West Waterford Athletic ClubWest Waterford Athletic Club

Notes April 05-09

MASON MORTGAGES AND FINANCIAL SERVICES COLLIGAN SPRING LEAGUE.

HILLS AND SPILLS.

The third and penultimate night of the Mason Mortgages and Financial
Services Colligan League took place once again at the Colligan venue last
Wednesday evening.  As with the first 2 nights of the league we were once
again blessed with a beautiful evening and of course with the change on the
clock no-one was in a hurry away once the league was over.  Some hardy souls
even take a dip in the river each evening to soothe the tired muscles!  For
the third week in a row we had over 100 athletes taking part in the league,
which is a fantastic turn out at this time of year.  It’s important to keep
up the effort from the Winter League to keep the fitness levels up and this
in turn will lead up to the first race in the Ger Wyley/Nike Summer Series
which is the Marine Climb on Friday 17th at 7pm.  Alternatively we also have
the Minnie’s League at St Augustine’s College grounds (by kind permission),
which will commence on Tuesday April 28th.  Here we will be encouraging
newcomers and regulars to run 1, 2, 3, or 4 laps of the 1.2 mile track.  We
will keep you up to date with all these events as they arise or log on to
the website www.westwaterfordathletics.org
<http://www.westwaterfordathletics.org/> for more details.

 2 LAPS

BERNIE AND ANN BOTH BREAK THE 20 MINUTE MARK

Last week we told you about Bernie Prendergast and Ann Quinn’s battle in the
2-lap league.  They are having a mighty tussle with Ann coming out on top on
the first 2 weeks of the league and Bernie taking the honours in week 3 but
in the course of the battle both runners broke the 20 minute barrier with
Bernie running 19.39 and Ann getting around in 19.47.  Great running for the
2 laps girls.  Ann Whelan was just outside in 20.03, while some athletes
recovering from recent injuries will be happy to have completed the course
and in good times too, these included Josie Ui Chuirrin (21.06) and Michael
Deegan (21.57).  Other newcomers included Angelica Bradatan (23.32),
Margaret Hearne (25.53) and Gillian King (25.46).  Well done also to the
regulars Declan Hayes (23.51), Diana Chizhikova (26.37), Mary Riordan
(26.46), Rita Cronolly (26.57) and Michelle Fitzgerald (29.40).

 5 MILES FLAT

THREE IN A ROW FOR KENLEY

Kenley Street made it 3 in a row and in the process improved his time again
to 35.25 taking almost a minute off his best time to date.  Alan Curran was
second home on this occasion in 35.49 while the first lady to finish was
Triona Wall in 36.36.  Another athlete recovering from injury is Paul
Brunnock and he ran a time of 37.46 and was followed by Michael Mc Carthy in
38.08.  J.J. Henley will be delighted to have broken the 40 minute barrier
with his time of 39.21 while Linda Bradfield and Sharon Duggan kept each
other company finishing together on 41.20.  There was also a tough battle
between Onra Power (43.28) and Liam Sandford (43.37) while Niamh Mc Mahon
and Denise Breen will be delighted with their times of 44 minutes.

 5 MILE HILLS

SEAN NAILS IT ONCE MORE

Consistency is the key and once again Sean Stilwell proved his mettle as for
the third week in a row he was first past the post in the 5 mile hill league
in a time of 31.34.  In second place in a time of 33.52 was Michael Dunford
which was his best finish in the league to date and his fastest time too.
Running partners Philip Harty and Shane Power were next into the finish line
in the same time of 34.08.  Joe Gough took almost a minute off his best time
when he ran 34.27.  Johnny O Connor was next to finish and he also recorded
his best time for the league of 34.37.  Others to show improvements here
were Alan Lyons (35.04), Kenneth O Donnell (35.14) and Yevgeniy Chizhikov
(36.39).  Once again Corinna Walsh took first place for the ladies in a much
improved 36.21, which is fantastic running from an athlete in excellent form
at the moment and almost 2 minutes faster than last week.  Norma Wall (38.18) and Tom Leahy (38.09) kept each other going up the hill and in the process took over a minute off their time.  Anthony Dwyer (37.48), Thomas Coleman (39.21) both showed improvements while Eamonn Flavin broke 40 for the first time when he completed the course in 39.22.  Donal Murphy kept Billy Coleman on his toes and completed the course in 42.37 while Tom Scanlon and P.J. Curran broke 44 minutes for the first time. Pat Morrissey, George Tutty and Paddy Power all broke 45 minutes for the first time while Darren Healy once again recorded an improvement in his time as did Libby Mc Ginn Murphy who ran 45.22.  Brigid Coffey improved her time to
44.16 while William Foley (45.02) took almost 2 minutes from his best time.
Dave Mc Nally has also shown consistent improvements week on week and his
time of 45.45 is almost 5 minutes faster than week 1 while Caroline Russell
and David Campbell will be happy with their times of 47.29 and 47.43
respectively. Albert’s gang will be delighted with their progress in this league none more so than Vincent O Flynn who broke 50 minutes for the first time.  Helene
Hayes (52.35) will be delighted with her improvement of over 2 minutes,
while Tommy Lenihan (53.55) and the Nugent sisters Paula and Denise also
improved by 40 seconds and 1 minute and 6 seconds respectively.  Amanda
Mansfield and Ann Massey will also be delighted with their progress and when
you improve by nearly 2 minutes and 1 minute and 18 seconds as they did they
then they have every reason to be so.

 LEAGUE TABLES AND PRIZE GIVING

League tables for this league are now up on the website.  Remember you have
to run all 4 weeks to appear on the tables and it must be over the same
distance.  There are separate tables for ladies and men and if anyone spots
a problem please mention it to Ann Dunford.  Tonight is the last night of
the league and the presentation of prizes will take place in Alice O Connors
on Thursday 9th April at 10pm.  Once again we would appeal to all
prizewinners to try to make themselves available for the presentation of
prizes as a mark of respect to our sponsor Mark Mason to whom we are
extremely grateful for his support.  We will endeavour to contact all
winners beforehand and if prizes are not collected we will as they say be
recycling them for the next league!

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who had made this league so enjoyable and to all the
runners for turning up each night on time and co-operating with all
officials.  To all the officials we would like to say a sincere thank you
and once again remind everyone that we are always looking for a helping hand
with races so if you are injured or just taking a break at any league of
race we would be delighted to give you a job!  We look forward to seeing you
all again at the Minnie’s League on Tuesday April 28th at the Friary grounds.

IT’S TIME TO RUMBLE AT THE 15TH ANNUAL GER WYLEY SPORTS/NIKE SUMMER ROAD RACING SERIES.

The summer is defiantly almost here when it’s time to write about one of the
 clubs most eagerly awaited events on the busy local athletics calendar.
It’s the 15th Annual Ger Wyley Sports/ Nike summer series and believe it or
not the first race gets under way on Friday week April 17th with the 17th
Annual Marine Climb 6 mile road race. Firstly in our series introduction we
must thank our kind sponsor for all of those 15 years Ger Wyley of Ger Wyley
Sports for his involvement with the event, Added to this we also thank
through their Running specialist manager Toju Neburagho, Nike Ireland for
their generous and kind involvement in association with Wyley Sports who
together insure that this great West Waterford AC summer event continues to
attract such increasing numbers to all of its 10 race programme. In thanking
our overall sponsor we must not forget the sponsorship attained from all of
our ten individual race sponsor’s, without their input it wouldn’t be
possible to hold this series year in year out. Our thanks also to the groups
and individuals who organise all of the ten races around the county during
the summer months, A huge amount of effort goes into organising a race, so to
all concerned thanks for your efforts over the years and for your ongoing
contribution to this very successful summer series, The only ten race summer
series in the country. So who are going to be our overall winners for
2009,Time will tell, one things for sure we have plenty of running to do
before we will know the answer so onwards and upwards for the Ger Wyley
Sports/Nike Summer Series 2009.

PREVIOUS WINNERS- HALL OF FAME.

The following are a list of the previous overall winners of the summer
series,

Male- James O’ Sullivan (1995-1997) Philip Harty (1996) William Harty
(1998-1999-2000-2001-2003) Peter Duggan (2002-2004). Raivis Zakis
(2005).Sandis Bralitis (2006).Sandis Bralitis (2007).Sandis Bralitis (2008)

Female-Rebecca Harty (1995) Una Murray (1996) Geraldine Guiry (1997) Jackie
(Stamp) Carty,(1998) Catherine Hennessey (1999-2000-2001) Corinne Walsh
(2002) Jackie Carty (2003-2004-2005-2006) Sinead Crotty (2007) Corinna Walsh
2008

 SPECIAL PRIZE IF YOU CAN COMPLETE THE TEN.

For the first time in the series last year the club introduced a new
divisional system, which proved to be well received by all participants, this
system is based on your ranking from the previous year making it different
to the divisional system used in the past. We will, as is our club policy
cater for runners of all abilities and with this in mind we once again
thorough the generosity of our sponsors continue with last year’s format
using the ranking system, We will also continue with the rewards system where
any runner that completes six out of the ten races will once again qualify
for the Nike voucher redeemable at Ger Wyleys to the value of €25. The added
and new feature which we introduced in 2008 to the series which proved most
popular with a big number of runners saw anybody who runs all of the ten
races receiving a Nike voucher to the value of €75.A total of 27 athlete
rose to this challenge last year. So come on make it your goal for 2009.Ten
from ten, just do it.

RANKING SYSTEM FOR THIS YEARS SERIES.

The main individual prizes will be the top twenty ranked men of any age and
the top five ranked women of any age. After that then instead of divisions,
there will be prizes for the 30th ranked, 40th, 50th etc in the male
category and the 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th etc in the ladies category. So its
skates on for next Friday week for what we hope will be the start of a
record-breaking summer series once again. We will have the full 2008 rankings list in next week’s notes.

WEST WATERFORD ATHLETIC CLUB
GERWYLEY SPORTS/NIKE
SUMMER ROAD
RACING SERIES 2009

Race 1 Marine Climb, Dungarvan (6) Friday April 17th 7 .00pm

Race 2 Butlerstown (10k) Friday April 24th 7.30pm

Race 3 Waterford – Tramore (7.5) Saturday May 9th 7.30pm

Race 4 Touraneena (5k) Monday June 1st 7.30 p m

Race 5 Clashmore (5) Friday June 12th 8.00 pm

Race 6 Ras Na Rinne (6) Friday June 19th 8.00 pm

Race 7 Dromana (5) Friday June 26th 8 .00 pm

Race 8 Glaxosmithkline (5) Friday July 10th 8 .00 pm

Race 9 Ballymacarbry (5) Friday July 31st 7.30p m

Race 10 Ardmore (5) Friday August 14th 7.30 pm

2009 CLUB ROAD RACING CHAMPIONS.

Along with the overall prizes, the club also had a championship exclusively
for its own members, each member’s best 7 races counted towards their final
score. The same championship will be held this year and it will give us all
something to aim for over the summer months. Last years winners and the current club champions are listed below and they are there to knocked from their position. Come on lads and lassies.
 

MEN
Senior: Raivis Zakis
O/35: P.J. Guinan
O/40: Martin Hayes
O/45: Davy Wade
O/50: Colin Lyons
O/55: Ray Murray
O/60: Michael Hennessy
Junior: Declan Power

WOMEN
Senior: Corinna Walsh
O/35: Diane Behan
O/40:Ann Whelan
O/45:Eilis Ni hAodha
O/50:Ann Moroney
O/55:Terri Gough

CORINNA WALSH IS COMERAGH CRYSTAL ATHLETE OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH.

The March winner of the Comeragh Crystal Athlete of the month is Corinna
Walsh. Corinna is our first female winner of 2009 and is also the first of
the 2008 winners to regain the title. Corinna, who is running her very best
at the moment, scored a total of 8 points for the month. She took part in
the Eason’s 10k, Waterford 4 mile race and two nights of Mason Mortgages and
Financial Services Colligan League. She also represented the club at two
Munster Championship events; she had a fantastic race in Limerick at the
senior road race Championships and was very unlucky to miss out on a medal
when she finished fourth. On the following Sunday, however, she made amends
and with another superb run, she was in the winners enclosure and was
crowned Munster Master Champion in road racing over 35.March was a busy
month for a lot of members with participation in races in Ballycotton,
Piltown, Ferns, Ballinahassig, Waterford and some venturing as far as
Connemara as well as those athletes who wore the club vest at Munster
Championships in Limerick and Kerry. April sees the beginning of the Ger
Wyley, Nike Summer Series with two races taking place, there are two nights
of the Mason Mortgages and Financial Services Colligan League, and on 28
April the Minnie’s League commences in the Friary. So plenty of events for
members to take part in. Remember if you take part in a running event not
organised by WWAC please let Brigid Coffey know on or before the last day of
the month if you want the points to be included for the competition.

JOE ON IRISH RELAY TEAM.

 It’s not that easy to retire from athletics, Ask Joe Gough whose retirement
from the sport must have been the shortest in history. Running local club
races these past couple of months and having announced his retirement from
International duty, the former Mitchell St man is back in the fray once again
and why not as he is running as well now as he has been the last 10
years. Last week Joe got a call-up from the Irish Masters Association to
compete on the Irish team at the 11th European Masters Athletics
Championships in Aarhus, Denmark 29-31 May in the cross country relay event
0.55. Its a team of 3 each doing 4, 000 mtrs. The selected team comprises
Pat O’Shea, Kerry (international champion over 5 and 10,000 mtrs.) Pat
Timmins, Raheny Shamrocks (3000 Irish Record Holder) and Joe, who has a
string of national and international titles too many to mention, A formidable
team it has to be said, One thing’s for sure, retirement is well and truly
out of sight for now. We wish the best of luck to all three as they dawn the
Irish singlet.

 BEGINNER’S CORNER

we are now all well into the routine of running and training. It really only
takes a few weeks to get this way and now everyone is looking back and are
thrilled at the progress that has been made. Being fit and healthy is so
important and now that the evenings are longer, it’s all the easier to get
out for a run. In the last two weeks a few more have come on board to follow
the schedule and are willing to train for one of the summer series races.
The 5-mile races won’t start until June and July so there’s still plenty of
time to get the miles done in order to be ready. The following are just a
few important reminders to maintain a good training programme.

1.      Establish a routine if at all possible. If you run on the same
evening each week, it’s much easier to plan for.

2.      Train with a group. It’s much easier to be more motivated when you
have to meet others at a certain place and time.

3.      Jog at a nice and easy pace, save the hard runs for the races. You
don’t want to overdo it in training; you should feel reasonably comfortable
while training, if not then you need to slow the pace down.

4.      Some people like to keep a training log, jotting down the distance
they ran for each day; this helps some people to stay motivated.

The following schedules begin on Monday April 13th and as always, adjust it
to suit your own routine. The last few schedules had a slight increase in
distance but for the next two weeks we are going to keep it at 3 miles each
day. This allows us to get more comfortable with running 3 miles and also
prepare us for increasing the distance again in a few weeks time. If anybody
has any queries or questions, please feel free to drop us a line at
www.westwaterfordathletics.org <http://www.westwaterfordathletics.org/>

 

Week 8: Beginning Monday April 13th

Monday 3 milesWednesday3 miles Friday 3 miles

 

Week 9: Beginning April 20th

Monday 3 miles Wednesday 3 miles Friday 3 miles

 

KILNABOY 10 ON THIS SUNDAY.

The final race in the 2009 John Buckley sports sponsored Munster 10 mile
road classic series draws to a conclusion this coming Sunday with the Annual
Michael (Sonny) Murphy Memorial Kilnaboy 10 miler in Co. Clare. The starting
time for this race is 2 p.m. and there is a walk over a 10k circuit which
gets under way at 1.30 p.m. It looks like all records will be broken again
this year. So far 234 people have ran the previous three ten mile races.
Last year, this figure was 177 and the previous year it was 94 so it would
be a good idea to arrive in plenty of time as there will certainly be a
record crowd. All athletes who complete all four races will be awarded with
a T-Shirt for their efforts. There is also a T Shirt for all who complete the
Kilnaboy race itself . The club will be well represented in Clare next
Sunday so it’s best of luck to all those travelling.

 RUNNING QUOTE.

 Use goals not as ends in themselves but as stepping-stones. When you reach
80 percent of your long-range goal, reset it.

 ST.AUGUSTINES COLLEGE TAKE THE RUNNER UP SPOT IN SUPER SCHOOLS.

Well done to the St.Augustines College super schools team who competed in
France last week in the Annual Super schools competition, many of our Juvenile
club members were part and parcel of the team, which is coached by Br.
Patrick. After winning the event three years in succession the local College
were unfortunate this time not to make it four from four after being piped
on the line by a College from Scotland by just 2 points in the final
tally, In fairness to the Scottish team they had to settle for second place
behind St.Augustines in 2008 so fair play to them for turning the table’s in
2009 plus the fact that the competition will be hosted by them next year
2010. So the Friary boys and girls will have to go to the highlands next
year and regain their crown, enjoy your success Scotland it will be shorted
lived.

ST.SENANS ATHLETIC CLUB OPEN SPORTS.

The St.Senans Athletic Club Kilmacow open sports will take place on Monday
13th April 2009 at 1pm in the Sports Complex, Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny. A full
programme of events as listed below will be held on the day.

Girls and boys Under 8 80mtrsGirls and boys Under 9 80mtrsGirls and boys
Under10 80mtrsGirls and boys under 11 80mtrs &300mtrs
Girls under 12 80 & 700 mtrs & LJ Girls under 13 100 & 700 mtrs & Shot & HJ
Girls under 14 100 & 700 mtrs & LJGirls under 15 100 & 700 mtrs & Shot &
HJGirls under 16 100 & 700 mtrs & LJGirls under 17 100 & 700 mtrs &
ShotJunior Girls 100 – 400 – 1500 – LJBoys under 12 80 & 700 mtrs & Shot
Boys under 13 100 & 700 mtrs HJ & LJ.Boys under 14 100 & 700 mtrs &
Shot.Boys under 15 100 & 700 mtrs HJ & LJBoys under 16 100 & 700 mtrs &
Shot.Boys under 17 100 & 700 mtrs & LJ.Junior Boys 100 – 400 – 3000 – L.J.

RELAYS: Girls & Boys under 10 – 12 -14 – 16 4 x 200 mtrs Junior Relays: 2 Men
2 x 200 & 2 Ladies 2 x 200Entry Fee: €8.00 per Team Note: Junior Relay age is
U/17 – U/20 only – also Athletes can move up one age group in Field Events &
Relays only
Senior Men’s 3000 mtrs Senior Ladies 1500 mtrs Prizes First 3 Individuals First
2 Vets Entry Fee: €5.00 (One prize per athlete)
Enquiries: Bill Lacey Molum, Kilmacow. Tel: 051 – 885 684
Admission: €3.00 Adults – €2.00 Juveniles

 SINCERE SYMPATHY.

West Waterford athletic club extends sincere sympathy to the family of Mrs
Bridie Ryan, Ballykennedy, Cappagh.Who passed to her eternal reward last
week, May she rest in peace.

 RAIVIS AND SANDIS CLOCK AN IMPRESSIVE 2.24 IN PARIS MARATHON.

Two of West Waterford’s top Male athletes Sandis Bralitis and Raivis Zakis
were in action last Sun day in the Paris Marathon and both performed
admirbly. Raivis, no stranger to Marathon running having complete in seven to
date is now the second fastest West Waterford member over the famed
diatance. One Tony Ryan hold’s the distinction with a time recorded in Dublin
in the mid 90’s of 2.20 when he finished 5th on that particular day. Raivis
knocked 5 minutes off his personal best last Sunday finishing in 40th place
overall with a time of 2.24.36 Sandis on the other hand was running his very
first marathon and he too must be over the moon finishing just 3 seconds
behind Raivis in 41st place clocking a time of 2.24.39 This is of course the
third fastest over the distance ever by a club member. Well done to both

 Paris Marathon Splits for Raivis=5 km 00:16:28 10 km 00:33:51 15 km 00:50:54
21.1 km 01:11:19 25 km 01:24:23 30 km 01:41:51 35 km 01:59:19.

 Paris Marathon Splits for Sandis= 5 km 00:16:28 10 km 00:33:31 15 km
00:50:29 21.1 km 01:11:05 25 km 01:24:05 30 km 01:41:22 35 km 01:59:02

 

Upcoming Events