REGISTRATION FOR 2020

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

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

CONGRATULATIONS

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

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

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

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

WICKLOW STAR AWARDS

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

LEINSTER STAR AWARDS

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

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NATIONAL XC IN AVONDALE

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

CLUB AGM

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

ATTENDANCE DAY TRIPS

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

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

REMINDER

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

CONTACTING THE CLUB

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

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

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. 28^th 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. 15^th Feb. in The Radisson Blu Hotel.

CLUB AWARDS

Our club Awards night will take place this year on Friday 31^st 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 31^st 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 21^st Jan.

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 12^th Feb. Santry

AIT Grand Prix Wed 12^th Feb, Athlone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RELAY SQUAD

We will be organising training sessions for athletes who are interested in being considered for relay teams at the Indoor Championships on March 3^rd in Abbottstown. Athletes who wish to be considered for teams, will need to attend training sessions regularly. Sign up at training next Tues. & Wed. 21^st/ 22^nd 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 8^th 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. 27^th Feb. at 8pm in Shoreline Sports Park. All members and parents of juvenile members are invited and encouraged to attend. The AGM is an opportunity for members to find out more about the running of the club, put ideas/suggestions forward and maybe get involved in helping the club to progress in the future. While we would welcome new members on to the club committee or any of our sub committees, we will not put pressure on anyone, so please come along on the night.

ATTENDANCE DAY TRIPS

Our club day 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. 28^th 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 2^nd 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.

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. 7^th ,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 20^th Dec. The 7-8.30pm session on Fri 20^th 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 23^rd Dec and will be closed all day on Dec 24^th, 25^th, 26^th & 31^st & also on Jan 1^st. 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 3^rd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 7^th 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. 19^th , as entry must be with the organisers by Fri 20^th 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. 26^th Dec. Always a great way to run off the turkey!

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

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

NATIONAL INDOOR LEAGUE R1, Sat 11^th Jan, Abbottstown

NATIONAL COMBINED EVENTS Sat 18^th Jan, Athlone

NATIONAL JUNIOR/U23’s, Sat 25^th 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!

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 9^th 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 4^th 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 16^th 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 20^th 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 15^th Dec. 7pm sharp. Uneven Ages U7-U15. Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Thurs. 14^th.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

National Indoor League R1, Sat 11^th Jan, Abbottstown

National Combined Events Sat 18^th Jan, Athlone

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

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

CLUB SHOP

As we still have a number of athletes looking for club gear, the club shop will be open on Tues 26^th 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. 4^th 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.

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 18^th Oct. in Rathdrum Rugby Club. Check-in at 6.30pm, 1^st 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.15^th and Round 5 is at Bray Emmets grounds on Fri Dec.6^th. 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 9^th. 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.

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 23^rd 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 6^th 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 3^rd 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 10^th 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 22^nd 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. 28^th Oct, but she will be back on Sat. 4^th 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. 6^th Oct. in Roundwood @ 11am Novice & Even Ages

Wicklow County XC Championships, Sun. 13^th 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. 20^th 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. 24^th 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. 1^st 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 2^nd 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.

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 4^th 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 2^nd 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 2^nd place which means she has qualified to represent Ireland at the Schools International in Swansea and Emma finished in 5^th 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. 25^th 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. 25^th June and the 6-7pm groups will finish on Fri 28^th. 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 10^th 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 3^rd.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 25^th June. (Entries closed)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14. Morton Games, Wed 21^st 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!

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 3^rd in the Steeplechase & 3K, Jack McGlone 1^st in the 800m & 3^rd in the 100m, Paul Delahunty 3^rd in the mile, Emma Quirk 3^rd in the TJ, Daniel Quirk 1^st in the LJ & 2^nd in the 75mH, Ailbhe Gordon 3^rd in the Javelin, Alex Mulcahy 3^rd in the HJ who all qualified for the All Ireland’s on Sat. 1^st 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 4^th in the TJ and 5^th 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 31^st May 7-9pm, Entries to Theresa at training on Tues 28^th or Wed 29^th May. See details below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12. AAI Childrens Games & Limited U12-U13 Events, Tullamore, Sat 29^th 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 28^th or Wed 29^th 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!

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 8^th and events take place on Saturday 11^th & Sunday 12^th 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!

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. 30^th Apr. Training for our 7-8.30pm groups will go ahead as usual except on Fri.19^th 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. 16^th 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 29^th 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. 30^th 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 13^th 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 22^nd April. Entries to Theresa

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

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

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

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

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

7. Wicklow County Championships Sat/Sun 11^th/12^th 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 15^th May, Santry,

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

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

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

12. Leinster Relays, Sun 26^th 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. 25^th 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.

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. 16^th Feb.

County Star Awards: Congratulations to the following Greystones athletes who were presented with Wicklow Star Awards on Friday 1^st 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 & 4^th 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 & 5^th 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 16^th 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 6^th April, Athlone (Must qualify)

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

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

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

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

WICKLOW INDOORS

Best of Luck to all the GAC athletes who have entered for the Wicklow Indoors next Sat. 16^th 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. 12^th 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 2^nd 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 29^rd March.

CLUB AGM

The club AGM will be held on Thurs. 11^th 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. 13^th April. Athletes from Groups 1 & 2 (U12-U15) will also have their trip on Sat. 13^th 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 31^st 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.

WELCOME BACK

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

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

REGISTRATION FOR 2019

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

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

CONGRATULATIONS

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

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

RELAY SQUAD

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

SUNDAY RUN

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

INDOOR TRAINING SESSION

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

UPCOMING EVENTS (Keep a look out for entry forms)

National Combined Events Sat 19^th Jan, Athlone

East Leinster Schools XC Tues 22^nd Jan, Avondale

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leinster Schools XC , Wed 13^th Feb. Santry

AIT Grand Prix Wed 13^th Feb, Athlone

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

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

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

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

National Masters Indoors, Sun 10^th March, Athlone

INJURY PREVENTION/ REHAB

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

HELP NEEDED!

A reminder to all members that GAC is a voluntary organisation, where all coaches, helpers and committee members give their time freely and without financial reward. Most are trying to fit this in to their already busy lives with work and family commitments, like everyone else. The present group are overstretched trying to cover all the training hours and while we want to offer a big ‘Thank You’ to those who have joined our coaching team in the past couple of months and are delighted to welcome them on board, we are still very much in need of more helpers as we have to maintain the correct ratio of coaches to athletes at all sessions. If we do not get more volunteers, in future we may have to send athletes home on occasion if we don’t have enough coaches on a given night. Consequently, we are asking parents dropping children off to wait for coaches to arrive before leaving the track, as otherwise you will have to return to pick them up if we don’t have enough coaches to cover the session!

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

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 15^th in Navan.

Congratulations go to Brian Geraghty & Joe Dowd on their terrific runs in the Jingle Bells 5K on Dec 1^st, 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 21^st Dec. The track will be closed on Dec 24^th, 25^th, 26^th & 31^st & on Jan 1^st. 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 2^nd Jan, with all younger groups returning on Tues 8^th Jan.

SOLSTICE MILE

Slí Cualann will be holding the Winter Solstice Mile again this year on Fri 21^st 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 7^th Dec. Even Ages U6-U14/15 Entry form for this event is now on our website and must close Wed.5^th.

County Senior XC, Sun 9^th Dec.

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

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

County Masters XC, Shanganagh Park Sun Jan..

National Indoor League R1, Sat 12^th Jan, Abbottstown

National Combined Events Sat 19^th Jan, Athlone

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

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

XC LEAGUE

Round 5 of the Juvenile XC League takes place on this coming Fri 7^th 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 11^th 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!

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 2^nd in U7 Boys & 3^rd in the U8, with William Hance 3^rd 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. 30^th 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 19^th is now on our website and must close Wed.17^th.

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

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. 23^rd 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 2^nd 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.