a medal, please collect from Theresa asap.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congratulations go to Richael Browne, who has been offered a full scholarship at Georgia State University for next September. This is a fantastic opportunity for Richael to develop as an athlete while getting a first class education and we hope she enjoys her time in the USA. Richael is following in the footsteps of another Greystones athlete Niamh Kearney, who has recently returned with a Masters in Nutrition, after a very successful 5 yrs in Georgia State. Just goes to show that if you make the commitment, work hard and progress steadily, your athletics can open doors to a great future for you.

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor in some groups during November and we remind everyone that athletes who disappear for up to 3 weeks without contacting us are deemed to have left the club. Check-in sheets are reviewed at the end of each month, names of those who aren’t attending are removed from the check-in sheets and places are given to those on our waiting list. Please contact us before the end of the month if you fall into this category.

 

NB: Athletes in groups 1 & 2 have agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions per week and need to do this to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group, but is not being adhered to. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

 

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week, particularly from U12 up. If you cannot make this, you really need to do the run yourself later in the day. Venue varies from week to week and is posted on our website & FB page each week. This long, easy run can be very enjoyable and lays the base for everything we do.

 

So far this season the attendance on Sunday mornings is poor and we would really love to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues. Dec.13th from 4.45-5pm and again from 7-8pm, in case anyone needs extra Xmas pressies........Santa has already put in his order! We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available and souvenir club pens also. The new batch of smaller singlets were delayed, but should have arrived by then. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have some second-hand spikes for sale at very reasonable prices. Some of these have hardly been worn!

 

FINALLY

Can we appeal to parents once again to ensure that all athletes bring a raincoat, hat & gloves to training, as it is very cold on the track some nights. Gloves are a real necessity, as when cold the children are inclined to run with their hands in their pockets, which is likely to result in head or facial injury if they fall as they have no way of saving themselves.

Mon

31

Oct

2016

Newsletter

TRAINING IS AT THE USUAL TIMES ALL THIS WEEK

 

LEINSTER XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

A very disappointing turn out of just 15 athletes for the first of the Leinster XC Championships on Saturday last, with only 9 girls & 6 boys from the club taking part. This is hugely disappointing for the athletes who do take part as we fail to fill teams for them and for the coaches who put in so much time and effort in preparing the athletes for these events.

 

Congratulations to those who did take part as we had some fantastic running on the day. A first outing for Cian Smyth in the boys U12 saw him finish 97th, with Chase Scully 108th. In the boys U14 Joe Prendergast finished in 5th place to qualify as an individual and also as part of the Leinster team for the Nationals. Paul Delahunty (U13) stepping up an age, also had a great run to finish 38th. In the girls U14 Ella Shanley finished 25th, Louise O’Riordan (U13) 37th, Eimear Ryan (U13) 51st, Enya Conroy 65th, Salley Shanley (U13) 78th & Erin Howard 90th. Ella, Louise, Eimear, Enya & Salley qualify for Nationals as part of the Wicklow team. A great run from Abbie Tyrrell (U15) stepping up in the girls U16 where she finished 18th and a 21st place finish for Ben Jones in the boys U16, with Joe Dowd (U15) taking 61st. Richael Browne had a terrific race to take 6th in the girls U18, also qualifying as an individual and as part of the Leinster team and Rachel Casey (U17) finishing 32nd. A terrific race also in the U18 boys from Troy Scully, (U17) who finished just out of the medals in 13th, with Cormac Gilnagh (U17) 45th. Well done to all and here’s hoping for a much better turn out for the Uneven Ages.

 

Form for Uneven Ages is now on our website and will close on Fri. 4th Nov.

 

 

 

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

The uneven ages event for U11-19 and the Juniors & Senior adults will take place on Sun. 13th Nov. It will be on the same course as the Even Ages, in New Forest Golf Club, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will make an effort and turn out for this one to run for Club & County. First race is at 12 o’clock, so athletes will need to arrive at 11am for check-in & warm up, as numbers will be big. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is this Friday 4th Nov. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out.

 

 

 

XC LEAGUE ROUND 5: Thursday 17th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13 & 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will be on our website and will close on Tues. 15th Nov. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in all 6 events get Gold, in 5 events get silver & in 4 events get bronze medals.

 

 

 

COACHING DAY

 

We had a relatively small attendance at the club coaching session on Saturday 22nd Oct. but coaches & athletes present all agree that it was a really worthwhile session. Those who turned up really enjoyed the morning and got a lot out of it. We hope to run one of these sessions each month to help prepare for the Indoor season and they are open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006).

 

 

 

TEAM MEDALS

 

We have not yet received team medals from the County Champs, but should get them at Tuesday’s meeting this week and will give them out on Wed/Fri.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rain jacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!

 

 

NB: Groups 1 & 2 are required to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

 

 

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week, particularly from U12 up. If you cannot make this, you really need to do the run yourself later in the day. Venue varies from week to week and is posted on our website & FB page each week. This long, easy run can be very enjoyable and lays the base for everything we do.

 

So far this season the attendance on Sunday mornings & also on Fri nights is poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

 

Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

 

 

 

Mon

17

Oct

2016

Newsletter

A VERY LONG NEWSLETTER THIS TIME, BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AS IT CONTAINS A LOT OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR CLUB ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

 

WICKLOW XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Fantastic results from both Sunday’s at the Wicklow XC Championships, despite a very big percentage of our club athletes failing to attend. On day 1 we had barely 20% of our athletes in attendance, but despite this we got 7 individual medals and team medals in the Girls U10, U14 & U16 and Boys U16 & U18

Congratulations to our County Champions Ella Shanley, Richael Browne & Joe Prendergast, Silver medal winners Sarah O’Connor & Troy Scully and bronze winners Abbie Tyrrell & Paul Delahunty and well done to all who ran so well.

 

On day 2 we did a little better, but not much, and again we saw fantastic running from those who did come with County Championships going to Sarah O’Connor, silver medals to Abbie Tyrrell, Louise O’Riordan, Paul Delahunty & Troy Scully & bronze medals to Katy Lawless & Ella Shanley. A few more teams this time, with team medals, for every team we managed to fill, Girls U9, U11, U13, U15 & U17, Boys U17 & our Intermediate Men. Great running from everyone who took part, but disappointing for all the coaches who put so much time and effort in, to see so many athletes not taking part on either day.

 

Full results from both days are now on the sidebar of our website home page. Medals to follow!

 

 

 

COACHING DAY

 

We are holding a special coaching session on next Saturday 22nd Oct. from 10-12 o’clock at Shoreline Track. This is open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006) and will cover Hurdles, Sprints, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin, Discus. Application form is now on the website and will close on this Thursday 20th Oct. Don’t just turn up on the day please, as we will not be able to facilitate you. Each athlete can take part in two events only. Please list 3 events in order of choice and we will do our best to give you your first preferences. Cost for the day is €5. We intend holding a number of these sessions over the coming months, to help prepare for the Indoor season.

 

 

 

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

We are now looking forward to the first of the Leinster Championships, which will take place on a new course this year in New Forest Golf Club, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath. This is the even ages event for athletes from U12-18 (U11’s can move up) and also for Novice & Masters athletes. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will make an effort and turn out to run for Club & County on Saturday 29th Oct. First race is at 12 o’clock, so athletes will need to arrive at 11am for check-in & warm up, as numbers will be big. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is this Friday 21st Oct. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out. There will be open (non championship) races for girls & boys U10, with entries taken on the day, at the event. Start time for this is 11.40am.

 

The uneven ages event for U11-19 (U10’s can move up) and the Intermediate adults will take place on Sun. 13th Nov. Venue has yet to be confirmed for this. To avoid confusion, entry form for this will only go up when the even ages comes down.

 

 

 

LEAGUE ROUND 5 : Friday 17th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will go up after the Leinster events close, to avoid confusion.. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in all 6 events get Gold, in 5 events get silver & in 4 events get bronze medals. A list of standings for the 2016 League will go up on our website shortly.

 

Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 17th, as coaches will be at the XC League. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

 

 

 

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS

 

Arrive on time, as late arrival puts unnecessary stress on everyone, especially the young athletes. Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. Club coaches will generally take charge of the younger groups. Warm up should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walking around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

 

We know how easy it is to get carried away during a race and while love to hear everyone cheering on our athletes, in keeping with the ethos of our club, parents, coaches & supporters should try to ensure that we are always being supportive of all our athletes and not critical of how they are performing. Not every race will go to plan, but they are all out there doing their very best, so lets leave the race analysis to the coaches/athletes at the next training session and just be there for them offering your unwavering support and encouragement! Please note that running beside an athlete during a race is termed pacing and you will most likely get the athlete disqualified if you do this.

 

 

 

 

PLEASE READ AND INFORM/REMIND ATHLETES:

 

We are asking once again that athletes make sure to use the toilets before coming down to training as it causes huge problems if a coach has to leave a group to bring them up, during the session. On this note, we remind athletes that the toilets and changing rooms must be left as we find them and not in a mess. Recently we have had a lot of tissue etc. thrown about and water everywhere, coinciding with athletic club’s use of the facility, and this needs to stop. Shoreline have the right to refuse access to groups who do not respect the track and other facilities. Please remember that the building is not our club house, it is a business premises and athletes are asked not to gather in the reception area or just outside the front door, as this interferes with other customers access. We now have access to the container nearest to the track for check-in on wet evenings, so please go directly there to check-in, if it is raining. You may leave your bags here on wet nights.

 

 

We remind you once again that all athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!

 

 

Athletes who may need an inhaler, should always make sure to bring it with them. You should not share other athletes inhalers, as they may not be the same medication/dosage as yours.

 

 

Athletes who are not fit to train due to injury or illness should not attend training sessions. Athletes who arrive and are not fit to train will be sent home, as it is far too cold to stand around on the track waiting for the session to end.

 

 

NB: Groups 1 & 2 are required to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.

 

 

So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

 

Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

 

 

 

LEINSTER PERFORMANCE SQUAD

 

 

Congratulations to GAC athletes Alana Ryan  Sprints, Alex Campbell TJ, Ara Freeman Sprints, Ben Mooney  Sprints, James Vance  LJ, Josh Pyper  Sprints, Louis Lalor  Hurdles, Niamh Conroy  Sprints, Rachel Casey  Walks, Rachel Whitten  Javelin, Sophie Nicholson  HJ, who were selected for the Leinster performance squad for the 2016/17 season. They had their first session last Sat. in Santry with the second one coming up on Dec. 3rd in Athlone covering all events except endurance, which is organised separately. A developmental squad, open to all athletes aged 12 yrs +, runs on the same day from 11am-1pm. The Dec. 3rd session for this one covers Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump and costs €5.

 

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. 25th Oct. from 4.40-5pm and again from 7-8pm only. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Unfortunately the new batch of smaller singlets are not due to arrive until the 31st Oct., but they can be purchased on the 25th and we will deliver them as soon as they arrive. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have a small number of secondhand spikes for sale at very reasonable prices.

 

 

 

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS

 

We have a large number of athletes registration cards which have still not been collected. These have the athletes Life No. and will not be replaced, so we don’t want to give them to young children in case they get lost. A lot of them were given out at the Awards night, but for those who haven’t received them yet, we will have them at the gate this week, so please ask when you are dropping off your child, if you have not collected them previously. Cards for recently registered athletes will not be available yet.

 

Sun

25

Sep

2016

Newsletter

 

WELCOME BACK

 

Welcome back to all our athletes and coaches and a big welcome to all our new athletes. We hope everyone is well settled in at this stage, enjoying the training and looking forward to the Cross Country (XC) season. Attendance at training has been poor in a couple of groups and we are now removing all athletes who have not returned at this stage, as we have long lists of people waiting for places. We cannot hold places indefinitely!

 

REGISTRATION NIGHT

 

We will be holding a registration night for all of our new athletes on this coming Tues 27h Sept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be taken between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms will be available on the night and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2016 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. Those already registered for 2016, do not need to register again.

 

 

 

COMPETITIONS

 

We had our first competition last Friday with a good number of our athletes taking part in the Cross Country (XC) League. Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to all who helped out on the night.

 

 

 

VERY IMPORTANT

 

The County XC Championships are coming up fast and will take place on next Sun 2nd Oct in Ashford & the following Sun 9th Oct. in Roundwood. We need as many athletes as possible to take part in these events, so please try to come along. We would really love to have full teams in every age group! (See FB/GAC Website for maps)

 

The entry forms are now on the website and entries need to be in asap. Entries for the Even Ages (U6/8/10/12/14/16/18/Novice) on Oct. 2nd will close on Thurs. 29th Sept. and for the Uneven Ages (U7/9/11/13/15/17/ Intermediate) on Oct. 9th will close on Thurs. 6th Oct.

 

Certs for all athletes who complete the course from U7-U10’s. U11’s upwards are Championship events, with medals for the 1st three finishers and the 1st three teams. Events are open to all registered athletes and all athletes may move up one age group (U7 can run U8 etc.) allowing everyone to compete both weeks.

 

Tue

30

Aug

2016

Club News & Information

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We hope you have all enjoyed a good rest at this stage and are all now eagerly preparing to return to training. We sincerely hope that you have all followed our request to start back running, are now doing a reasonable run every second day and will be more than ready to start training when we return.

 

 

We hope you have all enjoyed a good rest at this stage and are all now eagerly preparing to return to training. We sincerely hope that you have all followed our request to start back running, are now doing a reasonable run every second day and will be more than ready to start training when we return. If you have not started yet, you can still make a difference by starting now. Run 15-20 mins (younger groups 10-15m) every second day and you will reap the benefits. The first Cross Country event will be held in Greystones in late Sept.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 6th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 9th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 13th Sept. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified. Those who did not respond to the invite will now stay in their original group, as all available places have now been allocated.

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts before taking their break. Those who still owe for weekly subs/entries are reminded that these debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in. If this continues to be an issue, we may have to refuse entry to those who arrive without their €2 and we would rather not have to do this.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered for, are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short of coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues. to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. You will have help and we will ensure you get some basic training. We won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with our younger groups!

 

We also need helpers to look after the check-in on all three nights. This generally only takes about 20 mins, but is a huge help to the coaches, as it allows training to begin on time.

 

FIT4YOUTH

 

We plan to revive our Fit4Youth group this Sept. and have places available in this group. This group is for age 12 yrs upwards and is aimed at those who want to run for fitness rather than take part in competitive athletics. Athletes will warm up on the track with the rest of the groups and will then be taken on a run by a qualified coach. Group members can also join in with the Core/Circuits session on Wed. evenings.

 

 

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Over the next few weeks we plan to re-vamp our adult programmes as we are keen to build the adult section of our club for both serious and recreational runners. For the moment our Beginner2Winner group continues with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we hope to see lots of new faces coming along.

 

Our regular established Fit4Life sessions continue on Mon/Wed at 8.30pm & Wed/Fri at 10am and our road run takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm with Caoimhin MacMaolain. This group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones. All level & abilities will be catered for at our sessions. All club members young & old are welcome to the Sunday morning run, but U12’s must be accompanied by an adult. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 

Tue

09

Aug

2016

Club News & Info

 

TRAINING

 

Most athletes & coaches are now on a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from many of our athletes. Enjoy the rest, but do spare a thought for the girls still training and wish them well as they continue their preparation to compete in the European Clubs Cup in Portugal in September, where they took the bronze last year!

 

 

TRAINING

 

Most athletes & coaches are now on a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from many of our athletes. Enjoy the rest, but do spare a thought for the girls still training and wish them well as they continue their preparation to compete in the European Clubs Cup in Portugal in September, where they took the bronze last year! Training throughout the summer for this event, will be by arrangement with the coaches involved.

 

For all our other athletes we recommend a full two weeks 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 5 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 Cross Country event will be less than two weeks after we return in Sept.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 will resume on Tues. 6th Sept, with groups 3-6 returning on Fri. 9th Sept. Little Athletics will return on Tues. 13th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.

 

 

 

Groups for Sept.'16 will be organised very soon to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Parents of athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if their children intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 

 

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts over the past few weeks. Those who still owe for weekly subs/entries are reminded that these debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in. If this continues to be an issue, we may have to refuse entry to those who arrive without their €2 and we would rather not have to do this.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered for, are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 


 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the National Championships recently and who represented the club so well, though it was disappointing that so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Huge congratulations to the medal winners and to all who earned PB's.

 

U14: Ellen McNally took bronze in the Long Jump with a huge PB.

 

U16: Alex Campbell took Silver in the Triple Jump.

 

U18: Richael Browne took Silver in the 1500m with a 4 sec. PB and 4th place in the 800m.

 

U19: Ara Freeman Gold in 100m & Bronze in 200m.

 

Great performances from Joe Prendergast U14, Aodhan Daly & Ronan Dempsey U15, Sarah O'Connor, Ben Mooney, Josh Pyper & Ben Jones U16, Troy Scully, Rachel Casey, Alana Ryan & Niamh Conroy U17, Alannah O'Carroll U18

 

Relays: Bronze for the U17 boys Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney and 4th place for the U14 team Darragh Rush, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast & Michael O'Shea.

 

Great performances also from everyone who took part in the National B Championships, with Emma Quirk U14 the star of the day winning the Long Jump and breaking the Championship Best 3 times while doing it. She also finished 5th in the 80m In the 800m, a great win from Katie Lawless U16 leading all the way from the gun and a great run from Erin Howard to win silver U14, with Enya Conroy finishing 7th. Silver also for John O'Connor in the U16 High Jump. A super run and a huge PB from Danny Jones U14 who was just shaded for the bronze medal in a terrific finish, a 6th place finish for Paul Delahunty U13 600m and 4th place for Lucy daly U12 in the 60m.

 

A small turn out for the Inter Counties event in Leixlip, but a fantastic day's competition and a real team spirit with several athletes competing in multiple events during the day, finishing with some very exciting relays. Well done to all!

 


 

A long trip to Cork for R2 of the National League and another great performance from our Slí Cualann teams. Once again many of them went above and beyond the call of duty, giving everything they had and more to get every possible point available. A huge Thank You to PJ Scully who gave up his day off to drive the bus for us........ and a long day it was, but so worthwhile, with the girls team finishing 2nd overall and qualifying for the Final.

 

Unfortunately we had a depleted team for the final last Sunday, as several athletes were not available. Despite this the girls put in a tremendous effort as always and finished in 5th place overall. Well done to all the girls who competed so well throughout the entire League!

 


 

Tue

05

Jul

2016

Club Newsletter

 

TRAINING

 

Training for our younger groups ie 5-6pm & 6-7pm sessions, has now finished for the summer. We hope all our young athletes enjoyed the final night's games & the goodies afterwards & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge 'Thank You' to our coaches and an appeal for more help in Sept. please. Have a great summer everyone.

 

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes are still competing up to the first weekend in August. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. However our Junior Girls, who are off to compete in Europe in Sept., will continue to train throughout the summer, by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 


OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A number of athletes regularly forget to bring their weekly €2 track fee and some owe for several weeks, built up over a period of time. Our check-in crew regularly remind athletes of outstanding fees owed, often to no avail, and so we are now asking that all money owed to the club should be paid off before we take our summer break. We can then start back in Sept. with a clean slate. We know it is easy to forget, but it is unfair that some athletes run up debts while others always pay their fees. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 


UPCOMING EVENTS (Still lots happening)

 

  1. National B Championships Sat 9th July in Tullamore

  2. National Relays Sat 9th July in Tullamore

  3. Day 1 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 10th July

  4. 4 Counties Event in Leixlip on Sat 16th July ( U14 – U17) This is an Inter-County event and athletes interested in being selected for the teams should fill in the form on our website. Closing Fri 8th July. The programme of events is on the sidebar of our website.

  5. Round 2 National League in Cork on Sun. 17th July

  6. Day 2 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sat. 23rd July

  7. Day 3 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 24th July

  8. Celtic Games Sat. 6th Aug in Wales

  9. National League Final in Tullamore on Sun. 7th Aug.

  10. National Masters Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 21st Aug.

 


CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the Leinster Championships this year. We had some great performances and some top results once again.

 

 

 

 

U13: Jack McGlone Gold in the LJ & Bronze in the sprint.

 

U14: Joe Prendergast Gold in the LJ & 5th in the 1500m, Michael O'Shea 4th in the 80m, Ellen McNally Bronze in the LJ & 6th in the 75mH, Emma Quirk 5th in the LJ & 5th in the 75mH, Enya Conroy 6th in the 75mH, James Nicholson 6th in the 800m

 

 

U15: Ronan Dempsey Bronze in the 80mH & 250mH, Aodhan Daly Bronze in the 200m & the 100m & 4th in the LJ, Isobel Radford Dodd 5th in the 1500m

 

 

U16: Ben Jones Gold in the 800m & Silver in the 1500m, Sarah O'Connor Silver in the 1500m & 5th in the 800m, Josh Pyper Gold in the 100m, Ben Mooney Bronze in the 200m, Alex Campbell Gold in the TJ, Katie Lawless 5th in the 250mH & 80mH.

 

 

U17: Niamh Conroy Silver in the 400m & 5th in the 200m, Rachel Casey Bronze in the 3K Walk

 

U18: Richael Browne Gold in the 800m, the 1500m & the HJ, Alannah O'Carroll 4th in the 400m & 5th in the 200m.

 

 

The Bray Invitational Event saw another great night of athletics in Greystones. Disappointing that a number of selected athletes didn't bother to show up, especially as places were so limited and they were denying others a chance to compete. Those who did show up put on another great performance and GAC once again won the Bourke Cup for top club & the Medley Relay Shield.

 

The Invitational Mile saw Richael Browne take the honours in the women's event, with Carol Costello 2nd and Cillian Browne take 3rd in the men's event. Well done to all!

 

Great results again at the National Juniors/U23's on Sat 2nd July.

 

 

U23: Claire Foley Gold in the 100m & Bronze in the 200m, Aoife Conroy Bronze in the 400mH.

 

 

Junior: Gold for our relay team Alannah O'Carroll, Alana Ryan, Katy Conroy, Richael Browne.

 

The National Combined Events on Sun 3rd saw Ellen McNally & Emma Quirk produce several PB's throughout the day leaving them in 4th & 5th position going in to the final 800m where they finished a creditable 8th & 10th.

 

 

Great performance also from our Slí Cualann teams in R1 of the National League, with the

girls team lying 3rd overall going into R2 on July 17th and looking good for a place in the final. A depleted Men's team struggled a bit for points, but with a bigger team going to Cork, we hope for a better showing in R2.

 

 

Congratulations to all the medal winners and qualifiers for the All Irelands!

 

 

Best of Luck to all those who are competing in the many events listed over the next couple of weeks!

 

 

 

Mon

30

May

2016

Newsletter

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our athletes who competed in the County Championships this year. Most of the results are now posted on our website and I will post the rest as soon as I receive them. Well done also to all who competed in the Leinster Relays & Juniors Championships.

 

 

 Some great running here and good results. In the relays we took Gold in the U16 Boys & the U14 Boys, with our 2nd team taking 4thplace. We took silver in the U13 Boys and had 4th place finishes in the U11 & U15 Boys. In the Junior competition Congratulations go to Rachel Casey, who took Gold in the 3K walk, her first race at this distance, to become Leinster Junior Champion, Richael browne who took silver in the 800m, Troy Scully who took silver in the 3K, Noah Daly who took bronze in the Long Jump and the girls 4x100m team, Alana Ryan, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy, Alannah O'Carroll, who took bronze in the relay. Great results also from the Combined Events where Aoife Conroy took Silver in the Senior with Isobel O'grady taking the bronze. Great performances in their first Combined Events from Ellen McNally 6th, Emma Quirk 8th, Enya Conroy 11th, Erin Howard 14th, in the Girls U14's. Lots more to come from these girls!. In the Leinster Schools, congrats go to Ben Jones 1st & Sarah O'Connor 2nd in the 1500m events, Josh Pyper 2nd in the 100m & Alex Campbell 2nd in TJ at Junior level & James Vance 1st in the LJ at Intermediate level. We wish them well in the National Finals on Sat. Very well done to Richael Brown on her bronze medal in the 800m at the AAI Games!

 

Best of Luck to all those who are competing in the Schools on Sat. 4th, Leinster Sen/Mast on Sun. 5th & the Team Competition on Mon. 6th June.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Training during club training times, is carried out by coaches on a voluntary basis. Occasionally the club will organise specialist training sessions. Otherwise private training sessions outside of these times are not carried out under the remit of the club.

 

While the club encourages involvement in other sports and activities, athletes, parents and coaches are reminded to take a holistic view of all activities while planning training sessions, with the aim of injury prevention. Please communicate with the coaches to best coordinate appropriate levels of training to avoid injury or stress on the athletes.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Leinster U23's, Senior & Masters in Tullamore on Sunday 5th June. Entries close Mon. 30th.

  2. Leinster Team Competition in Tullamore on Monday 6th June for U9/10/11/12/13/15. Closed.

  3. Round 1 National League on Sun 12th June. U17 up. Contact Theresa if interested in selection.

  4. Leinster U9,10,11 Pairs & U12 & U13 Championships in Tullamore on Sat 11th June. Entries close on Tues. 31st May.

  5. Leinster U14-19 Championships in Tullamore on Sat/Sun 18/19th June. Entries close June 6th.

  6. Bray Invitational on Tues 21st June in Greystones. Limited numbers allowed. Priority given to those who compete regularly, then first come first served.

 

 

 

FURTHER REMINDER RE WEBTEXT

 

Once again a reminder that the webtext is mainly used to send out notifications/ reminders of events. If you have a question that requires a quick response, you should text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number leads to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if message is not urgent.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. June 7th from 4.45-5pm & 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt

 

Tue

03

May

2016

Club News & Information

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our athletes who competed in the 1st night of the County Championships, the East Leinster schools and the Primary schools relays recently. Fantastic results for our athletes at all of these events. Full results will be published later.

 

 Well done to our club athletes, Richael Browne & Carol Costello who put in fantastic performances on the Slí Cualann medal winning teams at the National Road relays. Well done also to all the adults who competed so well at the County road race in Ashford & the Leinster road race in Gowran. Special Congrats to Troy Scully who won the Junior event in Ashford.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Wicklow County Championships remaining events are on this weekend on Fri 6th May & Sunday 8th May. Programme is on the GAC website and entry forms also. Entries will close on Wed. 4th May to allow time to process them and sort relay teams. There are events for all ages and we hope that all of our athletes will make a big effort to take part in these championships. Coaches and helpers needed also, as we are required to officiate at all 3 days and also need sufficient cover to look after our athletes. Please note that athletes may not compete in events on the day, if they haven't pre-entered these events.

    For our younger athletes taking part in the Award Scheme, all athletes do a run, a jump & a throw and are scored on these. Scores are tallied and all receive a medal according to these results. This is a very enjoyable & rewarding event for these young athletes and we look forward to seeing a large attendance from GAC!

  2. The Leinster Relays will be held in Greystones on Saturday 21st May and entries close on Mon 9th May. If you are interested in being considered for a team, please get your entry in asap. Absolutely no late entries will be accepted by Leinster!

  3. The Leinster Juniors also take place on Sat. 21st May in Greystones. These are open to all athletes born 1997-2000. A full programme except for PV & SC which will be held on Sun. 5th June in Tullamore. Entries close on Mon 9th May. Absolutely no late entries will be accepted by Leinster!

  4. The Leinster Combined events for U14 up, are being held in Enniscorthy on Sunday 22nd May. Entries also close on Mon 9th May.

 

WEBTEXT

 

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

THANK YOU!

 

A huge Thank You to everyone who helped out with the very successful bagpack in Tesco on Fri 21st/Sat 22nd Apr and many thanks to all who donated so generously. The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club. Special thanks go to Christina & Dermot Browne who secured the slot for us and did all the organising leading up to and during the event.

 

AWARDS NIGHT

 

We had a very successful Club Awards night on Thurs. 21st Apr. where many athletes received certificates & Awards for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement. There were awards for longevity in the club, team awards, Special achievement awards, International Selection awards & our Athlete of the Year. A very enjoyable night was had by all who attended.

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to this list.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. May.10th from 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with all of our present groups!

 

We are also looking for some extra coaches for the 7-8.30pm sessions on Tues/Fri if anyone is available to help out.

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Our Beginner2Winner group continues on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we 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 to take part.

 

Our club road run has been going for several weeks now. It takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm and we say a big Thank You to Caoimhin MacMaolain who is looking after this for us. The group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones and all level & abilities are catered for. We hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join this group and help grow the adult section of our club. This one is for club members only, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 

 

 

 

 

Thu

28

Apr

2016

Good Luck!

Best of Luck to all of our athletes taking part in the County Championships tomorrow Fri 29th Apr. Check-in at the track at 6pm, first race at 6.30pm. Full programme is on the sidebar on our website. Entries are closed for this Fri, but entry forms for Fri 6th & Sun 8th May are still open on our website! Please come out and compete for your club at these championships!

Sat

02

Apr

2016

Club News & information!

 

Please take the time to read this, as it contains crucial information!

 


CLUB FUNDRAISER

 

We would ike to remind everyone that we will have a fundraising bagpack in Tesco, Greystones on Fri 22nd Apr. & Sat 23rd Apr. 2016. We will be packing from 11am - 7 pm Fri & from 10 am – 6pm on Sat.

 

 

A great deal of help will be needed for this fund-raising event, so all athletes from age 16 upwards & all parents are asked to try to come along and cover a shift or two. We will break the days up into 2 hr shifts and if we get a good response, then nobody will have to put in too much time. Please contact Christina on 0871459959 and let her know what time/times you will be available to help out, so that she can put together a plan to ensure we have sufficient cover throughout both days. The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club, so please help out if at all possible. It's not fair to always leave the effort to the same small group of people, who already do so much for our club!

 

 

 

AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2015 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club on Thurs. 21st Apr. at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, team awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIP

 

We are presently working on arranging our annual club day trip for athletes with 60% plus attendance in 2015. Attendances have been added up and the list of those eligible to attend should be available at the Awards night, along with details of the trip. These will also be posted on our website, once finalised.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to this list.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Round 3 of the Track League takes place on Thurs 7th April at the track in Greystones. Entry form is now on our website and entries close on Wed 6th. Events are open to all athletes up to U14. Check-in from 6pm, first race at 6.45pm sharp.

  2. Wicklow Sec. Schools T&F is being held on Tues. 5th Apr. in Greystones

  3. Wicklow Primary Schools XC Relays is being held on Tues 12th Apr. in Avondale

  4. Wicklow County Championships will be held this year on Fri 29th Apr., Fri 6th May & Sunday 8th May. Programme will be posted on the GAC website as soon as it is available. There will be events for all ages and we hope that all of our athletes will make a big effort to take part in these championships.

  5. Wicklow County Road Race is being held in Ashford on Wed. 20th Apr. @ 7.15pm. Entries to Theresa by lunchtime Monday 18th. Open to athletes age 16 and upwards.

  6. The annual GAC/IMC T&F event will take place in Greystones on Saturday afternoon 30th Apr. This has quickly become a very successful event at which National records have been set & qualifying times achieved for International competitions. It is well worth coming along to view & is a great opportunity to see some of our club Junior & Senior athletes compete with the best in the country.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. 4th Apr. from 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. If you didn't manage to get one of our club calendars, they are still available and now at a reduced price. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet!

 

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with all of our present groups!

 

We are also looking for some extra coaches for the 7-8.30pm sessions on Tues/Fri if anyone is available to help out.

 

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Our Beginner2Winner group starts a new 6 week programme this week, with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we 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 to take part.

 

We're delighted to announce that our road run is back for the past few weeks. It now takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm and we say a big Thank You to Caoimhin MacMaolain who is looking after this for us. The group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones and all level & abilities will be catered for. We hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join this group and help grow the adult section of our club. This one is for club members only, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 


 

Mon

14

Mar

2016

NATIONAL JUVENILE INDOORS 2016

 

 

Thrills & spills for GAC athletes at the first two days of the National Indoors, where we had top class performances and some great results. On Saturday, Richael Browne took on the U18 1500m right from the gun and stormed to victory with a huge PB of 4.45!

 

 

Thrills & spills for GAC athletes at the first two days of the National Indoors, where we had top class performances and some great results. On Saturday, Richael Browne took on the U18 1500m right from the gun and stormed to victory with a huge PB of 4.45! Despite waking with a cold on Sunday she took on the 800m, running a beautifully controlled race to again win her heat. However as the day & the cold progressed, sense had to prevail & sadly she had to withdraw from the final. Huge disappointment for Ara Freeman on Saturday as a break saw her DQ'd from her favoured 60m, but what a comeback on Sunday when she ran a new PB of 24.82 to take silver in the 200m. A terrific bronze for Louis Lalor in the U17 60m hurdles on Sunday also. Another good weekend for Troy Scully who ran a big PB of 4.32 to qualify for the U17 1500m on Saturday, followed by a gutsy run in the final to finish 12th overall. A big PB also for Rachel Casey in the U17 1500m walk where she finished 7th in 8.48. Disappointment for Sarah O'Connor, who was tripped up & crashed to the ground in the first lap of the U16 1500m, but she showed great guts & determination and soon got herself back into contention. However the fall, the battered knees & the fight back took it's toll and Sarah finished in 11th place. Alana Ryan mainly used her indoor season this year to try out the 400m, but still qualified for both the 60m & 200m finals this weekend finishing in 5th place. An early stumble saw Josh Pyper have to fight hard for his place in the 60m final where he later finish in 5th place. Jack McGlone U13, finished 6th in his 60m heat in his first ever National event.  In the field events, Aodhan Daly finished 4th in the Long Jump & 13th in the High Jump U15, Sophie Nicholson finished 8th in the U16 Long Jump & James Nicholson 8th in the U14 Long Jump, with Noah Daly 13th in the U17 Long Jump. Well done to all & best of luck to our relay teams next Saturday and to our Masters on Sunday!

 

 

 

 

 

Sun

13

Mar

2016

LEINSTER RESULTS 2016

 

LEINSTER INDOOR RESULTS 2016

 

Well done to each and every athlete who competed in the Leinster Juvenile Indoors and Best of Luck to those taking part in the National Juvenile & Masters events over the next two weekends. We had many, many qualifiers for semi-finals and finals and we are so proud of you all. Our Medal winners are listed below. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.

 

 

U13: Jack McGlone Bronze in 60m.

 

U14: James Nicholson Silver in Long Jump

 

U15: Aodhán Daly, Silver in Long Jump & Bronze in High Jump.

 

U16: Josh Pyper, Gold in 60m

 

Ben Mooney, Bronze in 200m

 

Sarah O’Connor, Bronze in 1500m

 

Sophie Nicholson, Bronze in Long Jump

 

U17: Alana Ryan, Gold in 200m & Silver in 60m

 

Louis Lalor, Bronze in 60m Hurdles

 

Noah Daly, 200m???

 

U18: Richael Browne, Gold in 800m (Championship Best Performance) Gold in 1500m & Bronze in H J

 

U19: Ara Freeman, Gold in 60m (Championship Best Performance) & Gold in 200m

 

Relays

 

Boys U14 Gold: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Paul Delahunty, Michael O'Shea

 

Boys U17 Gold: Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Ben Mooney

 

 

 

Junior Girls: Ara Freeman Gold in 60m & Bronze in 200m

 

Susie McParland Silver in 3K

 

Katy Conroy Bronze in 800m

 

Relay Silver: Alannah O'Carroll, Niamh Conroy, Katy Conroy, Ara Freeman.

 

Junior Boys: Troy Scully Bronze in 3K

 

Senior Women: Isobel O'Grady Bronze in 400m & Long Jump

 

Masters Women: Carol Costello Bronze in 800m

 

Masters Men: Conor O'Reilly Gold in Shot Putt

 

Thu

03

Mar

2016

CLUB FUNDRAISER

 

Greystones Athletic Club

 


 

Greystones AC have a fundraising bagpack in Tesco, Greystones on Fri 22nd Apr. & Sat 23rd Apr. 2016. We will be packing from 11am - 7 pm Fri & from 10 am – 6pm on Sat.

 

A great deal of help will be needed for this fund-raising event, so all athletes from age 16 upwards & all parents are asked to try to come along and cover a shift or two. We will break the days up into 2 hr shifts and if we get a good response, then nobody will have to put in too much time.

 

Please contact Christina on 0871459959 and let her know what time/times you will be available to help out, so that she can put together a plan to ensure we have sufficient cover throughout both days.

 

The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club, so please help out if at all possible. It's not fair to always leave the effort to the same small group of people, who already do so much for our club!

 

 

 

Thu

18

Feb

2016

Worth Reading!

 

Sonia O’Sullivan: Enjoyment is an important part of winning

Nurturing a competitive instinct in children is healthy – just don’t apply pressure

Photograph: Inpho

Photograph: Inpho

 

 

Athletics is going through a rough period, and I’ve spoken before about losing some of my emotional attachment to the sport. But I still believe athletics is where competition is at its most basic and stinctive, partiularly at a grassroots level! 

These days I often find myself on the sidelines watching young athletes race, and there is no better place to see competition in its most natural state: it doesn’t take much to realise who is the best, the fastest, the most competitive.

 

 

 

There aren’t a lot of tactics employed, as they almost all rely on natural competitive instinct. Young athletes are always fighting for the lead, whether it’s a 400m or a 1,500m race, simply because they believe to be in with a chance of winning you need to be as close to the lead as possible at all times.

 

Last Friday night I found myself inside the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, a nice blue track alongside the Albert Park lake. It was a full weekend of athletics, the Victorian Junior Championships. As a parent, I was required to volunteer some time to my club, Glenhuntly AC, to help out with the running of the programme. I figured if I took the first two hours on Friday evening I would be free to relax and enjoy the races for the rest of the weekend.

 

Simple instructions

 

I was given the job of tape puller in the shot put circle, not something that I am too familiar with, although with a few simple instructions and corrections in the first few attempts I had it down to a tee.

 

That was until the 1,500m races started, when I had to multitask, keeping my eye on the races while continuing the shot put measuring. Now I may be slightly biased, but to me the middle-distance races are the most exciting, entertaining and competitive events on the programme.

 

I am involved a little with coaching in Australia, although not my daughter Sophie, who was running in the under-16 1,500m. No wonder I was distracted.

 

 

Second Captains

 

I see a lot of myself in the way Sophie races. Not the times she runs, but just her instincts, her ability to race. She is always jostling for a lead position, similar to when I used to compete in junior races around Cork and Munster.

 

The best thing about these races is the aftermath: all the girls are the best of friends, rolling around on the grass laughing, not a care in the world – when only minutes before they were battling on the track. Sophie finished second, in her best time, and she was happy. I sensed, without any discussion, that she was already looking ahead to the next race.

 

At this level, it’s not the time that matters: the competition is so fierce that the times just come with the pure racing. Watching these races, I always have an eye on the clock because I understand if you go too fast at the start there is a good chance you will slow down and the winner is rarely predictable.

 

It’s also easy to pick out the athletes who are training and more physically prepared. However, it is those who have trained less, but possess a more competitive instinct, who are more fascinating to watch.

 

Sometimes these athletes do things that shouldn’t be possible, based on their preparation, but being involved in the competition allows them to regularly finish in the top three, or run faster times. This is partly due to natural talent and an ability to rise to the occasion, a fearless and instinctive ability to react to any challenge.

 

The longer you can contain this natural competitiveness in children, without pressure or expectation, the more likely that they will continue to be competitive throughout their adult life.

 

The enjoyment of sport and the ability to be competitive must balance out. As soon as the competitiveness becomes more important than the enjoyment, then the level of competitiveness will drop. A bit like hitting a golf ball; the harder you try, the worse your shot. You need to be at one with what you are doing, and to produce a balanced effort, in order to achieve more. 

 

There is a competitive instinct in all of us. Some people may not even know it, as they think to be competitive means you must be involved in a sporting activity. But this competitive instinct is the driving force that allows each person to fulfil their potential. It comes out in the variety of activities, from schoolwork to office work, to simply cooking the dinner each day.

 

It’s not always obvious, but if you find yourself being very particular about how you do something, take the time to perfect it, then you’re clearly competitive in some sense, and it’s only the beginning of the natural competitive instinct that drives us every day of the week.

 

You also need to be able to relax and enjoy what you do, to be able to get the best results. If we can instil this ability in our children, they are more likely to have a competitive and enjoyable life in sport.

 

Stay on the sidelines

 

The difference now to when I was young is the greater involvement of parents in their child’s sporting lives. I believe parents should be there for transport and support and other peripheral matters, but outside of that should stay on the sidelines and simply enjoy the competition.

 

Let the children be the driving force. Let them find a way to be competitive and get the best from themselves. The place for this to begin is on the school field, and then let it reinvent itself in some other area of life later on.

Mon

15

Feb

2016

Notice from County Secretary

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF TIME!
Round 2 of the Juvenile League will take place on Friday 26th Feb. at Shoreline Track.
Entry form now open closing Thurs 25th. No late entries accepted.
6.00pm Registration
6.30 pm First Race
Distances :
U/7 100M
U/9 300M
U/11 500M
U/!3 600m
U/15 800m
Please do arrive on time as races must start promptly.
No 6-7pm training Fri. due to this event. 7-8.30pm training sessions go ahead as normal.

Sat

13

Feb

2016

NOTICE OF AGM

 A.G.M.

 A reminder that the club AGM will be held on this coming Thurs. 18th Feb. at 8pm. 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.

 

Nominations & Motions for the AGM should be sent to the club Sec. by Tuesday next 16th Feb. @ theresa.kinane@gmail.com or 0868635797

 

 

The Outgoing committee are as follows:

 

Chairperson: Aidan Hartnett

 

Vice Chair: Helen Dempsey

 

Secretary: Theresa Kinane

 

Treasurer: Fiona Gordon

 

Competition Sec: Theresa Kinane

 

PRO: Theresa Kinane

 

Registrar: Fiona Ryan

 

Welfare Officer: Fiona Ryan, Aidan Hartnett, Deirdre Kearney

 

Shop: Deirdre Kearney, Fiona Ryan

 

Fundraising Committee: Helen Dempsey, Christina Browne, Fiona Ryan, Sinead Daly

 

Social Committee: Fiona Ryan, Aidan Hartnett

 

As you can see a number of people are doing several jobs, so extra volunteers are definitely needed and would be most welcome, we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night. Nominations are welcome for any and all positions on the committee.

 

Mon

01

Feb

2016

Newsletter

 

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 


 

Registrations are finally completed and hopefully those athletes who have moved up are now settling in to their new groups. We welcome any new members and hope that they too are settling in to their groups.

 

 

 

 

The Indoor season is now well and truly under way. Our Junior & Senior athletes have already competed in several competitions during Jan. with great success and we congratulate them on their results so far. We have a very busy time ahead during Feb. & March. with competition most weekends. Please note that closing dates for entries will be strictly adhered to and late entries cannot be accepted for any events!

 


 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. The National League Final is on Sat. 6th Feb. In Athlone and our ladies team have qualified for this.

  2. The AAI Games are on Sun. 7th Feb. in Athlone and we have a small no. of athletes competing in this event also.

  3. The Leinster Juvenile Indoors (U12 up) are being held on Sat/Sun 13th/14th Feb. & Sat 5th March. Entry Form for Feb. is currently on our website and entries close on Tues 2nd Feb. The full programme is on the sidebar on our website and athletes can choose a max of 3 individual events across the 3 days. No late entries can be accepted!

  4. The Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters is on Sun. 6th March in Athlone. A Junior athlete is U17-U20. Closing date for entries is 23rd Feb. No late entries!

  5. The National Seniors are on Sat/Sun 27th/28th Feb. in Athlone. Open to U17 up. Closing date for entries 18th Feb. No late entries!

  6. Greystones AC host the next round of the Fit4Life series on Thurs. 11th Feb. It is a 2 mile out & back race and is open to everyone from age 13 up. Great event for those who are not competing at the Leinsters. We will need some help with stewarding etc. on the night. Check-in 7pm at the track. Entry on the night. Lots of Spotprizes.

    Please note that entries for the relay squad are now closed, as per webtext!

 

 

 

AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 18th Feb. at 8pm. 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.

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open this coming Tues. From 6.30-7.30pm only for singlets, shorts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We still have Club Calendars & Club Pens available also. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet!

 

 

 

 

 


 

Wed

30

Dec

2015

Newsletter

Training will resume on Tues 5th Jan. for all groups. Coaches gave out programmes or arranged sessions with groups for the holiday period, but many athletes were missing in the weeks beforehand. All competitive athletes who missed this should try to keep running and keep fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. The National 'B' XC Championships are being held in ALSAA (beside the Airport) on Sat. 9th Jan at 11.30am. These races are open to all athletes who did not medal at the National XC. (correction to previous note, which said qualifiers couldn't run) Races for U11/13/15/17 age groups (2015 ages and athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A' XC Championships. Form is now on the website and entries need to be in asap if you would like an opportunity to represent your Club & your County at this event! Very poor entry so far, but hoping for a big improvement over the next few days.

  2. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am. Entries to Theresa.

  3. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 16th Jan. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website asap. Events for R1 are 60m, 60mH, 800m, LJ, SP, PV

  4. Leinster Senior XC, an Open Junior XC and XC Relays for U12/14/16 will be held in Kilmacow on Sun. 17th Jan. Form will go up on the website shortly for this one.

 

 CLUB CALENDAR

  If you didn't manage to get a copy of our beautiful Club Calendar before Xmas, you'll be delighted to hear that they are still available. You can buy one when we return to training next week, or pick one up at Shoreline Sports Park! Remember this is a fundraiser and all money raised will go to help support our club and help our fees remain low!

 So far the calendar has not been very well supported. You will appreciate that equipment needs to be maintained and replaced throughout the year. The calendar will become, with your help, a source of regular annual income for this purpose. The calendar contains all competition dates for 2016 known at the time of publishing. Please feed photographs into the club following each event or occasion during the season so that this initiative will be more successful. Support your athletes please. 

 

 AWARD WINNERS

 Once again Greystones AC athletes are the recipients of both County & Provincial awards, with club athletes winning 3 of the 4 Juvenile award, both the Junior awards in Wicklow and both Juvenile awards in Leinster for 2015.

 Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Josh Pyper for the U14-16 section, Louis Lalor for the U16-19 section & Ara Freeman & Conor Dempsey for the Junior section in Wicklow. These will be presented in Ashford on Fri. 22nd Jan. along with awards for International selections and other achievements during the year. Slí Cualann Fit4Life & other club awards will also be presented that night and club members are welcome to come along and support our many winners!

Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Conor Dempsey for the Leinster Juvenile awards, which will be presented on Sat 9th Jan. at The Seven Oaks in Carlow. GAC would like to congratulate Tim Grummell on winning the Senior award at Leinster.

 

 REGISTRATIONS FOR 2016…………..VERY IMPORTANT!

 All club athletes now need to renew their registration/insurance for 2016. Registrations will take place at training times for one week only and athletes who have not registered cannot be admitted to the track on the following week, as they will not be covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area on Tues.12th Jan. Wed 13th Jan & Fri 15rd Jan. during training times only. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. If you have changed address or phone number, or wish to change the mob. we use for webtext messages, please fill out a new club form when registering. These forms will be available at registration, or can be downloaded from our website. Up to U19’s need to fill the Juvenile form and Parents/Guardians must sign the form at the back, but please do not sign your child’s name. If your child is too young to sign, just leave that line blank. Athletes born 1997 and before should use the adult form. There is no need to fill another form if details haven’t changed. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. The club covers all entry fees for juvenile athletes, but covers team entries only for adults.

 

Overdue weekly subs. need to be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2016 with a clean slate please. Some athletes owe several weeks fees which need to be paid off right away, as it is unfair that some athletes run up debts when most pay weekly.

 

Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at any time as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. If you cannot make registration week, fees may be put in an envelope with the child's name on it and handed in at check-in during the previous week.

 
HELP STILL NEEDED

 You should be aware by now, following frequent appeals, that the club needs more commitment from parents to participate as leaders or coaches. We have significant gaps in the 6-7 pm session on Tuesday. We are obliged to maintain safe ratios between coaches and athletes. Without your commitment athlete numbers cannot be sustained. Please contact Theresa 0868635797 if you can help!

 

 TRAINING & WEATHER

 We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

 

We hope all our members had a great Christmas, enjoyed the rest, kept up the running and are now ready to get back to training for the New Season!

 

 

 

Sat

19

Dec

2015

Xmas Newsletter

 

XMAS CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CLUB CALENDAR

 Our beautiful Club Calendar is still available, so if you are in need of a lovely gift for someone this Xmas, just want a souvenir of another great year for GAC or a reminder of what a great club you are all part of, you can contact Helen Dempsey, Fiona Ryan, Christina Browne or Theresa Kinane or pick one up at Shoreline Sports Park! Remember this is a fundraiser and all money raised will go to help our club and help keep our fees low! Club pens also available!

 CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National XC and represented us so well. Congratulations to Richael Browne on her Silver medal with the County team and to our U15 girls team Sarah O'Connor, Abbie Tyrrell, Sophie Nicholson, Megan O'Brien on their 5th place finish. Great finish places from Ben Jones & Joe Prendergast, and great running also from Troy Scully, Eimear Ryan & Enya Conroy.

 

Well done also to all the athletes who took part in the Inter-County (Kildare, Laois, Meath, Wicklow) Indoor Competition in Athlone. Wicklow were well short of having a full team, with mostly GAC athletes and a few from Kilcoole & Roundwood. We didn't let that worry us though and had some top class performances throughout the day. Well done to all and hopefully County Wicklow will fill the team for the Outdoor event in the summer.

 

Well done also to all who competed in R3 of the XC League. Great running from everyone and some terrific wins once again!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. The National 'B' XC Championships are being held in ALSAA (beside the Airport) on Sat. 9th Jan at 11.30am. These are open to all athletes who did not qualify for the National XC. U11/13/15/17 age groups (athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A's. Form is now on the website and entries close on Jan 2nd. There are individual, club & County team events.

  2. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am.

  3. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 16th Jan. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website.

 

XMAS TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS

 Attendance at training during the month of December has generally been poor and, as we had only 5 athletes at Little Athletics 5-6pm last Tues and had very small numbers at the 6-7pm training on both Tues & Fri., we have decided to finish up with all of these groups until Tues 5th Jan. It seems unfair to bring up to ten coaches out at this busy time of year, when so many athletes are not attending. The 7-8.30pm session will go ahead as usual this coming Tues. and this will be the last session before Xmas. Training will officially resume on Tues 5th Jan, but some coaches may make their own arrangements with groups over the holiday period. Do keep running and keep your fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 

 We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

 “Stronger! Higher! Faster!” for 2016!”

 

Tue

01

Dec

2015

December News & information

DECEMBER CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION



CLUB CALENDAR

The Club Calendar is gone to print and will be on sale from Tues. 8thDec. at a cost of just €10. This is a fantastic record of great memories from 2015, with many, many photos of all age groups from our Little Athletics Group launching the National Forest Feast programme, to County, Leinster, National & International competitions and much more

DECEMBER CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION



CLUB CALENDAR

The Club Calendar is gone to print and will be on sale from Tues. 8thDec. at a cost of just €10. This is a fantastic record of great memories from 2015, with many, many photos of all age groups from our Little Athletics Group launching the National Forest Feast programme, to County, Leinster, National & International competitions and much more! A huge amount of work has gone into producing this calendar and our sincere thanks go out to Fiona Dempsey who did a fantastic job designing the calendar and also to Helen Dempsey, Fiona Ryan & Christina Browne for all their work. Many thanks also to our sponsors Goldfish (Gordon O'Neill) Avalon Gardening Services (Paschal Casey) and ALPHACC( Jonathan Donnelly)

This calendar will be a great reminder of a great year for GAC and will make a great Christmas present, as will our lovely club pen. Both will be on sale from Dec. 8thright up to Xmas and are being used as a fundraiser for the club! Front Cover is now on our website & FB page!



CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to all the GAC athletes who qualified for the National XC and who will now represent Club, County & Leinster teams next Sunday in Dungarvan. Best of Luck to: Joe Prendergast, Ella Shanley, Eimear Ryan, Enya Conroy U13, BenJones, Abbie Tyrrell, Sarah O'Connor, Sophie Nicholson, Megan O' Brien U15, Richael Browne, Susie McParland, Troy ScullyU17 and to the Novice men's team!



UPCOMINGCOMPETITIONS

  1. There is an Inter-County (Kildare, Laois, Meath, Wicklow) Indoor Competition for U14/15/17 (U16's move up) athletes on Sat 12th Dec at 2.30pm in Athlone. All age groups have 60mH, 60m, 200m, 800m, 1500m. U15/17 also have Walk, HJ, LJ, SP and U14's can compete in these with the U15's. If you are interested in being considered for any of these teams, please enter right away and list events in which you are interested. Entry form is now on the website and we need names asap, so that the teams can be selected and entered. This is a great opportunity to get some early competition indoors.

  2. A very small turnout for Round 2 of the XC League in Rathdrum, but great running and great results once again from those who did compete on the night. Round 3 ( the final round) will be held in Bray on Fri 11th Dec. at 6.30pm. Usually held on the Bray Emmet's Astro Pitches, but I'll confirm after tonight's meeting. Entry form is now on the website. Open to all athletes up age 14. Please enter once only, as some athletes are being entered over & over for every event.

  3. The Co. Senior & Junior XC will be held in Avondale on Sun. 13th Dec @ 11am. Jun Men 6K/Women 4K & Sen. Men 10K/Women 5K. For those not old enough to race, our Sunday run that day will be in Avondale!

  4. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am.



CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues 8rdDec. from 4.40-5pm & again from 6.30 – 7.30pm, to allow a chance for Santa to pick up any club gear he might need. We have club singlets, shorts, hoodies, rain jackets, T-shirts, leggings etc. for sale, all at cost price and also some second hand spikes at very reasonable prices. Our fabulous Club Calendar@ €10 and Club Pens @ €3 each or two for €5, will also be on sale andwill make great Xmas pressies!



WEBTEXT

Despite several reminders that thewebtext no. is only for communicatingchanges or sendingreminders, I am still gettingqueries on this mob. all the time. If you have an urgent query,you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number, asI can only answer thisfrom my laptop, so if I am at work or training, you may have a long wait for a reply.




Tue

27

Oct

2015

Club News & Information

TRAINING AND COMPETITION

Regular training continues this week at the usual times, for all age groups!


Entry form for the Leinster Uneven ages (U11-17) & Intermediate XC in JFK Park, New Ross will shortly beon the website and entries close on Sat. Night 31stOct. Leinster will not accept any late entries, so do it asap and don't miss out! Please enter only once, as some athletes are being entered over & over. We had 14 entries for one athlete for one of the events.

CONGRATULATIONS

Hot on their success at the European Cup in Portugal, we learnt this week that the junior girls team have again qualified for this competition in 2016 from their great results in the National Junior competition during the Track & Field season. We are absolutely delighted for them and so very, very proud of them. The girls are very excited and already planning fund-raising events towardsit.


WARM WEATHER TRAINING

Anyone who is interested in the proposed warm weather training trip next Easter, but has not handed back their 'show of interest form' needs to do so immediately. Open to all athletes U16 up in 2016, who regularly attend training & competition. Younger athletes may go if accompanied by an adult. Forms available at training, but need them back quickly. Places are limited.


CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues 3rdNov. from 4.40-5pm & again from 6.30 – 7.30pm, before the next Leinster competition. We have club singlets, shorts, hoodies, rain jackets, T-shirts, leggings etc. for sale, all at cost price and also some second hand spikes at very reasonable prices. We also have club pensfor sale @ €3 each or two for €5, which are being used as a fund raiser for the away trip. They will make great stocking fillers! The committee are also looking into organising a club calendar, which will be available early in Dec and will make a great Xmas pressie, so hold off on buying any 2016 ones.


REGISTRATION FOR NEW ATHLETES

We have handed out registration forms to all our new athletes and while most have returned them, there are still a few outstanding. It is essential that these are returned asap, as we cannot have unregistered athletes at training sessions. If you have not done so already please return your form, as we do not want to have to refuse admittance to any child. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.


WEBTEXT

We use webtext to communicate changes or send reminders, but I must remind you once again that if you have a query that requires an answer then you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number. While I am set up to receive the webtext msg. on my phone, I can only answer them from my laptop, so if I am at work or training, you may have a long wait for a reply.


XC RACE REPORTS

Huge congratulations to all the athletes who competed in the XC over the last couple of weeks.


Wicklow XC Championships, in Roundwood. Uneven ages & Intermediate

Better numbers this time, but still small when you consider how many train each week.

We had only two girls for the U9 Lucy Garvey & Amber Sculy and just one boy Tristan Joylrt Cunningham. We had 11girls in the U11 race Sarah Hayes, Tara Casey, Lucy Willoughby, Camille Madden, Lucy Daly, Alex Mulcahy, Juliette Madden, Keelin McGuire, Kate Kennedy Whelan, Aoibhin Downey & Georgia Hogan and some great running saw the girls finish 4thteam overall. 6 in the U11 boys where we had a great run from Ed Nicholson to take the bronze medal, with the boys team Davey Kennedy Whelan, Chase Scully, Tom McCarthy, Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally taking the silver medals. At U13 we had 10 girls competing with Ella Shanley having a great race to finish 4thand Eimear Ryan close behind in 6th. Along with team members Louise O'Rordan, Ellen McNally, Enya Conroy, Erin Howard, Emma Quirk, Alannah Guilfoyle, Maebh O'Neill & Robin Carroll the girls also took the silver team medals. Gold medals for the U13 boys, with a really strong run from Joe Prendergast to take the individual Gold medal, Jack McGlone 4th, Danny Jones 5thand Paul Delahunty 6th& Michael O'Shea 8th. Gold medals also for the U15 girls, with Abbie Tyrrell having a super race to take the individual silver medal and Megan O'Brien, Katie Lawless, Sarah O'Connor, Frances Dallaghan Alice O'Neill & Grace Kirwan. Only three U15 boys with Alan Gordon taking individual bronze, John O'Connor 4th& Ronan Dempsey 5th. As there were no teams of 4, the boys were awarded the gold medals. Only two U17 girls Megan Healy 5th& Rachel Casey 9th. Cillian Browne had a great race in the U19 boys and won very comfortably. A bronze medal for Jamie Cullen on his return to XC led the Intermediate men's team Caoimhin MacMaolain, Dermot Hughes & AJ Cotter to a 4thplace finish.


Leinster XC Championships, in Moyvalley. Even ages, Novice & Masters.

Very disappointing numbers for the first of the Leinster events, where we only managed to fill two teams. Lets hope for a much better turnout at the uneven ages in Wexford on Nov 8th. Congratulations to all the athletes who competed so well on the day.

Four girls took part in the Open U10 race Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Alex Mulcahy, Amber Scully, with great running from all four. There were huge numbers in all the Championships races where we had five girls in the U12 with Eimear Ryan having a great run to finish 39thout of a field of 129. Team members were Isabelle Donnelly 103, Rachel Jones 111, Lucy Jones 113 Maebh O'Neill 118. A huge field in the boys race also where we only had two athletes, Paul Delahunty 59 & Chase Scully 95. Another big field in the U14 girls where Abbie Tyrrell had another great race to finish 18thoverall, with Ella Shanley 56, Megan O'Brien 60, Enya Conroy 115. The U14 boys saw another great run from Joe Prendergast to finish 20thout of age, with Joe Dowd 47 & Danny Jones 63.Again only two in the girls U16, with a fantastic race from Sarah O'Connor for a 16th place finish out of age, with Holly Byrne in 30th.Only one in the boys, where despite the strapped kneeBen Jones, also out of age, finished 20th. The U 18 girls saw Richael Browne 9th& Susie McParland 12thin the medals and also Katy Conroy 7thin the U19. These girls were all part of the Slí Cualann junior girls team who won both club & County gold medals. Carol Costello finished 15thin the M2 & AJ Cotter 26thin the M4.


Photos from recent XC events can be found on the club website & FB page!

Tue

06

Oct

2015

Newsletter

A warm welcome to our new members and while it's greatto see our athletes settling in to training again, the attendance by quite a fewhas not been great so far, especially on Friday nights. Please remember that we have a waiting list for places at all times, so if you are only turning up once in a while we may have to consider giving the place to someone who really wants it. We cannot hold places indefinitely, unless notified of ongoing injury or illness!

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congratulations to all the athletes who competed at the Wicklow XC Championships last Sunday in Avondale, but huge disappointment also that so few of our athletes actually made it to the event! We had so many age groups with just 3 athletes when one more would have given us a full team and team medals. Grace Rush was our only U8 runner as our only other entry Evan was injured on the day. And she had a great race to finish a close 2nd. We have at least 60 U8's in the club and up to 50 eligible athletes for each of the other age groups.The best turn out of the day was at U10, with 6 girls making it and 3 boys. All had terrific runs, particularly Ava Foley who led the girls from start to finish for a great victory. Only 2 girls at U12 & 3 boys and one more runner here would have guaranteed the boys team medals. We managed to get 5 girls out at U12 (still awaiting team results) and with our 3 U14 boys finishing 3rd, 4th& 5thanother runner here would have guaranteed the boys Gold medals. A fantastic race from Sarah O'Connor in the U16 for 2ndplace out of age, but again we missed out as one of the team didn't turn up. Yetanother fantastic race from Ben Jones witha great finish, to win the boys U 16, also running out of age, but again only 3 runners, so no team. Looking good for both these athletes in the U15's next week. We had no U18's or Novice women, but to our delight we did get a team out in the Novice men's race. Cillian Browne had a super race to take the bronze medal and he and team mates Caoimhin MacMaolain, Dermot Hughes & AJ Cotter also await team results. So while we are delighted with the results and the great performances from all who attended, you can understand the disappointment of these athletes at the lack of teams and the frustration of our coaches who work so hard each week to prepare the athletes for these events.

We sincerely hope that this coming Sunday will see a lot more athletes taking to the field for the uneven ages in Roundwood. Sunday's event is not at the usual Roundwood venue, but is opposite the GAA centre on the right hand side of the road. First race is 11am, so athletes should arrive at 10.30am. Most of you will be done and on the way home in under an hour. Entry form is on the website and will close on Fri. Night, to allow time to process entries. Please, please make an effort this week!!!



URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are againmaking an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue as we are!



REGISTRATION FOR NEW ATHLETES

We are presently handing out forms to all our new athletes and these can also be found onthe website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2015 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. These need to be filled out and returned to training asap please. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.



WEBTEXT

We use webtext to communicate changes or send reminders, but I must remind you once again that if you have a query that requires an answer then you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number. While I am set up to receive the webtext msg on my phone, I can only answer them from my laptop, so if I am not at home, you may have a long wait for a reply.



Tue

15

Sep

2015

Newsletter

WELCOME BACK

A big welcome back to all of our athletes and coaches. Attendance so far has not been great and we are now asking that athletes who have not made it back by tonight Tues 15th Sept. let us know if they do intend to return, as we have very long lists of people waiting for places. If we haven't heard from you by the end of this week, we will have to assume that you are not returning to the club. We cannot hold places indefinitely!

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

As you are all aware, Greystones AC is a completely voluntary organisation, with some of our coaches putting in up to 9 hrs a week coaching plus many hours spent helping out with competitions and the endless admin. involved in running a club like ours. While we know you all appreciate the time and effort given by our volunteers, many of whom have no children in the club, we must appeal to all parents to consider giving us some help or we will not be able to continue. This is a really urgent appeal as we no longer have enough people helping, particularly with the 6-7pm groups. Some of our long time coaches are no longer available to help at these sessions due to changes in their work hours and most of our young helpers are not available this year due to changes in their school schedules. We have 100 children in the 6-7pm groups with only 3 parents from these groups helping with the coaching, and a further 5 with the check-in. We are now making an urgent appealing to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on either Tues or Fri to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue!



REGISTRATION NIGHT

We will be holding a registration night for all of our new athletes on Tues 29thSept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be collected between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms will be available on the night and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2015 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.



FIRST COMPETITIONS

Athletics Wicklow are holding the first round of the Cross Country (XC) League on Fri 25th Sept. This will be hosted by our own club and will take place on the football field at the top of the Sports Park. Check-in by 6.30pm latest, with the first race starting at 6.45pm sharp, due to fading light. This one is for even ages, but athletes can move up 1 age group. It is open to all athletes up to age 14 (U15) in 2015 and is a participation event, with Certs for all who complete the course. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who complete 3 or more races in the League. An entry form will go up on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed night 23rd Sept. No late entries accepted. There will be no 6-7pm training that night, as coaches/athletes will be busy with the League.



County XC Championships will take place on Sun 4thOct in Avondale & Sun 11th Oct. In Roundwood. We need as many athletes as possible to take part in these events, so please put the dates in your diaries! More info in the next newsletter!





Mon

31

Aug

2015

Newsletter

RETURN TO TRAINING

Hopefully you have all been following the plan outlined in the last Newsletterand you are now all ready to return to training “fit to train” and not totally out of condition, making training for the winter season a whole lot easier for all of us!

No changes to the information in the last newsletter, with the 7-8.30pm groups returning tomorrow Tues.1st Sept. and the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups returning on Tues 8th Sept, allowing them a week to settle back in to school first. Looking forward to seeing you all back, full of enthusiasm for the coming season!

 

OUR EUROPEAN VENTURE

As you probably all know by now our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection. More than half the team are Greystones athletes and we are still trying to raise the funds to cover this.

Thisis a fantastic opportunity for these young athletes to go out and experience International competition. They are very proud indeed to be representing their club & country and we have set up a Crowd Funding site at www.gofundme.com/europeanclubcupand all donations big & small will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, donations can be handed in to Theresa at the track, at Shoreline Sports Park or to any of the coaches involved. We really need your help with this!






Wed

22

Jul

2015

Club Newsletter


OUR VERY EXCITING NEWS
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection.


OUR VERY EXCITING NEWS
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection.
For those who are new to the clubs set-up, Slí Cualann is an amalgamation of five Co. Wicklow clubs, Greystones, Inbhear Dee, Roundwood, Bray Runners & Parnell, who’s athletes compete at juvenile level under their individual clubs, but become Slí Cualann at Junior & Senior level.
 A group of up to 20 athletes will compete on this team and it is a fantastic opportunity for these young athletes to go out and experience International competition. They are very proud indeed to be representing their club & country and we are very busy fundraising towards this at present, as flights etc. are quite expensive. We have set up a Crowd Funding site at http://www.gofundme.com/europeanclubcup and all donations big & small will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, donations can be handed in to Theresa at the track at Shoreline Sports Park or to any of the coaches involved.
If anyone has any ideas for further fundraising or knows anyone who might like to help sponsor the team, please get in touch with Theresa asap.

SUMMER BREAK FOR ATHLETES
The majority of our athletes are now on a short break, with just the small number who are still competing  continuing to train. As it has been a long hard season, unless athletes have alternative instructions from their coaches, we recommend taking a complete break for about 2 weeks, after which athletes should start running every other day to gradually build up fitness again. Start with 10-15 mins and after 3 or 4 runs increase this by 5 mins. Continue in this way and you will return in Sept. “fit to train” and not totally out of condition, making training for the winter season a whole lot easier. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to training on Tues.1st Sept. and the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups will return on Tues 8th Sept, allowing them a week to settle back in to school first.

THANKS
As they finally get to take a well earned break, we would like to say a huge ‘Thank You’  to every one of the many volunteers who give up their time week in week out to help make Greystones AC such a fantastic club! Our coaches: Aidan Hartnett, Buntu Mlisana, Christina Browne, Deirdre Kearney, Deirdre O’Neill, Eamonn Whelan, Emma O’Brien, Emer McNally, Fiona O’Connor, Helen  Dempsey,  Joanne O’Shea,  Joanna Pluck,  Julie Fallon, Laura O’Neill,  Muriel Drinkwater, Neil Brooks, Pauline Dallaghan, Ronan Nicholson, Sinead Daly, Steve Jones, Theresa Kinane. Our junior coaches: Alannah O’Carroll, Ara Freeman, Conor Dempsey, Isobel Kenny, Lisa Dallaghan, Richael Browne, Susie McParland. Our check-in crew: Breda Hayes, Celina Purcell, Fiona Ryan, Louise Casey, Louise Willoughby , Sandra Colgan. Apologies if I’ve left anyone out!

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE
All athletes who have not attended training for more than 3 weeks before their group finished, need to contact the club if they intend to return in Sept. Otherwise they will be deemed to have left the club. All groups for Sept.will be organised over the next couple of weeks and any available places offered to those on the waiting lists. There will be no way of adding athletes back into the groups in Sept., so please use ‘Contact Us’ on www.greystonesac.com to leave us a message, if missing for a while and planning to return.

CONGRATULATIONS
Every weekend we are on the road to Tullamore, Belfast, Athlone etc. but what a fantastic Track & Field season we had again this year, with superb results from National Juveniles & Juniors Championships and also from the League.
Three of our club athletes qualified to represent Ireland this year, with Alana Ryan qualifying for the Schools International in Scotland last weekend and winning a bronze medal on the 4 x 300m relay. Well done Alana! Amaris Borel & Ara Freeman are also off to Scotland for the Celtic Games on the 1st August.


RESULTS


U12-19 National Championships
U19: Martha Hassett Gold in PV , Katy Conroy 6th in 400m, Katy Conroy 6th in 400m, 10th 1500m
U18:  Ara Freeman silver in 100m & 200m, Amaris Borel silver in 100mH & in 400mH, Conor Dempsey bronze in 200m & 400mH & 6th in 100m, Rosa Kirwan bronze in HJ
U17: Richael Browne 5th in 400m & 8th in 800m
U16: Alana Ryan gold in 200m & silver in 100m, Louis Lalor 4th in 250mH & 5th in 100mH, Noah Daly 12th in LJ
U15: Ben Jones silver in 800m & 1500m, Josh Pyper silver in 100m & 4th in 200m, Ben Mooney 5th in 200m, Sarah O’Connor 5th in 1500m, Katie Lawless 8th in 250mH & Sophie Nicholson 12th in High Jump.
U14: Aodhan Daly silver in LJ, 11th in HJ & 3rd in 200m heat (injured)
U13: James Nicholson 5th in LJ, Joe Prendergast 12th in LJ, Ellen McNally 15th in LJ & Emma Quirk 16th

Juniors/U23's Championships
Junior athletes:  Katy Conroy gold in the 3K Steeplechase, Amaris Borel silver in 100mH & 6th in the 400mH, Ara Freeman 4th in the 100m with a new PB & 5th in the 200m, Conor Dempsey 8th in 200m, Richael Brown trying out a new event and just missing out on the 400m final, Isobel O'Grady 6th in the Long Jump & Jamie Wood 11th in 800m.
U23's : Claire Foley took bronze in the 200m & 4th in the 100m and Aoife Conroy 4th in the 400mH.

National ‘B’ Champs & Relays
U16: Cachel Casey gold in Shot Putt, Holly Byrne silver in 800m, Troy Scully bronze in HJ & 4th in 800m, Marcus Lennon 5th in 100m & 7th in 800m,  Sarah Lalor 5th in 100m, Niamh Conroy in medal position with 10m to go taking a very bad tumble in the 100m.
U15: John O’Connor gold in HJ,
U14: Ronan Dempsey silver in 80m & bronze in LJ, Alan Gordon silver in HJ & bronze in 80m, Megan O’Brien 13th in 800m
U 13: Danny Jones bronze in LJ, Erin Howard 7th in 600m & 10th in LJ
U12: Eimear Ryan 4th in LJ & 10th in 600m
The U15 boys team took silver in the 4 x 100m relay.

National League:
Top performances from everyone on both days means both the Women’s & Men’s teams have qualified for the finals on Aug. 2nd, making for another busy weekend. Best of Luck to both teams and to Ara & Amaris in the Celtics in Scotland.


The National Senior Championships on 7th/8th Aug. brings the domestic T&F season to a close for 2015, but athletes involved in the European Cup will continue training for this prestigious event in Sept.

Mon

22

Jun

2015

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
What a weekend for GAC at the Leinster Championships! Well done to each and every athlete who competed over the weekend. We are so proud of you all.

CONGRATULATIONS
What a weekend for GAC at the Leinster Championships. Well done to each and every athlete who competed over the weekend. We are so proud of you all. Medal winners, 4th place qualifiers & finalists below. There are a lot of them, so apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.
U14: Aodhán Daly, Gold in LJ, bronze in 200m, 4th in HJ,
         Ronan Dempsey 6th in 75mH
         Alan Gordon 9th in 80m

U15: Ben Jones, Gold in 1500m and 800m,
         Josh Pyper, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Ben Mooney, Silver in 100m & 200m
         Sarah O’Connor, Bronze in 1500m,
         Sophie Nicholson, Bronze in HJ
         Katie Lawless, 4th in 250mH & 200m & 5th in 80mH

U16: Alana Ryan, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Louis Lalor, Gold in 250mH, Silver in 100mH & 4th in 200m
         Noah Daly, 4th in LJ & 200m
         Niamh Conroy 7th in 100m
         Troy Scully 5th in 3K

U17: Richael Browne, Silver in HJ & 4th in 800m also 5th in 800m in Tailteann games.
         Alannah O’Carroll,  Bronze in 400m, 6th in 200m

U18: Conor Dempsey, Gold in 100m, 200m, 400mH & Silver in 400m
         Amaris Borel, Gold in 400mH, Silver in 100mH, & 400m
         Ara Freeman, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Rosa Kirwan, Bronze in  800m ,4th in HJ
 
U19: Katy Conroy Gold in 800m & bronze in 3K Steeplechase
         Martha Hassett, Gold in Pole Vault
         Lorcan Lalor, Silver in 400mH & bronze in 400m
         Cillian Browne, Bronze in 3K
         Niall Martin 6th in 200m
         Eoin Doyle 6th in 400m

Boys U 19 Club Team Gold Conor Dempsey, Niall Martin, Lorcan Lalor, David O’Flynn

Inter County Relays  Wicklow Teams
Boys U15 Gold: Ben Jones, Josh Pyper, Ben Mooney & John O’Connor
Boys U19 Gold Conor Dempsey, Niall Martin, Lorcan Lalor, Eoin Doyle

Can those who have qualified for Nationals please let us know if not competing!

The previous weekend, the Leinster Combined events saw Aodhan Daly take gold in the U14 boys, Sophie Nicholson silver in the U15 girls, Louis Lalor bronze in the U16 boys, Hilary Gallagher silver in the U17 girls & Rosa Kirwan bronze in the U18 girls..

URGENT: A reninder that the Bray Runners Invitational event is being held this coming Tues 23rd June.at the track in Greystones. Entries closed last Wed. night and only athletes who have entered can compete, as we are only allowed a limited number of athletes. Athletes need to arrive at 6pm for check-in and warm-up as events must start at 6.30pm sharp.
No training on that night for 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups due to this event!
Little Athletics will go ahead as usual from 5-6pm!
Absolutely no entries on the night!.


. SUMMER BREAK FOR YOUNGER ATHLETES
We will take a break from training for the summer for the age 5-6 & age 7-11groups (ie 5-6pm and 6-7pm), finishing up with a fun evening on Tues. 30th June. Already the numbers have dropped off a lot, particularly on Fri evenings, so there is little point in trying to carry on. U12 Athletes competing in the National B Championships on Saturday 18th July may attend the later training sessions. We will return on Tues.8th Sept., which allows a week to settle back in to school first. Please note that  the older groups which train from 7-8.30pm will continue throughout the summer, as we have a lot of competition during this time. We will take a short break in August before returning on Tues. 1st Sept. to prepare for the XC season.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We will make a final attempt to give out the awards and medals on Tues 30th June between 6.30 & 7.30pm, as there are still a lot that haven’t been collected. Registration cards will also be available again that night. If anyone is available to help for an hour on that Tues evening we would really appreciate it. Athletes may collect their awards themselves, but the registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Most  cards have arrived, but there are still a few to come.

FURTHER REMINDER RE WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions, but the number is still being used a lot for queries!


Mon

08

Jun

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent Leinster Relays & Juniors, held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. We had a good number of teams in the U9-16 Relays and the boys in particular did really well.

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent Leinster Relays & Juniors, held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. We had a good number of teams in the U9-16 Relays and the boys in particular did really well. Our U13/14/15/16 boys all took the silvers, our U16 Girls won bronze, our U9B were 4th & our U11B were 6th in their finals.
Junior results saw Richael Browne take gold and Katy Conroy take bronze in the 800m, Rosa Kirwan take gold & Richael Browne silver in the HJ, Ara Freeman take silver in the 100m & bronze in the 200m, Conor Dempsey take silver in the 200m & Isobel O’Grady take silver in the LJ…….a good day’s work!
Last Sat. saw us on the road very, very early for a 9am start in Tullamore for the U9/10/11 pairs & u12 & 13 Championships. It was a very long day for all the athletes, but each & every one of them did GAC proud. Great performances from our athletes and some great results too. Gold for Joe Prendergast in the U13 LJ with a 4th place for James Nicholson, Silver for Michael O’Shea in the U13 60m, bronze for Emma Quirk in the U13 LJ, with a 4th place for Ellen McNally, 4th place for Darragh Rush in the U12 60m. Finals places for Eimear Ryan in the U12 600m & 60m hurdles, Emma Quirk in the U13 hurdles, Erin Howard & Joe Prendergast in the U13 600m & Jack McGlone in the U12 LJ. In the pairs events, Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally U10,won silver in the LJ & bronze in the 60m, Ava Foley & Ailbhe Gordon U10 won silver in the Turbo Javelin. Other notable performances, Ailbhe Gordon & Camille Madden had a 5th place finish in the U10 LJ, Ava Gordon & Camille Madden had a 10th place finish in the U10 60m & Lucy Willoughby & Lucy Daly had a 10th place finish in the U11 LJ.  Well done to all and we wish the qualifiers well in the All Ireland’s!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
LEINSTER Combined events for U14 + will be held on Sat 13th June in Celbridge this coming Saturday. Best of Luck to those competing.
LEINSTER U14-19 championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat & Sun 20th/21st June. Entries close on this coming Tues 9th June. Absolutely no late entries can be accepted, so get your entries in now!
Forms will be on our website shortly for the Bray Runners Invitational event, which will be held on Tues 23rd June. As we are only allowed a limited number of athletes in each event, we will give priority to athletes who compete regularly for the club. If there are any places left, these will be given on a first come, first served basis, as per previous years. No training on that night for any groups, due to this event!
Forms will also go up shortly for the National Juniors/U23’s which will be held in Tullamore on Sunday 5th July (Juniors are U17-20) get those entries in.
.
EXCITING NEWS
Our Junior Girls (as part of Slí Cualann) have been selected to take part in the European Clubs Track and Field Junior B competition, to take place in Portugal on the 19th September 2015. This selection is as a result of their performance in 2014 and is a great honour for our athletes and we are very proud indeed to accept the offer. While some of our costs will be covered, we will need to fundraise to help towards flights and other expenses. As our first fundraiser, we will be providing stewards (age 17-adult) for the Sonia 5K on Sat. next in Dunlaoghaire. You will be needed for a maximum of two hours from 6.30-8.30pm and the club will be paid for each steward we provide. Please let us know asap if you can help out with this event and start the ball rolling towards our much needed funds! We really need your help with this!

OVERDUE SUBS
A number of athletes owe money to the club for unpaid weekly subs. We do remind the athletes about this at check-in, but get little response. We would appreciate it if parents could check this with us and pay off these debts asap. It is easy to forget that you missed some weeks, but unfair on the athletes who always pay if others don’t and it all adds up to quite a bit. 

SUMMER BREAK FOR YOUNGER ATHLETES
We will take a break from training for the summer for the age 5-6 & age 7-11groups (ie 5-6pm and 6-7pm), finishing up with a fun evening on Fri 30th June. Already the numbers have dropped off a lot, particularly on Fri evenings, so there is little point in trying to carry on. U12 Athletes competing in the National B Championships on Saturday 18th July may attend the later training sessions. We will return on Tues.8th Sept., which allows a week to settle back in to school first. Please note that  the older groups which train from 7-8.30pm will continue throughout the summer, as we have a lot of competition during this time. We will take a short break in August before returning on Tues. 1st Sept. to prepare for the XC season.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We gave out a number of  the registration cards and the awards and medals on Tues 2nd June, but there are still a lot not collected.  If anyone is available to help for an hour on a Tues evening we could try once more. Athletes may collect their awards themselves, but the registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Not all cards have arrived yet.

WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions, but the number is still being used a lot for queries!

Thu

21

May

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent County Championships Great performances from our athletes and lots & lots of medals won. There are far too many to list here.......

Most results are now on our website. Many thanks to all who helped out during the 3 days. The effort & commitment from some of our coaches was far & above anything we could have asked for. We cannot thank them enough!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
The Leinster Relays and Juniors are being held in Greystones on this coming Sat. 23rd May. Best of luck to all our teams and to all our Junior athletes also. Uneven age teams are billed to start at 11.30 and even ages at 3pm. Please arrive an hour beforehand as it will be very busy and also to allow for events running ahead of schedule. Relay Teams are now posted on the sidebar! Please let us know asap if you cannot attend as we don’t want disappointed children, arriving to discover they no longer have a team. Athletes need to wear club colours please, ie club singlet or T-shirt with red, white or black short only. (no pinks, blues, yellows etc. please) We are suppose to wear club gear only, for all of these events! Juniors athletes (U17-20) must wear Slí Cualann gear for this event!
As GAC is the host club, help will be needed to set up on Sat., to monitor events during the day and to clean up afterwards. Two coaches have to act as officials on the day and others willl be needed to look after teams, so if anyone else is free to help it would be greatly appreciated.
LEINSTER U9,U10,U11 Pairs Competition & U12-U13 Championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat. 6th June. Entries will need to be in by Tues 26th May. latest.
LEINSTER Combind events for U14 + will be held on Sat 13th June (no venue yet) and entries for these close on Tues 2nd June.
LEINSTER U14-19 championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat & Sun 20th/21st June. Entries close on Tues 9th June.
Forms will be on our website shortly for all of these events. Please ensure you enter in the correct competitions, as there are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster!

CARPET PIECES WANTED
Due to all the recent rain, the ground around the track is very wet & muddy. The track has being cleaned this week and is looking very well. In an effort to keep it this way, if anyone has reasonable large sized pieces of carpet they don’t need we would be grateful for these, as they could be put down around the gates and may help to keep some of the mud off the track.

WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions!

TESCO COLLECTION
Before training on Tues. evening a number of our coaches & athletes went along to Tesco where they were presented with a cheque for €325 for the club, from the Tesco Charity Fundraiser. We are absolutely delighted to receive this cheque which will go towards extra equipment for the athletes. Many thanks to Emma O’Brien for arranging to have us included as one of the charity groups and for collecting the cheque.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We are still looking for a couple of volunteers to help hand out the registration cards and the awards that weren’t collected. If anyone is available to lend a hand with this we will organise to make them available at  training on a given Tues. Registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Not all cards have arrived yet.

CLUB SHOP
We try to open our shop once each month and just before competitions. Our next club shop opening will be  on Tues. next 26th May  from 7-8pm. If you need singlet, shorts or any other club gear, please try to come along on Tues.26th. As we are all volunteers and many are covering more than one job, unfortunately we cannot manage to open the shop outside of these times.

HELP STILL NEEDED URGENTLY
We  still need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.


Tue

05

May

2015

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the 1st day of the County Championships last Fri. evening. There were many fine performances and lots & lots of medals won. There are far too many to list here, but full results will be published after the Championships are

completed. Many thanks to all who helped out on the night and especially to Rachel Casey who, I’m reliably informed, did a tremendous job with the admin. on the night. Fantastic to see a young athlete step up and take on these responsibilities and manage to compete and win medals as well. Many thanks Rachel.
Day’s 2 & 3 will take place this weekend on Fri 8th & Sat 9th May. We have a good number of entries, despite the clash with First Communions, and look forward to two more days of top class competition and lots & lots of fun! . Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. Entries are closed.

GREYSTONES AC/IRISH MILERS CLUB
Despite atrocious weather conditions, we had a great day's athletics with the IMC on Sat 2nd May, with several athletes reaching qualifying standards throughout the day! A huge Thank You to everyone who helped out, with special thanks to the ever reliable Cyril Smyth, Terry Kavanagh, Noreen O'Reilly, Oran O'Toole and the small but hardworking GAC crew, all of whom went above & beyond the call of duty to make the day a success. Many, many thanks to the IMC for all their work, to the Irish Sprinters & Irish Hurdlers for their welcome input and to Dave Sweeney for organising the Javelin event. Thanks also to Shoreline Sports Park for all their help! Lets hope for better weather next year!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
The Leinster Relays for U9-U16 ( athletes born 2000 – 2007) will be held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. As it is on our home track and there is no travelling involved, we hope to have lots & lots of teams running. Form will be on the website shortly and will close on Sunday 10th May and teams will be announced by Tues 12th latest. We need 4 members for each team and athletes can move up one age group to run on two teams.


The Leinster Juniors (U17-U20….. born 1996-1999) is being held on the same day and again as we are on home turf we hope to have lots of athletes competing on the day. Please list the events you wish to take part in. Form will be up shortly.

AWARDS NIGHT
Our Awards night went off well although quite a number of our athletes didn’t make it along to pick up their awards on the night. Once the County Championships are behind us, we will organise to make these awards available at check-in one Tuesday evening. It would be a huge help if we could have a couple of volunteers to look after this.

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
A further batch  of Registration cards have arrived, but there are still many more to come. These too will be available for collection on the same night as the awards. As athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year, they are addressed to the parents and so need to be collected by them. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries.

HELP STILL NEEDED URGENTLY
We  urgently need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.




Mon

20

Apr

2015

AWARDS REMINDER

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
AWARDS NIGHT
We remind you all that our awards night for 2014 is this coming Tues. 21st Apr 2015 and will

be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Awards for Attitude, Achievement & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to see your children’s efforts being rewarded and a chance to meet the coaches and have a chat!
These awards are being presented for 2014, so athletes who only joined this year or late in 2014 will not have the required Attendances etc. You are however very welcome to attend and hopefully you will work hard during the remainder of this year and be back here next year receiving your own awards!
THERE WILL BE NO TRAINING THIS TUESDAY FROM 6-7PM pm & 7 –8.30PM DUE TO THE CLUB AWARDS  NIGHT! ! LITTLE ATHLETICS WILL RUN AS NORMAL FROM 5-6PM!       

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
This year all athletes are being issued with  Life Registration cards. Some of these have arrived and we will hand them out to parents at the Awards night.  These cards now have just a Life Number., which members will have for their entire athletic career instead, of getting a new registration number every year. This is the number that will be used for all entries. Consequently athletes/parents need to look after these cards, as they will no longer be replaced every year.

HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
We  urgently need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website and there is a link on our entry form. All GAC athletes of all ages who want to compete in this year’s Championships must register on our website for each day they intend to compete. You must also list the events you intend to compete in each day.  Form is now up on our web site and closing date for all entries will be Tues. 28th Apr. No entries can be accepted after this date, so make sure you are in on time!


EXPLANATION OF AWARD SCHEME FOR NEW PARENTS.
Children up to age 10 in 2015 (U11), take part in an award scheme at the County Championships on Saturday 9th May, there are no individual events for these age groups. Each child competes in 3 events, a sprint, a long jump and a turbo javelin throw, and their points are calculated to get a finishing score. All athletes who compete in all 3 events will get a medal on the day. The top scorers will get gold, the next group silver and the remainder bronze.  Those who don’t complete the competition, ie all 3 events,  will not receive a medal. It will take a while to get through all the events for all the age groups and as the relays for the younger age groups are also on the Sat. afternoon, please come prepared to spend the day.  If we are lucky enough to get good weather it can be a very enjoyable day!
There are longer races and Obstacle Relays on Fri 1st May for these younger age groups, which start at 6.30pm and will be done within the hour.  We have not included events on Fri 8th to leave them fresh for the Sat. competitions.

CLUB SHOP
Our club shop will be open on Tues. 28th Apr.at 5pm and again from 7-8pm to allow athletes to purchase club gear before the County Championships. We now have new girls red shorts in stock in all sizes and also some ¾ length & full length red leggings. We also have a good number of secondhand spikes available as well as rain jackets, lightweight showerproof  trousers and club hoodies, club singlets & T shirts. We also have some black Nike tracksuit bottoms reduced to just €10.

Tue

07

Apr

2015

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
The final day of the National Indoors brought more fine performances and more medals for GAC athletes Alana Ryan had yet another fantastic day, cruising through her heat of the U16 200m......

..... and winning the final in great style to take another National title. Fantastic running once again from Richael Browne in the U17 800m, where she took the silver medal in a new indoor PB of 2.19.88.  A great run also from Katy Conroy in the U19 800m where she finished in 8th place. Conor Dempsey ran 22.87 in his heat in the U18 200m to qualify for the final where he finished 5th. Noah Daly qualified for the final of the U16 LJ where he finished 5th with a jump of 5.36m and Aodhán Daly jumped 4.49m in the U14 LJ to finish 9th.  Well done to all of our athletes! A little time to recover now, but we are looking forward to a great outdoor season!

HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
Once again we have to appeal for help at the 6-7pm sessions. We have big groups at these sessions and have lost some coaches recently due to changed circmstances. As well as this we have coaches covering these sessions at present who are having to arrange minders and transport for their own children, now all in the later groups, to allow them to cover the 6-7pm sessions. We need to allow these coaches to move to the 7-8.30pm time asap. We have  100 children in the 6-7pm sessions and urgently require parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING
There are a number of athletes who’s attendance at training is very poor indeed. Athletes are expected to attend training regularly and Group 1 & 2 athletes have committed to attending a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level. We have a constant waiting list for places and we can not be expected to hold places for those who do not use them. Once again we must remind everyone that athletes who disappear for over 3 weeks without letting us know why, (ie illness, injury etc.) are deemed to have left the club and their places are offered to those on the waiting list. We will always hold the place for an injured/ill athlete and once we are made aware it is not necessary to notified us at every session. Lists are reviewed at the end of each month.

AWARDS NIGHT
We remind you all that our awards night for 2014 has been arranged for Tues. 21st Apr 2015 and will be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Consequently there will be no training that night! Awards for Attitude, Achievement & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the coaches and have a chat!

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
This year all athletes are being issued with  Life Registration cards. Many of these have arrived this week and we will hand them out to parents at the Awards night.  These cards now have just a Life Number., which members will have for their entire athletic career instead, of getting a new registration number every year. This is the number that will be used for all entries. Consequently athletes/parents need to look after these cards, as they will no longer be replaced every year.

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION
Well done to all the athletes who attended the coaching session on Good Friday. This was another great success and we thank the coaches who did such a great job on the day. We will organise a follow up session for these athletes over the next couple of weeks.

RELAY SQUADS
Apologies for the error with the Relay Squad date as we were not training on the given date. Our next training night for our Relay Squads is this Fri. 10th April. It is particularly important that all members of the squads attend these training sessions!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Junior & Senior men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Names to Theresa by Sunday 19th April latest. No late entries accepted this year..

CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. All GAC athletes of all ages who want to compete in this year’s Championships must register on our website for each day they intend to compete. You must also list the events you intend to compete in. Form will be up on our web site shortly and closing date for all entries will be Tues. 28th Apr. No entries can be accepted after this date, so make sure you are in on time!


EXPLAINATION OF AWARD SCHEME FOR NEW PARENTS.
Children up to age 10 in 2015 (U11), take part in an award scheme at the County Championships on Saturday 9th May, there are no individual events for these age groups. Each child competes in 3 events, a sprint, a long jump and a turbo javelin throw, and their points are calculated to get a finishing score. All athletes who compete in all 3 events will get a medal on the day. The top scorers will get gold, the next group silver and the remainder bronze.  Those who don’t complete the competition, ie all 3 events,  will not receive a medal. It will take a while to get through all the events for all the age groups and as the relays for the younger age groups are also on the Sat. afternoon, please come prepared to spend the day.  If we are lucky enough to get good weather it can be a very enjoyable day!
There are longer races and Obstacle Relays on Fri 1st May for these younger age groups, which start at 6.30pm and will be done within the hour.  We have not included events on Fri 8th to leave them fresh for the Sat. competitions.

Wed

25

Mar

2015

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
Nationals Indoors in Athlone last weekend and it was yet another great weekend for GAC !  We had 5 teams in the National relays on Sat. of which 4 made the finals. The 5th, moving a little

too quickly, unfortunately exchanged just outside the zone just exchanging. Our U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney led from the gun and took the gold medals comfortably, while our U18 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Isabel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman put up a great battle to take the bronze, while U17 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Niamh Conroy, Richael Browne & Alana Ryan finished 5th and U13 boys, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones, James Nicholson & Michael O'Shea finished 6th. Sunday was individual events and all of our 60m sprinters comfortably made their finals. In the U 16 boys Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney put in another terrific effort and this time Josh took the bronze medal with Ben finishing in 4th place. Alana Ryan had another fantastic race, pushing all the way to the line to take yet another gold medal and National Championship in the girls U16. Ara Freeman had her usual fantastic start in the girls U18 and she too fought all the way to the line where she unfortunately took a nasty fall at the finish line. Delighted to report that she is recovering well and has a bronze medal for her efforts. Many thanks to all her well wishers! Cillian & Richael Browne were in action again in the 1500m. Richael had another great race to finish 4th in the girls U17 in a time of 4.58 with Cillian running 4.14 for 8th place in the U19 boys. Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey both qualified for their 400m finals wih Amaris finish 5th & Conor 6th after a clash at the break line. Alan Gordon cleared 1.30m in the HJ for 12th place. Well done to all who competed and good luck to everyone next Sat. when we get to do it all again!

STILL VERY  IMPORTANT
Please come to training properly prepared for training! Despite constant reminders that we train in all weathers, wind, hail, rain or snow, and regular requests that our athletes always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, we still have many who don’t bring sufficient clothing with them. It is easy to remove layers if you get too hot, but there is nothing we can do if you are cold and you don’t have enough clothing with you and you cannot train properly if you are cold. So wear plenty layers, bring a jacket and gloves and don’t forget your water bottle!

AWARDS NIGHT
Our awards night for 2014 has been arranged for Tues. 23rd Apr 2015 and will be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Consequently there will be no training that night! Awards for Attitude, Achievement  & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the coaches and have a chat!

COACHES MEETING
A reminder to all coaches that we have a coaches meeting tomorrow evening at 8pm at the track. If anyone is interested in getting involved with coaching or helping out at training session, you are most welcome to come along to this meeting.

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION
We are arranging a specialised coaching session for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 or before) who intend to compete throughout the coming Track & Field season. As we have limited places available, athletes who take advantage of this extra coaching will be expected to compete at Leinster competitions as well as at County level.. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, provided the applicant is a regular attendee at club training sessions.
The coaching sessions will take place on Good Friday 4th Apr from 10.30 – 12.30am and athletes may take part in two events during the morning. Events being coached will be
 Long Jump  High Jump  Hurdles  Javelin/ Turbo  Shot Putt  Discus  Sprints (concentrating on starts/blocks )
Form will be on the website shortly and will close on Wed. 2nd Apr. Please give your name and list three events in order of choice. We will do our best to give you your first two choices, but it may not be possible, when dividing the groups, to facilitate everyone. There will be a €5 fee to help cover costs for the day.
Please note that athletes will need to arrive on time, as the Sports Centre is closed for business on Good Friday and there will be nobody to open the gate once we have gone on to the track. Gates will only be open from 10.20- 10.35  latest. I’m sorry, but we can not be running up and down to open the gate to late comers, as this disrupts the coaching sessions.

RELAY SQUADS
Next training night for our Relay Squads is Fri. 4th April. It is particularly important that all members of the squads attend these training sessions!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 5
Don’t forget that the last race in the XC League takes place on this Friday 27th March in Bray Emmets. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website www.greystonesac.com  and can be found under  Entry Forms at the top of the page. Entries will close on Thurs 26th at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on this Friday 27th March, as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

FIT4LIFE RACE
The next Fit4Life race will be held in Shanganagh Park on Thursday 2nd April. Check-in at 7pm, race at 7.30pm. This is open to everyone from 14 up and while there are prizes for each category and some spot prizes, it is very much  a participation event and a great way to start racing.  Refreshments afterwards!

COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Juniors & Seniors men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Entries to Theresa by Sunday 19th April latest.

CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. entries in advance this year. A reminder will be posted nearer the time!

Sun

22

Mar

2015

National Indoors

Yet another great weekend for GAC athletes. We had 5 teams in the National relays on Sat. of which 4 made the finals.......

while the 5th, moving a little too quickly, unfortunately exchanged just outside the zone. Our U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney led from the gun and took the gold medals comfortably, while our U18 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Isabel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman put up a great battle to take the bronze, while U17 girls Alannah O'Carroll,Niamh Conroy, Richael Browne & Alana Ryan finished 5th and U13 boys, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones, James Nicholson & Michael O'Shea finished 6th. Sunday was individual events and all of our 60m sprinters comfortably made their finals. In the U 16 boys Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney put in another terrific effort and this time Josh took the bronze medal with Ben finishing in 4th place. Alana Ryan had another fantastic race, pushing all the way to the line to take yet another gold medal and National Championship in the girls U16. Ara Freeman had her usual fantastic start in the girls U18 and she too fought all the way to the line where she unfortunately took a nasty fall at the finish line. Delighted to report that she is recovering well and has a bronze medal for her efforts. Many thanks to all her well wishers! Cillian & Richael Browne were in action again in the 1500m. Richael had  another great race to finish 4th in the girls U17 in a time of 4.58 with Cillian running 4.14 for 8th place in the U19 boys. Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey both qualified for their 400m finals wih Amaris finish 5th & Conor 6th aftera clash at the break. Alan Gordon cleared 1.30m in the HJ for 12th place. Well done to all who competed and good luck to everyone next Sat. when we get to do it all again!

Wed

11

Mar

2015

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Another great weekend for GAC at the Leinster Indoors!
Off to a great start on Saturday, with gold for Alana Ryan in the U16 200m and for Amaris Borel in the U18 400m, Silver for Conor Dempsey in the U18 400m, for Richael Browne

in the U17 High Jump, for Noah Daly in the U16 Long Jump, for Louis Lalor in the U16 60m hurdles and for Aodhan Daly in the U14 Long Jump and Bronze for Amaris Borel in the 60m hurdles. A 5th place finish for Noah Daly in the U16 200m and fine performances also from many others, with U14 Alan Gordon and Ronan Dempsey making the 60mH final finishing 4th & 5th,respectivily & U13 Emma Quirk making the 60mH final and James Nicholson & Joe Prendergast making the 600m final! Well done to our younger athletes, many making their first appearance at indoors and showing great promise for the future of our club! This all left us looking forward to another great day on Sunday!


The 4th and last day of the Leinster Indoors again saw top performances from GAC athletes with U 19 Katy Conroy taking bronze in the 8oom,18's Ara Freeman taking double gold in the 60m & 200m and setting a new Championship Best in the 60m, Conor Dempsey having a superb race to take silver in the 200m, Amaris Borel winning her 200m heat comfortably and Isobel Kenny making the 60m final after a great 200m run earlier in the day and 4th place finishes for Rosa Kirwan in both the 800m & the High Jump. Championship Best performance also from Richael Browne running a fantastic race to win the U17 800m. Alana Ryan added the U16 60m title to her 200m title from yesterday and only .01 separated Ben Mooney & Josh Pyper who took Gold & Silver in the u15 60m in one of the closest races of the day. Bronze as well for Ben in the Long Jump and a bronze for Alan Gordon in the U14 High Jump having finished 4th in the 60m hurdles yesterday. Aodhan Daly had 3 great runs in the U14 60m to progress through the heats & semi- finals, as did older brother Noah in the U16 and  Michael O'Shea in The U13 with Emma Quirk also getting to her semi-final U13 and Sophie Dallaghan in the U12. Emma also finished 5th in her Long Jump. Another very successful weekend for GAC. Nationals............ here we come!.


Huge congratulations go to Alana Ryan on winning the National Juvenile Star Award for 2014. We are very proud to see Alana receive this well deserved award for her achievements last year and as you can see from the report above, she has made a terrific start to 2015. This is the 6th year in a row that a GAC athlete has won this National Award, so keep up the good work guys!


GAC  also won the National Developmental Award for 2014 and we congratulate all the athletes involved in what was a great day for the club back in July. U15 Troy Scully, Niamh Conroy, Rachel Casey, Catherine Casey & Rachel Purcell, U14 Sarah O’Connor, Katie Lawless, Eva Roche & Frances Dallaghan, U13 Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Alan Gordon, U12 Michael O’Shea, Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally &, Erin Howard.

VERY  IMPORTANT
Please come to training properly prepared for training! Despite constant reminders that we train in all weathers, wind, hail, rain or snow, and regular requests that our athletes always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, we still have many who don’t bring sufficient clothing with them. It is easy to remove layers if you get too hot, but there is nothing we can do if you are cold and you don’t have enough clothing with you and you cannot train properly if you are cold. So wear plenty layers, bring a jacket and gloves and don’t forget your water bottle!

AGM
A reminder that our club AGM, which will be held in Shoreline Sports Park on this Thurs 12th March at 8pm. This is open to all members and/or parents of juvenile members and is your opportunity to come along and find out how our club is run and what goes on in the background to keep it all running smoothly. It is also an opportunity to make suggestions that you think might improve things, or maybe even come on board and lend a hand on the club committee or one of our sub-commitees. Motions and nominations for the AGM are still being taken and should be e-mailed to theresa.kinane@gmail.com by Tues 10th March please.


RELAY SQUADS
Due to the Leinster Indoors at the weekend we deferred the first relay squad session until this coming Friday 13th March. This means that there is still a chance to add your name to the list if you are interested in being considered for relay team selection in the future. The form will stay on the web site until Thurs. 12th and we will have our first training session on Fri evening. After this, specific relay training sessions for all club teams will be held on the 1st Friday of each month. All athletes who want to be considered for future teams, must fill out the form on the website declaring their interest and of course will need to attend the training sessions regularly.
It is particularly important that all members of the teams who have qualified for the National Relay Championships attend this training session!

FIT4YOUTH GROUP
In Sept.’14 we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past number of months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups. We do have some places available in this group at present.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 5
This takes place on Friday 27th March in Bray. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will be on our website www.greystonesac.com shortly and can be found under  Entry Forms at the top of the page. Entries will close on Thurs 26th at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday  , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

NATIONAL INDOORS
National Indoors take place on Sat/Sun 21st/22nd March and on Sat 28th March. Well done to all who have qualified for these. While we are trying to give as much time as possible to all events, we may not be able to cover every event each night and so qualified athletes, including relay teams, need to make a big effort to attend all sessions to ensure they get in as much practise as possible.

FIT4LIFE RACE
The next Fit4Life race will be held in Shanganagh Park on Thursday 2nd April. Check-in at 7pm, race at 7.30pm. This is open to everyone from 14 up and while there are prizes for each category and some spot prizes, it is very much  a participation event and a great way to start racing.  Refreshments afterwards!

COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Juniors & Seniors men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Entries to Theresa by Sunday 19th April.

Sun

08

Mar

2015

LEINSTER INDOORS

Another good day for GAC on Saturday 7th march, with gold for Alana Ryan in the U16 200m and for Amaris Borel in the U18 400m, Silver for Conor Dempsey in the U18 400m, for Richael Browne in the U17 High Jump, for Noah Daly in the U16 Long Jump, for Louis Lalor in the U16 60m hurdles and for Aodhan Daly in the U14 Long Jump and Bronze for Amaris Borel in the 60m hurdles.

A 5th place finish for Noah Daly in the U16 200m and fine performances also from many others, with Alan Gordon and Ronan Dempsey making the 60mH final U14 & Emma Quirk U13 and also James Nicholson & Joe Prendergast making the 600m final U13! Well done to our younger athletes, many making their first appearance at indoors and showing great promise for the future of our club! This all left us looking forward to another great day on Sunday!

The 4th and last day of the Leinster Indoors again saw top performances from GAC athletes with U 19 Katy Conroy taking bronze in the 8oom,18's Ara Freeman taking double gold in the 60m & 200m and setting a new Championship Best in the 60m, Conor Dempsey having a superb race to take silver in the 200m, Amaris Borel winning her 200m heat comfortably and Isobel Kenny making the 60m final after a great 200m run earlier in the day and 4th place finishes for Rosa Kirwan in both the 800m & the High Jump. Championship Best performance also from Richael Browne running a fantastic race to win the U17 800m. Alana Ryan added the U16 60m title to her 200m title from yesterday and only .01 separated Ben Mooney & Josh Pyper who took Gold & Silver in the u15 60m in one of the closest races of the day. Bronze as well for Ben in the Long Jump and a bronze for Alan Gordon in the U14 High Jump having finished 4th in the 60m hurdles yesterday. Aodhan Daly had 3 great runs in the U14 60m to progress through the heats & semi- finals, as did older brother Noah in the U16 and  Michael O'Shea in The U13 with Emma Quirk also getting to her semi-final U13.

Tue

24

Feb

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
What a great start we had over the first two days of the 2015 Leinster Indoor Championships. Fantastic running from all our GAC athletes with great results on Saturday from the Relays and distance events. Gold medals all round for our U18 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Isobel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman, U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney & U15 boys, Josh Pyper, Aodhan Daly, John O’Connor & Ben Mooney...

... Silver for our U17 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan  & U13 boys, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones & Michael O’Shea, with 4th place finishes for U16 girls, Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan & U14 boys, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Joe Dowd, Alan Gordon & James Nicholson.. Fantastic running from Cillian Browne finishing 3rd in the U19 1500m, Richael Browne finishing 3rd in the U17 1500m & Sophie Nicholson finishing 4th in the U15 800m!
Sunday proved to be another fantastic day for our club athletes competing for Slí Cualann at the Leinster Juniors. Following on from the previous day’s great results, brother & sister Cillian & Richael Browne went for gold today ,with Cillian winning the Junior 3K & Richael winning the 800m. Gold too for Amaris Borel in the 60m Hurdles, and Amaris also had a Season's Best in the 400m. Gold again for Ara Freeman in the 60m with a new Leinster Championship Best Performance and Ara also had a fourth place finish in the 200m. Silver medals for Susie McParland in her first track 3K and for Conor Dempsey in the 400m, a Bronze medal for Rosa Kirwan in the High Jump and another new 800m PB for Katy Conroy! What a top weekend's competition it was!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS


XC LEAGUE ROUND 4
This coming Friday 27th Feb. in Roundwood GAA centre. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website now and entries close on Thurs 26th Feb at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on this Friday 27th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


LEINSTER INDOORS DAYS 3&4
Days 3&4 of the Indoors are Sat/Sun 7th/8th March. Entries are all gone in and athletes are training hard for their specific events. While we are trying to give as much time as possible to all events, we may not be able to cover every event each night and so athletes need to make a big effort to attend all sessions to ensure they get practise at their chosen events.


LEINSTER DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
Day 4 of the Leinster Development Squad takes place from 11am – 1pm on this coming Sat. Feb 28th, in Morton Stadium, Santry. As always ,each day and is open to all athletes aged 12 years +. The squad will cost €5 per athlete each day. Please check-in at the stand in Morton Stadium from 10.30am. Events covered this weel will be Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump. This is a great opportunity for some extra coaching on your event!

AGM
Time again for our club AGM, which will be held in Shoreline Sports Park on Thurs 12th March at 8pm. This is open to all members and/or parents of juvenile members and is your opportunity to come along and find out how our club is run and what goes on in the background to keep it all running smoothly. It is also an opportunity to make suggestions that you think might improve things, or maybe even come on board and lend a hand on the club committee or one of our sub-commitees. Motions for the AGM should be e-mailed to theresa.kinane@gmail.com by Fri 6th March to allow time to send these out.

RELAY SQUADS
Following on from our success at the Indoor Relays, GAC intends to work on developing our relay squads for future events and so we will have specific relay training sessions for all club teams on the 1st Friday of each month. Athletes who wish to be considered for future teams need to fill out the form on the website declaring their interest and of course will need to attend the training sessions regularly.

REGISTRATIONS
These are all now completed and all training groups are re-organised for the coming season. Prospective new members should send us their details, to include Name & DOB, to ‘Contact us’ on our website. www.greystonesac.com

TRAINING GROUPS
While our aim is to promote athletics and foster a love of the sport in all our members, we would like to remind you all that Greystones AC is first and foremost a competative club and so athletes are expected to attend training regularly and take part in the various competitions that the club competes in during the year.
Athletes in Groups 1 & 2 agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions each week before moving to these groups and we expect this to be adhered to. This is necessary to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.30am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day. So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.

FIT4YOUTH GROUP
In Sept.’14 we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past number of months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups.

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues 3rd March from 7-8pm to facilitate those who need singlets etc.for the Leinster Championships. We now have new girls red shorts in stock in all sizes and also some ¾ length & full length red leggings. We also have a good number of secondhand spikes available as well as rain jackets, lightweight showerproof  trousers and club hoodies & T shirts. We also have some black Nike tracksuit bottoms reduced to just €10.

Once again we must remind you all that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, as we still have many who don’t bring suficient clothing. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents!

Sun

15

Feb

2015

WHAT A WEEKEND!

Fantastic running from all our GAC athletes this weekend in Athlone with great results on Saturday from the Leinster Indoor Relays in Athlone. Gold medals all round for our U18 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Isobel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman, U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney & U15 boys, Josh Pyper, Aodhan Daly, John O’Connor & Ben Mooney. Silver for our U17 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan  & U13 boys, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones & Michael O’Shea, with 4th place finishes for U16 girls, Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan & U14 boys, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Joe Dowd, Alan Gordon & James Nicholson.. Fantastic running from Cillian Browne finishing 3rd in the U19 1500m, Richael Browne finishing 3rd in the U17 1500m & Sophie Nicholson finishing 4th in the U15 800m!

Sunday proved to be another fantastic day for our club athletes competing for Slí Cualann at the Leinster Juniors. Following on from yesterday's great results, brother & sister Cillian & Richael Browne went for gold today ,with Cillian winning the Junior 3K & Richael winning the 800m. Gold too for Amaris Borel in the 60m Hurdles, and Amaris also had a Season's Best in the 400m. Gold again for Ara Freeman in the 60m with a new Leinster Championship Best Performance and Ara also had a fourth place finish in the 200m. Silver medals for Susie McParland in her first track 3K and for Conor Dempsey in the 400m, a Bronze medal for Rosa Kirwan in the High Jump and another new 800m PB for Katy Conroy! Well done to all our athletes and congratulations to team mate & training partner Tim Grummell on his gold in the Senior 1500m and to Terry Kavanagh with Silver medals in the Masters 400m & 800m. What a top weekend's competition it has been!

Thu

22

Jan

2015

FINAL REMINDER

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2015…………..FINAL REMINDER!
Club Registrations for 2015 have been taking place all this week during all training sessions and the final opportunity to renew club registrations is tomorrow Friday 23rd Jan. Athletes who have not renewed their registrations by Fri 23rd will be deemed to have left the club and their places will be offered to those on the waiting lists. Those who are not registered will not be on the check-in sheets next Tues evening and can no longer be admitted to the track, as they are no longer covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area during training times on Fri 23rd Jan. only, ie 6-8.30pm. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at other times as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. In an effort to get all records up to date again, all members need to fill out a new club form this year. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. Overdue weekly subs. should also be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2015 with a clean slate please.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We are already well into our competition for 2015, with several events already completed. Wel done to all who took part, report to follow. Next events are:
 Sun 25th Jan National Jun (1996-1999)/U23 (1993-95) Indoors, Athlone
 Tues 27th Jan. East Leinster Schools XC, Avondale
 Sat 31st Jan Round 2 Indoor League, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun 1st Feb AAI Games, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat 7th League Final, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun. 8th Feb Juvenile B XC , Tuam (1996-2004)
 Sun 8th Feb. Nat. Intermediate XC, Tuam
 Wed 11th Feb. Leinster Schools XC, Santry
 Sat 14th Feb. Leinster Indoor relays + walks, PV, TJ & 800/1500m races (born 1996-2004), Athlone 
 Sun. 15th Feb. Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters, Athlone on Feb 15th.
 Sat/Sun 21st/22nd Feb. National Senior Indoors, Athlone
The remainder of the Leinster events are on the 7th/8th March.


All athletes who intend to compete at any of the Juvenile events up to & including 8th March, should fill out the appropriate form, which is on our website, by Tues next 27th Jan. Indoor events are for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 and before) and athletes can enter up to 3 events + relays.  Don’t forget to list your events and availability for relays. Teams + subs will be sorted asap.  U11’s, ie born 2005 can compete in the relays. Leinster programme of events can be found on www.athleticsleinster.org

We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.


Wed

07

Jan

2015

Newsletter

NEWSLETTER 2015
Normal service resumes this week and we welcome back  all those we haven’t seen since before Xmas. We hope you all had a great time and wish everyone a Happy New Year! Small numbers at the sessions and runs over the holidays, but well done to those who put the effort in, it will pay dividends at the upcoming competitions!

AWARD WINNERS
Once again Greystones AC athletes are the recipients of both County & Provincial awards, with club athletes winning 3 of the 4 Juvenile awards & both Junior awards in Wicklow and all 3 awards in Leinster for 2014. Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Ben Jones for the U14-16 section, Cillian Browne for the U16-19 section & Amaris Borel & Padraig Lennon for the Junior section in Wicklow and to Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey for the Leinster Juvenile awards & David Coyle for the Senior award. The Leinster Awards will be presented this Sat 10th Jan in Carlow and the Wicklow Awards will be presented in Wicklow town on Fri. 16th Jan. Fit4Life prizes will also be presented that night and club members are welcome to come along and support our many winners!

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2015…………..VERY IMPORTANT!
All club athletes now need to renew their registration/insurance for 2015. Registrations will take place at training times for one week only and any athletes not registered at the end of that week can no longer be admitted to the track, as they will not be covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area on Tues 20th Jan. Wed 21th Jan & Fri 23rd Jan. during training times only. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at other times as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. In an effort to get all records up to date again, we will be asking members to fill out a new club form this year. These forms will be available at registration, but can be downloaded from our website, or collected at check-in next week, if you want to have it ready in advance and avoid long delays. Up to U19’s need to fill the Juvenile form and Parents/Guardians must sign the form at the back, but please do not sign your child’s name. If your child is too young to sign, just leave that line blank. Athletes born 1996 and before should use the adult form.  We would really appreciate it if anyone who’s details haven’t changed, would indicate this on their form. It will save a great deal of time double checking everything. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. Overdue weekly subs. should also be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2015 with a clean slate please.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We have a very busy year ahead and I have listed the first two months events below:
 Sunday 11th Jan.  Round 1 of the Indoor League, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat. 17th Jan. National Combined events, Athlone (2002 up)
 Sun 18th Jan Leinster XC for Jun (1996-1999) & Sen (1995 and before) Dunboyne
 Sun 18th Jan Leinster XC Relays in Dunboyne. Relays are for U12/14/16 (2015 ages, so born 2000-2005) Distances are short and we would love to have teams in all the age groups, so interested athletes should fill out the form on the website asap, as entries close very soon. We will let you know the teams at training on Tues. next  latest.
 Sun 25th Jan National Jun (1996-1999)/U23 (1993-95) Indoors, Athlone
 Tues 27th Jan. East Leinster Schools XC, Avondale
 Sat 31st Jan Round 2 Indoor League, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun 1st Feb AAI Games, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat 7th League Final, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun. 8th Feb Juvenile B XC , Tuam (1996-2004)
 Sun 8th Feb. Nat. Intermediate XC, Tuam
 Wed 11th Feb. Leinster Schools XC, Santry
 Sat 14th Feb. Leinster Indoor relays + walks, PV, TJ & 800/1500m races (born 1996-2004), Athlone 
 Sun. 15th Feb. Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters, Athlone on Feb 15th.
 Sat/Sun 21st/22nd Feb. National Senior Indoors, Athlone
The remainder of the Leinster events are on the 7th/8th March. All athletes who intend to compete at any of the Juvenile events should fill out the form, which will be on the website shortly, as we want to start event specific training right away. Indoor events are for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 and before) and athletes can enter up to 3 events + relays.  Don’t forget to list your events and availability for relays. Teams + subs will be sorted asap.

We also have to arrange our Sportshall event, which is always very popular with the younger athletes and always a fun day. Details will follow asap!

HELP NEEDED
Once again we have to appeal for help at the 6-7pm sessions. We have big groups at these sessions and have lost two coaches recently due to family circumstances. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out, even a little, please let us know.

We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

Tue

09

Dec

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to our GAC athletes who took part in the National XC in Santry on Sunday. Illness struck again this week with only four athletes, Megan O’Brien, Ben Jones, Susie McParland and Cillian Browne, making it to the start line. and some of those were still not back to top form. Great running as always with silver medals going to Ben Jones in the boys U15 and Susie McParland in the girls U17 on their silver medals with the Leinster teams.

CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE RUN
Many thanks to all who turned out for our Candlelight run and in particular a huge Thank You to those who put so much effort into setting out the candles & lighting them and to those who did the lovely baking. It couldn’t happen without you guys and the whole place looked amazing when it was all lit up! All the jars were collected next day & have been stored, as we hope to make this an annual event. We raised €285 for Aware, so thanks to all who contributed to this!

GROUP TRAINING SESSION
Athletes who participated in the athletes assessment day on Sat.15th Nov. are invited to a follow up session at the track on this coming Sat.13th Dec. from 10-12pm. This session will concentrate on sprints, starts, running technique etc. and will be beneficial to all. Your results from the previous day will be available and this will act as your baseline for our follow up sessions.  We also hope to organise a further session during the Xmas break. Details will be sent out to those concerned.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Just two events left to go this year:
Round 3 of the XC League is in Arklow Rugby Club this coming Friday evening 12th Dec. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8,10,12,14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is now on the website and entries close on Thurs.11th Dec. at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 12th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


County Senior & Junior XC will take place on this coming Sunday 14th Dec. in Shanganagh Park. First race at 10.30am. GAC would love to have teams in all 4 categories, so please let Theresa  know if you are available to run.


Please note that our Sunday morning run will take place in Shanganagh Park at 9.30am, that way we’ll be finished in time to cheer on our runners in the races!

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open tonight Tues 9th Dec. from 7-8pm, just in case Santa needs any club gear this year! We have singlets, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets and tracksuit bottoms. Some of the gear hasn’t arrived yet, but hoodies & T-shirts can be paid for tonight and will be available before we finish for Xmas. The girls shorts have not arrived and unfortunately we don’t have a delivery date for those. Samples of the new red leggings and sprint shorts are available to view and orders will be taken for these tonight. Leggings and sprint shorts only come in Sm, Med, Lg , there are no children's sizes available.

XMAS TRAINING TIMES
The 5-6pm group will finish next Tues evening 16th Dec. and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 19th. We will have a Xmas games evening to finish up and maybe a few Xmas treats! These groups will return to training on Tues. 6th Jan 2015.


Our 7-8.30pm groups will finish up on Tues 23rd Dec and will return to training on Fri 2nd Jan., as we have Indoors  and Schools XC  approaching fast for these age groups.


We remind you again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

Tue

25

Nov

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all our GAC athletes who took part in the National XC in Dundalk today. Great running from Eimear Ryan, Ella Shanley, Erin Howard & Emma Quirk in the U12's and from Sarah O'Connor, Sophie Nicholson & Katie Lawless in the U14's. Congratulations to Sarah on her gold medal with the Leinster team. Fantastic running from Ben Jones in the boys U14 with an individual medal for his 6th place finish and a bronze medal with the Leinster team. Congrats also to Susie McParland & Richael Browne on their silver medals with the County team and fine running from Irene Gomez Romro U16 and from Steven Diggin in the U18/Jun event.  Unfortunately we lost a few to illness this weekend, but hopefully most will be up and running again for the uneven ages in Santry on Sun. 7th Dec.

Very well done indeed to the club athletes/coaches who braved the awful weather conditions on Fri last to take part in Round 2 of the XC League in Rathdrum. Fantastic performances from all 15 who attended and had to battle mud, wind & rain for the points. They never gave up! Evan Quirk, Daniel Quirk, Tom McCarthy, Chase Scully, Louis Kelly, Troy Scully, Amber Scully, Georgia Hogan, Eimear Ryan, Rebecca Leahy, Sophie Dallaghan, Sally Shanley, Emma Quirk, Erin Howard, Ella Shanley.


Well done also to athletes & coaches alike who come out night after night and battled the tough training conditions we’ve been having recently. 

SPORTSHALL  REPORT  by Helen Dempsey
Great performance by the boys under 13, winning silver in both the 4 x1 lap ( Michael O Shea, Ronan Dempsey, Aodhan Daly, Alan Gordan) and the 4 x 2 lap ( Michael O Shea, Joe Prendergast, Aodhan Daly, Alan Gordan) relays. Joe Prendergast took home two gold in the 6 Lap Individual and the Speed Bounce and a silver in the Vertical Jump. Joe along with Alan Gordon gave a very impressive performance in the 8 Lap Paarlouf bringing home the silver. Alan took the silver in the Shott Putt as well as the bronze in the Vertical Jump. The 2 Lap Individual again saw a strong performance from the Greystones athletes, with Aodhan Daly and Ronan Dempsey taking Silver and Bronze respectively. The pair added to their cache taking Gold and Bronze respectively in the Standing Long Jump.  Aodhan went on to take the bronze in the Standing Triple Jump.


The under 9 girls were not to be outdone by the boys, taking bronze in both the Tunnel Relay (Ava Foley, Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Amber Scully) and 1 x Lap Relay (Ailbhe Gordon, Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Amber Scully). Ava Foley gave an outstanding performance throughout the day’s events, winning three silver medals in the 3 x Lap Individual, the 2 x Lap Individual and the Speed Bounce. Ailbhe Gordan gave a mighty throw to the Foam Javelin  to bring home the silver and along with Tara Casey took joint gold in the standing long jump. Tara went on to add a silver to her medal count for the 5 strides event.
The Portarlington Sportshall event was superbly organised and was a great day for athletes and parents.  A big thanks to Buntu for putting the athletes through their paces prior to the event.

COMMUNICATION (Please read & note)
Greystones AC uses it’s club Newsletters as our regular means of communication. All new members are asked to sign up for this when they first join, so if you are not getting them please go on to our website www.greystonesac.com and sign up right away. These Newsletters are also available on the front page of the website and on our Facebook page. The club also uses webtext to communicate information, but as we have limited characters for each text this is mainly used for reminders or urgent messages. Please note that while you are occasionally asked to use the webtext no. to sign up for an event, if you have a question that requires a same day reply you should send it by e-mail or text to Theresa on 0868635797. I cannot answer messages on the webtext no. from my mob. and so there may be a long delay before I can reply to you due to work/coaching  commitments. Likewise, if you send messages via our FB page there may be a long delay in getting a reply, as this is mainly used for information purposes and is not constantly monitored.

TRAINING
We train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE RUN -------------- EVERYONE WELCOME!
A reminder that we are holding our Candlelight Remembrance Run/Walk on Sun. 30th Nov. from 4.30pm. This year we are holding the event at Shoreline Sports Park , Charlesland. Starting at the front gates, our route will take us up the back road to the soccer pitch, around the pitch, down the winding hill behind reception, out through the side gate and across the carpark to the track gate, down the hill and around the roadway behind the track bringing us back out to the carpark beside Zoom, approx 1500m in all. The route will be candlelit all the way and hopefully will be as magical an experience as last year’s was. We will have refreshments afterwards in the Shoreline building. Once again there will be a bucket available for donations to Aware


We need jars for the candles, so if you have a jar or two lying around at home, could you please bring them to training this week. Jam/coffee jars or anything of that size will be greatly appreciated. We would also appreciate help from anyone who is free to lend a hand on Sunday!
Please note that if Sunday is wet we will not be able to go ahead, as the candles will go out!

ATHLETE ASSESSMENT DAY
We held a very successful Talent ID day for our juvenile  athletes on Sat. 15th Nov. We had over 60 athletes in attendance and all were put through a series of  tests for jumps, throws, sprints, distance and had their height, peak flow etc. measured. Th results are an indication of potential at various events and give the athletes a base line to work from. We intend to follow up from this with event specific workshops which will help the athletes to take up, or progress at, their chosen events.

 
Members of the Slí Cualann development squad have a similar event on Sat 28th Nov from 12-2pm in the Shoreline hall, with lunch afterwards.  Squad T-shirts have arrived and will be given out on the day!

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues 9th Dec. from 7-8pm, just in case Santa needs any club gear this year! We have singlets, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets and tracksuit bottoms. We have new girls shorts on order and we will also have new red leggings and sprint shorts available. Leggings and sprint shorts (Sm, Med, Lg only) can be viewed and ordered at training this week.


 

Sun

09

Nov

2014

Club News

CONGRATULATIONS
Tremendous running from our athletes at the first day of the Leinster XC in Avondale and some great results Congratulations to Ben Jones who won the championship in the boys U14 and to Sarah O’connor who finished in the medals in 9th place in the U14 girls. Both these athletes will represent Leinster at the All Ireland’s. We also have several athletes qualified for the All Ireland’s as members of  Wicklow County teams, as the U14 & 16 girls teams won gold and the U12 girls were 4th. Congratulations and good luck to our athletes for Nov 23rd in Dundalk: U12 Girls: Eimear Ryan, Erin Howard, Ella Shanley & Emma Quirk, U14 Girls: .Sarah O’Connor, Rachel Diggin, Katie Lawless & Sophie Nicholson, U14 boys: Ben Jones, U16 girls:  Susie McParland, Richael Browne, Hilary Gallagher, Irene Gomez Romero, U18 girls: Katy Conroy & U18 boys:  Steven Diggin & Cillian Browne.
A disappointingly small number of club athletes took part in the 3rd and final day of the Leinster XC  in Adamstown today Sun. 9th Nov. and unfortunately due to the small numbers, we were unable to fill teams in any age groups. Some great running from those who did come along with individual medals for Cillian Browne in the boys U19 & Ben Jones in the boys U15. Co. team gold for Susie McParland & Richael Browne on the girls U17 team and a qualification place for Megan O’ Brien on the girls U15 Co. team. Best of Luck to all in the Nationals.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 2
Friday 14th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is now on the website and entries close on Wed next 12th Nov. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 14th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS (for those who missed it last time)
Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. This should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off  and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walk around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

SPORTSHALL
We are presently selecting teams for a Sportshall competition on Sun. 23rd Nov. in Portarlington. This is open to Boys & Girls U9 - U13 (born 2002 – 2007) If you are available & interested in taking part, please let us know asap on 0877730000 . We hope to enter teams in all categories.

TRAINING GROUPS
While our aim is to promote athletics and foster a love of the sport in all our members, we would like to remind you all that Greystones AC is first and foremost a competative club and so athletes are expected to attend training regularly and take part in the various competitions that the club competes in during the year.
Athletes in Groups 1 & 2 agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions each week before moving to these groups and we expect this to be adhered to. This is necessary to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day. So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.


FIT4YOUTH GROUP
This Sept. we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past few months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups.

ATHLETE ASSESSMENT DAY
We are holding a Talent Identification Day for our juvenile athletes born 2004 or before, who intend to compete in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone in March 2015.  If you are interested, come along and give each event a go and discover where your talents really lie. We also hope to have a Specialist in Steeple Chase there on the day, to coach those athletes eligible to enter the Steeple Chase (born 1999 or before).
Date: Sat 15/11/14, Time: 10-12 (reg at 09:45), Venue: Shoreline Track, Fee: €2 per athlete
Eligibility: Born 2004 and before and competing in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone in March 2015.
If you wish to attend please text your name and dob to 0877730000 by Wed. 12th November latest.
Members of the Slí Cualann development squad will have a similar event on Sat 28th Nov from 12-2pm in the Shoreline hall, with lunch afterwards.

REMEMBRANCE RUN
Last year we held a Candlelight Remembrance Run/Walk in Kindlestown Wood which received tremendous support and we have been asked by many if we would repeat it this year. As November is traditionally the month that  we remember those we have lost, we will hold  a similar event on Sun. 30th Nov. from 4.30pm. Due to the narrow road, parking and traffic control were a problem last year, so this year we will hold the event at Shoreline Sports Park , Charlesland. Starting at the front gates, our route will take us up the back road to the soccer pitch, around the pitch, down the winding hill behind reception, out through the side gate and across the carpark to the track gate, down the hill and around the roadway behind the track bringing us back out to the carpark beside Zoom, approx 1500m in all. The route will be candlelit all the way and hopefully will be as magical an experience as last year’s was. We will have refreshments afterwards in the Shoreline building. Once again there will be a bucket available for donations to Aware.

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS
We arranged to give out Registration cards for 2014 on Tues. 21st Oct. but very few bothered to collect them. As we do not want to give these cards to children and risk having them lost, we will try again on Tues. next 11th Nov. between 6.30 & 7.30pm and we ask that you please come and pick them up. There is a hotel voucher, courtesy of Athletics Ireland, with each card. Cards for athletes who registered in Sept. have arrived, but later registrations are still not here.



Thu

16

Oct

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

A LENGTHY ONE, BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AS IT CONTAINS A LOT OF  IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR  CLUB ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

WICKLOW XC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Fantastic results from both Sunday’s at the Wicklow XC Championships, despite a very big percentage of our club athletes failing to attend. On day 1 we had barely 20% of our athletes in attendance, but despite this we got  8 individual medals and 18 top ten finishes in the U12-18’s , with Gold team medals for all 4 teams that we managed to fill at U12 & U14. We had great performances in the U8-10 races, with 7 top ten finishes and we had the winner of the Novice ladies. Congratulations to our County Champions James Nicholson, Ben Jones, Troy Scully, Katy Conroy, Cillian Browne & Carol Costello, to silver medal winner Joe Prendergast and bronze winner Sophie Nicholson and well done to all who ran so well.
On day 2 we did a little better, but not much, with 24% attending and again we saw fantastic running from those who did come with County Championships going to Eimear Ryan, Troy Scully, Steven Diggin & Cillian Browne & silver medals to Sarah O’Connor & Katy Conroy and once again we had 18 top ten finishers. A few more teams this time and lots of team medals, with gold for U11 Girls, Silver for U13, U15 & U17 girls and 4th place to U13 boys.  Once again great performances from our younger athletes in the U7-9 groups and great to have an Intermediate men’s team out, who finished 4th overall, with 2 members in the top 10.  Great running from everyone who took part, but disappointing for all the coaches who put so much time and effort in, to see so many not taking part on either day.
Full results from both days are now on the sidebar of our website home  page.

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
We are now looking forward to the first of the Leinster Championships which will take place here in our own Co. Wicklow, once again in beautiful Avondale. This is the even ages event ( same course as Oct 5th) for athletes from U12-18 (U11’s can move up) and also for Novice & Masters athletes. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will take advantage of home turf  and turn out to run for Club & County on Sunday 26th Oct. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is Sunday 19th. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out. There will be open U10’s races for girls & boys on the day, so anyone interested in taking part should enter on our website form.


The uneven ages event for U11-19 (U10’s can move up) and the Intermediate adults will take place in Adamstown, Co. Wexford on Sun. 9th Nov. To avoid confusion, entry form for this will only go up when the even ages comes down.

LEAGUE ROUND 2 : Friday 14th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will go up after the Leinster events close, to avoid confusion.. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 14th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS
Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. This should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off  and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walk around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

LEINSTER PERFORMANCE SQUAD
Congratulations to GAC athletes Amaris Borel, Ara Freeman, Richael Browne, Rosa Kirwan, Isobel O’Grady, Cillian Browne, Padraig Lennon, Conor Dempsey, and Lorcan Lalor who were selected for the Leinster performance squad. They had their first session last Sat. in Santry with the second one coming up on Nov 1st and covering all events.  A developmental squad, open to all athletes aged 12 yrs +, runs on the same day from 11am-1pm. The Nov 1st session for this one covers Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump and costs €5.
 
PLEASE READ AND REMIND ATHLETES:
We are asking once again that athletes make sure to use the toilets before coming down to the track, as it causes huge problems if a coach has to leave a group to bring them up during the session. On this note, we remind athletes that the toilets and changing rooms must be left as we find them and not in a mess. Recently we have had a lot of tissue etc. thrown about and water everywhere, coinciding with our club’s use of the facility, and this needs to stop. Shoreline have the right to refuse access to groups who do not respect the track and other facilities. Please remember that the building is not our club house, it is a business premises and athletes are asked not to gather in the reception area or just outside the front door, as this interferes with other customers access. On wet evening we will check-in in the bottom changing room on the right, so please go directly there, check in and then head to the track, as we do not have enough space to keep athletes indoors.. You may leave your bags here if you wish.


We remind you once again that all athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should  wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!


Athletes who may need an inhaler, should always make sure to bring it with them. You should not share other athletes inhalers, as they may not be the same medication/dosage as yours.


Athletes who are not fit to train due to injured or illness should not attend training sessions. Athletes who arrive and are not fit to train will be sent home, as it is far too cold to stand around on the track waiting for the session to end.


Groups 1 & 2 are required  to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their groip. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.


So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.


Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on next Tues.21st Oct. from 4.30-5pm and again from 7-8pm only. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have Foam Rollers on sale at a very reasonable €14 if anyone wants one and a small number of secondhand spikes.

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS
Registration cards for 2014 arrived recently and we will have them available on Tues 21st Oct.also. Two club members will hand these out, to parents and older athletes only, between 6-7pm. They will be in the room behind the reception area in the Shoreline building. As the girls will need to leave for training just before 7pm, please collect before this time. There are a lot of cards and it may be busy, so please allow for this. Cards for Little Athletics can be collected in the shop. Cards for recently registered athletes will not be available yet.

Thu

25

Sep

2014

XC League

Directions to The Murrough for XC League this Friday.
Approaching Wicklow from Rathnew  take the left on new road (before bridge), signposted Port.
Go approx 1K along this road over the bridge and the car park is on the left….

Distances for Juvenile League  as agreed at last Co Board meeting are as follows:
U/8    400M
U/10    800m
U/12    1200M
U/14/15    1600M
Toddlers Race we usually go for 50m.

Sun

21

Sep

2014

Club Newsletter

AS THE CLUB IS RUN ENTIRELY BY VOLUNTEERS WHO ALL HAVE DAY JOBS, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO  CONTACT EACH MEMBER INDIVIDUALLY ABOUT COMPETITIONS AND OTHER CLUB INFORMATION, SO WE ASK THAT YOU PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ OUR REGULAR  NEWSLETTERS  AS THEY CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

TRAINING
We are back in action for three weeks now and are settling into our new training regimes. These first weeks back are always hard, as we work on getting fitness levels back up and getting ready for the rapidly approaching Cross Country (XC). Regular attendance at training will help you get fit quickly and will make it easier for you to keep up with your group.


All athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should  wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. Children will not be allowed to train in jeans, sandals or street shoes. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!


Groups 1 & 2 are required  to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.


So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor indeed, but we expect to see a huge improvement from here out.


We take this opportunity to remind everyone that athletes who disappear for over 3 weeks without letting us know why, (ie illness, injury etc.) are deemed to have left the club and their places are offered to those on the waiting list. We will always hold the place for an injured/ill athlete and once we are made aware it is not necessary to notified us at every session.


For Insurance reasons, parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
We are now looking forward to a great Cross Country (XC) season which is coming up very quickly indeed, with the Wicklow XC League begins this coming Fri evening on the Murrough in Wicklow Town.
ROUND 1 : The Murrough, Wicklow Friday 26th September. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm
This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. There will be a toddlers race if required U/6.   Certs for all finishers at League events.
Entry form is now up on the website  and anyone who wants to run this Fri in the Murrough will need to complete it by 6pm Thurs 25th latest.  Athletes must be registered to compete. Cerates to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training this Friday, as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


County Wicklow XC Championships, (separate events to the league), will take place on the first two Sundays of October. Both events are in Rathdrum this year, exact venues TBC later. The even ages on Oct. 5th and uneven ages on Oct. 12th, both starting at 11am. All registered athletes are eligible to compete in all competitions, as athletes can move up one age group at XC. We will be trying to fill teams for these events, so hope to see everyone making a big effort to attend.. Athletes up to U10 all receive certs for completing their events. Form for Oct 5th will be up shortly.

DAY TRIP
The 2013/2014 club trip for good attendance took place on Sat 20th & Sun 21st Sept. and we are delighted to report that everyone had a really good time at Jumpzone on both days. Well done to everyone who made the 60% attendance and don’t forget that we are already counting for next year. All attendance’s. are counted and scored out of the full number of training nights for the group, with additional points added for attending competitions. If you regularly miss one night a week or miss a week here and there, it is very easy to drop below the qualifying score, so keep your attendance up and add those points for competing, to guarantee making next year’s trip.

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues.30th Sept. from 6-8pm. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have Foam Rollers on sale at a very reasonable €14 if anyone wants one.

Sat

06

Sep

2014

CLUB NEWS

WELCOME BACK
A big welcome back to all of our athletes and if the first week’s training is anything to go by we can look forward to a great XC season. We had a huge turnout on both Tues and Wed, but attendance in some groups was rather poor on Fri evening. Hopefully this was just due to tiredness after the first week back at school and we anticipate a big improvement in future weeks. 


To those athletes who didn’t make it back this week, we would appreciate it if you could let us know whether you are returning or not, as we still have waiting lists on most age groups.


Don’t forget our Sunday runs are back on and are a very important part of the training week. This Sun. we are meeting in Djouce woods at 10.15, ready to run by 10.30am.

REGISTRATION NIGHT
We will be holding a registration night for all new athletes on Tues 16th Sept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be collected between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms are available at check-in each week and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ It would be very helpful if you could arrive with the forms filled out, as it really helps speed everything up and prevents queues forming.

ATTENDANCE TRIP
This year’s trip for good attendance will be to Jumpzone in Sandyford and has been arrange to take place over the weekend of the 20th/21st Sept  We have had to arranged two separate days, as there are restrictions on the numbers they can cater for.
Qualification for the trip requires 60% attendance from Sept to May. Points have been awarded for each training night attended since Sept 2013, with bonus points for every competition attended.

 

The list of qualified athletes has been posted in the sidebar on our website.  Qualified athletes who wish to go on the trip need to let us know right away, as we need to confirm numbers asap.

FIT4YOUTH
A new running programme for 12-17 yr olds begins on Mon 22nd Sept, and sessions will be held on Mon & Thurs evenings from 5-6pm and will cost just €2 per session. This programme will offer a chance to Get Fit, Have Fun, Make New Friends & Feel Good. It will begin with an introduction to running & will go on to offer an opportunity to try out throws and jumps, for those who might be interested in these. You will be encouraged to run with others of  similar ability & fitness levels and you will progress at your own pace without pressure. There will be options to go on and join the athletic club later on, for those who might want to.
So come along and get fit in a non-competitive environment, you just need runners and comfortable clothes!

 

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member, but members get a reduced rate. Our Sunday morning run is for club members, but you are more than welcome to come along for a trial session before joining.


HELP NEEDED
Once again we must appeal for help with coaching and with checking-in the athletes.  A few coaches are no longer available to help at the 6-7pm sessions so we are appealing to anyone who is free to help out either Tues or Fri to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797.
Last year a number of parents took on the roll of checking in the athletes at the track gate and this is a fantastic help to the coaches, who can then get on with the training session. Unfortunately several have given up and the coaches are back trying to multi-task, especially on Friday’s. If anyone is free to give 20-30mins a week to help with this, please let us know.  It is an invaluable help and makes a huge difference to the smooth running of our training sessions.

Tue

19

Aug

2014

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS to each and every athlete who competed over the recent Track and Field season. It has been a terrific season for our club where we finished in top spot on the medals table on ARCU Rankings. We have 8 National Championship wins including two doubles, with Alana Ryan taking both the 100m & 200m titles U15 and Ben Jones taking the 800m & 1500m titles U14, Amaris Borel taking the 300mH U17, Padraig Lennon the 3K steeplechase U19, Martha Hassett the Pole Vault U18 and newcomer Ben Mooney the 200m U14. Fantastic silver medal performances from Richael Browne in the 800m, Ara Freeman 100m U17 and Padraig Lennon 1500m U19, and bronze for our other newcomer Josh Pyper in the 200m U14.


The Girls U 17 team Alannah O’Carroll, Amaris Borel, Ara Freeman & Richael Browne took the bronze medals in the National Relays and Ara & Amaris were joined by Aoife Conroy & Isobel Kenny on the junior team to win the silver medals.


The pairs event saw Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally win gold in the 60m U9 and Ailbhe Gordon & Ava Foley  win bronze in the Turbo Javelin U9.


We had a great day at the National ‘B’ Championships, when we brought home a barrow load of medals: U12: Michael O'Shea gold in 60m & silver in Long Jump (LJ), Ellen McNally gold in LJ, Emma Quirk silver in 60m, Erin Howard 4th in High Jump (HJ), Liam Phibbs 5th in 600m. U13: Aodhan Daly gold in 80m & LJ, Ronan Dempsey silver in LJ & bronze in 80m, Alan Gordon gold in HJ & silver in Shot Putt (SP) U14: Sarah O'Connor gold in 800m, Katie Lawless 4th in 800m, U15: Troy Scully silver in 800m & HJ, Rachel Purcell silver in SP, Catherine Casey bronze in HJ & 4th in LJ, Rachel Casey 4th in SP. Niamh Conroy 4th in 100m.


A fantastic win for Amaris Borel in the schools 300mH saw her get her first Irish Vest this summer. Amaris went on to produce an outstanding performance in Wales to win the International event.


We ended the season with 3 of our athletes, Richael Browne, Ara Freeman & Alana Ryan, getting selected as members of the Irish Developmental Squad for the Celtic Games, giving them their first taste of International competition also.


Many of our older athletes were members of the Slí Cualann teams who competed in the League again this year. this year it was the girls team who made the final and had a fantastic competition on the day, missing out on the bronze medals by half a point and the silver by one point. Well done to club members Amaris Borel, Aoife Conroy, Ara Freeman, Carol Costello, Connie Thiel, Isobel Kenny, Isobel O’Grady, Katy Conroy, Martha Hassett and their team mates Claire Earls, Denise O’Shea and Laura Kavanagh.


We congratulate and thank all of our coaches who worked so hard and committed so much time and energy to helping our athletes with their achievments. We also thank them and all of the parents for the many long days spent at various track throughout the season supporting all of our athletes so well. At least they were mostly nice sunny days this year!

RETURN TO TRAINING
All groups return to training on Tues Sept 2nd . With such a short time from our return date until the Cross Country (XC) season starts, it is crucial that athletes who intend to compete start getting fit ahead of our return. This is easily achieved by doing short runs every other day and gradually increasing the time over the next couple of weeks. Start with 10 mins every second day this week and gradually increase this to15mins next week. This will help you to return ‘fit to train’ so that we don’t have to spend these few precious weeks of training just getting fit.

VERY IMPORTANT
While the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups finished training on Tuesday 31st June, the 7-8.30pm groups continued right through July and into early August. However many of the members of these groups have not been seen since long before this date. As we are now trying to organise the training groups for our return in Sept, we are asking that all athletes, who have not attended for a prolonged period of time, but who wish to return to training, would TEXT US on 0877730000 ASAP, otherwise we will not have a place for you in Sept. As well as trying to find spaces to move athletes up the groups, we also have long lists of people in most age groups waiting to join the club.

ATTENDANCE TRIP
With so much happening throughout the summer, we didn’t get a chance to organise the Day Trip for those who have an average of 60% attendance from Sept to June. We are now in the process of organising this event for early Sept. Details of the trip and a list of those who are eligible to attend will be sent out by newsletter and also posted on our website over the next couple of days. Those who are eligible will need to let us know if they are coming asap, so that we can confirm numbers. As numbers are large we will be dividing the athletes (by age group) into two different trips this year

2013 AWARDS
We didn’t get around to organising our 2013 awards night either this year. We are also working on this during our short break and hope to hold it during Sept. as well. Please note that this will be for ‘Attendance, Attitude, Achievement’ during 2013 only and will not include the Indoors last Spring or the recent T&F. These will count towards the 2014 awards.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also 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.

Sun

29

Jun

2014

Leinster Championships!

Fantastic weekend at the Leinster Championships with GAC athletes winning 9 Gold, 8 Silver, 6 Bronze and two 4th places.
Results to hand:
U19; Katy Conroy 3rd in 800m

Isobel O'Grady 2nd in TJ
U18: Cillian Browne 2nd in 1500m & 3K
Lorcan Lalor 2nd in 400mH
U17: Ara Freeman 1st in 100m & 200m
Amaris Borel 1st in 300mH & 400m
Conor Dempsey 2nd in 400m & 300mH and 3rd in 100m & 200m
U16: Richael Browne 3rd in 800m & 4th in HJ & 5th in the 1500m.
U15: Alana Ryan 1st in 100m & 200m
Louis Lalor 2nd in 250mH
Noah Daly 3rd in LJ

Aoife McTague 4th in 2K Walk
U14: Ben Jones 1st in 800m & 1500m
Ben Mooney 1st in 200m
Josh Pyper 2nd in 200m
Sophie Nicholson 3rd in 800m & 4th in HJ
Some great performances from several of our other competing athletes also, in particular from Troy Scully in the U15 800m & 1500m finishing 5th in both with new PB's and also from Sarah O'Connor in the U14 1500m.
Well Done to all the athletes and coaches!

Thu

12

Jun

2014

RESCHEDULED JAMBOREE

Athletics Ireland are hosting a series of Little Athletics Jamborees around the country to showcase Little Athletics as they have a new sponsor on board. This is a Sportshall Competition for all athletes from age 5 up to U12’s, with fun indoor games and activities and also relays and will largely be of a non-competitive nature. Just something for the kids to have some fun with. It will be held in the Hall in Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones and has been rescheduled to Monday June 23rd from 7.00-9.00pm. Form will be up shortly and closing date is Thurs.19th May, as they need to get an idea of numbers.

 

Don't forget that entries for the U14-19 Leinster Championships close today! No late entries accepted.

Wed

11

Jun

2014

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
It continues to be a really busy time for GAC with non stop competition at all levels and there are still many more to go, so no let up for a while yet. We congratulate all the athletes who have competed so well over recent weeks and commend everyone on their great results:


At the All Ireland Schools: In the Senior boys, Stephen Rice won Gold in the Javelin, Padraig Lennon won Silver in the Steeplechase and Martha Hassett finished 5th in the Pole Vault. In the Intermediate Girls Amaris Borel won Silver in the 300mH and in the Junior Girls, Alana Ryan won Silver in the 200m & Bronze in the 100m. Great results all round and several PB's as well.


At the Leinster Relays: Girls U16, Richael Browne, Alana Ryan, Alannah O’Carroll, Rebecca Murphy won Gold & Boys U15 Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Ben Jones, Troy Scully won Silver. Girls U15 4th, Girls U13 4th, Boys U9 4th


At he Leinster Juniors:Aoife Conroy won bronze in 400mH, Ara Freeman won bronze in 100m & 4th in 200m, with Amaris Borel 5th. Cillian Browne won gold in the 3K and Padraig Lennon won silver.


At the Leinster Pairs: Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally won silver in the U9 Boys Long Jump & bronze in the 60m, Ava Foley & Ailbhe Gordon won silver in the U9 Girls Turbo Javelin


At the Leinster U12/13 Championships: James Nicholson won bronze in the Long Jump & Emma Quirk was 4th in the 60m hurdles qualifying for All Irelands.


At the Wicklow Schools: tremendous results and lots of medals for so many GAC athletes,( too numerous to list),  at both the Schools Invitational & the Cumann Na mBunscoil events.


At the Leinster Seniors/Masters: David Coyle won bronze in the Senior 1500m & Carol Costello won silver in the M2 800m.

NEW SQUAD
Congratulations to GAC athletes Amaris Borel, Richael Browne, Aoife Conroy, Alison Dawson,Claire Foley, Ara Freeman, Alannah O’Carroll, Rachel Purcell, Alana Ryan, Cillian Browne, Noad Daly, Conor Dempsey, Lorcan Lalor, Louis Lalor, Jamie lennon, Padraig Lennon, Stephen Rice, who achieved the standard and have been invited on to the newly formed Slí Cualann developmental squad for athletes aged 14-22yrs. It is a great priviledge to be invited on to this squad and we encourage all of you to attend the sessions and make the most of the opportunities being given to you.  We hope to see more of our athletes make the standards for this squad during the present T&F season.

COMBINED EVENTS FOR U13’s
Leinster are including an Introduction to Combined Events to next Sat programme in Lourdes Stadium Drogheda. Open to athletes born in 2002,  athletes compete in 3 events,  LJ, 200m and Shot Putt. Entries will be accepted on the day of competition.

COMPETITIONS
A busy time ahead again with:
Date 14/06/14:U14 up Combined events Sat 14th June in Drogheda
Date 18/06/14: Fit4Life + BBQ on Wed 18th June in Roundwood
Date 21/06/14: National U 9/10/11 Pairs  in Tullamore
Date 22/06/14: Round 2 of the  National League in Santry
Date 24/06/14: Bray Runners Invitational in Greystones ( Limited numbers)
Date 28& 29/06/14:U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore
Date 05/07/14: National Juvenile Relays in Tullamore
Date 06/07/14: National Juniors in Cork IT
Date 12/07/14; National Juvenile Developmental Events in Tullamore
Date 13/07/14: National Juvenile Day 2 in Tullamore
Date 19 & 20/07/14: National Seniors in Santry
Date 26 & 27/07/14: National Juvenile Day 3 & 4 in Tullamore
Date 02/08/14: National Combined Events in  Tullamore
Date 03/08/14: National League Final in Tullamore
Date 09/08/14: Celtic games in Santry
Date 10/08/14: National Masters in Tullamore

 Entry forms are now up for:
Date 28& 29/06/14: U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore.

Forms going up shortly for:
Date 24/06/14: Bray Runners Invitational in Greystones ( Limited numbers)
Date 06/07/14: National Juniors in Cork IT
Date 12/07/14: National Juvenile Developmental Events in Tullamore
Please watch out for these forms and make sure you don’t miss the closing dates, as we are no longer able to do late entries to these events.

BRAY RUNNERS INVITATIONAL
The Bray Runners Annual Invitational Event will take place on the Greystones track on Tues 24th June. Each club is allowed a limited number of participants to ensure that the programme can be completed in the time available. An application form will be on our club website shortly for those who are interested in taking part. Closing date will be Wed 18th June and a list will be published on the website by Fri 20th. As numbers are limited, (and in the interest of fair play) we will prioritise athletes who regularly travel to competitions and will then fill any remaining places on a first come, first served basis.


Please note that there will be no training on Tues 24th June, due to this competition!

CLUB SHOP
Our club shop wil be open on Tues 17th June from 7-8.30pm. Singlets in all sizes available. Also Hoodies, T- shirts, shorts and lightweight  waterproof jackets & leggings.

SUMMER BREAK
The 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups will finish training on Tuesday 31st June with an evening of Fun Games for all! We will facilitate the small number who are competing the following week, at the later training times. The 7-8.30pm groups will continue training into early August as they continue to have competitions until then. We will then take a short break and all groups will return to training on the first Tuesday of September.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member. these will continue throughout the summer! 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.

Fri

16

May

2014

Greystones AC Teams for Leinster Relays Sat 24th May



U9 Girls: Keelin McGuire, Ava Foley, Amber Scully, Jill Shanley

U11 Girls: Ruby Dowd, Sophie Dallaghan, Maebh O’Neill, Eimear Ryan

U12 Girls: Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally, Nell Berney, Erin Howard

U12 Girls: Ella Shanley, Molly Crowe, Eimear Ryan, Ruby Dowd

U13 Girls: Danielle Crowe, Megan O’Brien, Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally

U13 Girls: Jenny Marshall, Alice O’Neill, Nell Berney, Erin Howard

U14 Girls: Katie Lawless, Aislinn Smyth, Sophie Nicholson, Sarah O’Connor, Rachel Diggin

U14 Girls: Jessica McDonald, Ella Curtis, Danielle Crowe, Megan O’Brien, Alice O’Neill, Jenny Marshall

U15 Girls: Alana Ryan, Niamh Conroy, Katie Lawless, Sophie Nicholson, Aislinn Smyth

U15 Girls: Sinead Mahon, Megan Healy, Etain Pegman, Rachel Diggin, sarah O’Connor

U16 Girls: Alana Ryan, Richael Browne, Alannah O’Carroll, Rebecca Murphy, Niamh Conroy

U9 Boys: Rory McNally, Frank O’Shea, Turlough McCracken Browne, Daniel Quirk

U10 Boys: Ed Nicholson, Chase Scully, Davey Kennedy Whelan, Daniel Quirk

U12 Boys: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Liam Phibbs, Michael O’Shea, Danny Jones

U13 Boys: Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Michael O’Shea

U13 Boys: Joe Dows, Jay Cafolla, Michael O’Shea, Danny Jones, Liam Phibbs

U14 Boys: Ben Jones, David Phibbs, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey

U14 Boys: John O’Connor, David Prendergast, Oscar Cafferky, Joe Dowd

U15 Boys: Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Troy Scully, Ben Jones, David Phibbs

 

This is not the running order


Mon

12

May

2014

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
The last few weeks have been extremly busy for GAC with non stop competition at all levels and it is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
If you didn’t make it down to the track on Sat 10th, you missed out on an absolutely top class competition, which saw many of the top athletes in the country competing here in our town. We witnessed an Irish Record being set in the Men’s 300mH and saw a number of top athletes achieve qualifying standards for upcoming European and World events.


Well done to our young GAC athletes who took on the challenge of competing with seniors in a very high calibre competition. This event is an opportunity for athletes to test their metal against athletes they would not normally meet as a juvenile. It affords our young athletes a “no pressure” arena to gain more experience. Results speak for themselves, with Ara Freeman winning her 100m in 12.87 and clocking 26.46 for the 200m, Amaris Borel clocking 67.37 for the 400mH, Conor Dempsey clocking 54.19 for 400m and in the 800m we had Jamie Lennon with 2.03.14, Richael Browne with 2.25.30 and Aoife Conroy 2.37.10. Tremendous running in far from ideal conditions. We are very proud of all of them!


The previous weekend we had the Wicklow County Championships, where GAC athletes dominated many of the events and produced many fine performances throughout the competition. Club athletes put their hearts and souls into the weekends events and took home barrow loads of medals, with lots and lots of PB's and top class performances! Well done to each and every athlete who came out and competed and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who looked after our athletes and who ensured that this was an excellent Championships for everyone.
It was great to see so much red & white around the track, but it may surprise many to know that we still had well under 50% attendance. Full results on www.athleticswicklow.com  shortly.
A huge amount of preparation work goes into the organisation and set up for events like these and it would not happen without the very dedicated and committed people who put so much time, effort and behind the scenes work into it all.  Many thanks to all involved.


Many of our club athletes were out competing for their schools in the week leading up to these championships and there were a host of great results here also. Those we know about are as follows: Seniors: Padraig Lennon gold in 2K Steeplechase, Cillian Browne gold in 1500m, Katy Conroy silver in 800m, Jamie Lennon set a new PB in 800m,  Intermediate: Amaris Borel gold in 400mH & silver in 300m, Richael Browne silver in 800m & bronze in 1500m, Ara Freeman silver in 100m & 200m, Steven Diggin silver in 1500m, U16: Alannah O’Carroll silver in 200m, Junior: Alana Ryan gold in 100m & 200m, Noah Daly gold in LJ, Rachel Purcell 4th in Jav. Minor:Lorcan Lalor silver in LJ and hurdles, Troy Scully bronze in 1500m.


Greystones AC athlete Niamh Kearney continues her medal winning performances in the US where she took bronze in the 3K steeplechase in 10.38 on Sat and followed up on Sun with a 4.38 in the 1500m. This helped Niamh’s college to a 2nd place finish overall in the Sunbelt Conference. Niamh also picked up a prestigious award from Georga State University  recently. Well done Niamh!

FUNDRAISER
There will be no training next Friday evening as we are holding a fundraising event with the emphasis on FUN. One of our own athletes, Ellie Hartnett, who joined GAC when she was 7 yrs old and who is now studying Physiotherapy in UCD, is heading off to India to spend her summer holidays helping poor children out there. Not only does she have to pay her own expenses, she also has to raise funds for the project. Ellie and her friends ( many are club members) will host a fun event next Fri on the track. Check-in will open at 5.30pm, teams will be arranged and the fun will start. It will be all fun events, Obstacle relays, Wellie throw, Bean bag war, Backwards t-shirt races etc……… fun, fun, fun!  This event is open to everyone (you don’t have to be a club member) all ages and the entry fee is just €3, which goes to the charity. There will be a bucket available also if anyone would like to make a donation. Please come along and support this event!

 

JAMBOREE
Athletics Ireland are hosting a series of Little Athletics Jamborees around the country to showcase Little Athletics as they have a new sponsor on board. This is a Sportshall Competition for up to U12’s, with fun indoor games and activities and relays which will largely be of a non-competitive nature. Just something for the kids to have some fun with. It will be held in the Hall in Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones on Monday May 26th from 7.30-9.30pm. Form will be up shortly and closing date is Fri. 16th May, as they need to get an idea of numbers.


COMPETITIONS
A busy time ahead with
Date 15/05/14: Primary Schools Invitational event on Thursday next 15th in Greystones
Date 15.05/14: Fit4Life on Thurs evening 15th in Greystones
Date 14 & 17/05/14:Leinster schools are on Wed 14th & Sat 17th in Santry
Date 18/05/14: Round 1 of the National League is in Waterford on Sun 18th
Date 24/05/14:Leinster Relays and the Leinster Juniors, in Greystones on Sat 24th May.
Date 26/05/14:Athletics Jamboree, (Up to U12) Mon 26th May in Shoreline Leisure Centre, Greystones

Entry forms are now up for:
  Date 01/06/14: Senior/Masters on Sun June 1st in Tullamore
  Date 02/06/14: U9-U15 Team event on Mon June 2nd in Tullamore.
Entries close on Wed next 14th May. We need teams of four for the ‘Team Event’ This is an excellent competition and fosters a great team spirit, so we would love to see lots of names going down in order that we can fill the teams. 

Forms going up shortly for:
Date 07/06/14: U9/10/11 pairs and U12/13 Championships Sat 7th June in Tullamore
Date 14/06/14: U14 up Combined events Sat 14th June in Drogheda
Date 28& 29/06/14: U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore
Please watch out for these forms and make sure you don’t miss the closing dates, as we are no longer able to do late entries to these events.

TRAINING
As notified in previous newsletters, athletes who go missing for up to 3 weeks without contacting us to explain why, are deemed to have left the club and their places are given to those on the waiting list. Consequently several names have now been removed from the check-in sheets and these athletes will have to go back on our waiting list if they wish to return. If you have not attended for over 3 weeks, you will no longer be on the list and cannot be admitted to training, as places have been filled. We are constantly under pressure with requests from potential new members to join and these are currently on the waiting list.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also 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.

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 child.

Sun

11

May

2014

Letter from Ellie re fundraiser!

Hello ,

 
This is an email informing you about the Fun Sports Day which will be held in Charlesland Sports and Recreation Park on Friday the 16th May (Thats's next Friday).
 
My name is Ellie Hartnett and I will be hosting this as a Charity Fundraiser  event in aid of my trip to South India this summer. I will be travelling as part of UCD Volunteers Overseas Programme. All proceeds will go directly towards the project. 
 
While in India I will be working as a student Physiotherapist in the local hospital . Here I will be treating children from the ages of 2 - 17 who are suffering with physical disabilities , such as cerebral palsy. I will also be working closely with the Care and Share  Charity , who are a local charity involved in teaching, recreation, aid and construction work in the local orphanage. As part of my role with this organisation I will be teaching in the Kindergarden there and will be obliged to carry out various construction tasks .
 
I would very much appreciate your support next week. Each child will be asked to give 3 euro to take part and al proceeds go directly to the project.I decided to base this charity fundraiser at the running track as I am a keen athlete myself , having been a member of Greystones AC for over ten years and am now continuing my athletics with UCD. However, next friday the emphasis will be COMPLETELY ON FUN! Activities will be fun , team based games with nothing to difficult ! Everyone and anyone can join in . We will have obstacles, BACKWARDS TSHIRT RACE, scooters, well toss , tug of war , bean bag war and plenty more.
 
Attached is a simple information leaflet which explains everything .Arrive at 5.30pm to give names, be put into group etc.!! Feel free to circulate this leaflet and this email to anyone you think be be interested in taking part .
 
The more the merrier.
 
Kind Regards,
Ellie

Sun

04

May

2014

County Championships!

The track at Shoreline Sports Park was a sea of Red & White for the Wicklow Championships on Friday night and again on Saturday. Club athletes put their hearts and souls into their performances and took home barrow loads of medals, with lots and lots of PB's and top class performances! Well done to each and every athlete who came out and competed and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who looked after our athletes and who ensured that this was an excellent Championships for everyone. A huge amount of preparation work goes into the organisation and set up for an event like this and it would not happen without the very dedicated and committed people who put so much time, effort  and behind the scenes work into it all. Many thanks also to the Shoreline staff who put a lot of effort into preparing the track and setting out equipment for us and also for looking after the parking and keeping access open for everyone. Results are far too many to list here, but will be up on our web-site as soon as they are available. This too is a very time consuming job, so will take a little while!

Tue

15

Apr

2014

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION

We have arranged a specialised coaching session for athletes from U12 up (born 2003 or before) who intend to compete throughout the coming Track & Field season. As we have limited places available, athletes who take advantage of this extra coaching will be expected to compete at Leinster competitions as well as at County level. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, provided the applicant is a regular attendee at club training sessions.
The coaching sessions will take place on Fri next from 10.30 – 12.30am and athletes may take part in two events during the morning. Events being coached will be
 Long Jump
High Jump
Hurdles
Javelin/ Turbo Javelin
Shot Putt
Discus
Sprints ( concentrating on starts/blocks )
If interested, please text Theresa on 0868635797 to ensure your place. Please give your name and list three events in order of choice. We will do our best to give you your first two choices, but it may not be possible, when dividing the groups, to facilitate everyone. There will be a €5 fee to help cover costs for the day.
Please note that athletes will need to arrive on time, as the Sports Centre is closed for business on Friday and there will be nobody to open the gate once we have gone on to the track. Gates will only be open from 10.20- 10.35  latest. I’m sorry, but we can not be running up and down to open the gate to late commers, as this disrupts the coaching sessions.

Tue

08

Apr

2014

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.


Sat

29

Mar

2014

Upcoming Competitions

COMPETITIONS (please read and save details)
Lots of Competition ahead, with the final two rounds of the XC League coming up rapidly and then on to the Track & Field (T&F) season. Entry forms will be on our club website shortly.


 Round 5 of the XC League will be held next Fri evening 4th April in the Community Field in Aughrim. Check-in from 6.30pm with 1st race at 6.45pm. This time it is even ages, U6/8/10/12/14/15, but as usual athletes can move up one year, so all can compete. The Aughrim committee have informed us that there will be a sign on Rednagh Rd to direct people to the correct field.  A good number of our athletes are in the running for medals in this League, so keep your attendance up to make sure you get one.  Attend all 6 to get Gold, 5 to get Silver, 4 to get Bronze. Closing date for entry is this Thurs 3rd Apr. No late entries.  Fee €2 if not paid on Tuesday at training.


 Round 6 will be held in Greystones on Thurs. 17th April in the top field down at Shoreline Sports Park (track) This will be un-even ages U7- U15.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Fri due to the League races, as a number of coaches have to be available to help out at the event. Otherwise our athletes will not be allowed to compete.


 Wicklow County Championships:  this year the Co. Champs are being held on a Fri evening and all day Sat instead of the usual Sat/Sun arrangement. Dates are Fri 2nd May, checking in at 6pm for a 6.30pm start. Younger athletes (up to age 10 in 2014) will just have a short programme that evening and their Award Scheme and relays will be held on Sat 3rd May. Older athletes will have their programme spread across the two days. Full programme will be available after next Tues. nights county meeting and will be published on our web-site along with entry forms.  This is the biggest T&F event for all County clubs and we expect to see a huge atendance from or athletes. This is what you all train for!


 St. Abban’s T&F event will be held on Mon 5th May at 12.30 pm at their track in Monavea, Crettyard, Co Laois. This is always a very well organised event and of a high standard and is well worth the trip. GAC athletes have done very well here over the years. Entry €3 on the day for anyone interested in attending.  Programme will be on our club noticeboard at the track.


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 the 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.

Sun

16

Feb

2020

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

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 1st 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 M
cGlone 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 8th 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 12th 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. 6th 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 15th 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. 22nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries closed.

 

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

 

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

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

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7th March, Santry

 

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

 

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

 

National Juvenile Indoors Day 2 Sun 29th 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. 27th 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. 29th 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.

Thu

16

Jan

2020

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

LOTS OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ TO THE END!

Great to see so many athletes make it back to training during the last two weeks and we hope you are all going to keep up your attendance level during the coming months, as attendance levels were very poor 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-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.

 

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2020

Registration for 2020 is now due and fees remain the same as last year. Club Registration/Insurance is €35 for 1 family member, €60 for 2 family members, €80 for 3 family members or €100 for 4 or more family members. Those who are renewing membership do not need to fill out another form. New members can either download a form from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times and Club Info’ or pick one up when checking in at training. This year you can either put fee (with signed form if needed) in an envelope and post it in our club dropbox at reception or pay your fees directly to our bank account during the next two weeks. Acct details: BIC BOFIIE2D, IBAN IE42BOFI90113213191432. It is crucial that you include the athlete’s name in the narrative, otherwise we will not have a record of your payment and your athlete may be refused admission. A small number of athletes owe varying amounts for unpaid weekly subs. during 2019 and these will need to be paid when registering for 2020. A text message with amounts owed will be sent to all concerned this week.

Un-registered athletes will not be allowed on to the track from Tues. 28th Jan. as they are no longer insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Jack McGlone on winning the Juvenile Boys Leinster Star Award for 2019, and to Niamh Kearney who won the Senior award. We are delighted to see GAC athletes winning awards again this year. They will receive their awards at the annual dinner on Sat. 15th Feb. in The Radisson Blu Hotel.

 

 

CLUB AWARDS

Our club Awards night will take place this year on Friday 31st Jan. at 7pm in Greystones Ridge Angling Club, down at the Harbour. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2019, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year award. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2019, all athletes and their families are  welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. To facilitate this Awards night, there will be no training on Friday 31st Jan. We promise not to keep you all out too late as we hope a large number of the athletes will be competing on Sat. & Sun. in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone. The entry form is on our website and must close Tues 21st Jan.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

National Combined Events Sat 18th Jan, Athlone Entries closed. Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 21st Jan, Avondale. Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone. .Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sun 26th Jan, Athlone. Gust entries on the day.

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 1st Feb, Athlone. Entriy form closes 21st Jan.

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun. 2nd Feb, Athlone. Entry form closes 21st Jan.

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B and XC Relays. Sun 8th Feb. Avondale. Entry form closes 28th Jan.

 

AAI Games, Sun. 9th Feb., Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa

 

 

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 12th Feb. Santry

 

 

AIT Grand Prix Wed 12th Feb, Athlone

 

 

Leinster Star Awards Radisson Blu Hotel Sat.15th Feb.

 

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 22nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by 11th Feb.

 

 

Leinster Indoor Relays Day 4, Sun 23rd March, Abbottstown. ( see note below re relay squad)

 

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.29th Feb and Sun.1st March. Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by Tues 11th Feb.

 

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

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7th March, Santry

 

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

 

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 3rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training next Tues. & Wed. 21st/ 22nd Jan. if you want to be included in the squad. Teams will be selected from the training squad!

 

 

NATIONAL XC IN AVONDALE (VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE)

Athletics Wicklow have the honour of hosting a National XC event this year in Avondale. The event is the National Intermediate & Masters XC with the Juvenile B XC (shorter distances) & the U12/14 Juvenile XC Relays (4x500m). The Juvenile events will be 2019 ages, so a last opportunity to compete in this age group

The event takes place in Avondale on Sat 8th Feb. and the organising committee will need lots & lots of help to make this a huge success. All County Wicklow clubs must supply at least 8 stewards to cover all positions on the day. If a good number of people volunteer to help out then everyone can do a couple of hours rather than the same few working all day long. You don’t need to have experience at Cross Country as there are many positions to be filled stewarding on the course and helping with directing traffic, car parking etc. etc. Please text Theresa on 0868635797 or contact us through our website if you are available/willing to help out at this event. Names are needed asap, so that arrangements can be finalised quickly. We really need your help, so please volunteer if you possibly can!!!

 

 

CLUB AGM

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 27th 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 trips, for those who met the required attendance percentage during 2019, will take place shortly. List of qualified athletes will be posted on the website shortly and full details of trips will be sent out once arrangements are completed. Looking forward to great days out for everyone again this year!

 

 

CLUB SHOP

As we have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues. 28th Jan. from 4.45-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 

 

FINALLY

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. Help is also needed for about 20 mins. each night to assist with the check-in for the 7pm sessions.

Sun

15

Dec

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

Well done to Jack McGlone, Tom McCarthy, Colm O’Neill and Emma Wylie who competed in the National XC Championships recently in Abbottstown and Dunboyne.

 

Hugh congratulations to Brian Geraghty who led the Irish M45 team to silver medals in the Home Counties XC in Ainfield recently. Brian finished 5th overall in the M45 section, a fantastic performance particularly for someone so new to XC!

 

Well done to Joe Dowd running 16.29 in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec. 7th ,where he improved on last year’s time by 32 secs. Great running guys!

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor for the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we will presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and will offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment. Those who have not attended for a number of weeks but who wish to return in January need to let us know asap via ‘Contact Us’ on our website. Those we don’t hear from may not have a place in January.

 

XMAS TRAINING

Training will continue at the usual times this coming week finishing up for Xmas on Fri 20th Dec. The 7-8.30pm session on Fri 20th will be the ‘Solstice Mile’ which is a fundraiser for one of our young athletes who is going abroad with his school in 2020 to help disadvantaged children. He is a committed athlete and also one of out junior coaches, who helps with coaching the younger groups each week. The event will start at 7pm and will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards in the Party Room. Open to everyone from U12 up!

 

GAC will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session!

 

The track will close at 6pm on Mon 23rd Dec and will be closed all day on Dec 24th, 25th, 26th & 31st & also on Jan 1st. As the track closes at 6pm during Xmas week, athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Fri 3rd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 7th Jan.

 

WICKLOW INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Athletics Wicklow is organising an Indoor event to allow athletes start their Indoor season with a more relaxed fun competition

 

All events are finials - no heats - where numbers dictate, races will be run in sections with times deciding places. Competition will be for 2020 ages, ie U9 born 2012, U10 born 2011 etc.

 

Under 9, 10, 11 will be offered an Awards Scheme - 60m, 600m and Long Jump. These events will start at 1-00pm sharp and should be completed by 3-00pm latest.

 

Events for all other Age Groups, including Senior & Masters :

 

60m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, Long Jump, Shop Putt, High Jump

 

Other events could be added if there is a demand.

 

Athletes may compete in a max. of 3 events. If numbers are too big, this may be restricted to 2 so when entering, declare your events in order of preference.

 

The entry form is currently on our website and will close on Thurs. 19th , as entry must be with the organisers by Fri 20th latest.

 

After this date any additions will be accepted only if there are spaces available.

 

GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

Our annual Attendance Trips for those with good attendance during 2019, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. November attendances are now being added to the lists & the final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trip will be notified at the end of Dec.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

SOLSTICE MILE Fri 20th Dec at 7pm at Greystones Track.

 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Thurs. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 

WICKLOW CO. INDOORS, Abbottstown Sat. 4th Jan 1-5pm. All ages from U8 up.

 

COUNTY MASTERS XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan. 5th. 11am.

 

NATIONAL INDOOR LEAGUE R1, Sat 11th Jan, Abbottstown

 

NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS Sat 18th Jan, Athlone

 

NATIONAL JUNIOR/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone

 

 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & t-shirt 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

 

WISHING ALL OF OUR ATHLETES & COACHES & THEIR FAMILIES A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

 

Mon

11

Nov

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent Leinster XC Championships in Gowran & Ferbane. The Club greatly appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams. These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults.

 

 

We were very disappointed with the poor attendance on both days this year and failed to make up teams in most age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

Congratulations go to Joe Dowd on his 9th place medal in the U19 Boys, earning him individual qualification for Nationals & also a place on the Leinster Team. A super race from Andrew Brennan in the U16 boys, saw him just missing out on the medals, but qualifying for Nationals as part of the Wicklow team where he will be joined by Jack McGlone. Also qualifying as part of the Wicklow County teams are Colm O’Neill & Tom McCarthy U14 boys & Emma Wylie U11 girls.

 

Congratulations also to senior athlete Niamh Kearney who had a great race in Ferbane last Saturday to finished 4th in the Leinster Senior XC. Great to see Niamh doing so well as a senior and still enjoying her running.

 

Huge congratulations go to Brian Geraghty whose first XC outing in Abbottstown earned him qualification to the Irish Team for the International Masters event in Aintree next Sunday 16th Nov. We wish him the very best of luck in the event.

 


 

TRAINING

 

Attendance at training has been very poor indeed from some athletes over the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and we offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment.

 


 

SOLSTICE MILE

 

This year we will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile as a fund raiser for one of our young athletes, who is going abroad with his school in 2020 to help disadvantaged children. He is a committed athlete and also one of out junior coaches, who helps with coaching the younger groups each week. The event will be held on Fri 20th Dec @ 7pm and there will be tea/coffee and cakes afterwards as well as a cake sale.

 

This event will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice, starting at 7pm. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Open to everyone from U12 up! We will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session. !

 


 

GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

 

Our annual trips for those with good attendance during 2019, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. October attendances are currently being added to the lists and we will post the up to date list shortly. A good number of athletes are close enough to get their percentage up to 60% by improving their attendance over the coming weeks. The final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trips will be notified during Dec. Don’t forget that extra attendance points are awarded for attending competitions.

 

Separate trips for our older athletes are also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Round 5 Co. League Roundwood GAA this coming Fri 15th Dec. 7pm sharp. Uneven Ages U7-U15. Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Thurs. 14th.

 


 

National Senior & Even Ages XC, Abbottstown, Sun 24th Nov. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 


 

County Senior XC, Sun 9th Dec. in Avondale @ 11am.

 


 

Round 6 Co. League Bray Emmets Fri 6th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15. Form is on our website.

 

 

 

 

National Novice & Uneven Ages XC, Dunboyne, Sun. 15th Dec. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 


 

Solstice Mile, Fri 20th Dec. (fundraiser for one of our young athletes to help disadvantaged kids)

 


 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Thurs. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 


 

Wicklow Co. Indoors, Abbottstown Sat. 4th Jan 1-5pm. All ages from U8 up.

 


 

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan. 5th. 11am.

 


 

Celtic XC, Sat 11th Jan. Stirling, Scotland.

 


 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 11th Jan, Abbottstown

 


 

National Combined Events Sat 18th Jan, Athlone

 


 

National Junior/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone

 


 

National Indoor League R2, Sun 26th Jan, Athlone

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 26th Nov. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have some secondhand hoodies & a good number of spikes available. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! (Multi coloured shorts are not acceptable) If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

Co.Wicklow had our first Indoor T&F event in Jan. 2019 and it was a great success, so a bigger & better event is currently being planned for 2020. This event will be open to all registered athletes from U8 up and will take place from 1-5pm on Sat. 4th Jan in the NIA in Abbottstown. A programme is currently being worked on and full details will follow shortly, so keep a look out for them as entries will need to be taken well in advance of the event.

 


 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Attendance at the organised Sunday Run is very poor indeed and we would really love to see a big improvement. These long easy runs take 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 school children should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s an important sessions of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 


 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics. Athletes should also bring a drink to training with them and should please use the toilets before coming down to the track. We understand that occasionally children will need to go again especially when it’s cold, but coaches constantly having to leave the track to accompany children to the toilets disrupts the training for all the children in the group.

 

Tue

15

Oct

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent County XC Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams. These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults. We were disappointed with the very poor attendance both days and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

 We had lots of medal winners, Individual Gold medals: Luca O’Shea Breen U14, Andrew Brennan U17, Abbie Tyrrell U18, Individual Silver: Joe Dowd U18, Megan O’Brien U18, Abbie Tyrrell Junior Women, Joe Dowd Junior Men, Individual Bronze: Ava Foley U14, Team Gold for Junior Women: Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien & Isobel Radford Dodd. The girls also won the U18 team Gold, Team Gold also for the U14 Girls : Ava Foley, Charlotte Hudson, Rosanna Hickey, Amy D'Arcy, Ailbhe Kelly, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, Chloe Hanley. Team silver for U13 Girls Rosanna Hickey, Charlotte Hudson, Ailbhe Kelly, Keeva Brennan, Lizzie McIllroy Team Bronze for the U10 Girls, Kate Patchell, Rachael Kennedy, Laura Stanley, Eve Smyth, Katie O'Neill and Ellie O'Neill. Team Bronze for the Boys U11: Daniel Anderson Luke Lennon, Luke Joyce, Jack Deegan, Hugh Woodley, Bronze also for Boys U10, Harry Coghlan, Luke Joyce, Hector Marrinan and Timur Barkevic. Well done to all! Hopefully we will get lots more out running the League XC Races & the Leinster XC & will be able to field lots of teams!

 

More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

 

 

XC LEAGUE

The Wicklow Juvenile League consists of 5 races, 2 Track & 3 Cross Country. The distances are far shorter than the Championship ones, so very suitable to all levels of fitness. Athletes who complete all 5 races receive a gold medal, 4 races a silver medal and 3 races a bronze medal and there is an overall Shield for the Best Club each year.. A good number of our athletes have already taken part in the track races, so get your entries in and complete the full League. For new members or those who missed the track races, you can still earn yourself a bronze medal if you complete the 3 XC races and you can also help your club build up points and hopefully win the Overall Shield for 2019.

 

The first of the 3 XC League races is this coming Friday 18th Oct. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Check-in at 6.30pm, 1st race 7pm, all over in less than an hour. Entry form is on our website and athletes need to get their entries in right away.

 

Round 4 is in Roundwood GAA on Fri Nov.15th and Round 5 is at Bray Emmets grounds on Fri Dec.6th. Entry forms for all 3 rounds are on our website!

 

 

 LEINSTER XC

 The Leinster XC Championships are coming up fast also, with the Even Ages on Sat Oct.27th & the Uneven Ages on Sat Nov 9th. Hopefully we will see a big improvement in numbers running for our club at these events and remember that you will also be running for Wicklow County, so please sign up and help make teams for Club and County. Entry forms for these are also on our website!

 

 

 SUNDAY RUN

Nice to see some GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are hoping to see many more over the coming weeks. These long easy runs take 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 school athletes should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

Next Sunday’s run is round the reservoir in Roundwood. Meet by the filter beds at 9.20 for short warm-up and ready to run by 9.30am. Alternatively as some of our older athletes are running in Abbottstown on Sunday a few others are going up to support them and will do their run up there if anyone would like to join that instead.

 

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks would get their registrations in this coming week please. Registration forms will be available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. You can put the form & fee in an envelope and drop it into our club letterbox in the reception area at the track.

 

 

 ADULT TRAINING GROUP

Our new adult training group is building slowly and is going very well so far. This involves regular club training sessions for senior and masters athletes on the track at Shoreline every Tuesday and Friday night, from 7 - 8:30pm. We have had a great variety of sessions so far and the group is working very hard and really enjoying the challenges. If you are 18+, fit-ish, and harbour even the smallest bit of curiosity about getting back on the track, you are welcome to come along and give it a go. For those who think this might be a step too far the Fit4Life & Beginner2Winner sessions are still going ahead at the usual times.

 

 

 NEW CLASSES AT SPORTS PARK

If running is not for you, Shoreline Sports Park have new classes on Tues. evenings which may be of interest to parents dropping off children to athletics. There’s ‘Work it Out’ on Tues 6.15-7pm, which is a full body workout and the timing is perfect for parents of the 6-7pm training groups. At 7.15pm there’s ‘Step to Fitness’ also a full body workout which should suit those dropping off for the 7-8.30pm session. Both classes are ‘Pay as you Go’ and are just €7 each.

Tue

24

Sep

2019

SENIOR AND MASTERS TRACK TRAINING SESSIONS

Greystones AC has a long and proud tradition of catering for athletes of all ages and abilities in the community, and has achieved particularly strong engagement and membership levels in our junior and juvenile categories.
In line with our tradition of catering for ALL ages and abilities, one of our goals for the coming season is to develop our senior and masters sections.
Developing our senior and masters categories is really important so that we provide continuity of our athletic community to our junior athletes as they graduate to senior levels, and hopefully entice them to stay in the sport long enough to reach the masters category! 
To achieve this, we are doing a couple of things:
  • We have appointed a (volunteer) liaison to act as a point of contact for any questions, suggestions or feedback: please contact Jenny on 087-2328401. Suggestions, particularly, would be very welcome as we create something new!
  • Starting on Tuesday 1st October, we will have regular club training sessions for senior and masters athletes on the track at Shoreline every Tuesday and Friday night, from 7 - 8:30pm.
Who should come? 
If you are 18+, fit-ish, and harbour even the smallest bit of curiosity about getting back on the track, come along and give it a go. Once we understand people's running goals, we will aim to have suitable training plans.
I am a complete beginner, should I come? If you are a complete beginner then the "Beginner2Winner" programme (also hosted at Shoreline) is probably a better fit for you - it caters for people with little or no fitness levels, and those who want to get into a fitter and healthier lifestyle.
I have been running with the "Fit4Life" programme. How is this different? The main reason you would participate in the senior and masters sessions rather than "Fit4Life" is because you have an interest in competing (without any obligation to) at cross-country, track or road events in the future. The senior and masters sessions will be structured differently from "Fit4Life", with the goal of competition in mind. It doesn't mean you have to be good, just that you find the idea of competing exciting!
I used to run with Greystones AC as a junior, but haven't run recently. Is this for me? Absolutely yes! See you on Tuesday!
So, please JOIN us, help us shape it and try it out - no decisions are required for a few weeks!
If you have any query at all, call or message Jenny on 087-2328401.
"Nobody said it was easy!"

Sat

21

Sep

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We have now been back training for three weeks (two for the younger groups) and while attendance so far has been great by many with tremendous work being done, it has been poor in some groups, particularly Group 2. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that we cannot hold places indefinitely for athletes who don’t attend regularly, as we still have a long waiting lists on most groups.

 

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

 

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks could get their registrations in this coming week please. Registration forms will be available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. You can put the form & fee in an envelope and drop it into our club letterbox in the reception area at the track.

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

Thanks to all who responded to our reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. The fee from Sept 23rd to Dec will be 26 if you wish to pay in advance. Any overdue subs will need to be paid also. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 


 

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY

 

Competition is coming up fast with our first event of the season taking place on Sunday 6th Oct in Knockraheen, Roundwood (located approximately 2km outside Roundwood Village on the R765 ). This is the Wicklow County Novice and Even Ages (U8/10/12/14/16/18/Junior/Novice) Athletes CAN move up an age.                  Start time is 11am with the girls U8, boys U8, girls U10 etc.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/8 500m, U/10 1000m, U/12 2000, U/14 3000m U/16
4000m. Girls U/18 and Junior 4000m. Boys U/18 and Junior 6000m
Novice Men 6000m, Novice Women 4000m. Entry form
will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Thurs 3rd Sept.

 

 

Hoping to see a really good turn out of club athletes at this event!

 

New members who wish to compete need to get their registration forms in asap.

 

 

Our 2nd event is the Wicklow County Intermediate and Uneven Ages
Date: Sunday,
13th October, Venue: Avondale Forest Park, Start Time: 11 am.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/7
300m, U/9 800m, U/11 1500m, U/13 2500m,,U/15 3500,
U/17 Girls 4000m, U/17 Boys 5000m, U/19 Girls 4000m, U/19 Boys 6000m.
Intermediate Men 8000m Intermediate Women 4000m. Entry form will be on our website & entries will close on Thurs
10th Oct.

 


 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Our Sunday runs take 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 school-goers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages can & do participate....... up to very old!! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s a very important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week. This Sunday 22nd Sept. we are in Avondale!

 


 

WICKLOW LEAGUE (XC Dates)

 

Juvenile League Round 3 Roundwood GAA, Fri 18th Oct. 7pm (Even ages) U8/400m, U10/800m, U12/1200m, U14/1600m

 

 

Juvenile League Round 4 Rathdrum (Rugby Club or Ballinakill), Fri 15th Nov. (Uneven ages) U9/400m, U11/800m, U13/1200m, U15/1600m

 

 

Juvenile League Round 5 Bray Emmets, Fri 6th Dec.(Even ages)

 

U8/400m, U10/800m, U12/1200m, U14/1600m

 

 

 

THROWS TRAINING

 

Anne Marie Kelly of Inbhear Dee AC is coaching throws most Saturdays at the track from 11am-12.30pm and GAC throwers are welcome to go along to these sessions. There is none next Sat. 28th Oct, but she will be back on Sat. 4th Oct.

 

 


NEW CLASSES AT SPORTS PARK

 

Shoreline Sports Park have new classes on Tues. evenings which may be of interest to parents dropping off children to athletics. There’s ‘Work it Out’ on Tues 6.15-7pm, which is a full body workout and the timing is perfect for parents of the 6-7pm training groups. At 7.15pm there’s ‘Step to Fitness’ also a full body workout which should suit those dropping off for the 7-8.30pm session. Both classes are ‘Pay as you Go’ and are just €7 each.

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 6th Oct. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 13th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

 

Juvenile League Round 3, Roundwood GAA, Fri 18th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm (Even ages)

 

 

Autumn Open XC, Sun. 20th Oct., Abbottstown, Dublin. Junior/Senior/Masters

 

 

           Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 26th Oct. Nov. and Even Ages, Gowran              Co Kilkenny.

 

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 9th Nov. Sen & Uneven Ages, Ferbane, Co Offaly

 

 

         Juvenile League, Round 4, Rathdrum Fri 15th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm -    Uneven Ages

 

 

         National XC Championships, Sun. 24th Nov. Even Ages, Jun & Sen,    Abbottstown, Dublin.

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we will have athletes looking for club gear before the upcoming Cross Country (XC) the club shop will be open on Tues. 1st Oct. from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and some hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red), is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good number at present!

 


 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, we are very happy to have you on board. We are always in need of more helpers, so if you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed.

 

Mon

24

Jun

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster Championships recently and many congratulations to all who qualified for the upcoming Nationals. Lots of super performances in a variety of events and a great selection of medals & qualifiers to the All Ireland’s as a result!

 

 

U18: Joe Dowd gold in the 3000m Steeplechase & a very close 4th in the 3000m. Ronan Dempsey silver in the 400m, the 400m hurdles & the 200m (a very busy & successful weekend indeed), Aodhan Daly silver in the 100m & bronze in the Long Jump. Aodhan also qualified for the 200m final, which unfortunately clashed with the Long Jump.
U17: Ellen McNally Silver in the Triple Jump & Bronze in the Long Jump, Emma Quirk Bronze in the Triple Jump.
U16: Jack McGlone Gold in the 800m & the 400m, Paul Delahunty gold in the 3000m
U14: Daniel Quirk Gold in the 75m hurdles, gold in the Long Jump & 4
th in the 200m, Ailbhe Gordon Gold in the Javelin & bronze in the Shot Putt, Camille Madden 4th in the High Jump.

 

There were many more fine performances over the two days & several PB’s!

 

Congratulations & well done to everyone who took part & many thanks to our coaches & officials & all the mums & dads who travelled over the two days. Best of luck in the All Ireland’s!

 

 

The combined events took place this weekend and our only juvenile entry Daniel Quirk won the U14 boys event,130 points clear of the 2nd placed athlete. Well done Daniel!

 

 

There were great results from the All Ireland schools also with Jack McGlone taking Gold in the 800m Junior Boys and Bronze in the 4x100m relay. Daniel Quirk taking silver in the Long Jump and 4th place in the Minor Boys 75m hurdles after two off-putting false starts from other athletes. Joe Dowd had the race of his life in the Inter boys 1500m Steeplechase, finishing a very close 4th place. There were many other fine performances here also.

 

 

Ellen McNally & Emma Quirk were selected from their Leinster schools results to compete in the Tailteann Games this weekend. Ellen finished in 2nd place which means she has qualified to represent Ireland at the Schools International in Swansea and Emma finished in 5th with a new PB. Great jumping from the girls & huge congratulations to Ellen on her International selection.

 

 

We had two great evening’s of local competition at the Flash event & the Co. Team event. Great performances from our athletes and great fun had by all present. It was lovely to see the teams pull together so well and support one another throughout the event. Results will be posted on our website once available.

 


 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

 

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 25th June in Greystones. Entries are now closed and we look forward to a great evenings competition as always. Athletes need to arrive by 6pm, as the first events are at 6.30pm & they will need to get started on time.

 

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 


 

SUMMER TRAINING

 

Training for our 5-6 pm group will finish up for the summer this Tues. 25th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 28th. We will finish up with a fun competition on Tues for the 5-6 pm group & on Fri for the 6-7pm groups. Group 3 athletes have the option to come along to the 7-8.30pm sessions during July, as some will have the opportunity to move up to this group in Sept.

 

 

We hope everyone has a great summer & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, as some coaches will not be available to return, so we can’t continue without help. Please get in touch if you can help out with any of the groups from Sept. If we don’t get more help we will have to cancel some sessions from Sept. The 5pm & 6pm groups will return on Tues 10th Sept, allowing a week for the younger ones to settle back into school.

 

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues throughout July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. We will take a short break once competition finishes and return on Tues 3rd.Sept. with this group. We recommend a two week break 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.

 


 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Don’t leave it until late July or August as places will be given to those on our long waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you in Sept. No exceptions to this rule!

 


 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

 

  1. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 25th June. (Entries closed)

  2. National Juvenile Games (U9-U11) & U12/U13 Field Events, Tullamore, Sat. 29th July

  3. National League Round 2, Athlone or Santry, Sun.30th June

  4. Wicklow County Road Race, Jack White’s, Brittas Bay, Wed 3rd July @ 7.15pm

  5. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat. 6th July. (Entries close Wed 26th June)

  6. National Juvenile T&F Championships Day 1, Tullamore, Sun. 7th July

  7. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Day 2, Tullamore, Sat. 13th July

  8. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Day 3, Tullamore, Sun. 14th July

  9. National League Final, Tullamore, Sat. 20th July

  10. National Juvenile B Championships & Relays, Tullamore, Sun. 21st July

  11. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 27th/Sun 28th July, Santry.

  12. Cork City Sports, Wed 14th Aug. CIT Cork

  13. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sun. 18th Aug. Tullamore

  14. Morton Games, Wed 21st Aug. Santry

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

We still have some outstanding debts from unpaid subs or races entered where athletes didn’t show and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! Further entries cannot be accepted from athletes until all debts are paid.


Have a great summer everyone!

 

 

Sun

26

May

2019

CLUB NEWS

 

Well done to all our club athletes who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible. Considering the large number of athletes in the club, athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, but what we lacked in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by all those who did attend.

 

 

There were fantastic individual & team performances which saw many club athletes go home loaded down with medals on both days. Many thanks to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over two great days.

 

A huge Thank You to those who helped with set up & tidy up and to all our coaches who acted as both club & county officials over the two days helping to make it all happen and a special mention here for some of our older athletes, Rachel, Alana & Troy who helped out at every opportunity, assisting at the finish line, relay zones and anything that was asked of them. They were fantastic on Sunday assisting during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them. Full results are now on our club website!

 

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and subsequently the Leinster Schools and best of luck to Joe Dowd 3rd in the Steeplechase & 3K, Jack McGlone 1st in the 800m & 3rd in the 100m, Paul Delahunty 3rd in the mile, Emma Quirk 3rd in the TJ, Daniel Quirk 1st in the LJ & 2nd in the 75mH, Ailbhe Gordon 3rd in the Javelin, Alex Mulcahy 3rd in the HJ who all qualified for the All Ireland’s on Sat. 1st June. All results to date are on the AAI website under schools!

 

 

 

 

It was great to host the Leinster Juniors & the Combined events in Greystones on Saturday. We had a great turn out from Greystones for the Combined Events with lots of top performances. Congrats to all, especially to Daniel Quirk who took the Gold in the U14’s. We had a great number of Juniors also competing for Slí Cualann. On track, Troy Scully took gold in the 3K, Abbie Tyrrell gold in the 1500m, Megan O’Brien silver in the 800m, Ronan Dempsey Silver in the 400m & Michael O’Shea bronze in the 800m. In the field events Ellen McNally took gold in the Triple Jump with a big PB and silver in the Long Jump, Aodhan Daly took bronze in the LJ and Emma Quirk was 4th in the TJ and 5th in the LJ. Great results, particularly as most of these athletes have only just moved up to Junior level (U17-U20). A huge Thank You to all who helped out on the day and to those who helped with the set up on Fri night and/or the tidy up on Sat, especially Aidan, Pat, Darren, Sinéad, Emer & Linda............who needs a gym with all that lifting & carrying!

 

On Sunday the boys relay team of Daniel Quirk, Luca O’Shea Breen, Tom McCarthy & Colm O’Neill took silver in the U14 event in Leixlip. Well done boys!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Wicklow Invitational Athletics Flash Meet, Greystones, Fri 31st May 7-9pm, Entries to Theresa at training on Tues 28th or Wed 29th May. See details below.

  2. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore Sat. June 1st. Qualification required.

  3. Leinster U23/Sen/Mast, Tullamore Sun. June 2nd. Late entries close 27th May.

  4. Leinster Team Event U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 3rd. Late entries close 27th May

  5. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Champs, Tullamore Sat. June 8th. Entries by 28th May.

  6. Leinster U12 – U19 Champs, Tullamore Sat/Sun 15th/16th June. Entries close 6th June.

  7. Wicklow U9/11/13/15 Team Comp, Greystones Wed 19th June. Entries by 14th June.

  8. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 22nd June. Invitation only.

  9. AAI Games & National Combined Events Day1, Santry Sat 22nd June. Entries close 12th

  10. National Combined Events Day 2 & Juvenile Combined Events, Santry, Sun. 23rd June

  11. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 25thJune. (limited entry) Entries by 21stJune.

  12. AAI Childrens Games & Limited U12-U13 Events, Tullamore, Sat 29th June. Qualification

 

We remind everyone once again that while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted from these athletes until all debts are paid.

 

Please make sure you get your entries in by the original closing date, as those who miss it will have to pay the extra fees incurred themselves.

 

 

 

WICKLOW INVITATIONAL ATHLETICS............FLASH MEET!

 

Summer Championship Warm up event @ Shoreline Sports Park, Greystones

 

Friday May 31st. 7-00pm - 9-00pm

 

Age Group / U12 + i.e all athletes must be 11 this year or older.

 

Events : Track Field

 

80m High Jump

 

250m Long Jump

 

1000m Shot Putt

 

2000m Javelin

 

Names & events to Theresa at training on Tues 28th or Wed 29th May.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Our training times are; Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, age 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session. Younger athletes should be collected from the bottom gate if leaving early.

 

 

Athletes joining Greystones AC make a commitment to attend training regularly and we remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for up to 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club. Many have very poor attendance, so we are now taking all those we haven’t seen or heard from off our check-in sheets and are offering the places to those on our long waiting list.

 

 

 

CLUB INFORMATION

 

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. Text is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. Greystones AC is run entirely by volunteers and while we do our best to respond to texts & e-mails quickly, this is not always possible especially when at work, so please be patient and we will get back to you asap. Time is very very precious and while we are very lucky to have so many people willing to freely give their time to our young athletes we are struggling to cover some of the training sessions especially the 6-7pm ones, which is putting a lot of pressure on a few of our coaches. If you can spare an hour a week or even every second week, please get in touch. It can be very rewarding working with young children and watching them progress. We promise we won’t drop you in the deep end!

 

 

Sun

05

May

2019

WICKLOW COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is this coming Wednesday May 8th and events take place on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th May, starting at 11am each day. Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2019) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2019) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

 

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin. Please list all the events you wish to compete in on your entry form!

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2019.

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT ALLOW INSIDE THE TRACK AREA!

 

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!

Tue

16

Apr

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

As per text, due to the very poor attendance during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 30th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual except on Fri.19th Apr. as we have arranged a training day for Friday. You can get details of Friday’s session at training or contact Theresa.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

The recent National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take Gold in the U14 Long Jump & Bronze in the 60m Hurdles, Ailbhe Gordon take Gold in the U14 Shot Putt, Luca O’Shea take Silver in the U14 800m, Jack McGlone take Bronze in the U16 800m and the boys team of Daniel Quirk, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy, Luca O’Shea Breen & Colm O’Neill take Bronze in the U14 4x200m relay.

 

 

 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

What a fantastic day we all had at the first ever Wicklow Indoors held on Sat. 16th March in Abbottstown. A huge number of athletes entered and we had a great morning’s competition and great results for the club. Everyone was delighted with the event and the plan is for bigger & better next year. Well done & thank you to everyone who helped out on the day.

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

We had a great night at the club awards on March 29th and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2018. Many thanks to all the coaches and to everyone who brought all the lovely food on the night. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, contact us & we can arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 30th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

 

Our annual Good Attendance Trips for athletes who have 60% or more attendance during the year, took place on Saturday 13th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Helen Dempsey & Olivia Dallaghan for organising a great day at Bray Bowl for our younger athletes & to Mary Carruth & Emer McNally for organising the trip to GoQuest for our 12 & 13 yr old athletes. Thanks to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport. The feedback from both trips has been very positive, with everyone having a terrific day and making lots of great memories. An event for our older athletes will take place shortly.

 

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

 

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.   We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

 

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 22nd April. Entries to Theresa

  2. Juvenile Track League R2: for athletes up to U15, will take place on Fri 26th April at the Athletic Track in Arklow at 7pm. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 24th Apr.

  3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 28th April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

  4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

  5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 4th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

  6. National 5K Sat 4th May, Dublin.

  7. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 11th/12th May, Shoreline, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website nearer the date.

  8. Leinster Schools Track and Field - Day 1, Wed 15th May, Santry,

  9. Leinster Schools Track and Field - Day 2, Sat 18th May, Santry,

  10. National Outdoor League – R1 Sun 19th May, Templemore and Belfast. Contact Theresa

  11. Leinster Juniors & Combined Events Championships, Shoreline, Greystones Sat 25th May. Entry form will be on GAC website nearer the date.

  12. Leinster Relays, Sun 26th May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

 

 

 

 

CLUB AGM

 

A reminder that the club AGM which had to be postponed, will now take place on Thurs. 25th April 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.

 

 

Mon

11

Mar

2019

Club News & Information

 

There is a lot of News & Information in this, so members are asked to please read to the end!

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us re injury/illness, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to the waiting list.

 

 

***All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.20am, which is a very important & very enjoyable part of the training week, especially for our endurance runners. If you cannot make this, you will need to do a run yourself later in the day.

 

 

 

HELP STILL NEEDED

 

We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional helpers. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

National Star Award: Congratulations to Alana Ryan who won the National Star Award for Wicklow for her terrific performances in 2018. Alana received her award at a function in Tullamore on Sat. 16th Feb.

 

 

County Star Awards: Congratulations to the following Greystones athletes who were presented with Wicklow Star Awards on Friday 1st March in Jacob’s Well, Rathdrum. Ellen McNally, Girls U14-16, Alana Ryan Girls u16-19, Pippa Rogan Senior Women & Jack McGlone Boys U14-16, Joe Prendergast Boys U16-19, Tope Adeyeye Senior Men. A great night was had by all!

 

 

 

We had a big entry in the recent Leinster Championships, with a number of first timers taking to the Indoor track for the first time. Unfortunately quite a number of those who entered didn’t manage to make it to their events and we take this opportunity to remind everyone that while we pay all the entry fees for our juvenile athletes, those who fail to turn up to compete are expected to refund these fees to the club. On this occasion the entry fee was €3.50 per event, but fees can be up to €15/€20 an event and the club cannot continue to pay these and then not have the athletes turn up to compete.

 

 

Well done to all who took part over the three days. Some really top performances, with a big number qualifying for event finals and several medal winners and qualifiers to Nationals at the end of March. Gold for Daniel Quirk in the LJ & 60mH & Gold for Ellen McNally in the TJ with a new Championship Best Performance & bronze in the LJ. Silver for Jack McGlone in the 800m & 4th in the 60m, Silver for Emma Quirk in the TJ, and for Ronan Dempsey in the 60mH. Bronze for Luca O’Shea Breen in the 800m, Andrew Brennan in the 1500m, Aodhan Daly in the LJ & Ailbhe Gordon & Rory McNally in the SP. 4th place for Georgia Hogan in the 60mH & 5th for Alex Mulcahy in the HJ with a jump of 1.45M.

 

Gold in the relays on Day 3 for our U14 boys team of Daniel Quirk, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy, Luca O’Shea Breen & Colm O’Neill. Gold in the Senior Championships 1500m for Niamh Kearney. Well done to all!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Wicklow County Indoors, Sat 16th March, Abbottstown (Entries closed)

  2. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 Sat 30th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  3. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun 31st March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  4. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, Sat 6th April, Athlone (Must qualify)

  5. National Spring Throws, Sun 7th April, Athlone

  6. AAI National 10k Championships , Sun 14th Apr, Dublin

  7. Leinster 10 Mile, Mon 22nd Apr, Raheny

  8. AAI National Road Relays , Sun 28th Apr, Raheny

 

 

 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

Best of Luck to all the GAC athletes who have entered for the Wicklow Indoors next Sat. 16th March in Abbottstown. This is an exciting new addition to the athletics calendar & we hope everyone will have a great day. We have access to the track from 12.45pm & events will start at 1pm sharp and must finish by 3pm. Athletes need to arrive at the venue by 12.30pm for check-in. As our time is very short we ask you to please arrive on time, as we must start promptly and cannot wait for anyone.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open this Tues. 12th March from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

CLUB AWARDS

 

The club Awards night will take place on Friday 29th March at 7pm in Greystones Ridge Angling Club, down at the Harbour. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2018, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year award. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2018, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. To facilitate this Awards night, there will be no training on Friday 29rd March.

 

 

 

CLUB AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 11th April 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 trips for those who met the required attendance percentage during 2018, will take place during April. Athletes who qualify from Little Athletics & Groups 3-6 (age U8-U11) will have their trips on Sat. 13th April. Athletes from Groups 1 & 2 (U12-U15) will also have their trip on Sat. 13th April. A separate trip for athletes U16 up will be arranged shortly. Lists of qualified athletes will be posted on the website shortly with full details of trips & those who wish to attend will need to notify us by March 31st at the latest. Looking forward to great days out for everyone!

 

 

 

FINALLY

 

Can we appeal to parents once again to ensure that all athletes bring a raincoat, hat & gloves to training, as it is very cold on the track some nights. Gloves are a real necessity, as when cold the children are inclined to run with their hands in their pockets, which is likely to result in head or facial injury if they fall, as they have no way of saving themselves.

 

Mon

14

Jan

2019

CLUB NEWS AND INFORMATION

 

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 25th Jan. 2019. Athletics Ireland have increased the Registration/Insurance costs for all athletes from Jan 1st 2019, so GAC are increasing our annual fee to €35 for 1st family member and €25 for 2nd family member. We are holding the fee for 3rd 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. 29th 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. 5th 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 3rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Tues. 15th 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. 26th Jan. from 9-11am. This is open to all athletes U12 – U19 (born 2001- 2008) who intend competing in the Leinster Championships on Feb 9th and 10th 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 19th Jan, Athlone

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 22nd Jan, Avondale

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26th Jan, Athlone

National Junior/U23’s, Sun27th Jan, Athlone

AAI Games, Sat. 2nd Feb., Abbottstown

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

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

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

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 13th Feb. Santry

AIT Grand Prix Wed 13th Feb, Athlone

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

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

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

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

National Masters Indoors, Sun 10th 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.

 

Sun

02

Dec

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster XC Championships and Congratulations to medal winners Luca O'Shea Breen 4th U13, Joe Dowd 8th U17 & Troy Scully 12th U19 at the Leinster uneven ages XC in Adamstown.

Congrats also to Luca O'Shea Breen & Tom McCarthy on their silver county team medals & to Colm O'Neill, Louise O'Riordan, Jack McGlone & Paul Delahunty on qualifying to Nationals on their respective County teams. We wish them all the very Best of Luck in the All Irelands on Dec 15th in Navan.

 

Congratulations go to Brian Geraghty & Joe Dowd on their terrific runs in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec 1st, with Brian clocking a fantastic 15.35 & 16 yr old Joe finishing in a terrific 17.01. Great running guys!

 

 

TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor indeed for the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment before being moved up to these groups to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and we offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment.

 

 

XMAS TRAINING

Training will continue at the usual times for the next 3 weeks finishing up for Xmas on Fri 21st Dec. The track will be closed on Dec 24th, 25th, 26th & 31st & on Jan 1st. As the track closes at 6pm during Xmas week, athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Wed 2nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 8th Jan.

 

 

SOLSTICE MILE

Slí Cualann will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile again this year on Fri 21st Dec @ 7pm. This will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice, starting at 7pm. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards. Open to everyone from U12 up! GAC will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session!

 

 

 GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

Our annual Attendance Trips for those with good attendance during 2018, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. November attendances are now being added to the lists & the final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trip will be notified during Dec, which means you still have time to get your attendance percentage up. Extra attendance points are awarded for attending competitions.

 

Separate trips for our older athletes are also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Round 5 Co. League GAA school of Excellence, Rathdrum, next Fri 7th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15 Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Wed.5th.

 

County Senior XC, Sun 9th Dec.

 

National Novice & Uneven ages XC, Navan, Sat. 15th Dec. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Wed. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan..

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 12th Jan, Abbottstown

 

National Combined Events Sat 19th Jan, Athlone

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26th Jan, Athlone

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

XC LEAGUE

Round 5 of the Juvenile XC League takes place on this coming Fri 7th Dec at the GAA school of Excellence, Rathdrum. This is the final round of the league & your last chance to secure that attendance medal or get yourself on to the medal table. Entry form is on the website.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 11th Dec. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We now have hoodies back in stock, but unfortunately the new singlets won’t be in until the New Year. We also have some secondhand hoodies available & also a good number of spikes. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! (Multi coloured shorts are not acceptable) If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are very impressed with how well they are doing. These long easy runs take 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

INJURY PREVENTION/ REHAB

We still have some places available on our Physio rota, where athletes can avail of regular monthly 20 mins. sessions at a very reasonable price from our top class Physio Matt Cox, who works with our club every Tues. evening. A good number of our athletes have availed of these sessions over the last year & a half and as a result most have 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. Extra sessions can be added should the need arise. Anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0868635797.

 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

Wishing all of our athletes & coaches & their families a very happy Christmas!

Wed

17

Oct

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent County XC Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams.

 

These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults. We were disappointed with the poor attendance both days and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

We had lots of individual medal winners, Individual Gold medals: Luca O’Shea Breen U13, Luca O’Shea Breen U14, Paul Delahunty U16, Joe Dowd U18, Troy Scully U19, Individual silver: Joe Dowd U17, Callum Flynn U18, Troy Scully Junior Men, Individual Bronze: Michael O’Shea U16, Abbie Tyrrell U17, Joe Dowd Junior Men, Troy Scully Novice Men. Team Gold for Junior Men Troy Scully, Joe Dowd, Colm Flynn, Team silver for U8 Boys Conor Stanley, William Hance, Hector Marrian, Aidan McLaughlin, Quade Scully, U9 Boys: Harry Coughlan, Andrew McCarron, Jack Deegan, Sean Lawless Rebello, Zach Hayes, Aidan McLaughlin, U13 Girls: Ava Foley, Charlotte Hudson, Tara Casey, Georgia Hogan, Lizzie McIllroy, Zoe Kenna, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, U14 Girls: Ava Foley, Cliodhna Kennedy Howe, Georgia Hogan, Tara Casey, & U17 Girls: Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien & Isobel Raddford Dodd, Team bronze for U12 Girls Amy D’Arcy, Charlotte Hudson, Amber Scully, Grace Rush, Shana O’Dowd, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, Lizzie McIllroy, Teagan Griffiths, U13 Boys: Luca O’Shea Breen, Tom McCarthy, Colm O’Neill, Alex Goff. Conor Stanley finished 2nd in U7 Boys & 3rd in the U8, with William Hance 3rd U7. Well done to all! Hopefully we will get lots more out running the Leinster XC & will be able to field lots of teams!

 

More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

 


 

TRAINING HALLOWEEN WEEK

 

As attendance at training tends to be very poor when schools are on mid-term/holidays due to children being away or doing camps, there will be no training for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups on Tues. 30th Oct. or Fri.2nd Nov. Training will go ahead as usual for the 7-8.30pm groups.

 

 

 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Nice to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are very impressed with how well they are doing. These long easy runs take 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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 from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

Next Sunday is the Autumn Open XC in Abbottstown and we are planning to do our Sunday run on the course beforehand and then watch the events, which are always top class. Each attendee is asked to bring something for sharing and we plan to have a lovely picnic while waiting for the event to start.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Leinster XC Championships 27th October Novice and Even Ages, Navan Adventure Park.

 

 

Leinster XC Championships 1th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Wexford.

 

 

Round 3 County League, Aughrim on Friday 19th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm - Even Ages U6-U14/15

 

 

Round 4 County League, Bray Fri 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages U7-U15

 

 

Round 5 Co. League Rathdrum Even Ages U6-U14/15 . Details to follow.

 


 

Entry form for next Fridays XC in Aughrim on Fri 19th is now on our website and must close Wed.17th.

 

Entry form for Leinster XC in Navan on Sat 27th is now on our website and must close Fri.19th.

 

Please be careful to enter the correct event!

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues. 23rd Oct. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

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 during both the Indoor & Outdoor T&F seasons. 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 4-5 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. Great to see some of our younger athletes now taking advantage of this facility & as we still have some places available, anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0868635797.

 

Mon

24

Sep

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We have now been back training for three weeks and while attendance so far has been great by many with tremendous work being done, it has been poor in some groups particularly on Friday nights. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that we cannot hold places indefinitely for athletes who don’t attend regularly, as we have waiting lists on most groups.

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

 

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks could now get their registrations in please. Registration forms are available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. Please put form & fee in an envelope and hand in at check-in this coming week.

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

Thanks to all who responded to our reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. The fee from Sept to Dec is €30, or from Oct to Dec €22. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 


 

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY

 

Competition is upon us already with our first event of the season taking place this coming Sunday 30th Sept in Knockraheen, Roundwood (located approximately 2km outside Roundwood Village on the R765 ). This is the Wicklow County Novice and Even Ages (U8/10/12/14/16/18/Junior/Novice) Athletes CAN move up an age. Start time is 11am with the girls U8, boys U8, girls U10 etc.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/8 500m, U/10 1000m, U/12 2000, U/14 3000m U/16
4000m. Girls U/18 and J
unior 4000m. Boys U/18 and Junior 6000m
Novice Men 6000m, Novice Women 4000m. Entry form is on our website and entries close on
Thurs 27th Sept.

 

Hoping to see a really good turn out of athletes on Sunday at this event!

 

New members who wish to compete on Sunday need to get their registration forms in asap.

 

Our 2nd event is the Wicklow County Intermediate and Uneven Ages
Date: Sunday, 7th October, Venue: Avondale Forest Park, Start Time: 11 am.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/7 200m, U/9 800m, U/11 1500m, U/13 2500m,,U/15 3500,
U/17 Girls 4000m, U/17 Boys 5000m, U/19 Girls 4000m, U/19 Boys 6000m.
Intermediate Men 8000m Intermediate Women 4000m. Entry form will be on our website from Sunday 30
th & entries will close on Thurs 4th Oct.


UPCOMING EVENTS

 

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 30th Sept. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 7th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

Autumn Open XC, Sun. 21st Oct., Abbottstown, Junior/Senior/Masters

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 27th Oct. Novice and Even Ages, Navan Racecourse, Co. Meath

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sun.11th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Co Wexford

 

Round 3 County League, Aughrim on Friday 19th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm - Even Ages U6-U14/15

 

Round 4 County League, Bray Fri 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages U7-U15

 

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we have a number of athletes looking for club gear before the upcoming Cross Country (XC) the club shop will be open this Tues. 25th Sept. from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

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 during both the Indoor & Outdoor T&F seasons. 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 4-5 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. Due to some athletes moving on to college etc. we now have some places available, so anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0877730000.

 


 

PILATES CLASSES

 

Physio Matt Cox will also be running Pilates classes on Tues. evenings from 6 - 6.45 pm and these are open to everyone. Great opportunity for mums or dads dropping off their athletes to training for 6-7pm and the 6.45pm finish also allows 15 mins, if you need to pick up athletes for the 7pm session. There will be a block of 5 classes at just €50 (only €10 per class) and you can contact Matt on 0879500262 for more info. or to book a place. Classes start on Tues 2nd Oct. and places are limited.

 


 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, we are very happy to have you on board. We are always in need of more helpers, so if you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed.

 

Sun

26

Aug

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFO

WELCOME BACK

We hope you all had a great summer and what an amazing summer it was! Here’s hoping the great weather continues on into September. We hope you all had a good rest and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks,

as requested in our last Newsletter in July and are all now coming back 'Fit to Train' and won’t have to spend the first few weeks trying to get fit. There’s still time for those who haven’t made a start yet! Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with the first County XC League for U6-U15 due in Sept. & the first of the XC Championships. on Sunday 30th Sept.

 

For anyone who would like to see where their present fitness levels are:

Inbhear Dee are running a mile challenge on the track in Greystones at 7-00pm next Friday August 31st. You are all welcome to join in. No entry fee........wristbands indicating your time for all! There will also be a 3000m run if any seniors are interested.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 4th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times have all now been confirmed, so if you haven’t heard from us your training is at your usual time.

 

All 6-7pm groups are now at capacity and there is no room at present to add new athletes or to move athletes between the groups. A number of new athletes are doing two weeks trial & a small number of places may arise after this. Anyone who wishes to go on to our waiting list should send details through ‘Contact Us’ on our website.

 

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 without whom there would be no club. From time to time some of these coaches have to move on and as there are strict guidelines that we have to adhere to in terms of athlete-coach ratios, we are always in need of more coaches and assistants on the track. If you think you have the time to help out at any of the coaching sessions, even occasionally, please do let us know and we would be delighted to welcome you on board.

Mon

23

Jul

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

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 4th 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 29th 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. 31st 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. 4th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11th 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 19th!

Wed

20

Jun

2018

CLUB NEWS

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster Championships recently and huge congratulations to all who qualified for the upcoming Nationals. Lots of super performances in a variety of events and a great selection of medals & qualifiers to the All Irelands as a result!

 U19: Marcus Lennon silver in 100m & 200m, Louis Lalor Gold in 400m Hurdles, Bronze in 110m hurdles & 200m, Troy Scully silver in 3000m Steeplechase.
U18: John O'Connor Gold in 400m, Sarah O'Connor Bronze in 2000m Steeplechase, Katie Lawless Bronze in 400m hurdles.
U17: Ronan Dempsey silver in 100m & 100m hurdles, Alan Gordon silver in Pole Vault,
U16: Ellen McNally Gold in Triple Jump & Silver in Long Jump, Emma Quirk Silver in Triple Jump, Joe Prendergast silver in 800m, 1500m & Long Jump, Sarah Farrell Silver in 80m hurdles, Enya Conroy Bronze in 250m hurdles & 4th in 80m Hurdles & Maks Slusarczyk 4th in 100m.
U15: Jack McGlone Gold in 800m, Silver in 100m & 4th in 200m, Paul Delahunty silver in 800m & 1500m, Louise O'Riordan 4th in 800m, Ciaran Dillon Roberts 3rd in Triple Jump
U13: Ailbhe Gordon Gold in Javelin & Silver in the Shot Putt, Daniel Quirk Bronze in 60m hurdles & Bronze in the Long Jump, Daniel Connerty Silver in the 600m & Camille Madden 4th in the High Jump.

 

Congratulations & well done to everyone who took part & many thanks to our coaches & officials & all the mums & dads who travelled over the two weekends. Best of luck in the All Ireland’s!

 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 26th June in Greystones. We are only allowed a limited number of athletes for this event and so priority will be given to those who have competed in the recent County & Leinster events. Any places left after this will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The entry form is on our website and will close this coming Sat. 23rd.

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 

TRAINING

Training for our 5-6 pm group will finish up for the summer on Tues. next 26th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 29th. We will finish up with a fun competition on Tues for the 5-6 pm group & on Fri for the 6-7pm groups. Athletes who were born in 2006/7, have the option to come along to the 7-8.30pm sessions during July. Some will have the opportunity to move to this group in Sept.

 

We hope everyone has a great summer & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, we can’t continue without it. Have a great summer everyone!

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. Those competing in the final of the League in August will continue to train by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Don’t leave it until August as places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you for Sept.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

  1. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 23rd June.

  2. National League Round 1, Templemore, Sun. 24th June.

  3. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 26th June. (Form on website)

  4. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat. 30th June. (Entries close Fri 22nd June)

  5. National Juvenile Games (U9-U11) & U12/U13 Field Events, Tullamore, Sun. 1st July

  6. National Juvenile Inter Club Relays U9-U11, Tullamore, Sun. 1st July

  7. National Juvenile B Championships & Relays, Tullamore, Sat. 7th July

  8. National League Round 2, Athlone or Santry, Sun. 8th July

  9. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sat. 14th/Sun. 15th July, Tullamore.

  10. Cork City Sports Mon 16th July, CIT Cork

  11. Morton Games, Thurs 19th, Santry

  12. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sun. 22nd July, Tullamore.

  13. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 28th/Sun 29th July, Santry.

  14. Celtic Games, Sat 4th Aug. Scotland

  15. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sat 18th Aug. Tullamore

  16. National League Final, Sun 19th Aug, Tullamore

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

We still have some outstanding debts from unpaid subs or races entered where athletes didn’t show and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! We will text amounts owed during the coming week. Further entries cannot be accepted from athletes until all debts are paid.

Mon

21

May

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

Well done to all our club athletes who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible. Considering the large number of athletes in the club, athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, but what we lacked in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by all those who did attend.

 

 

There were fantastic individual & team performances which saw many club athletes go home loaded down with medals on both days. Many thanks to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over two great days.

 

A special mention here for some of our older athletes, who act as Junior coaches each week before their own training sessions. These athletes not only competed for our club on both days, they also helped out at every opportunity, assisting at the finish line, the High Jump, relay zones and anything that was asked of them, while still managing to produce magnificent performances in their own events. They were fantastic on Sunday assisting Anne Marie during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them.

Full results are now on our club website!

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and subsequently the Leinster Schools and best of luck to Alana Ryan, Joe Prendergast, Ellen McNally, Jack McGlone & Louise O’Riordan in the All Ireland’s on Sat. June 2nd. All results are on the AAI website under schools!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. National Combined Events, Santry Sat/Sun May 26th/27th. Entries closed.

  2. AAI Games, Santry Sun. May 27th. Entries closed.

  3. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore Sat. June 2nd.

  4. Leinster U23/Senior/Masters, Tullamore Sun. June 3rd. Entries close Tues. 29th May.

  5. Leinster Team Event for U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 4th. Entries close Fri 25th May.

  6. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Champs, Tullamore Sat. June 9th. Entries close Wed. 30th May.

  7. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 16th/17th June. Entries close Wed. 6th June.

  8. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 26th June. (limited numbers)

  9. Leinster Juniors, Drogheda, Thurs. 24th/31th May & 7th June. Entries to Theresa by Tues before the event.

  10. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 23rd June.

  11. National League Round 1, Templemore or Belfast Sun. 24th June.

  12. National Juniors/U23’s, Tullamore, Sat 30th June

 

 

 

We remind you once again that, while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Our training times are Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session.

 

 

Attendance at training has been very poor for quite a few athletes of late and we remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for up to 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club, so if you haven’t been attending & we haven’t seen or heard from you by the end of this week (Fri 25th May), we will be removing you from our lists. We cannot hold places indefinitely, as we have waiting lists on most groups at present.

 

 

 

CLUB INFORMATION

 

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. Greystones AC is run entirely by volunteers and while we do our best to respond to texts & e-mails quickly, this is not always possible, so please be patient and we will get back to you asap. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number or Facebook page may lead to long delays, as we don’t always have access to it and generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

Sun

06

May

2018

County Championships

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Wednesday May 9th and events take place on Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th May, starting at 11am each day.

 

 

Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

 

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2018) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2018) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

 

 

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

 

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

 

 

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

 

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2018.

 

 

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

 

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!

 


 

Mon

09

Apr

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

March proved to be a fairly chaotic month, with high winds, lots of rain & even more snow, which resulted in competitions having to be re-arranged, but we managed to hold all training sessions despite the weather. Well done to all the coaches & athletes who turned up in all weathers to train.

Glad to report that we finally finished the Indoor competitions yesterday and we congratulate all the athletes who performed so well, especially our fantastic medal winners. No time to sit back however as the first of the outdoor track & field events is this coming Thursday evening. Round 1 of the Juvenile League will be held this Thurs. 12th April on the track in Arklow. Check-in at 6.30pm, with 1st race at 7pm. Entry form is on our website and will close on Wed. evening. This one is for even ages, U6,8,10,12,14/15, but athletes may move up one age group, so everyone up to U15 can take part. Round 2 will be held in Greystones on Sat. 28th April.
 
NEW AAI SAFEGUARDING POLICY
As a member of the Athletics Association of Ireland, Greystones Athletic Club adheres to the Child Safeguarding Policy of the organisation. A copy of their new policy is on display on our Notice Board in Shoreline Sports Park, along with all our club policies and also photos & contact nos. of our Child Welfare Officers. You can also find this policy here & on our website. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzJWHOC0iH1qU1BFemt3WHdVd0NvMUNwTDkwUHp3RkNWRXBB/view?usp=drive_web
 
CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the athletes who performed so well at the recent Indoor Championships and congratulations to all the medal winners and those who got new PB’s.
Leinsters Results: Gold Medals to Emer McNally in the U16 Long Jump & Triple Jump, with a CBP in the Triple Jump. Gold also to Alana Ryan in the U19 60m & 400m, to Ailbhe Gordon in the U13 Shot Putt and to the U19 boys relay team of Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon & John O’Connor. Silver Medals to Joe Prendergast in the U16 800m, 1500m & Long Jump, to John O’Connor in the U18 400m, Aodhan Daly in the U17 Long Jump, Emma Quirk in the U16 Triple Jump, Jack McGlone in the U15 60m & the U13 boys relay team of Daniel Connerty, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy & Daniel Quirk. Bronze Medals to Sarah Farrell in the U16 60m Hurdles & to Daniel Quirk in the U13 60m Hurdles.
National Results: Silver Medals to Alana Ryan in the U19 200m & to Ellen McNally in the U16 Long Jump
Bronze Medals for Ailbhe Gordon in the U13 Shot Putt & Daniel Quirk in the U13 Long Jump.
 
TRAINING
Our training times are Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session.
Attendance at training has been poor for quite a few athletes recently and we will expect to see a big improvement over the coming weeks. We will be working hard to prepare for the Wicklow Championships which are coming up very soon and it’s important not to miss out on the opportunity to try out the different events before the competition.
Please ensure all athletes continue to bring a coat to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. While the weather is improving, it can still be very cold on the track in the evenings. 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.
 
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wicklow Juvenile Track League R1, Thurs.12th Apr, Arklow Track.
Wicklow Sec. Schools T&F, Tues 17th Apr, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
Wicklow Primary Schools Relays, Tues. 24th Apr, Avondale.House & Gardens.
Wicklow Juvenile Track League R2, Sat. 28th Apr., Shoreline Track, Greystones.
East Leinster Schools T&F Day 1, Mon..30th Apr, Santry.
East Leinster Schools T&F Day 2, Thurs. 3rd May Santry.
GAC/IMC T&F event Sat. 5th May, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
Wicklow County Championships, Sat/Sun 12th/13th May, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
 
CLUB AGM
The club AGM will be held this Thurs. April 12th at 8pm. at the 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 promise we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night.
 
CLUB AWARDS NIGHT
Our club awards night for 2017 was held in Greystones Tennis Club on Friday. 23rd March and a great evening was had by all who attended. While some didn’t manage to make it, it was great to see so many athletes collecting their Awards for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2017. We had 5yr club membership awards for Ava Foley, Hannah Large, Keelin McGuire, John O’Connor, Sarah O’ Connor, Chase Scully, Troy Scully this year & 10yr club membership awards for Katie Lawless & Conor Dempsey. There were International selection awards for Alana Ryan & Conor Dempsey and Championship Best Performance awards for Alana Ryan & Niamh Kearney. This year the Juvenile Athlete of the Year went to Joe Prendergast, the Senior to Niamh Kearney, the Masters to Carol Costello and the overall Athlete of the Year went to Alana Ryan. A huge Thank You to those who put in all the work preparing for this event and thanks also to everyone who supplied the lovely cakes & to all who helped out on the night. I think the Easter Eggs for all the athletes were probably the hit of the night.
 
CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues. 17th April from 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good selection of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! This will be the last opportunity to buy club gear before the County Championships!
 
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, so hope to see you there, as it’s a very important part of the week’s training, especially for the endurance athletes !!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

Sat

03

Mar

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

Hope everyone has managed to stay nice & warm this week and you have all had lots of fun in the snow. We hope to get back to normal training this coming week, with all groups back on Tues. evening at their usual times. However this will be subject to weather conditions and the track being open, so please keep an eye on our website & FB page for updates.

 

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 


 

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Due to the present weather conditions, the final day of the Athletics Leinster Juvenile Championships scheduled for the AIT Arena this Saturday has been postponed. As this event is a qualifier for the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Athletics Leinster will run their program on the 11th March and Day 1 of the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships (Relays and older age field events) will be held on SATURDAY 7th APRIL. The program on the 18th and 25th March is unaffected.

 

This decision has been taken so that all athletes’ will be given an opportunity to compete and qualify for their National Championships.

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

All Ireland Schools Cross Country, Sat 10th March, Waterford IT

 

National Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 10th March, Athlone

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 4, Sun. 11th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 2, Sun 18th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 3, Sun 25th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 1, Sun. 7th April, Athlone

 

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2017 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club on Friday. 23rd March at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2017, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2017, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. There will be no training on Friday 23rd to facilitate this Awards night.

 

 

 

AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. April 12th at 8pm. 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.

 

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............another chance to catch up with 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

Fri

09

Feb

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

A big welcome to all our new members, a welcome back to all members who have re-registered for 2018 and an urgent reminder of our regular message about suitable attire for winter training.

 

 Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

TRAINING

Due to unavailability of some of our coaches over the mid-term break, we regret that we will not be able to maintain the required ratio of coaches to athletes for the younger groups and consequently we are cancelling the 6-7pm sessions for the week.

 

To avoid this being an issue again in the future, we would be very grateful for any new volunteers who might be willing to help out at any of the sessions. A couple of people alternating weeks often works well as it allows for a swap when someone can’t make it. Training is provided for all volunteers.

 

Normal training will take place for the 7-8.30pm groups. Hoping to see a good turnout from these group as we have Leinster competition over the next few weeks.

 

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Best of luck to all our athletes taking part in Day 1 of the Leinster Indoor Championships this Sat. 10th Feb. Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Entry forms for Days 2,3 & 4 of the Championships are now open and entries need to be in by Tues 13th Feb latest. No late entries can be accepted!

 

Training sessions for all relay teams competing in Abbotstown on February 25th take place every Wed. evenings from 7-8.30pm and also on some Fridays. Athletes who wish to be included in these teams, need to attend these sessions regularly.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 10th Feb, Athlone

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B & XC Relays. Sun 11th Feb, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway

 National Senior Indoors, Sat.17th & Sun.18th Feb. Abbottstown.

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sat. 24th Feb, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day 3, Sun. 25th Feb, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 4, Sat. 3rd March, Athlone

 

National Masters Indoor Championships, Sun 4th March, Athlone

 

All Ireland Schools Cross Country, Sat 10th March, Waterford IT

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 1, Sun. 11th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 2, Sun 18th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 3, Sun 25th March, Athlone

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to Richael Browne on winning the National Star Award for her achievements in 2017. Richael will receive her award at a function in the Tullamore Court hotel on Sat. 17th Feb.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues.20th Feb. from 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good selection of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts!

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with 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 & FB page each week. This Sun 11th Feb. we’re in Glendalough!

 

Tue

09

Jan

2018

Club News & Information

WELCOME BACK

 

Well done to all the athletes & coaches who made it back to training last week in challenging conditions. Some great sessions were done despite the weather! Hoping to see everyone else back this week, as all groups are back training from tonight Tues 9th Jan

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & t-shirts or hoodies at this stage. It’s easy take something off when you get too hot, but miserable if you have nothing to put on when you’re cold!

 

 

 

RELAY SQUAD

 

Training sessions for all athletes in Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm groups) who are interested in being considered for relay teams at the Indoor Championships on February 24th in Abbotstown, will take place every Wed. evenings from 7-8.30pm. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend these sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Wed 10th Jan.

 

 

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2018

 

Registration for this year will take place from 4.45-5.15pm and 6.30-7.30pm on Tues.16th Jan & from 6.30-7.30pm on Fri 19th Jan. 2018. All club athletes must either register at these times or hand in form & fee in an envelope at check-in during that week. Membership forms will be available at registration, or can be downloaded from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ to save time on the night. Please make sure to get your registrations done during this week! Un-registered athletes cannot be allowed on to the track from Tues 23rd Jan. as they will no longer be insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to Alana Ryan who won the Juvenile Girls Leinster Star Award for 2017 and to Aoife Conroy who won the Senior award. The girls received their awards last Sat. Night in Tullamore.

 

 

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

 

We had a fantastic day with the Endurance Squad on Tues 2nd Jan. when 56 athletes took to the track to try their hand at Laser Tag. It was a very enjoyable experience and we discovered that we had some fantastic shooters among the group. Many thanks to Pentathlon Ireland for organising this part of the day for us and we hope to try it again in the future. We followed this with a run down to the swimming pool for an excellent Pool Recovery session, many thanks to Eamonn Whelan for this, and finished the day with a fantastic lunch, supplied by all the athletes. We look forward to the next session, which will be open to all interested athletes age 10 upwards.

 

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 13th Jan, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Juv XC Relay, Inter/Master Champs, Sun 14th Jan, Dunboyne

 

 

 

National Combined Events Sat 20th Jan, Athlone (Form on the website)

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun28th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Indoor League Final, Sat 3rd Feb, Athlone

 

 

 

AAI Games, Sun th Feb., Athlone

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 10th Feb, Athlone

 

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B & XC Relays. Sun 11th Feb, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.17th & Sun.18th Feb. Abbottstown.

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sat. 17th Feb, Abbottstown

 

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day 3, Sun. 18th Feb, Abbottstown

 

 

 

REMINDER: HELPERS STILL NEEDED

 

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers & committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work & 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. 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 may have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session!

 

Sat

09

Dec

2017

Club News & Information

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed at the Leinster XC Championships and congratulations to all the medal winners. Sadly, numbers were well down this year, but those who did run produced some great performances, with several athletes qualifying for Nationals.

Some great runs at the first of the Nationals in Abbottstown also and great to see the Junior Girls take the bronze medals. Best of Luck to all those heading for Waterford for the Uneven ages next weekend.

 

 

TRAINING OVER THE XMAS PERIOD

We will train as usual next week and all groups will have training on Tues 19th Dec. with the 7-8.30 pm group also training on Wed 20th. The track closes at 6pm on Fri 22nd Dec. so any training on Fri. will be by arrangement with coaches, if they are available. As the track also closes at 6pm during Xmas week, any training sessions will be by arrangement with coaches, or athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes, during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Tues 2nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 9th Jan.

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2018

Registration for next year will take place from 4.45-5.15pm and 6.30-7.30pm on Tues.16th Jan & from 6.30-7.30pm on Fri 19th Jan. 2018 and all club athletes must register at this time. No un-registered athletes will be allowed on to the track from Tues 23rd Jan.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open this coming Tues.12th Dec. From 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! The new order of hoodies has arrived for that night, in case Santa needs any.

 

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

We had a better attendance from GAC athletes for the last two Endurance Group sessions where great work was done by all the athletes present and friendships were formed with athletes from all over the county. We saw the benefits when 6 County Teams qualified for the National XC’s.

The next session, which will be held in Greystones on Tues 2nd Jan, looks like being a very exciting day indeed. This one will be invitation only, as it is confined to athletes who have attended previous sessions. There will be further opportunities for new members to join the squad at sessions arranged in 2018!

 

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Solstice Mile: Sli Cualann AC will host a series of graded 1 ml races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice on Wed. 20th Dec. at 7pm. Entry donation 5euro for Adults, 3euro for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards. Open to everyone!

 

 

National XC Championships Sun.17th Dec. Novice and Uneven Ages, Waterford

 

 

Streets of Wicklow 5K Tues 26th Dec in Wicklow Town @ 11am

 

 

Roundwood Biathlon: Charity Biathlon on Tues 27th Dec. Starting at 2pm, walkers 1.45pm.

 

Endurance Squad Training Tues 2nd Jan, Greystones Track (Invitation only)

 

 

County Masters XC Sun. 7th Jan, Shanganagh Park, Bray

 

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 13th Jan, Abbottstown

 

 

Leinster Juv XC Relay, Inter/Master Champs, Sun 14th Jan, Dunboyne

 

 

 

National Combined Events Sat 20th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun28th Jan, Athlone

 

 

HELPERS STILL NEEDED

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers & committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work & 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. 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 may have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session.

 

We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

Stronger! Higher! Faster” for 2018!

 

Mon

23

Oct

2017

Club Newsletter

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all who competed in the recent County Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that those athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams.

These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits and are less likely to droptheir fitness as young adults. So we were disappointed with the poor attendance and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

We had lots of individual medal winners, with Individual Gold medals for Richael Browne U19, Sarah O’Connor U18, Abbie Tyrrell U17, Joe Prendergast U15, Paul Delahunty U14, Individual silver for David Coyle Novice & Intermediate men, Katie Conroy Intermediate Wm, Troy Scully U19 & U18, Rachel Casey U19, Joe Prendergast U16, Paul Delahunty U15, Louise O’Riordan U14. Team Gold for U17 Boys John O’Connor, Colm Flynn, Joe Dowd, Ronan Dempsey, U16 Boys Joe Prendergast, Michael O’Shea, James Smartt, Ronan Dempsey. Team silver for U16 Girls Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien, Erin Howard, Enya Conroy, Team bronze for Novice Men David Coyle, Jamie Lennon, Robert Costello, AJ Cotter, U13 Boys Chase Scully, Conor Keogh, Tom McCarthy, Cian Smyth, Calum Flynn, U12 Boys Tom McCarthy, William O’Riordan, Rory McNally, Nathan Donlon, Calum Flynn, U11Girls Lucy Garvey, Ailbhe Kelly, Amber Scully, Chloe Hanley, Teagan Griffiths, U10 Girls Grace Rush, Holly Goodwin, Shana O’Dowd, Sarah Jane McCarthy, Teagan Griffiths, Ella Dallaghan. More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

We had the 1st big event of the XC season yesterday with huge fields in the Autumn Open in Abbottstown and we had great performances from Richael Browne & Sarah O’Connor in the Junior Women’s event & Katy Conroy in the Senior Women’s. Well done girls!

 

TRAINING NEXT WEEK

As schools are on mid-term next week and children will be out ‘Trick or Treating’ for Halloween on Tuesday night, there will be no training for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups next week. Training will go ahead as usual for the 7-8.30pm groups.

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

We had a fantastic morning in Shanganagh Park on Sunday Oct.15th, when athletes from all over Wicklow gathered for the Endurance Squad session and happily we had a better attendance from GAC athletes this time. It was wonderful to watch so many young athletes working together and I think many surprised themselves by what they were able to achieve. This is a great opportunity to work together and will really benefit everyone who makes the effort to attend.......... and you get to make lots of new friends also!

The next two sessions are being held on Fri 3rd Nov. in Rathdrum & Fri 1st Dec. in Aughrim. As Friday is already a training night for GAC, we are hoping to see a much better attendance at these. There is still time to get involved in this group and great plans to develop it in the future! It will not only improve our County team’s, it will improve Individual & club performances also.

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the new friends! Hope to see you there. Its the most important session of the week !!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Leinster XC Championships 28th October Novice and Even Ages, Navan Adventure Park

 

Leinster XC Championships 12th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Wexford

 

Endurance Squad Training Fri Nov 3rd @ 6.30pm Rathdrum Rugby Club

 

 

Round 4 Co. League Rathdrum Rugby Club 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages

 

Endurance Squad Training Fri Dec.1st @ 6.30pm Aughrim GAA Grounds

 

Round 5 Co. League Arklow Track 8th Dec. Check-in 6.30pm – Even Ages

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open this Tues. 24th Oct from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! Orders can be taken for any club gear that might be needed in Dec. so that we can make sure we have this available on our next Shop opening in Dec.

 

COACHES & HELPERS

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, however we are still very much in need of more helpers. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are still very much in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training, so don’t be afraid to offer.

 

In particular we need help at Tuesday’s 6-7pm session & Friday’s 7-8.30pm session. Please help if you can, as we really don’t want to have to cancel these training sessions!

Mon

18

Sep

2017

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

RETURN TO TRAINING

We have now been back training for two weeks and attendance so far has been poor in many groups. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club, so if we haven’t seen or heard from you by the end of this week (Fri 22nd Sept), we will be removing you from our lists. We cannot hold places indefinitely, as we have waiting lists on most groups.

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We will allow another week’s trial this week and will then hold a Registration night for all new members on Tues 26th Sept from 4.45-5pm for Little Athletics and again from 6.45-7.30pm for everyone else. Registration forms will be available on the night, or to prevent delays you can downloaded one in advance from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’..

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

Thanks to all who responded to our text reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

Earlier this year County Wicklow set up an endurance training squad for all athletes from age 10 upwards, with the aim of improving our County results in this year’s XC events. It was well attended generally, but very few GAC athletes have availed of the opportunity to be part of it so far. However there is still time to get involved, as the next session takes place this coming Saturday 23rd Sept. from 11am -1pm in Avondale, Rathdrum. It would be great to see lots of our athletes taking advantage of these sessions, so do come along if at all possible. It will not only improve our County team’s, it will improve Individual & club performances also.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 County Endurance Squad training Sat 23rd Sept in Avondale 11am-1pm

 

Wicklow County XC Championships Sun. 1st Oct in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

Wicklow County XC Championships Sun. 8th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

Leinster XC Championships 29th October Novice and Even Ages Tyrrells Pass

 

Leinster XC Championships 12th November Senior and Uneven Ages Venue TBC

 

Round 4 Co. League Rathdrum Rugby Club 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages

 

Round 5 Co. League Arklow Track 8th Dec. Check-in 6.30pm – Even Ages

 

COACHES & HELPERS

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, however we are still in need of more helpers. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are really in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with either check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed

In particular we need help at Tuesday’s 6-7pm session & Friday’s 7-8.30pm session. Please help if you can, as we really don’t want to have to cancel these training sessions!

 

 

 

Thu

31

Aug

2017

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

WELCOME BACK

 

We hope you all had a great summer and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks, as requested in our last Newsletter in July and so are all coming back 'Fit to Train'. Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with Round 1 of the XC League for U8-U15 on Fri 15th Sept in Roundwood and the County XC Champs at the beginning of Oct.

 

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. & Little Athletics returning on Tues. 12th Sept. This allows our younger athletes a chance to settle in to school before starting back. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified of this.

 

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

In response to requests from a small number of parents, we are offering an alternative means of paying the weekly sub this term. Athletes have the option to pay €30 at the beginning of this term, which will cover the subs for the remaining 15 training weeks of 2017. This will be recorded on the check-in sheets, but athletes will still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Prepaid fees will not be refunded where athletes fail to attend training. The usual option of paying €2 once a week will still be available to those who prefer to use this method, however we appeal to everyone not to run up bills, as it is very time consuming trying to collect these. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 

 

 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

Greystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers & committee members, who volunteer so much time each week to help make Greystones AC such a successful club. We have a very dedicated core group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. There is a natural turnover of coaches as their children pass through the club, but obviously we need replacement volunteers for these as they leave. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. We strongly recommend that 2 or more parents buddy up to share the slot to support your athletes in the club whether it be to assist, coach or check-in. The number of volunteers determines the number of athletes we can facilitate and the number of nights we can hold training. As we return for the new season, we find that we are very short of coaches, particularly for the 6-7pm groups, so if you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did!

 

 

 

 

OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW CLUB POLICIES

 

Greystones AC is currently reviewing our Policies & Procedures and we are offering parents & members an opportunity to contribute to this. Please forward any suggestions you may have to greystonesathletics@gmail.com, before our next meeting at the end of Sept. If there are any amongst our members/parents with relevant experience in formulating policies, we would be delighted to have your assistance. Current policies can be found on our website under “Training Times & Club Info”

 


 

Tue

18

Jul

2017

Club News & Information

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the National Championships recently and who represented the club so well, though it was disappointing that so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Many congratulations to the medal winners and to all who earned PB's.

Congrats also to those who competed in the National B’s last Saturday and in the Bray Invitational, where we retained both the Overall Cup & the Relay Shield once again.

Huge congratulations to Alana Ryan who has been selected to represent Ireland in the 200m & the 4 x 100m relay at the Celtic Games on Saturday August 5th. As the Games are in Ireland this year, it’s a great opportunity to go along to Santry and support Alana and the rest of the Irish team!
Congratulations also to Alex Campbell who represented Ireland in the Triple Jump at the Schools International last weekend!
 
TRAINING
As most athletes have now finished competing and the attendance at training has been very erratic for the past few weeks, we feel it is time to give our hard working coaches a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from several of our athletes. Consequently we will finish training tonight Tues. 18th 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 full two weeks 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 5 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 Cross Country events will come up very quickly, when we return in Sept.
Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. Little Athletics will return on Tues. 12th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.
 
Groups for Sept.'17 will be organised very soon to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Parents of athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if your children intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept. (Text 0868635797 or use Contact Us on our website)
 
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.
 
THANK YOU
A big 'Thank You' also to Christina & Dermot Browne for organising another successful Bagpack for the club and also to all those who helped out over the two days.
 
COACHES & HELPERS
Geystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers, committee and of course athletes who give of their time. We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did.  If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. The number of volunteers will determine the number of athletes.

Thu

15

Jun

2017

Newsletter

 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

 

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 20th June in Greystones. We are only allowed a limited number of athletes for this event and so priority will be given to those who have competed in the recent County & Leinster events. Any places left after this will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The entry form is on our website and will close on Sat. 17th.

 

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 

 

TRAINING

 

Training for our younger groups ie 5-6pm & 6-7pm sessions, will finish for the summer at the end of June. We will finish up with a fun competition on Friday 30th for all our younger athletes (5-6 & 6-7pm groups) and we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, we can’t continue without it. Have a great summer everyone!

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. Those competing in the final of the League in August will continue to train by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

  1. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 17th/18th June.

  2. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 20th June. (limited numbers)

  3. Leinster Juniors, Leixlip Fri 23rd June.

  4. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 24th June.

  5. National League Round 1, Athlone or Tallaght Sun. 25th June.

  6. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat 1st July.

  7. National Juvenile Inter Club Relay Championships, Athlone Sun 2nd July.

  8. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sun 2nd July.

  9. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sat. 8th/Sun. 9th July, Tullamore.

  10. Morton Games 2017 T&F , Wed 12th July, Santry

  11. National Juvenile ‘B’ Championships, Sat. 15th July, Tullamore.

  12. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sun. 16th July, Tullamore.

  13. Cork City Sports, Tues 18th July, CIT Cork.

  14. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 22nd/Sun 23rd July, Santry.

  15. National League Round 2, Sun 30th July.

  16. National League Final, Sun 20th Aug, Tullamore.

 

 

BAGPACK FOR GAC

 

Don’t forget our Fundraising Bagpack for the club which is being held this Friday 16th June and Saturday 17th June at Tesco Greystones. All support will be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

We still have a small number of outstanding debts and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

Mon

22

May

2017

Club News, Bag Pack & Upcoming Competitions

Well done to all who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible.

 

Athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, especially on the Saturday, but what was lacking in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by those who did attend. We saw great individual & team performances and many club athletes went home loaded down with medals on both days. Thanks also to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over the two days.

A special mention here for our older athletes, four of whom act as Junior coaches each week before their own training sessions. These older athletes not only competed for our club on both days, they also helped out at every opportunity, assisting at Long jump, High Jump, relay zones and anything that was asked of them, while still managing to produce magnificent performances in their own events. They were like a well organised army on Sunday during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them.

Full results are now on our club website!

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and the Leinster Schools and best of luck to everyone in the All Ireland’s on June 3rd. All results are on the AAI website under schools!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. National Combined Events, Santry Sat/Sun May 27th/28th.

  2. AAI Games, Santry Sun. May 28th.

  3. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore

  4. Leinster U23/Senior/Masters, Tullamore Sun. June 4th.

  5. Leinster Team Event for U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 5th.

  6. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Championships, Tullamore Sat. June 10th.

  7. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 17th/18th June.

  8. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 20th June. (limited numbers)

  9. Leinster Juniors, Leixlip Fri 23rd June.

  10. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 24th June.

  11. National League Round 1, Athlone or Tallaght Sun. 25th June.

 

BAGPACK FOR GAC

Many thanks to Dermot Browne who has managed to arrange a Fundraising Bagpack for the club again this year, on Friday 16th June and Saturday 17th June at Tesco Greystones. We require volunteers for 2 hour slots from 11am to 8pm on the Friday and 11am to 6pm on the Saturday. Email Christina Browne on Christinamary123@gmail.com with your availability. All help greatly appreciated from all parents & from athletes & siblings ages 14 and upwards.

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on this coming Tues. 23rd May from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts!

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those who responded to our appeal and paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. However we still have a small number due and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. Reminders will be sent out this week.

We also remind you once again that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

CLUB INFORMATION

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we don’t always have access to it and generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Heartiest congratulations from everyone at Greystones AC to club athlete Rachel Casey, who this week receives the ‘Greystones Special Person of the Year Award’ for 2017. Rachel specialises in Race Walking & has been a committed club member for over 7 years. She is one of our regular Junior coaches, who helps out twice a week with the younger athletes before doing her own training sessions. She also helps out with Bray Lakers on a regular basis and is a very active member of the Greystones Rowing Club. Check out the link below for more details: http://www.greystonesguide.ie/my-greystones-rachel-casey/

Fri

05

May

2017

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS!

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Tuesday May 9th and events take place on Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th May, starting at 11am each day.

 

 

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in the relays on both days. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2017) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2017) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. Athletes take part in a sprint, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each. All athletes who complete the three events will receive an award, Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score. On Saturday these younger athletes have their longer race, fun Obstacle relays & the Even Aged relays, with the uneven age relays on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. The programme is on the sidebar on the front page of our website and also on our notice board down at the track. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes and we sincerely hope that everyone will make the effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2017.

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

Looking forward to watching all of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics!

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Mon

10

Apr

2017

CLUB NEWS

 

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

Due to very poor attendances during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 25th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual. Schools competitions are fast approaching!

 

Round 2 of the Juvenile League for athletes up to U15, will go ahead on Fri 21st at the Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 19th Apr.

 CLUB CAPTAINS

At our recent AGM we agreed to elect two Club Captains who will help and encourage our younger athletes and liaise between the coaches and the athletes on a regular basis. We are delighted to announce that Aoife Conroy & Conor Dempsey have agreed to accept the roles. Aoife & Conor have both been involved in athletics from an early age and have been competing for a number of years at all levels. They have experienced both the highs & the lows, have had the joy of standing on podiums, but also dealt with disappointment and with unwelcome injury & the long road to recovery. They have a wealth of experience which they are happy to pass on to our younger members and indeed have been passing on their skills at our training days for the past two years. We feel they will be a great help to those coming through in the future and will be happy to bring any concerns that athletes may have, to the coaches.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

We had a great night at the club awards on the 24st March and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2016. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, we will arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 26th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

Our annual Good Attendance Trip took place on Saturday 8th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Fiona Ryan for organising it and to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport.

The trip for our older athletes will take place on Apr. 22nd to GoQuest.

 

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

Just over 80 athletes took the Mile Challenge on Saturday in glorious conditions in Greystones. Every club in the County was represented and the only word to describe the day was awesome. A better turnout from GAC this time, but still very small when you consider how many athletes could have been involved. Hopefully numbers will grow with each event.

Many of the athletes achieved a result well beyond their expectation and all were delighted with their wristbands. Next time they will aim even higher and try for the next colour band. Well done to all the athletes and thanks to all the coaches who motivated their athletes and gave them the opportunity to experience a great sense of achievement !!

 

WEBTEXT

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

CLUB SHOP

 The club shop will be open on Tues. 25th Apr from 4.40 -5pm & 6.40 -7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. Reminders will be issued shortly for these unpaid amounts. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.  

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April. Entries to Theresa

  2. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

  3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23rd April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

  4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

  5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

  6. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13th/14th May, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

  7. Leinster Combined Events Championships, Claremont Stadium, Navan Sat 20th May. Entry form will be on GAC website

  8. Leinster Relays, Sun 22nd May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

  9. National Combined Events Championships Santry Entry form will be on GAC website

  10. AAI Games, Santry (U17 upwards) Entry form will be on GAC website

 

RECENT RESULTS

Day 3 of the National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take bronze in the Long Jump in his first National Indoor Championships. Ailbhe Gordon, another first timer, threw a huge PB in the Shot Putt giving her a terrific 5th place finish. A fantastic run from Joe Prendergast in the boys U15 800m heats and a 5th place finish after really taking on the final. 5th place also for Ben Jones in the U17 boys 800m & for Richael Browne in the U19 girls. A new PB for Marcus Lalor in his 200m heat where he finished 4th, with a 5th place for Noah Daly in his and great hurdling from Emma Quirk saw her finish 4th in her heat in the U15 girls 60mH. Well done to all who competed and represented the club so well!

 

Great running from the GAC athletes in the recent County road race where Brien Geraghty finished 3rd overall, taking the M40 title with Caoimhin MacMaoláin finishing 7th .Dermot Hughes finished 11th in the M35 and William McCann finished 12th in the Senior men. Troy Scully finished 18th overall, making him 2nd in the Junior men’s to take the silver with Colm Flynn finishing in 5th. Annette Cleary took silver in the W50, with Clodagh Manning finishing 6th in the W45 & Christine McCann 6th in the W55.Such a pity not to have full teams here, but hopefully we can improve on this for future events.

Troy Scully followed his 4.49 mile on Saturday with a 2nd place finish in the Great ireland 5K on Sunday, where he ran a fantastic 17.11, with William McCann running 39.48 in the 10K.

 

 

Thu

30

Mar

2017

DAY TRIP FOR OLDER ATHLETES

This year we are going to GoQuest with the older athletes for our annual day trip.

GoQuest is an indoor, multi-challenge themed arena for teenagers and adults. The 27 custom-designed rooms are a mix of physical and mental challenges with three levels of difficulty. People work in teams of 3 – 4 in order to complete the challenges.

Whilst the club will subsidise the cost for those athletes who had high attendance during 2016, other athletes (U17 and up) are more than welcome to come along but will be asked to contribute the full cost.

Date: Saturday 22nd April 2017

Time: 5.30 pm

Full-Cost: €16.00 per person plus the cost of pizza afterwards

Subsidised Cost: €12.00 to include GoQuest & Pizza

Since we need to confirm numbers in advance against this reservation, please text Fiona Ryan on 086-7333319 by Saturday 2.00 pm at the latest to confirm whether you will be participating. Please bring along the cost in an envelope (with your name and enclosed amount noted on the outside of the envelope) to training on Friday evening if possible, if not on Tuesday evening at latest.

To minimise the cost we will arrange car-pooling.

See www.goquest.ie for futher information.

GoQuest Indoor Challenge Zone

 

Exit 5 M50

 

Unit 23 North Park Business Park

 

North Road

 

Dubin 11

 

List of those with qualifying attendance,

 

Niamh Conroy

Alana Ryan

Sarah O'Connor

Rachel Casey

Richael Browne

Alannah O'Carroll

Katie Lawless

Aoife Conroy

Ara Freeman

John O'Connor

Troy Scully

Noah Daly

Louis Lalor

All other club athletes U17 up are welcome to attend!

Tue

28

Mar

2017

GREYSTONES AC GOOD ATTENDANCE TRIP 2016

As our last trip was such a success, this year’s trip for good attendance will be to Jumpzone in Sandyford again and has been arrange to take place on Sat. 8th April from 4.00-5.00 pm.

We reduced the percentage qualification for the trip to 50% attendance this year to allow more athletes to attend. Points have been awarded for each training night attended during 2016, with bonus points for every competition attended.

Athletes will need to be at the Jumpzone Centre by 3.45pm latest, where we will have a full hour on the trampolines. We will pay a trip to McDonalds afterwards and expect to arrive back in Greystones about 7.00 pm.  As it would make the trip very expensive for everyone if we have to hire a bus, we will be depending on parents to drop off and collect the athletes, but if we carpool nobody should have to make more than one journey. If you can let us know whether drop off or pick up suits best, we will do our best to arrange this. Those doing the return journey will need to pick up at Jumpzone at 5.00 pm and  accompany the group to McDonalds. The trip will be subsidised, so cost to the athletes will be €10, which includes food.  If participants have their own Jumpzone socks they should bring them along or they will have to be purchased at the venue on the day (€2.00).

.

Below is a list of the athletes who have qualified for the trip. If you wish to attend, please text your name to 0877730000 by Friday 31 March at the latest, as we have to confirm numbers asap. All athletes attending will be issued with a waiver form which must be signed and returned to the club. Jumpzone will not allow anyone in without this form.

 

To avoid having to deal with cash on the day, and in order for us to be able to confirm final numbers with Jumpzone, payment can be made to Fiona Ryan at the gate at 7 pm tonight or tomorrow night, Wednesday 29 April, or to Louise on Friday night.  Please bring along an envelope with your child’s name and the amount clearly marked on it, and waiver form enclosed (form can be downloaded from Jumpzone’s website).

 

Enya Conroy,  

Erin Howard,

Abbie Taylor

Megan O’Brien ,

Isobel Radford Dodd                                                                                               

Ella Shanley                                                                                                                         Emma Quirk                                                                                                                 

Ellen McNally                                                                                                            

Michael O’Shea                                                                                                              

Joe Prendergast
Paul Delahunty                                                                                                                 Aodhan Daly 

Ronan Dempsey                                                                                                       

Eimear Ryan                                                                                                               

Maebh O’Neill                                                                                                            

Sophie Dallaghan                                                                                                     

Isabelle Donnelly                                                                                                            

Lucy Daly                                                                                                                    

Salley Shanley                                                                                                            

Louise O’Riordan                                                                                                                  Chase Scully

Ailbhe Gordon

Daniel Quirk

Tara Casey

Rory McNally

Ava Foley                                                                                                                                     Camille Madden                                                                                                             

Tom McCarthy                                                                                                              

Sarah Hayes                                                                                                               

Georgia Hogan                                                                                                            

Alex Mulcahy                                                                                                                   

Jack Golden                                                                                                                  

Óisin O’Malley                                                                                                                            Amber Scully                                                                                                                              Zoe Kenna                                                                                                                              Daniel Garvey                                                                                                               

Lucy Garvey        

Evan Quirk                                                                                                                           Tristan Jolyet Cunningham                                                                                                  Aine Hayde                                                                                                                          Georgia Cullen                                                                                                                       Ella Dallaghan                                                                                                                     Isaac Leahy                                                                                                                           Kate Smith

Chloe Hanley

Charlotte Hudson

Nathan Donlon

 

Mon

27

Mar

2017

NATIONAL JUVENILE INDOORS 2017

 

The first weekend of the National Juvenile Indoors saw GAC athletes produce some top class performances with some great results.

 The track on Saturday was all about the Relays, with our U15 boys team making the final in one of the tightest races of the day.

 They gave a great performance in the final where another very close finish left them 5th overall

It was the turn of the U18 boys in the afternoon and having finished a comfortable second in their heat, they went on to take the silver medals in style in the final.

 

We had a number of field eventer’s competing on Saturday and some great results in the Long Jump, with Ellen McNally taking Bronze in the U15 Girls with 5m 05 and Emma Quirk finishing 6th with 4m 79, James Nicholson taking Bronze in the U15 boys with 4m 98, with Joe Prendergast taking 5th with 4m 77 and Aodhan Daly taking 6th in the U17 boys with 5m 34. Sophie Nicholson had a 7th place finish in the U17 high jump and Alannah O’Carroll a 5th place in the U19 pole Vault.

 

Sunday saw our distance runners take to the track for the 1500m and they produced some very exciting races with great results. Richael Browne had a fantastic run in the U19, controlling the race right from the start and pulling away from the field in the last two laps to comfortably take the Indoor title for the second year in a row. Sarah O’Connor took on the girls U17 race right from the gun and had a fantastic run that resulted in her taking the bronze medal and setting a new 1500m PB.

 

Troy Scully had to cover the distance twice, as there were heats in the boys U18, but as always he rose to the challenge running a PB in the heat to qualify comfortably for the final where he followed up with yet another PB and a 10th place finish.

 

A fantastic race from Rachel Casey in the U18 Walk to finish 6th with a huge PB of 7.59m. Rachel has progressed hugely and has taken 49 secs off her time for this distance in the past year.

 

A good win in her heat saw Alana Ryan safely through to the 60m final where she finished 4th , but disappointment for Jack McGlone after an unfortunate break at the start of his.

 

Silver in the U19 Long Jump for James Vance, losing out on the gold by a mere .01 of a centimeter and 13th place finishes for Ellen McNally in the U15 High Jump and for Sophie Nicholson in the U17.

 

Well done to all who competed over the two days & a huge Thank You to the parents & coaches who supported them during the weekend.

 

Best of luck to everyone on the final day next Saturday !

 

Mon

20

Mar

2017

Newsletter

CLUB NEWS

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2016 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club this coming Friday. 24st March at 7pm.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2016 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club this coming Friday. 24st March at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2016, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2016, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week.

 

There will be no training on Friday 24th to facilitate this Awards night.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

 

 

Our annual Attendance Trip for those with good attendance during 2016, has been arranged for Sat 8th April.at 4pm. As Jumpzone proved to be so popular last year, we are returning this year, with the customary stop off at McDonald’s on the way back. The full list of athletes who qualify to go on this trip will be published on our website in the next couple of days.

 

A separate trip for our older athletes is also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 

 

 

JUVENILE & JUNIOR RESULTS

 

Congatulations to Sarah O’Connor who won Gold in the 1500m on Day 3 of the Leinster Champ. and Alannah O’Carroll who won Gold in the Pole Vault, Ben Jones who won bronze in the 1500m & Sophie Nicholson who won bronze in the HJ.

 

Gold in the Relays for U15 Boys: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Michael O’Shea, Jack McGlone & U18 Boys: Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon, John O’Connor with Silver for U19 Boys: Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon, James Vance. Good Luck in the Nationals!

 

Day 4 was the Junior/Senior/ Masters Champs:

 

Junior medals: Gold for James Vance in the LJ. Silver for Ara Freeman in the 60m, Alana Ryan in the 200m, Rosa Kirwan in the TJ and Bronze for Rosa Kirwan in the 400m & HJ & Katie Lawless in the 60mH.

 

 

 

SENIOR & MASTERS RESULTS

 

Indoor Track & Field: Senior: Silver for Niamh Kearney in the 3K & Silver for Aoife Conroy in the 60mH & bronze in the 400m.

 

Masters: Gold for Carol Costello in the Leinster 800m, while the National Masters saw Carol Costello take silver in the 800m & Nick Russell take silver in the 400m.

 

Road & XC: Brian O'Murchu finished in an excellent 6th place in the Clane 10k in a time of 34:44, as well as picking up another 6th place finish in the BHAA 5 mile XC. Brian Geraghty won the M40 title in the Enniscorthy 10k in a time of 33:33, while also clocking a very impressive 56:14 in the Ballycotton 10 miler. Robert Costello followed up a 10th place finish in the IMRA mountain race at Ticknock with a trail marathon in the Blue Mountains while holidaying in Australia, where he also posted a time of 39:30 in the Sydney Striders 10k race. Dermot Hughes has also been competing recently, but at a more local level, including running a 44 minute 10k in the Wicklow Hospice race in Avondale, finishing 11th overall out of a field of over 200 runners. Finally, GAC racing stalwart AJ Cotter has recently completed his 100th parkrun! Congratulations to all!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 25th March, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  2. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, 26th March, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  3. County Road Race, Fri 31st March in Ashford @ 7.15pm.. U17 upwards.

  4. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, 1st April, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  5. Wicklow Invitational Secondary Schools T&F, Greystones 10.30am

  6. National 10k Championships Dublin Sun 9th Apr. Adult event.

  7. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April.

  8. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages

  9. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23rd April, Raheny. U17 upwards.

  10. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event.

  11. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6th May, Greystones. U17 upwards

  12. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13th/14th May, Greystones. Open to all ages.

 

 

 

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

 

There was a great turnout in Avondale last Saturday afternoon at the first gathering of athletes for the new County Initiative for athletes from 10-20 yrs of age, although GAC was poorly represented. After a good warm-up, the athletes broke into groups to go for a run over a variety of distances and on their return they were divided into groups for team building games. There was a fantastic atmosphere with everyone present having a great time and hopefully building bonds for the future. There are some pictures from the day on our website & FB page.

 

The next event in early April, will be a mile challenge on the track and hopefully we will see many more GAC athletes taking part in this and becoming part of what promises to be a great development squad for Wicklow athletes.

 


 

Sun

19

Feb

2017

Club Newsletter

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THIS WEEK

 

Due to very poor attendances during school holidays & breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups this coming week, ie Tues 21st & Fri 24th Feb. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual.

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us re injury/illness, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to the waiting list.

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do a run yourself later in the day.

 


HELP STILL NEEDED

 

We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 


CONGRATULATIONS

 

Congatulations to Aoife Conroy, Alana Ryan, Ara Freeman, Richael Browne, Rosa Kirwan, Alannah O’Carroll, Claire Earls, Laura Kavanagh & Niamh Conroy, who made up the Slí Cualann women’s team in the National Indoor League recently. Terrific performances from all the girls in both rounds and a great battle in the final won them the Silver medals. A great effort from the men’s team saw them make the final also, with some top class individual performances. Well done also to all who competed in the AAI Games and again some terrific individual performances on the day.

 

We had a big entry in the Leinster Championships, with a number of first timers taking to the Indoor track for the first time. Unfortunately quite a number of those who entered didn’t manage to make it to their events and we take this opportunity to remind everyone that while we pay all the entry fees for our juvenile athletes, those who fail to turn up to compete are expected to refund these fees to the club. On this occasion the entry fee was €3.50 per event, but fees can be up to €15 an event and the club cannot continue to pay these and then not have the athletes turn up to compete.

 

Well done to all who took part over the two days. Some really top performances, with a big number qualifying for event finals and several medal winners and qualifiers to Nationals at the end of March. Gold for Alana Ryan in the 60m & 200m, James Vance in the Long Jump, Ben Jones in the 800m & Ailbhe Gordon in the Shot Putt, Silver for Joe Prendergast in the 800m and James Nicholson & Ellen McNally in the LJ, Bronze for Richael Browne in the 800m & for Aodhan Daly, Sophie Nicholson, Jack McGlone & Daniel Quirk in the LJ and 4th place and qualification to Nationals for Rachel Casey in the 1500m walk, Emma Quirk in the Hurdles & LJ, Ellen McNally in the HJ, John O’Connor in the 800m, Marcus Lennon in the 200m & Joe Prendergast in the LJ. Best of luck to all those competing in the 1500m & Relays next Saturday and to all our Juniors, Seniors & Masters competing on Sunday!

 


UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 3+ Relays in Abbottstown on Sat 25th Feb. Entries closed

  2. Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters Indoors in Abbottstown on Sun 26th Feb. Entries closed.

  3. Sportshall, Shoreline Community Hall, Greystones Saturday 4th March 2-5pm.

  4. National Masters Indoor Championships, Athlone Sunday 5th March. Entries close

  5. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 25th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  6. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, 26th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  7. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, 1st April, Athlone (Must qualify)

 


CLUB AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 2nd March at 8pm at 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.

 


SPORTSHALL COMPETITION

 

Our Sportshall competition for our younger athletes will take place on Sat 4th March in the Community Hall at Shoreline swimming pool from 2.00-5.00pm. This is a really fun event, where the athletes are put into teams and take part in a number of running, jumping & throwing events, finishing with a relay. As this is a team competition, athletes must be available for the entire event. If an athlete leaves early, their entire team loses out, as they will not be able to finish the competition. Open to all athletes up to U14 in 2017 (born 2004 or after). Teams will be made up on the day! Please arrive on time as once the teams have been made up we will not be able to include late comers and we don’t want to disappoint anyone! Lots of help will be needed for this one, so if you are available, please let us know asap. Help from our older athletes is invaluable for this event, so please let us know if you can come along and help. As we need to get an idea of numbers taking part we’ll have an entry form on our website which will close on Wed 1st March.

 

Wed

25

Jan

2017

Newsletter

 

CLUB NEWS

 

CONGRATULATIONS

We had a great start to the indoor season on Sat. 14th Jan with the 1st round of the National League, where our girls team, Aoife Conroy, Richael Browne, Ara Freeman, Alannah O’Carroll & Laura Kavanagh made a great start in the defence of their title from last year.

 They are lying 2nd by a single point going into R2 this coming Sat. The boys team didn’t fare quite as well, despite an outstanding performance of 6.78m from James Vance in the Long jump. We had 8 athletes in the 800m Endurance Initiative races that day, with most running PB’s on the day and a terrific 1st run over senior height hurdles from Katie Lawless as well. We also had great performances from Emma Quirke, Ellen McNally, Enya Conroy & Nell Berney in the Combined events last Sun.

 

 

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2017

 A big thank you to everyone who helped with registrations last week and to all the athletes & parents for getting them in on time. We are now all registered & insured for the year ahead. Places that were not taken up have now been offered to those on our waiting list and we welcome our new members for 2017.

 

HELP STILL NEEDED

 We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

 FEBRUARY COMPETITIONS (another busy month!)

  1. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. Guest & endurance initiative events.

  2. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

  3. National Indoor League Final in Abbottstown on Sat 4th Feb + Endurance Initiative Events 800m, 1500m, 3K. Entries close Thurs 26th Jan.

  4. AAI Games in Abbottstown on Sun 5th Feb. Entries close Thurs 26th Jan. (Adult event)

  5. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 1 in Athlone on Sat 11th Feb. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  6. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 2 in Athlone on Sun 12th Feb. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  7. National Masters & Juvenile B XC Championships in Waterford on Sun 12th Feb. These races are open to all athletes who did not medal at the National XC. Races for U11/13/15/17 age groups (2016 ages and athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A' XC Championships. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  8. National Senior Indoors Day 1 in Abbottstown on Sat 18th Feb. Entries close Feb.9th.

  9. National Senior Indoors Day 2 in Abbottstown on Sun 19th Feb. Entries close Feb.9th.

  10. Leinster Juvenile Indoors  Day 3+ Relays in Abbottstown on Sat 25th Feb. Entries close Feb.16th.

  11. Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters Indoors in Abbottstown on Sun 26th Feb. Entries close Feb.16th.

 

Entry forms for all of these events are on our website. Please get your entries in asap, as this will help us to arrange as much training as we can for all athletes, in their chosen events!

 

CLUB AGM

 The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 2nd March at 8pm. 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.

 

SPORTSHALL COMPETITION

 Our Sportshall competition for our younger athletes will take place on Sat 4th March in the Community Hall at Shoreline swimming pool from 2.00-5.00pm. This is a great fun event, but as it is a team competition, athletes must be available for the entire event. If an athlete leaves early, their entire team loses out. Open to all athletes up to U14 in 2017 (born 2004 or after). Teams will be made up on the day! Please arrive on time as once the teams have been made up we will not be able to include late comers and we don’t want to disappoint anyone! Lots of help will be needed for this one, so if you are available, please let us know asap. Help from our older athletes is invaluable for this event, so please let us know if you can come along and help.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 As Feb. is so busy with preparation for competitions this year, we will leave our awards night until early March. A number of awards will be given out for both individual & team performances during 2016, as well as our 5yr/10 yr membership awards, Athlete of the Year & our 3A’s awards for Attendance, Attitude, Achievement which will be given to all age groups. Light refreshments will be follow and an opportunity to chat with your child’s coaches. All athletes & their families are welcome to attend.

 

ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

 The attendances for 2016 are being counted and a list will be put up on our website shortly with the names of those who have qualified and the details of the Good Attendance Trip.

 

WICKLOW COUNTY ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

 A meeting for coaches & parents interested in the propose Endurance Initiative will take place on Mon. next 6th Feb.at 7.30pm in Shoreline Sports Park. There will be a presentation by Steve Macklin - AAI Junior Endurance Coach at 7.30pm followed by a planning session at 8.30pm. Well worth attending!

 

 SPRINTS INITIATIVE

 Details of a sprints Initiative will follow shortly

 

Tue

03

Jan

2017

Newsletter

CLUB NEWS
We hope all our athletes & coaches had a lovely Xmas and that you are all ready to get back to work now. Training for all groups resumes tonight Tues 3rd Jan.

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2017
All club athletes must register for 2017. Registration will take place on Tues 17th Jan from 5-8pm, & Fri 20th Jan from 6-8pm. Registrations can be handed in at check-in before these dates provided they are in an envelope with the athlete’s name on it, but cannot be accepted after these dates, as all available places will have been given to those on our waiting list. Please note that Shoreline Sports Park cannot accept registration forms or payments for Greystones AC.

 

HELP NEEDED
We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

CONGRATULATIONS & CELEBRATIONS!
The Wicklow Star Awards will take place in Roundwood Parish Hall on Fri. 13th Jan at 7.30pm. Once again Greystones AC athletes have done really well, taking 3 of the 4 Juvenile awards with Alex Campbell winning the Boys U14-16, Richael Browne winning the Girls U16-19 & Ben Jones winning the Boys U16-19. GAC take both Junior awards, with Ara Freeman winning the girls & James Vance winning the boys. GAC’s Claire Foley & Jamie Cullen receive International Merit Awards for representing the Irish Universities in Scotland.
The Leinster Star Awards will take place in Carlow on Sat. 22nd Jan. and Geystones AC athletes take all 3 awards, with Richael Browne winning the Juvenile Girls, Josh Pyper winning the Juvenile Boys & Aoife Conroy winning the Senior Award.
Congratulations to all of these athletes on their awards. It’s great to see their hard work paying off!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
1. Wicklow Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Shanganagh Park on Sun. 8th Jan @ 11am.
2. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 14th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website. Closing Fri 6th Jan. We won the Ladies League in 2016, so have a title to defend girls! We want a full men’s team also this year lads!
3. Leinster Intermediate & Masters and Juvenile Relays (U12/14/16, 4 x 500m) will take place on Sun. 15th Jan. In Dunboyne. If you are interested in being on a team, please fill in the form which will close on Fri 6th.
4. National Combined events for athletes from U14 upwards will take place in Athlone on Sat. 21st Jan. Form on the website will be closing Wed Jan 11th.
5. The National Intermediate XC & Inter Club Relays ((U12/14, 4 x 500m) will take place in Tuam on Sun. 22nd Jan. Form up & closing Wed 11th Jan.
6. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up.
7. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

 

News of Club AGM, Club Awards night, Attendance Day Trip & Sportshall Competition for our younger members, will all follow shortly

Sun

18

Dec

2016

XMAS NEWSLETTER & INFO

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National XC’s and represented us so well.

 

Congratulations to Richael Browne who won Gold with both the Co. U18 team & the Co. U19’s, silver with the Leinster U18’s, silver with the Slí Cualann junior team & bronze with the Co Junior team. Congrats also to Joe Prendergast on his silver medal with the Leinster U14 team. Great running from everyone who competed & congrats to all on a great XC season.

 

Well done also to all who competed in R6 of the XC League. Great running from everyone and some terrific wins once again! Most of the medals have now been given out, but we still have a few in hand due to athletes not being present at training. If you think you are due a medal from either the Co. Champs or the League, please ask Theresa on Tues. night, as they may get forgotten when we come back in the new year and we really do want you to have them.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS (Busy month ahead!)

  1. Solstice Mile: Sli Cualann AC will host a series of graded 1 ml races (4laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice on Wed 21st Dec. at 7pm. Entry donation 5euros for Adults, 3euros for U12’s U16’s. Refreshments afterwards.

  2. STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K A great way to run of the turkey on Stephen's day is The Streets of Wicklow 5K at 11am. Always a great event, with lots of prizes & spotprizes & great refreshments afterwards. There's also a kids 1 mile race just before the big event on the day!

  3. Roundwood Biathlon: Roundwood AC host a Charity Biathlon on Tues 27th Dec. supporting leukaemia & Cancer Research at Vartry House Kavanagh's. Starting at 2pm, walkers 1.45pm.

  4. Wicklow Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Shanganagh Park on Sun. 8th Jan @ 11am.

  5. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 14th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website. We won the Ladies League in 2016, so have a title to defend girls! We want a full men’s team also this year lads!

  6. Leinster Intermediate & Masters and Juvenile Relays (U12/14/16, 4 x 500m) will take place on Sun. 15th Jan. In Dunboyne. If you are interested in being on a team, please fill in the form which will be up shortly.

  7. National Combined events for athletes from U14 upwards will take place in Athlone on Sat. 21st Jan. Form will be up shortly.

  8. The National Intermediate XC & Inter Club Relays ((U12/14, 4 x 500m) will take place in Tuam on Sun. 22nd Jan. Form will be up shortly.

  9. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up.

  10. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

CELEBRATIONS!

The County Star Awards will take place in Roundwood Parish Hall on Fri. 13th Jan at 7.30pm. We have a number of GAC athletes in the running for awards and all athletes and their families are invited to come along and support our stars! Award winners will be announced shortly.

 

XMAS TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS

All groups have training this Tues. 20th Dec. and this will be the final session for the younger groups. The 7-8.30pm session will go ahead as usual on Wed, but this will be the last session before Xmas. as the centre closes at 6pm on Fri. Training will officially resume on Tues 3rd Jan, but some coaches may make their own arrangements with groups over the holiday period. Do keep running and keep your fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 
We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

Stronger! Higher! Faster!” for 2017!”

 

Sat

26

Nov

2016

Newsletter

 CLUB NEWS

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

The National even ages events for U12-18 and the Junior & Senior adults are taking place tomorrow Sun. 27th Nov.

GAC competitors for Sunday: Joe Prendergast U14 boys representing Greystones & Leinster, Ella Shanley, Louise O’Riordan, Eimear Ryan, Enya Conroy, Salley Shanley U14 girls representing Wicklow. Ben Jones, Fernando Ruiz, John O’Connor, Enrique Rancon U16 Boys representing Wicklow, Richael Browne & Rachel Casey U18/Junior girls representing Greystones & Wicklow, with Richael also representing Leinster. Troy Scully U18 boys representing Greystones. Katy Conroy Junior girls representing Slí Cualann & Wicklow. We congratulate them all and wish them well on Sunday!

 

The National uneven ages event for U11-19 and the Novice adults will take place on Sunday 11th Dec. in Dundalk. GAC competitors for Sun 11th: Louise O’Riordan, Eimear Ryan, Salley Shanley U13 girls representing Wicklow, Abbie Tyrrell, Ella Shanley, Megan O’Brien, Enya Conroy U15 girls representing Wicklow, with Abbie also representing Leinster, Sarah O’ Connor U17 girls representing Greystones & Leinster, Richael Browne U19 girls representing Greystones, Wicklow & Leinster. Troy Scully U17 boys representing Greystones. Best of luck to everyone!

 

XC LEAGUE ROUND 6: The 6th and final round of the League will be held in Bray Emmetts on Fri 2nd Dec. Registration 6.30pm, first race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 6, 8, 10, 12 & 14/15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website and will close on Thurs. 1st Dec. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in 5 events get gold, in 4 events get silver & in 3 events get bronze medals. Present standing after 5 rounds is listed on the sidebar of our website. Have a look and see if you can improve your medal standing or get yourself into the medals by attending the final round.

Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 2nd Dec, as coaches will be at the XC League. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

 

SPORTSHALL

We intend holding a Sportshall competition for our younger athletes around mid January. This will be a team event for U7/9/11/13/15 and so will be open to all athletes aged 5 - 14 in 2017. This is always a really fun competition and is a great first event if you haven’t ventured into competition yet. We will be practising for this over the coming weeks, with groups rotating each week, so do try to come along to training each week and get to know the events involved. Medals for the 1st three teams in each age group for both girls & boys. It really is great fun!

 

COACHING DAY

We had a very successful club coaching session in late Oct. and are planning to hold the next session on Sat. 10th Dec. from 11.30 -2pm. Once again we will cover Hurdles, Sprints, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin & Discus as required. Application form is now on the website and will close on Thursday 8th Dec. These sessions are helpful in preparing the athletes for the Indoor season and are open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006). Registration form now on our website. Please list three events in order of preference. We will do our best to give you your top two choices, if at all possible.

 

TEAM MEDALS

We have been trying to hand out the team medals won at the Co. Championships over the past few weeks, but still have a good number in hand, as some athletes have not been attending training sessions. If you are due a medal, please collect from Theresa asap.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congratulations go to Richael Browne, who has been offered a full scholarship at Georgia State University for next September. This is a fantastic opportunity for Richael to develop as an athlete while getting a first class education and we hope she enjoys her time in the USA. Richael is following in the footsteps of another Greystones athlete Niamh Kearney, who has recently returned with a Masters in Nutrition, after a very successful 5 yrs in Georgia State. Just goes to show that if you make the commitment, work hard and progress steadily, your athletics can open doors to a great future for you.

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor in some groups during November and we remind everyone that athletes who disappear for up to 3 weeks without contacting us are deemed to have left the club. Check-in sheets are reviewed at the end of each month, names of those who aren’t attending are removed from the check-in sheets and places are given to those on our waiting list. Please contact us before the end of the month if you fall into this category.

 

NB: Athletes in groups 1 & 2 have agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions per week and need to do this to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group, but is not being adhered to. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

 

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week, particularly from U12 up. If you cannot make this, you really need to do the run yourself later in the day. Venue varies from week to week and is posted on our website & FB page each week. This long, easy run can be very enjoyable and lays the base for everything we do.

 

So far this season the attendance on Sunday mornings is poor and we would really love to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues. Dec.13th from 4.45-5pm and again from 7-8pm, in case anyone needs extra Xmas pressies........Santa has already put in his order! We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available and souvenir club pens also. The new batch of smaller singlets were delayed, but should have arrived by then. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have some second-hand spikes for sale at very reasonable prices. Some of these have hardly been worn!

 

FINALLY

Can we appeal to parents once again to ensure that all athletes bring a raincoat, hat & gloves to training, as it is very cold on the track some nights. Gloves are a real necessity, as when cold the children are inclined to run with their hands in their pockets, which is likely to result in head or facial injury if they fall as they have no way of saving themselves.

Mon

31

Oct

2016

Newsletter

TRAINING IS AT THE USUAL TIMES ALL THIS WEEK

 

LEINSTER XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

A very disappointing turn out of just 15 athletes for the first of the Leinster XC Championships on Saturday last, with only 9 girls & 6 boys from the club taking part. This is hugely disappointing for the athletes who do take part as we fail to fill teams for them and for the coaches who put in so much time and effort in preparing the athletes for these events.

 

Congratulations to those who did take part as we had some fantastic running on the day. A first outing for Cian Smyth in the boys U12 saw him finish 97th, with Chase Scully 108th. In the boys U14 Joe Prendergast finished in 5th place to qualify as an individual and also as part of the Leinster team for the Nationals. Paul Delahunty (U13) stepping up an age, also had a great run to finish 38th. In the girls U14 Ella Shanley finished 25th, Louise O’Riordan (U13) 37th, Eimear Ryan (U13) 51st, Enya Conroy 65th, Salley Shanley (U13) 78th & Erin Howard 90th. Ella, Louise, Eimear, Enya & Salley qualify for Nationals as part of the Wicklow team. A great run from Abbie Tyrrell (U15) stepping up in the girls U16 where she finished 18th and a 21st place finish for Ben Jones in the boys U16, with Joe Dowd (U15) taking 61st. Richael Browne had a terrific race to take 6th in the girls U18, also qualifying as an individual and as part of the Leinster team and Rachel Casey (U17) finishing 32nd. A terrific race also in the U18 boys from Troy Scully, (U17) who finished just out of the medals in 13th, with Cormac Gilnagh (U17) 45th. Well done to all and here’s hoping for a much better turn out for the Uneven Ages.

 

Form for Uneven Ages is now on our website and will close on Fri. 4th Nov.

 

 

 

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

The uneven ages event for U11-19 and the Juniors & Senior adults will take place on Sun. 13th Nov. It will be on the same course as the Even Ages, in New Forest Golf Club, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will make an effort and turn out for this one to run for Club & County. First race is at 12 o’clock, so athletes will need to arrive at 11am for check-in & warm up, as numbers will be big. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is this Friday 4th Nov. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out.

 

 

 

XC LEAGUE ROUND 5: Thursday 17th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13 & 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will be on our website and will close on Tues. 15th Nov. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in all 6 events get Gold, in 5 events get silver & in 4 events get bronze medals.

 

 

 

COACHING DAY

 

We had a relatively small attendance at the club coaching session on Saturday 22nd Oct. but coaches & athletes present all agree that it was a really worthwhile session. Those who turned up really enjoyed the morning and got a lot out of it. We hope to run one of these sessions each month to help prepare for the Indoor season and they are open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006).

 

 

 

TEAM MEDALS

 

We have not yet received team medals from the County Champs, but should get them at Tuesday’s meeting this week and will give them out on Wed/Fri.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rain jacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!

 

 

NB: Groups 1 & 2 are required to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

 

 

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week, particularly from U12 up. If you cannot make this, you really need to do the run yourself later in the day. Venue varies from week to week and is posted on our website & FB page each week. This long, easy run can be very enjoyable and lays the base for everything we do.

 

So far this season the attendance on Sunday mornings & also on Fri nights is poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

 

Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

 

 

 

Mon

17

Oct

2016

Newsletter

A VERY LONG NEWSLETTER THIS TIME, BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AS IT CONTAINS A LOT OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR CLUB ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

 

WICKLOW XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Fantastic results from both Sunday’s at the Wicklow XC Championships, despite a very big percentage of our club athletes failing to attend. On day 1 we had barely 20% of our athletes in attendance, but despite this we got 7 individual medals and team medals in the Girls U10, U14 & U16 and Boys U16 & U18

Congratulations to our County Champions Ella Shanley, Richael Browne & Joe Prendergast, Silver medal winners Sarah O’Connor & Troy Scully and bronze winners Abbie Tyrrell & Paul Delahunty and well done to all who ran so well.

 

On day 2 we did a little better, but not much, and again we saw fantastic running from those who did come with County Championships going to Sarah O’Connor, silver medals to Abbie Tyrrell, Louise O’Riordan, Paul Delahunty & Troy Scully & bronze medals to Katy Lawless & Ella Shanley. A few more teams this time, with team medals, for every team we managed to fill, Girls U9, U11, U13, U15 & U17, Boys U17 & our Intermediate Men. Great running from everyone who took part, but disappointing for all the coaches who put so much time and effort in, to see so many athletes not taking part on either day.

 

Full results from both days are now on the sidebar of our website home page. Medals to follow!

 

 

 

COACHING DAY

 

We are holding a special coaching session on next Saturday 22nd Oct. from 10-12 o’clock at Shoreline Track. This is open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006) and will cover Hurdles, Sprints, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin, Discus. Application form is now on the website and will close on this Thursday 20th Oct. Don’t just turn up on the day please, as we will not be able to facilitate you. Each athlete can take part in two events only. Please list 3 events in order of choice and we will do our best to give you your first preferences. Cost for the day is €5. We intend holding a number of these sessions over the coming months, to help prepare for the Indoor season.

 

 

 

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

We are now looking forward to the first of the Leinster Championships, which will take place on a new course this year in New Forest Golf Club, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath. This is the even ages event for athletes from U12-18 (U11’s can move up) and also for Novice & Masters athletes. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will make an effort and turn out to run for Club & County on Saturday 29th Oct. First race is at 12 o’clock, so athletes will need to arrive at 11am for check-in & warm up, as numbers will be big. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is this Friday 21st Oct. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out. There will be open (non championship) races for girls & boys U10, with entries taken on the day, at the event. Start time for this is 11.40am.

 

The uneven ages event for U11-19 (U10’s can move up) and the Intermediate adults will take place on Sun. 13th Nov. Venue has yet to be confirmed for this. To avoid confusion, entry form for this will only go up when the even ages comes down.

 

 

 

LEAGUE ROUND 5 : Friday 17th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will go up after the Leinster events close, to avoid confusion.. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in all 6 events get Gold, in 5 events get silver & in 4 events get bronze medals. A list of standings for the 2016 League will go up on our website shortly.

 

Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 17th, as coaches will be at the XC League. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

 

 

 

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS

 

Arrive on time, as late arrival puts unnecessary stress on everyone, especially the young athletes. Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. Club coaches will generally take charge of the younger groups. Warm up should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walking around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

 

We know how easy it is to get carried away during a race and while love to hear everyone cheering on our athletes, in keeping with the ethos of our club, parents, coaches & supporters should try to ensure that we are always being supportive of all our athletes and not critical of how they are performing. Not every race will go to plan, but they are all out there doing their very best, so lets leave the race analysis to the coaches/athletes at the next training session and just be there for them offering your unwavering support and encouragement! Please note that running beside an athlete during a race is termed pacing and you will most likely get the athlete disqualified if you do this.

 

 

 

 

PLEASE READ AND INFORM/REMIND ATHLETES:

 

We are asking once again that athletes make sure to use the toilets before coming down to training as it causes huge problems if a coach has to leave a group to bring them up, during the session. On this note, we remind athletes that the toilets and changing rooms must be left as we find them and not in a mess. Recently we have had a lot of tissue etc. thrown about and water everywhere, coinciding with athletic club’s use of the facility, and this needs to stop. Shoreline have the right to refuse access to groups who do not respect the track and other facilities. Please remember that the building is not our club house, it is a business premises and athletes are asked not to gather in the reception area or just outside the front door, as this interferes with other customers access. We now have access to the container nearest to the track for check-in on wet evenings, so please go directly there to check-in, if it is raining. You may leave your bags here on wet nights.

 

 

We remind you once again that all athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!

 

 

Athletes who may need an inhaler, should always make sure to bring it with them. You should not share other athletes inhalers, as they may not be the same medication/dosage as yours.

 

 

Athletes who are not fit to train due to injury or illness should not attend training sessions. Athletes who arrive and are not fit to train will be sent home, as it is far too cold to stand around on the track waiting for the session to end.

 

 

NB: Groups 1 & 2 are required to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.

 

 

So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

 

Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

 

 

 

LEINSTER PERFORMANCE SQUAD

 

 

Congratulations to GAC athletes Alana Ryan  Sprints, Alex Campbell TJ, Ara Freeman Sprints, Ben Mooney  Sprints, James Vance  LJ, Josh Pyper  Sprints, Louis Lalor  Hurdles, Niamh Conroy  Sprints, Rachel Casey  Walks, Rachel Whitten  Javelin, Sophie Nicholson  HJ, who were selected for the Leinster performance squad for the 2016/17 season. They had their first session last Sat. in Santry with the second one coming up on Dec. 3rd in Athlone covering all events except endurance, which is organised separately. A developmental squad, open to all athletes aged 12 yrs +, runs on the same day from 11am-1pm. The Dec. 3rd session for this one covers Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump and costs €5.

 

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. 25th Oct. from 4.40-5pm and again from 7-8pm only. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Unfortunately the new batch of smaller singlets are not due to arrive until the 31st Oct., but they can be purchased on the 25th and we will deliver them as soon as they arrive. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have a small number of secondhand spikes for sale at very reasonable prices.

 

 

 

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS

 

We have a large number of athletes registration cards which have still not been collected. These have the athletes Life No. and will not be replaced, so we don’t want to give them to young children in case they get lost. A lot of them were given out at the Awards night, but for those who haven’t received them yet, we will have them at the gate this week, so please ask when you are dropping off your child, if you have not collected them previously. Cards for recently registered athletes will not be available yet.

 

Sun

25

Sep

2016

Newsletter

 

WELCOME BACK

 

Welcome back to all our athletes and coaches and a big welcome to all our new athletes. We hope everyone is well settled in at this stage, enjoying the training and looking forward to the Cross Country (XC) season. Attendance at training has been poor in a couple of groups and we are now removing all athletes who have not returned at this stage, as we have long lists of people waiting for places. We cannot hold places indefinitely!

 

REGISTRATION NIGHT

 

We will be holding a registration night for all of our new athletes on this coming Tues 27h Sept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be taken between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms will be available on the night and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2016 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. Those already registered for 2016, do not need to register again.

 

 

 

COMPETITIONS

 

We had our first competition last Friday with a good number of our athletes taking part in the Cross Country (XC) League. Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to all who helped out on the night.

 

 

 

VERY IMPORTANT

 

The County XC Championships are coming up fast and will take place on next Sun 2nd Oct in Ashford & the following Sun 9th Oct. in Roundwood. We need as many athletes as possible to take part in these events, so please try to come along. We would really love to have full teams in every age group! (See FB/GAC Website for maps)

 

The entry forms are now on the website and entries need to be in asap. Entries for the Even Ages (U6/8/10/12/14/16/18/Novice) on Oct. 2nd will close on Thurs. 29th Sept. and for the Uneven Ages (U7/9/11/13/15/17/ Intermediate) on Oct. 9th will close on Thurs. 6th Oct.

 

Certs for all athletes who complete the course from U7-U10’s. U11’s upwards are Championship events, with medals for the 1st three finishers and the 1st three teams. Events are open to all registered athletes and all athletes may move up one age group (U7 can run U8 etc.) allowing everyone to compete both weeks.

 

Tue

30

Aug

2016

Club News & Information

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We hope you have all enjoyed a good rest at this stage and are all now eagerly preparing to return to training. We sincerely hope that you have all followed our request to start back running, are now doing a reasonable run every second day and will be more than ready to start training when we return.

 

 

We hope you have all enjoyed a good rest at this stage and are all now eagerly preparing to return to training. We sincerely hope that you have all followed our request to start back running, are now doing a reasonable run every second day and will be more than ready to start training when we return. If you have not started yet, you can still make a difference by starting now. Run 15-20 mins (younger groups 10-15m) every second day and you will reap the benefits. The first Cross Country event will be held in Greystones in late Sept.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 6th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 9th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 13th Sept. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified. Those who did not respond to the invite will now stay in their original group, as all available places have now been allocated.

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts before taking their break. Those who still owe for weekly subs/entries are reminded that these debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in. If this continues to be an issue, we may have to refuse entry to those who arrive without their €2 and we would rather not have to do this.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered for, are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short of coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues. to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. You will have help and we will ensure you get some basic training. We won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with our younger groups!

 

We also need helpers to look after the check-in on all three nights. This generally only takes about 20 mins, but is a huge help to the coaches, as it allows training to begin on time.

 

FIT4YOUTH

 

We plan to revive our Fit4Youth group this Sept. and have places available in this group. This group is for age 12 yrs upwards and is aimed at those who want to run for fitness rather than take part in competitive athletics. Athletes will warm up on the track with the rest of the groups and will then be taken on a run by a qualified coach. Group members can also join in with the Core/Circuits session on Wed. evenings.

 

 

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Over the next few weeks we plan to re-vamp our adult programmes as we are keen to build the adult section of our club for both serious and recreational runners. For the moment our Beginner2Winner group continues with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we hope to see lots of new faces coming along.

 

Our regular established Fit4Life sessions continue on Mon/Wed at 8.30pm & Wed/Fri at 10am and our road run takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm with Caoimhin MacMaolain. This group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones. All level & abilities will be catered for at our sessions. All club members young & old are welcome to the Sunday morning run, but U12’s must be accompanied by an adult. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 

Tue

09

Aug

2016

Club News & Info

 

TRAINING

 

Most athletes & coaches are now on a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from many of our athletes. Enjoy the rest, but do spare a thought for the girls still training and wish them well as they continue their preparation to compete in the European Clubs Cup in Portugal in September, where they took the bronze last year!

 

 

TRAINING

 

Most athletes & coaches are now on a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from many of our athletes. Enjoy the rest, but do spare a thought for the girls still training and wish them well as they continue their preparation to compete in the European Clubs Cup in Portugal in September, where they took the bronze last year! Training throughout the summer for this event, will be by arrangement with the coaches involved.

 

For all our other athletes we recommend a full two weeks 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 5 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 Cross Country event will be less than two weeks after we return in Sept.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 will resume on Tues. 6th Sept, with groups 3-6 returning on Fri. 9th Sept. Little Athletics will return on Tues. 13th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.

 

 

 

Groups for Sept.'16 will be organised very soon to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Parents of athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if their children intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 

 

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts over the past few weeks. Those who still owe for weekly subs/entries are reminded that these debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in. If this continues to be an issue, we may have to refuse entry to those who arrive without their €2 and we would rather not have to do this.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered for, are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 


 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the National Championships recently and who represented the club so well, though it was disappointing that so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Huge congratulations to the medal winners and to all who earned PB's.

 

U14: Ellen McNally took bronze in the Long Jump with a huge PB.

 

U16: Alex Campbell took Silver in the Triple Jump.

 

U18: Richael Browne took Silver in the 1500m with a 4 sec. PB and 4th place in the 800m.

 

U19: Ara Freeman Gold in 100m & Bronze in 200m.

 

Great performances from Joe Prendergast U14, Aodhan Daly & Ronan Dempsey U15, Sarah O'Connor, Ben Mooney, Josh Pyper & Ben Jones U16, Troy Scully, Rachel Casey, Alana Ryan & Niamh Conroy U17, Alannah O'Carroll U18

 

Relays: Bronze for the U17 boys Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney and 4th place for the U14 team Darragh Rush, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast & Michael O'Shea.

 

Great performances also from everyone who took part in the National B Championships, with Emma Quirk U14 the star of the day winning the Long Jump and breaking the Championship Best 3 times while doing it. She also finished 5th in the 80m In the 800m, a great win from Katie Lawless U16 leading all the way from the gun and a great run from Erin Howard to win silver U14, with Enya Conroy finishing 7th. Silver also for John O'Connor in the U16 High Jump. A super run and a huge PB from Danny Jones U14 who was just shaded for the bronze medal in a terrific finish, a 6th place finish for Paul Delahunty U13 600m and 4th place for Lucy daly U12 in the 60m.

 

A small turn out for the Inter Counties event in Leixlip, but a fantastic day's competition and a real team spirit with several athletes competing in multiple events during the day, finishing with some very exciting relays. Well done to all!

 


 

A long trip to Cork for R2 of the National League and another great performance from our Slí Cualann teams. Once again many of them went above and beyond the call of duty, giving everything they had and more to get every possible point available. A huge Thank You to PJ Scully who gave up his day off to drive the bus for us........ and a long day it was, but so worthwhile, with the girls team finishing 2nd overall and qualifying for the Final.

 

Unfortunately we had a depleted team for the final last Sunday, as several athletes were not available. Despite this the girls put in a tremendous effort as always and finished in 5th place overall. Well done to all the girls who competed so well throughout the entire League!

 


 

Tue

05

Jul

2016

Club Newsletter

 

TRAINING

 

Training for our younger groups ie 5-6pm & 6-7pm sessions, has now finished for the summer. We hope all our young athletes enjoyed the final night's games & the goodies afterwards & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge 'Thank You' to our coaches and an appeal for more help in Sept. please. Have a great summer everyone.

 

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes are still competing up to the first weekend in August. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. However our Junior Girls, who are off to compete in Europe in Sept., will continue to train throughout the summer, by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 


OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A number of athletes regularly forget to bring their weekly €2 track fee and some owe for several weeks, built up over a period of time. Our check-in crew regularly remind athletes of outstanding fees owed, often to no avail, and so we are now asking that all money owed to the club should be paid off before we take our summer break. We can then start back in Sept. with a clean slate. We know it is easy to forget, but it is unfair that some athletes run up debts while others always pay their fees. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 


UPCOMING EVENTS (Still lots happening)

 

  1. National B Championships Sat 9th July in Tullamore

  2. National Relays Sat 9th July in Tullamore

  3. Day 1 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 10th July

  4. 4 Counties Event in Leixlip on Sat 16th July ( U14 – U17) This is an Inter-County event and athletes interested in being selected for the teams should fill in the form on our website. Closing Fri 8th July. The programme of events is on the sidebar of our website.

  5. Round 2 National League in Cork on Sun. 17th July

  6. Day 2 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sat. 23rd July

  7. Day 3 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 24th July

  8. Celtic Games Sat. 6th Aug in Wales

  9. National League Final in Tullamore on Sun. 7th Aug.

  10. National Masters Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 21st Aug.

 


CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the Leinster Championships this year. We had some great performances and some top results once again.

 

 

 

 

U13: Jack McGlone Gold in the LJ & Bronze in the sprint.

 

U14: Joe Prendergast Gold in the LJ & 5th in the 1500m, Michael O'Shea 4th in the 80m, Ellen McNally Bronze in the LJ & 6th in the 75mH, Emma Quirk 5th in the LJ & 5th in the 75mH, Enya Conroy 6th in the 75mH, James Nicholson 6th in the 800m

 

 

U15: Ronan Dempsey Bronze in the 80mH & 250mH, Aodhan Daly Bronze in the 200m & the 100m & 4th in the LJ, Isobel Radford Dodd 5th in the 1500m

 

 

U16: Ben Jones Gold in the 800m & Silver in the 1500m, Sarah O'Connor Silver in the 1500m & 5th in the 800m, Josh Pyper Gold in the 100m, Ben Mooney Bronze in the 200m, Alex Campbell Gold in the TJ, Katie Lawless 5th in the 250mH & 80mH.

 

 

U17: Niamh Conroy Silver in the 400m & 5th in the 200m, Rachel Casey Bronze in the 3K Walk

 

U18: Richael Browne Gold in the 800m, the 1500m & the HJ, Alannah O'Carroll 4th in the 400m & 5th in the 200m.

 

 

The Bray Invitational Event saw another great night of athletics in Greystones. Disappointing that a number of selected athletes didn't bother to show up, especially as places were so limited and they were denying others a chance to compete. Those who did show up put on another great performance and GAC once again won the Bourke Cup for top club & the Medley Relay Shield.

 

The Invitational Mile saw Richael Browne take the honours in the women's event, with Carol Costello 2nd and Cillian Browne take 3rd in the men's event. Well done to all!

 

Great results again at the National Juniors/U23's on Sat 2nd July.

 

 

U23: Claire Foley Gold in the 100m & Bronze in the 200m, Aoife Conroy Bronze in the 400mH.

 

 

Junior: Gold for our relay team Alannah O'Carroll, Alana Ryan, Katy Conroy, Richael Browne.

 

The National Combined Events on Sun 3rd saw Ellen McNally & Emma Quirk produce several PB's throughout the day leaving them in 4th & 5th position going in to the final 800m where they finished a creditable 8th & 10th.

 

 

Great performance also from our Slí Cualann teams in R1 of the National League, with the

girls team lying 3rd overall going into R2 on July 17th and looking good for a place in the final. A depleted Men's team struggled a bit for points, but with a bigger team going to Cork, we hope for a better showing in R2.

 

 

Congratulations to all the medal winners and qualifiers for the All Irelands!

 

 

Best of Luck to all those who are competing in the many events listed over the next couple of weeks!

 

 

 

Mon

30

May

2016

Newsletter

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our athletes who competed in the County Championships this year. Most of the results are now posted on our website and I will post the rest as soon as I receive them. Well done also to all who competed in the Leinster Relays & Juniors Championships.

 

 

 Some great running here and good results. In the relays we took Gold in the U16 Boys & the U14 Boys, with our 2nd team taking 4thplace. We took silver in the U13 Boys and had 4th place finishes in the U11 & U15 Boys. In the Junior competition Congratulations go to Rachel Casey, who took Gold in the 3K walk, her first race at this distance, to become Leinster Junior Champion, Richael browne who took silver in the 800m, Troy Scully who took silver in the 3K, Noah Daly who took bronze in the Long Jump and the girls 4x100m team, Alana Ryan, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy, Alannah O'Carroll, who took bronze in the relay. Great results also from the Combined Events where Aoife Conroy took Silver in the Senior with Isobel O'grady taking the bronze. Great performances in their first Combined Events from Ellen McNally 6th, Emma Quirk 8th, Enya Conroy 11th, Erin Howard 14th, in the Girls U14's. Lots more to come from these girls!. In the Leinster Schools, congrats go to Ben Jones 1st & Sarah O'Connor 2nd in the 1500m events, Josh Pyper 2nd in the 100m & Alex Campbell 2nd in TJ at Junior level & James Vance 1st in the LJ at Intermediate level. We wish them well in the National Finals on Sat. Very well done to Richael Brown on her bronze medal in the 800m at the AAI Games!

 

Best of Luck to all those who are competing in the Schools on Sat. 4th, Leinster Sen/Mast on Sun. 5th & the Team Competition on Mon. 6th June.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Training during club training times, is carried out by coaches on a voluntary basis. Occasionally the club will organise specialist training sessions. Otherwise private training sessions outside of these times are not carried out under the remit of the club.

 

While the club encourages involvement in other sports and activities, athletes, parents and coaches are reminded to take a holistic view of all activities while planning training sessions, with the aim of injury prevention. Please communicate with the coaches to best coordinate appropriate levels of training to avoid injury or stress on the athletes.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Leinster U23's, Senior & Masters in Tullamore on Sunday 5th June. Entries close Mon. 30th.

  2. Leinster Team Competition in Tullamore on Monday 6th June for U9/10/11/12/13/15. Closed.

  3. Round 1 National League on Sun 12th June. U17 up. Contact Theresa if interested in selection.

  4. Leinster U9,10,11 Pairs & U12 & U13 Championships in Tullamore on Sat 11th June. Entries close on Tues. 31st May.

  5. Leinster U14-19 Championships in Tullamore on Sat/Sun 18/19th June. Entries close June 6th.

  6. Bray Invitational on Tues 21st June in Greystones. Limited numbers allowed. Priority given to those who compete regularly, then first come first served.

 

 

 

FURTHER REMINDER RE WEBTEXT

 

Once again a reminder that the webtext is mainly used to send out notifications/ reminders of events. If you have a question that requires a quick response, you should text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number leads to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if message is not urgent.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. June 7th from 4.45-5pm & 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt

 

Tue

03

May

2016

Club News & Information

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our athletes who competed in the 1st night of the County Championships, the East Leinster schools and the Primary schools relays recently. Fantastic results for our athletes at all of these events. Full results will be published later.

 

 Well done to our club athletes, Richael Browne & Carol Costello who put in fantastic performances on the Slí Cualann medal winning teams at the National Road relays. Well done also to all the adults who competed so well at the County road race in Ashford & the Leinster road race in Gowran. Special Congrats to Troy Scully who won the Junior event in Ashford.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Wicklow County Championships remaining events are on this weekend on Fri 6th May & Sunday 8th May. Programme is on the GAC website and entry forms also. Entries will close on Wed. 4th May to allow time to process them and sort relay teams. There are events for all ages and we hope that all of our athletes will make a big effort to take part in these championships. Coaches and helpers needed also, as we are required to officiate at all 3 days and also need sufficient cover to look after our athletes. Please note that athletes may not compete in events on the day, if they haven't pre-entered these events.

    For our younger athletes taking part in the Award Scheme, all athletes do a run, a jump & a throw and are scored on these. Scores are tallied and all receive a medal according to these results. This is a very enjoyable & rewarding event for these young athletes and we look forward to seeing a large attendance from GAC!

  2. The Leinster Relays will be held in Greystones on Saturday 21st May and entries close on Mon 9th May. If you are interested in being considered for a team, please get your entry in asap. Absolutely no late entries will be accepted by Leinster!

  3. The Leinster Juniors also take place on Sat. 21st May in Greystones. These are open to all athletes born 1997-2000. A full programme except for PV & SC which will be held on Sun. 5th June in Tullamore. Entries close on Mon 9th May. Absolutely no late entries will be accepted by Leinster!

  4. The Leinster Combined events for U14 up, are being held in Enniscorthy on Sunday 22nd May. Entries also close on Mon 9th May.

 

WEBTEXT

 

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

THANK YOU!

 

A huge Thank You to everyone who helped out with the very successful bagpack in Tesco on Fri 21st/Sat 22nd Apr and many thanks to all who donated so generously. The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club. Special thanks go to Christina & Dermot Browne who secured the slot for us and did all the organising leading up to and during the event.

 

AWARDS NIGHT

 

We had a very successful Club Awards night on Thurs. 21st Apr. where many athletes received certificates & Awards for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement. There were awards for longevity in the club, team awards, Special achievement awards, International Selection awards & our Athlete of the Year. A very enjoyable night was had by all who attended.

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to this list.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. May.10th from 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with all of our present groups!

 

We are also looking for some extra coaches for the 7-8.30pm sessions on Tues/Fri if anyone is available to help out.

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Our Beginner2Winner group continues on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we 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 to take part.

 

Our club road run has been going for several weeks now. It takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm and we say a big Thank You to Caoimhin MacMaolain who is looking after this for us. The group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones and all level & abilities are catered for. We hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join this group and help grow the adult section of our club. This one is for club members only, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 

 

 

 

 

Thu

28

Apr

2016

Good Luck!

Best of Luck to all of our athletes taking part in the County Championships tomorrow Fri 29th Apr. Check-in at the track at 6pm, first race at 6.30pm. Full programme is on the sidebar on our website. Entries are closed for this Fri, but entry forms for Fri 6th & Sun 8th May are still open on our website! Please come out and compete for your club at these championships!

Sat

02

Apr

2016

Club News & information!

 

Please take the time to read this, as it contains crucial information!

 


CLUB FUNDRAISER

 

We would ike to remind everyone that we will have a fundraising bagpack in Tesco, Greystones on Fri 22nd Apr. & Sat 23rd Apr. 2016. We will be packing from 11am - 7 pm Fri & from 10 am – 6pm on Sat.

 

 

A great deal of help will be needed for this fund-raising event, so all athletes from age 16 upwards & all parents are asked to try to come along and cover a shift or two. We will break the days up into 2 hr shifts and if we get a good response, then nobody will have to put in too much time. Please contact Christina on 0871459959 and let her know what time/times you will be available to help out, so that she can put together a plan to ensure we have sufficient cover throughout both days. The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club, so please help out if at all possible. It's not fair to always leave the effort to the same small group of people, who already do so much for our club!

 

 

 

AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2015 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club on Thurs. 21st Apr. at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, team awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIP

 

We are presently working on arranging our annual club day trip for athletes with 60% plus attendance in 2015. Attendances have been added up and the list of those eligible to attend should be available at the Awards night, along with details of the trip. These will also be posted on our website, once finalised.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to this list.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Round 3 of the Track League takes place on Thurs 7th April at the track in Greystones. Entry form is now on our website and entries close on Wed 6th. Events are open to all athletes up to U14. Check-in from 6pm, first race at 6.45pm sharp.

  2. Wicklow Sec. Schools T&F is being held on Tues. 5th Apr. in Greystones

  3. Wicklow Primary Schools XC Relays is being held on Tues 12th Apr. in Avondale

  4. Wicklow County Championships will be held this year on Fri 29th Apr., Fri 6th May & Sunday 8th May. Programme will be posted on the GAC website as soon as it is available. There will be events for all ages and we hope that all of our athletes will make a big effort to take part in these championships.

  5. Wicklow County Road Race is being held in Ashford on Wed. 20th Apr. @ 7.15pm. Entries to Theresa by lunchtime Monday 18th. Open to athletes age 16 and upwards.

  6. The annual GAC/IMC T&F event will take place in Greystones on Saturday afternoon 30th Apr. This has quickly become a very successful event at which National records have been set & qualifying times achieved for International competitions. It is well worth coming along to view & is a great opportunity to see some of our club Junior & Senior athletes compete with the best in the country.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. 4th Apr. from 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. If you didn't manage to get one of our club calendars, they are still available and now at a reduced price. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet!

 

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with all of our present groups!

 

We are also looking for some extra coaches for the 7-8.30pm sessions on Tues/Fri if anyone is available to help out.

 

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Our Beginner2Winner group starts a new 6 week programme this week, with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we 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 to take part.

 

We're delighted to announce that our road run is back for the past few weeks. It now takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm and we say a big Thank You to Caoimhin MacMaolain who is looking after this for us. The group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones and all level & abilities will be catered for. We hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join this group and help grow the adult section of our club. This one is for club members only, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 


 

Mon

14

Mar

2016

NATIONAL JUVENILE INDOORS 2016

 

 

Thrills & spills for GAC athletes at the first two days of the National Indoors, where we had top class performances and some great results. On Saturday, Richael Browne took on the U18 1500m right from the gun and stormed to victory with a huge PB of 4.45!

 

 

Thrills & spills for GAC athletes at the first two days of the National Indoors, where we had top class performances and some great results. On Saturday, Richael Browne took on the U18 1500m right from the gun and stormed to victory with a huge PB of 4.45! Despite waking with a cold on Sunday she took on the 800m, running a beautifully controlled race to again win her heat. However as the day & the cold progressed, sense had to prevail & sadly she had to withdraw from the final. Huge disappointment for Ara Freeman on Saturday as a break saw her DQ'd from her favoured 60m, but what a comeback on Sunday when she ran a new PB of 24.82 to take silver in the 200m. A terrific bronze for Louis Lalor in the U17 60m hurdles on Sunday also. Another good weekend for Troy Scully who ran a big PB of 4.32 to qualify for the U17 1500m on Saturday, followed by a gutsy run in the final to finish 12th overall. A big PB also for Rachel Casey in the U17 1500m walk where she finished 7th in 8.48. Disappointment for Sarah O'Connor, who was tripped up & crashed to the ground in the first lap of the U16 1500m, but she showed great guts & determination and soon got herself back into contention. However the fall, the battered knees & the fight back took it's toll and Sarah finished in 11th place. Alana Ryan mainly used her indoor season this year to try out the 400m, but still qualified for both the 60m & 200m finals this weekend finishing in 5th place. An early stumble saw Josh Pyper have to fight hard for his place in the 60m final where he later finish in 5th place. Jack McGlone U13, finished 6th in his 60m heat in his first ever National event.  In the field events, Aodhan Daly finished 4th in the Long Jump & 13th in the High Jump U15, Sophie Nicholson finished 8th in the U16 Long Jump & James Nicholson 8th in the U14 Long Jump, with Noah Daly 13th in the U17 Long Jump. Well done to all & best of luck to our relay teams next Saturday and to our Masters on Sunday!

 

 

 

 

 

Sun

13

Mar

2016

LEINSTER RESULTS 2016

 

LEINSTER INDOOR RESULTS 2016

 

Well done to each and every athlete who competed in the Leinster Juvenile Indoors and Best of Luck to those taking part in the National Juvenile & Masters events over the next two weekends. We had many, many qualifiers for semi-finals and finals and we are so proud of you all. Our Medal winners are listed below. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.

 

 

U13: Jack McGlone Bronze in 60m.

 

U14: James Nicholson Silver in Long Jump

 

U15: Aodhán Daly, Silver in Long Jump & Bronze in High Jump.

 

U16: Josh Pyper, Gold in 60m

 

Ben Mooney, Bronze in 200m

 

Sarah O’Connor, Bronze in 1500m

 

Sophie Nicholson, Bronze in Long Jump

 

U17: Alana Ryan, Gold in 200m & Silver in 60m

 

Louis Lalor, Bronze in 60m Hurdles

 

Noah Daly, 200m???

 

U18: Richael Browne, Gold in 800m (Championship Best Performance) Gold in 1500m & Bronze in H J

 

U19: Ara Freeman, Gold in 60m (Championship Best Performance) & Gold in 200m

 

Relays

 

Boys U14 Gold: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Paul Delahunty, Michael O'Shea

 

Boys U17 Gold: Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Ben Mooney

 

 

 

Junior Girls: Ara Freeman Gold in 60m & Bronze in 200m

 

Susie McParland Silver in 3K

 

Katy Conroy Bronze in 800m

 

Relay Silver: Alannah O'Carroll, Niamh Conroy, Katy Conroy, Ara Freeman.

 

Junior Boys: Troy Scully Bronze in 3K

 

Senior Women: Isobel O'Grady Bronze in 400m & Long Jump

 

Masters Women: Carol Costello Bronze in 800m

 

Masters Men: Conor O'Reilly Gold in Shot Putt

 

Thu

03

Mar

2016

CLUB FUNDRAISER

 

Greystones Athletic Club

 


 

Greystones AC have a fundraising bagpack in Tesco, Greystones on Fri 22nd Apr. & Sat 23rd Apr. 2016. We will be packing from 11am - 7 pm Fri & from 10 am – 6pm on Sat.

 

A great deal of help will be needed for this fund-raising event, so all athletes from age 16 upwards & all parents are asked to try to come along and cover a shift or two. We will break the days up into 2 hr shifts and if we get a good response, then nobody will have to put in too much time.

 

Please contact Christina on 0871459959 and let her know what time/times you will be available to help out, so that she can put together a plan to ensure we have sufficient cover throughout both days.

 

The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club, so please help out if at all possible. It's not fair to always leave the effort to the same small group of people, who already do so much for our club!

 

 

 

Thu

18

Feb

2016

Worth Reading!

 

Sonia O’Sullivan: Enjoyment is an important part of winning

Nurturing a competitive instinct in children is healthy – just don’t apply pressure

Photograph: Inpho

Photograph: Inpho

 

 

Athletics is going through a rough period, and I’ve spoken before about losing some of my emotional attachment to the sport. But I still believe athletics is where competition is at its most basic and stinctive, partiularly at a grassroots level! 

These days I often find myself on the sidelines watching young athletes race, and there is no better place to see competition in its most natural state: it doesn’t take much to realise who is the best, the fastest, the most competitive.

 

 

 

There aren’t a lot of tactics employed, as they almost all rely on natural competitive instinct. Young athletes are always fighting for the lead, whether it’s a 400m or a 1,500m race, simply because they believe to be in with a chance of winning you need to be as close to the lead as possible at all times.

 

Last Friday night I found myself inside the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, a nice blue track alongside the Albert Park lake. It was a full weekend of athletics, the Victorian Junior Championships. As a parent, I was required to volunteer some time to my club, Glenhuntly AC, to help out with the running of the programme. I figured if I took the first two hours on Friday evening I would be free to relax and enjoy the races for the rest of the weekend.

 

Simple instructions

 

I was given the job of tape puller in the shot put circle, not something that I am too familiar with, although with a few simple instructions and corrections in the first few attempts I had it down to a tee.

 

That was until the 1,500m races started, when I had to multitask, keeping my eye on the races while continuing the shot put measuring. Now I may be slightly biased, but to me the middle-distance races are the most exciting, entertaining and competitive events on the programme.

 

I am involved a little with coaching in Australia, although not my daughter Sophie, who was running in the under-16 1,500m. No wonder I was distracted.

 

 

Second Captains

 

I see a lot of myself in the way Sophie races. Not the times she runs, but just her instincts, her ability to race. She is always jostling for a lead position, similar to when I used to compete in junior races around Cork and Munster.

 

The best thing about these races is the aftermath: all the girls are the best of friends, rolling around on the grass laughing, not a care in the world – when only minutes before they were battling on the track. Sophie finished second, in her best time, and she was happy. I sensed, without any discussion, that she was already looking ahead to the next race.

 

At this level, it’s not the time that matters: the competition is so fierce that the times just come with the pure racing. Watching these races, I always have an eye on the clock because I understand if you go too fast at the start there is a good chance you will slow down and the winner is rarely predictable.

 

It’s also easy to pick out the athletes who are training and more physically prepared. However, it is those who have trained less, but possess a more competitive instinct, who are more fascinating to watch.

 

Sometimes these athletes do things that shouldn’t be possible, based on their preparation, but being involved in the competition allows them to regularly finish in the top three, or run faster times. This is partly due to natural talent and an ability to rise to the occasion, a fearless and instinctive ability to react to any challenge.

 

The longer you can contain this natural competitiveness in children, without pressure or expectation, the more likely that they will continue to be competitive throughout their adult life.

 

The enjoyment of sport and the ability to be competitive must balance out. As soon as the competitiveness becomes more important than the enjoyment, then the level of competitiveness will drop. A bit like hitting a golf ball; the harder you try, the worse your shot. You need to be at one with what you are doing, and to produce a balanced effort, in order to achieve more. 

 

There is a competitive instinct in all of us. Some people may not even know it, as they think to be competitive means you must be involved in a sporting activity. But this competitive instinct is the driving force that allows each person to fulfil their potential. It comes out in the variety of activities, from schoolwork to office work, to simply cooking the dinner each day.

 

It’s not always obvious, but if you find yourself being very particular about how you do something, take the time to perfect it, then you’re clearly competitive in some sense, and it’s only the beginning of the natural competitive instinct that drives us every day of the week.

 

You also need to be able to relax and enjoy what you do, to be able to get the best results. If we can instil this ability in our children, they are more likely to have a competitive and enjoyable life in sport.

 

Stay on the sidelines

 

The difference now to when I was young is the greater involvement of parents in their child’s sporting lives. I believe parents should be there for transport and support and other peripheral matters, but outside of that should stay on the sidelines and simply enjoy the competition.

 

Let the children be the driving force. Let them find a way to be competitive and get the best from themselves. The place for this to begin is on the school field, and then let it reinvent itself in some other area of life later on.

Mon

15

Feb

2016

Notice from County Secretary

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF TIME!
Round 2 of the Juvenile League will take place on Friday 26th Feb. at Shoreline Track.
Entry form now open closing Thurs 25th. No late entries accepted.
6.00pm Registration
6.30 pm First Race
Distances :
U/7 100M
U/9 300M
U/11 500M
U/!3 600m
U/15 800m
Please do arrive on time as races must start promptly.
No 6-7pm training Fri. due to this event. 7-8.30pm training sessions go ahead as normal.

Sat

13

Feb

2016

NOTICE OF AGM

 A.G.M.

 A reminder that the club AGM will be held on this coming Thurs. 18th Feb. at 8pm. 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.

 

Nominations & Motions for the AGM should be sent to the club Sec. by Tuesday next 16th Feb. @ theresa.kinane@gmail.com or 0868635797

 

 

The Outgoing committee are as follows:

 

Chairperson: Aidan Hartnett

 

Vice Chair: Helen Dempsey

 

Secretary: Theresa Kinane

 

Treasurer: Fiona Gordon

 

Competition Sec: Theresa Kinane

 

PRO: Theresa Kinane

 

Registrar: Fiona Ryan

 

Welfare Officer: Fiona Ryan, Aidan Hartnett, Deirdre Kearney

 

Shop: Deirdre Kearney, Fiona Ryan

 

Fundraising Committee: Helen Dempsey, Christina Browne, Fiona Ryan, Sinead Daly

 

Social Committee: Fiona Ryan, Aidan Hartnett

 

As you can see a number of people are doing several jobs, so extra volunteers are definitely needed and would be most welcome, we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night. Nominations are welcome for any and all positions on the committee.

 

Mon

01

Feb

2016

Newsletter

 

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 


 

Registrations are finally completed and hopefully those athletes who have moved up are now settling in to their new groups. We welcome any new members and hope that they too are settling in to their groups.

 

 

 

 

The Indoor season is now well and truly under way. Our Junior & Senior athletes have already competed in several competitions during Jan. with great success and we congratulate them on their results so far. We have a very busy time ahead during Feb. & March. with competition most weekends. Please note that closing dates for entries will be strictly adhered to and late entries cannot be accepted for any events!

 


 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. The National League Final is on Sat. 6th Feb. In Athlone and our ladies team have qualified for this.

  2. The AAI Games are on Sun. 7th Feb. in Athlone and we have a small no. of athletes competing in this event also.

  3. The Leinster Juvenile Indoors (U12 up) are being held on Sat/Sun 13th/14th Feb. & Sat 5th March. Entry Form for Feb. is currently on our website and entries close on Tues 2nd Feb. The full programme is on the sidebar on our website and athletes can choose a max of 3 individual events across the 3 days. No late entries can be accepted!

  4. The Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters is on Sun. 6th March in Athlone. A Junior athlete is U17-U20. Closing date for entries is 23rd Feb. No late entries!

  5. The National Seniors are on Sat/Sun 27th/28th Feb. in Athlone. Open to U17 up. Closing date for entries 18th Feb. No late entries!

  6. Greystones AC host the next round of the Fit4Life series on Thurs. 11th Feb. It is a 2 mile out & back race and is open to everyone from age 13 up. Great event for those who are not competing at the Leinsters. We will need some help with stewarding etc. on the night. Check-in 7pm at the track. Entry on the night. Lots of Spotprizes.

    Please note that entries for the relay squad are now closed, as per webtext!

 

 

 

AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 18th Feb. at 8pm. 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.

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open this coming Tues. From 6.30-7.30pm only for singlets, shorts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We still have Club Calendars & Club Pens available also. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet!

 

 

 

 

 


 

Wed

30

Dec

2015

Newsletter

Training will resume on Tues 5th Jan. for all groups. Coaches gave out programmes or arranged sessions with groups for the holiday period, but many athletes were missing in the weeks beforehand. All competitive athletes who missed this should try to keep running and keep fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. The National 'B' XC Championships are being held in ALSAA (beside the Airport) on Sat. 9th Jan at 11.30am. These races are open to all athletes who did not medal at the National XC. (correction to previous note, which said qualifiers couldn't run) Races for U11/13/15/17 age groups (2015 ages and athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A' XC Championships. Form is now on the website and entries need to be in asap if you would like an opportunity to represent your Club & your County at this event! Very poor entry so far, but hoping for a big improvement over the next few days.

  2. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am. Entries to Theresa.

  3. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 16th Jan. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website asap. Events for R1 are 60m, 60mH, 800m, LJ, SP, PV

  4. Leinster Senior XC, an Open Junior XC and XC Relays for U12/14/16 will be held in Kilmacow on Sun. 17th Jan. Form will go up on the website shortly for this one.

 

 CLUB CALENDAR

  If you didn't manage to get a copy of our beautiful Club Calendar before Xmas, you'll be delighted to hear that they are still available. You can buy one when we return to training next week, or pick one up at Shoreline Sports Park! Remember this is a fundraiser and all money raised will go to help support our club and help our fees remain low!

 So far the calendar has not been very well supported. You will appreciate that equipment needs to be maintained and replaced throughout the year. The calendar will become, with your help, a source of regular annual income for this purpose. The calendar contains all competition dates for 2016 known at the time of publishing. Please feed photographs into the club following each event or occasion during the season so that this initiative will be more successful. Support your athletes please. 

 

 AWARD WINNERS

 Once again Greystones AC athletes are the recipients of both County & Provincial awards, with club athletes winning 3 of the 4 Juvenile award, both the Junior awards in Wicklow and both Juvenile awards in Leinster for 2015.

 Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Josh Pyper for the U14-16 section, Louis Lalor for the U16-19 section & Ara Freeman & Conor Dempsey for the Junior section in Wicklow. These will be presented in Ashford on Fri. 22nd Jan. along with awards for International selections and other achievements during the year. Slí Cualann Fit4Life & other club awards will also be presented that night and club members are welcome to come along and support our many winners!

Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Conor Dempsey for the Leinster Juvenile awards, which will be presented on Sat 9th Jan. at The Seven Oaks in Carlow. GAC would like to congratulate Tim Grummell on winning the Senior award at Leinster.

 

 REGISTRATIONS FOR 2016…………..VERY IMPORTANT!

 All club athletes now need to renew their registration/insurance for 2016. Registrations will take place at training times for one week only and athletes who have not registered cannot be admitted to the track on the following week, as they will not be covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area on Tues.12th Jan. Wed 13th Jan & Fri 15rd Jan. during training times only. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. If you have changed address or phone number, or wish to change the mob. we use for webtext messages, please fill out a new club form when registering. These forms will be available at registration, or can be downloaded from our website. Up to U19’s need to fill the Juvenile form and Parents/Guardians must sign the form at the back, but please do not sign your child’s name. If your child is too young to sign, just leave that line blank. Athletes born 1997 and before should use the adult form. There is no need to fill another form if details haven’t changed. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. The club covers all entry fees for juvenile athletes, but covers team entries only for adults.

 

Overdue weekly subs. need to be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2016 with a clean slate please. Some athletes owe several weeks fees which need to be paid off right away, as it is unfair that some athletes run up debts when most pay weekly.

 

Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at any time as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. If you cannot make registration week, fees may be put in an envelope with the child's name on it and handed in at check-in during the previous week.

 
HELP STILL NEEDED

 You should be aware by now, following frequent appeals, that the club needs more commitment from parents to participate as leaders or coaches. We have significant gaps in the 6-7 pm session on Tuesday. We are obliged to maintain safe ratios between coaches and athletes. Without your commitment athlete numbers cannot be sustained. Please contact Theresa 0868635797 if you can help!

 

 TRAINING & WEATHER

 We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

 

We hope all our members had a great Christmas, enjoyed the rest, kept up the running and are now ready to get back to training for the New Season!

 

 

 

Sat

19

Dec

2015

Xmas Newsletter

 

XMAS CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CLUB CALENDAR

 Our beautiful Club Calendar is still available, so if you are in need of a lovely gift for someone this Xmas, just want a souvenir of another great year for GAC or a reminder of what a great club you are all part of, you can contact Helen Dempsey, Fiona Ryan, Christina Browne or Theresa Kinane or pick one up at Shoreline Sports Park! Remember this is a fundraiser and all money raised will go to help our club and help keep our fees low! Club pens also available!

 CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National XC and represented us so well. Congratulations to Richael Browne on her Silver medal with the County team and to our U15 girls team Sarah O'Connor, Abbie Tyrrell, Sophie Nicholson, Megan O'Brien on their 5th place finish. Great finish places from Ben Jones & Joe Prendergast, and great running also from Troy Scully, Eimear Ryan & Enya Conroy.

 

Well done also to all the athletes who took part in the Inter-County (Kildare, Laois, Meath, Wicklow) Indoor Competition in Athlone. Wicklow were well short of having a full team, with mostly GAC athletes and a few from Kilcoole & Roundwood. We didn't let that worry us though and had some top class performances throughout the day. Well done to all and hopefully County Wicklow will fill the team for the Outdoor event in the summer.

 

Well done also to all who competed in R3 of the XC League. Great running from everyone and some terrific wins once again!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. The National 'B' XC Championships are being held in ALSAA (beside the Airport) on Sat. 9th Jan at 11.30am. These are open to all athletes who did not qualify for the National XC. U11/13/15/17 age groups (athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A's. Form is now on the website and entries close on Jan 2nd. There are individual, club & County team events.

  2. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am.

  3. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 16th Jan. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website.

 

XMAS TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS

 Attendance at training during the month of December has generally been poor and, as we had only 5 athletes at Little Athletics 5-6pm last Tues and had very small numbers at the 6-7pm training on both Tues & Fri., we have decided to finish up with all of these groups until Tues 5th Jan. It seems unfair to bring up to ten coaches out at this busy time of year, when so many athletes are not attending. The 7-8.30pm session will go ahead as usual this coming Tues. and this will be the last session before Xmas. Training will officially resume on Tues 5th Jan, but some coaches may make their own arrangements with groups over the holiday period. Do keep running and keep your fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 

 We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

 “Stronger! Higher! Faster!” for 2016!”

 

Tue

01

Dec

2015

December News & information

DECEMBER CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION



CLUB CALENDAR

The Club Calendar is gone to print and will be on sale from Tues. 8thDec. at a cost of just €10. This is a fantastic record of great memories from 2015, with many, many photos of all age groups from our Little Athletics Group launching the National Forest Feast programme, to County, Leinster, National & International competitions and much more

DECEMBER CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION



CLUB CALENDAR

The Club Calendar is gone to print and will be on sale from Tues. 8thDec. at a cost of just €10. This is a fantastic record of great memories from 2015, with many, many photos of all age groups from our Little Athletics Group launching the National Forest Feast programme, to County, Leinster, National & International competitions and much more! A huge amount of work has gone into producing this calendar and our sincere thanks go out to Fiona Dempsey who did a fantastic job designing the calendar and also to Helen Dempsey, Fiona Ryan & Christina Browne for all their work. Many thanks also to our sponsors Goldfish (Gordon O'Neill) Avalon Gardening Services (Paschal Casey) and ALPHACC( Jonathan Donnelly)

This calendar will be a great reminder of a great year for GAC and will make a great Christmas present, as will our lovely club pen. Both will be on sale from Dec. 8thright up to Xmas and are being used as a fundraiser for the club! Front Cover is now on our website & FB page!



CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to all the GAC athletes who qualified for the National XC and who will now represent Club, County & Leinster teams next Sunday in Dungarvan. Best of Luck to: Joe Prendergast, Ella Shanley, Eimear Ryan, Enya Conroy U13, BenJones, Abbie Tyrrell, Sarah O'Connor, Sophie Nicholson, Megan O' Brien U15, Richael Browne, Susie McParland, Troy ScullyU17 and to the Novice men's team!



UPCOMINGCOMPETITIONS

  1. There is an Inter-County (Kildare, Laois, Meath, Wicklow) Indoor Competition for U14/15/17 (U16's move up) athletes on Sat 12th Dec at 2.30pm in Athlone. All age groups have 60mH, 60m, 200m, 800m, 1500m. U15/17 also have Walk, HJ, LJ, SP and U14's can compete in these with the U15's. If you are interested in being considered for any of these teams, please enter right away and list events in which you are interested. Entry form is now on the website and we need names asap, so that the teams can be selected and entered. This is a great opportunity to get some early competition indoors.

  2. A very small turnout for Round 2 of the XC League in Rathdrum, but great running and great results once again from those who did compete on the night. Round 3 ( the final round) will be held in Bray on Fri 11th Dec. at 6.30pm. Usually held on the Bray Emmet's Astro Pitches, but I'll confirm after tonight's meeting. Entry form is now on the website. Open to all athletes up age 14. Please enter once only, as some athletes are being entered over & over for every event.

  3. The Co. Senior & Junior XC will be held in Avondale on Sun. 13th Dec @ 11am. Jun Men 6K/Women 4K & Sen. Men 10K/Women 5K. For those not old enough to race, our Sunday run that day will be in Avondale!

  4. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am.



CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues 8rdDec. from 4.40-5pm & again from 6.30 – 7.30pm, to allow a chance for Santa to pick up any club gear he might need. We have club singlets, shorts, hoodies, rain jackets, T-shirts, leggings etc. for sale, all at cost price and also some second hand spikes at very reasonable prices. Our fabulous Club Calendar@ €10 and Club Pens @ €3 each or two for €5, will also be on sale andwill make great Xmas pressies!



WEBTEXT

Despite several reminders that thewebtext no. is only for communicatingchanges or sendingreminders, I am still gettingqueries on this mob. all the time. If you have an urgent query,you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number, asI can only answer thisfrom my laptop, so if I am at work or training, you may have a long wait for a reply.




Tue

27

Oct

2015

Club News & Information

TRAINING AND COMPETITION

Regular training continues this week at the usual times, for all age groups!


Entry form for the Leinster Uneven ages (U11-17) & Intermediate XC in JFK Park, New Ross will shortly beon the website and entries close on Sat. Night 31stOct. Leinster will not accept any late entries, so do it asap and don't miss out! Please enter only once, as some athletes are being entered over & over. We had 14 entries for one athlete for one of the events.

CONGRATULATIONS

Hot on their success at the European Cup in Portugal, we learnt this week that the junior girls team have again qualified for this competition in 2016 from their great results in the National Junior competition during the Track & Field season. We are absolutely delighted for them and so very, very proud of them. The girls are very excited and already planning fund-raising events towardsit.


WARM WEATHER TRAINING

Anyone who is interested in the proposed warm weather training trip next Easter, but has not handed back their 'show of interest form' needs to do so immediately. Open to all athletes U16 up in 2016, who regularly attend training & competition. Younger athletes may go if accompanied by an adult. Forms available at training, but need them back quickly. Places are limited.


CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues 3rdNov. from 4.40-5pm & again from 6.30 – 7.30pm, before the next Leinster competition. We have club singlets, shorts, hoodies, rain jackets, T-shirts, leggings etc. for sale, all at cost price and also some second hand spikes at very reasonable prices. We also have club pensfor sale @ €3 each or two for €5, which are being used as a fund raiser for the away trip. They will make great stocking fillers! The committee are also looking into organising a club calendar, which will be available early in Dec and will make a great Xmas pressie, so hold off on buying any 2016 ones.


REGISTRATION FOR NEW ATHLETES

We have handed out registration forms to all our new athletes and while most have returned them, there are still a few outstanding. It is essential that these are returned asap, as we cannot have unregistered athletes at training sessions. If you have not done so already please return your form, as we do not want to have to refuse admittance to any child. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.


WEBTEXT

We use webtext to communicate changes or send reminders, but I must remind you once again that if you have a query that requires an answer then you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number. While I am set up to receive the webtext msg. on my phone, I can only answer them from my laptop, so if I am at work or training, you may have a long wait for a reply.


XC RACE REPORTS

Huge congratulations to all the athletes who competed in the XC over the last couple of weeks.


Wicklow XC Championships, in Roundwood. Uneven ages & Intermediate

Better numbers this time, but still small when you consider how many train each week.

We had only two girls for the U9 Lucy Garvey & Amber Sculy and just one boy Tristan Joylrt Cunningham. We had 11girls in the U11 race Sarah Hayes, Tara Casey, Lucy Willoughby, Camille Madden, Lucy Daly, Alex Mulcahy, Juliette Madden, Keelin McGuire, Kate Kennedy Whelan, Aoibhin Downey & Georgia Hogan and some great running saw the girls finish 4thteam overall. 6 in the U11 boys where we had a great run from Ed Nicholson to take the bronze medal, with the boys team Davey Kennedy Whelan, Chase Scully, Tom McCarthy, Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally taking the silver medals. At U13 we had 10 girls competing with Ella Shanley having a great race to finish 4thand Eimear Ryan close behind in 6th. Along with team members Louise O'Rordan, Ellen McNally, Enya Conroy, Erin Howard, Emma Quirk, Alannah Guilfoyle, Maebh O'Neill & Robin Carroll the girls also took the silver team medals. Gold medals for the U13 boys, with a really strong run from Joe Prendergast to take the individual Gold medal, Jack McGlone 4th, Danny Jones 5thand Paul Delahunty 6th& Michael O'Shea 8th. Gold medals also for the U15 girls, with Abbie Tyrrell having a super race to take the individual silver medal and Megan O'Brien, Katie Lawless, Sarah O'Connor, Frances Dallaghan Alice O'Neill & Grace Kirwan. Only three U15 boys with Alan Gordon taking individual bronze, John O'Connor 4th& Ronan Dempsey 5th. As there were no teams of 4, the boys were awarded the gold medals. Only two U17 girls Megan Healy 5th& Rachel Casey 9th. Cillian Browne had a great race in the U19 boys and won very comfortably. A bronze medal for Jamie Cullen on his return to XC led the Intermediate men's team Caoimhin MacMaolain, Dermot Hughes & AJ Cotter to a 4thplace finish.


Leinster XC Championships, in Moyvalley. Even ages, Novice & Masters.

Very disappointing numbers for the first of the Leinster events, where we only managed to fill two teams. Lets hope for a much better turnout at the uneven ages in Wexford on Nov 8th. Congratulations to all the athletes who competed so well on the day.

Four girls took part in the Open U10 race Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Alex Mulcahy, Amber Scully, with great running from all four. There were huge numbers in all the Championships races where we had five girls in the U12 with Eimear Ryan having a great run to finish 39thout of a field of 129. Team members were Isabelle Donnelly 103, Rachel Jones 111, Lucy Jones 113 Maebh O'Neill 118. A huge field in the boys race also where we only had two athletes, Paul Delahunty 59 & Chase Scully 95. Another big field in the U14 girls where Abbie Tyrrell had another great race to finish 18thoverall, with Ella Shanley 56, Megan O'Brien 60, Enya Conroy 115. The U14 boys saw another great run from Joe Prendergast to finish 20thout of age, with Joe Dowd 47 & Danny Jones 63.Again only two in the girls U16, with a fantastic race from Sarah O'Connor for a 16th place finish out of age, with Holly Byrne in 30th.Only one in the boys, where despite the strapped kneeBen Jones, also out of age, finished 20th. The U 18 girls saw Richael Browne 9th& Susie McParland 12thin the medals and also Katy Conroy 7thin the U19. These girls were all part of the Slí Cualann junior girls team who won both club & County gold medals. Carol Costello finished 15thin the M2 & AJ Cotter 26thin the M4.


Photos from recent XC events can be found on the club website & FB page!

Tue

06

Oct

2015

Newsletter

A warm welcome to our new members and while it's greatto see our athletes settling in to training again, the attendance by quite a fewhas not been great so far, especially on Friday nights. Please remember that we have a waiting list for places at all times, so if you are only turning up once in a while we may have to consider giving the place to someone who really wants it. We cannot hold places indefinitely, unless notified of ongoing injury or illness!

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congratulations to all the athletes who competed at the Wicklow XC Championships last Sunday in Avondale, but huge disappointment also that so few of our athletes actually made it to the event! We had so many age groups with just 3 athletes when one more would have given us a full team and team medals. Grace Rush was our only U8 runner as our only other entry Evan was injured on the day. And she had a great race to finish a close 2nd. We have at least 60 U8's in the club and up to 50 eligible athletes for each of the other age groups.The best turn out of the day was at U10, with 6 girls making it and 3 boys. All had terrific runs, particularly Ava Foley who led the girls from start to finish for a great victory. Only 2 girls at U12 & 3 boys and one more runner here would have guaranteed the boys team medals. We managed to get 5 girls out at U12 (still awaiting team results) and with our 3 U14 boys finishing 3rd, 4th& 5thanother runner here would have guaranteed the boys Gold medals. A fantastic race from Sarah O'Connor in the U16 for 2ndplace out of age, but again we missed out as one of the team didn't turn up. Yetanother fantastic race from Ben Jones witha great finish, to win the boys U 16, also running out of age, but again only 3 runners, so no team. Looking good for both these athletes in the U15's next week. We had no U18's or Novice women, but to our delight we did get a team out in the Novice men's race. Cillian Browne had a super race to take the bronze medal and he and team mates Caoimhin MacMaolain, Dermot Hughes & AJ Cotter also await team results. So while we are delighted with the results and the great performances from all who attended, you can understand the disappointment of these athletes at the lack of teams and the frustration of our coaches who work so hard each week to prepare the athletes for these events.

We sincerely hope that this coming Sunday will see a lot more athletes taking to the field for the uneven ages in Roundwood. Sunday's event is not at the usual Roundwood venue, but is opposite the GAA centre on the right hand side of the road. First race is 11am, so athletes should arrive at 10.30am. Most of you will be done and on the way home in under an hour. Entry form is on the website and will close on Fri. Night, to allow time to process entries. Please, please make an effort this week!!!



URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are againmaking an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue as we are!



REGISTRATION FOR NEW ATHLETES

We are presently handing out forms to all our new athletes and these can also be found onthe website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2015 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. These need to be filled out and returned to training asap please. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.



WEBTEXT

We use webtext to communicate changes or send reminders, but I must remind you once again that if you have a query that requires an answer then you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number. While I am set up to receive the webtext msg on my phone, I can only answer them from my laptop, so if I am not at home, you may have a long wait for a reply.



Tue

15

Sep

2015

Newsletter

WELCOME BACK

A big welcome back to all of our athletes and coaches. Attendance so far has not been great and we are now asking that athletes who have not made it back by tonight Tues 15th Sept. let us know if they do intend to return, as we have very long lists of people waiting for places. If we haven't heard from you by the end of this week, we will have to assume that you are not returning to the club. We cannot hold places indefinitely!

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

As you are all aware, Greystones AC is a completely voluntary organisation, with some of our coaches putting in up to 9 hrs a week coaching plus many hours spent helping out with competitions and the endless admin. involved in running a club like ours. While we know you all appreciate the time and effort given by our volunteers, many of whom have no children in the club, we must appeal to all parents to consider giving us some help or we will not be able to continue. This is a really urgent appeal as we no longer have enough people helping, particularly with the 6-7pm groups. Some of our long time coaches are no longer available to help at these sessions due to changes in their work hours and most of our young helpers are not available this year due to changes in their school schedules. We have 100 children in the 6-7pm groups with only 3 parents from these groups helping with the coaching, and a further 5 with the check-in. We are now making an urgent appealing to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on either Tues or Fri to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue!



REGISTRATION NIGHT

We will be holding a registration night for all of our new athletes on Tues 29thSept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be collected between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms will be available on the night and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2015 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.



FIRST COMPETITIONS

Athletics Wicklow are holding the first round of the Cross Country (XC) League on Fri 25th Sept. This will be hosted by our own club and will take place on the football field at the top of the Sports Park. Check-in by 6.30pm latest, with the first race starting at 6.45pm sharp, due to fading light. This one is for even ages, but athletes can move up 1 age group. It is open to all athletes up to age 14 (U15) in 2015 and is a participation event, with Certs for all who complete the course. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who complete 3 or more races in the League. An entry form will go up on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed night 23rd Sept. No late entries accepted. There will be no 6-7pm training that night, as coaches/athletes will be busy with the League.



County XC Championships will take place on Sun 4thOct in Avondale & Sun 11th Oct. In Roundwood. We need as many athletes as possible to take part in these events, so please put the dates in your diaries! More info in the next newsletter!





Mon

31

Aug

2015

Newsletter

RETURN TO TRAINING

Hopefully you have all been following the plan outlined in the last Newsletterand you are now all ready to return to training “fit to train” and not totally out of condition, making training for the winter season a whole lot easier for all of us!

No changes to the information in the last newsletter, with the 7-8.30pm groups returning tomorrow Tues.1st Sept. and the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups returning on Tues 8th Sept, allowing them a week to settle back in to school first. Looking forward to seeing you all back, full of enthusiasm for the coming season!

 

OUR EUROPEAN VENTURE

As you probably all know by now our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection. More than half the team are Greystones athletes and we are still trying to raise the funds to cover this.

Thisis a fantastic opportunity for these young athletes to go out and experience International competition. They are very proud indeed to be representing their club & country and we have set up a Crowd Funding site at www.gofundme.com/europeanclubcupand all donations big & small will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, donations can be handed in to Theresa at the track, at Shoreline Sports Park or to any of the coaches involved. We really need your help with this!






Wed

22

Jul

2015

Club Newsletter


OUR VERY EXCITING NEWS
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection.


OUR VERY EXCITING NEWS
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection.
For those who are new to the clubs set-up, Slí Cualann is an amalgamation of five Co. Wicklow clubs, Greystones, Inbhear Dee, Roundwood, Bray Runners & Parnell, who’s athletes compete at juvenile level under their individual clubs, but become Slí Cualann at Junior & Senior level.
 A group of up to 20 athletes will compete on this team and it is a fantastic opportunity for these young athletes to go out and experience International competition. They are very proud indeed to be representing their club & country and we are very busy fundraising towards this at present, as flights etc. are quite expensive. We have set up a Crowd Funding site at http://www.gofundme.com/europeanclubcup and all donations big & small will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, donations can be handed in to Theresa at the track at Shoreline Sports Park or to any of the coaches involved.
If anyone has any ideas for further fundraising or knows anyone who might like to help sponsor the team, please get in touch with Theresa asap.

SUMMER BREAK FOR ATHLETES
The majority of our athletes are now on a short break, with just the small number who are still competing  continuing to train. As it has been a long hard season, unless athletes have alternative instructions from their coaches, we recommend taking a complete break for about 2 weeks, after which athletes should start running every other day to gradually build up fitness again. Start with 10-15 mins and after 3 or 4 runs increase this by 5 mins. Continue in this way and you will return in Sept. “fit to train” and not totally out of condition, making training for the winter season a whole lot easier. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to training on Tues.1st Sept. and the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups will return on Tues 8th Sept, allowing them a week to settle back in to school first.

THANKS
As they finally get to take a well earned break, we would like to say a huge ‘Thank You’  to every one of the many volunteers who give up their time week in week out to help make Greystones AC such a fantastic club! Our coaches: Aidan Hartnett, Buntu Mlisana, Christina Browne, Deirdre Kearney, Deirdre O’Neill, Eamonn Whelan, Emma O’Brien, Emer McNally, Fiona O’Connor, Helen  Dempsey,  Joanne O’Shea,  Joanna Pluck,  Julie Fallon, Laura O’Neill,  Muriel Drinkwater, Neil Brooks, Pauline Dallaghan, Ronan Nicholson, Sinead Daly, Steve Jones, Theresa Kinane. Our junior coaches: Alannah O’Carroll, Ara Freeman, Conor Dempsey, Isobel Kenny, Lisa Dallaghan, Richael Browne, Susie McParland. Our check-in crew: Breda Hayes, Celina Purcell, Fiona Ryan, Louise Casey, Louise Willoughby , Sandra Colgan. Apologies if I’ve left anyone out!

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE
All athletes who have not attended training for more than 3 weeks before their group finished, need to contact the club if they intend to return in Sept. Otherwise they will be deemed to have left the club. All groups for Sept.will be organised over the next couple of weeks and any available places offered to those on the waiting lists. There will be no way of adding athletes back into the groups in Sept., so please use ‘Contact Us’ on www.greystonesac.com to leave us a message, if missing for a while and planning to return.

CONGRATULATIONS
Every weekend we are on the road to Tullamore, Belfast, Athlone etc. but what a fantastic Track & Field season we had again this year, with superb results from National Juveniles & Juniors Championships and also from the League.
Three of our club athletes qualified to represent Ireland this year, with Alana Ryan qualifying for the Schools International in Scotland last weekend and winning a bronze medal on the 4 x 300m relay. Well done Alana! Amaris Borel & Ara Freeman are also off to Scotland for the Celtic Games on the 1st August.


RESULTS


U12-19 National Championships
U19: Martha Hassett Gold in PV , Katy Conroy 6th in 400m, Katy Conroy 6th in 400m, 10th 1500m
U18:  Ara Freeman silver in 100m & 200m, Amaris Borel silver in 100mH & in 400mH, Conor Dempsey bronze in 200m & 400mH & 6th in 100m, Rosa Kirwan bronze in HJ
U17: Richael Browne 5th in 400m & 8th in 800m
U16: Alana Ryan gold in 200m & silver in 100m, Louis Lalor 4th in 250mH & 5th in 100mH, Noah Daly 12th in LJ
U15: Ben Jones silver in 800m & 1500m, Josh Pyper silver in 100m & 4th in 200m, Ben Mooney 5th in 200m, Sarah O’Connor 5th in 1500m, Katie Lawless 8th in 250mH & Sophie Nicholson 12th in High Jump.
U14: Aodhan Daly silver in LJ, 11th in HJ & 3rd in 200m heat (injured)
U13: James Nicholson 5th in LJ, Joe Prendergast 12th in LJ, Ellen McNally 15th in LJ & Emma Quirk 16th

Juniors/U23's Championships
Junior athletes:  Katy Conroy gold in the 3K Steeplechase, Amaris Borel silver in 100mH & 6th in the 400mH, Ara Freeman 4th in the 100m with a new PB & 5th in the 200m, Conor Dempsey 8th in 200m, Richael Brown trying out a new event and just missing out on the 400m final, Isobel O'Grady 6th in the Long Jump & Jamie Wood 11th in 800m.
U23's : Claire Foley took bronze in the 200m & 4th in the 100m and Aoife Conroy 4th in the 400mH.

National ‘B’ Champs & Relays
U16: Cachel Casey gold in Shot Putt, Holly Byrne silver in 800m, Troy Scully bronze in HJ & 4th in 800m, Marcus Lennon 5th in 100m & 7th in 800m,  Sarah Lalor 5th in 100m, Niamh Conroy in medal position with 10m to go taking a very bad tumble in the 100m.
U15: John O’Connor gold in HJ,
U14: Ronan Dempsey silver in 80m & bronze in LJ, Alan Gordon silver in HJ & bronze in 80m, Megan O’Brien 13th in 800m
U 13: Danny Jones bronze in LJ, Erin Howard 7th in 600m & 10th in LJ
U12: Eimear Ryan 4th in LJ & 10th in 600m
The U15 boys team took silver in the 4 x 100m relay.

National League:
Top performances from everyone on both days means both the Women’s & Men’s teams have qualified for the finals on Aug. 2nd, making for another busy weekend. Best of Luck to both teams and to Ara & Amaris in the Celtics in Scotland.


The National Senior Championships on 7th/8th Aug. brings the domestic T&F season to a close for 2015, but athletes involved in the European Cup will continue training for this prestigious event in Sept.

Mon

22

Jun

2015

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
What a weekend for GAC at the Leinster Championships! Well done to each and every athlete who competed over the weekend. We are so proud of you all.

CONGRATULATIONS
What a weekend for GAC at the Leinster Championships. Well done to each and every athlete who competed over the weekend. We are so proud of you all. Medal winners, 4th place qualifiers & finalists below. There are a lot of them, so apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.
U14: Aodhán Daly, Gold in LJ, bronze in 200m, 4th in HJ,
         Ronan Dempsey 6th in 75mH
         Alan Gordon 9th in 80m

U15: Ben Jones, Gold in 1500m and 800m,
         Josh Pyper, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Ben Mooney, Silver in 100m & 200m
         Sarah O’Connor, Bronze in 1500m,
         Sophie Nicholson, Bronze in HJ
         Katie Lawless, 4th in 250mH & 200m & 5th in 80mH

U16: Alana Ryan, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Louis Lalor, Gold in 250mH, Silver in 100mH & 4th in 200m
         Noah Daly, 4th in LJ & 200m
         Niamh Conroy 7th in 100m
         Troy Scully 5th in 3K

U17: Richael Browne, Silver in HJ & 4th in 800m also 5th in 800m in Tailteann games.
         Alannah O’Carroll,  Bronze in 400m, 6th in 200m

U18: Conor Dempsey, Gold in 100m, 200m, 400mH & Silver in 400m
         Amaris Borel, Gold in 400mH, Silver in 100mH, & 400m
         Ara Freeman, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Rosa Kirwan, Bronze in  800m ,4th in HJ
 
U19: Katy Conroy Gold in 800m & bronze in 3K Steeplechase
         Martha Hassett, Gold in Pole Vault
         Lorcan Lalor, Silver in 400mH & bronze in 400m
         Cillian Browne, Bronze in 3K
         Niall Martin 6th in 200m
         Eoin Doyle 6th in 400m

Boys U 19 Club Team Gold Conor Dempsey, Niall Martin, Lorcan Lalor, David O’Flynn

Inter County Relays  Wicklow Teams
Boys U15 Gold: Ben Jones, Josh Pyper, Ben Mooney & John O’Connor
Boys U19 Gold Conor Dempsey, Niall Martin, Lorcan Lalor, Eoin Doyle

Can those who have qualified for Nationals please let us know if not competing!

The previous weekend, the Leinster Combined events saw Aodhan Daly take gold in the U14 boys, Sophie Nicholson silver in the U15 girls, Louis Lalor bronze in the U16 boys, Hilary Gallagher silver in the U17 girls & Rosa Kirwan bronze in the U18 girls..

URGENT: A reninder that the Bray Runners Invitational event is being held this coming Tues 23rd June.at the track in Greystones. Entries closed last Wed. night and only athletes who have entered can compete, as we are only allowed a limited number of athletes. Athletes need to arrive at 6pm for check-in and warm-up as events must start at 6.30pm sharp.
No training on that night for 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups due to this event!
Little Athletics will go ahead as usual from 5-6pm!
Absolutely no entries on the night!.


. SUMMER BREAK FOR YOUNGER ATHLETES
We will take a break from training for the summer for the age 5-6 & age 7-11groups (ie 5-6pm and 6-7pm), finishing up with a fun evening on Tues. 30th June. Already the numbers have dropped off a lot, particularly on Fri evenings, so there is little point in trying to carry on. U12 Athletes competing in the National B Championships on Saturday 18th July may attend the later training sessions. We will return on Tues.8th Sept., which allows a week to settle back in to school first. Please note that  the older groups which train from 7-8.30pm will continue throughout the summer, as we have a lot of competition during this time. We will take a short break in August before returning on Tues. 1st Sept. to prepare for the XC season.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We will make a final attempt to give out the awards and medals on Tues 30th June between 6.30 & 7.30pm, as there are still a lot that haven’t been collected. Registration cards will also be available again that night. If anyone is available to help for an hour on that Tues evening we would really appreciate it. Athletes may collect their awards themselves, but the registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Most  cards have arrived, but there are still a few to come.

FURTHER REMINDER RE WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions, but the number is still being used a lot for queries!


Mon

08

Jun

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent Leinster Relays & Juniors, held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. We had a good number of teams in the U9-16 Relays and the boys in particular did really well.

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent Leinster Relays & Juniors, held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. We had a good number of teams in the U9-16 Relays and the boys in particular did really well. Our U13/14/15/16 boys all took the silvers, our U16 Girls won bronze, our U9B were 4th & our U11B were 6th in their finals.
Junior results saw Richael Browne take gold and Katy Conroy take bronze in the 800m, Rosa Kirwan take gold & Richael Browne silver in the HJ, Ara Freeman take silver in the 100m & bronze in the 200m, Conor Dempsey take silver in the 200m & Isobel O’Grady take silver in the LJ…….a good day’s work!
Last Sat. saw us on the road very, very early for a 9am start in Tullamore for the U9/10/11 pairs & u12 & 13 Championships. It was a very long day for all the athletes, but each & every one of them did GAC proud. Great performances from our athletes and some great results too. Gold for Joe Prendergast in the U13 LJ with a 4th place for James Nicholson, Silver for Michael O’Shea in the U13 60m, bronze for Emma Quirk in the U13 LJ, with a 4th place for Ellen McNally, 4th place for Darragh Rush in the U12 60m. Finals places for Eimear Ryan in the U12 600m & 60m hurdles, Emma Quirk in the U13 hurdles, Erin Howard & Joe Prendergast in the U13 600m & Jack McGlone in the U12 LJ. In the pairs events, Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally U10,won silver in the LJ & bronze in the 60m, Ava Foley & Ailbhe Gordon U10 won silver in the Turbo Javelin. Other notable performances, Ailbhe Gordon & Camille Madden had a 5th place finish in the U10 LJ, Ava Gordon & Camille Madden had a 10th place finish in the U10 60m & Lucy Willoughby & Lucy Daly had a 10th place finish in the U11 LJ.  Well done to all and we wish the qualifiers well in the All Ireland’s!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
LEINSTER Combined events for U14 + will be held on Sat 13th June in Celbridge this coming Saturday. Best of Luck to those competing.
LEINSTER U14-19 championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat & Sun 20th/21st June. Entries close on this coming Tues 9th June. Absolutely no late entries can be accepted, so get your entries in now!
Forms will be on our website shortly for the Bray Runners Invitational event, which will be held on Tues 23rd June. As we are only allowed a limited number of athletes in each event, we will give priority to athletes who compete regularly for the club. If there are any places left, these will be given on a first come, first served basis, as per previous years. No training on that night for any groups, due to this event!
Forms will also go up shortly for the National Juniors/U23’s which will be held in Tullamore on Sunday 5th July (Juniors are U17-20) get those entries in.
.
EXCITING NEWS
Our Junior Girls (as part of Slí Cualann) have been selected to take part in the European Clubs Track and Field Junior B competition, to take place in Portugal on the 19th September 2015. This selection is as a result of their performance in 2014 and is a great honour for our athletes and we are very proud indeed to accept the offer. While some of our costs will be covered, we will need to fundraise to help towards flights and other expenses. As our first fundraiser, we will be providing stewards (age 17-adult) for the Sonia 5K on Sat. next in Dunlaoghaire. You will be needed for a maximum of two hours from 6.30-8.30pm and the club will be paid for each steward we provide. Please let us know asap if you can help out with this event and start the ball rolling towards our much needed funds! We really need your help with this!

OVERDUE SUBS
A number of athletes owe money to the club for unpaid weekly subs. We do remind the athletes about this at check-in, but get little response. We would appreciate it if parents could check this with us and pay off these debts asap. It is easy to forget that you missed some weeks, but unfair on the athletes who always pay if others don’t and it all adds up to quite a bit. 

SUMMER BREAK FOR YOUNGER ATHLETES
We will take a break from training for the summer for the age 5-6 & age 7-11groups (ie 5-6pm and 6-7pm), finishing up with a fun evening on Fri 30th June. Already the numbers have dropped off a lot, particularly on Fri evenings, so there is little point in trying to carry on. U12 Athletes competing in the National B Championships on Saturday 18th July may attend the later training sessions. We will return on Tues.8th Sept., which allows a week to settle back in to school first. Please note that  the older groups which train from 7-8.30pm will continue throughout the summer, as we have a lot of competition during this time. We will take a short break in August before returning on Tues. 1st Sept. to prepare for the XC season.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We gave out a number of  the registration cards and the awards and medals on Tues 2nd June, but there are still a lot not collected.  If anyone is available to help for an hour on a Tues evening we could try once more. Athletes may collect their awards themselves, but the registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Not all cards have arrived yet.

WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions, but the number is still being used a lot for queries!

Thu

21

May

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent County Championships Great performances from our athletes and lots & lots of medals won. There are far too many to list here.......

Most results are now on our website. Many thanks to all who helped out during the 3 days. The effort & commitment from some of our coaches was far & above anything we could have asked for. We cannot thank them enough!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
The Leinster Relays and Juniors are being held in Greystones on this coming Sat. 23rd May. Best of luck to all our teams and to all our Junior athletes also. Uneven age teams are billed to start at 11.30 and even ages at 3pm. Please arrive an hour beforehand as it will be very busy and also to allow for events running ahead of schedule. Relay Teams are now posted on the sidebar! Please let us know asap if you cannot attend as we don’t want disappointed children, arriving to discover they no longer have a team. Athletes need to wear club colours please, ie club singlet or T-shirt with red, white or black short only. (no pinks, blues, yellows etc. please) We are suppose to wear club gear only, for all of these events! Juniors athletes (U17-20) must wear Slí Cualann gear for this event!
As GAC is the host club, help will be needed to set up on Sat., to monitor events during the day and to clean up afterwards. Two coaches have to act as officials on the day and others willl be needed to look after teams, so if anyone else is free to help it would be greatly appreciated.
LEINSTER U9,U10,U11 Pairs Competition & U12-U13 Championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat. 6th June. Entries will need to be in by Tues 26th May. latest.
LEINSTER Combind events for U14 + will be held on Sat 13th June (no venue yet) and entries for these close on Tues 2nd June.
LEINSTER U14-19 championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat & Sun 20th/21st June. Entries close on Tues 9th June.
Forms will be on our website shortly for all of these events. Please ensure you enter in the correct competitions, as there are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster!

CARPET PIECES WANTED
Due to all the recent rain, the ground around the track is very wet & muddy. The track has being cleaned this week and is looking very well. In an effort to keep it this way, if anyone has reasonable large sized pieces of carpet they don’t need we would be grateful for these, as they could be put down around the gates and may help to keep some of the mud off the track.

WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions!

TESCO COLLECTION
Before training on Tues. evening a number of our coaches & athletes went along to Tesco where they were presented with a cheque for €325 for the club, from the Tesco Charity Fundraiser. We are absolutely delighted to receive this cheque which will go towards extra equipment for the athletes. Many thanks to Emma O’Brien for arranging to have us included as one of the charity groups and for collecting the cheque.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We are still looking for a couple of volunteers to help hand out the registration cards and the awards that weren’t collected. If anyone is available to lend a hand with this we will organise to make them available at  training on a given Tues. Registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Not all cards have arrived yet.

CLUB SHOP
We try to open our shop once each month and just before competitions. Our next club shop opening will be  on Tues. next 26th May  from 7-8pm. If you need singlet, shorts or any other club gear, please try to come along on Tues.26th. As we are all volunteers and many are covering more than one job, unfortunately we cannot manage to open the shop outside of these times.

HELP STILL NEEDED URGENTLY
We  still need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.


Tue

05

May

2015

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the 1st day of the County Championships last Fri. evening. There were many fine performances and lots & lots of medals won. There are far too many to list here, but full results will be published after the Championships are

completed. Many thanks to all who helped out on the night and especially to Rachel Casey who, I’m reliably informed, did a tremendous job with the admin. on the night. Fantastic to see a young athlete step up and take on these responsibilities and manage to compete and win medals as well. Many thanks Rachel.
Day’s 2 & 3 will take place this weekend on Fri 8th & Sat 9th May. We have a good number of entries, despite the clash with First Communions, and look forward to two more days of top class competition and lots & lots of fun! . Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. Entries are closed.

GREYSTONES AC/IRISH MILERS CLUB
Despite atrocious weather conditions, we had a great day's athletics with the IMC on Sat 2nd May, with several athletes reaching qualifying standards throughout the day! A huge Thank You to everyone who helped out, with special thanks to the ever reliable Cyril Smyth, Terry Kavanagh, Noreen O'Reilly, Oran O'Toole and the small but hardworking GAC crew, all of whom went above & beyond the call of duty to make the day a success. Many, many thanks to the IMC for all their work, to the Irish Sprinters & Irish Hurdlers for their welcome input and to Dave Sweeney for organising the Javelin event. Thanks also to Shoreline Sports Park for all their help! Lets hope for better weather next year!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
The Leinster Relays for U9-U16 ( athletes born 2000 – 2007) will be held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. As it is on our home track and there is no travelling involved, we hope to have lots & lots of teams running. Form will be on the website shortly and will close on Sunday 10th May and teams will be announced by Tues 12th latest. We need 4 members for each team and athletes can move up one age group to run on two teams.


The Leinster Juniors (U17-U20….. born 1996-1999) is being held on the same day and again as we are on home turf we hope to have lots of athletes competing on the day. Please list the events you wish to take part in. Form will be up shortly.

AWARDS NIGHT
Our Awards night went off well although quite a number of our athletes didn’t make it along to pick up their awards on the night. Once the County Championships are behind us, we will organise to make these awards available at check-in one Tuesday evening. It would be a huge help if we could have a couple of volunteers to look after this.

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
A further batch  of Registration cards have arrived, but there are still many more to come. These too will be available for collection on the same night as the awards. As athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year, they are addressed to the parents and so need to be collected by them. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries.

HELP STILL NEEDED URGENTLY
We  urgently need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.




Mon

20

Apr

2015

AWARDS REMINDER

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
AWARDS NIGHT
We remind you all that our awards night for 2014 is this coming Tues. 21st Apr 2015 and will

be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Awards for Attitude, Achievement & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to see your children’s efforts being rewarded and a chance to meet the coaches and have a chat!
These awards are being presented for 2014, so athletes who only joined this year or late in 2014 will not have the required Attendances etc. You are however very welcome to attend and hopefully you will work hard during the remainder of this year and be back here next year receiving your own awards!
THERE WILL BE NO TRAINING THIS TUESDAY FROM 6-7PM pm & 7 –8.30PM DUE TO THE CLUB AWARDS  NIGHT! ! LITTLE ATHLETICS WILL RUN AS NORMAL FROM 5-6PM!       

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
This year all athletes are being issued with  Life Registration cards. Some of these have arrived and we will hand them out to parents at the Awards night.  These cards now have just a Life Number., which members will have for their entire athletic career instead, of getting a new registration number every year. This is the number that will be used for all entries. Consequently athletes/parents need to look after these cards, as they will no longer be replaced every year.

HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
We  urgently need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website and there is a link on our entry form. All GAC athletes of all ages who want to compete in this year’s Championships must register on our website for each day they intend to compete. You must also list the events you intend to compete in each day.  Form is now up on our web site and closing date for all entries will be Tues. 28th Apr. No entries can be accepted after this date, so make sure you are in on time!


EXPLANATION OF AWARD SCHEME FOR NEW PARENTS.
Children up to age 10 in 2015 (U11), take part in an award scheme at the County Championships on Saturday 9th May, there are no individual events for these age groups. Each child competes in 3 events, a sprint, a long jump and a turbo javelin throw, and their points are calculated to get a finishing score. All athletes who compete in all 3 events will get a medal on the day. The top scorers will get gold, the next group silver and the remainder bronze.  Those who don’t complete the competition, ie all 3 events,  will not receive a medal. It will take a while to get through all the events for all the age groups and as the relays for the younger age groups are also on the Sat. afternoon, please come prepared to spend the day.  If we are lucky enough to get good weather it can be a very enjoyable day!
There are longer races and Obstacle Relays on Fri 1st May for these younger age groups, which start at 6.30pm and will be done within the hour.  We have not included events on Fri 8th to leave them fresh for the Sat. competitions.

CLUB SHOP
Our club shop will be open on Tues. 28th Apr.at 5pm and again from 7-8pm to allow athletes to purchase club gear before the County Championships. We now have new girls red shorts in stock in all sizes and also some ¾ length & full length red leggings. We also have a good number of secondhand spikes available as well as rain jackets, lightweight showerproof  trousers and club hoodies, club singlets & T shirts. We also have some black Nike tracksuit bottoms reduced to just €10.

Tue

07

Apr

2015

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
The final day of the National Indoors brought more fine performances and more medals for GAC athletes Alana Ryan had yet another fantastic day, cruising through her heat of the U16 200m......

..... and winning the final in great style to take another National title. Fantastic running once again from Richael Browne in the U17 800m, where she took the silver medal in a new indoor PB of 2.19.88.  A great run also from Katy Conroy in the U19 800m where she finished in 8th place. Conor Dempsey ran 22.87 in his heat in the U18 200m to qualify for the final where he finished 5th. Noah Daly qualified for the final of the U16 LJ where he finished 5th with a jump of 5.36m and Aodhán Daly jumped 4.49m in the U14 LJ to finish 9th.  Well done to all of our athletes! A little time to recover now, but we are looking forward to a great outdoor season!

HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
Once again we have to appeal for help at the 6-7pm sessions. We have big groups at these sessions and have lost some coaches recently due to changed circmstances. As well as this we have coaches covering these sessions at present who are having to arrange minders and transport for their own children, now all in the later groups, to allow them to cover the 6-7pm sessions. We need to allow these coaches to move to the 7-8.30pm time asap. We have  100 children in the 6-7pm sessions and urgently require parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING
There are a number of athletes who’s attendance at training is very poor indeed. Athletes are expected to attend training regularly and Group 1 & 2 athletes have committed to attending a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level. We have a constant waiting list for places and we can not be expected to hold places for those who do not use them. Once again we must remind everyone that athletes who disappear for over 3 weeks without letting us know why, (ie illness, injury etc.) are deemed to have left the club and their places are offered to those on the waiting list. We will always hold the place for an injured/ill athlete and once we are made aware it is not necessary to notified us at every session. Lists are reviewed at the end of each month.

AWARDS NIGHT
We remind you all that our awards night for 2014 has been arranged for Tues. 21st Apr 2015 and will be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Consequently there will be no training that night! Awards for Attitude, Achievement & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the coaches and have a chat!

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
This year all athletes are being issued with  Life Registration cards. Many of these have arrived this week and we will hand them out to parents at the Awards night.  These cards now have just a Life Number., which members will have for their entire athletic career instead, of getting a new registration number every year. This is the number that will be used for all entries. Consequently athletes/parents need to look after these cards, as they will no longer be replaced every year.

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION
Well done to all the athletes who attended the coaching session on Good Friday. This was another great success and we thank the coaches who did such a great job on the day. We will organise a follow up session for these athletes over the next couple of weeks.

RELAY SQUADS
Apologies for the error with the Relay Squad date as we were not training on the given date. Our next training night for our Relay Squads is this Fri. 10th April. It is particularly important that all members of the squads attend these training sessions!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Junior & Senior men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Names to Theresa by Sunday 19th April latest. No late entries accepted this year..

CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. All GAC athletes of all ages who want to compete in this year’s Championships must register on our website for each day they intend to compete. You must also list the events you intend to compete in. Form will be up on our web site shortly and closing date for all entries will be Tues. 28th Apr. No entries can be accepted after this date, so make sure you are in on time!


EXPLAINATION OF AWARD SCHEME FOR NEW PARENTS.
Children up to age 10 in 2015 (U11), take part in an award scheme at the County Championships on Saturday 9th May, there are no individual events for these age groups. Each child competes in 3 events, a sprint, a long jump and a turbo javelin throw, and their points are calculated to get a finishing score. All athletes who compete in all 3 events will get a medal on the day. The top scorers will get gold, the next group silver and the remainder bronze.  Those who don’t complete the competition, ie all 3 events,  will not receive a medal. It will take a while to get through all the events for all the age groups and as the relays for the younger age groups are also on the Sat. afternoon, please come prepared to spend the day.  If we are lucky enough to get good weather it can be a very enjoyable day!
There are longer races and Obstacle Relays on Fri 1st May for these younger age groups, which start at 6.30pm and will be done within the hour.  We have not included events on Fri 8th to leave them fresh for the Sat. competitions.

Wed

25

Mar

2015

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
Nationals Indoors in Athlone last weekend and it was yet another great weekend for GAC !  We had 5 teams in the National relays on Sat. of which 4 made the finals. The 5th, moving a little

too quickly, unfortunately exchanged just outside the zone just exchanging. Our U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney led from the gun and took the gold medals comfortably, while our U18 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Isabel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman put up a great battle to take the bronze, while U17 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Niamh Conroy, Richael Browne & Alana Ryan finished 5th and U13 boys, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones, James Nicholson & Michael O'Shea finished 6th. Sunday was individual events and all of our 60m sprinters comfortably made their finals. In the U 16 boys Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney put in another terrific effort and this time Josh took the bronze medal with Ben finishing in 4th place. Alana Ryan had another fantastic race, pushing all the way to the line to take yet another gold medal and National Championship in the girls U16. Ara Freeman had her usual fantastic start in the girls U18 and she too fought all the way to the line where she unfortunately took a nasty fall at the finish line. Delighted to report that she is recovering well and has a bronze medal for her efforts. Many thanks to all her well wishers! Cillian & Richael Browne were in action again in the 1500m. Richael had another great race to finish 4th in the girls U17 in a time of 4.58 with Cillian running 4.14 for 8th place in the U19 boys. Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey both qualified for their 400m finals wih Amaris finish 5th & Conor 6th after a clash at the break line. Alan Gordon cleared 1.30m in the HJ for 12th place. Well done to all who competed and good luck to everyone next Sat. when we get to do it all again!

STILL VERY  IMPORTANT
Please come to training properly prepared for training! Despite constant reminders that we train in all weathers, wind, hail, rain or snow, and regular requests that our athletes always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, we still have many who don’t bring sufficient clothing with them. It is easy to remove layers if you get too hot, but there is nothing we can do if you are cold and you don’t have enough clothing with you and you cannot train properly if you are cold. So wear plenty layers, bring a jacket and gloves and don’t forget your water bottle!

AWARDS NIGHT
Our awards night for 2014 has been arranged for Tues. 23rd Apr 2015 and will be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Consequently there will be no training that night! Awards for Attitude, Achievement  & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the coaches and have a chat!

COACHES MEETING
A reminder to all coaches that we have a coaches meeting tomorrow evening at 8pm at the track. If anyone is interested in getting involved with coaching or helping out at training session, you are most welcome to come along to this meeting.

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION
We are arranging a specialised coaching session for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 or before) who intend to compete throughout the coming Track & Field season. As we have limited places available, athletes who take advantage of this extra coaching will be expected to compete at Leinster competitions as well as at County level.. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, provided the applicant is a regular attendee at club training sessions.
The coaching sessions will take place on Good Friday 4th Apr from 10.30 – 12.30am and athletes may take part in two events during the morning. Events being coached will be
 Long Jump  High Jump  Hurdles  Javelin/ Turbo  Shot Putt  Discus  Sprints (concentrating on starts/blocks )
Form will be on the website shortly and will close on Wed. 2nd Apr. Please give your name and list three events in order of choice. We will do our best to give you your first two choices, but it may not be possible, when dividing the groups, to facilitate everyone. There will be a €5 fee to help cover costs for the day.
Please note that athletes will need to arrive on time, as the Sports Centre is closed for business on Good Friday and there will be nobody to open the gate once we have gone on to the track. Gates will only be open from 10.20- 10.35  latest. I’m sorry, but we can not be running up and down to open the gate to late comers, as this disrupts the coaching sessions.

RELAY SQUADS
Next training night for our Relay Squads is Fri. 4th April. It is particularly important that all members of the squads attend these training sessions!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 5
Don’t forget that the last race in the XC League takes place on this Friday 27th March in Bray Emmets. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website www.greystonesac.com  and can be found under  Entry Forms at the top of the page. Entries will close on Thurs 26th at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on this Friday 27th March, as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

FIT4LIFE RACE
The next Fit4Life race will be held in Shanganagh Park on Thursday 2nd April. Check-in at 7pm, race at 7.30pm. This is open to everyone from 14 up and while there are prizes for each category and some spot prizes, it is very much  a participation event and a great way to start racing.  Refreshments afterwards!

COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Juniors & Seniors men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Entries to Theresa by Sunday 19th April latest.

CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. entries in advance this year. A reminder will be posted nearer the time!

Sun

22

Mar

2015

National Indoors

Yet another great weekend for GAC athletes. We had 5 teams in the National relays on Sat. of which 4 made the finals.......

while the 5th, moving a little too quickly, unfortunately exchanged just outside the zone. Our U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney led from the gun and took the gold medals comfortably, while our U18 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Isabel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman put up a great battle to take the bronze, while U17 girls Alannah O'Carroll,Niamh Conroy, Richael Browne & Alana Ryan finished 5th and U13 boys, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones, James Nicholson & Michael O'Shea finished 6th. Sunday was individual events and all of our 60m sprinters comfortably made their finals. In the U 16 boys Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney put in another terrific effort and this time Josh took the bronze medal with Ben finishing in 4th place. Alana Ryan had another fantastic race, pushing all the way to the line to take yet another gold medal and National Championship in the girls U16. Ara Freeman had her usual fantastic start in the girls U18 and she too fought all the way to the line where she unfortunately took a nasty fall at the finish line. Delighted to report that she is recovering well and has a bronze medal for her efforts. Many thanks to all her well wishers! Cillian & Richael Browne were in action again in the 1500m. Richael had  another great race to finish 4th in the girls U17 in a time of 4.58 with Cillian running 4.14 for 8th place in the U19 boys. Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey both qualified for their 400m finals wih Amaris finish 5th & Conor 6th aftera clash at the break. Alan Gordon cleared 1.30m in the HJ for 12th place. Well done to all who competed and good luck to everyone next Sat. when we get to do it all again!

Wed

11

Mar

2015

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Another great weekend for GAC at the Leinster Indoors!
Off to a great start on Saturday, with gold for Alana Ryan in the U16 200m and for Amaris Borel in the U18 400m, Silver for Conor Dempsey in the U18 400m, for Richael Browne

in the U17 High Jump, for Noah Daly in the U16 Long Jump, for Louis Lalor in the U16 60m hurdles and for Aodhan Daly in the U14 Long Jump and Bronze for Amaris Borel in the 60m hurdles. A 5th place finish for Noah Daly in the U16 200m and fine performances also from many others, with U14 Alan Gordon and Ronan Dempsey making the 60mH final finishing 4th & 5th,respectivily & U13 Emma Quirk making the 60mH final and James Nicholson & Joe Prendergast making the 600m final! Well done to our younger athletes, many making their first appearance at indoors and showing great promise for the future of our club! This all left us looking forward to another great day on Sunday!


The 4th and last day of the Leinster Indoors again saw top performances from GAC athletes with U 19 Katy Conroy taking bronze in the 8oom,18's Ara Freeman taking double gold in the 60m & 200m and setting a new Championship Best in the 60m, Conor Dempsey having a superb race to take silver in the 200m, Amaris Borel winning her 200m heat comfortably and Isobel Kenny making the 60m final after a great 200m run earlier in the day and 4th place finishes for Rosa Kirwan in both the 800m & the High Jump. Championship Best performance also from Richael Browne running a fantastic race to win the U17 800m. Alana Ryan added the U16 60m title to her 200m title from yesterday and only .01 separated Ben Mooney & Josh Pyper who took Gold & Silver in the u15 60m in one of the closest races of the day. Bronze as well for Ben in the Long Jump and a bronze for Alan Gordon in the U14 High Jump having finished 4th in the 60m hurdles yesterday. Aodhan Daly had 3 great runs in the U14 60m to progress through the heats & semi- finals, as did older brother Noah in the U16 and  Michael O'Shea in The U13 with Emma Quirk also getting to her semi-final U13 and Sophie Dallaghan in the U12. Emma also finished 5th in her Long Jump. Another very successful weekend for GAC. Nationals............ here we come!.


Huge congratulations go to Alana Ryan on winning the National Juvenile Star Award for 2014. We are very proud to see Alana receive this well deserved award for her achievements last year and as you can see from the report above, she has made a terrific start to 2015. This is the 6th year in a row that a GAC athlete has won this National Award, so keep up the good work guys!


GAC  also won the National Developmental Award for 2014 and we congratulate all the athletes involved in what was a great day for the club back in July. U15 Troy Scully, Niamh Conroy, Rachel Casey, Catherine Casey & Rachel Purcell, U14 Sarah O’Connor, Katie Lawless, Eva Roche & Frances Dallaghan, U13 Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Alan Gordon, U12 Michael O’Shea, Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally &, Erin Howard.

VERY  IMPORTANT
Please come to training properly prepared for training! Despite constant reminders that we train in all weathers, wind, hail, rain or snow, and regular requests that our athletes always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, we still have many who don’t bring sufficient clothing with them. It is easy to remove layers if you get too hot, but there is nothing we can do if you are cold and you don’t have enough clothing with you and you cannot train properly if you are cold. So wear plenty layers, bring a jacket and gloves and don’t forget your water bottle!

AGM
A reminder that our club AGM, which will be held in Shoreline Sports Park on this Thurs 12th March at 8pm. This is open to all members and/or parents of juvenile members and is your opportunity to come along and find out how our club is run and what goes on in the background to keep it all running smoothly. It is also an opportunity to make suggestions that you think might improve things, or maybe even come on board and lend a hand on the club committee or one of our sub-commitees. Motions and nominations for the AGM are still being taken and should be e-mailed to theresa.kinane@gmail.com by Tues 10th March please.


RELAY SQUADS
Due to the Leinster Indoors at the weekend we deferred the first relay squad session until this coming Friday 13th March. This means that there is still a chance to add your name to the list if you are interested in being considered for relay team selection in the future. The form will stay on the web site until Thurs. 12th and we will have our first training session on Fri evening. After this, specific relay training sessions for all club teams will be held on the 1st Friday of each month. All athletes who want to be considered for future teams, must fill out the form on the website declaring their interest and of course will need to attend the training sessions regularly.
It is particularly important that all members of the teams who have qualified for the National Relay Championships attend this training session!

FIT4YOUTH GROUP
In Sept.’14 we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past number of months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups. We do have some places available in this group at present.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 5
This takes place on Friday 27th March in Bray. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will be on our website www.greystonesac.com shortly and can be found under  Entry Forms at the top of the page. Entries will close on Thurs 26th at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday  , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

NATIONAL INDOORS
National Indoors take place on Sat/Sun 21st/22nd March and on Sat 28th March. Well done to all who have qualified for these. While we are trying to give as much time as possible to all events, we may not be able to cover every event each night and so qualified athletes, including relay teams, need to make a big effort to attend all sessions to ensure they get in as much practise as possible.

FIT4LIFE RACE
The next Fit4Life race will be held in Shanganagh Park on Thursday 2nd April. Check-in at 7pm, race at 7.30pm. This is open to everyone from 14 up and while there are prizes for each category and some spot prizes, it is very much  a participation event and a great way to start racing.  Refreshments afterwards!

COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Juniors & Seniors men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Entries to Theresa by Sunday 19th April.

Sun

08

Mar

2015

LEINSTER INDOORS

Another good day for GAC on Saturday 7th march, with gold for Alana Ryan in the U16 200m and for Amaris Borel in the U18 400m, Silver for Conor Dempsey in the U18 400m, for Richael Browne in the U17 High Jump, for Noah Daly in the U16 Long Jump, for Louis Lalor in the U16 60m hurdles and for Aodhan Daly in the U14 Long Jump and Bronze for Amaris Borel in the 60m hurdles.

A 5th place finish for Noah Daly in the U16 200m and fine performances also from many others, with Alan Gordon and Ronan Dempsey making the 60mH final U14 & Emma Quirk U13 and also James Nicholson & Joe Prendergast making the 600m final U13! Well done to our younger athletes, many making their first appearance at indoors and showing great promise for the future of our club! This all left us looking forward to another great day on Sunday!

The 4th and last day of the Leinster Indoors again saw top performances from GAC athletes with U 19 Katy Conroy taking bronze in the 8oom,18's Ara Freeman taking double gold in the 60m & 200m and setting a new Championship Best in the 60m, Conor Dempsey having a superb race to take silver in the 200m, Amaris Borel winning her 200m heat comfortably and Isobel Kenny making the 60m final after a great 200m run earlier in the day and 4th place finishes for Rosa Kirwan in both the 800m & the High Jump. Championship Best performance also from Richael Browne running a fantastic race to win the U17 800m. Alana Ryan added the U16 60m title to her 200m title from yesterday and only .01 separated Ben Mooney & Josh Pyper who took Gold & Silver in the u15 60m in one of the closest races of the day. Bronze as well for Ben in the Long Jump and a bronze for Alan Gordon in the U14 High Jump having finished 4th in the 60m hurdles yesterday. Aodhan Daly had 3 great runs in the U14 60m to progress through the heats & semi- finals, as did older brother Noah in the U16 and  Michael O'Shea in The U13 with Emma Quirk also getting to her semi-final U13.

Tue

24

Feb

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
What a great start we had over the first two days of the 2015 Leinster Indoor Championships. Fantastic running from all our GAC athletes with great results on Saturday from the Relays and distance events. Gold medals all round for our U18 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Isobel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman, U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney & U15 boys, Josh Pyper, Aodhan Daly, John O’Connor & Ben Mooney...

... Silver for our U17 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan  & U13 boys, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones & Michael O’Shea, with 4th place finishes for U16 girls, Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan & U14 boys, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Joe Dowd, Alan Gordon & James Nicholson.. Fantastic running from Cillian Browne finishing 3rd in the U19 1500m, Richael Browne finishing 3rd in the U17 1500m & Sophie Nicholson finishing 4th in the U15 800m!
Sunday proved to be another fantastic day for our club athletes competing for Slí Cualann at the Leinster Juniors. Following on from the previous day’s great results, brother & sister Cillian & Richael Browne went for gold today ,with Cillian winning the Junior 3K & Richael winning the 800m. Gold too for Amaris Borel in the 60m Hurdles, and Amaris also had a Season's Best in the 400m. Gold again for Ara Freeman in the 60m with a new Leinster Championship Best Performance and Ara also had a fourth place finish in the 200m. Silver medals for Susie McParland in her first track 3K and for Conor Dempsey in the 400m, a Bronze medal for Rosa Kirwan in the High Jump and another new 800m PB for Katy Conroy! What a top weekend's competition it was!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS


XC LEAGUE ROUND 4
This coming Friday 27th Feb. in Roundwood GAA centre. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website now and entries close on Thurs 26th Feb at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on this Friday 27th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


LEINSTER INDOORS DAYS 3&4
Days 3&4 of the Indoors are Sat/Sun 7th/8th March. Entries are all gone in and athletes are training hard for their specific events. While we are trying to give as much time as possible to all events, we may not be able to cover every event each night and so athletes need to make a big effort to attend all sessions to ensure they get practise at their chosen events.


LEINSTER DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
Day 4 of the Leinster Development Squad takes place from 11am – 1pm on this coming Sat. Feb 28th, in Morton Stadium, Santry. As always ,each day and is open to all athletes aged 12 years +. The squad will cost €5 per athlete each day. Please check-in at the stand in Morton Stadium from 10.30am. Events covered this weel will be Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump. This is a great opportunity for some extra coaching on your event!

AGM
Time again for our club AGM, which will be held in Shoreline Sports Park on Thurs 12th March at 8pm. This is open to all members and/or parents of juvenile members and is your opportunity to come along and find out how our club is run and what goes on in the background to keep it all running smoothly. It is also an opportunity to make suggestions that you think might improve things, or maybe even come on board and lend a hand on the club committee or one of our sub-commitees. Motions for the AGM should be e-mailed to theresa.kinane@gmail.com by Fri 6th March to allow time to send these out.

RELAY SQUADS
Following on from our success at the Indoor Relays, GAC intends to work on developing our relay squads for future events and so we will have specific relay training sessions for all club teams on the 1st Friday of each month. Athletes who wish to be considered for future teams need to fill out the form on the website declaring their interest and of course will need to attend the training sessions regularly.

REGISTRATIONS
These are all now completed and all training groups are re-organised for the coming season. Prospective new members should send us their details, to include Name & DOB, to ‘Contact us’ on our website. www.greystonesac.com

TRAINING GROUPS
While our aim is to promote athletics and foster a love of the sport in all our members, we would like to remind you all that Greystones AC is first and foremost a competative club and so athletes are expected to attend training regularly and take part in the various competitions that the club competes in during the year.
Athletes in Groups 1 & 2 agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions each week before moving to these groups and we expect this to be adhered to. This is necessary to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.30am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day. So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.

FIT4YOUTH GROUP
In Sept.’14 we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past number of months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups.

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues 3rd March from 7-8pm to facilitate those who need singlets etc.for the Leinster Championships. We now have new girls red shorts in stock in all sizes and also some ¾ length & full length red leggings. We also have a good number of secondhand spikes available as well as rain jackets, lightweight showerproof  trousers and club hoodies & T shirts. We also have some black Nike tracksuit bottoms reduced to just €10.

Once again we must remind you all that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, as we still have many who don’t bring suficient clothing. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents!

Sun

15

Feb

2015

WHAT A WEEKEND!

Fantastic running from all our GAC athletes this weekend in Athlone with great results on Saturday from the Leinster Indoor Relays in Athlone. Gold medals all round for our U18 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Isobel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman, U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney & U15 boys, Josh Pyper, Aodhan Daly, John O’Connor & Ben Mooney. Silver for our U17 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan  & U13 boys, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones & Michael O’Shea, with 4th place finishes for U16 girls, Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan & U14 boys, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Joe Dowd, Alan Gordon & James Nicholson.. Fantastic running from Cillian Browne finishing 3rd in the U19 1500m, Richael Browne finishing 3rd in the U17 1500m & Sophie Nicholson finishing 4th in the U15 800m!

Sunday proved to be another fantastic day for our club athletes competing for Slí Cualann at the Leinster Juniors. Following on from yesterday's great results, brother & sister Cillian & Richael Browne went for gold today ,with Cillian winning the Junior 3K & Richael winning the 800m. Gold too for Amaris Borel in the 60m Hurdles, and Amaris also had a Season's Best in the 400m. Gold again for Ara Freeman in the 60m with a new Leinster Championship Best Performance and Ara also had a fourth place finish in the 200m. Silver medals for Susie McParland in her first track 3K and for Conor Dempsey in the 400m, a Bronze medal for Rosa Kirwan in the High Jump and another new 800m PB for Katy Conroy! Well done to all our athletes and congratulations to team mate & training partner Tim Grummell on his gold in the Senior 1500m and to Terry Kavanagh with Silver medals in the Masters 400m & 800m. What a top weekend's competition it has been!

Thu

22

Jan

2015

FINAL REMINDER

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2015…………..FINAL REMINDER!
Club Registrations for 2015 have been taking place all this week during all training sessions and the final opportunity to renew club registrations is tomorrow Friday 23rd Jan. Athletes who have not renewed their registrations by Fri 23rd will be deemed to have left the club and their places will be offered to those on the waiting lists. Those who are not registered will not be on the check-in sheets next Tues evening and can no longer be admitted to the track, as they are no longer covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area during training times on Fri 23rd Jan. only, ie 6-8.30pm. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at other times as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. In an effort to get all records up to date again, all members need to fill out a new club form this year. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. Overdue weekly subs. should also be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2015 with a clean slate please.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We are already well into our competition for 2015, with several events already completed. Wel done to all who took part, report to follow. Next events are:
 Sun 25th Jan National Jun (1996-1999)/U23 (1993-95) Indoors, Athlone
 Tues 27th Jan. East Leinster Schools XC, Avondale
 Sat 31st Jan Round 2 Indoor League, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun 1st Feb AAI Games, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat 7th League Final, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun. 8th Feb Juvenile B XC , Tuam (1996-2004)
 Sun 8th Feb. Nat. Intermediate XC, Tuam
 Wed 11th Feb. Leinster Schools XC, Santry
 Sat 14th Feb. Leinster Indoor relays + walks, PV, TJ & 800/1500m races (born 1996-2004), Athlone 
 Sun. 15th Feb. Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters, Athlone on Feb 15th.
 Sat/Sun 21st/22nd Feb. National Senior Indoors, Athlone
The remainder of the Leinster events are on the 7th/8th March.


All athletes who intend to compete at any of the Juvenile events up to & including 8th March, should fill out the appropriate form, which is on our website, by Tues next 27th Jan. Indoor events are for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 and before) and athletes can enter up to 3 events + relays.  Don’t forget to list your events and availability for relays. Teams + subs will be sorted asap.  U11’s, ie born 2005 can compete in the relays. Leinster programme of events can be found on www.athleticsleinster.org

We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.


Wed

07

Jan

2015

Newsletter

NEWSLETTER 2015
Normal service resumes this week and we welcome back  all those we haven’t seen since before Xmas. We hope you all had a great time and wish everyone a Happy New Year! Small numbers at the sessions and runs over the holidays, but well done to those who put the effort in, it will pay dividends at the upcoming competitions!

AWARD WINNERS
Once again Greystones AC athletes are the recipients of both County & Provincial awards, with club athletes winning 3 of the 4 Juvenile awards & both Junior awards in Wicklow and all 3 awards in Leinster for 2014. Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Ben Jones for the U14-16 section, Cillian Browne for the U16-19 section & Amaris Borel & Padraig Lennon for the Junior section in Wicklow and to Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey for the Leinster Juvenile awards & David Coyle for the Senior award. The Leinster Awards will be presented this Sat 10th Jan in Carlow and the Wicklow Awards will be presented in Wicklow town on Fri. 16th Jan. Fit4Life prizes will also be presented that night and club members are welcome to come along and support our many winners!

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2015…………..VERY IMPORTANT!
All club athletes now need to renew their registration/insurance for 2015. Registrations will take place at training times for one week only and any athletes not registered at the end of that week can no longer be admitted to the track, as they will not be covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area on Tues 20th Jan. Wed 21th Jan & Fri 23rd Jan. during training times only. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at other times as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. In an effort to get all records up to date again, we will be asking members to fill out a new club form this year. These forms will be available at registration, but can be downloaded from our website, or collected at check-in next week, if you want to have it ready in advance and avoid long delays. Up to U19’s need to fill the Juvenile form and Parents/Guardians must sign the form at the back, but please do not sign your child’s name. If your child is too young to sign, just leave that line blank. Athletes born 1996 and before should use the adult form.  We would really appreciate it if anyone who’s details haven’t changed, would indicate this on their form. It will save a great deal of time double checking everything. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. Overdue weekly subs. should also be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2015 with a clean slate please.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We have a very busy year ahead and I have listed the first two months events below:
 Sunday 11th Jan.  Round 1 of the Indoor League, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat. 17th Jan. National Combined events, Athlone (2002 up)
 Sun 18th Jan Leinster XC for Jun (1996-1999) & Sen (1995 and before) Dunboyne
 Sun 18th Jan Leinster XC Relays in Dunboyne. Relays are for U12/14/16 (2015 ages, so born 2000-2005) Distances are short and we would love to have teams in all the age groups, so interested athletes should fill out the form on the website asap, as entries close very soon. We will let you know the teams at training on Tues. next  latest.
 Sun 25th Jan National Jun (1996-1999)/U23 (1993-95) Indoors, Athlone
 Tues 27th Jan. East Leinster Schools XC, Avondale
 Sat 31st Jan Round 2 Indoor League, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun 1st Feb AAI Games, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat 7th League Final, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun. 8th Feb Juvenile B XC , Tuam (1996-2004)
 Sun 8th Feb. Nat. Intermediate XC, Tuam
 Wed 11th Feb. Leinster Schools XC, Santry
 Sat 14th Feb. Leinster Indoor relays + walks, PV, TJ & 800/1500m races (born 1996-2004), Athlone 
 Sun. 15th Feb. Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters, Athlone on Feb 15th.
 Sat/Sun 21st/22nd Feb. National Senior Indoors, Athlone
The remainder of the Leinster events are on the 7th/8th March. All athletes who intend to compete at any of the Juvenile events should fill out the form, which will be on the website shortly, as we want to start event specific training right away. Indoor events are for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 and before) and athletes can enter up to 3 events + relays.  Don’t forget to list your events and availability for relays. Teams + subs will be sorted asap.

We also have to arrange our Sportshall event, which is always very popular with the younger athletes and always a fun day. Details will follow asap!

HELP NEEDED
Once again we have to appeal for help at the 6-7pm sessions. We have big groups at these sessions and have lost two coaches recently due to family circumstances. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out, even a little, please let us know.

We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

Tue

09

Dec

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to our GAC athletes who took part in the National XC in Santry on Sunday. Illness struck again this week with only four athletes, Megan O’Brien, Ben Jones, Susie McParland and Cillian Browne, making it to the start line. and some of those were still not back to top form. Great running as always with silver medals going to Ben Jones in the boys U15 and Susie McParland in the girls U17 on their silver medals with the Leinster teams.

CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE RUN
Many thanks to all who turned out for our Candlelight run and in particular a huge Thank You to those who put so much effort into setting out the candles & lighting them and to those who did the lovely baking. It couldn’t happen without you guys and the whole place looked amazing when it was all lit up! All the jars were collected next day & have been stored, as we hope to make this an annual event. We raised €285 for Aware, so thanks to all who contributed to this!

GROUP TRAINING SESSION
Athletes who participated in the athletes assessment day on Sat.15th Nov. are invited to a follow up session at the track on this coming Sat.13th Dec. from 10-12pm. This session will concentrate on sprints, starts, running technique etc. and will be beneficial to all. Your results from the previous day will be available and this will act as your baseline for our follow up sessions.  We also hope to organise a further session during the Xmas break. Details will be sent out to those concerned.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Just two events left to go this year:
Round 3 of the XC League is in Arklow Rugby Club this coming Friday evening 12th Dec. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8,10,12,14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is now on the website and entries close on Thurs.11th Dec. at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 12th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


County Senior & Junior XC will take place on this coming Sunday 14th Dec. in Shanganagh Park. First race at 10.30am. GAC would love to have teams in all 4 categories, so please let Theresa  know if you are available to run.


Please note that our Sunday morning run will take place in Shanganagh Park at 9.30am, that way we’ll be finished in time to cheer on our runners in the races!

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open tonight Tues 9th Dec. from 7-8pm, just in case Santa needs any club gear this year! We have singlets, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets and tracksuit bottoms. Some of the gear hasn’t arrived yet, but hoodies & T-shirts can be paid for tonight and will be available before we finish for Xmas. The girls shorts have not arrived and unfortunately we don’t have a delivery date for those. Samples of the new red leggings and sprint shorts are available to view and orders will be taken for these tonight. Leggings and sprint shorts only come in Sm, Med, Lg , there are no children's sizes available.

XMAS TRAINING TIMES
The 5-6pm group will finish next Tues evening 16th Dec. and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 19th. We will have a Xmas games evening to finish up and maybe a few Xmas treats! These groups will return to training on Tues. 6th Jan 2015.


Our 7-8.30pm groups will finish up on Tues 23rd Dec and will return to training on Fri 2nd Jan., as we have Indoors  and Schools XC  approaching fast for these age groups.


We remind you again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

Tue

25

Nov

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all our GAC athletes who took part in the National XC in Dundalk today. Great running from Eimear Ryan, Ella Shanley, Erin Howard & Emma Quirk in the U12's and from Sarah O'Connor, Sophie Nicholson & Katie Lawless in the U14's. Congratulations to Sarah on her gold medal with the Leinster team. Fantastic running from Ben Jones in the boys U14 with an individual medal for his 6th place finish and a bronze medal with the Leinster team. Congrats also to Susie McParland & Richael Browne on their silver medals with the County team and fine running from Irene Gomez Romro U16 and from Steven Diggin in the U18/Jun event.  Unfortunately we lost a few to illness this weekend, but hopefully most will be up and running again for the uneven ages in Santry on Sun. 7th Dec.

Very well done indeed to the club athletes/coaches who braved the awful weather conditions on Fri last to take part in Round 2 of the XC League in Rathdrum. Fantastic performances from all 15 who attended and had to battle mud, wind & rain for the points. They never gave up! Evan Quirk, Daniel Quirk, Tom McCarthy, Chase Scully, Louis Kelly, Troy Scully, Amber Scully, Georgia Hogan, Eimear Ryan, Rebecca Leahy, Sophie Dallaghan, Sally Shanley, Emma Quirk, Erin Howard, Ella Shanley.


Well done also to athletes & coaches alike who come out night after night and battled the tough training conditions we’ve been having recently. 

SPORTSHALL  REPORT  by Helen Dempsey
Great performance by the boys under 13, winning silver in both the 4 x1 lap ( Michael O Shea, Ronan Dempsey, Aodhan Daly, Alan Gordan) and the 4 x 2 lap ( Michael O Shea, Joe Prendergast, Aodhan Daly, Alan Gordan) relays. Joe Prendergast took home two gold in the 6 Lap Individual and the Speed Bounce and a silver in the Vertical Jump. Joe along with Alan Gordon gave a very impressive performance in the 8 Lap Paarlouf bringing home the silver. Alan took the silver in the Shott Putt as well as the bronze in the Vertical Jump. The 2 Lap Individual again saw a strong performance from the Greystones athletes, with Aodhan Daly and Ronan Dempsey taking Silver and Bronze respectively. The pair added to their cache taking Gold and Bronze respectively in the Standing Long Jump.  Aodhan went on to take the bronze in the Standing Triple Jump.


The under 9 girls were not to be outdone by the boys, taking bronze in both the Tunnel Relay (Ava Foley, Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Amber Scully) and 1 x Lap Relay (Ailbhe Gordon, Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Amber Scully). Ava Foley gave an outstanding performance throughout the day’s events, winning three silver medals in the 3 x Lap Individual, the 2 x Lap Individual and the Speed Bounce. Ailbhe Gordan gave a mighty throw to the Foam Javelin  to bring home the silver and along with Tara Casey took joint gold in the standing long jump. Tara went on to add a silver to her medal count for the 5 strides event.
The Portarlington Sportshall event was superbly organised and was a great day for athletes and parents.  A big thanks to Buntu for putting the athletes through their paces prior to the event.

COMMUNICATION (Please read & note)
Greystones AC uses it’s club Newsletters as our regular means of communication. All new members are asked to sign up for this when they first join, so if you are not getting them please go on to our website www.greystonesac.com and sign up right away. These Newsletters are also available on the front page of the website and on our Facebook page. The club also uses webtext to communicate information, but as we have limited characters for each text this is mainly used for reminders or urgent messages. Please note that while you are occasionally asked to use the webtext no. to sign up for an event, if you have a question that requires a same day reply you should send it by e-mail or text to Theresa on 0868635797. I cannot answer messages on the webtext no. from my mob. and so there may be a long delay before I can reply to you due to work/coaching  commitments. Likewise, if you send messages via our FB page there may be a long delay in getting a reply, as this is mainly used for information purposes and is not constantly monitored.

TRAINING
We train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE RUN -------------- EVERYONE WELCOME!
A reminder that we are holding our Candlelight Remembrance Run/Walk on Sun. 30th Nov. from 4.30pm. This year we are holding the event at Shoreline Sports Park , Charlesland. Starting at the front gates, our route will take us up the back road to the soccer pitch, around the pitch, down the winding hill behind reception, out through the side gate and across the carpark to the track gate, down the hill and around the roadway behind the track bringing us back out to the carpark beside Zoom, approx 1500m in all. The route will be candlelit all the way and hopefully will be as magical an experience as last year’s was. We will have refreshments afterwards in the Shoreline building. Once again there will be a bucket available for donations to Aware


We need jars for the candles, so if you have a jar or two lying around at home, could you please bring them to training this week. Jam/coffee jars or anything of that size will be greatly appreciated. We would also appreciate help from anyone who is free to lend a hand on Sunday!
Please note that if Sunday is wet we will not be able to go ahead, as the candles will go out!

ATHLETE ASSESSMENT DAY
We held a very successful Talent ID day for our juvenile  athletes on Sat. 15th Nov. We had over 60 athletes in attendance and all were put through a series of  tests for jumps, throws, sprints, distance and had their height, peak flow etc. measured. Th results are an indication of potential at various events and give the athletes a base line to work from. We intend to follow up from this with event specific workshops which will help the athletes to take up, or progress at, their chosen events.

 
Members of the Slí Cualann development squad have a similar event on Sat 28th Nov from 12-2pm in the Shoreline hall, with lunch afterwards.  Squad T-shirts have arrived and will be given out on the day!

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues 9th Dec. from 7-8pm, just in case Santa needs any club gear this year! We have singlets, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets and tracksuit bottoms. We have new girls shorts on order and we will also have new red leggings and sprint shorts available. Leggings and sprint shorts (Sm, Med, Lg only) can be viewed and ordered at training this week.


 

Sun

09

Nov

2014

Club News

CONGRATULATIONS
Tremendous running from our athletes at the first day of the Leinster XC in Avondale and some great results Congratulations to Ben Jones who won the championship in the boys U14 and to Sarah O’connor who finished in the medals in 9th place in the U14 girls. Both these athletes will represent Leinster at the All Ireland’s. We also have several athletes qualified for the All Ireland’s as members of  Wicklow County teams, as the U14 & 16 girls teams won gold and the U12 girls were 4th. Congratulations and good luck to our athletes for Nov 23rd in Dundalk: U12 Girls: Eimear Ryan, Erin Howard, Ella Shanley & Emma Quirk, U14 Girls: .Sarah O’Connor, Rachel Diggin, Katie Lawless & Sophie Nicholson, U14 boys: Ben Jones, U16 girls:  Susie McParland, Richael Browne, Hilary Gallagher, Irene Gomez Romero, U18 girls: Katy Conroy & U18 boys:  Steven Diggin & Cillian Browne.
A disappointingly small number of club athletes took part in the 3rd and final day of the Leinster XC  in Adamstown today Sun. 9th Nov. and unfortunately due to the small numbers, we were unable to fill teams in any age groups. Some great running from those who did come along with individual medals for Cillian Browne in the boys U19 & Ben Jones in the boys U15. Co. team gold for Susie McParland & Richael Browne on the girls U17 team and a qualification place for Megan O’ Brien on the girls U15 Co. team. Best of Luck to all in the Nationals.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 2
Friday 14th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is now on the website and entries close on Wed next 12th Nov. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 14th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS (for those who missed it last time)
Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. This should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off  and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walk around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

SPORTSHALL
We are presently selecting teams for a Sportshall competition on Sun. 23rd Nov. in Portarlington. This is open to Boys & Girls U9 - U13 (born 2002 – 2007) If you are available & interested in taking part, please let us know asap on 0877730000 . We hope to enter teams in all categories.

TRAINING GROUPS
While our aim is to promote athletics and foster a love of the sport in all our members, we would like to remind you all that Greystones AC is first and foremost a competative club and so athletes are expected to attend training regularly and take part in the various competitions that the club competes in during the year.
Athletes in Groups 1 & 2 agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions each week before moving to these groups and we expect this to be adhered to. This is necessary to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day. So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.


FIT4YOUTH GROUP
This Sept. we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past few months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups.

ATHLETE ASSESSMENT DAY
We are holding a Talent Identification Day for our juvenile athletes born 2004 or before, who intend to compete in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone in March 2015.  If you are interested, come along and give each event a go and discover where your talents really lie. We also hope to have a Specialist in Steeple Chase there on the day, to coach those athletes eligible to enter the Steeple Chase (born 1999 or before).
Date: Sat 15/11/14, Time: 10-12 (reg at 09:45), Venue: Shoreline Track, Fee: €2 per athlete
Eligibility: Born 2004 and before and competing in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone in March 2015.
If you wish to attend please text your name and dob to 0877730000 by Wed. 12th November latest.
Members of the Slí Cualann development squad will have a similar event on Sat 28th Nov from 12-2pm in the Shoreline hall, with lunch afterwards.

REMEMBRANCE RUN
Last year we held a Candlelight Remembrance Run/Walk in Kindlestown Wood which received tremendous support and we have been asked by many if we would repeat it this year. As November is traditionally the month that  we remember those we have lost, we will hold  a similar event on Sun. 30th Nov. from 4.30pm. Due to the narrow road, parking and traffic control were a problem last year, so this year we will hold the event at Shoreline Sports Park , Charlesland. Starting at the front gates, our route will take us up the back road to the soccer pitch, around the pitch, down the winding hill behind reception, out through the side gate and across the carpark to the track gate, down the hill and around the roadway behind the track bringing us back out to the carpark beside Zoom, approx 1500m in all. The route will be candlelit all the way and hopefully will be as magical an experience as last year’s was. We will have refreshments afterwards in the Shoreline building. Once again there will be a bucket available for donations to Aware.

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS
We arranged to give out Registration cards for 2014 on Tues. 21st Oct. but very few bothered to collect them. As we do not want to give these cards to children and risk having them lost, we will try again on Tues. next 11th Nov. between 6.30 & 7.30pm and we ask that you please come and pick them up. There is a hotel voucher, courtesy of Athletics Ireland, with each card. Cards for athletes who registered in Sept. have arrived, but later registrations are still not here.



Thu

16

Oct

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

A LENGTHY ONE, BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AS IT CONTAINS A LOT OF  IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR  CLUB ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

WICKLOW XC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Fantastic results from both Sunday’s at the Wicklow XC Championships, despite a very big percentage of our club athletes failing to attend. On day 1 we had barely 20% of our athletes in attendance, but despite this we got  8 individual medals and 18 top ten finishes in the U12-18’s , with Gold team medals for all 4 teams that we managed to fill at U12 & U14. We had great performances in the U8-10 races, with 7 top ten finishes and we had the winner of the Novice ladies. Congratulations to our County Champions James Nicholson, Ben Jones, Troy Scully, Katy Conroy, Cillian Browne & Carol Costello, to silver medal winner Joe Prendergast and bronze winner Sophie Nicholson and well done to all who ran so well.
On day 2 we did a little better, but not much, with 24% attending and again we saw fantastic running from those who did come with County Championships going to Eimear Ryan, Troy Scully, Steven Diggin & Cillian Browne & silver medals to Sarah O’Connor & Katy Conroy and once again we had 18 top ten finishers. A few more teams this time and lots of team medals, with gold for U11 Girls, Silver for U13, U15 & U17 girls and 4th place to U13 boys.  Once again great performances from our younger athletes in the U7-9 groups and great to have an Intermediate men’s team out, who finished 4th overall, with 2 members in the top 10.  Great running from everyone who took part, but disappointing for all the coaches who put so much time and effort in, to see so many not taking part on either day.
Full results from both days are now on the sidebar of our website home  page.

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
We are now looking forward to the first of the Leinster Championships which will take place here in our own Co. Wicklow, once again in beautiful Avondale. This is the even ages event ( same course as Oct 5th) for athletes from U12-18 (U11’s can move up) and also for Novice & Masters athletes. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will take advantage of home turf  and turn out to run for Club & County on Sunday 26th Oct. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is Sunday 19th. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out. There will be open U10’s races for girls & boys on the day, so anyone interested in taking part should enter on our website form.


The uneven ages event for U11-19 (U10’s can move up) and the Intermediate adults will take place in Adamstown, Co. Wexford on Sun. 9th Nov. To avoid confusion, entry form for this will only go up when the even ages comes down.

LEAGUE ROUND 2 : Friday 14th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will go up after the Leinster events close, to avoid confusion.. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 14th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS
Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. This should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off  and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walk around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

LEINSTER PERFORMANCE SQUAD
Congratulations to GAC athletes Amaris Borel, Ara Freeman, Richael Browne, Rosa Kirwan, Isobel O’Grady, Cillian Browne, Padraig Lennon, Conor Dempsey, and Lorcan Lalor who were selected for the Leinster performance squad. They had their first session last Sat. in Santry with the second one coming up on Nov 1st and covering all events.  A developmental squad, open to all athletes aged 12 yrs +, runs on the same day from 11am-1pm. The Nov 1st session for this one covers Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump and costs €5.
 
PLEASE READ AND REMIND ATHLETES:
We are asking once again that athletes make sure to use the toilets before coming down to the track, as it causes huge problems if a coach has to leave a group to bring them up during the session. On this note, we remind athletes that the toilets and changing rooms must be left as we find them and not in a mess. Recently we have had a lot of tissue etc. thrown about and water everywhere, coinciding with our club’s use of the facility, and this needs to stop. Shoreline have the right to refuse access to groups who do not respect the track and other facilities. Please remember that the building is not our club house, it is a business premises and athletes are asked not to gather in the reception area or just outside the front door, as this interferes with other customers access. On wet evening we will check-in in the bottom changing room on the right, so please go directly there, check in and then head to the track, as we do not have enough space to keep athletes indoors.. You may leave your bags here if you wish.


We remind you once again that all athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should  wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!


Athletes who may need an inhaler, should always make sure to bring it with them. You should not share other athletes inhalers, as they may not be the same medication/dosage as yours.


Athletes who are not fit to train due to injured or illness should not attend training sessions. Athletes who arrive and are not fit to train will be sent home, as it is far too cold to stand around on the track waiting for the session to end.


Groups 1 & 2 are required  to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their groip. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.


So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.


Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on next Tues.21st Oct. from 4.30-5pm and again from 7-8pm only. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have Foam Rollers on sale at a very reasonable €14 if anyone wants one and a small number of secondhand spikes.

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS
Registration cards for 2014 arrived recently and we will have them available on Tues 21st Oct.also. Two club members will hand these out, to parents and older athletes only, between 6-7pm. They will be in the room behind the reception area in the Shoreline building. As the girls will need to leave for training just before 7pm, please collect before this time. There are a lot of cards and it may be busy, so please allow for this. Cards for Little Athletics can be collected in the shop. Cards for recently registered athletes will not be available yet.

Thu

25

Sep

2014

XC League

Directions to The Murrough for XC League this Friday.
Approaching Wicklow from Rathnew  take the left on new road (before bridge), signposted Port.
Go approx 1K along this road over the bridge and the car park is on the left….

Distances for Juvenile League  as agreed at last Co Board meeting are as follows:
U/8    400M
U/10    800m
U/12    1200M
U/14/15    1600M
Toddlers Race we usually go for 50m.

Sun

21

Sep

2014

Club Newsletter

AS THE CLUB IS RUN ENTIRELY BY VOLUNTEERS WHO ALL HAVE DAY JOBS, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO  CONTACT EACH MEMBER INDIVIDUALLY ABOUT COMPETITIONS AND OTHER CLUB INFORMATION, SO WE ASK THAT YOU PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ OUR REGULAR  NEWSLETTERS  AS THEY CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

TRAINING
We are back in action for three weeks now and are settling into our new training regimes. These first weeks back are always hard, as we work on getting fitness levels back up and getting ready for the rapidly approaching Cross Country (XC). Regular attendance at training will help you get fit quickly and will make it easier for you to keep up with your group.


All athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should  wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. Children will not be allowed to train in jeans, sandals or street shoes. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!


Groups 1 & 2 are required  to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.


So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor indeed, but we expect to see a huge improvement from here out.


We take this opportunity to remind everyone that athletes who disappear for over 3 weeks without letting us know why, (ie illness, injury etc.) are deemed to have left the club and their places are offered to those on the waiting list. We will always hold the place for an injured/ill athlete and once we are made aware it is not necessary to notified us at every session.


For Insurance reasons, parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
We are now looking forward to a great Cross Country (XC) season which is coming up very quickly indeed, with the Wicklow XC League begins this coming Fri evening on the Murrough in Wicklow Town.
ROUND 1 : The Murrough, Wicklow Friday 26th September. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm
This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. There will be a toddlers race if required U/6.   Certs for all finishers at League events.
Entry form is now up on the website  and anyone who wants to run this Fri in the Murrough will need to complete it by 6pm Thurs 25th latest.  Athletes must be registered to compete. Cerates to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training this Friday, as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


County Wicklow XC Championships, (separate events to the league), will take place on the first two Sundays of October. Both events are in Rathdrum this year, exact venues TBC later. The even ages on Oct. 5th and uneven ages on Oct. 12th, both starting at 11am. All registered athletes are eligible to compete in all competitions, as athletes can move up one age group at XC. We will be trying to fill teams for these events, so hope to see everyone making a big effort to attend.. Athletes up to U10 all receive certs for completing their events. Form for Oct 5th will be up shortly.

DAY TRIP
The 2013/2014 club trip for good attendance took place on Sat 20th & Sun 21st Sept. and we are delighted to report that everyone had a really good time at Jumpzone on both days. Well done to everyone who made the 60% attendance and don’t forget that we are already counting for next year. All attendance’s. are counted and scored out of the full number of training nights for the group, with additional points added for attending competitions. If you regularly miss one night a week or miss a week here and there, it is very easy to drop below the qualifying score, so keep your attendance up and add those points for competing, to guarantee making next year’s trip.

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues.30th Sept. from 6-8pm. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have Foam Rollers on sale at a very reasonable €14 if anyone wants one.

Sat

06

Sep

2014

CLUB NEWS

WELCOME BACK
A big welcome back to all of our athletes and if the first week’s training is anything to go by we can look forward to a great XC season. We had a huge turnout on both Tues and Wed, but attendance in some groups was rather poor on Fri evening. Hopefully this was just due to tiredness after the first week back at school and we anticipate a big improvement in future weeks. 


To those athletes who didn’t make it back this week, we would appreciate it if you could let us know whether you are returning or not, as we still have waiting lists on most age groups.


Don’t forget our Sunday runs are back on and are a very important part of the training week. This Sun. we are meeting in Djouce woods at 10.15, ready to run by 10.30am.

REGISTRATION NIGHT
We will be holding a registration night for all new athletes on Tues 16th Sept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be collected between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms are available at check-in each week and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ It would be very helpful if you could arrive with the forms filled out, as it really helps speed everything up and prevents queues forming.

ATTENDANCE TRIP
This year’s trip for good attendance will be to Jumpzone in Sandyford and has been arrange to take place over the weekend of the 20th/21st Sept  We have had to arranged two separate days, as there are restrictions on the numbers they can cater for.
Qualification for the trip requires 60% attendance from Sept to May. Points have been awarded for each training night attended since Sept 2013, with bonus points for every competition attended.

 

The list of qualified athletes has been posted in the sidebar on our website.  Qualified athletes who wish to go on the trip need to let us know right away, as we need to confirm numbers asap.

FIT4YOUTH
A new running programme for 12-17 yr olds begins on Mon 22nd Sept, and sessions will be held on Mon & Thurs evenings from 5-6pm and will cost just €2 per session. This programme will offer a chance to Get Fit, Have Fun, Make New Friends & Feel Good. It will begin with an introduction to running & will go on to offer an opportunity to try out throws and jumps, for those who might be interested in these. You will be encouraged to run with others of  similar ability & fitness levels and you will progress at your own pace without pressure. There will be options to go on and join the athletic club later on, for those who might want to.
So come along and get fit in a non-competitive environment, you just need runners and comfortable clothes!

 

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member, but members get a reduced rate. Our Sunday morning run is for club members, but you are more than welcome to come along for a trial session before joining.


HELP NEEDED
Once again we must appeal for help with coaching and with checking-in the athletes.  A few coaches are no longer available to help at the 6-7pm sessions so we are appealing to anyone who is free to help out either Tues or Fri to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797.
Last year a number of parents took on the roll of checking in the athletes at the track gate and this is a fantastic help to the coaches, who can then get on with the training session. Unfortunately several have given up and the coaches are back trying to multi-task, especially on Friday’s. If anyone is free to give 20-30mins a week to help with this, please let us know.  It is an invaluable help and makes a huge difference to the smooth running of our training sessions.

Tue

19

Aug

2014

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS to each and every athlete who competed over the recent Track and Field season. It has been a terrific season for our club where we finished in top spot on the medals table on ARCU Rankings. We have 8 National Championship wins including two doubles, with Alana Ryan taking both the 100m & 200m titles U15 and Ben Jones taking the 800m & 1500m titles U14, Amaris Borel taking the 300mH U17, Padraig Lennon the 3K steeplechase U19, Martha Hassett the Pole Vault U18 and newcomer Ben Mooney the 200m U14. Fantastic silver medal performances from Richael Browne in the 800m, Ara Freeman 100m U17 and Padraig Lennon 1500m U19, and bronze for our other newcomer Josh Pyper in the 200m U14.


The Girls U 17 team Alannah O’Carroll, Amaris Borel, Ara Freeman & Richael Browne took the bronze medals in the National Relays and Ara & Amaris were joined by Aoife Conroy & Isobel Kenny on the junior team to win the silver medals.


The pairs event saw Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally win gold in the 60m U9 and Ailbhe Gordon & Ava Foley  win bronze in the Turbo Javelin U9.


We had a great day at the National ‘B’ Championships, when we brought home a barrow load of medals: U12: Michael O'Shea gold in 60m & silver in Long Jump (LJ), Ellen McNally gold in LJ, Emma Quirk silver in 60m, Erin Howard 4th in High Jump (HJ), Liam Phibbs 5th in 600m. U13: Aodhan Daly gold in 80m & LJ, Ronan Dempsey silver in LJ & bronze in 80m, Alan Gordon gold in HJ & silver in Shot Putt (SP) U14: Sarah O'Connor gold in 800m, Katie Lawless 4th in 800m, U15: Troy Scully silver in 800m & HJ, Rachel Purcell silver in SP, Catherine Casey bronze in HJ & 4th in LJ, Rachel Casey 4th in SP. Niamh Conroy 4th in 100m.


A fantastic win for Amaris Borel in the schools 300mH saw her get her first Irish Vest this summer. Amaris went on to produce an outstanding performance in Wales to win the International event.


We ended the season with 3 of our athletes, Richael Browne, Ara Freeman & Alana Ryan, getting selected as members of the Irish Developmental Squad for the Celtic Games, giving them their first taste of International competition also.


Many of our older athletes were members of the Slí Cualann teams who competed in the League again this year. this year it was the girls team who made the final and had a fantastic competition on the day, missing out on the bronze medals by half a point and the silver by one point. Well done to club members Amaris Borel, Aoife Conroy, Ara Freeman, Carol Costello, Connie Thiel, Isobel Kenny, Isobel O’Grady, Katy Conroy, Martha Hassett and their team mates Claire Earls, Denise O’Shea and Laura Kavanagh.


We congratulate and thank all of our coaches who worked so hard and committed so much time and energy to helping our athletes with their achievments. We also thank them and all of the parents for the many long days spent at various track throughout the season supporting all of our athletes so well. At least they were mostly nice sunny days this year!

RETURN TO TRAINING
All groups return to training on Tues Sept 2nd . With such a short time from our return date until the Cross Country (XC) season starts, it is crucial that athletes who intend to compete start getting fit ahead of our return. This is easily achieved by doing short runs every other day and gradually increasing the time over the next couple of weeks. Start with 10 mins every second day this week and gradually increase this to15mins next week. This will help you to return ‘fit to train’ so that we don’t have to spend these few precious weeks of training just getting fit.

VERY IMPORTANT
While the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups finished training on Tuesday 31st June, the 7-8.30pm groups continued right through July and into early August. However many of the members of these groups have not been seen since long before this date. As we are now trying to organise the training groups for our return in Sept, we are asking that all athletes, who have not attended for a prolonged period of time, but who wish to return to training, would TEXT US on 0877730000 ASAP, otherwise we will not have a place for you in Sept. As well as trying to find spaces to move athletes up the groups, we also have long lists of people in most age groups waiting to join the club.

ATTENDANCE TRIP
With so much happening throughout the summer, we didn’t get a chance to organise the Day Trip for those who have an average of 60% attendance from Sept to June. We are now in the process of organising this event for early Sept. Details of the trip and a list of those who are eligible to attend will be sent out by newsletter and also posted on our website over the next couple of days. Those who are eligible will need to let us know if they are coming asap, so that we can confirm numbers. As numbers are large we will be dividing the athletes (by age group) into two different trips this year

2013 AWARDS
We didn’t get around to organising our 2013 awards night either this year. We are also working on this during our short break and hope to hold it during Sept. as well. Please note that this will be for ‘Attendance, Attitude, Achievement’ during 2013 only and will not include the Indoors last Spring or the recent T&F. These will count towards the 2014 awards.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also 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.

Sun

29

Jun

2014

Leinster Championships!

Fantastic weekend at the Leinster Championships with GAC athletes winning 9 Gold, 8 Silver, 6 Bronze and two 4th places.
Results to hand:
U19; Katy Conroy 3rd in 800m

Isobel O'Grady 2nd in TJ
U18: Cillian Browne 2nd in 1500m & 3K
Lorcan Lalor 2nd in 400mH
U17: Ara Freeman 1st in 100m & 200m
Amaris Borel 1st in 300mH & 400m
Conor Dempsey 2nd in 400m & 300mH and 3rd in 100m & 200m
U16: Richael Browne 3rd in 800m & 4th in HJ & 5th in the 1500m.
U15: Alana Ryan 1st in 100m & 200m
Louis Lalor 2nd in 250mH
Noah Daly 3rd in LJ

Aoife McTague 4th in 2K Walk
U14: Ben Jones 1st in 800m & 1500m
Ben Mooney 1st in 200m
Josh Pyper 2nd in 200m
Sophie Nicholson 3rd in 800m & 4th in HJ
Some great performances from several of our other competing athletes also, in particular from Troy Scully in the U15 800m & 1500m finishing 5th in both with new PB's and also from Sarah O'Connor in the U14 1500m.
Well Done to all the athletes and coaches!

Thu

12

Jun

2014

RESCHEDULED JAMBOREE

Athletics Ireland are hosting a series of Little Athletics Jamborees around the country to showcase Little Athletics as they have a new sponsor on board. This is a Sportshall Competition for all athletes from age 5 up to U12’s, with fun indoor games and activities and also relays and will largely be of a non-competitive nature. Just something for the kids to have some fun with. It will be held in the Hall in Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones and has been rescheduled to Monday June 23rd from 7.00-9.00pm. Form will be up shortly and closing date is Thurs.19th May, as they need to get an idea of numbers.

 

Don't forget that entries for the U14-19 Leinster Championships close today! No late entries accepted.

Wed

11

Jun

2014

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
It continues to be a really busy time for GAC with non stop competition at all levels and there are still many more to go, so no let up for a while yet. We congratulate all the athletes who have competed so well over recent weeks and commend everyone on their great results:


At the All Ireland Schools: In the Senior boys, Stephen Rice won Gold in the Javelin, Padraig Lennon won Silver in the Steeplechase and Martha Hassett finished 5th in the Pole Vault. In the Intermediate Girls Amaris Borel won Silver in the 300mH and in the Junior Girls, Alana Ryan won Silver in the 200m & Bronze in the 100m. Great results all round and several PB's as well.


At the Leinster Relays: Girls U16, Richael Browne, Alana Ryan, Alannah O’Carroll, Rebecca Murphy won Gold & Boys U15 Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Ben Jones, Troy Scully won Silver. Girls U15 4th, Girls U13 4th, Boys U9 4th


At he Leinster Juniors:Aoife Conroy won bronze in 400mH, Ara Freeman won bronze in 100m & 4th in 200m, with Amaris Borel 5th. Cillian Browne won gold in the 3K and Padraig Lennon won silver.


At the Leinster Pairs: Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally won silver in the U9 Boys Long Jump & bronze in the 60m, Ava Foley & Ailbhe Gordon won silver in the U9 Girls Turbo Javelin


At the Leinster U12/13 Championships: James Nicholson won bronze in the Long Jump & Emma Quirk was 4th in the 60m hurdles qualifying for All Irelands.


At the Wicklow Schools: tremendous results and lots of medals for so many GAC athletes,( too numerous to list),  at both the Schools Invitational & the Cumann Na mBunscoil events.


At the Leinster Seniors/Masters: David Coyle won bronze in the Senior 1500m & Carol Costello won silver in the M2 800m.

NEW SQUAD
Congratulations to GAC athletes Amaris Borel, Richael Browne, Aoife Conroy, Alison Dawson,Claire Foley, Ara Freeman, Alannah O’Carroll, Rachel Purcell, Alana Ryan, Cillian Browne, Noad Daly, Conor Dempsey, Lorcan Lalor, Louis Lalor, Jamie lennon, Padraig Lennon, Stephen Rice, who achieved the standard and have been invited on to the newly formed Slí Cualann developmental squad for athletes aged 14-22yrs. It is a great priviledge to be invited on to this squad and we encourage all of you to attend the sessions and make the most of the opportunities being given to you.  We hope to see more of our athletes make the standards for this squad during the present T&F season.

COMBINED EVENTS FOR U13’s
Leinster are including an Introduction to Combined Events to next Sat programme in Lourdes Stadium Drogheda. Open to athletes born in 2002,  athletes compete in 3 events,  LJ, 200m and Shot Putt. Entries will be accepted on the day of competition.

COMPETITIONS
A busy time ahead again with:
Date 14/06/14:U14 up Combined events Sat 14th June in Drogheda
Date 18/06/14: Fit4Life + BBQ on Wed 18th June in Roundwood
Date 21/06/14: National U 9/10/11 Pairs  in Tullamore
Date 22/06/14: Round 2 of the  National League in Santry
Date 24/06/14: Bray Runners Invitational in Greystones ( Limited numbers)
Date 28& 29/06/14:U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore
Date 05/07/14: National Juvenile Relays in Tullamore
Date 06/07/14: National Juniors in Cork IT
Date 12/07/14; National Juvenile Developmental Events in Tullamore
Date 13/07/14: National Juvenile Day 2 in Tullamore
Date 19 & 20/07/14: National Seniors in Santry
Date 26 & 27/07/14: National Juvenile Day 3 & 4 in Tullamore
Date 02/08/14: National Combined Events in  Tullamore
Date 03/08/14: National League Final in Tullamore
Date 09/08/14: Celtic games in Santry
Date 10/08/14: National Masters in Tullamore

 Entry forms are now up for:
Date 28& 29/06/14: U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore.

Forms going up shortly for:
Date 24/06/14: Bray Runners Invitational in Greystones ( Limited numbers)
Date 06/07/14: National Juniors in Cork IT
Date 12/07/14: National Juvenile Developmental Events in Tullamore
Please watch out for these forms and make sure you don’t miss the closing dates, as we are no longer able to do late entries to these events.

BRAY RUNNERS INVITATIONAL
The Bray Runners Annual Invitational Event will take place on the Greystones track on Tues 24th June. Each club is allowed a limited number of participants to ensure that the programme can be completed in the time available. An application form will be on our club website shortly for those who are interested in taking part. Closing date will be Wed 18th June and a list will be published on the website by Fri 20th. As numbers are limited, (and in the interest of fair play) we will prioritise athletes who regularly travel to competitions and will then fill any remaining places on a first come, first served basis.


Please note that there will be no training on Tues 24th June, due to this competition!

CLUB SHOP
Our club shop wil be open on Tues 17th June from 7-8.30pm. Singlets in all sizes available. Also Hoodies, T- shirts, shorts and lightweight  waterproof jackets & leggings.

SUMMER BREAK
The 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups will finish training on Tuesday 31st June with an evening of Fun Games for all! We will facilitate the small number who are competing the following week, at the later training times. The 7-8.30pm groups will continue training into early August as they continue to have competitions until then. We will then take a short break and all groups will return to training on the first Tuesday of September.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member. these will continue throughout the summer! 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.

Fri

16

May

2014

Greystones AC Teams for Leinster Relays Sat 24th May



U9 Girls: Keelin McGuire, Ava Foley, Amber Scully, Jill Shanley

U11 Girls: Ruby Dowd, Sophie Dallaghan, Maebh O’Neill, Eimear Ryan

U12 Girls: Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally, Nell Berney, Erin Howard

U12 Girls: Ella Shanley, Molly Crowe, Eimear Ryan, Ruby Dowd

U13 Girls: Danielle Crowe, Megan O’Brien, Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally

U13 Girls: Jenny Marshall, Alice O’Neill, Nell Berney, Erin Howard

U14 Girls: Katie Lawless, Aislinn Smyth, Sophie Nicholson, Sarah O’Connor, Rachel Diggin

U14 Girls: Jessica McDonald, Ella Curtis, Danielle Crowe, Megan O’Brien, Alice O’Neill, Jenny Marshall

U15 Girls: Alana Ryan, Niamh Conroy, Katie Lawless, Sophie Nicholson, Aislinn Smyth

U15 Girls: Sinead Mahon, Megan Healy, Etain Pegman, Rachel Diggin, sarah O’Connor

U16 Girls: Alana Ryan, Richael Browne, Alannah O’Carroll, Rebecca Murphy, Niamh Conroy

U9 Boys: Rory McNally, Frank O’Shea, Turlough McCracken Browne, Daniel Quirk

U10 Boys: Ed Nicholson, Chase Scully, Davey Kennedy Whelan, Daniel Quirk

U12 Boys: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Liam Phibbs, Michael O’Shea, Danny Jones

U13 Boys: Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Michael O’Shea

U13 Boys: Joe Dows, Jay Cafolla, Michael O’Shea, Danny Jones, Liam Phibbs

U14 Boys: Ben Jones, David Phibbs, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey

U14 Boys: John O’Connor, David Prendergast, Oscar Cafferky, Joe Dowd

U15 Boys: Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Troy Scully, Ben Jones, David Phibbs

 

This is not the running order


Mon

12

May

2014

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
The last few weeks have been extremly busy for GAC with non stop competition at all levels and it is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
If you didn’t make it down to the track on Sat 10th, you missed out on an absolutely top class competition, which saw many of the top athletes in the country competing here in our town. We witnessed an Irish Record being set in the Men’s 300mH and saw a number of top athletes achieve qualifying standards for upcoming European and World events.


Well done to our young GAC athletes who took on the challenge of competing with seniors in a very high calibre competition. This event is an opportunity for athletes to test their metal against athletes they would not normally meet as a juvenile. It affords our young athletes a “no pressure” arena to gain more experience. Results speak for themselves, with Ara Freeman winning her 100m in 12.87 and clocking 26.46 for the 200m, Amaris Borel clocking 67.37 for the 400mH, Conor Dempsey clocking 54.19 for 400m and in the 800m we had Jamie Lennon with 2.03.14, Richael Browne with 2.25.30 and Aoife Conroy 2.37.10. Tremendous running in far from ideal conditions. We are very proud of all of them!


The previous weekend we had the Wicklow County Championships, where GAC athletes dominated many of the events and produced many fine performances throughout the competition. Club athletes put their hearts and souls into the weekends events and took home barrow loads of medals, with lots and lots of PB's and top class performances! Well done to each and every athlete who came out and competed and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who looked after our athletes and who ensured that this was an excellent Championships for everyone.
It was great to see so much red & white around the track, but it may surprise many to know that we still had well under 50% attendance. Full results on www.athleticswicklow.com  shortly.
A huge amount of preparation work goes into the organisation and set up for events like these and it would not happen without the very dedicated and committed people who put so much time, effort and behind the scenes work into it all.  Many thanks to all involved.


Many of our club athletes were out competing for their schools in the week leading up to these championships and there were a host of great results here also. Those we know about are as follows: Seniors: Padraig Lennon gold in 2K Steeplechase, Cillian Browne gold in 1500m, Katy Conroy silver in 800m, Jamie Lennon set a new PB in 800m,  Intermediate: Amaris Borel gold in 400mH & silver in 300m, Richael Browne silver in 800m & bronze in 1500m, Ara Freeman silver in 100m & 200m, Steven Diggin silver in 1500m, U16: Alannah O’Carroll silver in 200m, Junior: Alana Ryan gold in 100m & 200m, Noah Daly gold in LJ, Rachel Purcell 4th in Jav. Minor:Lorcan Lalor silver in LJ and hurdles, Troy Scully bronze in 1500m.


Greystones AC athlete Niamh Kearney continues her medal winning performances in the US where she took bronze in the 3K steeplechase in 10.38 on Sat and followed up on Sun with a 4.38 in the 1500m. This helped Niamh’s college to a 2nd place finish overall in the Sunbelt Conference. Niamh also picked up a prestigious award from Georga State University  recently. Well done Niamh!

FUNDRAISER
There will be no training next Friday evening as we are holding a fundraising event with the emphasis on FUN. One of our own athletes, Ellie Hartnett, who joined GAC when she was 7 yrs old and who is now studying Physiotherapy in UCD, is heading off to India to spend her summer holidays helping poor children out there. Not only does she have to pay her own expenses, she also has to raise funds for the project. Ellie and her friends ( many are club members) will host a fun event next Fri on the track. Check-in will open at 5.30pm, teams will be arranged and the fun will start. It will be all fun events, Obstacle relays, Wellie throw, Bean bag war, Backwards t-shirt races etc……… fun, fun, fun!  This event is open to everyone (you don’t have to be a club member) all ages and the entry fee is just €3, which goes to the charity. There will be a bucket available also if anyone would like to make a donation. Please come along and support this event!

 

JAMBOREE
Athletics Ireland are hosting a series of Little Athletics Jamborees around the country to showcase Little Athletics as they have a new sponsor on board. This is a Sportshall Competition for up to U12’s, with fun indoor games and activities and relays which will largely be of a non-competitive nature. Just something for the kids to have some fun with. It will be held in the Hall in Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones on Monday May 26th from 7.30-9.30pm. Form will be up shortly and closing date is Fri. 16th May, as they need to get an idea of numbers.


COMPETITIONS
A busy time ahead with
Date 15/05/14: Primary Schools Invitational event on Thursday next 15th in Greystones
Date 15.05/14: Fit4Life on Thurs evening 15th in Greystones
Date 14 & 17/05/14:Leinster schools are on Wed 14th & Sat 17th in Santry
Date 18/05/14: Round 1 of the National League is in Waterford on Sun 18th
Date 24/05/14:Leinster Relays and the Leinster Juniors, in Greystones on Sat 24th May.
Date 26/05/14:Athletics Jamboree, (Up to U12) Mon 26th May in Shoreline Leisure Centre, Greystones

Entry forms are now up for:
  Date 01/06/14: Senior/Masters on Sun June 1st in Tullamore
  Date 02/06/14: U9-U15 Team event on Mon June 2nd in Tullamore.
Entries close on Wed next 14th May. We need teams of four for the ‘Team Event’ This is an excellent competition and fosters a great team spirit, so we would love to see lots of names going down in order that we can fill the teams. 

Forms going up shortly for:
Date 07/06/14: U9/10/11 pairs and U12/13 Championships Sat 7th June in Tullamore
Date 14/06/14: U14 up Combined events Sat 14th June in Drogheda
Date 28& 29/06/14: U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore
Please watch out for these forms and make sure you don’t miss the closing dates, as we are no longer able to do late entries to these events.

TRAINING
As notified in previous newsletters, athletes who go missing for up to 3 weeks without contacting us to explain why, are deemed to have left the club and their places are given to those on the waiting list. Consequently several names have now been removed from the check-in sheets and these athletes will have to go back on our waiting list if they wish to return. If you have not attended for over 3 weeks, you will no longer be on the list and cannot be admitted to training, as places have been filled. We are constantly under pressure with requests from potential new members to join and these are currently on the waiting list.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also 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.

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 child.

Sun

11

May

2014

Letter from Ellie re fundraiser!

Hello ,

 
This is an email informing you about the Fun Sports Day which will be held in Charlesland Sports and Recreation Park on Friday the 16th May (Thats's next Friday).
 
My name is Ellie Hartnett and I will be hosting this as a Charity Fundraiser  event in aid of my trip to South India this summer. I will be travelling as part of UCD Volunteers Overseas Programme. All proceeds will go directly towards the project. 
 
While in India I will be working as a student Physiotherapist in the local hospital . Here I will be treating children from the ages of 2 - 17 who are suffering with physical disabilities , such as cerebral palsy. I will also be working closely with the Care and Share  Charity , who are a local charity involved in teaching, recreation, aid and construction work in the local orphanage. As part of my role with this organisation I will be teaching in the Kindergarden there and will be obliged to carry out various construction tasks .
 
I would very much appreciate your support next week. Each child will be asked to give 3 euro to take part and al proceeds go directly to the project.I decided to base this charity fundraiser at the running track as I am a keen athlete myself , having been a member of Greystones AC for over ten years and am now continuing my athletics with UCD. However, next friday the emphasis will be COMPLETELY ON FUN! Activities will be fun , team based games with nothing to difficult ! Everyone and anyone can join in . We will have obstacles, BACKWARDS TSHIRT RACE, scooters, well toss , tug of war , bean bag war and plenty more.
 
Attached is a simple information leaflet which explains everything .Arrive at 5.30pm to give names, be put into group etc.!! Feel free to circulate this leaflet and this email to anyone you think be be interested in taking part .
 
The more the merrier.
 
Kind Regards,
Ellie

Sun

04

May

2014

County Championships!

The track at Shoreline Sports Park was a sea of Red & White for the Wicklow Championships on Friday night and again on Saturday. Club athletes put their hearts and souls into their performances and took home barrow loads of medals, with lots and lots of PB's and top class performances! Well done to each and every athlete who came out and competed and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who looked after our athletes and who ensured that this was an excellent Championships for everyone. A huge amount of preparation work goes into the organisation and set up for an event like this and it would not happen without the very dedicated and committed people who put so much time, effort  and behind the scenes work into it all. Many thanks also to the Shoreline staff who put a lot of effort into preparing the track and setting out equipment for us and also for looking after the parking and keeping access open for everyone. Results are far too many to list here, but will be up on our web-site as soon as they are available. This too is a very time consuming job, so will take a little while!

Tue

15

Apr

2014

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION

We have arranged a specialised coaching session for athletes from U12 up (born 2003 or before) who intend to compete throughout the coming Track & Field season. As we have limited places available, athletes who take advantage of this extra coaching will be expected to compete at Leinster competitions as well as at County level. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, provided the applicant is a regular attendee at club training sessions.
The coaching sessions will take place on Fri next from 10.30 – 12.30am and athletes may take part in two events during the morning. Events being coached will be
 Long Jump
High Jump
Hurdles
Javelin/ Turbo Javelin
Shot Putt
Discus
Sprints ( concentrating on starts/blocks )
If interested, please text Theresa on 0868635797 to ensure your place. Please give your name and list three events in order of choice. We will do our best to give you your first two choices, but it may not be possible, when dividing the groups, to facilitate everyone. There will be a €5 fee to help cover costs for the day.
Please note that athletes will need to arrive on time, as the Sports Centre is closed for business on Friday and there will be nobody to open the gate once we have gone on to the track. Gates will only be open from 10.20- 10.35  latest. I’m sorry, but we can not be running up and down to open the gate to late commers, as this disrupts the coaching sessions.

Tue

08

Apr

2014

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.


Sat

29

Mar

2014

Upcoming Competitions

COMPETITIONS (please read and save details)
Lots of Competition ahead, with the final two rounds of the XC League coming up rapidly and then on to the Track & Field (T&F) season. Entry forms will be on our club website shortly.


 Round 5 of the XC League will be held next Fri evening 4th April in the Community Field in Aughrim. Check-in from 6.30pm with 1st race at 6.45pm. This time it is even ages, U6/8/10/12/14/15, but as usual athletes can move up one year, so all can compete. The Aughrim committee have informed us that there will be a sign on Rednagh Rd to direct people to the correct field.  A good number of our athletes are in the running for medals in this League, so keep your attendance up to make sure you get one.  Attend all 6 to get Gold, 5 to get Silver, 4 to get Bronze. Closing date for entry is this Thurs 3rd Apr. No late entries.  Fee €2 if not paid on Tuesday at training.


 Round 6 will be held in Greystones on Thurs. 17th April in the top field down at Shoreline Sports Park (track) This will be un-even ages U7- U15.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Fri due to the League races, as a number of coaches have to be available to help out at the event. Otherwise our athletes will not be allowed to compete.


 Wicklow County Championships:  this year the Co. Champs are being held on a Fri evening and all day Sat instead of the usual Sat/Sun arrangement. Dates are Fri 2nd May, checking in at 6pm for a 6.30pm start. Younger athletes (up to age 10 in 2014) will just have a short programme that evening and their Award Scheme and relays will be held on Sat 3rd May. Older athletes will have their programme spread across the two days. Full programme will be available after next Tues. nights county meeting and will be published on our web-site along with entry forms.  This is the biggest T&F event for all County clubs and we expect to see a huge atendance from or athletes. This is what you all train for!


 St. Abban’s T&F event will be held on Mon 5th May at 12.30 pm at their track in Monavea, Crettyard, Co Laois. This is always a very well organised event and of a high standard and is well worth the trip. GAC athletes have done very well here over the years. Entry €3 on the day for anyone interested in attending.  Programme will be on our club noticeboard at the track.


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 the 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.

Sun

16

Feb

2020

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

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 1st 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 M
cGlone 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 8th 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 12th 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. 6th 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 15th 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. 22nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries closed.

 

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

 

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

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

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7th March, Santry

 

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

 

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

 

National Juvenile Indoors Day 2 Sun 29th 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. 27th 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. 29th 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.

Thu

16

Jan

2020

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

LOTS OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ TO THE END!

Great to see so many athletes make it back to training during the last two weeks and we hope you are all going to keep up your attendance level during the coming months, as attendance levels were very poor 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-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.

 

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2020

Registration for 2020 is now due and fees remain the same as last year. Club Registration/Insurance is €35 for 1 family member, €60 for 2 family members, €80 for 3 family members or €100 for 4 or more family members. Those who are renewing membership do not need to fill out another form. New members can either download a form from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times and Club Info’ or pick one up when checking in at training. This year you can either put fee (with signed form if needed) in an envelope and post it in our club dropbox at reception or pay your fees directly to our bank account during the next two weeks. Acct details: BIC BOFIIE2D, IBAN IE42BOFI90113213191432. It is crucial that you include the athlete’s name in the narrative, otherwise we will not have a record of your payment and your athlete may be refused admission. A small number of athletes owe varying amounts for unpaid weekly subs. during 2019 and these will need to be paid when registering for 2020. A text message with amounts owed will be sent to all concerned this week.

Un-registered athletes will not be allowed on to the track from Tues. 28th Jan. as they are no longer insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Jack McGlone on winning the Juvenile Boys Leinster Star Award for 2019, and to Niamh Kearney who won the Senior award. We are delighted to see GAC athletes winning awards again this year. They will receive their awards at the annual dinner on Sat. 15th Feb. in The Radisson Blu Hotel.

 

 

CLUB AWARDS

Our club Awards night will take place this year on Friday 31st Jan. at 7pm in Greystones Ridge Angling Club, down at the Harbour. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2019, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year award. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2019, all athletes and their families are  welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. To facilitate this Awards night, there will be no training on Friday 31st Jan. We promise not to keep you all out too late as we hope a large number of the athletes will be competing on Sat. & Sun. in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone. The entry form is on our website and must close Tues 21st Jan.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

National Combined Events Sat 18th Jan, Athlone Entries closed. Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 21st Jan, Avondale. Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone. .Good luck to our athletes competing.

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sun 26th Jan, Athlone. Gust entries on the day.

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 1st Feb, Athlone. Entriy form closes 21st Jan.

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun. 2nd Feb, Athlone. Entry form closes 21st Jan.

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B and XC Relays. Sun 8th Feb. Avondale. Entry form closes 28th Jan.

 

AAI Games, Sun. 9th Feb., Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa

 

 

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 12th Feb. Santry

 

 

AIT Grand Prix Wed 12th Feb, Athlone

 

 

Leinster Star Awards Radisson Blu Hotel Sat.15th Feb.

 

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 22nd Feb, Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by 11th Feb.

 

 

Leinster Indoor Relays Day 4, Sun 23rd March, Abbottstown. ( see note below re relay squad)

 

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.29th Feb and Sun.1st March. Abbottstown. Entries to Theresa by Tues 11th Feb.

 

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

 

All Ireland Schools XC, Sat 7th March, Santry

 

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

 

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 3rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training next Tues. & Wed. 21st/ 22nd Jan. if you want to be included in the squad. Teams will be selected from the training squad!

 

 

NATIONAL XC IN AVONDALE (VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE)

Athletics Wicklow have the honour of hosting a National XC event this year in Avondale. The event is the National Intermediate & Masters XC with the Juvenile B XC (shorter distances) & the U12/14 Juvenile XC Relays (4x500m). The Juvenile events will be 2019 ages, so a last opportunity to compete in this age group

The event takes place in Avondale on Sat 8th Feb. and the organising committee will need lots & lots of help to make this a huge success. All County Wicklow clubs must supply at least 8 stewards to cover all positions on the day. If a good number of people volunteer to help out then everyone can do a couple of hours rather than the same few working all day long. You don’t need to have experience at Cross Country as there are many positions to be filled stewarding on the course and helping with directing traffic, car parking etc. etc. Please text Theresa on 0868635797 or contact us through our website if you are available/willing to help out at this event. Names are needed asap, so that arrangements can be finalised quickly. We really need your help, so please volunteer if you possibly can!!!

 

 

CLUB AGM

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 27th 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 trips, for those who met the required attendance percentage during 2019, will take place shortly. List of qualified athletes will be posted on the website shortly and full details of trips will be sent out once arrangements are completed. Looking forward to great days out for everyone again this year!

 

 

CLUB SHOP

As we have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues. 28th Jan. from 4.45-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 

 

FINALLY

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. Help is also needed for about 20 mins. each night to assist with the check-in for the 7pm sessions.

Sun

15

Dec

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

Well done to Jack McGlone, Tom McCarthy, Colm O’Neill and Emma Wylie who competed in the National XC Championships recently in Abbottstown and Dunboyne.

 

Hugh congratulations to Brian Geraghty who led the Irish M45 team to silver medals in the Home Counties XC in Ainfield recently. Brian finished 5th overall in the M45 section, a fantastic performance particularly for someone so new to XC!

 

Well done to Joe Dowd running 16.29 in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec. 7th ,where he improved on last year’s time by 32 secs. Great running guys!

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor for the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we will presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and will offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment. Those who have not attended for a number of weeks but who wish to return in January need to let us know asap via ‘Contact Us’ on our website. Those we don’t hear from may not have a place in January.

 

XMAS TRAINING

Training will continue at the usual times this coming week finishing up for Xmas on Fri 20th Dec. The 7-8.30pm session on Fri 20th will be the ‘Solstice Mile’ which is a fundraiser for one of our young athletes who is going abroad with his school in 2020 to help disadvantaged children. He is a committed athlete and also one of out junior coaches, who helps with coaching the younger groups each week. The event will start at 7pm and will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards in the Party Room. Open to everyone from U12 up!

 

GAC will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session!

 

The track will close at 6pm on Mon 23rd Dec and will be closed all day on Dec 24th, 25th, 26th & 31st & also on Jan 1st. As the track closes at 6pm during Xmas week, athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Fri 3rd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 7th Jan.

 

WICKLOW INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Athletics Wicklow is organising an Indoor event to allow athletes start their Indoor season with a more relaxed fun competition

 

All events are finials - no heats - where numbers dictate, races will be run in sections with times deciding places. Competition will be for 2020 ages, ie U9 born 2012, U10 born 2011 etc.

 

Under 9, 10, 11 will be offered an Awards Scheme - 60m, 600m and Long Jump. These events will start at 1-00pm sharp and should be completed by 3-00pm latest.

 

Events for all other Age Groups, including Senior & Masters :

 

60m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, Long Jump, Shop Putt, High Jump

 

Other events could be added if there is a demand.

 

Athletes may compete in a max. of 3 events. If numbers are too big, this may be restricted to 2 so when entering, declare your events in order of preference.

 

The entry form is currently on our website and will close on Thurs. 19th , as entry must be with the organisers by Fri 20th latest.

 

After this date any additions will be accepted only if there are spaces available.

 

GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

Our annual Attendance Trips for those with good attendance during 2019, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. November attendances are now being added to the lists & the final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trip will be notified at the end of Dec.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

SOLSTICE MILE Fri 20th Dec at 7pm at Greystones Track.

 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Thurs. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 

WICKLOW CO. INDOORS, Abbottstown Sat. 4th Jan 1-5pm. All ages from U8 up.

 

COUNTY MASTERS XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan. 5th. 11am.

 

NATIONAL INDOOR LEAGUE R1, Sat 11th Jan, Abbottstown

 

NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS Sat 18th Jan, Athlone

 

NATIONAL JUNIOR/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone

 

 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & t-shirt 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

 

WISHING ALL OF OUR ATHLETES & COACHES & THEIR FAMILIES A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

 

Mon

11

Nov

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent Leinster XC Championships in Gowran & Ferbane. The Club greatly appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams. These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults.

 

 

We were very disappointed with the poor attendance on both days this year and failed to make up teams in most age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

Congratulations go to Joe Dowd on his 9th place medal in the U19 Boys, earning him individual qualification for Nationals & also a place on the Leinster Team. A super race from Andrew Brennan in the U16 boys, saw him just missing out on the medals, but qualifying for Nationals as part of the Wicklow team where he will be joined by Jack McGlone. Also qualifying as part of the Wicklow County teams are Colm O’Neill & Tom McCarthy U14 boys & Emma Wylie U11 girls.

 

Congratulations also to senior athlete Niamh Kearney who had a great race in Ferbane last Saturday to finished 4th in the Leinster Senior XC. Great to see Niamh doing so well as a senior and still enjoying her running.

 

Huge congratulations go to Brian Geraghty whose first XC outing in Abbottstown earned him qualification to the Irish Team for the International Masters event in Aintree next Sunday 16th Nov. We wish him the very best of luck in the event.

 


 

TRAINING

 

Attendance at training has been very poor indeed from some athletes over the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and we offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment.

 


 

SOLSTICE MILE

 

This year we will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile as a fund raiser for one of our young athletes, who is going abroad with his school in 2020 to help disadvantaged children. He is a committed athlete and also one of out junior coaches, who helps with coaching the younger groups each week. The event will be held on Fri 20th Dec @ 7pm and there will be tea/coffee and cakes afterwards as well as a cake sale.

 

This event will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice, starting at 7pm. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Open to everyone from U12 up! We will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session. !

 


 

GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

 

Our annual trips for those with good attendance during 2019, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. October attendances are currently being added to the lists and we will post the up to date list shortly. A good number of athletes are close enough to get their percentage up to 60% by improving their attendance over the coming weeks. The final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trips will be notified during Dec. Don’t forget that extra attendance points are awarded for attending competitions.

 

Separate trips for our older athletes are also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Round 5 Co. League Roundwood GAA this coming Fri 15th Dec. 7pm sharp. Uneven Ages U7-U15. Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Thurs. 14th.

 


 

National Senior & Even Ages XC, Abbottstown, Sun 24th Nov. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 


 

County Senior XC, Sun 9th Dec. in Avondale @ 11am.

 


 

Round 6 Co. League Bray Emmets Fri 6th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15. Form is on our website.

 

 

 

 

National Novice & Uneven Ages XC, Dunboyne, Sun. 15th Dec. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 


 

Solstice Mile, Fri 20th Dec. (fundraiser for one of our young athletes to help disadvantaged kids)

 


 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Thurs. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 


 

Wicklow Co. Indoors, Abbottstown Sat. 4th Jan 1-5pm. All ages from U8 up.

 


 

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan. 5th. 11am.

 


 

Celtic XC, Sat 11th Jan. Stirling, Scotland.

 


 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 11th Jan, Abbottstown

 


 

National Combined Events Sat 18th Jan, Athlone

 


 

National Junior/U23’s, Sat 25th Jan, Athlone

 


 

National Indoor League R2, Sun 26th Jan, Athlone

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 26th Nov. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have some secondhand hoodies & a good number of spikes available. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! (Multi coloured shorts are not acceptable) If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

Co.Wicklow had our first Indoor T&F event in Jan. 2019 and it was a great success, so a bigger & better event is currently being planned for 2020. This event will be open to all registered athletes from U8 up and will take place from 1-5pm on Sat. 4th Jan in the NIA in Abbottstown. A programme is currently being worked on and full details will follow shortly, so keep a look out for them as entries will need to be taken well in advance of the event.

 


 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Attendance at the organised Sunday Run is very poor indeed and we would really love to see a big improvement. These long easy runs take 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 school children should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s an important sessions of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 


 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics. Athletes should also bring a drink to training with them and should please use the toilets before coming down to the track. We understand that occasionally children will need to go again especially when it’s cold, but coaches constantly having to leave the track to accompany children to the toilets disrupts the training for all the children in the group.

 

Tue

15

Oct

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent County XC Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams. These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults. We were disappointed with the very poor attendance both days and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

 We had lots of medal winners, Individual Gold medals: Luca O’Shea Breen U14, Andrew Brennan U17, Abbie Tyrrell U18, Individual Silver: Joe Dowd U18, Megan O’Brien U18, Abbie Tyrrell Junior Women, Joe Dowd Junior Men, Individual Bronze: Ava Foley U14, Team Gold for Junior Women: Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien & Isobel Radford Dodd. The girls also won the U18 team Gold, Team Gold also for the U14 Girls : Ava Foley, Charlotte Hudson, Rosanna Hickey, Amy D'Arcy, Ailbhe Kelly, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, Chloe Hanley. Team silver for U13 Girls Rosanna Hickey, Charlotte Hudson, Ailbhe Kelly, Keeva Brennan, Lizzie McIllroy Team Bronze for the U10 Girls, Kate Patchell, Rachael Kennedy, Laura Stanley, Eve Smyth, Katie O'Neill and Ellie O'Neill. Team Bronze for the Boys U11: Daniel Anderson Luke Lennon, Luke Joyce, Jack Deegan, Hugh Woodley, Bronze also for Boys U10, Harry Coghlan, Luke Joyce, Hector Marrinan and Timur Barkevic. Well done to all! Hopefully we will get lots more out running the League XC Races & the Leinster XC & will be able to field lots of teams!

 

More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

 

 

XC LEAGUE

The Wicklow Juvenile League consists of 5 races, 2 Track & 3 Cross Country. The distances are far shorter than the Championship ones, so very suitable to all levels of fitness. Athletes who complete all 5 races receive a gold medal, 4 races a silver medal and 3 races a bronze medal and there is an overall Shield for the Best Club each year.. A good number of our athletes have already taken part in the track races, so get your entries in and complete the full League. For new members or those who missed the track races, you can still earn yourself a bronze medal if you complete the 3 XC races and you can also help your club build up points and hopefully win the Overall Shield for 2019.

 

The first of the 3 XC League races is this coming Friday 18th Oct. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Check-in at 6.30pm, 1st race 7pm, all over in less than an hour. Entry form is on our website and athletes need to get their entries in right away.

 

Round 4 is in Roundwood GAA on Fri Nov.15th and Round 5 is at Bray Emmets grounds on Fri Dec.6th. Entry forms for all 3 rounds are on our website!

 

 

 LEINSTER XC

 The Leinster XC Championships are coming up fast also, with the Even Ages on Sat Oct.27th & the Uneven Ages on Sat Nov 9th. Hopefully we will see a big improvement in numbers running for our club at these events and remember that you will also be running for Wicklow County, so please sign up and help make teams for Club and County. Entry forms for these are also on our website!

 

 

 SUNDAY RUN

Nice to see some GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are hoping to see many more over the coming weeks. These long easy runs take 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 school athletes should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

Next Sunday’s run is round the reservoir in Roundwood. Meet by the filter beds at 9.20 for short warm-up and ready to run by 9.30am. Alternatively as some of our older athletes are running in Abbottstown on Sunday a few others are going up to support them and will do their run up there if anyone would like to join that instead.

 

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks would get their registrations in this coming week please. Registration forms will be available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. You can put the form & fee in an envelope and drop it into our club letterbox in the reception area at the track.

 

 

 ADULT TRAINING GROUP

Our new adult training group is building slowly and is going very well so far. This involves regular club training sessions for senior and masters athletes on the track at Shoreline every Tuesday and Friday night, from 7 - 8:30pm. We have had a great variety of sessions so far and the group is working very hard and really enjoying the challenges. If you are 18+, fit-ish, and harbour even the smallest bit of curiosity about getting back on the track, you are welcome to come along and give it a go. For those who think this might be a step too far the Fit4Life & Beginner2Winner sessions are still going ahead at the usual times.

 

 

 NEW CLASSES AT SPORTS PARK

If running is not for you, Shoreline Sports Park have new classes on Tues. evenings which may be of interest to parents dropping off children to athletics. There’s ‘Work it Out’ on Tues 6.15-7pm, which is a full body workout and the timing is perfect for parents of the 6-7pm training groups. At 7.15pm there’s ‘Step to Fitness’ also a full body workout which should suit those dropping off for the 7-8.30pm session. Both classes are ‘Pay as you Go’ and are just €7 each.

Tue

24

Sep

2019

SENIOR AND MASTERS TRACK TRAINING SESSIONS

Greystones AC has a long and proud tradition of catering for athletes of all ages and abilities in the community, and has achieved particularly strong engagement and membership levels in our junior and juvenile categories.
In line with our tradition of catering for ALL ages and abilities, one of our goals for the coming season is to develop our senior and masters sections.
Developing our senior and masters categories is really important so that we provide continuity of our athletic community to our junior athletes as they graduate to senior levels, and hopefully entice them to stay in the sport long enough to reach the masters category! 
To achieve this, we are doing a couple of things:
  • We have appointed a (volunteer) liaison to act as a point of contact for any questions, suggestions or feedback: please contact Jenny on 087-2328401. Suggestions, particularly, would be very welcome as we create something new!
  • Starting on Tuesday 1st October, we will have regular club training sessions for senior and masters athletes on the track at Shoreline every Tuesday and Friday night, from 7 - 8:30pm.
Who should come? 
If you are 18+, fit-ish, and harbour even the smallest bit of curiosity about getting back on the track, come along and give it a go. Once we understand people's running goals, we will aim to have suitable training plans.
I am a complete beginner, should I come? If you are a complete beginner then the "Beginner2Winner" programme (also hosted at Shoreline) is probably a better fit for you - it caters for people with little or no fitness levels, and those who want to get into a fitter and healthier lifestyle.
I have been running with the "Fit4Life" programme. How is this different? The main reason you would participate in the senior and masters sessions rather than "Fit4Life" is because you have an interest in competing (without any obligation to) at cross-country, track or road events in the future. The senior and masters sessions will be structured differently from "Fit4Life", with the goal of competition in mind. It doesn't mean you have to be good, just that you find the idea of competing exciting!
I used to run with Greystones AC as a junior, but haven't run recently. Is this for me? Absolutely yes! See you on Tuesday!
So, please JOIN us, help us shape it and try it out - no decisions are required for a few weeks!
If you have any query at all, call or message Jenny on 087-2328401.
"Nobody said it was easy!"

Sat

21

Sep

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We have now been back training for three weeks (two for the younger groups) and while attendance so far has been great by many with tremendous work being done, it has been poor in some groups, particularly Group 2. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that we cannot hold places indefinitely for athletes who don’t attend regularly, as we still have a long waiting lists on most groups.

 

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

 

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks could get their registrations in this coming week please. Registration forms will be available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. You can put the form & fee in an envelope and drop it into our club letterbox in the reception area at the track.

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

Thanks to all who responded to our reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. The fee from Sept 23rd to Dec will be 26 if you wish to pay in advance. Any overdue subs will need to be paid also. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 


 

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY

 

Competition is coming up fast with our first event of the season taking place on Sunday 6th Oct in Knockraheen, Roundwood (located approximately 2km outside Roundwood Village on the R765 ). This is the Wicklow County Novice and Even Ages (U8/10/12/14/16/18/Junior/Novice) Athletes CAN move up an age.                  Start time is 11am with the girls U8, boys U8, girls U10 etc.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/8 500m, U/10 1000m, U/12 2000, U/14 3000m U/16
4000m. Girls U/18 and Junior 4000m. Boys U/18 and Junior 6000m
Novice Men 6000m, Novice Women 4000m. Entry form
will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Thurs 3rd Sept.

 

 

Hoping to see a really good turn out of club athletes at this event!

 

New members who wish to compete need to get their registration forms in asap.

 

 

Our 2nd event is the Wicklow County Intermediate and Uneven Ages
Date: Sunday,
13th October, Venue: Avondale Forest Park, Start Time: 11 am.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/7
300m, U/9 800m, U/11 1500m, U/13 2500m,,U/15 3500,
U/17 Girls 4000m, U/17 Boys 5000m, U/19 Girls 4000m, U/19 Boys 6000m.
Intermediate Men 8000m Intermediate Women 4000m. Entry form will be on our website & entries will close on Thurs
10th Oct.

 


 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Our Sunday runs take 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 school-goers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages can & do participate....... up to very old!! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s a very important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week. This Sunday 22nd Sept. we are in Avondale!

 


 

WICKLOW LEAGUE (XC Dates)

 

Juvenile League Round 3 Roundwood GAA, Fri 18th Oct. 7pm (Even ages) U8/400m, U10/800m, U12/1200m, U14/1600m

 

 

Juvenile League Round 4 Rathdrum (Rugby Club or Ballinakill), Fri 15th Nov. (Uneven ages) U9/400m, U11/800m, U13/1200m, U15/1600m

 

 

Juvenile League Round 5 Bray Emmets, Fri 6th Dec.(Even ages)

 

U8/400m, U10/800m, U12/1200m, U14/1600m

 

 

 

THROWS TRAINING

 

Anne Marie Kelly of Inbhear Dee AC is coaching throws most Saturdays at the track from 11am-12.30pm and GAC throwers are welcome to go along to these sessions. There is none next Sat. 28th Oct, but she will be back on Sat. 4th Oct.

 

 


NEW CLASSES AT SPORTS PARK

 

Shoreline Sports Park have new classes on Tues. evenings which may be of interest to parents dropping off children to athletics. There’s ‘Work it Out’ on Tues 6.15-7pm, which is a full body workout and the timing is perfect for parents of the 6-7pm training groups. At 7.15pm there’s ‘Step to Fitness’ also a full body workout which should suit those dropping off for the 7-8.30pm session. Both classes are ‘Pay as you Go’ and are just €7 each.

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 6th Oct. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 13th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

 

Juvenile League Round 3, Roundwood GAA, Fri 18th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm (Even ages)

 

 

Autumn Open XC, Sun. 20th Oct., Abbottstown, Dublin. Junior/Senior/Masters

 

 

           Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 26th Oct. Nov. and Even Ages, Gowran              Co Kilkenny.

 

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 9th Nov. Sen & Uneven Ages, Ferbane, Co Offaly

 

 

         Juvenile League, Round 4, Rathdrum Fri 15th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm -    Uneven Ages

 

 

         National XC Championships, Sun. 24th Nov. Even Ages, Jun & Sen,    Abbottstown, Dublin.

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we will have athletes looking for club gear before the upcoming Cross Country (XC) the club shop will be open on Tues. 1st Oct. from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and some hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red), is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good number at present!

 


 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, we are very happy to have you on board. We are always in need of more helpers, so if you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed.

 

Mon

24

Jun

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster Championships recently and many congratulations to all who qualified for the upcoming Nationals. Lots of super performances in a variety of events and a great selection of medals & qualifiers to the All Ireland’s as a result!

 

 

U18: Joe Dowd gold in the 3000m Steeplechase & a very close 4th in the 3000m. Ronan Dempsey silver in the 400m, the 400m hurdles & the 200m (a very busy & successful weekend indeed), Aodhan Daly silver in the 100m & bronze in the Long Jump. Aodhan also qualified for the 200m final, which unfortunately clashed with the Long Jump.
U17: Ellen McNally Silver in the Triple Jump & Bronze in the Long Jump, Emma Quirk Bronze in the Triple Jump.
U16: Jack McGlone Gold in the 800m & the 400m, Paul Delahunty gold in the 3000m
U14: Daniel Quirk Gold in the 75m hurdles, gold in the Long Jump & 4
th in the 200m, Ailbhe Gordon Gold in the Javelin & bronze in the Shot Putt, Camille Madden 4th in the High Jump.

 

There were many more fine performances over the two days & several PB’s!

 

Congratulations & well done to everyone who took part & many thanks to our coaches & officials & all the mums & dads who travelled over the two days. Best of luck in the All Ireland’s!

 

 

The combined events took place this weekend and our only juvenile entry Daniel Quirk won the U14 boys event,130 points clear of the 2nd placed athlete. Well done Daniel!

 

 

There were great results from the All Ireland schools also with Jack McGlone taking Gold in the 800m Junior Boys and Bronze in the 4x100m relay. Daniel Quirk taking silver in the Long Jump and 4th place in the Minor Boys 75m hurdles after two off-putting false starts from other athletes. Joe Dowd had the race of his life in the Inter boys 1500m Steeplechase, finishing a very close 4th place. There were many other fine performances here also.

 

 

Ellen McNally & Emma Quirk were selected from their Leinster schools results to compete in the Tailteann Games this weekend. Ellen finished in 2nd place which means she has qualified to represent Ireland at the Schools International in Swansea and Emma finished in 5th with a new PB. Great jumping from the girls & huge congratulations to Ellen on her International selection.

 

 

We had two great evening’s of local competition at the Flash event & the Co. Team event. Great performances from our athletes and great fun had by all present. It was lovely to see the teams pull together so well and support one another throughout the event. Results will be posted on our website once available.

 


 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

 

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 25th June in Greystones. Entries are now closed and we look forward to a great evenings competition as always. Athletes need to arrive by 6pm, as the first events are at 6.30pm & they will need to get started on time.

 

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 


 

SUMMER TRAINING

 

Training for our 5-6 pm group will finish up for the summer this Tues. 25th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 28th. We will finish up with a fun competition on Tues for the 5-6 pm group & on Fri for the 6-7pm groups. Group 3 athletes have the option to come along to the 7-8.30pm sessions during July, as some will have the opportunity to move up to this group in Sept.

 

 

We hope everyone has a great summer & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, as some coaches will not be available to return, so we can’t continue without help. Please get in touch if you can help out with any of the groups from Sept. If we don’t get more help we will have to cancel some sessions from Sept. The 5pm & 6pm groups will return on Tues 10th Sept, allowing a week for the younger ones to settle back into school.

 

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues throughout July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. We will take a short break once competition finishes and return on Tues 3rd.Sept. with this group. We recommend a two week break 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.

 


 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Don’t leave it until late July or August as places will be given to those on our long waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you in Sept. No exceptions to this rule!

 


 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

 

  1. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 25th June. (Entries closed)

  2. National Juvenile Games (U9-U11) & U12/U13 Field Events, Tullamore, Sat. 29th July

  3. National League Round 2, Athlone or Santry, Sun.30th June

  4. Wicklow County Road Race, Jack White’s, Brittas Bay, Wed 3rd July @ 7.15pm

  5. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat. 6th July. (Entries close Wed 26th June)

  6. National Juvenile T&F Championships Day 1, Tullamore, Sun. 7th July

  7. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Day 2, Tullamore, Sat. 13th July

  8. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Day 3, Tullamore, Sun. 14th July

  9. National League Final, Tullamore, Sat. 20th July

  10. National Juvenile B Championships & Relays, Tullamore, Sun. 21st July

  11. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 27th/Sun 28th July, Santry.

  12. Cork City Sports, Wed 14th Aug. CIT Cork

  13. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sun. 18th Aug. Tullamore

  14. Morton Games, Wed 21st Aug. Santry

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

We still have some outstanding debts from unpaid subs or races entered where athletes didn’t show and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! Further entries cannot be accepted from athletes until all debts are paid.


Have a great summer everyone!

 

 

Sun

26

May

2019

CLUB NEWS

 

Well done to all our club athletes who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible. Considering the large number of athletes in the club, athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, but what we lacked in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by all those who did attend.

 

 

There were fantastic individual & team performances which saw many club athletes go home loaded down with medals on both days. Many thanks to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over two great days.

 

A huge Thank You to those who helped with set up & tidy up and to all our coaches who acted as both club & county officials over the two days helping to make it all happen and a special mention here for some of our older athletes, Rachel, Alana & Troy who helped out at every opportunity, assisting at the finish line, relay zones and anything that was asked of them. They were fantastic on Sunday assisting during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them. Full results are now on our club website!

 

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and subsequently the Leinster Schools and best of luck to Joe Dowd 3rd in the Steeplechase & 3K, Jack McGlone 1st in the 800m & 3rd in the 100m, Paul Delahunty 3rd in the mile, Emma Quirk 3rd in the TJ, Daniel Quirk 1st in the LJ & 2nd in the 75mH, Ailbhe Gordon 3rd in the Javelin, Alex Mulcahy 3rd in the HJ who all qualified for the All Ireland’s on Sat. 1st June. All results to date are on the AAI website under schools!

 

 

 

 

It was great to host the Leinster Juniors & the Combined events in Greystones on Saturday. We had a great turn out from Greystones for the Combined Events with lots of top performances. Congrats to all, especially to Daniel Quirk who took the Gold in the U14’s. We had a great number of Juniors also competing for Slí Cualann. On track, Troy Scully took gold in the 3K, Abbie Tyrrell gold in the 1500m, Megan O’Brien silver in the 800m, Ronan Dempsey Silver in the 400m & Michael O’Shea bronze in the 800m. In the field events Ellen McNally took gold in the Triple Jump with a big PB and silver in the Long Jump, Aodhan Daly took bronze in the LJ and Emma Quirk was 4th in the TJ and 5th in the LJ. Great results, particularly as most of these athletes have only just moved up to Junior level (U17-U20). A huge Thank You to all who helped out on the day and to those who helped with the set up on Fri night and/or the tidy up on Sat, especially Aidan, Pat, Darren, Sinéad, Emer & Linda............who needs a gym with all that lifting & carrying!

 

On Sunday the boys relay team of Daniel Quirk, Luca O’Shea Breen, Tom McCarthy & Colm O’Neill took silver in the U14 event in Leixlip. Well done boys!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Wicklow Invitational Athletics Flash Meet, Greystones, Fri 31st May 7-9pm, Entries to Theresa at training on Tues 28th or Wed 29th May. See details below.

  2. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore Sat. June 1st. Qualification required.

  3. Leinster U23/Sen/Mast, Tullamore Sun. June 2nd. Late entries close 27th May.

  4. Leinster Team Event U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 3rd. Late entries close 27th May

  5. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Champs, Tullamore Sat. June 8th. Entries by 28th May.

  6. Leinster U12 – U19 Champs, Tullamore Sat/Sun 15th/16th June. Entries close 6th June.

  7. Wicklow U9/11/13/15 Team Comp, Greystones Wed 19th June. Entries by 14th June.

  8. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 22nd June. Invitation only.

  9. AAI Games & National Combined Events Day1, Santry Sat 22nd June. Entries close 12th

  10. National Combined Events Day 2 & Juvenile Combined Events, Santry, Sun. 23rd June

  11. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 25thJune. (limited entry) Entries by 21stJune.

  12. AAI Childrens Games & Limited U12-U13 Events, Tullamore, Sat 29th June. Qualification

 

We remind everyone once again that while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted from these athletes until all debts are paid.

 

Please make sure you get your entries in by the original closing date, as those who miss it will have to pay the extra fees incurred themselves.

 

 

 

WICKLOW INVITATIONAL ATHLETICS............FLASH MEET!

 

Summer Championship Warm up event @ Shoreline Sports Park, Greystones

 

Friday May 31st. 7-00pm - 9-00pm

 

Age Group / U12 + i.e all athletes must be 11 this year or older.

 

Events : Track Field

 

80m High Jump

 

250m Long Jump

 

1000m Shot Putt

 

2000m Javelin

 

Names & events to Theresa at training on Tues 28th or Wed 29th May.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Our training times are; Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, age 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session. Younger athletes should be collected from the bottom gate if leaving early.

 

 

Athletes joining Greystones AC make a commitment to attend training regularly and we remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for up to 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club. Many have very poor attendance, so we are now taking all those we haven’t seen or heard from off our check-in sheets and are offering the places to those on our long waiting list.

 

 

 

CLUB INFORMATION

 

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. Text is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. Greystones AC is run entirely by volunteers and while we do our best to respond to texts & e-mails quickly, this is not always possible especially when at work, so please be patient and we will get back to you asap. Time is very very precious and while we are very lucky to have so many people willing to freely give their time to our young athletes we are struggling to cover some of the training sessions especially the 6-7pm ones, which is putting a lot of pressure on a few of our coaches. If you can spare an hour a week or even every second week, please get in touch. It can be very rewarding working with young children and watching them progress. We promise we won’t drop you in the deep end!

 

 

Sun

05

May

2019

WICKLOW COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is this coming Wednesday May 8th and events take place on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th May, starting at 11am each day. Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2019) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2019) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

 

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin. Please list all the events you wish to compete in on your entry form!

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2019.

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT ALLOW INSIDE THE TRACK AREA!

 

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!

Tue

16

Apr

2019

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

As per text, due to the very poor attendance during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 30th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual except on Fri.19th Apr. as we have arranged a training day for Friday. You can get details of Friday’s session at training or contact Theresa.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

The recent National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take Gold in the U14 Long Jump & Bronze in the 60m Hurdles, Ailbhe Gordon take Gold in the U14 Shot Putt, Luca O’Shea take Silver in the U14 800m, Jack McGlone take Bronze in the U16 800m and the boys team of Daniel Quirk, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy, Luca O’Shea Breen & Colm O’Neill take Bronze in the U14 4x200m relay.

 

 

 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

What a fantastic day we all had at the first ever Wicklow Indoors held on Sat. 16th March in Abbottstown. A huge number of athletes entered and we had a great morning’s competition and great results for the club. Everyone was delighted with the event and the plan is for bigger & better next year. Well done & thank you to everyone who helped out on the day.

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

We had a great night at the club awards on March 29th and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2018. Many thanks to all the coaches and to everyone who brought all the lovely food on the night. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, contact us & we can arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 30th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

 

Our annual Good Attendance Trips for athletes who have 60% or more attendance during the year, took place on Saturday 13th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Helen Dempsey & Olivia Dallaghan for organising a great day at Bray Bowl for our younger athletes & to Mary Carruth & Emer McNally for organising the trip to GoQuest for our 12 & 13 yr old athletes. Thanks to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport. The feedback from both trips has been very positive, with everyone having a terrific day and making lots of great memories. An event for our older athletes will take place shortly.

 

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

 

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.   We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

 

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 22nd April. Entries to Theresa

  2. Juvenile Track League R2: for athletes up to U15, will take place on Fri 26th April at the Athletic Track in Arklow at 7pm. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 24th Apr.

  3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 28th April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

  4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

  5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 4th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

  6. National 5K Sat 4th May, Dublin.

  7. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 11th/12th May, Shoreline, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website nearer the date.

  8. Leinster Schools Track and Field - Day 1, Wed 15th May, Santry,

  9. Leinster Schools Track and Field - Day 2, Sat 18th May, Santry,

  10. National Outdoor League – R1 Sun 19th May, Templemore and Belfast. Contact Theresa

  11. Leinster Juniors & Combined Events Championships, Shoreline, Greystones Sat 25th May. Entry form will be on GAC website nearer the date.

  12. Leinster Relays, Sun 26th May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

 

 

 

 

CLUB AGM

 

A reminder that the club AGM which had to be postponed, will now take place on Thurs. 25th April 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.

 

 

Mon

11

Mar

2019

Club News & Information

 

There is a lot of News & Information in this, so members are asked to please read to the end!

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us re injury/illness, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to the waiting list.

 

 

***All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.20am, which is a very important & very enjoyable part of the training week, especially for our endurance runners. If you cannot make this, you will need to do a run yourself later in the day.

 

 

 

HELP STILL NEEDED

 

We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional helpers. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

National Star Award: Congratulations to Alana Ryan who won the National Star Award for Wicklow for her terrific performances in 2018. Alana received her award at a function in Tullamore on Sat. 16th Feb.

 

 

County Star Awards: Congratulations to the following Greystones athletes who were presented with Wicklow Star Awards on Friday 1st March in Jacob’s Well, Rathdrum. Ellen McNally, Girls U14-16, Alana Ryan Girls u16-19, Pippa Rogan Senior Women & Jack McGlone Boys U14-16, Joe Prendergast Boys U16-19, Tope Adeyeye Senior Men. A great night was had by all!

 

 

 

We had a big entry in the recent Leinster Championships, with a number of first timers taking to the Indoor track for the first time. Unfortunately quite a number of those who entered didn’t manage to make it to their events and we take this opportunity to remind everyone that while we pay all the entry fees for our juvenile athletes, those who fail to turn up to compete are expected to refund these fees to the club. On this occasion the entry fee was €3.50 per event, but fees can be up to €15/€20 an event and the club cannot continue to pay these and then not have the athletes turn up to compete.

 

 

Well done to all who took part over the three days. Some really top performances, with a big number qualifying for event finals and several medal winners and qualifiers to Nationals at the end of March. Gold for Daniel Quirk in the LJ & 60mH & Gold for Ellen McNally in the TJ with a new Championship Best Performance & bronze in the LJ. Silver for Jack McGlone in the 800m & 4th in the 60m, Silver for Emma Quirk in the TJ, and for Ronan Dempsey in the 60mH. Bronze for Luca O’Shea Breen in the 800m, Andrew Brennan in the 1500m, Aodhan Daly in the LJ & Ailbhe Gordon & Rory McNally in the SP. 4th place for Georgia Hogan in the 60mH & 5th for Alex Mulcahy in the HJ with a jump of 1.45M.

 

Gold in the relays on Day 3 for our U14 boys team of Daniel Quirk, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy, Luca O’Shea Breen & Colm O’Neill. Gold in the Senior Championships 1500m for Niamh Kearney. Well done to all!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Wicklow County Indoors, Sat 16th March, Abbottstown (Entries closed)

  2. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 Sat 30th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  3. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sun 31st March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  4. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, Sat 6th April, Athlone (Must qualify)

  5. National Spring Throws, Sun 7th April, Athlone

  6. AAI National 10k Championships , Sun 14th Apr, Dublin

  7. Leinster 10 Mile, Mon 22nd Apr, Raheny

  8. AAI National Road Relays , Sun 28th Apr, Raheny

 

 

 

WICKLOW INDOORS

 

Best of Luck to all the GAC athletes who have entered for the Wicklow Indoors next Sat. 16th March in Abbottstown. This is an exciting new addition to the athletics calendar & we hope everyone will have a great day. We have access to the track from 12.45pm & events will start at 1pm sharp and must finish by 3pm. Athletes need to arrive at the venue by 12.30pm for check-in. As our time is very short we ask you to please arrive on time, as we must start promptly and cannot wait for anyone.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open this Tues. 12th March from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

CLUB AWARDS

 

The club Awards night will take place on Friday 29th March at 7pm in Greystones Ridge Angling Club, down at the Harbour. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2018, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year award. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2018, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. To facilitate this Awards night, there will be no training on Friday 29rd March.

 

 

 

CLUB AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 11th April 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 trips for those who met the required attendance percentage during 2018, will take place during April. Athletes who qualify from Little Athletics & Groups 3-6 (age U8-U11) will have their trips on Sat. 13th April. Athletes from Groups 1 & 2 (U12-U15) will also have their trip on Sat. 13th April. A separate trip for athletes U16 up will be arranged shortly. Lists of qualified athletes will be posted on the website shortly with full details of trips & those who wish to attend will need to notify us by March 31st at the latest. Looking forward to great days out for everyone!

 

 

 

FINALLY

 

Can we appeal to parents once again to ensure that all athletes bring a raincoat, hat & gloves to training, as it is very cold on the track some nights. Gloves are a real necessity, as when cold the children are inclined to run with their hands in their pockets, which is likely to result in head or facial injury if they fall, as they have no way of saving themselves.

 

Mon

14

Jan

2019

CLUB NEWS AND INFORMATION

 

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 25th Jan. 2019. Athletics Ireland have increased the Registration/Insurance costs for all athletes from Jan 1st 2019, so GAC are increasing our annual fee to €35 for 1st family member and €25 for 2nd family member. We are holding the fee for 3rd 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. 29th 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. 5th 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 3rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Tues. 15th 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. 26th Jan. from 9-11am. This is open to all athletes U12 – U19 (born 2001- 2008) who intend competing in the Leinster Championships on Feb 9th and 10th 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 19th Jan, Athlone

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 22nd Jan, Avondale

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26th Jan, Athlone

National Junior/U23’s, Sun27th Jan, Athlone

AAI Games, Sat. 2nd Feb., Abbottstown

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

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

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

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 13th Feb. Santry

AIT Grand Prix Wed 13th Feb, Athlone

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

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

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

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

National Masters Indoors, Sun 10th 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.

 

Sun

02

Dec

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster XC Championships and Congratulations to medal winners Luca O'Shea Breen 4th U13, Joe Dowd 8th U17 & Troy Scully 12th U19 at the Leinster uneven ages XC in Adamstown.

Congrats also to Luca O'Shea Breen & Tom McCarthy on their silver county team medals & to Colm O'Neill, Louise O'Riordan, Jack McGlone & Paul Delahunty on qualifying to Nationals on their respective County teams. We wish them all the very Best of Luck in the All Irelands on Dec 15th in Navan.

 

Congratulations go to Brian Geraghty & Joe Dowd on their terrific runs in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec 1st, with Brian clocking a fantastic 15.35 & 16 yr old Joe finishing in a terrific 17.01. Great running guys!

 

 

TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor indeed for the past 5-6 weeks and we remind athletes & parents that when members join Greystones AC they agree to attend regularly, especially the 7-8.30pm groups who make a commitment before being moved up to these groups to attend a minimum of two sessions each week. While we don’t expect to be notified every time a session is missed, we remind you that if we don’t see or hear from you for up to 3 weeks we presume that you are no longer interested in training with the club and we offer the place to someone on our waiting list who does want to come & train. Please note that attending once every 3 weeks does not fulfil an athlete’s commitment.

 

 

XMAS TRAINING

Training will continue at the usual times for the next 3 weeks finishing up for Xmas on Fri 21st Dec. The track will be closed on Dec 24th, 25th, 26th & 31st & on Jan 1st. As the track closes at 6pm during Xmas week, athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Wed 2nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 8th Jan.

 

 

SOLSTICE MILE

Slí Cualann will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile again this year on Fri 21st Dec @ 7pm. This will be a series of graded 1 mile races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice, starting at 7pm. Entry donation €5 for Adults, €3 for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards. Open to everyone from U12 up! GAC will hold a Solstice Mile relay for our younger athletes at our 6-7pm session!

 

 

 GOOD ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

Our annual Attendance Trips for those with good attendance during 2018, are currently being arranged & we look forward to fun days again this year. Athletes need to have a 60% attendance at training during the year to qualify for these trips. November attendances are now being added to the lists & the final list of athletes who qualify to go on the trip will be notified during Dec, which means you still have time to get your attendance percentage up. Extra attendance points are awarded for attending competitions.

 

Separate trips for our older athletes are also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Round 5 Co. League GAA school of Excellence, Rathdrum, next Fri 7th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15 Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Wed.5th.

 

County Senior XC, Sun 9th Dec.

 

National Novice & Uneven ages XC, Navan, Sat. 15th Dec. Best of Luck to all GAC qualifiers.

 

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K, Wed. 26th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

 

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan..

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 12th Jan, Abbottstown

 

National Combined Events Sat 19th Jan, Athlone

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 26th Jan, Athlone

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

XC LEAGUE

Round 5 of the Juvenile XC League takes place on this coming Fri 7th Dec at the GAA school of Excellence, Rathdrum. This is the final round of the league & your last chance to secure that attendance medal or get yourself on to the medal table. Entry form is on the website.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 11th Dec. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We now have hoodies back in stock, but unfortunately the new singlets won’t be in until the New Year. We also have some secondhand hoodies available & also a good number of spikes. If you don’t have club gear, a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! (Multi coloured shorts are not acceptable) If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are very impressed with how well they are doing. These long easy runs take 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy ( not jogging ) conversational pace.............a great chance to catch up with friends from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

INJURY PREVENTION/ REHAB

We still have some places available on our Physio rota, where athletes can avail of regular monthly 20 mins. sessions at a very reasonable price from our top class Physio Matt Cox, who works with our club every Tues. evening. A good number of our athletes have availed of these sessions over the last year & a half and as a result most have 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. Extra sessions can be added should the need arise. Anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0868635797.

 

SUITABLE CLOTHING

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

Wishing all of our athletes & coaches & their families a very happy Christmas!

Wed

17

Oct

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the recent County XC Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams.

 

These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits, and are less likely to drop their fitness as young adults. We were disappointed with the poor attendance both days and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

 

We had lots of individual medal winners, Individual Gold medals: Luca O’Shea Breen U13, Luca O’Shea Breen U14, Paul Delahunty U16, Joe Dowd U18, Troy Scully U19, Individual silver: Joe Dowd U17, Callum Flynn U18, Troy Scully Junior Men, Individual Bronze: Michael O’Shea U16, Abbie Tyrrell U17, Joe Dowd Junior Men, Troy Scully Novice Men. Team Gold for Junior Men Troy Scully, Joe Dowd, Colm Flynn, Team silver for U8 Boys Conor Stanley, William Hance, Hector Marrian, Aidan McLaughlin, Quade Scully, U9 Boys: Harry Coughlan, Andrew McCarron, Jack Deegan, Sean Lawless Rebello, Zach Hayes, Aidan McLaughlin, U13 Girls: Ava Foley, Charlotte Hudson, Tara Casey, Georgia Hogan, Lizzie McIllroy, Zoe Kenna, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, U14 Girls: Ava Foley, Cliodhna Kennedy Howe, Georgia Hogan, Tara Casey, & U17 Girls: Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien & Isobel Raddford Dodd, Team bronze for U12 Girls Amy D’Arcy, Charlotte Hudson, Amber Scully, Grace Rush, Shana O’Dowd, Gaelle Cherry Kinito, Lizzie McIllroy, Teagan Griffiths, U13 Boys: Luca O’Shea Breen, Tom McCarthy, Colm O’Neill, Alex Goff. Conor Stanley finished 2nd in U7 Boys & 3rd in the U8, with William Hance 3rd U7. Well done to all! Hopefully we will get lots more out running the Leinster XC & will be able to field lots of teams!

 

More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

 


 

TRAINING HALLOWEEN WEEK

 

As attendance at training tends to be very poor when schools are on mid-term/holidays due to children being away or doing camps, there will be no training for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups on Tues. 30th Oct. or Fri.2nd Nov. Training will go ahead as usual for the 7-8.30pm groups.

 

 

 

SUNDAY RUN

 

Nice to see more GAC athletes attending the organised Sunday Run and we are very impressed with how well they are doing. These long easy runs take 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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 from other clubs, or make new friends! Hope to see you there, as it’s one of the most important session of the week for fitness!!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

Next Sunday is the Autumn Open XC in Abbottstown and we are planning to do our Sunday run on the course beforehand and then watch the events, which are always top class. Each attendee is asked to bring something for sharing and we plan to have a lovely picnic while waiting for the event to start.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Leinster XC Championships 27th October Novice and Even Ages, Navan Adventure Park.

 

 

Leinster XC Championships 1th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Wexford.

 

 

Round 3 County League, Aughrim on Friday 19th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm - Even Ages U6-U14/15

 

 

Round 4 County League, Bray Fri 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages U7-U15

 

 

Round 5 Co. League Rathdrum Even Ages U6-U14/15 . Details to follow.

 


 

Entry form for next Fridays XC in Aughrim on Fri 19th is now on our website and must close Wed.17th.

 

Entry form for Leinster XC in Navan on Sat 27th is now on our website and must close Fri.19th.

 

Please be careful to enter the correct event!

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues. 23rd Oct. from 4.40-5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

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 during both the Indoor & Outdoor T&F seasons. 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 4-5 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. Great to see some of our younger athletes now taking advantage of this facility & as we still have some places available, anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0868635797.

 

Mon

24

Sep

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We have now been back training for three weeks and while attendance so far has been great by many with tremendous work being done, it has been poor in some groups particularly on Friday nights. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that we cannot hold places indefinitely for athletes who don’t attend regularly, as we have waiting lists on most groups.

 

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

 

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We would appreciate it if those who have been doing trials for the last couple of weeks could now get their registrations in please. Registration forms are available at check-in or can be downloaded from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’. Please put form & fee in an envelope and hand in at check-in this coming week.

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

Thanks to all who responded to our reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. The fee from Sept to Dec is €30, or from Oct to Dec €22. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 


 

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY

 

Competition is upon us already with our first event of the season taking place this coming Sunday 30th Sept in Knockraheen, Roundwood (located approximately 2km outside Roundwood Village on the R765 ). This is the Wicklow County Novice and Even Ages (U8/10/12/14/16/18/Junior/Novice) Athletes CAN move up an age. Start time is 11am with the girls U8, boys U8, girls U10 etc.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/8 500m, U/10 1000m, U/12 2000, U/14 3000m U/16
4000m. Girls U/18 and J
unior 4000m. Boys U/18 and Junior 6000m
Novice Men 6000m, Novice Women 4000m. Entry form is on our website and entries close on
Thurs 27th Sept.

 

Hoping to see a really good turn out of athletes on Sunday at this event!

 

New members who wish to compete on Sunday need to get their registration forms in asap.

 

Our 2nd event is the Wicklow County Intermediate and Uneven Ages
Date: Sunday, 7th October, Venue: Avondale Forest Park, Start Time: 11 am.
Distances: Boys and Girls U/7 200m, U/9 800m, U/11 1500m, U/13 2500m,,U/15 3500,
U/17 Girls 4000m, U/17 Boys 5000m, U/19 Girls 4000m, U/19 Boys 6000m.
Intermediate Men 8000m Intermediate Women 4000m. Entry form will be on our website from Sunday 30
th & entries will close on Thurs 4th Oct.


UPCOMING EVENTS

 

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 30th Sept. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 7th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

Autumn Open XC, Sun. 21st Oct., Abbottstown, Junior/Senior/Masters

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sat. 27th Oct. Novice and Even Ages, Navan Racecourse, Co. Meath

 

Leinster XC Championships, Sun.11th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Co Wexford

 

Round 3 County League, Aughrim on Friday 19th Oct. Check-in 6.30pm - Even Ages U6-U14/15

 

Round 4 County League, Bray Fri 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages U7-U15

 

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

As we have a number of athletes looking for club gear before the upcoming Cross Country (XC) the club shop will be open this Tues. 25th Sept. from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. If you don’t have club gear a plain T-shirt (preferably red) is fine for the County events. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! If you have outgrown your spikes & they are in good condition we are happy to exchange them for a larger size, if we have one in stock. We have a good selection at present!

 


 

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 during both the Indoor & Outdoor T&F seasons. 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 4-5 weeks with extra sessions added should the need arise. Due to some athletes moving on to college etc. we now have some places available, so anyone not already on the list who wishes to avail of these sessions should contact us on 0877730000.

 


 

PILATES CLASSES

 

Physio Matt Cox will also be running Pilates classes on Tues. evenings from 6 - 6.45 pm and these are open to everyone. Great opportunity for mums or dads dropping off their athletes to training for 6-7pm and the 6.45pm finish also allows 15 mins, if you need to pick up athletes for the 7pm session. There will be a block of 5 classes at just €50 (only €10 per class) and you can contact Matt on 0879500262 for more info. or to book a place. Classes start on Tues 2nd Oct. and places are limited.

 


 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, we are very happy to have you on board. We are always in need of more helpers, so if you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed.

 

Sun

26

Aug

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFO

WELCOME BACK

We hope you all had a great summer and what an amazing summer it was! Here’s hoping the great weather continues on into September. We hope you all had a good rest and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks,

as requested in our last Newsletter in July and are all now coming back 'Fit to Train' and won’t have to spend the first few weeks trying to get fit. There’s still time for those who haven’t made a start yet! Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with the first County XC League for U6-U15 due in Sept. & the first of the XC Championships. on Sunday 30th Sept.

 

For anyone who would like to see where their present fitness levels are:

Inbhear Dee are running a mile challenge on the track in Greystones at 7-00pm next Friday August 31st. You are all welcome to join in. No entry fee........wristbands indicating your time for all! There will also be a 3000m run if any seniors are interested.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 4th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times have all now been confirmed, so if you haven’t heard from us your training is at your usual time.

 

All 6-7pm groups are now at capacity and there is no room at present to add new athletes or to move athletes between the groups. A number of new athletes are doing two weeks trial & a small number of places may arise after this. Anyone who wishes to go on to our waiting list should send details through ‘Contact Us’ on our website.

 

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 without whom there would be no club. From time to time some of these coaches have to move on and as there are strict guidelines that we have to adhere to in terms of athlete-coach ratios, we are always in need of more coaches and assistants on the track. If you think you have the time to help out at any of the coaching sessions, even occasionally, please do let us know and we would be delighted to welcome you on board.

Mon

23

Jul

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

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 4th 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 29th 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. 31st 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. 4th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 7th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 11th 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 19th!

Wed

20

Jun

2018

CLUB NEWS

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all who competed in the Leinster Championships recently and huge congratulations to all who qualified for the upcoming Nationals. Lots of super performances in a variety of events and a great selection of medals & qualifiers to the All Irelands as a result!

 U19: Marcus Lennon silver in 100m & 200m, Louis Lalor Gold in 400m Hurdles, Bronze in 110m hurdles & 200m, Troy Scully silver in 3000m Steeplechase.
U18: John O'Connor Gold in 400m, Sarah O'Connor Bronze in 2000m Steeplechase, Katie Lawless Bronze in 400m hurdles.
U17: Ronan Dempsey silver in 100m & 100m hurdles, Alan Gordon silver in Pole Vault,
U16: Ellen McNally Gold in Triple Jump & Silver in Long Jump, Emma Quirk Silver in Triple Jump, Joe Prendergast silver in 800m, 1500m & Long Jump, Sarah Farrell Silver in 80m hurdles, Enya Conroy Bronze in 250m hurdles & 4th in 80m Hurdles & Maks Slusarczyk 4th in 100m.
U15: Jack McGlone Gold in 800m, Silver in 100m & 4th in 200m, Paul Delahunty silver in 800m & 1500m, Louise O'Riordan 4th in 800m, Ciaran Dillon Roberts 3rd in Triple Jump
U13: Ailbhe Gordon Gold in Javelin & Silver in the Shot Putt, Daniel Quirk Bronze in 60m hurdles & Bronze in the Long Jump, Daniel Connerty Silver in the 600m & Camille Madden 4th in the High Jump.

 

Congratulations & well done to everyone who took part & many thanks to our coaches & officials & all the mums & dads who travelled over the two weekends. Best of luck in the All Ireland’s!

 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 26th June in Greystones. We are only allowed a limited number of athletes for this event and so priority will be given to those who have competed in the recent County & Leinster events. Any places left after this will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The entry form is on our website and will close this coming Sat. 23rd.

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 

TRAINING

Training for our 5-6 pm group will finish up for the summer on Tues. next 26th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 29th. We will finish up with a fun competition on Tues for the 5-6 pm group & on Fri for the 6-7pm groups. Athletes who were born in 2006/7, have the option to come along to the 7-8.30pm sessions during July. Some will have the opportunity to move to this group in Sept.

 

We hope everyone has a great summer & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, we can’t continue without it. Have a great summer everyone!

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. Those competing in the final of the League in August will continue to train by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Don’t leave it until August as places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate you for Sept.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

  1. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 23rd June.

  2. National League Round 1, Templemore, Sun. 24th June.

  3. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 26th June. (Form on website)

  4. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat. 30th June. (Entries close Fri 22nd June)

  5. National Juvenile Games (U9-U11) & U12/U13 Field Events, Tullamore, Sun. 1st July

  6. National Juvenile Inter Club Relays U9-U11, Tullamore, Sun. 1st July

  7. National Juvenile B Championships & Relays, Tullamore, Sat. 7th July

  8. National League Round 2, Athlone or Santry, Sun. 8th July

  9. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sat. 14th/Sun. 15th July, Tullamore.

  10. Cork City Sports Mon 16th July, CIT Cork

  11. Morton Games, Thurs 19th, Santry

  12. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sun. 22nd July, Tullamore.

  13. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 28th/Sun 29th July, Santry.

  14. Celtic Games, Sat 4th Aug. Scotland

  15. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sat 18th Aug. Tullamore

  16. National League Final, Sun 19th Aug, Tullamore

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

We still have some outstanding debts from unpaid subs or races entered where athletes didn’t show and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! We will text amounts owed during the coming week. Further entries cannot be accepted from athletes until all debts are paid.

Mon

21

May

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

Well done to all our club athletes who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge ‘Thank You’ to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible. Considering the large number of athletes in the club, athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, but what we lacked in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by all those who did attend.

 

 

There were fantastic individual & team performances which saw many club athletes go home loaded down with medals on both days. Many thanks to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over two great days.

 

A special mention here for some of our older athletes, who act as Junior coaches each week before their own training sessions. These athletes not only competed for our club on both days, they also helped out at every opportunity, assisting at the finish line, the High Jump, relay zones and anything that was asked of them, while still managing to produce magnificent performances in their own events. They were fantastic on Sunday assisting Anne Marie during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them.

Full results are now on our club website!

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and subsequently the Leinster Schools and best of luck to Alana Ryan, Joe Prendergast, Ellen McNally, Jack McGlone & Louise O’Riordan in the All Ireland’s on Sat. June 2nd. All results are on the AAI website under schools!

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. National Combined Events, Santry Sat/Sun May 26th/27th. Entries closed.

  2. AAI Games, Santry Sun. May 27th. Entries closed.

  3. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore Sat. June 2nd.

  4. Leinster U23/Senior/Masters, Tullamore Sun. June 3rd. Entries close Tues. 29th May.

  5. Leinster Team Event for U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 4th. Entries close Fri 25th May.

  6. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Champs, Tullamore Sat. June 9th. Entries close Wed. 30th May.

  7. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 16th/17th June. Entries close Wed. 6th June.

  8. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 26th June. (limited numbers)

  9. Leinster Juniors, Drogheda, Thurs. 24th/31th May & 7th June. Entries to Theresa by Tues before the event.

  10. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 23rd June.

  11. National League Round 1, Templemore or Belfast Sun. 24th June.

  12. National Juniors/U23’s, Tullamore, Sat 30th June

 

 

 

We remind you once again that, while the club covers all entry fees for its juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Our training times are Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session.

 

 

Attendance at training has been very poor for quite a few athletes of late and we remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for up to 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club, so if you haven’t been attending & we haven’t seen or heard from you by the end of this week (Fri 25th May), we will be removing you from our lists. We cannot hold places indefinitely, as we have waiting lists on most groups at present.

 

 

 

CLUB INFORMATION

 

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. Greystones AC is run entirely by volunteers and while we do our best to respond to texts & e-mails quickly, this is not always possible, so please be patient and we will get back to you asap. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number or Facebook page may lead to long delays, as we don’t always have access to it and generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

Sun

06

May

2018

County Championships

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Wednesday May 9th and events take place on Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th May, starting at 11am each day.

 

 

Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

 

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2018) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2018) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

 

 

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

 

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

 

 

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

 

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2018.

 

 

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

 

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!

 


 

Mon

09

Apr

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

March proved to be a fairly chaotic month, with high winds, lots of rain & even more snow, which resulted in competitions having to be re-arranged, but we managed to hold all training sessions despite the weather. Well done to all the coaches & athletes who turned up in all weathers to train.

Glad to report that we finally finished the Indoor competitions yesterday and we congratulate all the athletes who performed so well, especially our fantastic medal winners. No time to sit back however as the first of the outdoor track & field events is this coming Thursday evening. Round 1 of the Juvenile League will be held this Thurs. 12th April on the track in Arklow. Check-in at 6.30pm, with 1st race at 7pm. Entry form is on our website and will close on Wed. evening. This one is for even ages, U6,8,10,12,14/15, but athletes may move up one age group, so everyone up to U15 can take part. Round 2 will be held in Greystones on Sat. 28th April.
 
NEW AAI SAFEGUARDING POLICY
As a member of the Athletics Association of Ireland, Greystones Athletic Club adheres to the Child Safeguarding Policy of the organisation. A copy of their new policy is on display on our Notice Board in Shoreline Sports Park, along with all our club policies and also photos & contact nos. of our Child Welfare Officers. You can also find this policy here & on our website. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzJWHOC0iH1qU1BFemt3WHdVd0NvMUNwTDkwUHp3RkNWRXBB/view?usp=drive_web
 
CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the athletes who performed so well at the recent Indoor Championships and congratulations to all the medal winners and those who got new PB’s.
Leinsters Results: Gold Medals to Emer McNally in the U16 Long Jump & Triple Jump, with a CBP in the Triple Jump. Gold also to Alana Ryan in the U19 60m & 400m, to Ailbhe Gordon in the U13 Shot Putt and to the U19 boys relay team of Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon & John O’Connor. Silver Medals to Joe Prendergast in the U16 800m, 1500m & Long Jump, to John O’Connor in the U18 400m, Aodhan Daly in the U17 Long Jump, Emma Quirk in the U16 Triple Jump, Jack McGlone in the U15 60m & the U13 boys relay team of Daniel Connerty, Rory McNally, Tom McCarthy & Daniel Quirk. Bronze Medals to Sarah Farrell in the U16 60m Hurdles & to Daniel Quirk in the U13 60m Hurdles.
National Results: Silver Medals to Alana Ryan in the U19 200m & to Ellen McNally in the U16 Long Jump
Bronze Medals for Ailbhe Gordon in the U13 Shot Putt & Daniel Quirk in the U13 Long Jump.
 
TRAINING
Our training times are Little Athletics Tues 5-6pm, age 7-11 yrs Tues & Fri 6-7pm, 11+ 7-8.30pm Tues, Wed & Fri. All athletes should strive to arrive on time and all juvenile athletes (up to age 18) must remain on the track until the end of the training session. If your session is finished a little early some evenings, use the opportunity to do some extra stretching after your cool down, but do not leave the track until your coach tells you it’s time to go. If you do need to leave early on occasions, please arrange this with your coach at the beginning of the session.
Attendance at training has been poor for quite a few athletes recently and we will expect to see a big improvement over the coming weeks. We will be working hard to prepare for the Wicklow Championships which are coming up very soon and it’s important not to miss out on the opportunity to try out the different events before the competition.
Please ensure all athletes continue to bring a coat to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. While the weather is improving, it can still be very cold on the track in the evenings. 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.
 
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wicklow Juvenile Track League R1, Thurs.12th Apr, Arklow Track.
Wicklow Sec. Schools T&F, Tues 17th Apr, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
Wicklow Primary Schools Relays, Tues. 24th Apr, Avondale.House & Gardens.
Wicklow Juvenile Track League R2, Sat. 28th Apr., Shoreline Track, Greystones.
East Leinster Schools T&F Day 1, Mon..30th Apr, Santry.
East Leinster Schools T&F Day 2, Thurs. 3rd May Santry.
GAC/IMC T&F event Sat. 5th May, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
Wicklow County Championships, Sat/Sun 12th/13th May, Shoreline Track, Greystones.
 
CLUB AGM
The club AGM will be held this Thurs. April 12th at 8pm. at the 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 promise we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night.
 
CLUB AWARDS NIGHT
Our club awards night for 2017 was held in Greystones Tennis Club on Friday. 23rd March and a great evening was had by all who attended. While some didn’t manage to make it, it was great to see so many athletes collecting their Awards for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2017. We had 5yr club membership awards for Ava Foley, Hannah Large, Keelin McGuire, John O’Connor, Sarah O’ Connor, Chase Scully, Troy Scully this year & 10yr club membership awards for Katie Lawless & Conor Dempsey. There were International selection awards for Alana Ryan & Conor Dempsey and Championship Best Performance awards for Alana Ryan & Niamh Kearney. This year the Juvenile Athlete of the Year went to Joe Prendergast, the Senior to Niamh Kearney, the Masters to Carol Costello and the overall Athlete of the Year went to Alana Ryan. A huge Thank You to those who put in all the work preparing for this event and thanks also to everyone who supplied the lovely cakes & to all who helped out on the night. I think the Easter Eggs for all the athletes were probably the hit of the night.
 
CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues. 17th April from 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good selection of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! This will be the last opportunity to buy club gear before the County Championships!
 
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, so hope to see you there, as it’s a very important part of the week’s training, especially for the endurance athletes !!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

Sat

03

Mar

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

Hope everyone has managed to stay nice & warm this week and you have all had lots of fun in the snow. We hope to get back to normal training this coming week, with all groups back on Tues. evening at their usual times. However this will be subject to weather conditions and the track being open, so please keep an eye on our website & FB page for updates.

 

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 or don’t have a jacket when it’s raining. Athletes also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 


 

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Due to the present weather conditions, the final day of the Athletics Leinster Juvenile Championships scheduled for the AIT Arena this Saturday has been postponed. As this event is a qualifier for the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Athletics Leinster will run their program on the 11th March and Day 1 of the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships (Relays and older age field events) will be held on SATURDAY 7th APRIL. The program on the 18th and 25th March is unaffected.

 

This decision has been taken so that all athletes’ will be given an opportunity to compete and qualify for their National Championships.

 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

All Ireland Schools Cross Country, Sat 10th March, Waterford IT

 

National Masters Indoor Championships, Sat. 10th March, Athlone

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 4, Sun. 11th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 2, Sun 18th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 3, Sun 25th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 1, Sun. 7th April, Athlone

 

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2017 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club on Friday. 23rd March at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2017, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2017, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week. There will be no training on Friday 23rd to facilitate this Awards night.

 

 

 

AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. April 12th at 8pm. 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.

 

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & start running at 9-30am sharp. This is our long easy run, where athletes run from 30-80 minutes, age related, at an easy (not jogging) conversational pace.............another chance to catch up with 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

Fri

09

Feb

2018

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

A big welcome to all our new members, a welcome back to all members who have re-registered for 2018 and an urgent reminder of our regular message about suitable attire for winter training.

 

 Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & 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 also need to wear suitable runners and not street shoes or Astro Turf shoes, which are unsuitable for athletics.

 

TRAINING

Due to unavailability of some of our coaches over the mid-term break, we regret that we will not be able to maintain the required ratio of coaches to athletes for the younger groups and consequently we are cancelling the 6-7pm sessions for the week.

 

To avoid this being an issue again in the future, we would be very grateful for any new volunteers who might be willing to help out at any of the sessions. A couple of people alternating weeks often works well as it allows for a swap when someone can’t make it. Training is provided for all volunteers.

 

Normal training will take place for the 7-8.30pm groups. Hoping to see a good turnout from these group as we have Leinster competition over the next few weeks.

 

LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Best of luck to all our athletes taking part in Day 1 of the Leinster Indoor Championships this Sat. 10th Feb. Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Entry forms for Days 2,3 & 4 of the Championships are now open and entries need to be in by Tues 13th Feb latest. No late entries can be accepted!

 

Training sessions for all relay teams competing in Abbotstown on February 25th take place every Wed. evenings from 7-8.30pm and also on some Fridays. Athletes who wish to be included in these teams, need to attend these sessions regularly.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 10th Feb, Athlone

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B & XC Relays. Sun 11th Feb, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway

 National Senior Indoors, Sat.17th & Sun.18th Feb. Abbottstown.

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sat. 24th Feb, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day 3, Sun. 25th Feb, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 4, Sat. 3rd March, Athlone

 

National Masters Indoor Championships, Sun 4th March, Athlone

 

All Ireland Schools Cross Country, Sat 10th March, Waterford IT

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 1, Sun. 11th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 2, Sun 18th March, Athlone

 

National Juvenile Indoor Championships, Day 3, Sun 25th March, Athlone

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to Richael Browne on winning the National Star Award for her achievements in 2017. Richael will receive her award at a function in the Tullamore Court hotel on Sat. 17th Feb.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues.20th Feb. from 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good selection of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts!

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with 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 & FB page each week. This Sun 11th Feb. we’re in Glendalough!

 

Tue

09

Jan

2018

Club News & Information

WELCOME BACK

 

Well done to all the athletes & coaches who made it back to training last week in challenging conditions. Some great sessions were done despite the weather! Hoping to see everyone else back this week, as all groups are back training from tonight Tues 9th Jan

 

Please ensure all athletes bring a coat, hat & gloves to all training sessions, as we are out in all weathers. It is far too cold to be turning up in shorts & t-shirts or hoodies at this stage. It’s easy take something off when you get too hot, but miserable if you have nothing to put on when you’re cold!

 

 

 

RELAY SQUAD

 

Training sessions for all athletes in Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm groups) who are interested in being considered for relay teams at the Indoor Championships on February 24th in Abbotstown, will take place every Wed. evenings from 7-8.30pm. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend these sessions regularly. Sign up at training this Wed 10th Jan.

 

 

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2018

 

Registration for this year will take place from 4.45-5.15pm and 6.30-7.30pm on Tues.16th Jan & from 6.30-7.30pm on Fri 19th Jan. 2018. All club athletes must either register at these times or hand in form & fee in an envelope at check-in during that week. Membership forms will be available at registration, or can be downloaded from our website www.greystonesac.com under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ to save time on the night. Please make sure to get your registrations done during this week! Un-registered athletes cannot be allowed on to the track from Tues 23rd Jan. as they will no longer be insured. There will be no exceptions to this!

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to Alana Ryan who won the Juvenile Girls Leinster Star Award for 2017 and to Aoife Conroy who won the Senior award. The girls received their awards last Sat. Night in Tullamore.

 

 

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

 

We had a fantastic day with the Endurance Squad on Tues 2nd Jan. when 56 athletes took to the track to try their hand at Laser Tag. It was a very enjoyable experience and we discovered that we had some fantastic shooters among the group. Many thanks to Pentathlon Ireland for organising this part of the day for us and we hope to try it again in the future. We followed this with a run down to the swimming pool for an excellent Pool Recovery session, many thanks to Eamonn Whelan for this, and finished the day with a fantastic lunch, supplied by all the athletes. We look forward to the next session, which will be open to all interested athletes age 10 upwards.

 

 

 

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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 13th Jan, Abbottstown

 

Leinster Juv XC Relay, Inter/Master Champs, Sun 14th Jan, Dunboyne

 

 

 

National Combined Events Sat 20th Jan, Athlone (Form on the website)

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun28th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Indoor League Final, Sat 3rd Feb, Athlone

 

 

 

AAI Games, Sun th Feb., Athlone

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1, Sat. 10th Feb, Athlone

 

 

Intermediate, Masters, Juvenile B & XC Relays. Sun 11th Feb, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway

 

National Senior Indoors, Sat.17th & Sun.18th Feb. Abbottstown.

 

 

Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, Sat. 17th Feb, Abbottstown

 

 

Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters Indoor Championships Day 3, Sun. 18th Feb, Abbottstown

 

 

 

REMINDER: HELPERS STILL NEEDED

 

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers & committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work & 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. 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 may have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session!

 

Sat

09

Dec

2017

Club News & Information

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed at the Leinster XC Championships and congratulations to all the medal winners. Sadly, numbers were well down this year, but those who did run produced some great performances, with several athletes qualifying for Nationals.

Some great runs at the first of the Nationals in Abbottstown also and great to see the Junior Girls take the bronze medals. Best of Luck to all those heading for Waterford for the Uneven ages next weekend.

 

 

TRAINING OVER THE XMAS PERIOD

We will train as usual next week and all groups will have training on Tues 19th Dec. with the 7-8.30 pm group also training on Wed 20th. The track closes at 6pm on Fri 22nd Dec. so any training on Fri. will be by arrangement with coaches, if they are available. As the track also closes at 6pm during Xmas week, any training sessions will be by arrangement with coaches, or athletes should complete the sessions on their training programmes, during opening hours. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to normal training on Tues 2nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 9th Jan.

 

REGISTRATION FOR 2018

Registration for next year will take place from 4.45-5.15pm and 6.30-7.30pm on Tues.16th Jan & from 6.30-7.30pm on Fri 19th Jan. 2018 and all club athletes must register at this time. No un-registered athletes will be allowed on to the track from Tues 23rd Jan.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open this coming Tues.12th Dec. From 4.40 - 5pm & from 7 - 8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! The new order of hoodies has arrived for that night, in case Santa needs any.

 

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

We had a better attendance from GAC athletes for the last two Endurance Group sessions where great work was done by all the athletes present and friendships were formed with athletes from all over the county. We saw the benefits when 6 County Teams qualified for the National XC’s.

The next session, which will be held in Greystones on Tues 2nd Jan, looks like being a very exciting day indeed. This one will be invitation only, as it is confined to athletes who have attended previous sessions. There will be further opportunities for new members to join the squad at sessions arranged in 2018!

 

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult (who doesn't have to run), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the 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 & FB page each week.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Solstice Mile: Sli Cualann AC will host a series of graded 1 ml races (4 laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice on Wed. 20th Dec. at 7pm. Entry donation 5euro for Adults, 3euro for U12’s – U16’s. Refreshments afterwards. Open to everyone!

 

 

National XC Championships Sun.17th Dec. Novice and Uneven Ages, Waterford

 

 

Streets of Wicklow 5K Tues 26th Dec in Wicklow Town @ 11am

 

 

Roundwood Biathlon: Charity Biathlon on Tues 27th Dec. Starting at 2pm, walkers 1.45pm.

 

Endurance Squad Training Tues 2nd Jan, Greystones Track (Invitation only)

 

 

County Masters XC Sun. 7th Jan, Shanganagh Park, Bray

 

 

National Indoor League R1, Sat 13th Jan, Abbottstown

 

 

Leinster Juv XC Relay, Inter/Master Champs, Sun 14th Jan, Dunboyne

 

 

 

National Combined Events Sat 20th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Indoor League R2, Sat 27th Jan, Athlone

 

 

National Junior/U23’s, Sun28th Jan, Athlone

 

 

HELPERS STILL NEEDED

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers & committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work & 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. 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 may have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session.

 

We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

Stronger! Higher! Faster” for 2018!

 

Mon

23

Oct

2017

Club Newsletter

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all who competed in the recent County Championships in Roundwood & Avondale. The Club appreciates your support and participation. We have found over the years that those athletes who take part in competitions get so much more out of their participation and enjoy being part of their teams.

These athletes acquire long term health and social benefits and are less likely to droptheir fitness as young adults. So we were disappointed with the poor attendance and failed to make up teams in many age groups, but we were impressed with the performances of those who did compete at these events.

We had lots of individual medal winners, with Individual Gold medals for Richael Browne U19, Sarah O’Connor U18, Abbie Tyrrell U17, Joe Prendergast U15, Paul Delahunty U14, Individual silver for David Coyle Novice & Intermediate men, Katie Conroy Intermediate Wm, Troy Scully U19 & U18, Rachel Casey U19, Joe Prendergast U16, Paul Delahunty U15, Louise O’Riordan U14. Team Gold for U17 Boys John O’Connor, Colm Flynn, Joe Dowd, Ronan Dempsey, U16 Boys Joe Prendergast, Michael O’Shea, James Smartt, Ronan Dempsey. Team silver for U16 Girls Abbie Tyrrell, Megan O’Brien, Erin Howard, Enya Conroy, Team bronze for Novice Men David Coyle, Jamie Lennon, Robert Costello, AJ Cotter, U13 Boys Chase Scully, Conor Keogh, Tom McCarthy, Cian Smyth, Calum Flynn, U12 Boys Tom McCarthy, William O’Riordan, Rory McNally, Nathan Donlon, Calum Flynn, U11Girls Lucy Garvey, Ailbhe Kelly, Amber Scully, Chloe Hanley, Teagan Griffiths, U10 Girls Grace Rush, Holly Goodwin, Shana O’Dowd, Sarah Jane McCarthy, Teagan Griffiths, Ella Dallaghan. More runners..... makes more teams..... makes more medal winners!

We had the 1st big event of the XC season yesterday with huge fields in the Autumn Open in Abbottstown and we had great performances from Richael Browne & Sarah O’Connor in the Junior Women’s event & Katy Conroy in the Senior Women’s. Well done girls!

 

TRAINING NEXT WEEK

As schools are on mid-term next week and children will be out ‘Trick or Treating’ for Halloween on Tuesday night, there will be no training for the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups next week. Training will go ahead as usual for the 7-8.30pm groups.

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

We had a fantastic morning in Shanganagh Park on Sunday Oct.15th, when athletes from all over Wicklow gathered for the Endurance Squad session and happily we had a better attendance from GAC athletes this time. It was wonderful to watch so many young athletes working together and I think many surprised themselves by what they were able to achieve. This is a great opportunity to work together and will really benefit everyone who makes the effort to attend.......... and you get to make lots of new friends also!

The next two sessions are being held on Fri 3rd Nov. in Rathdrum & Fri 1st Dec. in Aughrim. As Friday is already a training night for GAC, we are hoping to see a much better attendance at these. There is still time to get involved in this group and great plans to develop it in the future! It will not only improve our County team’s, it will improve Individual & club performances also.

 

SUNDAY RUN

Nice 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 schoolers should have an accompanying adult ( who doesn't have to run ), however all ages participate....... up to very old !! Many parents bring younger kids and walk, cycle or run. We meet at 9-20 for a quick warm up & 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.............another chance to catch up with the new friends! Hope to see you there. Its the most important session of the week !!! Venues are posted on our website & FB page each week.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Leinster XC Championships 28th October Novice and Even Ages, Navan Adventure Park

 

Leinster XC Championships 12th November Senior and Uneven Ages, Adamstown, Wexford

 

Endurance Squad Training Fri Nov 3rd @ 6.30pm Rathdrum Rugby Club

 

 

Round 4 Co. League Rathdrum Rugby Club 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages

 

Endurance Squad Training Fri Dec.1st @ 6.30pm Aughrim GAA Grounds

 

Round 5 Co. League Arklow Track 8th Dec. Check-in 6.30pm – Even Ages

 

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open this Tues. 24th Oct from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes and hoodies available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts! Orders can be taken for any club gear that might be needed in Dec. so that we can make sure we have this available on our next Shop opening in Dec.

 

COACHES & HELPERS

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, however we are still very much in need of more helpers. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are still very much in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training, so don’t be afraid to offer.

 

In particular we need help at Tuesday’s 6-7pm session & Friday’s 7-8.30pm session. Please help if you can, as we really don’t want to have to cancel these training sessions!

Mon

18

Sep

2017

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

RETURN TO TRAINING

We have now been back training for two weeks and attendance so far has been poor in many groups. We look forward to a big improvement this coming week and remind everyone that athletes who don’t attend for 3 weeks without notification, are assumed to have left the club, so if we haven’t seen or heard from you by the end of this week (Fri 22nd Sept), we will be removing you from our lists. We cannot hold places indefinitely, as we have waiting lists on most groups.

REGISTRATION OF NEW ATHLETES

We welcome all our new athletes and hope they are settling in well. We will allow another week’s trial this week and will then hold a Registration night for all new members on Tues 26th Sept from 4.45-5pm for Little Athletics and again from 6.45-7.30pm for everyone else. Registration forms will be available on the night, or to prevent delays you can downloaded one in advance from our website, under ‘Training Times & Club Info’..

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

Thanks to all who responded to our text reminders and paid off their overdue subs & race fees. There are still a small number unpaid, so please try to get this sorted this week. We also note that athletes are starting to build up unpaid subs again and remind you that you now have the option to pay in advance if you find it difficult to remember your weekly €2. Please note that athletes who have paid in advance still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 

COUNTY ENDURANCE SQUAD

Earlier this year County Wicklow set up an endurance training squad for all athletes from age 10 upwards, with the aim of improving our County results in this year’s XC events. It was well attended generally, but very few GAC athletes have availed of the opportunity to be part of it so far. However there is still time to get involved, as the next session takes place this coming Saturday 23rd Sept. from 11am -1pm in Avondale, Rathdrum. It would be great to see lots of our athletes taking advantage of these sessions, so do come along if at all possible. It will not only improve our County team’s, it will improve Individual & club performances also.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 County Endurance Squad training Sat 23rd Sept in Avondale 11am-1pm

 

Wicklow County XC Championships Sun. 1st Oct in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

 

Wicklow County XC Championships Sun. 8th Oct in Avondale @ 11am Intermediate & Uneven Ages

 

Leinster XC Championships 29th October Novice and Even Ages Tyrrells Pass

 

Leinster XC Championships 12th November Senior and Uneven Ages Venue TBC

 

Round 4 Co. League Rathdrum Rugby Club 16th Nov. Check-in 6.30pm - Uneven Ages

 

Round 5 Co. League Arklow Track 8th Dec. Check-in 6.30pm – Even Ages

 

COACHES & HELPERS

A big Thank You to those who have joined the coaching team, however we are still in need of more helpers. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are really in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with either check-in on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed

In particular we need help at Tuesday’s 6-7pm session & Friday’s 7-8.30pm session. Please help if you can, as we really don’t want to have to cancel these training sessions!

 

 

 

Thu

31

Aug

2017

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

WELCOME BACK

 

We hope you all had a great summer and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks, as requested in our last Newsletter in July and so are all coming back 'Fit to Train'. Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with Round 1 of the XC League for U8-U15 on Fri 15th Sept in Roundwood and the County XC Champs at the beginning of Oct.

 

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. & Little Athletics returning on Tues. 12th Sept. This allows our younger athletes a chance to settle in to school before starting back. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified of this.

 

 

 

 

PAYMENT OF WEEKLY SUBS

 

In response to requests from a small number of parents, we are offering an alternative means of paying the weekly sub this term. Athletes have the option to pay €30 at the beginning of this term, which will cover the subs for the remaining 15 training weeks of 2017. This will be recorded on the check-in sheets, but athletes will still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Prepaid fees will not be refunded where athletes fail to attend training. The usual option of paying €2 once a week will still be available to those who prefer to use this method, however we appeal to everyone not to run up bills, as it is very time consuming trying to collect these. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.

 

 

 

COACHES & HELPERS

 

Greystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers & committee members, who volunteer so much time each week to help make Greystones AC such a successful club. We have a very dedicated core group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. There is a natural turnover of coaches as their children pass through the club, but obviously we need replacement volunteers for these as they leave. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. We strongly recommend that 2 or more parents buddy up to share the slot to support your athletes in the club whether it be to assist, coach or check-in. The number of volunteers determines the number of athletes we can facilitate and the number of nights we can hold training. As we return for the new season, we find that we are very short of coaches, particularly for the 6-7pm groups, so if you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did!

 

 

 

 

OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW CLUB POLICIES

 

Greystones AC is currently reviewing our Policies & Procedures and we are offering parents & members an opportunity to contribute to this. Please forward any suggestions you may have to greystonesathletics@gmail.com, before our next meeting at the end of Sept. If there are any amongst our members/parents with relevant experience in formulating policies, we would be delighted to have your assistance. Current policies can be found on our website under “Training Times & Club Info”

 


 

Tue

18

Jul

2017

Club News & Information

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the National Championships recently and who represented the club so well, though it was disappointing that so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Many congratulations to the medal winners and to all who earned PB's.

Congrats also to those who competed in the National B’s last Saturday and in the Bray Invitational, where we retained both the Overall Cup & the Relay Shield once again.

Huge congratulations to Alana Ryan who has been selected to represent Ireland in the 200m & the 4 x 100m relay at the Celtic Games on Saturday August 5th. As the Games are in Ireland this year, it’s a great opportunity to go along to Santry and support Alana and the rest of the Irish team!
Congratulations also to Alex Campbell who represented Ireland in the Triple Jump at the Schools International last weekend!
 
TRAINING
As most athletes have now finished competing and the attendance at training has been very erratic for the past few weeks, we feel it is time to give our hard working coaches a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from several of our athletes. Consequently we will finish training tonight Tues. 18th 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 full two weeks 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 5 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 Cross Country events will come up very quickly, when we return in Sept.
Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. Little Athletics will return on Tues. 12th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.
 
Groups for Sept.'17 will be organised very soon to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Parents of athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if your children intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept. (Text 0868635797 or use Contact Us on our website)
 
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.
 
THANK YOU
A big 'Thank You' also to Christina & Dermot Browne for organising another successful Bagpack for the club and also to all those who helped out over the two days.
 
COACHES & HELPERS
Geystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers, committee and of course athletes who give of their time. We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did.  If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. The number of volunteers will determine the number of athletes.

Thu

15

Jun

2017

Newsletter

 

BRAY INVITATIONAL EVENT

 

The Annual Bray Invitational Event takes place this coming Tues. 20th June in Greystones. We are only allowed a limited number of athletes for this event and so priority will be given to those who have competed in the recent County & Leinster events. Any places left after this will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The entry form is on our website and will close on Sat. 17th.

 

There will be no training for the 6-7pm or 7-8.30pm groups this Tuesday due to this competition. Little Athletics 5-6pm will go ahead as normal.

 

 

TRAINING

 

Training for our younger groups ie 5-6pm & 6-7pm sessions, will finish for the summer at the end of June. We will finish up with a fun competition on Friday 30th for all our younger athletes (5-6 & 6-7pm groups) and we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge ‘Thank You’ to our coaches and helpers and an appeal for more help in Sept. please, we can’t continue without it. Have a great summer everyone!

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes will still be competing during this time. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. Those competing in the final of the League in August will continue to train by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

Please check website regularly for entry forms & closing dates!

  1. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 17th/18th June.

  2. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 20th June. (limited numbers)

  3. Leinster Juniors, Leixlip Fri 23rd June.

  4. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 24th June.

  5. National League Round 1, Athlone or Tallaght Sun. 25th June.

  6. National Juniors & U23’s, Tullamore Sat 1st July.

  7. National Juvenile Inter Club Relay Championships, Athlone Sun 2nd July.

  8. National Masters Championships, Tullamore Sun 2nd July.

  9. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sat. 8th/Sun. 9th July, Tullamore.

  10. Morton Games 2017 T&F , Wed 12th July, Santry

  11. National Juvenile ‘B’ Championships, Sat. 15th July, Tullamore.

  12. National Juvenile T&F Championships, Sun. 16th July, Tullamore.

  13. Cork City Sports, Tues 18th July, CIT Cork.

  14. National Senior T&F Championships, Sat 22nd/Sun 23rd July, Santry.

  15. National League Round 2, Sun 30th July.

  16. National League Final, Sun 20th Aug, Tullamore.

 

 

BAGPACK FOR GAC

 

Don’t forget our Fundraising Bagpack for the club which is being held this Friday 16th June and Saturday 17th June at Tesco Greystones. All support will be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

We still have a small number of outstanding debts and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. before we finish up for the summer! Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

Mon

22

May

2017

Club News, Bag Pack & Upcoming Competitions

Well done to all who competed at the recent County Championships and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who made it all possible.

 

Athlete attendance numbers were disappointing, especially on the Saturday, but what was lacking in numbers was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and effort put in by those who did attend. We saw great individual & team performances and many club athletes went home loaded down with medals on both days. Thanks also to the parents who brought the athletes along and who gave the club such great support over the two days.

A special mention here for our older athletes, four of whom act as Junior coaches each week before their own training sessions. These older athletes not only competed for our club on both days, they also helped out at every opportunity, assisting at Long jump, High Jump, relay zones and anything that was asked of them, while still managing to produce magnificent performances in their own events. They were like a well organised army on Sunday during the Sprints for the younger age groups, sorting the children, putting on & off the bibs, lining them up and escorting them back after their races. We genuinely could not have managed without their help and we are very, very proud of each & every one of them.

Full results are now on our club website!

 

Congratulations to all club athletes on the fantastic results from the East Leinster Schools and the Leinster Schools and best of luck to everyone in the All Ireland’s on June 3rd. All results are on the AAI website under schools!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. National Combined Events, Santry Sat/Sun May 27th/28th.

  2. AAI Games, Santry Sun. May 28th.

  3. All Ireland Schools, Tullamore

  4. Leinster U23/Senior/Masters, Tullamore Sun. June 4th.

  5. Leinster Team Event for U9-U15’s, Tullamore Mon. June 5th.

  6. Leinster U9-11 Pairs & U12 & 13 Championships, Tullamore Sat. June 10th.

  7. Leinster U12 – U19 Championships, Tullamore Sat/Sun 17th/18th June.

  8. Bray Invitational Event, Greystones Tues 20th June. (limited numbers)

  9. Leinster Juniors, Leixlip Fri 23rd June.

  10. Tailteann Games, Santry Sat. 24th June.

  11. National League Round 1, Athlone or Tallaght Sun. 25th June.

 

BAGPACK FOR GAC

Many thanks to Dermot Browne who has managed to arrange a Fundraising Bagpack for the club again this year, on Friday 16th June and Saturday 17th June at Tesco Greystones. We require volunteers for 2 hour slots from 11am to 8pm on the Friday and 11am to 6pm on the Saturday. Email Christina Browne on Christinamary123@gmail.com with your availability. All help greatly appreciated from all parents & from athletes & siblings ages 14 and upwards.

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on this coming Tues. 23rd May from 4.40 -5pm & from 7-8 pm only, for singlets, shorts, leggings, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets, showerproof bottoms etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes available. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt and red, white or black shorts!

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those who responded to our appeal and paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. However we still have a small number due and in the interest of fairness to all club members, we are once again requesting full payment of these overdue subs. Reminders will be sent out this week.

We also remind you once again that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

CLUB INFORMATION

Club information is generally sent out via our newsletter and most regular communication is done via e-mail. The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we don’t always have access to it and generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Heartiest congratulations from everyone at Greystones AC to club athlete Rachel Casey, who this week receives the ‘Greystones Special Person of the Year Award’ for 2017. Rachel specialises in Race Walking & has been a committed club member for over 7 years. She is one of our regular Junior coaches, who helps out twice a week with the younger athletes before doing her own training sessions. She also helps out with Bray Lakers on a regular basis and is a very active member of the Greystones Rowing Club. Check out the link below for more details: http://www.greystonesguide.ie/my-greystones-rachel-casey/

Fri

05

May

2017

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS!

 

The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Tuesday May 9th and events take place on Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th May, starting at 11am each day.

 

 

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in the relays on both days. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2017) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

 

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2017) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. Athletes take part in a sprint, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each. All athletes who complete the three events will receive an award, Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score. On Saturday these younger athletes have their longer race, fun Obstacle relays & the Even Aged relays, with the uneven age relays on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

 

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. The programme is on the sidebar on the front page of our website and also on our notice board down at the track. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

 

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up will have to refund these fees to the club.

 

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes and we sincerely hope that everyone will make the effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2017.

 

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

 

Looking forward to watching all of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics!

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Mon

10

Apr

2017

CLUB NEWS

 

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

Due to very poor attendances during school breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups during the Easter holidays, These groups will return to training on Tues. 25th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual. Schools competitions are fast approaching!

 

Round 2 of the Juvenile League for athletes up to U15, will go ahead on Fri 21st at the Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Entry form will be on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed. 19th Apr.

 CLUB CAPTAINS

At our recent AGM we agreed to elect two Club Captains who will help and encourage our younger athletes and liaise between the coaches and the athletes on a regular basis. We are delighted to announce that Aoife Conroy & Conor Dempsey have agreed to accept the roles. Aoife & Conor have both been involved in athletics from an early age and have been competing for a number of years at all levels. They have experienced both the highs & the lows, have had the joy of standing on podiums, but also dealt with disappointment and with unwelcome injury & the long road to recovery. They have a wealth of experience which they are happy to pass on to our younger members and indeed have been passing on their skills at our training days for the past two years. We feel they will be a great help to those coming through in the future and will be happy to bring any concerns that athletes may have, to the coaches.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

We had a great night at the club awards on the 24st March and we congratulate all of the athletes who attended and won awards for 2016. If you did not receive your award on the night, but want to collect it, we will arrange to have them available for collection on Tues. 26th Apr. when all groups are back at training.

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

Our annual Good Attendance Trip took place on Saturday 8th Apr and a fantastic time was had by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Fiona Ryan for organising it and to all who helped out on the day and all who supplied transport.

The trip for our older athletes will take place on Apr. 22nd to GoQuest.

 

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

Just over 80 athletes took the Mile Challenge on Saturday in glorious conditions in Greystones. Every club in the County was represented and the only word to describe the day was awesome. A better turnout from GAC this time, but still very small when you consider how many athletes could have been involved. Hopefully numbers will grow with each event.

Many of the athletes achieved a result well beyond their expectation and all were delighted with their wristbands. Next time they will aim even higher and try for the next colour band. Well done to all the athletes and thanks to all the coaches who motivated their athletes and gave them the opportunity to experience a great sense of achievement !!

 

WEBTEXT

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

CLUB SHOP

 The club shop will be open on Tues. 25th Apr from 4.40 -5pm & 6.40 -7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have a good number of 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts for overdue subs and entry fees for events not attended. A small number still owe for weekly subs/entries and are reminded that these debts need to be sorted asap. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

The Club’s volunteer helpers collect these fees and check athletes in on training nights. They do not want to repeatedly ask athletes for the unpaid subs. The subs are a nominal sum to cover track costs, entry fees and replacement of equipment. The subs are for the mutual benefit of all members. Reminders will be issued shortly for these unpaid amounts. The Club cannot continue effectively without the support of all of its members.  

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered, are then liable for these fees.

Further entries cannot be accepted for athletes until all debts are paid.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April. Entries to Theresa

  2. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

  3. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23rd April, Raheny. U17 up. Entries to Theresa

  4. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event. Entries to Theresa

  5. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6th May, Greystones. U17 upwards. Entries on IMC website

  6. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13th/14th May, Greystones. Open to all ages. Entry form will be on GAC website

  7. Leinster Combined Events Championships, Claremont Stadium, Navan Sat 20th May. Entry form will be on GAC website

  8. Leinster Relays, Sun 22nd May, Le Chéile AC, Leixlip Entry form will be on GAC website

  9. National Combined Events Championships Santry Entry form will be on GAC website

  10. AAI Games, Santry (U17 upwards) Entry form will be on GAC website

 

RECENT RESULTS

Day 3 of the National Indoors produced more excellent performances and saw Daniel Quirk take bronze in the Long Jump in his first National Indoor Championships. Ailbhe Gordon, another first timer, threw a huge PB in the Shot Putt giving her a terrific 5th place finish. A fantastic run from Joe Prendergast in the boys U15 800m heats and a 5th place finish after really taking on the final. 5th place also for Ben Jones in the U17 boys 800m & for Richael Browne in the U19 girls. A new PB for Marcus Lalor in his 200m heat where he finished 4th, with a 5th place for Noah Daly in his and great hurdling from Emma Quirk saw her finish 4th in her heat in the U15 girls 60mH. Well done to all who competed and represented the club so well!

 

Great running from the GAC athletes in the recent County road race where Brien Geraghty finished 3rd overall, taking the M40 title with Caoimhin MacMaoláin finishing 7th .Dermot Hughes finished 11th in the M35 and William McCann finished 12th in the Senior men. Troy Scully finished 18th overall, making him 2nd in the Junior men’s to take the silver with Colm Flynn finishing in 5th. Annette Cleary took silver in the W50, with Clodagh Manning finishing 6th in the W45 & Christine McCann 6th in the W55.Such a pity not to have full teams here, but hopefully we can improve on this for future events.

Troy Scully followed his 4.49 mile on Saturday with a 2nd place finish in the Great ireland 5K on Sunday, where he ran a fantastic 17.11, with William McCann running 39.48 in the 10K.

 

 

Thu

30

Mar

2017

DAY TRIP FOR OLDER ATHLETES

This year we are going to GoQuest with the older athletes for our annual day trip.

GoQuest is an indoor, multi-challenge themed arena for teenagers and adults. The 27 custom-designed rooms are a mix of physical and mental challenges with three levels of difficulty. People work in teams of 3 – 4 in order to complete the challenges.

Whilst the club will subsidise the cost for those athletes who had high attendance during 2016, other athletes (U17 and up) are more than welcome to come along but will be asked to contribute the full cost.

Date: Saturday 22nd April 2017

Time: 5.30 pm

Full-Cost: €16.00 per person plus the cost of pizza afterwards

Subsidised Cost: €12.00 to include GoQuest & Pizza

Since we need to confirm numbers in advance against this reservation, please text Fiona Ryan on 086-7333319 by Saturday 2.00 pm at the latest to confirm whether you will be participating. Please bring along the cost in an envelope (with your name and enclosed amount noted on the outside of the envelope) to training on Friday evening if possible, if not on Tuesday evening at latest.

To minimise the cost we will arrange car-pooling.

See www.goquest.ie for futher information.

GoQuest Indoor Challenge Zone

 

Exit 5 M50

 

Unit 23 North Park Business Park

 

North Road

 

Dubin 11

 

List of those with qualifying attendance,

 

Niamh Conroy

Alana Ryan

Sarah O'Connor

Rachel Casey

Richael Browne

Alannah O'Carroll

Katie Lawless

Aoife Conroy

Ara Freeman

John O'Connor

Troy Scully

Noah Daly

Louis Lalor

All other club athletes U17 up are welcome to attend!

Tue

28

Mar

2017

GREYSTONES AC GOOD ATTENDANCE TRIP 2016

As our last trip was such a success, this year’s trip for good attendance will be to Jumpzone in Sandyford again and has been arrange to take place on Sat. 8th April from 4.00-5.00 pm.

We reduced the percentage qualification for the trip to 50% attendance this year to allow more athletes to attend. Points have been awarded for each training night attended during 2016, with bonus points for every competition attended.

Athletes will need to be at the Jumpzone Centre by 3.45pm latest, where we will have a full hour on the trampolines. We will pay a trip to McDonalds afterwards and expect to arrive back in Greystones about 7.00 pm.  As it would make the trip very expensive for everyone if we have to hire a bus, we will be depending on parents to drop off and collect the athletes, but if we carpool nobody should have to make more than one journey. If you can let us know whether drop off or pick up suits best, we will do our best to arrange this. Those doing the return journey will need to pick up at Jumpzone at 5.00 pm and  accompany the group to McDonalds. The trip will be subsidised, so cost to the athletes will be €10, which includes food.  If participants have their own Jumpzone socks they should bring them along or they will have to be purchased at the venue on the day (€2.00).

.

Below is a list of the athletes who have qualified for the trip. If you wish to attend, please text your name to 0877730000 by Friday 31 March at the latest, as we have to confirm numbers asap. All athletes attending will be issued with a waiver form which must be signed and returned to the club. Jumpzone will not allow anyone in without this form.

 

To avoid having to deal with cash on the day, and in order for us to be able to confirm final numbers with Jumpzone, payment can be made to Fiona Ryan at the gate at 7 pm tonight or tomorrow night, Wednesday 29 April, or to Louise on Friday night.  Please bring along an envelope with your child’s name and the amount clearly marked on it, and waiver form enclosed (form can be downloaded from Jumpzone’s website).

 

Enya Conroy,  

Erin Howard,

Abbie Taylor

Megan O’Brien ,

Isobel Radford Dodd                                                                                               

Ella Shanley                                                                                                                         Emma Quirk                                                                                                                 

Ellen McNally                                                                                                            

Michael O’Shea                                                                                                              

Joe Prendergast
Paul Delahunty                                                                                                                 Aodhan Daly 

Ronan Dempsey                                                                                                       

Eimear Ryan                                                                                                               

Maebh O’Neill                                                                                                            

Sophie Dallaghan                                                                                                     

Isabelle Donnelly                                                                                                            

Lucy Daly                                                                                                                    

Salley Shanley                                                                                                            

Louise O’Riordan                                                                                                                  Chase Scully

Ailbhe Gordon

Daniel Quirk

Tara Casey

Rory McNally

Ava Foley                                                                                                                                     Camille Madden                                                                                                             

Tom McCarthy                                                                                                              

Sarah Hayes                                                                                                               

Georgia Hogan                                                                                                            

Alex Mulcahy                                                                                                                   

Jack Golden                                                                                                                  

Óisin O’Malley                                                                                                                            Amber Scully                                                                                                                              Zoe Kenna                                                                                                                              Daniel Garvey                                                                                                               

Lucy Garvey        

Evan Quirk                                                                                                                           Tristan Jolyet Cunningham                                                                                                  Aine Hayde                                                                                                                          Georgia Cullen                                                                                                                       Ella Dallaghan                                                                                                                     Isaac Leahy                                                                                                                           Kate Smith

Chloe Hanley

Charlotte Hudson

Nathan Donlon

 

Mon

27

Mar

2017

NATIONAL JUVENILE INDOORS 2017

 

The first weekend of the National Juvenile Indoors saw GAC athletes produce some top class performances with some great results.

 The track on Saturday was all about the Relays, with our U15 boys team making the final in one of the tightest races of the day.

 They gave a great performance in the final where another very close finish left them 5th overall

It was the turn of the U18 boys in the afternoon and having finished a comfortable second in their heat, they went on to take the silver medals in style in the final.

 

We had a number of field eventer’s competing on Saturday and some great results in the Long Jump, with Ellen McNally taking Bronze in the U15 Girls with 5m 05 and Emma Quirk finishing 6th with 4m 79, James Nicholson taking Bronze in the U15 boys with 4m 98, with Joe Prendergast taking 5th with 4m 77 and Aodhan Daly taking 6th in the U17 boys with 5m 34. Sophie Nicholson had a 7th place finish in the U17 high jump and Alannah O’Carroll a 5th place in the U19 pole Vault.

 

Sunday saw our distance runners take to the track for the 1500m and they produced some very exciting races with great results. Richael Browne had a fantastic run in the U19, controlling the race right from the start and pulling away from the field in the last two laps to comfortably take the Indoor title for the second year in a row. Sarah O’Connor took on the girls U17 race right from the gun and had a fantastic run that resulted in her taking the bronze medal and setting a new 1500m PB.

 

Troy Scully had to cover the distance twice, as there were heats in the boys U18, but as always he rose to the challenge running a PB in the heat to qualify comfortably for the final where he followed up with yet another PB and a 10th place finish.

 

A fantastic race from Rachel Casey in the U18 Walk to finish 6th with a huge PB of 7.59m. Rachel has progressed hugely and has taken 49 secs off her time for this distance in the past year.

 

A good win in her heat saw Alana Ryan safely through to the 60m final where she finished 4th , but disappointment for Jack McGlone after an unfortunate break at the start of his.

 

Silver in the U19 Long Jump for James Vance, losing out on the gold by a mere .01 of a centimeter and 13th place finishes for Ellen McNally in the U15 High Jump and for Sophie Nicholson in the U17.

 

Well done to all who competed over the two days & a huge Thank You to the parents & coaches who supported them during the weekend.

 

Best of luck to everyone on the final day next Saturday !

 

Mon

20

Mar

2017

Newsletter

CLUB NEWS

 

 

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2016 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club this coming Friday. 24st March at 7pm.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2016 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club this coming Friday. 24st March at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement during 2016, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, Achievement awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes.

 

While these awards are for athletes who were with us during 2016, all athletes and their families are welcome to come along and be part of the celebrations on the night This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week.

 

There will be no training on Friday 24th to facilitate this Awards night.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIPS

 

 

Our annual Attendance Trip for those with good attendance during 2016, has been arranged for Sat 8th April.at 4pm. As Jumpzone proved to be so popular last year, we are returning this year, with the customary stop off at McDonald’s on the way back. The full list of athletes who qualify to go on this trip will be published on our website in the next couple of days.

 

A separate trip for our older athletes is also being planned and full details will follow shortly!

 

 

 

JUVENILE & JUNIOR RESULTS

 

Congatulations to Sarah O’Connor who won Gold in the 1500m on Day 3 of the Leinster Champ. and Alannah O’Carroll who won Gold in the Pole Vault, Ben Jones who won bronze in the 1500m & Sophie Nicholson who won bronze in the HJ.

 

Gold in the Relays for U15 Boys: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Michael O’Shea, Jack McGlone & U18 Boys: Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon, John O’Connor with Silver for U19 Boys: Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Marcus Lennon, James Vance. Good Luck in the Nationals!

 

Day 4 was the Junior/Senior/ Masters Champs:

 

Junior medals: Gold for James Vance in the LJ. Silver for Ara Freeman in the 60m, Alana Ryan in the 200m, Rosa Kirwan in the TJ and Bronze for Rosa Kirwan in the 400m & HJ & Katie Lawless in the 60mH.

 

 

 

SENIOR & MASTERS RESULTS

 

Indoor Track & Field: Senior: Silver for Niamh Kearney in the 3K & Silver for Aoife Conroy in the 60mH & bronze in the 400m.

 

Masters: Gold for Carol Costello in the Leinster 800m, while the National Masters saw Carol Costello take silver in the 800m & Nick Russell take silver in the 400m.

 

Road & XC: Brian O'Murchu finished in an excellent 6th place in the Clane 10k in a time of 34:44, as well as picking up another 6th place finish in the BHAA 5 mile XC. Brian Geraghty won the M40 title in the Enniscorthy 10k in a time of 33:33, while also clocking a very impressive 56:14 in the Ballycotton 10 miler. Robert Costello followed up a 10th place finish in the IMRA mountain race at Ticknock with a trail marathon in the Blue Mountains while holidaying in Australia, where he also posted a time of 39:30 in the Sydney Striders 10k race. Dermot Hughes has also been competing recently, but at a more local level, including running a 44 minute 10k in the Wicklow Hospice race in Avondale, finishing 11th overall out of a field of over 200 runners. Finally, GAC racing stalwart AJ Cotter has recently completed his 100th parkrun! Congratulations to all!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 25th March, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  2. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, 26th March, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  3. County Road Race, Fri 31st March in Ashford @ 7.15pm.. U17 upwards.

  4. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, 1st April, Athlone (Qualifiers only)

  5. Wicklow Invitational Secondary Schools T&F, Greystones 10.30am

  6. National 10k Championships Dublin Sun 9th Apr. Adult event.

  7. Leinster 10 mile championships, Clontarf Easter Monday 17 April.

  8. Juvenile Track League R2 Fri 21th Apr, Riverfield Centre, Aughrim. Even Ages

  9. National Road Relay Championships, Sun 23rd April, Raheny. U17 upwards.

  10. Leinster Novice Road Race, Gowran Mon 1st May Adult event.

  11. GAC/IMC Track & Field Sat 6th May, Greystones. U17 upwards

  12. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 13th/14th May, Greystones. Open to all ages.

 

 

 

WICKLOW ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

 

There was a great turnout in Avondale last Saturday afternoon at the first gathering of athletes for the new County Initiative for athletes from 10-20 yrs of age, although GAC was poorly represented. After a good warm-up, the athletes broke into groups to go for a run over a variety of distances and on their return they were divided into groups for team building games. There was a fantastic atmosphere with everyone present having a great time and hopefully building bonds for the future. There are some pictures from the day on our website & FB page.

 

The next event in early April, will be a mile challenge on the track and hopefully we will see many more GAC athletes taking part in this and becoming part of what promises to be a great development squad for Wicklow athletes.

 


 

Sun

19

Feb

2017

Club Newsletter

TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THIS WEEK

 

Due to very poor attendances during school holidays & breaks, we are not holding training for the 5-6pm or 6-7pm groups this coming week, ie Tues 21st & Fri 24th Feb. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual.

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us re injury/illness, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to the waiting list.

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do a run yourself later in the day.

 


HELP STILL NEEDED

 

We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 


CONGRATULATIONS

 

Congatulations to Aoife Conroy, Alana Ryan, Ara Freeman, Richael Browne, Rosa Kirwan, Alannah O’Carroll, Claire Earls, Laura Kavanagh & Niamh Conroy, who made up the Slí Cualann women’s team in the National Indoor League recently. Terrific performances from all the girls in both rounds and a great battle in the final won them the Silver medals. A great effort from the men’s team saw them make the final also, with some top class individual performances. Well done also to all who competed in the AAI Games and again some terrific individual performances on the day.

 

We had a big entry in the Leinster Championships, with a number of first timers taking to the Indoor track for the first time. Unfortunately quite a number of those who entered didn’t manage to make it to their events and we take this opportunity to remind everyone that while we pay all the entry fees for our juvenile athletes, those who fail to turn up to compete are expected to refund these fees to the club. On this occasion the entry fee was €3.50 per event, but fees can be up to €15 an event and the club cannot continue to pay these and then not have the athletes turn up to compete.

 

Well done to all who took part over the two days. Some really top performances, with a big number qualifying for event finals and several medal winners and qualifiers to Nationals at the end of March. Gold for Alana Ryan in the 60m & 200m, James Vance in the Long Jump, Ben Jones in the 800m & Ailbhe Gordon in the Shot Putt, Silver for Joe Prendergast in the 800m and James Nicholson & Ellen McNally in the LJ, Bronze for Richael Browne in the 800m & for Aodhan Daly, Sophie Nicholson, Jack McGlone & Daniel Quirk in the LJ and 4th place and qualification to Nationals for Rachel Casey in the 1500m walk, Emma Quirk in the Hurdles & LJ, Ellen McNally in the HJ, John O’Connor in the 800m, Marcus Lennon in the 200m & Joe Prendergast in the LJ. Best of luck to all those competing in the 1500m & Relays next Saturday and to all our Juniors, Seniors & Masters competing on Sunday!

 


UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 3+ Relays in Abbottstown on Sat 25th Feb. Entries closed

  2. Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters Indoors in Abbottstown on Sun 26th Feb. Entries closed.

  3. Sportshall, Shoreline Community Hall, Greystones Saturday 4th March 2-5pm.

  4. National Masters Indoor Championships, Athlone Sunday 5th March. Entries close

  5. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 25th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  6. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 2, 26th March, Athlone (Must qualify)

  7. National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3, 1st April, Athlone (Must qualify)

 


CLUB AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 2nd March at 8pm at 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.

 


SPORTSHALL COMPETITION

 

Our Sportshall competition for our younger athletes will take place on Sat 4th March in the Community Hall at Shoreline swimming pool from 2.00-5.00pm. This is a really fun event, where the athletes are put into teams and take part in a number of running, jumping & throwing events, finishing with a relay. As this is a team competition, athletes must be available for the entire event. If an athlete leaves early, their entire team loses out, as they will not be able to finish the competition. Open to all athletes up to U14 in 2017 (born 2004 or after). Teams will be made up on the day! Please arrive on time as once the teams have been made up we will not be able to include late comers and we don’t want to disappoint anyone! Lots of help will be needed for this one, so if you are available, please let us know asap. Help from our older athletes is invaluable for this event, so please let us know if you can come along and help. As we need to get an idea of numbers taking part we’ll have an entry form on our website which will close on Wed 1st March.

 

Wed

25

Jan

2017

Newsletter

 

CLUB NEWS

 

CONGRATULATIONS

We had a great start to the indoor season on Sat. 14th Jan with the 1st round of the National League, where our girls team, Aoife Conroy, Richael Browne, Ara Freeman, Alannah O’Carroll & Laura Kavanagh made a great start in the defence of their title from last year.

 They are lying 2nd by a single point going into R2 this coming Sat. The boys team didn’t fare quite as well, despite an outstanding performance of 6.78m from James Vance in the Long jump. We had 8 athletes in the 800m Endurance Initiative races that day, with most running PB’s on the day and a terrific 1st run over senior height hurdles from Katie Lawless as well. We also had great performances from Emma Quirke, Ellen McNally, Enya Conroy & Nell Berney in the Combined events last Sun.

 

 

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2017

 A big thank you to everyone who helped with registrations last week and to all the athletes & parents for getting them in on time. We are now all registered & insured for the year ahead. Places that were not taken up have now been offered to those on our waiting list and we welcome our new members for 2017.

 

HELP STILL NEEDED

 We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

 FEBRUARY COMPETITIONS (another busy month!)

  1. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. Guest & endurance initiative events.

  2. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

  3. National Indoor League Final in Abbottstown on Sat 4th Feb + Endurance Initiative Events 800m, 1500m, 3K. Entries close Thurs 26th Jan.

  4. AAI Games in Abbottstown on Sun 5th Feb. Entries close Thurs 26th Jan. (Adult event)

  5. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 1 in Athlone on Sat 11th Feb. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  6. Leinster Juvenile Indoors Day 2 in Athlone on Sun 12th Feb. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  7. National Masters & Juvenile B XC Championships in Waterford on Sun 12th Feb. These races are open to all athletes who did not medal at the National XC. Races for U11/13/15/17 age groups (2016 ages and athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A' XC Championships. Entries close Thurs 2nd Feb.

  8. National Senior Indoors Day 1 in Abbottstown on Sat 18th Feb. Entries close Feb.9th.

  9. National Senior Indoors Day 2 in Abbottstown on Sun 19th Feb. Entries close Feb.9th.

  10. Leinster Juvenile Indoors  Day 3+ Relays in Abbottstown on Sat 25th Feb. Entries close Feb.16th.

  11. Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters Indoors in Abbottstown on Sun 26th Feb. Entries close Feb.16th.

 

Entry forms for all of these events are on our website. Please get your entries in asap, as this will help us to arrange as much training as we can for all athletes, in their chosen events!

 

CLUB AGM

 The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 2nd March at 8pm. 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.

 

SPORTSHALL COMPETITION

 Our Sportshall competition for our younger athletes will take place on Sat 4th March in the Community Hall at Shoreline swimming pool from 2.00-5.00pm. This is a great fun event, but as it is a team competition, athletes must be available for the entire event. If an athlete leaves early, their entire team loses out. Open to all athletes up to U14 in 2017 (born 2004 or after). Teams will be made up on the day! Please arrive on time as once the teams have been made up we will not be able to include late comers and we don’t want to disappoint anyone! Lots of help will be needed for this one, so if you are available, please let us know asap. Help from our older athletes is invaluable for this event, so please let us know if you can come along and help.

 

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

 As Feb. is so busy with preparation for competitions this year, we will leave our awards night until early March. A number of awards will be given out for both individual & team performances during 2016, as well as our 5yr/10 yr membership awards, Athlete of the Year & our 3A’s awards for Attendance, Attitude, Achievement which will be given to all age groups. Light refreshments will be follow and an opportunity to chat with your child’s coaches. All athletes & their families are welcome to attend.

 

ATTENDANCE DAY TRIP

 The attendances for 2016 are being counted and a list will be put up on our website shortly with the names of those who have qualified and the details of the Good Attendance Trip.

 

WICKLOW COUNTY ENDURANCE INITIATIVE

 A meeting for coaches & parents interested in the propose Endurance Initiative will take place on Mon. next 6th Feb.at 7.30pm in Shoreline Sports Park. There will be a presentation by Steve Macklin - AAI Junior Endurance Coach at 7.30pm followed by a planning session at 8.30pm. Well worth attending!

 

 SPRINTS INITIATIVE

 Details of a sprints Initiative will follow shortly

 

Tue

03

Jan

2017

Newsletter

CLUB NEWS
We hope all our athletes & coaches had a lovely Xmas and that you are all ready to get back to work now. Training for all groups resumes tonight Tues 3rd Jan.

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2017
All club athletes must register for 2017. Registration will take place on Tues 17th Jan from 5-8pm, & Fri 20th Jan from 6-8pm. Registrations can be handed in at check-in before these dates provided they are in an envelope with the athlete’s name on it, but cannot be accepted after these dates, as all available places will have been given to those on our waiting list. Please note that Shoreline Sports Park cannot accept registration forms or payments for Greystones AC.

 

HELP NEEDED
We have a very dedicated group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. If you are in a position to help out with coaching, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always looking for additional coaches. We will make sure you get training. Recently the check-in has been falling back on to the coaches on a fairly regular basis, so if you can give 20 mins to help with check-in when you are dropping your athletes down, it would be a great help indeed.

 

CONGRATULATIONS & CELEBRATIONS!
The Wicklow Star Awards will take place in Roundwood Parish Hall on Fri. 13th Jan at 7.30pm. Once again Greystones AC athletes have done really well, taking 3 of the 4 Juvenile awards with Alex Campbell winning the Boys U14-16, Richael Browne winning the Girls U16-19 & Ben Jones winning the Boys U16-19. GAC take both Junior awards, with Ara Freeman winning the girls & James Vance winning the boys. GAC’s Claire Foley & Jamie Cullen receive International Merit Awards for representing the Irish Universities in Scotland.
The Leinster Star Awards will take place in Carlow on Sat. 22nd Jan. and Geystones AC athletes take all 3 awards, with Richael Browne winning the Juvenile Girls, Josh Pyper winning the Juvenile Boys & Aoife Conroy winning the Senior Award.
Congratulations to all of these athletes on their awards. It’s great to see their hard work paying off!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
1. Wicklow Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Shanganagh Park on Sun. 8th Jan @ 11am.
2. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 14th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website. Closing Fri 6th Jan. We won the Ladies League in 2016, so have a title to defend girls! We want a full men’s team also this year lads!
3. Leinster Intermediate & Masters and Juvenile Relays (U12/14/16, 4 x 500m) will take place on Sun. 15th Jan. In Dunboyne. If you are interested in being on a team, please fill in the form which will close on Fri 6th.
4. National Combined events for athletes from U14 upwards will take place in Athlone on Sat. 21st Jan. Form on the website will be closing Wed Jan 11th.
5. The National Intermediate XC & Inter Club Relays ((U12/14, 4 x 500m) will take place in Tuam on Sun. 22nd Jan. Form up & closing Wed 11th Jan.
6. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up.
7. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

 

News of Club AGM, Club Awards night, Attendance Day Trip & Sportshall Competition for our younger members, will all follow shortly

Sun

18

Dec

2016

XMAS NEWSLETTER & INFO

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National XC’s and represented us so well.

 

Congratulations to Richael Browne who won Gold with both the Co. U18 team & the Co. U19’s, silver with the Leinster U18’s, silver with the Slí Cualann junior team & bronze with the Co Junior team. Congrats also to Joe Prendergast on his silver medal with the Leinster U14 team. Great running from everyone who competed & congrats to all on a great XC season.

 

Well done also to all who competed in R6 of the XC League. Great running from everyone and some terrific wins once again! Most of the medals have now been given out, but we still have a few in hand due to athletes not being present at training. If you think you are due a medal from either the Co. Champs or the League, please ask Theresa on Tues. night, as they may get forgotten when we come back in the new year and we really do want you to have them.

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS (Busy month ahead!)

  1. Solstice Mile: Sli Cualann AC will host a series of graded 1 ml races (4laps of the track), to mark the winter solstice on Wed 21st Dec. at 7pm. Entry donation 5euros for Adults, 3euros for U12’s U16’s. Refreshments afterwards.

  2. STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K A great way to run of the turkey on Stephen's day is The Streets of Wicklow 5K at 11am. Always a great event, with lots of prizes & spotprizes & great refreshments afterwards. There's also a kids 1 mile race just before the big event on the day!

  3. Roundwood Biathlon: Roundwood AC host a Charity Biathlon on Tues 27th Dec. supporting leukaemia & Cancer Research at Vartry House Kavanagh's. Starting at 2pm, walkers 1.45pm.

  4. Wicklow Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Shanganagh Park on Sun. 8th Jan @ 11am.

  5. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 14th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website. We won the Ladies League in 2016, so have a title to defend girls! We want a full men’s team also this year lads!

  6. Leinster Intermediate & Masters and Juvenile Relays (U12/14/16, 4 x 500m) will take place on Sun. 15th Jan. In Dunboyne. If you are interested in being on a team, please fill in the form which will be up shortly.

  7. National Combined events for athletes from U14 upwards will take place in Athlone on Sat. 21st Jan. Form will be up shortly.

  8. The National Intermediate XC & Inter Club Relays ((U12/14, 4 x 500m) will take place in Tuam on Sun. 22nd Jan. Form will be up shortly.

  9. National Indoor League R2 is on Sat 28th Jan. in Athlone. Open to all athletes from U17 up.

  10. National Junior/U23’s in Athlone on Sun. 29th Jan.

CELEBRATIONS!

The County Star Awards will take place in Roundwood Parish Hall on Fri. 13th Jan at 7.30pm. We have a number of GAC athletes in the running for awards and all athletes and their families are invited to come along and support our stars! Award winners will be announced shortly.

 

XMAS TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS

All groups have training this Tues. 20th Dec. and this will be the final session for the younger groups. The 7-8.30pm session will go ahead as usual on Wed, but this will be the last session before Xmas. as the centre closes at 6pm on Fri. Training will officially resume on Tues 3rd Jan, but some coaches may make their own arrangements with groups over the holiday period. Do keep running and keep your fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 
We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

Stronger! Higher! Faster!” for 2017!”

 

Sat

26

Nov

2016

Newsletter

 CLUB NEWS

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

The National even ages events for U12-18 and the Junior & Senior adults are taking place tomorrow Sun. 27th Nov.

GAC competitors for Sunday: Joe Prendergast U14 boys representing Greystones & Leinster, Ella Shanley, Louise O’Riordan, Eimear Ryan, Enya Conroy, Salley Shanley U14 girls representing Wicklow. Ben Jones, Fernando Ruiz, John O’Connor, Enrique Rancon U16 Boys representing Wicklow, Richael Browne & Rachel Casey U18/Junior girls representing Greystones & Wicklow, with Richael also representing Leinster. Troy Scully U18 boys representing Greystones. Katy Conroy Junior girls representing Slí Cualann & Wicklow. We congratulate them all and wish them well on Sunday!

 

The National uneven ages event for U11-19 and the Novice adults will take place on Sunday 11th Dec. in Dundalk. GAC competitors for Sun 11th: Louise O’Riordan, Eimear Ryan, Salley Shanley U13 girls representing Wicklow, Abbie Tyrrell, Ella Shanley, Megan O’Brien, Enya Conroy U15 girls representing Wicklow, with Abbie also representing Leinster, Sarah O’ Connor U17 girls representing Greystones & Leinster, Richael Browne U19 girls representing Greystones, Wicklow & Leinster. Troy Scully U17 boys representing Greystones. Best of luck to everyone!

 

XC LEAGUE ROUND 6: The 6th and final round of the League will be held in Bray Emmetts on Fri 2nd Dec. Registration 6.30pm, first race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 6, 8, 10, 12 & 14/15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website and will close on Thurs. 1st Dec. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in 5 events get gold, in 4 events get silver & in 3 events get bronze medals. Present standing after 5 rounds is listed on the sidebar of our website. Have a look and see if you can improve your medal standing or get yourself into the medals by attending the final round.

Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 2nd Dec, as coaches will be at the XC League. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

 

SPORTSHALL

We intend holding a Sportshall competition for our younger athletes around mid January. This will be a team event for U7/9/11/13/15 and so will be open to all athletes aged 5 - 14 in 2017. This is always a really fun competition and is a great first event if you haven’t ventured into competition yet. We will be practising for this over the coming weeks, with groups rotating each week, so do try to come along to training each week and get to know the events involved. Medals for the 1st three teams in each age group for both girls & boys. It really is great fun!

 

COACHING DAY

We had a very successful club coaching session in late Oct. and are planning to hold the next session on Sat. 10th Dec. from 11.30 -2pm. Once again we will cover Hurdles, Sprints, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin & Discus as required. Application form is now on the website and will close on Thursday 8th Dec. These sessions are helpful in preparing the athletes for the Indoor season and are open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006). Registration form now on our website. Please list three events in order of preference. We will do our best to give you your top two choices, if at all possible.

 

TEAM MEDALS

We have been trying to hand out the team medals won at the Co. Championships over the past few weeks, but still have a good number in hand, as some athletes have not been attending training sessions. If you are due a medal, please collect from Theresa asap.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congratulations go to Richael Browne, who has been offered a full scholarship at Georgia State University for next September. This is a fantastic opportunity for Richael to develop as an athlete while getting a first class education and we hope she enjoys her time in the USA. Richael is following in the footsteps of another Greystones athlete Niamh Kearney, who has recently returned with a Masters in Nutrition, after a very successful 5 yrs in Georgia State. Just goes to show that if you make the commitment, work hard and progress steadily, your athletics can open doors to a great future for you.

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

Attendance at training has been very poor in some groups during November and we remind everyone that athletes who disappear for up to 3 weeks without contacting us are deemed to have left the club. Check-in sheets are reviewed at the end of each month, names of those who aren’t attending are removed from the check-in sheets and places are given to those on our waiting list. Please contact us before the end of the month if you fall into this category.

 

NB: Athletes in groups 1 & 2 have agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions per week and need to do this to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group, but is not being adhered to. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

 

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week, particularly from U12 up. If you cannot make this, you really need to do the run yourself later in the day. Venue varies from week to week and is posted on our website & FB page each week. This long, easy run can be very enjoyable and lays the base for everything we do.

 

So far this season the attendance on Sunday mornings is poor and we would really love to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues. Dec.13th from 4.45-5pm and again from 7-8pm, in case anyone needs extra Xmas pressies........Santa has already put in his order! We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available and souvenir club pens also. The new batch of smaller singlets were delayed, but should have arrived by then. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have some second-hand spikes for sale at very reasonable prices. Some of these have hardly been worn!

 

FINALLY

Can we appeal to parents once again to ensure that all athletes bring a raincoat, hat & gloves to training, as it is very cold on the track some nights. Gloves are a real necessity, as when cold the children are inclined to run with their hands in their pockets, which is likely to result in head or facial injury if they fall as they have no way of saving themselves.

Mon

31

Oct

2016

Newsletter

TRAINING IS AT THE USUAL TIMES ALL THIS WEEK

 

LEINSTER XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

A very disappointing turn out of just 15 athletes for the first of the Leinster XC Championships on Saturday last, with only 9 girls & 6 boys from the club taking part. This is hugely disappointing for the athletes who do take part as we fail to fill teams for them and for the coaches who put in so much time and effort in preparing the athletes for these events.

 

Congratulations to those who did take part as we had some fantastic running on the day. A first outing for Cian Smyth in the boys U12 saw him finish 97th, with Chase Scully 108th. In the boys U14 Joe Prendergast finished in 5th place to qualify as an individual and also as part of the Leinster team for the Nationals. Paul Delahunty (U13) stepping up an age, also had a great run to finish 38th. In the girls U14 Ella Shanley finished 25th, Louise O’Riordan (U13) 37th, Eimear Ryan (U13) 51st, Enya Conroy 65th, Salley Shanley (U13) 78th & Erin Howard 90th. Ella, Louise, Eimear, Enya & Salley qualify for Nationals as part of the Wicklow team. A great run from Abbie Tyrrell (U15) stepping up in the girls U16 where she finished 18th and a 21st place finish for Ben Jones in the boys U16, with Joe Dowd (U15) taking 61st. Richael Browne had a terrific race to take 6th in the girls U18, also qualifying as an individual and as part of the Leinster team and Rachel Casey (U17) finishing 32nd. A terrific race also in the U18 boys from Troy Scully, (U17) who finished just out of the medals in 13th, with Cormac Gilnagh (U17) 45th. Well done to all and here’s hoping for a much better turn out for the Uneven Ages.

 

Form for Uneven Ages is now on our website and will close on Fri. 4th Nov.

 

 

 

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

The uneven ages event for U11-19 and the Juniors & Senior adults will take place on Sun. 13th Nov. It will be on the same course as the Even Ages, in New Forest Golf Club, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will make an effort and turn out for this one to run for Club & County. First race is at 12 o’clock, so athletes will need to arrive at 11am for check-in & warm up, as numbers will be big. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is this Friday 4th Nov. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out.

 

 

 

XC LEAGUE ROUND 5: Thursday 17th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13 & 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will be on our website and will close on Tues. 15th Nov. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in all 6 events get Gold, in 5 events get silver & in 4 events get bronze medals.

 

 

 

COACHING DAY

 

We had a relatively small attendance at the club coaching session on Saturday 22nd Oct. but coaches & athletes present all agree that it was a really worthwhile session. Those who turned up really enjoyed the morning and got a lot out of it. We hope to run one of these sessions each month to help prepare for the Indoor season and they are open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006).

 

 

 

TEAM MEDALS

 

We have not yet received team medals from the County Champs, but should get them at Tuesday’s meeting this week and will give them out on Wed/Fri.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rain jacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!

 

 

NB: Groups 1 & 2 are required to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

 

 

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week, particularly from U12 up. If you cannot make this, you really need to do the run yourself later in the day. Venue varies from week to week and is posted on our website & FB page each week. This long, easy run can be very enjoyable and lays the base for everything we do.

 

So far this season the attendance on Sunday mornings & also on Fri nights is poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

 

Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

 

 

 

Mon

17

Oct

2016

Newsletter

A VERY LONG NEWSLETTER THIS TIME, BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AS IT CONTAINS A LOT OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR CLUB ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

 

WICKLOW XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Fantastic results from both Sunday’s at the Wicklow XC Championships, despite a very big percentage of our club athletes failing to attend. On day 1 we had barely 20% of our athletes in attendance, but despite this we got 7 individual medals and team medals in the Girls U10, U14 & U16 and Boys U16 & U18

Congratulations to our County Champions Ella Shanley, Richael Browne & Joe Prendergast, Silver medal winners Sarah O’Connor & Troy Scully and bronze winners Abbie Tyrrell & Paul Delahunty and well done to all who ran so well.

 

On day 2 we did a little better, but not much, and again we saw fantastic running from those who did come with County Championships going to Sarah O’Connor, silver medals to Abbie Tyrrell, Louise O’Riordan, Paul Delahunty & Troy Scully & bronze medals to Katy Lawless & Ella Shanley. A few more teams this time, with team medals, for every team we managed to fill, Girls U9, U11, U13, U15 & U17, Boys U17 & our Intermediate Men. Great running from everyone who took part, but disappointing for all the coaches who put so much time and effort in, to see so many athletes not taking part on either day.

 

Full results from both days are now on the sidebar of our website home page. Medals to follow!

 

 

 

COACHING DAY

 

We are holding a special coaching session on next Saturday 22nd Oct. from 10-12 o’clock at Shoreline Track. This is open to all club athletes from U11–U16 (Born 2001-2006) and will cover Hurdles, Sprints, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin, Discus. Application form is now on the website and will close on this Thursday 20th Oct. Don’t just turn up on the day please, as we will not be able to facilitate you. Each athlete can take part in two events only. Please list 3 events in order of choice and we will do our best to give you your first preferences. Cost for the day is €5. We intend holding a number of these sessions over the coming months, to help prepare for the Indoor season.

 

 

 

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

We are now looking forward to the first of the Leinster Championships, which will take place on a new course this year in New Forest Golf Club, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath. This is the even ages event for athletes from U12-18 (U11’s can move up) and also for Novice & Masters athletes. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will make an effort and turn out to run for Club & County on Saturday 29th Oct. First race is at 12 o’clock, so athletes will need to arrive at 11am for check-in & warm up, as numbers will be big. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is this Friday 21st Oct. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out. There will be open (non championship) races for girls & boys U10, with entries taken on the day, at the event. Start time for this is 11.40am.

 

The uneven ages event for U11-19 (U10’s can move up) and the Intermediate adults will take place on Sun. 13th Nov. Venue has yet to be confirmed for this. To avoid confusion, entry form for this will only go up when the even ages comes down.

 

 

 

LEAGUE ROUND 5 : Friday 17th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will go up after the Leinster events close, to avoid confusion.. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly. Athletes who compete in all 6 events get Gold, in 5 events get silver & in 4 events get bronze medals. A list of standings for the 2016 League will go up on our website shortly.

 

Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 17th, as coaches will be at the XC League. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

 

 

 

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS

 

Arrive on time, as late arrival puts unnecessary stress on everyone, especially the young athletes. Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. Club coaches will generally take charge of the younger groups. Warm up should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walking around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

 

We know how easy it is to get carried away during a race and while love to hear everyone cheering on our athletes, in keeping with the ethos of our club, parents, coaches & supporters should try to ensure that we are always being supportive of all our athletes and not critical of how they are performing. Not every race will go to plan, but they are all out there doing their very best, so lets leave the race analysis to the coaches/athletes at the next training session and just be there for them offering your unwavering support and encouragement! Please note that running beside an athlete during a race is termed pacing and you will most likely get the athlete disqualified if you do this.

 

 

 

 

PLEASE READ AND INFORM/REMIND ATHLETES:

 

We are asking once again that athletes make sure to use the toilets before coming down to training as it causes huge problems if a coach has to leave a group to bring them up, during the session. On this note, we remind athletes that the toilets and changing rooms must be left as we find them and not in a mess. Recently we have had a lot of tissue etc. thrown about and water everywhere, coinciding with athletic club’s use of the facility, and this needs to stop. Shoreline have the right to refuse access to groups who do not respect the track and other facilities. Please remember that the building is not our club house, it is a business premises and athletes are asked not to gather in the reception area or just outside the front door, as this interferes with other customers access. We now have access to the container nearest to the track for check-in on wet evenings, so please go directly there to check-in, if it is raining. You may leave your bags here on wet nights.

 

 

We remind you once again that all athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!

 

 

Athletes who may need an inhaler, should always make sure to bring it with them. You should not share other athletes inhalers, as they may not be the same medication/dosage as yours.

 

 

Athletes who are not fit to train due to injury or illness should not attend training sessions. Athletes who arrive and are not fit to train will be sent home, as it is far too cold to stand around on the track waiting for the session to end.

 

 

NB: Groups 1 & 2 are required to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. This has been agreed by all athletes/parents before joining this group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.15am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.

 

 

So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out. All athletes & parents are welcome to join us on these Sunday runs, however young children need to be accompanied.

 

 

Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

 

 

 

LEINSTER PERFORMANCE SQUAD

 

 

Congratulations to GAC athletes Alana Ryan  Sprints, Alex Campbell TJ, Ara Freeman Sprints, Ben Mooney  Sprints, James Vance  LJ, Josh Pyper  Sprints, Louis Lalor  Hurdles, Niamh Conroy  Sprints, Rachel Casey  Walks, Rachel Whitten  Javelin, Sophie Nicholson  HJ, who were selected for the Leinster performance squad for the 2016/17 season. They had their first session last Sat. in Santry with the second one coming up on Dec. 3rd in Athlone covering all events except endurance, which is organised separately. A developmental squad, open to all athletes aged 12 yrs +, runs on the same day from 11am-1pm. The Dec. 3rd session for this one covers Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump and costs €5.

 

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. 25th Oct. from 4.40-5pm and again from 7-8pm only. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Unfortunately the new batch of smaller singlets are not due to arrive until the 31st Oct., but they can be purchased on the 25th and we will deliver them as soon as they arrive. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have a small number of secondhand spikes for sale at very reasonable prices.

 

 

 

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS

 

We have a large number of athletes registration cards which have still not been collected. These have the athletes Life No. and will not be replaced, so we don’t want to give them to young children in case they get lost. A lot of them were given out at the Awards night, but for those who haven’t received them yet, we will have them at the gate this week, so please ask when you are dropping off your child, if you have not collected them previously. Cards for recently registered athletes will not be available yet.

 

Sun

25

Sep

2016

Newsletter

 

WELCOME BACK

 

Welcome back to all our athletes and coaches and a big welcome to all our new athletes. We hope everyone is well settled in at this stage, enjoying the training and looking forward to the Cross Country (XC) season. Attendance at training has been poor in a couple of groups and we are now removing all athletes who have not returned at this stage, as we have long lists of people waiting for places. We cannot hold places indefinitely!

 

REGISTRATION NIGHT

 

We will be holding a registration night for all of our new athletes on this coming Tues 27h Sept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be taken between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms will be available on the night and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2016 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. Those already registered for 2016, do not need to register again.

 

 

 

COMPETITIONS

 

We had our first competition last Friday with a good number of our athletes taking part in the Cross Country (XC) League. Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to all who helped out on the night.

 

 

 

VERY IMPORTANT

 

The County XC Championships are coming up fast and will take place on next Sun 2nd Oct in Ashford & the following Sun 9th Oct. in Roundwood. We need as many athletes as possible to take part in these events, so please try to come along. We would really love to have full teams in every age group! (See FB/GAC Website for maps)

 

The entry forms are now on the website and entries need to be in asap. Entries for the Even Ages (U6/8/10/12/14/16/18/Novice) on Oct. 2nd will close on Thurs. 29th Sept. and for the Uneven Ages (U7/9/11/13/15/17/ Intermediate) on Oct. 9th will close on Thurs. 6th Oct.

 

Certs for all athletes who complete the course from U7-U10’s. U11’s upwards are Championship events, with medals for the 1st three finishers and the 1st three teams. Events are open to all registered athletes and all athletes may move up one age group (U7 can run U8 etc.) allowing everyone to compete both weeks.

 

Tue

30

Aug

2016

Club News & Information

 

RETURN TO TRAINING

 

We hope you have all enjoyed a good rest at this stage and are all now eagerly preparing to return to training. We sincerely hope that you have all followed our request to start back running, are now doing a reasonable run every second day and will be more than ready to start training when we return.

 

 

We hope you have all enjoyed a good rest at this stage and are all now eagerly preparing to return to training. We sincerely hope that you have all followed our request to start back running, are now doing a reasonable run every second day and will be more than ready to start training when we return. If you have not started yet, you can still make a difference by starting now. Run 15-20 mins (younger groups 10-15m) every second day and you will reap the benefits. The first Cross Country event will be held in Greystones in late Sept.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 6th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 9th Sept. Little Athletics (5-6pm) will return on Tues. 13th Sept. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified. Those who did not respond to the invite will now stay in their original group, as all available places have now been allocated.

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts before taking their break. Those who still owe for weekly subs/entries are reminded that these debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in. If this continues to be an issue, we may have to refuse entry to those who arrive without their €2 and we would rather not have to do this.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered for, are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short of coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues. to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. You will have help and we will ensure you get some basic training. We won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with our younger groups!

 

We also need helpers to look after the check-in on all three nights. This generally only takes about 20 mins, but is a huge help to the coaches, as it allows training to begin on time.

 

FIT4YOUTH

 

We plan to revive our Fit4Youth group this Sept. and have places available in this group. This group is for age 12 yrs upwards and is aimed at those who want to run for fitness rather than take part in competitive athletics. Athletes will warm up on the track with the rest of the groups and will then be taken on a run by a qualified coach. Group members can also join in with the Core/Circuits session on Wed. evenings.

 

 

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Over the next few weeks we plan to re-vamp our adult programmes as we are keen to build the adult section of our club for both serious and recreational runners. For the moment our Beginner2Winner group continues with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we hope to see lots of new faces coming along.

 

Our regular established Fit4Life sessions continue on Mon/Wed at 8.30pm & Wed/Fri at 10am and our road run takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm with Caoimhin MacMaolain. This group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones. All level & abilities will be catered for at our sessions. All club members young & old are welcome to the Sunday morning run, but U12’s must be accompanied by an adult. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 

Tue

09

Aug

2016

Club News & Info

 

TRAINING

 

Most athletes & coaches are now on a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from many of our athletes. Enjoy the rest, but do spare a thought for the girls still training and wish them well as they continue their preparation to compete in the European Clubs Cup in Portugal in September, where they took the bronze last year!

 

 

TRAINING

 

Most athletes & coaches are now on a well earned break after a great summer of competition, where we had some outstanding performances from many of our athletes. Enjoy the rest, but do spare a thought for the girls still training and wish them well as they continue their preparation to compete in the European Clubs Cup in Portugal in September, where they took the bronze last year! Training throughout the summer for this event, will be by arrangement with the coaches involved.

 

For all our other athletes we recommend a full two weeks 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 5 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 Cross Country event will be less than two weeks after we return in Sept.

 

Training for Groups 1 & 2 will resume on Tues. 6th Sept, with groups 3-6 returning on Fri. 9th Sept. Little Athletics will return on Tues. 13th Sept. Athletes who are changing training times will be notified of this before our return.

 

 

 

Groups for Sept.'16 will be organised very soon to allow us time to notify those on our waiting lists. Parents of athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if their children intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 

 

 

 

 

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A big 'Thank You' to those athletes who paid their debts over the past few weeks. Those who still owe for weekly subs/entries are reminded that these debts need to be sorted on your return in Sept. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in. If this continues to be an issue, we may have to refuse entry to those who arrive without their €2 and we would rather not have to do this.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered for, are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 


 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the National Championships recently and who represented the club so well, though it was disappointing that so many failed to turn up for their events this year. Huge congratulations to the medal winners and to all who earned PB's.

 

U14: Ellen McNally took bronze in the Long Jump with a huge PB.

 

U16: Alex Campbell took Silver in the Triple Jump.

 

U18: Richael Browne took Silver in the 1500m with a 4 sec. PB and 4th place in the 800m.

 

U19: Ara Freeman Gold in 100m & Bronze in 200m.

 

Great performances from Joe Prendergast U14, Aodhan Daly & Ronan Dempsey U15, Sarah O'Connor, Ben Mooney, Josh Pyper & Ben Jones U16, Troy Scully, Rachel Casey, Alana Ryan & Niamh Conroy U17, Alannah O'Carroll U18

 

Relays: Bronze for the U17 boys Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney and 4th place for the U14 team Darragh Rush, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast & Michael O'Shea.

 

Great performances also from everyone who took part in the National B Championships, with Emma Quirk U14 the star of the day winning the Long Jump and breaking the Championship Best 3 times while doing it. She also finished 5th in the 80m In the 800m, a great win from Katie Lawless U16 leading all the way from the gun and a great run from Erin Howard to win silver U14, with Enya Conroy finishing 7th. Silver also for John O'Connor in the U16 High Jump. A super run and a huge PB from Danny Jones U14 who was just shaded for the bronze medal in a terrific finish, a 6th place finish for Paul Delahunty U13 600m and 4th place for Lucy daly U12 in the 60m.

 

A small turn out for the Inter Counties event in Leixlip, but a fantastic day's competition and a real team spirit with several athletes competing in multiple events during the day, finishing with some very exciting relays. Well done to all!

 


 

A long trip to Cork for R2 of the National League and another great performance from our Slí Cualann teams. Once again many of them went above and beyond the call of duty, giving everything they had and more to get every possible point available. A huge Thank You to PJ Scully who gave up his day off to drive the bus for us........ and a long day it was, but so worthwhile, with the girls team finishing 2nd overall and qualifying for the Final.

 

Unfortunately we had a depleted team for the final last Sunday, as several athletes were not available. Despite this the girls put in a tremendous effort as always and finished in 5th place overall. Well done to all the girls who competed so well throughout the entire League!

 


 

Tue

05

Jul

2016

Club Newsletter

 

TRAINING

 

Training for our younger groups ie 5-6pm & 6-7pm sessions, has now finished for the summer. We hope all our young athletes enjoyed the final night's games & the goodies afterwards & we look forward to seeing you all back in Sept. A huge 'Thank You' to our coaches and an appeal for more help in Sept. please. Have a great summer everyone.

 

 

Training for the 7-8.30pm groups continues through July as many of our athletes are still competing up to the first weekend in August. Most will take a short break then and return on the first Tues of Sept. However our Junior Girls, who are off to compete in Europe in Sept., will continue to train throughout the summer, by arrangement with coaches.

 

Athletes from all groups, who have not attended for a number of weeks, need to contact us right away if they intend to return in Sept. Otherwise places will be given to those on our waiting list and we will not be able to accommodate them in Sept.

 


OUTSTANDING DEBTS

 

A number of athletes regularly forget to bring their weekly €2 track fee and some owe for several weeks, built up over a period of time. Our check-in crew regularly remind athletes of outstanding fees owed, often to no avail, and so we are now asking that all money owed to the club should be paid off before we take our summer break. We can then start back in Sept. with a clean slate. We know it is easy to forget, but it is unfair that some athletes run up debts while others always pay their fees. If you are unsure whether you owe money, just ask at check-in.

 

We remind you also that while the club covers all entry fees for it's juvenile members, athletes who don't show up for events they have entered are then liable for these fees. Further entries cannot be accepted for these athletes until said fees are paid.

 


UPCOMING EVENTS (Still lots happening)

 

  1. National B Championships Sat 9th July in Tullamore

  2. National Relays Sat 9th July in Tullamore

  3. Day 1 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 10th July

  4. 4 Counties Event in Leixlip on Sat 16th July ( U14 – U17) This is an Inter-County event and athletes interested in being selected for the teams should fill in the form on our website. Closing Fri 8th July. The programme of events is on the sidebar of our website.

  5. Round 2 National League in Cork on Sun. 17th July

  6. Day 2 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sat. 23rd July

  7. Day 3 National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 24th July

  8. Celtic Games Sat. 6th Aug in Wales

  9. National League Final in Tullamore on Sun. 7th Aug.

  10. National Masters Championships in Tullamore on Sun. 21st Aug.

 


CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our club athletes who competed in the Leinster Championships this year. We had some great performances and some top results once again.

 

 

 

 

U13: Jack McGlone Gold in the LJ & Bronze in the sprint.

 

U14: Joe Prendergast Gold in the LJ & 5th in the 1500m, Michael O'Shea 4th in the 80m, Ellen McNally Bronze in the LJ & 6th in the 75mH, Emma Quirk 5th in the LJ & 5th in the 75mH, Enya Conroy 6th in the 75mH, James Nicholson 6th in the 800m

 

 

U15: Ronan Dempsey Bronze in the 80mH & 250mH, Aodhan Daly Bronze in the 200m & the 100m & 4th in the LJ, Isobel Radford Dodd 5th in the 1500m

 

 

U16: Ben Jones Gold in the 800m & Silver in the 1500m, Sarah O'Connor Silver in the 1500m & 5th in the 800m, Josh Pyper Gold in the 100m, Ben Mooney Bronze in the 200m, Alex Campbell Gold in the TJ, Katie Lawless 5th in the 250mH & 80mH.

 

 

U17: Niamh Conroy Silver in the 400m & 5th in the 200m, Rachel Casey Bronze in the 3K Walk

 

U18: Richael Browne Gold in the 800m, the 1500m & the HJ, Alannah O'Carroll 4th in the 400m & 5th in the 200m.

 

 

The Bray Invitational Event saw another great night of athletics in Greystones. Disappointing that a number of selected athletes didn't bother to show up, especially as places were so limited and they were denying others a chance to compete. Those who did show up put on another great performance and GAC once again won the Bourke Cup for top club & the Medley Relay Shield.

 

The Invitational Mile saw Richael Browne take the honours in the women's event, with Carol Costello 2nd and Cillian Browne take 3rd in the men's event. Well done to all!

 

Great results again at the National Juniors/U23's on Sat 2nd July.

 

 

U23: Claire Foley Gold in the 100m & Bronze in the 200m, Aoife Conroy Bronze in the 400mH.

 

 

Junior: Gold for our relay team Alannah O'Carroll, Alana Ryan, Katy Conroy, Richael Browne.

 

The National Combined Events on Sun 3rd saw Ellen McNally & Emma Quirk produce several PB's throughout the day leaving them in 4th & 5th position going in to the final 800m where they finished a creditable 8th & 10th.

 

 

Great performance also from our Slí Cualann teams in R1 of the National League, with the

girls team lying 3rd overall going into R2 on July 17th and looking good for a place in the final. A depleted Men's team struggled a bit for points, but with a bigger team going to Cork, we hope for a better showing in R2.

 

 

Congratulations to all the medal winners and qualifiers for the All Irelands!

 

 

Best of Luck to all those who are competing in the many events listed over the next couple of weeks!

 

 

 

Mon

30

May

2016

Newsletter

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our athletes who competed in the County Championships this year. Most of the results are now posted on our website and I will post the rest as soon as I receive them. Well done also to all who competed in the Leinster Relays & Juniors Championships.

 

 

 Some great running here and good results. In the relays we took Gold in the U16 Boys & the U14 Boys, with our 2nd team taking 4thplace. We took silver in the U13 Boys and had 4th place finishes in the U11 & U15 Boys. In the Junior competition Congratulations go to Rachel Casey, who took Gold in the 3K walk, her first race at this distance, to become Leinster Junior Champion, Richael browne who took silver in the 800m, Troy Scully who took silver in the 3K, Noah Daly who took bronze in the Long Jump and the girls 4x100m team, Alana Ryan, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy, Alannah O'Carroll, who took bronze in the relay. Great results also from the Combined Events where Aoife Conroy took Silver in the Senior with Isobel O'grady taking the bronze. Great performances in their first Combined Events from Ellen McNally 6th, Emma Quirk 8th, Enya Conroy 11th, Erin Howard 14th, in the Girls U14's. Lots more to come from these girls!. In the Leinster Schools, congrats go to Ben Jones 1st & Sarah O'Connor 2nd in the 1500m events, Josh Pyper 2nd in the 100m & Alex Campbell 2nd in TJ at Junior level & James Vance 1st in the LJ at Intermediate level. We wish them well in the National Finals on Sat. Very well done to Richael Brown on her bronze medal in the 800m at the AAI Games!

 

Best of Luck to all those who are competing in the Schools on Sat. 4th, Leinster Sen/Mast on Sun. 5th & the Team Competition on Mon. 6th June.

 

 

 

TRAINING

 

Training during club training times, is carried out by coaches on a voluntary basis. Occasionally the club will organise specialist training sessions. Otherwise private training sessions outside of these times are not carried out under the remit of the club.

 

While the club encourages involvement in other sports and activities, athletes, parents and coaches are reminded to take a holistic view of all activities while planning training sessions, with the aim of injury prevention. Please communicate with the coaches to best coordinate appropriate levels of training to avoid injury or stress on the athletes.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Leinster U23's, Senior & Masters in Tullamore on Sunday 5th June. Entries close Mon. 30th.

  2. Leinster Team Competition in Tullamore on Monday 6th June for U9/10/11/12/13/15. Closed.

  3. Round 1 National League on Sun 12th June. U17 up. Contact Theresa if interested in selection.

  4. Leinster U9,10,11 Pairs & U12 & U13 Championships in Tullamore on Sat 11th June. Entries close on Tues. 31st May.

  5. Leinster U14-19 Championships in Tullamore on Sat/Sun 18/19th June. Entries close June 6th.

  6. Bray Invitational on Tues 21st June in Greystones. Limited numbers allowed. Priority given to those who compete regularly, then first come first served.

 

 

 

FURTHER REMINDER RE WEBTEXT

 

Once again a reminder that the webtext is mainly used to send out notifications/ reminders of events. If you have a question that requires a quick response, you should text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number leads to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if message is not urgent.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. June 7th from 4.45-5pm & 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster & National events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt

 

Tue

03

May

2016

Club News & Information

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Well done to all of our athletes who competed in the 1st night of the County Championships, the East Leinster schools and the Primary schools relays recently. Fantastic results for our athletes at all of these events. Full results will be published later.

 

 Well done to our club athletes, Richael Browne & Carol Costello who put in fantastic performances on the Slí Cualann medal winning teams at the National Road relays. Well done also to all the adults who competed so well at the County road race in Ashford & the Leinster road race in Gowran. Special Congrats to Troy Scully who won the Junior event in Ashford.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Wicklow County Championships remaining events are on this weekend on Fri 6th May & Sunday 8th May. Programme is on the GAC website and entry forms also. Entries will close on Wed. 4th May to allow time to process them and sort relay teams. There are events for all ages and we hope that all of our athletes will make a big effort to take part in these championships. Coaches and helpers needed also, as we are required to officiate at all 3 days and also need sufficient cover to look after our athletes. Please note that athletes may not compete in events on the day, if they haven't pre-entered these events.

    For our younger athletes taking part in the Award Scheme, all athletes do a run, a jump & a throw and are scored on these. Scores are tallied and all receive a medal according to these results. This is a very enjoyable & rewarding event for these young athletes and we look forward to seeing a large attendance from GAC!

  2. The Leinster Relays will be held in Greystones on Saturday 21st May and entries close on Mon 9th May. If you are interested in being considered for a team, please get your entry in asap. Absolutely no late entries will be accepted by Leinster!

  3. The Leinster Juniors also take place on Sat. 21st May in Greystones. These are open to all athletes born 1997-2000. A full programme except for PV & SC which will be held on Sun. 5th June in Tullamore. Entries close on Mon 9th May. Absolutely no late entries will be accepted by Leinster!

  4. The Leinster Combined events for U14 up, are being held in Enniscorthy on Sunday 22nd May. Entries also close on Mon 9th May.

 

WEBTEXT

 

The webtext is mainly used to send out notifications or reminders about events. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, it is better to text or e-mail one of the coaches or use the Contact Us on the website. Replying to the webtext number may lead to long delays, as we only have access to it from our laptops, so generally cannot answer when we are at work. It is fine to use it if reply is not urgent.

 

THANK YOU!

 

A huge Thank You to everyone who helped out with the very successful bagpack in Tesco on Fri 21st/Sat 22nd Apr and many thanks to all who donated so generously. The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club. Special thanks go to Christina & Dermot Browne who secured the slot for us and did all the organising leading up to and during the event.

 

AWARDS NIGHT

 

We had a very successful Club Awards night on Thurs. 21st Apr. where many athletes received certificates & Awards for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement. There were awards for longevity in the club, team awards, Special achievement awards, International Selection awards & our Athlete of the Year. A very enjoyable night was had by all who attended.

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us, are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to this list.

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. May.10th from 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet or T-shirt!

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with all of our present groups!

 

We are also looking for some extra coaches for the 7-8.30pm sessions on Tues/Fri if anyone is available to help out.

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Our Beginner2Winner group continues on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we 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 to take part.

 

Our club road run has been going for several weeks now. It takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm and we say a big Thank You to Caoimhin MacMaolain who is looking after this for us. The group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones and all level & abilities are catered for. We hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join this group and help grow the adult section of our club. This one is for club members only, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 

 

 

 

 

Thu

28

Apr

2016

Good Luck!

Best of Luck to all of our athletes taking part in the County Championships tomorrow Fri 29th Apr. Check-in at the track at 6pm, first race at 6.30pm. Full programme is on the sidebar on our website. Entries are closed for this Fri, but entry forms for Fri 6th & Sun 8th May are still open on our website! Please come out and compete for your club at these championships!

Sat

02

Apr

2016

Club News & information!

 

Please take the time to read this, as it contains crucial information!

 


CLUB FUNDRAISER

 

We would ike to remind everyone that we will have a fundraising bagpack in Tesco, Greystones on Fri 22nd Apr. & Sat 23rd Apr. 2016. We will be packing from 11am - 7 pm Fri & from 10 am – 6pm on Sat.

 

 

A great deal of help will be needed for this fund-raising event, so all athletes from age 16 upwards & all parents are asked to try to come along and cover a shift or two. We will break the days up into 2 hr shifts and if we get a good response, then nobody will have to put in too much time. Please contact Christina on 0871459959 and let her know what time/times you will be available to help out, so that she can put together a plan to ensure we have sufficient cover throughout both days. The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club, so please help out if at all possible. It's not fair to always leave the effort to the same small group of people, who already do so much for our club!

 

 

 

AWARDS NIGHT

 

Our club awards night for 2015 will be held in Greystones Tennis Club on Thurs. 21st Apr. at 7pm. This will take a similar format to previous years, where athletes get certificates for Attendance, Attitude & Achievement, with those who achieve all three getting an added award. There will also be 5yr, 10yr & 15 yr membership awards, team awards & our Athlete of the Year. Light refreshments will be served afterwards with some treats for the athletes. This is a great opportunity to come along and meet our volunteers and maybe have a chat with the people who coach your child each week.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE TRIP

 

We are presently working on arranging our annual club day trip for athletes with 60% plus attendance in 2015. Attendances have been added up and the list of those eligible to attend should be available at the Awards night, along with details of the trip. These will also be posted on our website, once finalised.

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING

 

All athletes are expected to attend training on a regular basis with those in Groups 1 & 2 having made a commitment to attend at least two sessions per week. A number of athletes have had very poor attendance recently and should note the club rule, 'Athletes who don't attend for three weeks or more without contacting us are deemed to have left the club'. Places are then given to those on our waiting list & those who wish to return will have to go back on to this list.

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  1. Round 3 of the Track League takes place on Thurs 7th April at the track in Greystones. Entry form is now on our website and entries close on Wed 6th. Events are open to all athletes up to U14. Check-in from 6pm, first race at 6.45pm sharp.

  2. Wicklow Sec. Schools T&F is being held on Tues. 5th Apr. in Greystones

  3. Wicklow Primary Schools XC Relays is being held on Tues 12th Apr. in Avondale

  4. Wicklow County Championships will be held this year on Fri 29th Apr., Fri 6th May & Sunday 8th May. Programme will be posted on the GAC website as soon as it is available. There will be events for all ages and we hope that all of our athletes will make a big effort to take part in these championships.

  5. Wicklow County Road Race is being held in Ashford on Wed. 20th Apr. @ 7.15pm. Entries to Theresa by lunchtime Monday 18th. Open to athletes age 16 and upwards.

  6. The annual GAC/IMC T&F event will take place in Greystones on Saturday afternoon 30th Apr. This has quickly become a very successful event at which National records have been set & qualifying times achieved for International competitions. It is well worth coming along to view & is a great opportunity to see some of our club Junior & Senior athletes compete with the best in the country.

 

 

 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open on Tues. 4th Apr. from 6.30-7.30pm only, for singlets, shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We also have some 2nd hand spikes available & club pens. If you didn't manage to get one of our club calendars, they are still available and now at a reduced price. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet!

 

 

 

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

 

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are again making an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue with all of our present groups!

 

We are also looking for some extra coaches for the 7-8.30pm sessions on Tues/Fri if anyone is available to help out.

 

 

 

ADULT RUNNING

 

Our Beginner2Winner group starts a new 6 week programme this week, with sessions on Mon/Wed at 6pm and we 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 to take part.

 

We're delighted to announce that our road run is back for the past few weeks. It now takes place on Monday evenings at 8.30pm and we say a big Thank You to Caoimhin MacMaolain who is looking after this for us. The group meet at the track and do a run around Greystones and all level & abilities will be catered for. We hope to see lots of additional runners coming along to join this group and help grow the adult section of our club. This one is for club members only, as is the Sunday morning run, but you are welcome to come along for a trial session before joining. Sunday run venues are posted on our web page & Facebook page each week!

 


 

Mon

14

Mar

2016

NATIONAL JUVENILE INDOORS 2016

 

 

Thrills & spills for GAC athletes at the first two days of the National Indoors, where we had top class performances and some great results. On Saturday, Richael Browne took on the U18 1500m right from the gun and stormed to victory with a huge PB of 4.45!

 

 

Thrills & spills for GAC athletes at the first two days of the National Indoors, where we had top class performances and some great results. On Saturday, Richael Browne took on the U18 1500m right from the gun and stormed to victory with a huge PB of 4.45! Despite waking with a cold on Sunday she took on the 800m, running a beautifully controlled race to again win her heat. However as the day & the cold progressed, sense had to prevail & sadly she had to withdraw from the final. Huge disappointment for Ara Freeman on Saturday as a break saw her DQ'd from her favoured 60m, but what a comeback on Sunday when she ran a new PB of 24.82 to take silver in the 200m. A terrific bronze for Louis Lalor in the U17 60m hurdles on Sunday also. Another good weekend for Troy Scully who ran a big PB of 4.32 to qualify for the U17 1500m on Saturday, followed by a gutsy run in the final to finish 12th overall. A big PB also for Rachel Casey in the U17 1500m walk where she finished 7th in 8.48. Disappointment for Sarah O'Connor, who was tripped up & crashed to the ground in the first lap of the U16 1500m, but she showed great guts & determination and soon got herself back into contention. However the fall, the battered knees & the fight back took it's toll and Sarah finished in 11th place. Alana Ryan mainly used her indoor season this year to try out the 400m, but still qualified for both the 60m & 200m finals this weekend finishing in 5th place. An early stumble saw Josh Pyper have to fight hard for his place in the 60m final where he later finish in 5th place. Jack McGlone U13, finished 6th in his 60m heat in his first ever National event.  In the field events, Aodhan Daly finished 4th in the Long Jump & 13th in the High Jump U15, Sophie Nicholson finished 8th in the U16 Long Jump & James Nicholson 8th in the U14 Long Jump, with Noah Daly 13th in the U17 Long Jump. Well done to all & best of luck to our relay teams next Saturday and to our Masters on Sunday!

 

 

 

 

 

Sun

13

Mar

2016

LEINSTER RESULTS 2016

 

LEINSTER INDOOR RESULTS 2016

 

Well done to each and every athlete who competed in the Leinster Juvenile Indoors and Best of Luck to those taking part in the National Juvenile & Masters events over the next two weekends. We had many, many qualifiers for semi-finals and finals and we are so proud of you all. Our Medal winners are listed below. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.

 

 

U13: Jack McGlone Bronze in 60m.

 

U14: James Nicholson Silver in Long Jump

 

U15: Aodhán Daly, Silver in Long Jump & Bronze in High Jump.

 

U16: Josh Pyper, Gold in 60m

 

Ben Mooney, Bronze in 200m

 

Sarah O’Connor, Bronze in 1500m

 

Sophie Nicholson, Bronze in Long Jump

 

U17: Alana Ryan, Gold in 200m & Silver in 60m

 

Louis Lalor, Bronze in 60m Hurdles

 

Noah Daly, 200m???

 

U18: Richael Browne, Gold in 800m (Championship Best Performance) Gold in 1500m & Bronze in H J

 

U19: Ara Freeman, Gold in 60m (Championship Best Performance) & Gold in 200m

 

Relays

 

Boys U14 Gold: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Paul Delahunty, Michael O'Shea

 

Boys U17 Gold: Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Ben Mooney

 

 

 

Junior Girls: Ara Freeman Gold in 60m & Bronze in 200m

 

Susie McParland Silver in 3K

 

Katy Conroy Bronze in 800m

 

Relay Silver: Alannah O'Carroll, Niamh Conroy, Katy Conroy, Ara Freeman.

 

Junior Boys: Troy Scully Bronze in 3K

 

Senior Women: Isobel O'Grady Bronze in 400m & Long Jump

 

Masters Women: Carol Costello Bronze in 800m

 

Masters Men: Conor O'Reilly Gold in Shot Putt

 

Thu

03

Mar

2016

CLUB FUNDRAISER

 

Greystones Athletic Club

 


 

Greystones AC have a fundraising bagpack in Tesco, Greystones on Fri 22nd Apr. & Sat 23rd Apr. 2016. We will be packing from 11am - 7 pm Fri & from 10 am – 6pm on Sat.

 

A great deal of help will be needed for this fund-raising event, so all athletes from age 16 upwards & all parents are asked to try to come along and cover a shift or two. We will break the days up into 2 hr shifts and if we get a good response, then nobody will have to put in too much time.

 

Please contact Christina on 0871459959 and let her know what time/times you will be available to help out, so that she can put together a plan to ensure we have sufficient cover throughout both days.

 

The proceeds from this event will benefit all members of our athletic club, so please help out if at all possible. It's not fair to always leave the effort to the same small group of people, who already do so much for our club!

 

 

 

Thu

18

Feb

2016

Worth Reading!

 

Sonia O’Sullivan: Enjoyment is an important part of winning

Nurturing a competitive instinct in children is healthy – just don’t apply pressure

Photograph: Inpho

Photograph: Inpho

 

 

Athletics is going through a rough period, and I’ve spoken before about losing some of my emotional attachment to the sport. But I still believe athletics is where competition is at its most basic and stinctive, partiularly at a grassroots level! 

These days I often find myself on the sidelines watching young athletes race, and there is no better place to see competition in its most natural state: it doesn’t take much to realise who is the best, the fastest, the most competitive.

 

 

 

There aren’t a lot of tactics employed, as they almost all rely on natural competitive instinct. Young athletes are always fighting for the lead, whether it’s a 400m or a 1,500m race, simply because they believe to be in with a chance of winning you need to be as close to the lead as possible at all times.

 

Last Friday night I found myself inside the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, a nice blue track alongside the Albert Park lake. It was a full weekend of athletics, the Victorian Junior Championships. As a parent, I was required to volunteer some time to my club, Glenhuntly AC, to help out with the running of the programme. I figured if I took the first two hours on Friday evening I would be free to relax and enjoy the races for the rest of the weekend.

 

Simple instructions

 

I was given the job of tape puller in the shot put circle, not something that I am too familiar with, although with a few simple instructions and corrections in the first few attempts I had it down to a tee.

 

That was until the 1,500m races started, when I had to multitask, keeping my eye on the races while continuing the shot put measuring. Now I may be slightly biased, but to me the middle-distance races are the most exciting, entertaining and competitive events on the programme.

 

I am involved a little with coaching in Australia, although not my daughter Sophie, who was running in the under-16 1,500m. No wonder I was distracted.

 

 

Second Captains

 

I see a lot of myself in the way Sophie races. Not the times she runs, but just her instincts, her ability to race. She is always jostling for a lead position, similar to when I used to compete in junior races around Cork and Munster.

 

The best thing about these races is the aftermath: all the girls are the best of friends, rolling around on the grass laughing, not a care in the world – when only minutes before they were battling on the track. Sophie finished second, in her best time, and she was happy. I sensed, without any discussion, that she was already looking ahead to the next race.

 

At this level, it’s not the time that matters: the competition is so fierce that the times just come with the pure racing. Watching these races, I always have an eye on the clock because I understand if you go too fast at the start there is a good chance you will slow down and the winner is rarely predictable.

 

It’s also easy to pick out the athletes who are training and more physically prepared. However, it is those who have trained less, but possess a more competitive instinct, who are more fascinating to watch.

 

Sometimes these athletes do things that shouldn’t be possible, based on their preparation, but being involved in the competition allows them to regularly finish in the top three, or run faster times. This is partly due to natural talent and an ability to rise to the occasion, a fearless and instinctive ability to react to any challenge.

 

The longer you can contain this natural competitiveness in children, without pressure or expectation, the more likely that they will continue to be competitive throughout their adult life.

 

The enjoyment of sport and the ability to be competitive must balance out. As soon as the competitiveness becomes more important than the enjoyment, then the level of competitiveness will drop. A bit like hitting a golf ball; the harder you try, the worse your shot. You need to be at one with what you are doing, and to produce a balanced effort, in order to achieve more. 

 

There is a competitive instinct in all of us. Some people may not even know it, as they think to be competitive means you must be involved in a sporting activity. But this competitive instinct is the driving force that allows each person to fulfil their potential. It comes out in the variety of activities, from schoolwork to office work, to simply cooking the dinner each day.

 

It’s not always obvious, but if you find yourself being very particular about how you do something, take the time to perfect it, then you’re clearly competitive in some sense, and it’s only the beginning of the natural competitive instinct that drives us every day of the week.

 

You also need to be able to relax and enjoy what you do, to be able to get the best results. If we can instil this ability in our children, they are more likely to have a competitive and enjoyable life in sport.

 

Stay on the sidelines

 

The difference now to when I was young is the greater involvement of parents in their child’s sporting lives. I believe parents should be there for transport and support and other peripheral matters, but outside of that should stay on the sidelines and simply enjoy the competition.

 

Let the children be the driving force. Let them find a way to be competitive and get the best from themselves. The place for this to begin is on the school field, and then let it reinvent itself in some other area of life later on.

Mon

15

Feb

2016

Notice from County Secretary

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF TIME!
Round 2 of the Juvenile League will take place on Friday 26th Feb. at Shoreline Track.
Entry form now open closing Thurs 25th. No late entries accepted.
6.00pm Registration
6.30 pm First Race
Distances :
U/7 100M
U/9 300M
U/11 500M
U/!3 600m
U/15 800m
Please do arrive on time as races must start promptly.
No 6-7pm training Fri. due to this event. 7-8.30pm training sessions go ahead as normal.

Sat

13

Feb

2016

NOTICE OF AGM

 A.G.M.

 A reminder that the club AGM will be held on this coming Thurs. 18th Feb. at 8pm. 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.

 

Nominations & Motions for the AGM should be sent to the club Sec. by Tuesday next 16th Feb. @ theresa.kinane@gmail.com or 0868635797

 

 

The Outgoing committee are as follows:

 

Chairperson: Aidan Hartnett

 

Vice Chair: Helen Dempsey

 

Secretary: Theresa Kinane

 

Treasurer: Fiona Gordon

 

Competition Sec: Theresa Kinane

 

PRO: Theresa Kinane

 

Registrar: Fiona Ryan

 

Welfare Officer: Fiona Ryan, Aidan Hartnett, Deirdre Kearney

 

Shop: Deirdre Kearney, Fiona Ryan

 

Fundraising Committee: Helen Dempsey, Christina Browne, Fiona Ryan, Sinead Daly

 

Social Committee: Fiona Ryan, Aidan Hartnett

 

As you can see a number of people are doing several jobs, so extra volunteers are definitely needed and would be most welcome, we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night. Nominations are welcome for any and all positions on the committee.

 

Mon

01

Feb

2016

Newsletter

 

CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 


 

Registrations are finally completed and hopefully those athletes who have moved up are now settling in to their new groups. We welcome any new members and hope that they too are settling in to their groups.

 

 

 

 

The Indoor season is now well and truly under way. Our Junior & Senior athletes have already competed in several competitions during Jan. with great success and we congratulate them on their results so far. We have a very busy time ahead during Feb. & March. with competition most weekends. Please note that closing dates for entries will be strictly adhered to and late entries cannot be accepted for any events!

 


 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

 

  1. The National League Final is on Sat. 6th Feb. In Athlone and our ladies team have qualified for this.

  2. The AAI Games are on Sun. 7th Feb. in Athlone and we have a small no. of athletes competing in this event also.

  3. The Leinster Juvenile Indoors (U12 up) are being held on Sat/Sun 13th/14th Feb. & Sat 5th March. Entry Form for Feb. is currently on our website and entries close on Tues 2nd Feb. The full programme is on the sidebar on our website and athletes can choose a max of 3 individual events across the 3 days. No late entries can be accepted!

  4. The Leinster Junior/Senior/Masters is on Sun. 6th March in Athlone. A Junior athlete is U17-U20. Closing date for entries is 23rd Feb. No late entries!

  5. The National Seniors are on Sat/Sun 27th/28th Feb. in Athlone. Open to U17 up. Closing date for entries 18th Feb. No late entries!

  6. Greystones AC host the next round of the Fit4Life series on Thurs. 11th Feb. It is a 2 mile out & back race and is open to everyone from age 13 up. Great event for those who are not competing at the Leinsters. We will need some help with stewarding etc. on the night. Check-in 7pm at the track. Entry on the night. Lots of Spotprizes.

    Please note that entries for the relay squad are now closed, as per webtext!

 

 

 

AGM

 

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 18th Feb. at 8pm. 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.

 


 

CLUB SHOP

 

The club shop will be open this coming Tues. From 6.30-7.30pm only for singlets, shorts, hoodies, rainjackets etc. We still have Club Calendars & Club Pens available also. Please note that all athletes competing at Leinster events must wear a club singlet!

 

 

 

 

 


 

Wed

30

Dec

2015

Newsletter

Training will resume on Tues 5th Jan. for all groups. Coaches gave out programmes or arranged sessions with groups for the holiday period, but many athletes were missing in the weeks beforehand. All competitive athletes who missed this should try to keep running and keep fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. The National 'B' XC Championships are being held in ALSAA (beside the Airport) on Sat. 9th Jan at 11.30am. These races are open to all athletes who did not medal at the National XC. (correction to previous note, which said qualifiers couldn't run) Races for U11/13/15/17 age groups (2015 ages and athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A' XC Championships. Form is now on the website and entries need to be in asap if you would like an opportunity to represent your Club & your County at this event! Very poor entry so far, but hoping for a big improvement over the next few days.

  2. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am. Entries to Theresa.

  3. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 16th Jan. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website asap. Events for R1 are 60m, 60mH, 800m, LJ, SP, PV

  4. Leinster Senior XC, an Open Junior XC and XC Relays for U12/14/16 will be held in Kilmacow on Sun. 17th Jan. Form will go up on the website shortly for this one.

 

 CLUB CALENDAR

  If you didn't manage to get a copy of our beautiful Club Calendar before Xmas, you'll be delighted to hear that they are still available. You can buy one when we return to training next week, or pick one up at Shoreline Sports Park! Remember this is a fundraiser and all money raised will go to help support our club and help our fees remain low!

 So far the calendar has not been very well supported. You will appreciate that equipment needs to be maintained and replaced throughout the year. The calendar will become, with your help, a source of regular annual income for this purpose. The calendar contains all competition dates for 2016 known at the time of publishing. Please feed photographs into the club following each event or occasion during the season so that this initiative will be more successful. Support your athletes please. 

 

 AWARD WINNERS

 Once again Greystones AC athletes are the recipients of both County & Provincial awards, with club athletes winning 3 of the 4 Juvenile award, both the Junior awards in Wicklow and both Juvenile awards in Leinster for 2015.

 Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Josh Pyper for the U14-16 section, Louis Lalor for the U16-19 section & Ara Freeman & Conor Dempsey for the Junior section in Wicklow. These will be presented in Ashford on Fri. 22nd Jan. along with awards for International selections and other achievements during the year. Slí Cualann Fit4Life & other club awards will also be presented that night and club members are welcome to come along and support our many winners!

Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Conor Dempsey for the Leinster Juvenile awards, which will be presented on Sat 9th Jan. at The Seven Oaks in Carlow. GAC would like to congratulate Tim Grummell on winning the Senior award at Leinster.

 

 REGISTRATIONS FOR 2016…………..VERY IMPORTANT!

 All club athletes now need to renew their registration/insurance for 2016. Registrations will take place at training times for one week only and athletes who have not registered cannot be admitted to the track on the following week, as they will not be covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area on Tues.12th Jan. Wed 13th Jan & Fri 15rd Jan. during training times only. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. If you have changed address or phone number, or wish to change the mob. we use for webtext messages, please fill out a new club form when registering. These forms will be available at registration, or can be downloaded from our website. Up to U19’s need to fill the Juvenile form and Parents/Guardians must sign the form at the back, but please do not sign your child’s name. If your child is too young to sign, just leave that line blank. Athletes born 1997 and before should use the adult form. There is no need to fill another form if details haven’t changed. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. The club covers all entry fees for juvenile athletes, but covers team entries only for adults.

 

Overdue weekly subs. need to be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2016 with a clean slate please. Some athletes owe several weeks fees which need to be paid off right away, as it is unfair that some athletes run up debts when most pay weekly.

 

Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at any time as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. If you cannot make registration week, fees may be put in an envelope with the child's name on it and handed in at check-in during the previous week.

 
HELP STILL NEEDED

 You should be aware by now, following frequent appeals, that the club needs more commitment from parents to participate as leaders or coaches. We have significant gaps in the 6-7 pm session on Tuesday. We are obliged to maintain safe ratios between coaches and athletes. Without your commitment athlete numbers cannot be sustained. Please contact Theresa 0868635797 if you can help!

 

 TRAINING & WEATHER

 We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

 

We hope all our members had a great Christmas, enjoyed the rest, kept up the running and are now ready to get back to training for the New Season!

 

 

 

Sat

19

Dec

2015

Xmas Newsletter

 

XMAS CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION

 

CLUB CALENDAR

 Our beautiful Club Calendar is still available, so if you are in need of a lovely gift for someone this Xmas, just want a souvenir of another great year for GAC or a reminder of what a great club you are all part of, you can contact Helen Dempsey, Fiona Ryan, Christina Browne or Theresa Kinane or pick one up at Shoreline Sports Park! Remember this is a fundraiser and all money raised will go to help our club and help keep our fees low! Club pens also available!

 CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all the GAC athletes who competed in the National XC and represented us so well. Congratulations to Richael Browne on her Silver medal with the County team and to our U15 girls team Sarah O'Connor, Abbie Tyrrell, Sophie Nicholson, Megan O'Brien on their 5th place finish. Great finish places from Ben Jones & Joe Prendergast, and great running also from Troy Scully, Eimear Ryan & Enya Conroy.

 

Well done also to all the athletes who took part in the Inter-County (Kildare, Laois, Meath, Wicklow) Indoor Competition in Athlone. Wicklow were well short of having a full team, with mostly GAC athletes and a few from Kilcoole & Roundwood. We didn't let that worry us though and had some top class performances throughout the day. Well done to all and hopefully County Wicklow will fill the team for the Outdoor event in the summer.

 

Well done also to all who competed in R3 of the XC League. Great running from everyone and some terrific wins once again!

 

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  1. The National 'B' XC Championships are being held in ALSAA (beside the Airport) on Sat. 9th Jan at 11.30am. These are open to all athletes who did not qualify for the National XC. U11/13/15/17 age groups (athletes can move up 1 yr) and distances are shorter than the 'A's. Form is now on the website and entries close on Jan 2nd. There are individual, club & County team events.

  2. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am.

  3. National Indoor League R1 is on Sat 16th Jan. Open to all athletes from U17 up. If you are interested in being considered for a team or want to guest at this event, please fill in the form on the website.

 

XMAS TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS

 Attendance at training during the month of December has generally been poor and, as we had only 5 athletes at Little Athletics 5-6pm last Tues and had very small numbers at the 6-7pm training on both Tues & Fri., we have decided to finish up with all of these groups until Tues 5th Jan. It seems unfair to bring up to ten coaches out at this busy time of year, when so many athletes are not attending. The 7-8.30pm session will go ahead as usual this coming Tues. and this will be the last session before Xmas. Training will officially resume on Tues 5th Jan, but some coaches may make their own arrangements with groups over the holiday period. Do keep running and keep your fitness levels up, as competition starts early in January for many of you.

 

 We hope all our members and friends have a very Happy Christmas!

 

 “Stronger! Higher! Faster!” for 2016!”

 

Tue

01

Dec

2015

December News & information

DECEMBER CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION



CLUB CALENDAR

The Club Calendar is gone to print and will be on sale from Tues. 8thDec. at a cost of just €10. This is a fantastic record of great memories from 2015, with many, many photos of all age groups from our Little Athletics Group launching the National Forest Feast programme, to County, Leinster, National & International competitions and much more

DECEMBER CLUB NEWS & INFORMATION



CLUB CALENDAR

The Club Calendar is gone to print and will be on sale from Tues. 8thDec. at a cost of just €10. This is a fantastic record of great memories from 2015, with many, many photos of all age groups from our Little Athletics Group launching the National Forest Feast programme, to County, Leinster, National & International competitions and much more! A huge amount of work has gone into producing this calendar and our sincere thanks go out to Fiona Dempsey who did a fantastic job designing the calendar and also to Helen Dempsey, Fiona Ryan & Christina Browne for all their work. Many thanks also to our sponsors Goldfish (Gordon O'Neill) Avalon Gardening Services (Paschal Casey) and ALPHACC( Jonathan Donnelly)

This calendar will be a great reminder of a great year for GAC and will make a great Christmas present, as will our lovely club pen. Both will be on sale from Dec. 8thright up to Xmas and are being used as a fundraiser for the club! Front Cover is now on our website & FB page!



CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to all the GAC athletes who qualified for the National XC and who will now represent Club, County & Leinster teams next Sunday in Dungarvan. Best of Luck to: Joe Prendergast, Ella Shanley, Eimear Ryan, Enya Conroy U13, BenJones, Abbie Tyrrell, Sarah O'Connor, Sophie Nicholson, Megan O' Brien U15, Richael Browne, Susie McParland, Troy ScullyU17 and to the Novice men's team!



UPCOMINGCOMPETITIONS

  1. There is an Inter-County (Kildare, Laois, Meath, Wicklow) Indoor Competition for U14/15/17 (U16's move up) athletes on Sat 12th Dec at 2.30pm in Athlone. All age groups have 60mH, 60m, 200m, 800m, 1500m. U15/17 also have Walk, HJ, LJ, SP and U14's can compete in these with the U15's. If you are interested in being considered for any of these teams, please enter right away and list events in which you are interested. Entry form is now on the website and we need names asap, so that the teams can be selected and entered. This is a great opportunity to get some early competition indoors.

  2. A very small turnout for Round 2 of the XC League in Rathdrum, but great running and great results once again from those who did compete on the night. Round 3 ( the final round) will be held in Bray on Fri 11th Dec. at 6.30pm. Usually held on the Bray Emmet's Astro Pitches, but I'll confirm after tonight's meeting. Entry form is now on the website. Open to all athletes up age 14. Please enter once only, as some athletes are being entered over & over for every event.

  3. The Co. Senior & Junior XC will be held in Avondale on Sun. 13th Dec @ 11am. Jun Men 6K/Women 4K & Sen. Men 10K/Women 5K. For those not old enough to race, our Sunday run that day will be in Avondale!

  4. Masters XC (age 35 & up) will take place in Ashford on Sun. 3rd Jan @ 11am.



CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues 8rdDec. from 4.40-5pm & again from 6.30 – 7.30pm, to allow a chance for Santa to pick up any club gear he might need. We have club singlets, shorts, hoodies, rain jackets, T-shirts, leggings etc. for sale, all at cost price and also some second hand spikes at very reasonable prices. Our fabulous Club Calendar@ €10 and Club Pens @ €3 each or two for €5, will also be on sale andwill make great Xmas pressies!



WEBTEXT

Despite several reminders that thewebtext no. is only for communicatingchanges or sendingreminders, I am still gettingqueries on this mob. all the time. If you have an urgent query,you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number, asI can only answer thisfrom my laptop, so if I am at work or training, you may have a long wait for a reply.




Tue

27

Oct

2015

Club News & Information

TRAINING AND COMPETITION

Regular training continues this week at the usual times, for all age groups!


Entry form for the Leinster Uneven ages (U11-17) & Intermediate XC in JFK Park, New Ross will shortly beon the website and entries close on Sat. Night 31stOct. Leinster will not accept any late entries, so do it asap and don't miss out! Please enter only once, as some athletes are being entered over & over. We had 14 entries for one athlete for one of the events.

CONGRATULATIONS

Hot on their success at the European Cup in Portugal, we learnt this week that the junior girls team have again qualified for this competition in 2016 from their great results in the National Junior competition during the Track & Field season. We are absolutely delighted for them and so very, very proud of them. The girls are very excited and already planning fund-raising events towardsit.


WARM WEATHER TRAINING

Anyone who is interested in the proposed warm weather training trip next Easter, but has not handed back their 'show of interest form' needs to do so immediately. Open to all athletes U16 up in 2016, who regularly attend training & competition. Younger athletes may go if accompanied by an adult. Forms available at training, but need them back quickly. Places are limited.


CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open on Tues 3rdNov. from 4.40-5pm & again from 6.30 – 7.30pm, before the next Leinster competition. We have club singlets, shorts, hoodies, rain jackets, T-shirts, leggings etc. for sale, all at cost price and also some second hand spikes at very reasonable prices. We also have club pensfor sale @ €3 each or two for €5, which are being used as a fund raiser for the away trip. They will make great stocking fillers! The committee are also looking into organising a club calendar, which will be available early in Dec and will make a great Xmas pressie, so hold off on buying any 2016 ones.


REGISTRATION FOR NEW ATHLETES

We have handed out registration forms to all our new athletes and while most have returned them, there are still a few outstanding. It is essential that these are returned asap, as we cannot have unregistered athletes at training sessions. If you have not done so already please return your form, as we do not want to have to refuse admittance to any child. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.


WEBTEXT

We use webtext to communicate changes or send reminders, but I must remind you once again that if you have a query that requires an answer then you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number. While I am set up to receive the webtext msg. on my phone, I can only answer them from my laptop, so if I am at work or training, you may have a long wait for a reply.


XC RACE REPORTS

Huge congratulations to all the athletes who competed in the XC over the last couple of weeks.


Wicklow XC Championships, in Roundwood. Uneven ages & Intermediate

Better numbers this time, but still small when you consider how many train each week.

We had only two girls for the U9 Lucy Garvey & Amber Sculy and just one boy Tristan Joylrt Cunningham. We had 11girls in the U11 race Sarah Hayes, Tara Casey, Lucy Willoughby, Camille Madden, Lucy Daly, Alex Mulcahy, Juliette Madden, Keelin McGuire, Kate Kennedy Whelan, Aoibhin Downey & Georgia Hogan and some great running saw the girls finish 4thteam overall. 6 in the U11 boys where we had a great run from Ed Nicholson to take the bronze medal, with the boys team Davey Kennedy Whelan, Chase Scully, Tom McCarthy, Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally taking the silver medals. At U13 we had 10 girls competing with Ella Shanley having a great race to finish 4thand Eimear Ryan close behind in 6th. Along with team members Louise O'Rordan, Ellen McNally, Enya Conroy, Erin Howard, Emma Quirk, Alannah Guilfoyle, Maebh O'Neill & Robin Carroll the girls also took the silver team medals. Gold medals for the U13 boys, with a really strong run from Joe Prendergast to take the individual Gold medal, Jack McGlone 4th, Danny Jones 5thand Paul Delahunty 6th& Michael O'Shea 8th. Gold medals also for the U15 girls, with Abbie Tyrrell having a super race to take the individual silver medal and Megan O'Brien, Katie Lawless, Sarah O'Connor, Frances Dallaghan Alice O'Neill & Grace Kirwan. Only three U15 boys with Alan Gordon taking individual bronze, John O'Connor 4th& Ronan Dempsey 5th. As there were no teams of 4, the boys were awarded the gold medals. Only two U17 girls Megan Healy 5th& Rachel Casey 9th. Cillian Browne had a great race in the U19 boys and won very comfortably. A bronze medal for Jamie Cullen on his return to XC led the Intermediate men's team Caoimhin MacMaolain, Dermot Hughes & AJ Cotter to a 4thplace finish.


Leinster XC Championships, in Moyvalley. Even ages, Novice & Masters.

Very disappointing numbers for the first of the Leinster events, where we only managed to fill two teams. Lets hope for a much better turnout at the uneven ages in Wexford on Nov 8th. Congratulations to all the athletes who competed so well on the day.

Four girls took part in the Open U10 race Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Alex Mulcahy, Amber Scully, with great running from all four. There were huge numbers in all the Championships races where we had five girls in the U12 with Eimear Ryan having a great run to finish 39thout of a field of 129. Team members were Isabelle Donnelly 103, Rachel Jones 111, Lucy Jones 113 Maebh O'Neill 118. A huge field in the boys race also where we only had two athletes, Paul Delahunty 59 & Chase Scully 95. Another big field in the U14 girls where Abbie Tyrrell had another great race to finish 18thoverall, with Ella Shanley 56, Megan O'Brien 60, Enya Conroy 115. The U14 boys saw another great run from Joe Prendergast to finish 20thout of age, with Joe Dowd 47 & Danny Jones 63.Again only two in the girls U16, with a fantastic race from Sarah O'Connor for a 16th place finish out of age, with Holly Byrne in 30th.Only one in the boys, where despite the strapped kneeBen Jones, also out of age, finished 20th. The U 18 girls saw Richael Browne 9th& Susie McParland 12thin the medals and also Katy Conroy 7thin the U19. These girls were all part of the Slí Cualann junior girls team who won both club & County gold medals. Carol Costello finished 15thin the M2 & AJ Cotter 26thin the M4.


Photos from recent XC events can be found on the club website & FB page!

Tue

06

Oct

2015

Newsletter

A warm welcome to our new members and while it's greatto see our athletes settling in to training again, the attendance by quite a fewhas not been great so far, especially on Friday nights. Please remember that we have a waiting list for places at all times, so if you are only turning up once in a while we may have to consider giving the place to someone who really wants it. We cannot hold places indefinitely, unless notified of ongoing injury or illness!

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congratulations to all the athletes who competed at the Wicklow XC Championships last Sunday in Avondale, but huge disappointment also that so few of our athletes actually made it to the event! We had so many age groups with just 3 athletes when one more would have given us a full team and team medals. Grace Rush was our only U8 runner as our only other entry Evan was injured on the day. And she had a great race to finish a close 2nd. We have at least 60 U8's in the club and up to 50 eligible athletes for each of the other age groups.The best turn out of the day was at U10, with 6 girls making it and 3 boys. All had terrific runs, particularly Ava Foley who led the girls from start to finish for a great victory. Only 2 girls at U12 & 3 boys and one more runner here would have guaranteed the boys team medals. We managed to get 5 girls out at U12 (still awaiting team results) and with our 3 U14 boys finishing 3rd, 4th& 5thanother runner here would have guaranteed the boys Gold medals. A fantastic race from Sarah O'Connor in the U16 for 2ndplace out of age, but again we missed out as one of the team didn't turn up. Yetanother fantastic race from Ben Jones witha great finish, to win the boys U 16, also running out of age, but again only 3 runners, so no team. Looking good for both these athletes in the U15's next week. We had no U18's or Novice women, but to our delight we did get a team out in the Novice men's race. Cillian Browne had a super race to take the bronze medal and he and team mates Caoimhin MacMaolain, Dermot Hughes & AJ Cotter also await team results. So while we are delighted with the results and the great performances from all who attended, you can understand the disappointment of these athletes at the lack of teams and the frustration of our coaches who work so hard each week to prepare the athletes for these events.

We sincerely hope that this coming Sunday will see a lot more athletes taking to the field for the uneven ages in Roundwood. Sunday's event is not at the usual Roundwood venue, but is opposite the GAA centre on the right hand side of the road. First race is 11am, so athletes should arrive at 10.30am. Most of you will be done and on the way home in under an hour. Entry form is on the website and will close on Fri. Night, to allow time to process entries. Please, please make an effort this week!!!



URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

We are still very short on coaches for the Tues 6-7pm slot, so we are againmaking an urgent appeal to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on Tues to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue as we are!



REGISTRATION FOR NEW ATHLETES

We are presently handing out forms to all our new athletes and these can also be found onthe website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2015 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. These need to be filled out and returned to training asap please. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.



WEBTEXT

We use webtext to communicate changes or send reminders, but I must remind you once again that if you have a query that requires an answer then you need to text Theresa on 0868635797, not the webtext number. While I am set up to receive the webtext msg on my phone, I can only answer them from my laptop, so if I am not at home, you may have a long wait for a reply.



Tue

15

Sep

2015

Newsletter

WELCOME BACK

A big welcome back to all of our athletes and coaches. Attendance so far has not been great and we are now asking that athletes who have not made it back by tonight Tues 15th Sept. let us know if they do intend to return, as we have very long lists of people waiting for places. If we haven't heard from you by the end of this week, we will have to assume that you are not returning to the club. We cannot hold places indefinitely!

URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

As you are all aware, Greystones AC is a completely voluntary organisation, with some of our coaches putting in up to 9 hrs a week coaching plus many hours spent helping out with competitions and the endless admin. involved in running a club like ours. While we know you all appreciate the time and effort given by our volunteers, many of whom have no children in the club, we must appeal to all parents to consider giving us some help or we will not be able to continue. This is a really urgent appeal as we no longer have enough people helping, particularly with the 6-7pm groups. Some of our long time coaches are no longer available to help at these sessions due to changes in their work hours and most of our young helpers are not available this year due to changes in their school schedules. We have 100 children in the 6-7pm groups with only 3 parents from these groups helping with the coaching, and a further 5 with the check-in. We are now making an urgent appealing to anyone who is free to help out for 1 hour on either Tues or Fri to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797. Even an hour every second week would be a great help, if we could get people to share. We will ensure you get some basic training and won't just drop you in at the deep end! Unfortunately, if we don't get some help, we will not be able to continue!



REGISTRATION NIGHT

We will be holding a registration night for all of our new athletes on Tues 29thSept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be collected between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms will be available on the night and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ Fee for the remainder of 2015 is €20 for one child or €15 for an additional child. Those already registered for 2015, do not need to register again.



FIRST COMPETITIONS

Athletics Wicklow are holding the first round of the Cross Country (XC) League on Fri 25th Sept. This will be hosted by our own club and will take place on the football field at the top of the Sports Park. Check-in by 6.30pm latest, with the first race starting at 6.45pm sharp, due to fading light. This one is for even ages, but athletes can move up 1 age group. It is open to all athletes up to age 14 (U15) in 2015 and is a participation event, with Certs for all who complete the course. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who complete 3 or more races in the League. An entry form will go up on our website shortly and entries will close on Wed night 23rd Sept. No late entries accepted. There will be no 6-7pm training that night, as coaches/athletes will be busy with the League.



County XC Championships will take place on Sun 4thOct in Avondale & Sun 11th Oct. In Roundwood. We need as many athletes as possible to take part in these events, so please put the dates in your diaries! More info in the next newsletter!





Mon

31

Aug

2015

Newsletter

RETURN TO TRAINING

Hopefully you have all been following the plan outlined in the last Newsletterand you are now all ready to return to training “fit to train” and not totally out of condition, making training for the winter season a whole lot easier for all of us!

No changes to the information in the last newsletter, with the 7-8.30pm groups returning tomorrow Tues.1st Sept. and the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups returning on Tues 8th Sept, allowing them a week to settle back in to school first. Looking forward to seeing you all back, full of enthusiasm for the coming season!

 

OUR EUROPEAN VENTURE

As you probably all know by now our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection. More than half the team are Greystones athletes and we are still trying to raise the funds to cover this.

Thisis a fantastic opportunity for these young athletes to go out and experience International competition. They are very proud indeed to be representing their club & country and we have set up a Crowd Funding site at www.gofundme.com/europeanclubcupand all donations big & small will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, donations can be handed in to Theresa at the track, at Shoreline Sports Park or to any of the coaches involved. We really need your help with this!






Wed

22

Jul

2015

Club Newsletter


OUR VERY EXCITING NEWS
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection.


OUR VERY EXCITING NEWS
We are very excited to announce that our Junior Girls, as part of the Slí Cualann Team, have been selected to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in Portugal in Sept. This is as a result of their performances in 2014 and we are very proud indeed to accept this selection.
For those who are new to the clubs set-up, Slí Cualann is an amalgamation of five Co. Wicklow clubs, Greystones, Inbhear Dee, Roundwood, Bray Runners & Parnell, who’s athletes compete at juvenile level under their individual clubs, but become Slí Cualann at Junior & Senior level.
 A group of up to 20 athletes will compete on this team and it is a fantastic opportunity for these young athletes to go out and experience International competition. They are very proud indeed to be representing their club & country and we are very busy fundraising towards this at present, as flights etc. are quite expensive. We have set up a Crowd Funding site at http://www.gofundme.com/europeanclubcup and all donations big & small will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, donations can be handed in to Theresa at the track at Shoreline Sports Park or to any of the coaches involved.
If anyone has any ideas for further fundraising or knows anyone who might like to help sponsor the team, please get in touch with Theresa asap.

SUMMER BREAK FOR ATHLETES
The majority of our athletes are now on a short break, with just the small number who are still competing  continuing to train. As it has been a long hard season, unless athletes have alternative instructions from their coaches, we recommend taking a complete break for about 2 weeks, after which athletes should start running every other day to gradually build up fitness again. Start with 10-15 mins and after 3 or 4 runs increase this by 5 mins. Continue in this way and you will return in Sept. “fit to train” and not totally out of condition, making training for the winter season a whole lot easier. The 7-8.30pm groups will return to training on Tues.1st Sept. and the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups will return on Tues 8th Sept, allowing them a week to settle back in to school first.

THANKS
As they finally get to take a well earned break, we would like to say a huge ‘Thank You’  to every one of the many volunteers who give up their time week in week out to help make Greystones AC such a fantastic club! Our coaches: Aidan Hartnett, Buntu Mlisana, Christina Browne, Deirdre Kearney, Deirdre O’Neill, Eamonn Whelan, Emma O’Brien, Emer McNally, Fiona O’Connor, Helen  Dempsey,  Joanne O’Shea,  Joanna Pluck,  Julie Fallon, Laura O’Neill,  Muriel Drinkwater, Neil Brooks, Pauline Dallaghan, Ronan Nicholson, Sinead Daly, Steve Jones, Theresa Kinane. Our junior coaches: Alannah O’Carroll, Ara Freeman, Conor Dempsey, Isobel Kenny, Lisa Dallaghan, Richael Browne, Susie McParland. Our check-in crew: Breda Hayes, Celina Purcell, Fiona Ryan, Louise Casey, Louise Willoughby , Sandra Colgan. Apologies if I’ve left anyone out!

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE
All athletes who have not attended training for more than 3 weeks before their group finished, need to contact the club if they intend to return in Sept. Otherwise they will be deemed to have left the club. All groups for Sept.will be organised over the next couple of weeks and any available places offered to those on the waiting lists. There will be no way of adding athletes back into the groups in Sept., so please use ‘Contact Us’ on www.greystonesac.com to leave us a message, if missing for a while and planning to return.

CONGRATULATIONS
Every weekend we are on the road to Tullamore, Belfast, Athlone etc. but what a fantastic Track & Field season we had again this year, with superb results from National Juveniles & Juniors Championships and also from the League.
Three of our club athletes qualified to represent Ireland this year, with Alana Ryan qualifying for the Schools International in Scotland last weekend and winning a bronze medal on the 4 x 300m relay. Well done Alana! Amaris Borel & Ara Freeman are also off to Scotland for the Celtic Games on the 1st August.


RESULTS


U12-19 National Championships
U19: Martha Hassett Gold in PV , Katy Conroy 6th in 400m, Katy Conroy 6th in 400m, 10th 1500m
U18:  Ara Freeman silver in 100m & 200m, Amaris Borel silver in 100mH & in 400mH, Conor Dempsey bronze in 200m & 400mH & 6th in 100m, Rosa Kirwan bronze in HJ
U17: Richael Browne 5th in 400m & 8th in 800m
U16: Alana Ryan gold in 200m & silver in 100m, Louis Lalor 4th in 250mH & 5th in 100mH, Noah Daly 12th in LJ
U15: Ben Jones silver in 800m & 1500m, Josh Pyper silver in 100m & 4th in 200m, Ben Mooney 5th in 200m, Sarah O’Connor 5th in 1500m, Katie Lawless 8th in 250mH & Sophie Nicholson 12th in High Jump.
U14: Aodhan Daly silver in LJ, 11th in HJ & 3rd in 200m heat (injured)
U13: James Nicholson 5th in LJ, Joe Prendergast 12th in LJ, Ellen McNally 15th in LJ & Emma Quirk 16th

Juniors/U23's Championships
Junior athletes:  Katy Conroy gold in the 3K Steeplechase, Amaris Borel silver in 100mH & 6th in the 400mH, Ara Freeman 4th in the 100m with a new PB & 5th in the 200m, Conor Dempsey 8th in 200m, Richael Brown trying out a new event and just missing out on the 400m final, Isobel O'Grady 6th in the Long Jump & Jamie Wood 11th in 800m.
U23's : Claire Foley took bronze in the 200m & 4th in the 100m and Aoife Conroy 4th in the 400mH.

National ‘B’ Champs & Relays
U16: Cachel Casey gold in Shot Putt, Holly Byrne silver in 800m, Troy Scully bronze in HJ & 4th in 800m, Marcus Lennon 5th in 100m & 7th in 800m,  Sarah Lalor 5th in 100m, Niamh Conroy in medal position with 10m to go taking a very bad tumble in the 100m.
U15: John O’Connor gold in HJ,
U14: Ronan Dempsey silver in 80m & bronze in LJ, Alan Gordon silver in HJ & bronze in 80m, Megan O’Brien 13th in 800m
U 13: Danny Jones bronze in LJ, Erin Howard 7th in 600m & 10th in LJ
U12: Eimear Ryan 4th in LJ & 10th in 600m
The U15 boys team took silver in the 4 x 100m relay.

National League:
Top performances from everyone on both days means both the Women’s & Men’s teams have qualified for the finals on Aug. 2nd, making for another busy weekend. Best of Luck to both teams and to Ara & Amaris in the Celtics in Scotland.


The National Senior Championships on 7th/8th Aug. brings the domestic T&F season to a close for 2015, but athletes involved in the European Cup will continue training for this prestigious event in Sept.

Mon

22

Jun

2015

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
What a weekend for GAC at the Leinster Championships! Well done to each and every athlete who competed over the weekend. We are so proud of you all.

CONGRATULATIONS
What a weekend for GAC at the Leinster Championships. Well done to each and every athlete who competed over the weekend. We are so proud of you all. Medal winners, 4th place qualifiers & finalists below. There are a lot of them, so apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.
U14: Aodhán Daly, Gold in LJ, bronze in 200m, 4th in HJ,
         Ronan Dempsey 6th in 75mH
         Alan Gordon 9th in 80m

U15: Ben Jones, Gold in 1500m and 800m,
         Josh Pyper, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Ben Mooney, Silver in 100m & 200m
         Sarah O’Connor, Bronze in 1500m,
         Sophie Nicholson, Bronze in HJ
         Katie Lawless, 4th in 250mH & 200m & 5th in 80mH

U16: Alana Ryan, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Louis Lalor, Gold in 250mH, Silver in 100mH & 4th in 200m
         Noah Daly, 4th in LJ & 200m
         Niamh Conroy 7th in 100m
         Troy Scully 5th in 3K

U17: Richael Browne, Silver in HJ & 4th in 800m also 5th in 800m in Tailteann games.
         Alannah O’Carroll,  Bronze in 400m, 6th in 200m

U18: Conor Dempsey, Gold in 100m, 200m, 400mH & Silver in 400m
         Amaris Borel, Gold in 400mH, Silver in 100mH, & 400m
         Ara Freeman, Gold in 100m & 200m
         Rosa Kirwan, Bronze in  800m ,4th in HJ
 
U19: Katy Conroy Gold in 800m & bronze in 3K Steeplechase
         Martha Hassett, Gold in Pole Vault
         Lorcan Lalor, Silver in 400mH & bronze in 400m
         Cillian Browne, Bronze in 3K
         Niall Martin 6th in 200m
         Eoin Doyle 6th in 400m

Boys U 19 Club Team Gold Conor Dempsey, Niall Martin, Lorcan Lalor, David O’Flynn

Inter County Relays  Wicklow Teams
Boys U15 Gold: Ben Jones, Josh Pyper, Ben Mooney & John O’Connor
Boys U19 Gold Conor Dempsey, Niall Martin, Lorcan Lalor, Eoin Doyle

Can those who have qualified for Nationals please let us know if not competing!

The previous weekend, the Leinster Combined events saw Aodhan Daly take gold in the U14 boys, Sophie Nicholson silver in the U15 girls, Louis Lalor bronze in the U16 boys, Hilary Gallagher silver in the U17 girls & Rosa Kirwan bronze in the U18 girls..

URGENT: A reninder that the Bray Runners Invitational event is being held this coming Tues 23rd June.at the track in Greystones. Entries closed last Wed. night and only athletes who have entered can compete, as we are only allowed a limited number of athletes. Athletes need to arrive at 6pm for check-in and warm-up as events must start at 6.30pm sharp.
No training on that night for 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups due to this event!
Little Athletics will go ahead as usual from 5-6pm!
Absolutely no entries on the night!.


. SUMMER BREAK FOR YOUNGER ATHLETES
We will take a break from training for the summer for the age 5-6 & age 7-11groups (ie 5-6pm and 6-7pm), finishing up with a fun evening on Tues. 30th June. Already the numbers have dropped off a lot, particularly on Fri evenings, so there is little point in trying to carry on. U12 Athletes competing in the National B Championships on Saturday 18th July may attend the later training sessions. We will return on Tues.8th Sept., which allows a week to settle back in to school first. Please note that  the older groups which train from 7-8.30pm will continue throughout the summer, as we have a lot of competition during this time. We will take a short break in August before returning on Tues. 1st Sept. to prepare for the XC season.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We will make a final attempt to give out the awards and medals on Tues 30th June between 6.30 & 7.30pm, as there are still a lot that haven’t been collected. Registration cards will also be available again that night. If anyone is available to help for an hour on that Tues evening we would really appreciate it. Athletes may collect their awards themselves, but the registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Most  cards have arrived, but there are still a few to come.

FURTHER REMINDER RE WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions, but the number is still being used a lot for queries!


Mon

08

Jun

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent Leinster Relays & Juniors, held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. We had a good number of teams in the U9-16 Relays and the boys in particular did really well.

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent Leinster Relays & Juniors, held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. We had a good number of teams in the U9-16 Relays and the boys in particular did really well. Our U13/14/15/16 boys all took the silvers, our U16 Girls won bronze, our U9B were 4th & our U11B were 6th in their finals.
Junior results saw Richael Browne take gold and Katy Conroy take bronze in the 800m, Rosa Kirwan take gold & Richael Browne silver in the HJ, Ara Freeman take silver in the 100m & bronze in the 200m, Conor Dempsey take silver in the 200m & Isobel O’Grady take silver in the LJ…….a good day’s work!
Last Sat. saw us on the road very, very early for a 9am start in Tullamore for the U9/10/11 pairs & u12 & 13 Championships. It was a very long day for all the athletes, but each & every one of them did GAC proud. Great performances from our athletes and some great results too. Gold for Joe Prendergast in the U13 LJ with a 4th place for James Nicholson, Silver for Michael O’Shea in the U13 60m, bronze for Emma Quirk in the U13 LJ, with a 4th place for Ellen McNally, 4th place for Darragh Rush in the U12 60m. Finals places for Eimear Ryan in the U12 600m & 60m hurdles, Emma Quirk in the U13 hurdles, Erin Howard & Joe Prendergast in the U13 600m & Jack McGlone in the U12 LJ. In the pairs events, Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally U10,won silver in the LJ & bronze in the 60m, Ava Foley & Ailbhe Gordon U10 won silver in the Turbo Javelin. Other notable performances, Ailbhe Gordon & Camille Madden had a 5th place finish in the U10 LJ, Ava Gordon & Camille Madden had a 10th place finish in the U10 60m & Lucy Willoughby & Lucy Daly had a 10th place finish in the U11 LJ.  Well done to all and we wish the qualifiers well in the All Ireland’s!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
LEINSTER Combined events for U14 + will be held on Sat 13th June in Celbridge this coming Saturday. Best of Luck to those competing.
LEINSTER U14-19 championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat & Sun 20th/21st June. Entries close on this coming Tues 9th June. Absolutely no late entries can be accepted, so get your entries in now!
Forms will be on our website shortly for the Bray Runners Invitational event, which will be held on Tues 23rd June. As we are only allowed a limited number of athletes in each event, we will give priority to athletes who compete regularly for the club. If there are any places left, these will be given on a first come, first served basis, as per previous years. No training on that night for any groups, due to this event!
Forms will also go up shortly for the National Juniors/U23’s which will be held in Tullamore on Sunday 5th July (Juniors are U17-20) get those entries in.
.
EXCITING NEWS
Our Junior Girls (as part of Slí Cualann) have been selected to take part in the European Clubs Track and Field Junior B competition, to take place in Portugal on the 19th September 2015. This selection is as a result of their performance in 2014 and is a great honour for our athletes and we are very proud indeed to accept the offer. While some of our costs will be covered, we will need to fundraise to help towards flights and other expenses. As our first fundraiser, we will be providing stewards (age 17-adult) for the Sonia 5K on Sat. next in Dunlaoghaire. You will be needed for a maximum of two hours from 6.30-8.30pm and the club will be paid for each steward we provide. Please let us know asap if you can help out with this event and start the ball rolling towards our much needed funds! We really need your help with this!

OVERDUE SUBS
A number of athletes owe money to the club for unpaid weekly subs. We do remind the athletes about this at check-in, but get little response. We would appreciate it if parents could check this with us and pay off these debts asap. It is easy to forget that you missed some weeks, but unfair on the athletes who always pay if others don’t and it all adds up to quite a bit. 

SUMMER BREAK FOR YOUNGER ATHLETES
We will take a break from training for the summer for the age 5-6 & age 7-11groups (ie 5-6pm and 6-7pm), finishing up with a fun evening on Fri 30th June. Already the numbers have dropped off a lot, particularly on Fri evenings, so there is little point in trying to carry on. U12 Athletes competing in the National B Championships on Saturday 18th July may attend the later training sessions. We will return on Tues.8th Sept., which allows a week to settle back in to school first. Please note that  the older groups which train from 7-8.30pm will continue throughout the summer, as we have a lot of competition during this time. We will take a short break in August before returning on Tues. 1st Sept. to prepare for the XC season.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We gave out a number of  the registration cards and the awards and medals on Tues 2nd June, but there are still a lot not collected.  If anyone is available to help for an hour on a Tues evening we could try once more. Athletes may collect their awards themselves, but the registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Not all cards have arrived yet.

WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions, but the number is still being used a lot for queries!

Thu

21

May

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the recent County Championships Great performances from our athletes and lots & lots of medals won. There are far too many to list here.......

Most results are now on our website. Many thanks to all who helped out during the 3 days. The effort & commitment from some of our coaches was far & above anything we could have asked for. We cannot thank them enough!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
The Leinster Relays and Juniors are being held in Greystones on this coming Sat. 23rd May. Best of luck to all our teams and to all our Junior athletes also. Uneven age teams are billed to start at 11.30 and even ages at 3pm. Please arrive an hour beforehand as it will be very busy and also to allow for events running ahead of schedule. Relay Teams are now posted on the sidebar! Please let us know asap if you cannot attend as we don’t want disappointed children, arriving to discover they no longer have a team. Athletes need to wear club colours please, ie club singlet or T-shirt with red, white or black short only. (no pinks, blues, yellows etc. please) We are suppose to wear club gear only, for all of these events! Juniors athletes (U17-20) must wear Slí Cualann gear for this event!
As GAC is the host club, help will be needed to set up on Sat., to monitor events during the day and to clean up afterwards. Two coaches have to act as officials on the day and others willl be needed to look after teams, so if anyone else is free to help it would be greatly appreciated.
LEINSTER U9,U10,U11 Pairs Competition & U12-U13 Championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat. 6th June. Entries will need to be in by Tues 26th May. latest.
LEINSTER Combind events for U14 + will be held on Sat 13th June (no venue yet) and entries for these close on Tues 2nd June.
LEINSTER U14-19 championships will be held in Tullamore on Sat & Sun 20th/21st June. Entries close on Tues 9th June.
Forms will be on our website shortly for all of these events. Please ensure you enter in the correct competitions, as there are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster!

CARPET PIECES WANTED
Due to all the recent rain, the ground around the track is very wet & muddy. The track has being cleaned this week and is looking very well. In an effort to keep it this way, if anyone has reasonable large sized pieces of carpet they don’t need we would be grateful for these, as they could be put down around the gates and may help to keep some of the mud off the track.

WEBTEXT MESSAGES
Information texts are sent out fairly regularly by the club. It is fine to reply to this number if you are just confirming something. However, if you have a question that requires an answer that day, please text Theresa directly on 0868635797, as a lot of the time I am not in a position to answer webtext replies. This msg. has been sent out on several previous occasions!

TESCO COLLECTION
Before training on Tues. evening a number of our coaches & athletes went along to Tesco where they were presented with a cheque for €325 for the club, from the Tesco Charity Fundraiser. We are absolutely delighted to receive this cheque which will go towards extra equipment for the athletes. Many thanks to Emma O’Brien for arranging to have us included as one of the charity groups and for collecting the cheque.

AWARDS/REGISTRATION CARDS
We are still looking for a couple of volunteers to help hand out the registration cards and the awards that weren’t collected. If anyone is available to lend a hand with this we will organise to make them available at  training on a given Tues. Registration cards are addressed to the parents, so we cannot give them to the athletes. Athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries. Not all cards have arrived yet.

CLUB SHOP
We try to open our shop once each month and just before competitions. Our next club shop opening will be  on Tues. next 26th May  from 7-8pm. If you need singlet, shorts or any other club gear, please try to come along on Tues.26th. As we are all volunteers and many are covering more than one job, unfortunately we cannot manage to open the shop outside of these times.

HELP STILL NEEDED URGENTLY
We  still need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.


Tue

05

May

2015

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all the GAC athletes who took part in the 1st day of the County Championships last Fri. evening. There were many fine performances and lots & lots of medals won. There are far too many to list here, but full results will be published after the Championships are

completed. Many thanks to all who helped out on the night and especially to Rachel Casey who, I’m reliably informed, did a tremendous job with the admin. on the night. Fantastic to see a young athlete step up and take on these responsibilities and manage to compete and win medals as well. Many thanks Rachel.
Day’s 2 & 3 will take place this weekend on Fri 8th & Sat 9th May. We have a good number of entries, despite the clash with First Communions, and look forward to two more days of top class competition and lots & lots of fun! . Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. Entries are closed.

GREYSTONES AC/IRISH MILERS CLUB
Despite atrocious weather conditions, we had a great day's athletics with the IMC on Sat 2nd May, with several athletes reaching qualifying standards throughout the day! A huge Thank You to everyone who helped out, with special thanks to the ever reliable Cyril Smyth, Terry Kavanagh, Noreen O'Reilly, Oran O'Toole and the small but hardworking GAC crew, all of whom went above & beyond the call of duty to make the day a success. Many, many thanks to the IMC for all their work, to the Irish Sprinters & Irish Hurdlers for their welcome input and to Dave Sweeney for organising the Javelin event. Thanks also to Shoreline Sports Park for all their help! Lets hope for better weather next year!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
The Leinster Relays for U9-U16 ( athletes born 2000 – 2007) will be held in Greystones on Sat. 23rd May. As it is on our home track and there is no travelling involved, we hope to have lots & lots of teams running. Form will be on the website shortly and will close on Sunday 10th May and teams will be announced by Tues 12th latest. We need 4 members for each team and athletes can move up one age group to run on two teams.


The Leinster Juniors (U17-U20….. born 1996-1999) is being held on the same day and again as we are on home turf we hope to have lots of athletes competing on the day. Please list the events you wish to take part in. Form will be up shortly.

AWARDS NIGHT
Our Awards night went off well although quite a number of our athletes didn’t make it along to pick up their awards on the night. Once the County Championships are behind us, we will organise to make these awards available at check-in one Tuesday evening. It would be a huge help if we could have a couple of volunteers to look after this.

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
A further batch  of Registration cards have arrived, but there are still many more to come. These too will be available for collection on the same night as the awards. As athletes are now being issued with Life Registration cards and won’t be getting replacements every year, they are addressed to the parents and so need to be collected by them. This is the number that will be used for all your future entries.

HELP STILL NEEDED URGENTLY
We  urgently need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.




Mon

20

Apr

2015

AWARDS REMINDER

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
AWARDS NIGHT
We remind you all that our awards night for 2014 is this coming Tues. 21st Apr 2015 and will

be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Awards for Attitude, Achievement & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to see your children’s efforts being rewarded and a chance to meet the coaches and have a chat!
These awards are being presented for 2014, so athletes who only joined this year or late in 2014 will not have the required Attendances etc. You are however very welcome to attend and hopefully you will work hard during the remainder of this year and be back here next year receiving your own awards!
THERE WILL BE NO TRAINING THIS TUESDAY FROM 6-7PM pm & 7 –8.30PM DUE TO THE CLUB AWARDS  NIGHT! ! LITTLE ATHLETICS WILL RUN AS NORMAL FROM 5-6PM!       

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
This year all athletes are being issued with  Life Registration cards. Some of these have arrived and we will hand them out to parents at the Awards night.  These cards now have just a Life Number., which members will have for their entire athletic career instead, of getting a new registration number every year. This is the number that will be used for all entries. Consequently athletes/parents need to look after these cards, as they will no longer be replaced every year.

HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
We  urgently need help at the 6-7pm training sessions. The total number of children attending at this time is 100 and we have waiting lists on all 4 groups. Only two of the present coaches have children in these groups and we are appealing to parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. We really do not want to have to suspend groups, but will not be left with any other option if we don’t get some help soon. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website and there is a link on our entry form. All GAC athletes of all ages who want to compete in this year’s Championships must register on our website for each day they intend to compete. You must also list the events you intend to compete in each day.  Form is now up on our web site and closing date for all entries will be Tues. 28th Apr. No entries can be accepted after this date, so make sure you are in on time!


EXPLANATION OF AWARD SCHEME FOR NEW PARENTS.
Children up to age 10 in 2015 (U11), take part in an award scheme at the County Championships on Saturday 9th May, there are no individual events for these age groups. Each child competes in 3 events, a sprint, a long jump and a turbo javelin throw, and their points are calculated to get a finishing score. All athletes who compete in all 3 events will get a medal on the day. The top scorers will get gold, the next group silver and the remainder bronze.  Those who don’t complete the competition, ie all 3 events,  will not receive a medal. It will take a while to get through all the events for all the age groups and as the relays for the younger age groups are also on the Sat. afternoon, please come prepared to spend the day.  If we are lucky enough to get good weather it can be a very enjoyable day!
There are longer races and Obstacle Relays on Fri 1st May for these younger age groups, which start at 6.30pm and will be done within the hour.  We have not included events on Fri 8th to leave them fresh for the Sat. competitions.

CLUB SHOP
Our club shop will be open on Tues. 28th Apr.at 5pm and again from 7-8pm to allow athletes to purchase club gear before the County Championships. We now have new girls red shorts in stock in all sizes and also some ¾ length & full length red leggings. We also have a good number of secondhand spikes available as well as rain jackets, lightweight showerproof  trousers and club hoodies, club singlets & T shirts. We also have some black Nike tracksuit bottoms reduced to just €10.

Tue

07

Apr

2015

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
The final day of the National Indoors brought more fine performances and more medals for GAC athletes Alana Ryan had yet another fantastic day, cruising through her heat of the U16 200m......

..... and winning the final in great style to take another National title. Fantastic running once again from Richael Browne in the U17 800m, where she took the silver medal in a new indoor PB of 2.19.88.  A great run also from Katy Conroy in the U19 800m where she finished in 8th place. Conor Dempsey ran 22.87 in his heat in the U18 200m to qualify for the final where he finished 5th. Noah Daly qualified for the final of the U16 LJ where he finished 5th with a jump of 5.36m and Aodhán Daly jumped 4.49m in the U14 LJ to finish 9th.  Well done to all of our athletes! A little time to recover now, but we are looking forward to a great outdoor season!

HELP NEEDED URGENTLY
Once again we have to appeal for help at the 6-7pm sessions. We have big groups at these sessions and have lost some coaches recently due to changed circmstances. As well as this we have coaches covering these sessions at present who are having to arrange minders and transport for their own children, now all in the later groups, to allow them to cover the 6-7pm sessions. We need to allow these coaches to move to the 7-8.30pm time asap. We have  100 children in the 6-7pm sessions and urgently require parents of these children to come on board and help with the training, otherwise we will not be able to continue with all of the groups. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out once a week, or alternate with another parent every other week, please let us know.
Help is also urgently needed to cover check-in at 6pm & 7.30pm please. We are down to a small number of parents who are trying to cover all the sessions, or back to coaches trying to do this which delays the training, resulting in us being late finishing. This only takes about 15-20 mins max. but is a huge help to the smooth running of our training sessions.

ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING
There are a number of athletes who’s attendance at training is very poor indeed. Athletes are expected to attend training regularly and Group 1 & 2 athletes have committed to attending a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level. We have a constant waiting list for places and we can not be expected to hold places for those who do not use them. Once again we must remind everyone that athletes who disappear for over 3 weeks without letting us know why, (ie illness, injury etc.) are deemed to have left the club and their places are offered to those on the waiting list. We will always hold the place for an injured/ill athlete and once we are made aware it is not necessary to notified us at every session. Lists are reviewed at the end of each month.

AWARDS NIGHT
We remind you all that our awards night for 2014 has been arranged for Tues. 21st Apr 2015 and will be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Consequently there will be no training that night! Awards for Attitude, Achievement & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the coaches and have a chat!

2015 REGISTRATION CARDS
This year all athletes are being issued with  Life Registration cards. Many of these have arrived this week and we will hand them out to parents at the Awards night.  These cards now have just a Life Number., which members will have for their entire athletic career instead, of getting a new registration number every year. This is the number that will be used for all entries. Consequently athletes/parents need to look after these cards, as they will no longer be replaced every year.

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION
Well done to all the athletes who attended the coaching session on Good Friday. This was another great success and we thank the coaches who did such a great job on the day. We will organise a follow up session for these athletes over the next couple of weeks.

RELAY SQUADS
Apologies for the error with the Relay Squad date as we were not training on the given date. Our next training night for our Relay Squads is this Fri. 10th April. It is particularly important that all members of the squads attend these training sessions!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Junior & Senior men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Names to Theresa by Sunday 19th April latest. No late entries accepted this year..

CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. All GAC athletes of all ages who want to compete in this year’s Championships must register on our website for each day they intend to compete. You must also list the events you intend to compete in. Form will be up on our web site shortly and closing date for all entries will be Tues. 28th Apr. No entries can be accepted after this date, so make sure you are in on time!


EXPLAINATION OF AWARD SCHEME FOR NEW PARENTS.
Children up to age 10 in 2015 (U11), take part in an award scheme at the County Championships on Saturday 9th May, there are no individual events for these age groups. Each child competes in 3 events, a sprint, a long jump and a turbo javelin throw, and their points are calculated to get a finishing score. All athletes who compete in all 3 events will get a medal on the day. The top scorers will get gold, the next group silver and the remainder bronze.  Those who don’t complete the competition, ie all 3 events,  will not receive a medal. It will take a while to get through all the events for all the age groups and as the relays for the younger age groups are also on the Sat. afternoon, please come prepared to spend the day.  If we are lucky enough to get good weather it can be a very enjoyable day!
There are longer races and Obstacle Relays on Fri 1st May for these younger age groups, which start at 6.30pm and will be done within the hour.  We have not included events on Fri 8th to leave them fresh for the Sat. competitions.

Wed

25

Mar

2015

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS
Nationals Indoors in Athlone last weekend and it was yet another great weekend for GAC !  We had 5 teams in the National relays on Sat. of which 4 made the finals. The 5th, moving a little

too quickly, unfortunately exchanged just outside the zone just exchanging. Our U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney led from the gun and took the gold medals comfortably, while our U18 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Isabel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman put up a great battle to take the bronze, while U17 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Niamh Conroy, Richael Browne & Alana Ryan finished 5th and U13 boys, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones, James Nicholson & Michael O'Shea finished 6th. Sunday was individual events and all of our 60m sprinters comfortably made their finals. In the U 16 boys Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney put in another terrific effort and this time Josh took the bronze medal with Ben finishing in 4th place. Alana Ryan had another fantastic race, pushing all the way to the line to take yet another gold medal and National Championship in the girls U16. Ara Freeman had her usual fantastic start in the girls U18 and she too fought all the way to the line where she unfortunately took a nasty fall at the finish line. Delighted to report that she is recovering well and has a bronze medal for her efforts. Many thanks to all her well wishers! Cillian & Richael Browne were in action again in the 1500m. Richael had another great race to finish 4th in the girls U17 in a time of 4.58 with Cillian running 4.14 for 8th place in the U19 boys. Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey both qualified for their 400m finals wih Amaris finish 5th & Conor 6th after a clash at the break line. Alan Gordon cleared 1.30m in the HJ for 12th place. Well done to all who competed and good luck to everyone next Sat. when we get to do it all again!

STILL VERY  IMPORTANT
Please come to training properly prepared for training! Despite constant reminders that we train in all weathers, wind, hail, rain or snow, and regular requests that our athletes always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, we still have many who don’t bring sufficient clothing with them. It is easy to remove layers if you get too hot, but there is nothing we can do if you are cold and you don’t have enough clothing with you and you cannot train properly if you are cold. So wear plenty layers, bring a jacket and gloves and don’t forget your water bottle!

AWARDS NIGHT
Our awards night for 2014 has been arranged for Tues. 23rd Apr 2015 and will be held at Charlesland Golf Club at 7pm. Consequently there will be no training that night! Awards for Attitude, Achievement  & Attendance will be presented as well as our 5yr & 10yr club memberships awards, team awards and Senior and Juvenile ‘Athlete of the Year’ for 2014. Refreshments will be served afterwards. All athletes and their families are most welcome. As this is being held on one of our regular training nights we hope that this year everyone will be available to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the coaches and have a chat!

COACHES MEETING
A reminder to all coaches that we have a coaches meeting tomorrow evening at 8pm at the track. If anyone is interested in getting involved with coaching or helping out at training session, you are most welcome to come along to this meeting.

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION
We are arranging a specialised coaching session for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 or before) who intend to compete throughout the coming Track & Field season. As we have limited places available, athletes who take advantage of this extra coaching will be expected to compete at Leinster competitions as well as at County level.. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, provided the applicant is a regular attendee at club training sessions.
The coaching sessions will take place on Good Friday 4th Apr from 10.30 – 12.30am and athletes may take part in two events during the morning. Events being coached will be
 Long Jump  High Jump  Hurdles  Javelin/ Turbo  Shot Putt  Discus  Sprints (concentrating on starts/blocks )
Form will be on the website shortly and will close on Wed. 2nd Apr. Please give your name and list three events in order of choice. We will do our best to give you your first two choices, but it may not be possible, when dividing the groups, to facilitate everyone. There will be a €5 fee to help cover costs for the day.
Please note that athletes will need to arrive on time, as the Sports Centre is closed for business on Good Friday and there will be nobody to open the gate once we have gone on to the track. Gates will only be open from 10.20- 10.35  latest. I’m sorry, but we can not be running up and down to open the gate to late comers, as this disrupts the coaching sessions.

RELAY SQUADS
Next training night for our Relay Squads is Fri. 4th April. It is particularly important that all members of the squads attend these training sessions!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 5
Don’t forget that the last race in the XC League takes place on this Friday 27th March in Bray Emmets. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website www.greystonesac.com  and can be found under  Entry Forms at the top of the page. Entries will close on Thurs 26th at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on this Friday 27th March, as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

FIT4LIFE RACE
The next Fit4Life race will be held in Shanganagh Park on Thursday 2nd April. Check-in at 7pm, race at 7.30pm. This is open to everyone from 14 up and while there are prizes for each category and some spot prizes, it is very much  a participation event and a great way to start racing.  Refreshments afterwards!

COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Juniors & Seniors men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Entries to Theresa by Sunday 19th April latest.

CO. CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This year’s Wicklow Championships will be held on two evenings & 1 full day, Fri 1st May, Fri 8th May & Sat 9th May. Full programme is posted on the sidebar of our website. entries in advance this year. A reminder will be posted nearer the time!

Sun

22

Mar

2015

National Indoors

Yet another great weekend for GAC athletes. We had 5 teams in the National relays on Sat. of which 4 made the finals.......

while the 5th, moving a little too quickly, unfortunately exchanged just outside the zone. Our U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney led from the gun and took the gold medals comfortably, while our U18 girls Alannah O'Carroll, Isabel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman put up a great battle to take the bronze, while U17 girls Alannah O'Carroll,Niamh Conroy, Richael Browne & Alana Ryan finished 5th and U13 boys, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones, James Nicholson & Michael O'Shea finished 6th. Sunday was individual events and all of our 60m sprinters comfortably made their finals. In the U 16 boys Josh Pyper & Ben Mooney put in another terrific effort and this time Josh took the bronze medal with Ben finishing in 4th place. Alana Ryan had another fantastic race, pushing all the way to the line to take yet another gold medal and National Championship in the girls U16. Ara Freeman had her usual fantastic start in the girls U18 and she too fought all the way to the line where she unfortunately took a nasty fall at the finish line. Delighted to report that she is recovering well and has a bronze medal for her efforts. Many thanks to all her well wishers! Cillian & Richael Browne were in action again in the 1500m. Richael had  another great race to finish 4th in the girls U17 in a time of 4.58 with Cillian running 4.14 for 8th place in the U19 boys. Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey both qualified for their 400m finals wih Amaris finish 5th & Conor 6th aftera clash at the break. Alan Gordon cleared 1.30m in the HJ for 12th place. Well done to all who competed and good luck to everyone next Sat. when we get to do it all again!

Wed

11

Mar

2015

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Another great weekend for GAC at the Leinster Indoors!
Off to a great start on Saturday, with gold for Alana Ryan in the U16 200m and for Amaris Borel in the U18 400m, Silver for Conor Dempsey in the U18 400m, for Richael Browne

in the U17 High Jump, for Noah Daly in the U16 Long Jump, for Louis Lalor in the U16 60m hurdles and for Aodhan Daly in the U14 Long Jump and Bronze for Amaris Borel in the 60m hurdles. A 5th place finish for Noah Daly in the U16 200m and fine performances also from many others, with U14 Alan Gordon and Ronan Dempsey making the 60mH final finishing 4th & 5th,respectivily & U13 Emma Quirk making the 60mH final and James Nicholson & Joe Prendergast making the 600m final! Well done to our younger athletes, many making their first appearance at indoors and showing great promise for the future of our club! This all left us looking forward to another great day on Sunday!


The 4th and last day of the Leinster Indoors again saw top performances from GAC athletes with U 19 Katy Conroy taking bronze in the 8oom,18's Ara Freeman taking double gold in the 60m & 200m and setting a new Championship Best in the 60m, Conor Dempsey having a superb race to take silver in the 200m, Amaris Borel winning her 200m heat comfortably and Isobel Kenny making the 60m final after a great 200m run earlier in the day and 4th place finishes for Rosa Kirwan in both the 800m & the High Jump. Championship Best performance also from Richael Browne running a fantastic race to win the U17 800m. Alana Ryan added the U16 60m title to her 200m title from yesterday and only .01 separated Ben Mooney & Josh Pyper who took Gold & Silver in the u15 60m in one of the closest races of the day. Bronze as well for Ben in the Long Jump and a bronze for Alan Gordon in the U14 High Jump having finished 4th in the 60m hurdles yesterday. Aodhan Daly had 3 great runs in the U14 60m to progress through the heats & semi- finals, as did older brother Noah in the U16 and  Michael O'Shea in The U13 with Emma Quirk also getting to her semi-final U13 and Sophie Dallaghan in the U12. Emma also finished 5th in her Long Jump. Another very successful weekend for GAC. Nationals............ here we come!.


Huge congratulations go to Alana Ryan on winning the National Juvenile Star Award for 2014. We are very proud to see Alana receive this well deserved award for her achievements last year and as you can see from the report above, she has made a terrific start to 2015. This is the 6th year in a row that a GAC athlete has won this National Award, so keep up the good work guys!


GAC  also won the National Developmental Award for 2014 and we congratulate all the athletes involved in what was a great day for the club back in July. U15 Troy Scully, Niamh Conroy, Rachel Casey, Catherine Casey & Rachel Purcell, U14 Sarah O’Connor, Katie Lawless, Eva Roche & Frances Dallaghan, U13 Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Alan Gordon, U12 Michael O’Shea, Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally &, Erin Howard.

VERY  IMPORTANT
Please come to training properly prepared for training! Despite constant reminders that we train in all weathers, wind, hail, rain or snow, and regular requests that our athletes always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, we still have many who don’t bring sufficient clothing with them. It is easy to remove layers if you get too hot, but there is nothing we can do if you are cold and you don’t have enough clothing with you and you cannot train properly if you are cold. So wear plenty layers, bring a jacket and gloves and don’t forget your water bottle!

AGM
A reminder that our club AGM, which will be held in Shoreline Sports Park on this Thurs 12th March at 8pm. This is open to all members and/or parents of juvenile members and is your opportunity to come along and find out how our club is run and what goes on in the background to keep it all running smoothly. It is also an opportunity to make suggestions that you think might improve things, or maybe even come on board and lend a hand on the club committee or one of our sub-commitees. Motions and nominations for the AGM are still being taken and should be e-mailed to theresa.kinane@gmail.com by Tues 10th March please.


RELAY SQUADS
Due to the Leinster Indoors at the weekend we deferred the first relay squad session until this coming Friday 13th March. This means that there is still a chance to add your name to the list if you are interested in being considered for relay team selection in the future. The form will stay on the web site until Thurs. 12th and we will have our first training session on Fri evening. After this, specific relay training sessions for all club teams will be held on the 1st Friday of each month. All athletes who want to be considered for future teams, must fill out the form on the website declaring their interest and of course will need to attend the training sessions regularly.
It is particularly important that all members of the teams who have qualified for the National Relay Championships attend this training session!

FIT4YOUTH GROUP
In Sept.’14 we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past number of months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups. We do have some places available in this group at present.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 5
This takes place on Friday 27th March in Bray. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will be on our website www.greystonesac.com shortly and can be found under  Entry Forms at the top of the page. Entries will close on Thurs 26th at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday  , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

NATIONAL INDOORS
National Indoors take place on Sat/Sun 21st/22nd March and on Sat 28th March. Well done to all who have qualified for these. While we are trying to give as much time as possible to all events, we may not be able to cover every event each night and so qualified athletes, including relay teams, need to make a big effort to attend all sessions to ensure they get in as much practise as possible.

FIT4LIFE RACE
The next Fit4Life race will be held in Shanganagh Park on Thursday 2nd April. Check-in at 7pm, race at 7.30pm. This is open to everyone from 14 up and while there are prizes for each category and some spot prizes, it is very much  a participation event and a great way to start racing.  Refreshments afterwards!

COUNTY ROAD RACE.
The Athletics Wicklow 5k Road Race Championships for Juniors & Seniors men & women will take place in Ashford on Wed 22nd April. Juniors are age 16-19 in 2014. Check in from 6.15 pm.  Start Time 7.00 pm. Entries to Theresa by Sunday 19th April.

Sun

08

Mar

2015

LEINSTER INDOORS

Another good day for GAC on Saturday 7th march, with gold for Alana Ryan in the U16 200m and for Amaris Borel in the U18 400m, Silver for Conor Dempsey in the U18 400m, for Richael Browne in the U17 High Jump, for Noah Daly in the U16 Long Jump, for Louis Lalor in the U16 60m hurdles and for Aodhan Daly in the U14 Long Jump and Bronze for Amaris Borel in the 60m hurdles.

A 5th place finish for Noah Daly in the U16 200m and fine performances also from many others, with Alan Gordon and Ronan Dempsey making the 60mH final U14 & Emma Quirk U13 and also James Nicholson & Joe Prendergast making the 600m final U13! Well done to our younger athletes, many making their first appearance at indoors and showing great promise for the future of our club! This all left us looking forward to another great day on Sunday!

The 4th and last day of the Leinster Indoors again saw top performances from GAC athletes with U 19 Katy Conroy taking bronze in the 8oom,18's Ara Freeman taking double gold in the 60m & 200m and setting a new Championship Best in the 60m, Conor Dempsey having a superb race to take silver in the 200m, Amaris Borel winning her 200m heat comfortably and Isobel Kenny making the 60m final after a great 200m run earlier in the day and 4th place finishes for Rosa Kirwan in both the 800m & the High Jump. Championship Best performance also from Richael Browne running a fantastic race to win the U17 800m. Alana Ryan added the U16 60m title to her 200m title from yesterday and only .01 separated Ben Mooney & Josh Pyper who took Gold & Silver in the u15 60m in one of the closest races of the day. Bronze as well for Ben in the Long Jump and a bronze for Alan Gordon in the U14 High Jump having finished 4th in the 60m hurdles yesterday. Aodhan Daly had 3 great runs in the U14 60m to progress through the heats & semi- finals, as did older brother Noah in the U16 and  Michael O'Shea in The U13 with Emma Quirk also getting to her semi-final U13.

Tue

24

Feb

2015

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
What a great start we had over the first two days of the 2015 Leinster Indoor Championships. Fantastic running from all our GAC athletes with great results on Saturday from the Relays and distance events. Gold medals all round for our U18 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Isobel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman, U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney & U15 boys, Josh Pyper, Aodhan Daly, John O’Connor & Ben Mooney...

... Silver for our U17 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan  & U13 boys, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones & Michael O’Shea, with 4th place finishes for U16 girls, Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan & U14 boys, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Joe Dowd, Alan Gordon & James Nicholson.. Fantastic running from Cillian Browne finishing 3rd in the U19 1500m, Richael Browne finishing 3rd in the U17 1500m & Sophie Nicholson finishing 4th in the U15 800m!
Sunday proved to be another fantastic day for our club athletes competing for Slí Cualann at the Leinster Juniors. Following on from the previous day’s great results, brother & sister Cillian & Richael Browne went for gold today ,with Cillian winning the Junior 3K & Richael winning the 800m. Gold too for Amaris Borel in the 60m Hurdles, and Amaris also had a Season's Best in the 400m. Gold again for Ara Freeman in the 60m with a new Leinster Championship Best Performance and Ara also had a fourth place finish in the 200m. Silver medals for Susie McParland in her first track 3K and for Conor Dempsey in the 400m, a Bronze medal for Rosa Kirwan in the High Jump and another new 800m PB for Katy Conroy! What a top weekend's competition it was!

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS


XC LEAGUE ROUND 4
This coming Friday 27th Feb. in Roundwood GAA centre. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is on our website now and entries close on Thurs 26th Feb at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on this Friday 27th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


LEINSTER INDOORS DAYS 3&4
Days 3&4 of the Indoors are Sat/Sun 7th/8th March. Entries are all gone in and athletes are training hard for their specific events. While we are trying to give as much time as possible to all events, we may not be able to cover every event each night and so athletes need to make a big effort to attend all sessions to ensure they get practise at their chosen events.


LEINSTER DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
Day 4 of the Leinster Development Squad takes place from 11am – 1pm on this coming Sat. Feb 28th, in Morton Stadium, Santry. As always ,each day and is open to all athletes aged 12 years +. The squad will cost €5 per athlete each day. Please check-in at the stand in Morton Stadium from 10.30am. Events covered this weel will be Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump. This is a great opportunity for some extra coaching on your event!

AGM
Time again for our club AGM, which will be held in Shoreline Sports Park on Thurs 12th March at 8pm. This is open to all members and/or parents of juvenile members and is your opportunity to come along and find out how our club is run and what goes on in the background to keep it all running smoothly. It is also an opportunity to make suggestions that you think might improve things, or maybe even come on board and lend a hand on the club committee or one of our sub-commitees. Motions for the AGM should be e-mailed to theresa.kinane@gmail.com by Fri 6th March to allow time to send these out.

RELAY SQUADS
Following on from our success at the Indoor Relays, GAC intends to work on developing our relay squads for future events and so we will have specific relay training sessions for all club teams on the 1st Friday of each month. Athletes who wish to be considered for future teams need to fill out the form on the website declaring their interest and of course will need to attend the training sessions regularly.

REGISTRATIONS
These are all now completed and all training groups are re-organised for the coming season. Prospective new members should send us their details, to include Name & DOB, to ‘Contact us’ on our website. www.greystonesac.com

TRAINING GROUPS
While our aim is to promote athletics and foster a love of the sport in all our members, we would like to remind you all that Greystones AC is first and foremost a competative club and so athletes are expected to attend training regularly and take part in the various competitions that the club competes in during the year.
Athletes in Groups 1 & 2 agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions each week before moving to these groups and we expect this to be adhered to. This is necessary to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 9.30am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day. So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.

FIT4YOUTH GROUP
In Sept.’14 we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past number of months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups.

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues 3rd March from 7-8pm to facilitate those who need singlets etc.for the Leinster Championships. We now have new girls red shorts in stock in all sizes and also some ¾ length & full length red leggings. We also have a good number of secondhand spikes available as well as rain jackets, lightweight showerproof  trousers and club hoodies & T shirts. We also have some black Nike tracksuit bottoms reduced to just €10.

Once again we must remind you all that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training, as we still have many who don’t bring suficient clothing. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents!

Sun

15

Feb

2015

WHAT A WEEKEND!

Fantastic running from all our GAC athletes this weekend in Athlone with great results on Saturday from the Leinster Indoor Relays in Athlone. Gold medals all round for our U18 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Isobel Kenny, Rosa Kirwan & Ara Freeman, U16 boys, Josh Pyper, Noah Daly, Louis Lalor & Ben Mooney & U15 boys, Josh Pyper, Aodhan Daly, John O’Connor & Ben Mooney. Silver for our U17 girls, Alannah O’Carroll, Richael Browne, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan  & U13 boys, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Danny Jones & Michael O’Shea, with 4th place finishes for U16 girls, Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Niamh Conroy & Alana Ryan & U14 boys, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, Joe Dowd, Alan Gordon & James Nicholson.. Fantastic running from Cillian Browne finishing 3rd in the U19 1500m, Richael Browne finishing 3rd in the U17 1500m & Sophie Nicholson finishing 4th in the U15 800m!

Sunday proved to be another fantastic day for our club athletes competing for Slí Cualann at the Leinster Juniors. Following on from yesterday's great results, brother & sister Cillian & Richael Browne went for gold today ,with Cillian winning the Junior 3K & Richael winning the 800m. Gold too for Amaris Borel in the 60m Hurdles, and Amaris also had a Season's Best in the 400m. Gold again for Ara Freeman in the 60m with a new Leinster Championship Best Performance and Ara also had a fourth place finish in the 200m. Silver medals for Susie McParland in her first track 3K and for Conor Dempsey in the 400m, a Bronze medal for Rosa Kirwan in the High Jump and another new 800m PB for Katy Conroy! Well done to all our athletes and congratulations to team mate & training partner Tim Grummell on his gold in the Senior 1500m and to Terry Kavanagh with Silver medals in the Masters 400m & 800m. What a top weekend's competition it has been!

Thu

22

Jan

2015

FINAL REMINDER

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2015…………..FINAL REMINDER!
Club Registrations for 2015 have been taking place all this week during all training sessions and the final opportunity to renew club registrations is tomorrow Friday 23rd Jan. Athletes who have not renewed their registrations by Fri 23rd will be deemed to have left the club and their places will be offered to those on the waiting lists. Those who are not registered will not be on the check-in sheets next Tues evening and can no longer be admitted to the track, as they are no longer covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area during training times on Fri 23rd Jan. only, ie 6-8.30pm. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at other times as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. In an effort to get all records up to date again, all members need to fill out a new club form this year. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. Overdue weekly subs. should also be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2015 with a clean slate please.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We are already well into our competition for 2015, with several events already completed. Wel done to all who took part, report to follow. Next events are:
 Sun 25th Jan National Jun (1996-1999)/U23 (1993-95) Indoors, Athlone
 Tues 27th Jan. East Leinster Schools XC, Avondale
 Sat 31st Jan Round 2 Indoor League, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun 1st Feb AAI Games, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat 7th League Final, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun. 8th Feb Juvenile B XC , Tuam (1996-2004)
 Sun 8th Feb. Nat. Intermediate XC, Tuam
 Wed 11th Feb. Leinster Schools XC, Santry
 Sat 14th Feb. Leinster Indoor relays + walks, PV, TJ & 800/1500m races (born 1996-2004), Athlone 
 Sun. 15th Feb. Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters, Athlone on Feb 15th.
 Sat/Sun 21st/22nd Feb. National Senior Indoors, Athlone
The remainder of the Leinster events are on the 7th/8th March.


All athletes who intend to compete at any of the Juvenile events up to & including 8th March, should fill out the appropriate form, which is on our website, by Tues next 27th Jan. Indoor events are for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 and before) and athletes can enter up to 3 events + relays.  Don’t forget to list your events and availability for relays. Teams + subs will be sorted asap.  U11’s, ie born 2005 can compete in the relays. Leinster programme of events can be found on www.athleticsleinster.org

We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.


Wed

07

Jan

2015

Newsletter

NEWSLETTER 2015
Normal service resumes this week and we welcome back  all those we haven’t seen since before Xmas. We hope you all had a great time and wish everyone a Happy New Year! Small numbers at the sessions and runs over the holidays, but well done to those who put the effort in, it will pay dividends at the upcoming competitions!

AWARD WINNERS
Once again Greystones AC athletes are the recipients of both County & Provincial awards, with club athletes winning 3 of the 4 Juvenile awards & both Junior awards in Wicklow and all 3 awards in Leinster for 2014. Congratulations go to Alana Ryan & Ben Jones for the U14-16 section, Cillian Browne for the U16-19 section & Amaris Borel & Padraig Lennon for the Junior section in Wicklow and to Amaris Borel & Conor Dempsey for the Leinster Juvenile awards & David Coyle for the Senior award. The Leinster Awards will be presented this Sat 10th Jan in Carlow and the Wicklow Awards will be presented in Wicklow town on Fri. 16th Jan. Fit4Life prizes will also be presented that night and club members are welcome to come along and support our many winners!

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2015…………..VERY IMPORTANT!
All club athletes now need to renew their registration/insurance for 2015. Registrations will take place at training times for one week only and any athletes not registered at the end of that week can no longer be admitted to the track, as they will not be covered by insurance. Club committee members will accept registrations in the room behind the reception area on Tues 20th Jan. Wed 21th Jan & Fri 23rd Jan. during training times only. Adult registrations can be accepted at Fit4Life training times. Please do not leave registration forms/fees in to the Sports Park Reception at other times as they can not be accepted by the staff. Neither can they be accepted by the coaches on the track. In an effort to get all records up to date again, we will be asking members to fill out a new club form this year. These forms will be available at registration, but can be downloaded from our website, or collected at check-in next week, if you want to have it ready in advance and avoid long delays. Up to U19’s need to fill the Juvenile form and Parents/Guardians must sign the form at the back, but please do not sign your child’s name. If your child is too young to sign, just leave that line blank. Athletes born 1996 and before should use the adult form.  We would really appreciate it if anyone who’s details haven’t changed, would indicate this on their form. It will save a great deal of time double checking everything. Fees remain the same as previous years, €30 for 1, €50 for 2, €70 for 3 & €90 for 4 or more family members. Overdue weekly subs. should also be paid off at this time, as we want everyone starting 2015 with a clean slate please.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We have a very busy year ahead and I have listed the first two months events below:
 Sunday 11th Jan.  Round 1 of the Indoor League, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat. 17th Jan. National Combined events, Athlone (2002 up)
 Sun 18th Jan Leinster XC for Jun (1996-1999) & Sen (1995 and before) Dunboyne
 Sun 18th Jan Leinster XC Relays in Dunboyne. Relays are for U12/14/16 (2015 ages, so born 2000-2005) Distances are short and we would love to have teams in all the age groups, so interested athletes should fill out the form on the website asap, as entries close very soon. We will let you know the teams at training on Tues. next  latest.
 Sun 25th Jan National Jun (1996-1999)/U23 (1993-95) Indoors, Athlone
 Tues 27th Jan. East Leinster Schools XC, Avondale
 Sat 31st Jan Round 2 Indoor League, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun 1st Feb AAI Games, Athlone (1998 up)
 Sat 7th League Final, Athlone (1999 up)
 Sun. 8th Feb Juvenile B XC , Tuam (1996-2004)
 Sun 8th Feb. Nat. Intermediate XC, Tuam
 Wed 11th Feb. Leinster Schools XC, Santry
 Sat 14th Feb. Leinster Indoor relays + walks, PV, TJ & 800/1500m races (born 1996-2004), Athlone 
 Sun. 15th Feb. Leinster Jun/Sen/Masters, Athlone on Feb 15th.
 Sat/Sun 21st/22nd Feb. National Senior Indoors, Athlone
The remainder of the Leinster events are on the 7th/8th March. All athletes who intend to compete at any of the Juvenile events should fill out the form, which will be on the website shortly, as we want to start event specific training right away. Indoor events are for athletes from U12 up (born 2004 and before) and athletes can enter up to 3 events + relays.  Don’t forget to list your events and availability for relays. Teams + subs will be sorted asap.

We also have to arrange our Sportshall event, which is always very popular with the younger athletes and always a fun day. Details will follow asap!

HELP NEEDED
Once again we have to appeal for help at the 6-7pm sessions. We have big groups at these sessions and have lost two coaches recently due to family circumstances. If any adults are available to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. We promise not to throw you in at the deep end and we will get you on to a coaching course asap. If you can help out, even a little, please let us know.

We remind you all once again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

Tue

09

Dec

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to our GAC athletes who took part in the National XC in Santry on Sunday. Illness struck again this week with only four athletes, Megan O’Brien, Ben Jones, Susie McParland and Cillian Browne, making it to the start line. and some of those were still not back to top form. Great running as always with silver medals going to Ben Jones in the boys U15 and Susie McParland in the girls U17 on their silver medals with the Leinster teams.

CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE RUN
Many thanks to all who turned out for our Candlelight run and in particular a huge Thank You to those who put so much effort into setting out the candles & lighting them and to those who did the lovely baking. It couldn’t happen without you guys and the whole place looked amazing when it was all lit up! All the jars were collected next day & have been stored, as we hope to make this an annual event. We raised €285 for Aware, so thanks to all who contributed to this!

GROUP TRAINING SESSION
Athletes who participated in the athletes assessment day on Sat.15th Nov. are invited to a follow up session at the track on this coming Sat.13th Dec. from 10-12pm. This session will concentrate on sprints, starts, running technique etc. and will be beneficial to all. Your results from the previous day will be available and this will act as your baseline for our follow up sessions.  We also hope to organise a further session during the Xmas break. Details will be sent out to those concerned.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Just two events left to go this year:
Round 3 of the XC League is in Arklow Rugby Club this coming Friday evening 12th Dec. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is even Ages U/ 8,10,12,14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is now on the website and entries close on Thurs.11th Dec. at 6pm. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 12th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


County Senior & Junior XC will take place on this coming Sunday 14th Dec. in Shanganagh Park. First race at 10.30am. GAC would love to have teams in all 4 categories, so please let Theresa  know if you are available to run.


Please note that our Sunday morning run will take place in Shanganagh Park at 9.30am, that way we’ll be finished in time to cheer on our runners in the races!

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open tonight Tues 9th Dec. from 7-8pm, just in case Santa needs any club gear this year! We have singlets, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets and tracksuit bottoms. Some of the gear hasn’t arrived yet, but hoodies & T-shirts can be paid for tonight and will be available before we finish for Xmas. The girls shorts have not arrived and unfortunately we don’t have a delivery date for those. Samples of the new red leggings and sprint shorts are available to view and orders will be taken for these tonight. Leggings and sprint shorts only come in Sm, Med, Lg , there are no children's sizes available.

XMAS TRAINING TIMES
The 5-6pm group will finish next Tues evening 16th Dec. and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 19th. We will have a Xmas games evening to finish up and maybe a few Xmas treats! These groups will return to training on Tues. 6th Jan 2015.


Our 7-8.30pm groups will finish up on Tues 23rd Dec and will return to training on Fri 2nd Jan., as we have Indoors  and Schools XC  approaching fast for these age groups.


We remind you again that we train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

Tue

25

Nov

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS
Well done to all our GAC athletes who took part in the National XC in Dundalk today. Great running from Eimear Ryan, Ella Shanley, Erin Howard & Emma Quirk in the U12's and from Sarah O'Connor, Sophie Nicholson & Katie Lawless in the U14's. Congratulations to Sarah on her gold medal with the Leinster team. Fantastic running from Ben Jones in the boys U14 with an individual medal for his 6th place finish and a bronze medal with the Leinster team. Congrats also to Susie McParland & Richael Browne on their silver medals with the County team and fine running from Irene Gomez Romro U16 and from Steven Diggin in the U18/Jun event.  Unfortunately we lost a few to illness this weekend, but hopefully most will be up and running again for the uneven ages in Santry on Sun. 7th Dec.

Very well done indeed to the club athletes/coaches who braved the awful weather conditions on Fri last to take part in Round 2 of the XC League in Rathdrum. Fantastic performances from all 15 who attended and had to battle mud, wind & rain for the points. They never gave up! Evan Quirk, Daniel Quirk, Tom McCarthy, Chase Scully, Louis Kelly, Troy Scully, Amber Scully, Georgia Hogan, Eimear Ryan, Rebecca Leahy, Sophie Dallaghan, Sally Shanley, Emma Quirk, Erin Howard, Ella Shanley.


Well done also to athletes & coaches alike who come out night after night and battled the tough training conditions we’ve been having recently. 

SPORTSHALL  REPORT  by Helen Dempsey
Great performance by the boys under 13, winning silver in both the 4 x1 lap ( Michael O Shea, Ronan Dempsey, Aodhan Daly, Alan Gordan) and the 4 x 2 lap ( Michael O Shea, Joe Prendergast, Aodhan Daly, Alan Gordan) relays. Joe Prendergast took home two gold in the 6 Lap Individual and the Speed Bounce and a silver in the Vertical Jump. Joe along with Alan Gordon gave a very impressive performance in the 8 Lap Paarlouf bringing home the silver. Alan took the silver in the Shott Putt as well as the bronze in the Vertical Jump. The 2 Lap Individual again saw a strong performance from the Greystones athletes, with Aodhan Daly and Ronan Dempsey taking Silver and Bronze respectively. The pair added to their cache taking Gold and Bronze respectively in the Standing Long Jump.  Aodhan went on to take the bronze in the Standing Triple Jump.


The under 9 girls were not to be outdone by the boys, taking bronze in both the Tunnel Relay (Ava Foley, Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Amber Scully) and 1 x Lap Relay (Ailbhe Gordon, Tara Casey, Sarah Hayes, Amber Scully). Ava Foley gave an outstanding performance throughout the day’s events, winning three silver medals in the 3 x Lap Individual, the 2 x Lap Individual and the Speed Bounce. Ailbhe Gordan gave a mighty throw to the Foam Javelin  to bring home the silver and along with Tara Casey took joint gold in the standing long jump. Tara went on to add a silver to her medal count for the 5 strides event.
The Portarlington Sportshall event was superbly organised and was a great day for athletes and parents.  A big thanks to Buntu for putting the athletes through their paces prior to the event.

COMMUNICATION (Please read & note)
Greystones AC uses it’s club Newsletters as our regular means of communication. All new members are asked to sign up for this when they first join, so if you are not getting them please go on to our website www.greystonesac.com and sign up right away. These Newsletters are also available on the front page of the website and on our Facebook page. The club also uses webtext to communicate information, but as we have limited characters for each text this is mainly used for reminders or urgent messages. Please note that while you are occasionally asked to use the webtext no. to sign up for an event, if you have a question that requires a same day reply you should send it by e-mail or text to Theresa on 0868635797. I cannot answer messages on the webtext no. from my mob. and so there may be a long delay before I can reply to you due to work/coaching  commitments. Likewise, if you send messages via our FB page there may be a long delay in getting a reply, as this is mainly used for information purposes and is not constantly monitored.

TRAINING
We train in all weathers, hail, rain or snow. In the very unlikely event that we should ever have to cancel training or an event at short notice, a webtext msg. will be sent to all members/parents! Please ensure that you/your child always brings warm clothing and a waterproof jacket to training. While we may very occasionally have access to indoor facilities, we are generally outdoors regardless of the weather, so come prepared for this! On wet nights, gear bags with your change of clothes can be left in the changing rooms at the sports centre.

CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE RUN -------------- EVERYONE WELCOME!
A reminder that we are holding our Candlelight Remembrance Run/Walk on Sun. 30th Nov. from 4.30pm. This year we are holding the event at Shoreline Sports Park , Charlesland. Starting at the front gates, our route will take us up the back road to the soccer pitch, around the pitch, down the winding hill behind reception, out through the side gate and across the carpark to the track gate, down the hill and around the roadway behind the track bringing us back out to the carpark beside Zoom, approx 1500m in all. The route will be candlelit all the way and hopefully will be as magical an experience as last year’s was. We will have refreshments afterwards in the Shoreline building. Once again there will be a bucket available for donations to Aware


We need jars for the candles, so if you have a jar or two lying around at home, could you please bring them to training this week. Jam/coffee jars or anything of that size will be greatly appreciated. We would also appreciate help from anyone who is free to lend a hand on Sunday!
Please note that if Sunday is wet we will not be able to go ahead, as the candles will go out!

ATHLETE ASSESSMENT DAY
We held a very successful Talent ID day for our juvenile  athletes on Sat. 15th Nov. We had over 60 athletes in attendance and all were put through a series of  tests for jumps, throws, sprints, distance and had their height, peak flow etc. measured. Th results are an indication of potential at various events and give the athletes a base line to work from. We intend to follow up from this with event specific workshops which will help the athletes to take up, or progress at, their chosen events.

 
Members of the Slí Cualann development squad have a similar event on Sat 28th Nov from 12-2pm in the Shoreline hall, with lunch afterwards.  Squad T-shirts have arrived and will be given out on the day!

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues 9th Dec. from 7-8pm, just in case Santa needs any club gear this year! We have singlets, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, rainjackets and tracksuit bottoms. We have new girls shorts on order and we will also have new red leggings and sprint shorts available. Leggings and sprint shorts (Sm, Med, Lg only) can be viewed and ordered at training this week.


 

Sun

09

Nov

2014

Club News

CONGRATULATIONS
Tremendous running from our athletes at the first day of the Leinster XC in Avondale and some great results Congratulations to Ben Jones who won the championship in the boys U14 and to Sarah O’connor who finished in the medals in 9th place in the U14 girls. Both these athletes will represent Leinster at the All Ireland’s. We also have several athletes qualified for the All Ireland’s as members of  Wicklow County teams, as the U14 & 16 girls teams won gold and the U12 girls were 4th. Congratulations and good luck to our athletes for Nov 23rd in Dundalk: U12 Girls: Eimear Ryan, Erin Howard, Ella Shanley & Emma Quirk, U14 Girls: .Sarah O’Connor, Rachel Diggin, Katie Lawless & Sophie Nicholson, U14 boys: Ben Jones, U16 girls:  Susie McParland, Richael Browne, Hilary Gallagher, Irene Gomez Romero, U18 girls: Katy Conroy & U18 boys:  Steven Diggin & Cillian Browne.
A disappointingly small number of club athletes took part in the 3rd and final day of the Leinster XC  in Adamstown today Sun. 9th Nov. and unfortunately due to the small numbers, we were unable to fill teams in any age groups. Some great running from those who did come along with individual medals for Cillian Browne in the boys U19 & Ben Jones in the boys U15. Co. team gold for Susie McParland & Richael Browne on the girls U17 team and a qualification place for Megan O’ Brien on the girls U15 Co. team. Best of Luck to all in the Nationals.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
XC LEAGUE ROUND 2
Friday 14th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form is now on the website and entries close on Wed next 12th Nov. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 14th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS (for those who missed it last time)
Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. This should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off  and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walk around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

SPORTSHALL
We are presently selecting teams for a Sportshall competition on Sun. 23rd Nov. in Portarlington. This is open to Boys & Girls U9 - U13 (born 2002 – 2007) If you are available & interested in taking part, please let us know asap on 0877730000 . We hope to enter teams in all categories.

TRAINING GROUPS
While our aim is to promote athletics and foster a love of the sport in all our members, we would like to remind you all that Greystones AC is first and foremost a competative club and so athletes are expected to attend training regularly and take part in the various competitions that the club competes in during the year.
Athletes in Groups 1 & 2 agreed to attend a minimum of two sessions each week before moving to these groups and we expect this to be adhered to. This is necessary to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their group. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day. So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.


FIT4YOUTH GROUP
This Sept. we created a Fit4Youth training group for members who don’t want to compete or train at competition level, but who do want to stay fit and remain/become members of the club.This group  trains at the 7-8.30pm sessions and have been working hard at maintaining/improving their fitness levels and core strength over the past few months. They will have opportunities to try field events over the next few months and always have the option to move to one of the competative groups if they decide they want to compete at any discipline. This group is ideal for those who just want to get/stay fit or for those who are just starting athletics, as it works at a less intense level than the competition groups.

ATHLETE ASSESSMENT DAY
We are holding a Talent Identification Day for our juvenile athletes born 2004 or before, who intend to compete in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone in March 2015.  If you are interested, come along and give each event a go and discover where your talents really lie. We also hope to have a Specialist in Steeple Chase there on the day, to coach those athletes eligible to enter the Steeple Chase (born 1999 or before).
Date: Sat 15/11/14, Time: 10-12 (reg at 09:45), Venue: Shoreline Track, Fee: €2 per athlete
Eligibility: Born 2004 and before and competing in the Leinster Indoors in Athlone in March 2015.
If you wish to attend please text your name and dob to 0877730000 by Wed. 12th November latest.
Members of the Slí Cualann development squad will have a similar event on Sat 28th Nov from 12-2pm in the Shoreline hall, with lunch afterwards.

REMEMBRANCE RUN
Last year we held a Candlelight Remembrance Run/Walk in Kindlestown Wood which received tremendous support and we have been asked by many if we would repeat it this year. As November is traditionally the month that  we remember those we have lost, we will hold  a similar event on Sun. 30th Nov. from 4.30pm. Due to the narrow road, parking and traffic control were a problem last year, so this year we will hold the event at Shoreline Sports Park , Charlesland. Starting at the front gates, our route will take us up the back road to the soccer pitch, around the pitch, down the winding hill behind reception, out through the side gate and across the carpark to the track gate, down the hill and around the roadway behind the track bringing us back out to the carpark beside Zoom, approx 1500m in all. The route will be candlelit all the way and hopefully will be as magical an experience as last year’s was. We will have refreshments afterwards in the Shoreline building. Once again there will be a bucket available for donations to Aware.

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS
We arranged to give out Registration cards for 2014 on Tues. 21st Oct. but very few bothered to collect them. As we do not want to give these cards to children and risk having them lost, we will try again on Tues. next 11th Nov. between 6.30 & 7.30pm and we ask that you please come and pick them up. There is a hotel voucher, courtesy of Athletics Ireland, with each card. Cards for athletes who registered in Sept. have arrived, but later registrations are still not here.



Thu

16

Oct

2014

CLUB NEWSLETTER

A LENGTHY ONE, BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AS IT CONTAINS A LOT OF  IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR  CLUB ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

WICKLOW XC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Fantastic results from both Sunday’s at the Wicklow XC Championships, despite a very big percentage of our club athletes failing to attend. On day 1 we had barely 20% of our athletes in attendance, but despite this we got  8 individual medals and 18 top ten finishes in the U12-18’s , with Gold team medals for all 4 teams that we managed to fill at U12 & U14. We had great performances in the U8-10 races, with 7 top ten finishes and we had the winner of the Novice ladies. Congratulations to our County Champions James Nicholson, Ben Jones, Troy Scully, Katy Conroy, Cillian Browne & Carol Costello, to silver medal winner Joe Prendergast and bronze winner Sophie Nicholson and well done to all who ran so well.
On day 2 we did a little better, but not much, with 24% attending and again we saw fantastic running from those who did come with County Championships going to Eimear Ryan, Troy Scully, Steven Diggin & Cillian Browne & silver medals to Sarah O’Connor & Katy Conroy and once again we had 18 top ten finishers. A few more teams this time and lots of team medals, with gold for U11 Girls, Silver for U13, U15 & U17 girls and 4th place to U13 boys.  Once again great performances from our younger athletes in the U7-9 groups and great to have an Intermediate men’s team out, who finished 4th overall, with 2 members in the top 10.  Great running from everyone who took part, but disappointing for all the coaches who put so much time and effort in, to see so many not taking part on either day.
Full results from both days are now on the sidebar of our website home  page.

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
We are now looking forward to the first of the Leinster Championships which will take place here in our own Co. Wicklow, once again in beautiful Avondale. This is the even ages event ( same course as Oct 5th) for athletes from U12-18 (U11’s can move up) and also for Novice & Masters athletes. We hope that lots & lots of our athletes will take advantage of home turf  and turn out to run for Club & County on Sunday 26th Oct. Entry form is now on the website and closing date is Sunday 19th. There are absolutely no late entries accepted by Leinster, so get your names down right away and don’t wait until the last minute, as you might miss out. There will be open U10’s races for girls & boys on the day, so anyone interested in taking part should enter on our website form.


The uneven ages event for U11-19 (U10’s can move up) and the Intermediate adults will take place in Adamstown, Co. Wexford on Sun. 9th Nov. To avoid confusion, entry form for this will only go up when the even ages comes down.

LEAGUE ROUND 2 : Friday 14th Nov. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm. This one is uneven Ages U/ 7, 9, 11, 13.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. Entry form will go up after the Leinster events close, to avoid confusion.. Athletes must be registered to compete. Certs to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.
Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Friday 14th , as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!

SOME ADVICE FOR RACE DAYS
Athletes should start their warm-up about 30 mins before their own race/event and they should complete their usual regular routine. This should be done in runners not spikes, and tracksuits etc. should be left on throughout. Athletes should only take their gear off and put their spikes on while the race ahead of there is taking place and they should leave a top on until the last possible minute. There is absolutely no point in warming up and then stripping clothes off  and letting your muscles get cold while you wait around. There is no support in a pair of spikes and it is very easy to spike yourself or someone else while walk around wearing them. Absolutely wonderful for racing in, but only for racing in………. wear them for the shortest possible time, not all day! Very long spikes are not recommended for children, as they may injure themselves or others.

LEINSTER PERFORMANCE SQUAD
Congratulations to GAC athletes Amaris Borel, Ara Freeman, Richael Browne, Rosa Kirwan, Isobel O’Grady, Cillian Browne, Padraig Lennon, Conor Dempsey, and Lorcan Lalor who were selected for the Leinster performance squad. They had their first session last Sat. in Santry with the second one coming up on Nov 1st and covering all events.  A developmental squad, open to all athletes aged 12 yrs +, runs on the same day from 11am-1pm. The Nov 1st session for this one covers Hurdles, Middle Distance, Javelin and High Jump and costs €5.
 
PLEASE READ AND REMIND ATHLETES:
We are asking once again that athletes make sure to use the toilets before coming down to the track, as it causes huge problems if a coach has to leave a group to bring them up during the session. On this note, we remind athletes that the toilets and changing rooms must be left as we find them and not in a mess. Recently we have had a lot of tissue etc. thrown about and water everywhere, coinciding with our club’s use of the facility, and this needs to stop. Shoreline have the right to refuse access to groups who do not respect the track and other facilities. Please remember that the building is not our club house, it is a business premises and athletes are asked not to gather in the reception area or just outside the front door, as this interferes with other customers access. On wet evening we will check-in in the bottom changing room on the right, so please go directly there, check in and then head to the track, as we do not have enough space to keep athletes indoors.. You may leave your bags here if you wish.


We remind you once again that all athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should  wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting very cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!


Athletes who may need an inhaler, should always make sure to bring it with them. You should not share other athletes inhalers, as they may not be the same medication/dosage as yours.


Athletes who are not fit to train due to injured or illness should not attend training sessions. Athletes who arrive and are not fit to train will be sent home, as it is far too cold to stand around on the track waiting for the session to end.


Groups 1 & 2 are required  to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level and stay with their groip. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off.

We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.


So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor and we really need to see a huge improvement from here out.


Parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on next Tues.21st Oct. from 4.30-5pm and again from 7-8pm only. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have Foam Rollers on sale at a very reasonable €14 if anyone wants one and a small number of secondhand spikes.

AAI REGISTRATION CARDS
Registration cards for 2014 arrived recently and we will have them available on Tues 21st Oct.also. Two club members will hand these out, to parents and older athletes only, between 6-7pm. They will be in the room behind the reception area in the Shoreline building. As the girls will need to leave for training just before 7pm, please collect before this time. There are a lot of cards and it may be busy, so please allow for this. Cards for Little Athletics can be collected in the shop. Cards for recently registered athletes will not be available yet.

Thu

25

Sep

2014

XC League

Directions to The Murrough for XC League this Friday.
Approaching Wicklow from Rathnew  take the left on new road (before bridge), signposted Port.
Go approx 1K along this road over the bridge and the car park is on the left….

Distances for Juvenile League  as agreed at last Co Board meeting are as follows:
U/8    400M
U/10    800m
U/12    1200M
U/14/15    1600M
Toddlers Race we usually go for 50m.

Sun

21

Sep

2014

Club Newsletter

AS THE CLUB IS RUN ENTIRELY BY VOLUNTEERS WHO ALL HAVE DAY JOBS, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO  CONTACT EACH MEMBER INDIVIDUALLY ABOUT COMPETITIONS AND OTHER CLUB INFORMATION, SO WE ASK THAT YOU PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ OUR REGULAR  NEWSLETTERS  AS THEY CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ATHLETES AND PARENTS.

TRAINING
We are back in action for three weeks now and are settling into our new training regimes. These first weeks back are always hard, as we work on getting fitness levels back up and getting ready for the rapidly approaching Cross Country (XC). Regular attendance at training will help you get fit quickly and will make it easier for you to keep up with your group.


All athletes are expected to attend training regularly and need to bring water with them to all sessions. They should  wear proper runners and tracksuit, shorts or leggings please. Children will not be allowed to train in jeans, sandals or street shoes. If wearing shorts, please bring tracksuit bottoms to wear over them for warm-up & cool down as the evenings are getting cold now. Always bring a light rainjacket to all training sessions, as we do not have indoor facilities if it rains!


Groups 1 & 2 are required  to attend a minimum of two sessions per week to enable them to keep up with the training level. Training sessions take place on Tues/Wed/Fri from 7-8.30pm. While we hope you can do all three, if only doing two nights, it is better to do Tues/Fri or Wed/Fri if at all possible, rather than two nights together with 5 off. We also have an organised Sunday morning run at 10am, which is a very important part of the training week. If you cannot make this, you will need to do the run yourself later in the day.


So far this season the attendance on Fri nights & Sunday mornings is very poor indeed, but we expect to see a huge improvement from here out.


We take this opportunity to remind everyone that athletes who disappear for over 3 weeks without letting us know why, (ie illness, injury etc.) are deemed to have left the club and their places are offered to those on the waiting list. We will always hold the place for an injured/ill athlete and once we are made aware it is not necessary to notified us at every session.


For Insurance reasons, parents and brothers/sisters are not allowed inside the track during training sessions, but are welcome to watch from outside the fence. Please note that the Outdoor Gym Equipment is for age 14 up only and children should not be allowed to play on this! (Health & Safety)

URGENT-------- UPCOMING COMPETITIONS
We are now looking forward to a great Cross Country (XC) season which is coming up very quickly indeed, with the Wicklow XC League begins this coming Fri evening on the Murrough in Wicklow Town.
ROUND 1 : The Murrough, Wicklow Friday 26th September. Registration 6.30pm. First race 7 pm
This one is even Ages U/ 8, 10, 12, 14.& 15, but athletes can move up one age group. There will be a toddlers race if required U/6.   Certs for all finishers at League events.
Entry form is now up on the website  and anyone who wants to run this Fri in the Murrough will need to complete it by 6pm Thurs 25th latest.  Athletes must be registered to compete. Cerates to all finishers. Medals are awarded at the end of the League to athletes who accumulate sufficient points by attending regularly.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training this Friday, as coaches will be at the XC. The 7-8.30pm training will go ahead for those who are not running in the league!


County Wicklow XC Championships, (separate events to the league), will take place on the first two Sundays of October. Both events are in Rathdrum this year, exact venues TBC later. The even ages on Oct. 5th and uneven ages on Oct. 12th, both starting at 11am. All registered athletes are eligible to compete in all competitions, as athletes can move up one age group at XC. We will be trying to fill teams for these events, so hope to see everyone making a big effort to attend.. Athletes up to U10 all receive certs for completing their events. Form for Oct 5th will be up shortly.

DAY TRIP
The 2013/2014 club trip for good attendance took place on Sat 20th & Sun 21st Sept. and we are delighted to report that everyone had a really good time at Jumpzone on both days. Well done to everyone who made the 60% attendance and don’t forget that we are already counting for next year. All attendance’s. are counted and scored out of the full number of training nights for the group, with additional points added for attending competitions. If you regularly miss one night a week or miss a week here and there, it is very easy to drop below the qualifying score, so keep your attendance up and add those points for competing, to guarantee making next year’s trip.

CLUB SHOP
The club shop will be open on Tues.30th Sept. from 6-8pm. We have club singlets, shorts, t-shirts, rainjackets, hoodies etc. available. Athletes should have either a club singlet or T- shirt for competitions. All other items are optional. We also have Foam Rollers on sale at a very reasonable €14 if anyone wants one.

Sat

06

Sep

2014

CLUB NEWS

WELCOME BACK
A big welcome back to all of our athletes and if the first week’s training is anything to go by we can look forward to a great XC season. We had a huge turnout on both Tues and Wed, but attendance in some groups was rather poor on Fri evening. Hopefully this was just due to tiredness after the first week back at school and we anticipate a big improvement in future weeks. 


To those athletes who didn’t make it back this week, we would appreciate it if you could let us know whether you are returning or not, as we still have waiting lists on most age groups.


Don’t forget our Sunday runs are back on and are a very important part of the training week. This Sun. we are meeting in Djouce woods at 10.15, ready to run by 10.30am.

REGISTRATION NIGHT
We will be holding a registration night for all new athletes on Tues 16th Sept. Registrations for ‘Little Athletics’ 5-6pm group will be taken at their check-in time. Registrations for the 6-7pm & 7-8.30pm groups will be collected between 6.45- 7.30pm in the room behind Reception. Forms are available at check-in each week and are also on the website under ‘Training Times & Club Info’ It would be very helpful if you could arrive with the forms filled out, as it really helps speed everything up and prevents queues forming.

ATTENDANCE TRIP
This year’s trip for good attendance will be to Jumpzone in Sandyford and has been arrange to take place over the weekend of the 20th/21st Sept  We have had to arranged two separate days, as there are restrictions on the numbers they can cater for.
Qualification for the trip requires 60% attendance from Sept to May. Points have been awarded for each training night attended since Sept 2013, with bonus points for every competition attended.

 

The list of qualified athletes has been posted in the sidebar on our website.  Qualified athletes who wish to go on the trip need to let us know right away, as we need to confirm numbers asap.

FIT4YOUTH
A new running programme for 12-17 yr olds begins on Mon 22nd Sept, and sessions will be held on Mon & Thurs evenings from 5-6pm and will cost just €2 per session. This programme will offer a chance to Get Fit, Have Fun, Make New Friends & Feel Good. It will begin with an introduction to running & will go on to offer an opportunity to try out throws and jumps, for those who might be interested in these. You will be encouraged to run with others of  similar ability & fitness levels and you will progress at your own pace without pressure. There will be options to go on and join the athletic club later on, for those who might want to.
So come along and get fit in a non-competitive environment, you just need runners and comfortable clothes!

 

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member, but members get a reduced rate. Our Sunday morning run is for club members, but you are more than welcome to come along for a trial session before joining.


HELP NEEDED
Once again we must appeal for help with coaching and with checking-in the athletes.  A few coaches are no longer available to help at the 6-7pm sessions so we are appealing to anyone who is free to help out either Tues or Fri to please contact Theresa @ 0868635797.
Last year a number of parents took on the roll of checking in the athletes at the track gate and this is a fantastic help to the coaches, who can then get on with the training session. Unfortunately several have given up and the coaches are back trying to multi-task, especially on Friday’s. If anyone is free to give 20-30mins a week to help with this, please let us know.  It is an invaluable help and makes a huge difference to the smooth running of our training sessions.

Tue

19

Aug

2014

Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS to each and every athlete who competed over the recent Track and Field season. It has been a terrific season for our club where we finished in top spot on the medals table on ARCU Rankings. We have 8 National Championship wins including two doubles, with Alana Ryan taking both the 100m & 200m titles U15 and Ben Jones taking the 800m & 1500m titles U14, Amaris Borel taking the 300mH U17, Padraig Lennon the 3K steeplechase U19, Martha Hassett the Pole Vault U18 and newcomer Ben Mooney the 200m U14. Fantastic silver medal performances from Richael Browne in the 800m, Ara Freeman 100m U17 and Padraig Lennon 1500m U19, and bronze for our other newcomer Josh Pyper in the 200m U14.


The Girls U 17 team Alannah O’Carroll, Amaris Borel, Ara Freeman & Richael Browne took the bronze medals in the National Relays and Ara & Amaris were joined by Aoife Conroy & Isobel Kenny on the junior team to win the silver medals.


The pairs event saw Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally win gold in the 60m U9 and Ailbhe Gordon & Ava Foley  win bronze in the Turbo Javelin U9.


We had a great day at the National ‘B’ Championships, when we brought home a barrow load of medals: U12: Michael O'Shea gold in 60m & silver in Long Jump (LJ), Ellen McNally gold in LJ, Emma Quirk silver in 60m, Erin Howard 4th in High Jump (HJ), Liam Phibbs 5th in 600m. U13: Aodhan Daly gold in 80m & LJ, Ronan Dempsey silver in LJ & bronze in 80m, Alan Gordon gold in HJ & silver in Shot Putt (SP) U14: Sarah O'Connor gold in 800m, Katie Lawless 4th in 800m, U15: Troy Scully silver in 800m & HJ, Rachel Purcell silver in SP, Catherine Casey bronze in HJ & 4th in LJ, Rachel Casey 4th in SP. Niamh Conroy 4th in 100m.


A fantastic win for Amaris Borel in the schools 300mH saw her get her first Irish Vest this summer. Amaris went on to produce an outstanding performance in Wales to win the International event.


We ended the season with 3 of our athletes, Richael Browne, Ara Freeman & Alana Ryan, getting selected as members of the Irish Developmental Squad for the Celtic Games, giving them their first taste of International competition also.


Many of our older athletes were members of the Slí Cualann teams who competed in the League again this year. this year it was the girls team who made the final and had a fantastic competition on the day, missing out on the bronze medals by half a point and the silver by one point. Well done to club members Amaris Borel, Aoife Conroy, Ara Freeman, Carol Costello, Connie Thiel, Isobel Kenny, Isobel O’Grady, Katy Conroy, Martha Hassett and their team mates Claire Earls, Denise O’Shea and Laura Kavanagh.


We congratulate and thank all of our coaches who worked so hard and committed so much time and energy to helping our athletes with their achievments. We also thank them and all of the parents for the many long days spent at various track throughout the season supporting all of our athletes so well. At least they were mostly nice sunny days this year!

RETURN TO TRAINING
All groups return to training on Tues Sept 2nd . With such a short time from our return date until the Cross Country (XC) season starts, it is crucial that athletes who intend to compete start getting fit ahead of our return. This is easily achieved by doing short runs every other day and gradually increasing the time over the next couple of weeks. Start with 10 mins every second day this week and gradually increase this to15mins next week. This will help you to return ‘fit to train’ so that we don’t have to spend these few precious weeks of training just getting fit.

VERY IMPORTANT
While the 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups finished training on Tuesday 31st June, the 7-8.30pm groups continued right through July and into early August. However many of the members of these groups have not been seen since long before this date. As we are now trying to organise the training groups for our return in Sept, we are asking that all athletes, who have not attended for a prolonged period of time, but who wish to return to training, would TEXT US on 0877730000 ASAP, otherwise we will not have a place for you in Sept. As well as trying to find spaces to move athletes up the groups, we also have long lists of people in most age groups waiting to join the club.

ATTENDANCE TRIP
With so much happening throughout the summer, we didn’t get a chance to organise the Day Trip for those who have an average of 60% attendance from Sept to June. We are now in the process of organising this event for early Sept. Details of the trip and a list of those who are eligible to attend will be sent out by newsletter and also posted on our website over the next couple of days. Those who are eligible will need to let us know if they are coming asap, so that we can confirm numbers. As numbers are large we will be dividing the athletes (by age group) into two different trips this year

2013 AWARDS
We didn’t get around to organising our 2013 awards night either this year. We are also working on this during our short break and hope to hold it during Sept. as well. Please note that this will be for ‘Attendance, Attitude, Achievement’ during 2013 only and will not include the Indoors last Spring or the recent T&F. These will count towards the 2014 awards.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also 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.

Sun

29

Jun

2014

Leinster Championships!

Fantastic weekend at the Leinster Championships with GAC athletes winning 9 Gold, 8 Silver, 6 Bronze and two 4th places.
Results to hand:
U19; Katy Conroy 3rd in 800m

Isobel O'Grady 2nd in TJ
U18: Cillian Browne 2nd in 1500m & 3K
Lorcan Lalor 2nd in 400mH
U17: Ara Freeman 1st in 100m & 200m
Amaris Borel 1st in 300mH & 400m
Conor Dempsey 2nd in 400m & 300mH and 3rd in 100m & 200m
U16: Richael Browne 3rd in 800m & 4th in HJ & 5th in the 1500m.
U15: Alana Ryan 1st in 100m & 200m
Louis Lalor 2nd in 250mH
Noah Daly 3rd in LJ

Aoife McTague 4th in 2K Walk
U14: Ben Jones 1st in 800m & 1500m
Ben Mooney 1st in 200m
Josh Pyper 2nd in 200m
Sophie Nicholson 3rd in 800m & 4th in HJ
Some great performances from several of our other competing athletes also, in particular from Troy Scully in the U15 800m & 1500m finishing 5th in both with new PB's and also from Sarah O'Connor in the U14 1500m.
Well Done to all the athletes and coaches!

Thu

12

Jun

2014

RESCHEDULED JAMBOREE

Athletics Ireland are hosting a series of Little Athletics Jamborees around the country to showcase Little Athletics as they have a new sponsor on board. This is a Sportshall Competition for all athletes from age 5 up to U12’s, with fun indoor games and activities and also relays and will largely be of a non-competitive nature. Just something for the kids to have some fun with. It will be held in the Hall in Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones and has been rescheduled to Monday June 23rd from 7.00-9.00pm. Form will be up shortly and closing date is Thurs.19th May, as they need to get an idea of numbers.

 

Don't forget that entries for the U14-19 Leinster Championships close today! No late entries accepted.

Wed

11

Jun

2014

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
It continues to be a really busy time for GAC with non stop competition at all levels and there are still many more to go, so no let up for a while yet. We congratulate all the athletes who have competed so well over recent weeks and commend everyone on their great results:


At the All Ireland Schools: In the Senior boys, Stephen Rice won Gold in the Javelin, Padraig Lennon won Silver in the Steeplechase and Martha Hassett finished 5th in the Pole Vault. In the Intermediate Girls Amaris Borel won Silver in the 300mH and in the Junior Girls, Alana Ryan won Silver in the 200m & Bronze in the 100m. Great results all round and several PB's as well.


At the Leinster Relays: Girls U16, Richael Browne, Alana Ryan, Alannah O’Carroll, Rebecca Murphy won Gold & Boys U15 Louis Lalor, Noah Daly, Ben Jones, Troy Scully won Silver. Girls U15 4th, Girls U13 4th, Boys U9 4th


At he Leinster Juniors:Aoife Conroy won bronze in 400mH, Ara Freeman won bronze in 100m & 4th in 200m, with Amaris Borel 5th. Cillian Browne won gold in the 3K and Padraig Lennon won silver.


At the Leinster Pairs: Daniel Quirk & Rory McNally won silver in the U9 Boys Long Jump & bronze in the 60m, Ava Foley & Ailbhe Gordon won silver in the U9 Girls Turbo Javelin


At the Leinster U12/13 Championships: James Nicholson won bronze in the Long Jump & Emma Quirk was 4th in the 60m hurdles qualifying for All Irelands.


At the Wicklow Schools: tremendous results and lots of medals for so many GAC athletes,( too numerous to list),  at both the Schools Invitational & the Cumann Na mBunscoil events.


At the Leinster Seniors/Masters: David Coyle won bronze in the Senior 1500m & Carol Costello won silver in the M2 800m.

NEW SQUAD
Congratulations to GAC athletes Amaris Borel, Richael Browne, Aoife Conroy, Alison Dawson,Claire Foley, Ara Freeman, Alannah O’Carroll, Rachel Purcell, Alana Ryan, Cillian Browne, Noad Daly, Conor Dempsey, Lorcan Lalor, Louis Lalor, Jamie lennon, Padraig Lennon, Stephen Rice, who achieved the standard and have been invited on to the newly formed Slí Cualann developmental squad for athletes aged 14-22yrs. It is a great priviledge to be invited on to this squad and we encourage all of you to attend the sessions and make the most of the opportunities being given to you.  We hope to see more of our athletes make the standards for this squad during the present T&F season.

COMBINED EVENTS FOR U13’s
Leinster are including an Introduction to Combined Events to next Sat programme in Lourdes Stadium Drogheda. Open to athletes born in 2002,  athletes compete in 3 events,  LJ, 200m and Shot Putt. Entries will be accepted on the day of competition.

COMPETITIONS
A busy time ahead again with:
Date 14/06/14:U14 up Combined events Sat 14th June in Drogheda
Date 18/06/14: Fit4Life + BBQ on Wed 18th June in Roundwood
Date 21/06/14: National U 9/10/11 Pairs  in Tullamore
Date 22/06/14: Round 2 of the  National League in Santry
Date 24/06/14: Bray Runners Invitational in Greystones ( Limited numbers)
Date 28& 29/06/14:U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore
Date 05/07/14: National Juvenile Relays in Tullamore
Date 06/07/14: National Juniors in Cork IT
Date 12/07/14; National Juvenile Developmental Events in Tullamore
Date 13/07/14: National Juvenile Day 2 in Tullamore
Date 19 & 20/07/14: National Seniors in Santry
Date 26 & 27/07/14: National Juvenile Day 3 & 4 in Tullamore
Date 02/08/14: National Combined Events in  Tullamore
Date 03/08/14: National League Final in Tullamore
Date 09/08/14: Celtic games in Santry
Date 10/08/14: National Masters in Tullamore

 Entry forms are now up for:
Date 28& 29/06/14: U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore.

Forms going up shortly for:
Date 24/06/14: Bray Runners Invitational in Greystones ( Limited numbers)
Date 06/07/14: National Juniors in Cork IT
Date 12/07/14: National Juvenile Developmental Events in Tullamore
Please watch out for these forms and make sure you don’t miss the closing dates, as we are no longer able to do late entries to these events.

BRAY RUNNERS INVITATIONAL
The Bray Runners Annual Invitational Event will take place on the Greystones track on Tues 24th June. Each club is allowed a limited number of participants to ensure that the programme can be completed in the time available. An application form will be on our club website shortly for those who are interested in taking part. Closing date will be Wed 18th June and a list will be published on the website by Fri 20th. As numbers are limited, (and in the interest of fair play) we will prioritise athletes who regularly travel to competitions and will then fill any remaining places on a first come, first served basis.


Please note that there will be no training on Tues 24th June, due to this competition!

CLUB SHOP
Our club shop wil be open on Tues 17th June from 7-8.30pm. Singlets in all sizes available. Also Hoodies, T- shirts, shorts and lightweight  waterproof jackets & leggings.

SUMMER BREAK
The 5-6pm & 6-7pm groups will finish training on Tuesday 31st June with an evening of Fun Games for all! We will facilitate the small number who are competing the following week, at the later training times. The 7-8.30pm groups will continue training into early August as they continue to have competitions until then. We will then take a short break and all groups will return to training on the first Tuesday of September.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions continue to take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also Wed/Fri at 10am.  All these are run in conjunction with Shoreline Sports Park, so you don’t have to be a club member. these will continue throughout the summer! 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.

Fri

16

May

2014

Greystones AC Teams for Leinster Relays Sat 24th May



U9 Girls: Keelin McGuire, Ava Foley, Amber Scully, Jill Shanley

U11 Girls: Ruby Dowd, Sophie Dallaghan, Maebh O’Neill, Eimear Ryan

U12 Girls: Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally, Nell Berney, Erin Howard

U12 Girls: Ella Shanley, Molly Crowe, Eimear Ryan, Ruby Dowd

U13 Girls: Danielle Crowe, Megan O’Brien, Emma Quirk, Ellen McNally

U13 Girls: Jenny Marshall, Alice O’Neill, Nell Berney, Erin Howard

U14 Girls: Katie Lawless, Aislinn Smyth, Sophie Nicholson, Sarah O’Connor, Rachel Diggin

U14 Girls: Jessica McDonald, Ella Curtis, Danielle Crowe, Megan O’Brien, Alice O’Neill, Jenny Marshall

U15 Girls: Alana Ryan, Niamh Conroy, Katie Lawless, Sophie Nicholson, Aislinn Smyth

U15 Girls: Sinead Mahon, Megan Healy, Etain Pegman, Rachel Diggin, sarah O’Connor

U16 Girls: Alana Ryan, Richael Browne, Alannah O’Carroll, Rebecca Murphy, Niamh Conroy

U9 Boys: Rory McNally, Frank O’Shea, Turlough McCracken Browne, Daniel Quirk

U10 Boys: Ed Nicholson, Chase Scully, Davey Kennedy Whelan, Daniel Quirk

U12 Boys: Joe Prendergast, James Nicholson, Liam Phibbs, Michael O’Shea, Danny Jones

U13 Boys: Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey, James Nicholson, Joe Prendergast, Michael O’Shea

U13 Boys: Joe Dows, Jay Cafolla, Michael O’Shea, Danny Jones, Liam Phibbs

U14 Boys: Ben Jones, David Phibbs, Aodhan Daly, Ronan Dempsey

U14 Boys: John O’Connor, David Prendergast, Oscar Cafferky, Joe Dowd

U15 Boys: Noah Daly, Louis Lalor, Troy Scully, Ben Jones, David Phibbs

 

This is not the running order


Mon

12

May

2014

Club Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS
The last few weeks have been extremly busy for GAC with non stop competition at all levels and it is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
If you didn’t make it down to the track on Sat 10th, you missed out on an absolutely top class competition, which saw many of the top athletes in the country competing here in our town. We witnessed an Irish Record being set in the Men’s 300mH and saw a number of top athletes achieve qualifying standards for upcoming European and World events.


Well done to our young GAC athletes who took on the challenge of competing with seniors in a very high calibre competition. This event is an opportunity for athletes to test their metal against athletes they would not normally meet as a juvenile. It affords our young athletes a “no pressure” arena to gain more experience. Results speak for themselves, with Ara Freeman winning her 100m in 12.87 and clocking 26.46 for the 200m, Amaris Borel clocking 67.37 for the 400mH, Conor Dempsey clocking 54.19 for 400m and in the 800m we had Jamie Lennon with 2.03.14, Richael Browne with 2.25.30 and Aoife Conroy 2.37.10. Tremendous running in far from ideal conditions. We are very proud of all of them!


The previous weekend we had the Wicklow County Championships, where GAC athletes dominated many of the events and produced many fine performances throughout the competition. Club athletes put their hearts and souls into the weekends events and took home barrow loads of medals, with lots and lots of PB's and top class performances! Well done to each and every athlete who came out and competed and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who looked after our athletes and who ensured that this was an excellent Championships for everyone.
It was great to see so much red & white around the track, but it may surprise many to know that we still had well under 50% attendance. Full results on www.athleticswicklow.com  shortly.
A huge amount of preparation work goes into the organisation and set up for events like these and it would not happen without the very dedicated and committed people who put so much time, effort and behind the scenes work into it all.  Many thanks to all involved.


Many of our club athletes were out competing for their schools in the week leading up to these championships and there were a host of great results here also. Those we know about are as follows: Seniors: Padraig Lennon gold in 2K Steeplechase, Cillian Browne gold in 1500m, Katy Conroy silver in 800m, Jamie Lennon set a new PB in 800m,  Intermediate: Amaris Borel gold in 400mH & silver in 300m, Richael Browne silver in 800m & bronze in 1500m, Ara Freeman silver in 100m & 200m, Steven Diggin silver in 1500m, U16: Alannah O’Carroll silver in 200m, Junior: Alana Ryan gold in 100m & 200m, Noah Daly gold in LJ, Rachel Purcell 4th in Jav. Minor:Lorcan Lalor silver in LJ and hurdles, Troy Scully bronze in 1500m.


Greystones AC athlete Niamh Kearney continues her medal winning performances in the US where she took bronze in the 3K steeplechase in 10.38 on Sat and followed up on Sun with a 4.38 in the 1500m. This helped Niamh’s college to a 2nd place finish overall in the Sunbelt Conference. Niamh also picked up a prestigious award from Georga State University  recently. Well done Niamh!

FUNDRAISER
There will be no training next Friday evening as we are holding a fundraising event with the emphasis on FUN. One of our own athletes, Ellie Hartnett, who joined GAC when she was 7 yrs old and who is now studying Physiotherapy in UCD, is heading off to India to spend her summer holidays helping poor children out there. Not only does she have to pay her own expenses, she also has to raise funds for the project. Ellie and her friends ( many are club members) will host a fun event next Fri on the track. Check-in will open at 5.30pm, teams will be arranged and the fun will start. It will be all fun events, Obstacle relays, Wellie throw, Bean bag war, Backwards t-shirt races etc……… fun, fun, fun!  This event is open to everyone (you don’t have to be a club member) all ages and the entry fee is just €3, which goes to the charity. There will be a bucket available also if anyone would like to make a donation. Please come along and support this event!

 

JAMBOREE
Athletics Ireland are hosting a series of Little Athletics Jamborees around the country to showcase Little Athletics as they have a new sponsor on board. This is a Sportshall Competition for up to U12’s, with fun indoor games and activities and relays which will largely be of a non-competitive nature. Just something for the kids to have some fun with. It will be held in the Hall in Shoreline Leisure Centre in Greystones on Monday May 26th from 7.30-9.30pm. Form will be up shortly and closing date is Fri. 16th May, as they need to get an idea of numbers.


COMPETITIONS
A busy time ahead with
Date 15/05/14: Primary Schools Invitational event on Thursday next 15th in Greystones
Date 15.05/14: Fit4Life on Thurs evening 15th in Greystones
Date 14 & 17/05/14:Leinster schools are on Wed 14th & Sat 17th in Santry
Date 18/05/14: Round 1 of the National League is in Waterford on Sun 18th
Date 24/05/14:Leinster Relays and the Leinster Juniors, in Greystones on Sat 24th May.
Date 26/05/14:Athletics Jamboree, (Up to U12) Mon 26th May in Shoreline Leisure Centre, Greystones

Entry forms are now up for:
  Date 01/06/14: Senior/Masters on Sun June 1st in Tullamore
  Date 02/06/14: U9-U15 Team event on Mon June 2nd in Tullamore.
Entries close on Wed next 14th May. We need teams of four for the ‘Team Event’ This is an excellent competition and fosters a great team spirit, so we would love to see lots of names going down in order that we can fill the teams. 

Forms going up shortly for:
Date 07/06/14: U9/10/11 pairs and U12/13 Championships Sat 7th June in Tullamore
Date 14/06/14: U14 up Combined events Sat 14th June in Drogheda
Date 28& 29/06/14: U14-19 Championships Sat/Sun 28th/29th June in Tullamore
Please watch out for these forms and make sure you don’t miss the closing dates, as we are no longer able to do late entries to these events.

TRAINING
As notified in previous newsletters, athletes who go missing for up to 3 weeks without contacting us to explain why, are deemed to have left the club and their places are given to those on the waiting list. Consequently several names have now been removed from the check-in sheets and these athletes will have to go back on our waiting list if they wish to return. If you have not attended for over 3 weeks, you will no longer be on the list and cannot be admitted to training, as places have been filled. We are constantly under pressure with requests from potential new members to join and these are currently on the waiting list.

ADULT RUNNING
Adult sessions take place on Mon/Wed at  6pm & again at 8.30pm & also 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.

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 child.

Sun

11

May

2014

Letter from Ellie re fundraiser!

Hello ,

 
This is an email informing you about the Fun Sports Day which will be held in Charlesland Sports and Recreation Park on Friday the 16th May (Thats's next Friday).
 
My name is Ellie Hartnett and I will be hosting this as a Charity Fundraiser  event in aid of my trip to South India this summer. I will be travelling as part of UCD Volunteers Overseas Programme. All proceeds will go directly towards the project. 
 
While in India I will be working as a student Physiotherapist in the local hospital . Here I will be treating children from the ages of 2 - 17 who are suffering with physical disabilities , such as cerebral palsy. I will also be working closely with the Care and Share  Charity , who are a local charity involved in teaching, recreation, aid and construction work in the local orphanage. As part of my role with this organisation I will be teaching in the Kindergarden there and will be obliged to carry out various construction tasks .
 
I would very much appreciate your support next week. Each child will be asked to give 3 euro to take part and al proceeds go directly to the project.I decided to base this charity fundraiser at the running track as I am a keen athlete myself , having been a member of Greystones AC for over ten years and am now continuing my athletics with UCD. However, next friday the emphasis will be COMPLETELY ON FUN! Activities will be fun , team based games with nothing to difficult ! Everyone and anyone can join in . We will have obstacles, BACKWARDS TSHIRT RACE, scooters, well toss , tug of war , bean bag war and plenty more.
 
Attached is a simple information leaflet which explains everything .Arrive at 5.30pm to give names, be put into group etc.!! Feel free to circulate this leaflet and this email to anyone you think be be interested in taking part .
 
The more the merrier.
 
Kind Regards,
Ellie

Sun

04

May

2014

County Championships!

The track at Shoreline Sports Park was a sea of Red & White for the Wicklow Championships on Friday night and again on Saturday. Club athletes put their hearts and souls into their performances and took home barrow loads of medals, with lots and lots of PB's and top class performances! Well done to each and every athlete who came out and competed and a huge Thank You to all the coaches & officials who looked after our athletes and who ensured that this was an excellent Championships for everyone. A huge amount of preparation work goes into the organisation and set up for an event like this and it would not happen without the very dedicated and committed people who put so much time, effort  and behind the scenes work into it all. Many thanks also to the Shoreline staff who put a lot of effort into preparing the track and setting out equipment for us and also for looking after the parking and keeping access open for everyone. Results are far too many to list here, but will be up on our web-site as soon as they are available. This too is a very time consuming job, so will take a little while!

Tue

15

Apr

2014

SPECIAL COACHING SESSION

We have arranged a specialised coaching session for athletes from U12 up (born 2003 or before) who intend to compete throughout the coming Track & Field season. As we have limited places available, athletes who take advantage of this extra coaching will be expected to compete at Leinster competitions as well as at County level. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, provided the applicant is a regular attendee at club training sessions.
The coaching sessions will take place on Fri next from 10.30 – 12.30am and athletes may take part in two events during the morning. Events being coached will be
 Long Jump
High Jump
Hurdles
Javelin/ Turbo Javelin
Shot Putt
Discus
Sprints ( concentrating on starts/blocks )
If interested, please text Theresa on 0868635797 to ensure your place. Please give your name and list three events in order of choice. We will do our best to give you your first two choices, but it may not be possible, when dividing the groups, to facilitate everyone. There will be a €5 fee to help cover costs for the day.
Please note that athletes will need to arrive on time, as the Sports Centre is closed for business on Friday and there will be nobody to open the gate once we have gone on to the track. Gates will only be open from 10.20- 10.35  latest. I’m sorry, but we can not be running up and down to open the gate to late commers, as this disrupts the coaching sessions.

Tue

08

Apr

2014

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.


Sat

29

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2014

Upcoming Competitions

COMPETITIONS (please read and save details)
Lots of Competition ahead, with the final two rounds of the XC League coming up rapidly and then on to the Track & Field (T&F) season. Entry forms will be on our club website shortly.


 Round 5 of the XC League will be held next Fri evening 4th April in the Community Field in Aughrim. Check-in from 6.30pm with 1st race at 6.45pm. This time it is even ages, U6/8/10/12/14/15, but as usual athletes can move up one year, so all can compete. The Aughrim committee have informed us that there will be a sign on Rednagh Rd to direct people to the correct field.  A good number of our athletes are in the running for medals in this League, so keep your attendance up to make sure you get one.  Attend all 6 to get Gold, 5 to get Silver, 4 to get Bronze. Closing date for entry is this Thurs 3rd Apr. No late entries.  Fee €2 if not paid on Tuesday at training.


 Round 6 will be held in Greystones on Thurs. 17th April in the top field down at Shoreline Sports Park (track) This will be un-even ages U7- U15.


Please note that there will be no 6-7pm training on Fri due to the League races, as a number of coaches have to be available to help out at the event. Otherwise our athletes will not be allowed to compete.


 Wicklow County Championships:  this year the Co. Champs are being held on a Fri evening and all day Sat instead of the usual Sat/Sun arrangement. Dates are Fri 2nd May, checking in at 6pm for a 6.30pm start. Younger athletes (up to age 10 in 2014) will just have a short programme that evening and their Award Scheme and relays will be held on Sat 3rd May. Older athletes will have their programme spread across the two days. Full programme will be available after next Tues. nights county meeting and will be published on our web-site along with entry forms.  This is the biggest T&F event for all County clubs and we expect to see a huge atendance from or athletes. This is what you all train for!


 St. Abban’s T&F event will be held on Mon 5th May at 12.30 pm at their track in Monavea, Crettyard, Co Laois. This is always a very well organised event and of a high standard and is well worth the trip. GAC athletes have done very well here over the years. Entry €3 on the day for anyone interested in attending.  Programme will be on our club noticeboard at the track.


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 the 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.

Club Information

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!