Secretary’s Report to A.G.M. of West Waterford Athletic Club on Friday 11th April 2025
Once again it’s time to reflect on the year gone by and as a club acknowledge those who have worked either in administration or on the track, field, roads and cross country courses around the country and beyond. We are lucky to have so many dedicated members who represent us with such determination and dedication in all competitions.
Of course we are a participations club as well and we pride ourselves on getting people who may never have ran before into running and this is perhaps most evident in our Forde’s Daybreak Winter League each year which brings so many new people to our sport and to our club. Thank you to each and every member new and old and we hope you continue to enjoy your time with us and stay with us for many years to come.
We will begin with April 2024 and out AGM could turn out to be one of the most important nights in our club history with the foundation of a track committee set up to try to bring the vision of a much needed track to West Waterford. The story is ongoing but the progress in a short year is very promising.
April 2024
We begin the year with the story of the amazing Terri Gough who in her own quiet way completed her 300th Marathon in Tullow, Co Carlow, a fantastic achievement and well done to Terri.
The 6 race Summer Series was announced with not 1 but 2 tshirts on offer to the series entrants.
Club member Zuzana Costin passed her referee exams and is now a World Athletics Race Walking Gold level Referee.
Kate Veale continued in her quest to reach the Olympics by travelling to the World Cup of racing in Turkey to compete in the 2 person team event but unfortunately did not get to participate due to Brendan Boyce her team-mate getting injured at the 5k mark.
The Aglish Fun Run raised €3,390 for Crumlin Children’s Hospital so well done to organiser Liam O’Donnell for his fundraising efforts once again.
May 2024
The Mark Mason Financial Services Colligan League concluded and the winners were : 2 Laps, Carol Walsh and Michaeál Moynihan. 3 Laps Mick Concannon and Tara Ni Rheachtagáin and 5 Mile Hills David Nixon and Diane Behan.
Joe Gough began the month with a new National Record in the Men’s O/70 5k set in Dundrum in a time of 19.24.
At the St Joseph’s A.C. organised Walking Grand Prix race Kate Veale set a new 20k pb by a full minute in 1.36.30. Juveniles and Juniors also participated and Doireann Hickey finished 3rd in the U/20 race and we were also represented by new club member John Laste.
The AHS Tuning Ballinroad 5k race started off the Summer Series and the winners here were Mark Blackwell and Sarah Mulcahy (St. Catherines).
At Day 2 of the T & F. in the RSC there were gold medals for Elaine Langley (ladies 3000mts), Yev Chizhikov (Mens 800mts), Doireann Hickey (Junior girls 3k Walk) and Saoirse Quinn (Junior discus) while another new club member Pat Kennedy won a 2 silver medals in the hammer and the shot putt.
At the National 5k in the Phoenix Park Joe Gough took another national title in the O/70 category in a time of 19.22.
At the Round Tower Ardmore 5 Mile Sergiu Ciobanu of Clonliffe Harriers and Kealy Tideswell of Clonmel A.C were the winners on the night.
At the Munster Masters in Templemore John Laste won a gold medal in the O/60 Race Walk and also in Templemore at the Munster T & F Lucy Holmes won both the 400 and 1500mts and Elaine Langley won gold in the O/35 3,000mts.
June 2024
The Dungarvan Leader Dromana 5 mile was once again won by Sergiu Ciobanu and Kealy Tideswell, while Naoise Mac Murchadhada finished second in a T & F Mile race in Clonmel on their new track with Mark Blackwell 6th and Gary Cantwell 7th.
The final qualifying race for the team event in Race Walking at the Olympics took place at the Morton Stadium and it was disappointment for Kate Veale and Brendan Boyce as they finished 6th so it was not to be for Kate and Brendan but Kate claimed her 9th 5k National Title at the Senior Track and Field Championships and Lucy Holmes finished 7th in her first senior 800mts final.
Evan Fitzgerald and Eveleen Drohan were the race winners in the Oriel Bar Ballymacarbry 5 Mile Race for 2025.
July 2024
Entries opened for our second biggest club event of the year the Eurofins Greenway Half Marathon and the 750 places quickly filled.
The Deise College Dungarvan 5 Mile race had to have a last minute course change but it was another successful event with Aidan Connell and Lauren Dermody from Castlecomber A.C. the first man and woman home.
At the National AAI Combined Games in the Morton Stadium, Santry Pat Kennedy took a gold medal in the heavy hammer O/65.
The Old Head Financial Ballinameela 5k finished off the Summer Series in style and once again it was a great summer of racing in West Waterford. This time Evan Fitzgerald (West Waterford A.C.) and Ciara O’Neill (Clonmel A.C.) were the winners.
At a British Milers race held in Manchester Lucy Holmes took part in the A 800mts race and finished 2nd in 2.08.30.
August 2024
West Waterford A.C. once again assisted in the holding of the Rás Na Rinne and this year was a sad occasion as it was the first after the loss of proud Ring man and West Waterford A.C. member Seamus O’Droma. The organisers Ceim Ar Cheim committee decided to present an award in Seamus’s honour and the worthy recipient of the first year’s award was Fr Enright of Abbeyside who served the parish of Ring/Old Parish and did much to promote athletics during his time there.
At the World Masters T & F held in Gothenburg we had 2 club representatives in John Laste in the O/60 Race Walk and Joe Gough in the O/70 800mts. In a blanket finish Joe won a bronze medal with just 100’s of a second between 1st and 3rd
Paddy Brunnock took on the daunting Connemara 100 miler for the 3rd time and was delighted to break his previous best time by a full 2 hours and 20 minutes finishing in 20 hours and 57 minutes.
The 5th Annual Eurofins Greenway Half Marathon was once again a great success and with excellent conditions and the new start/finish it made for a great event. €2,500 was donated to the West Waterford Rapid Response Vehicle fundraising committee. The 665 finishers were led home by Conor O’Brien of Dooneen A.C. and Katie Wilson of DMP A.C. won the ladies event. The Paul Brunnock and Paula Collins Perpetual Trophies were presented to the winners and it was wonderful to have the Brunnock and Collins family with us on the day for the presentation.
The West Waterford team of John Coffey, Dermot Gough and Billy Ryan were presented with the mens team prize while the ladies team prize went to Kilkenny City Harriers A.C.
September 2024
The Colm Ryan Memorial Run for Cancer was hosted by Touraneena Road Runners and was a successful morning raising €2,830.
At the World Mountain Running Championships in Spain West Waterford had 2 members on the Irish team and Joe Gough won an individual silver medal in the 17k classic event and along with his team mates won gold medals for Ireland in the O/70 category.
Elaine Langley in the ladies 6k uphill course along with her team mate won silver medals in the O/35 category and also bronze medals the next day in the classic 17k race.
We had 4 representatives in the National Half Marathon which was held in conjunction with the Charleville Half and all 4 Daryl Kearns, Aidan Connell, Mark Radley and John Hodge ran well on the day
October 2024
Cross Country season began with the county senior Championships held at the Friary College Kate Veale led the West Waterford A.C. contingent home and silver medals went to Angela Tobin and bronze to Fiona Connell. Along with Ornaith Keane they won gold team medals. In the junior ladies race Grainne Moore won gold and Angelina Chizhikova took silver.
For the men Aidan Connell won gold and was presented with the James Hughes Perpetual Cup and along with Justin Ryan (silver) and Gary Cantwell (bronze) and Gearoid Coffey won gold team medals. Silver club medals went to Mossie Keogh, Patrick Bergin, Ray Hahesy and Yev Chizhikov.
Day 2 of the County Championships was held in Tramore with the county Novice. Angela Tobin and Mark Blackwell took home the 2 County Novice titles with Dermot Gough (silver) and Alan Hogan(bronze) and along with Patrick Bergin, Michael Dunford and Ray Hahesy they won team gold on the day.
At the autumn Open International Cross Country race in Abbottstown Joe Gough won the O/70 race entitling him to selection on the Irish team to compete at the upcoming British and Irish Cross Country International meet to be held in Belfast (where Joe took a silver medal) while Lucy Holmes also competed in the senior race and finished 20th.
At the Munster Junior and Novice Cross Country held in Conna we had a junior ladies team for the first time and coach Dermot Ryan was delighted to see Fia De Paor, Grainne Moore, Sarah O’Riordan and Jessica Grigorboth win bronze club team medals. We were also represented by Angela Tobin, Eveleen Drohan, Niamh O’Donovan and Fiona Connell who finished 5th team.
For the men it was also an historic day as team gold medals were secured by Aidan Connell, Justin Ryan, Damien Murphy, Gearoid Coffey, Alan Hogan, Niall Barry and Patrick Bergin. The team also secured bronze county medals.
3 West Waterford athletes competed in the Irish Universities Cross Country in Cork and these were Lucy Holmes, Evan Fitzgerald and Angelina Chizhikova.
The Munster Senior and U/23 Cross Country Championships were held in Tramore and our ladies team of Angela Tobin, Linda Foley, Niamh O’Donovan and Anne Moore were unlucky to finish outside the medals in 4th place.
November 2024
November began on a sad note with the passing of 2 stalwarts of the Ardmore 5 Mile Race, Michael Hennessy and Matt Faherty. Michael who organised the stewards for many years and Matt who sponsored the cup for the winning lady each year.
At the National U/23 and Senior Cross Country Championships held in Enniskillen we were represented by Lucy Holmes (U/23) seeking selection for the Irish U/23 team to travel to the upcoming European C.C. Championships and Lucy didn’t disappoint in finishing 4th and securing selection. It was brilliant to see David Mc Carthy (18th) and Micheál Power (48th) back mixing it with the best in the Senior race.
A record 436 runners ran the first night of the Fordes Daybreak Winter League as we got under way for another year.
The 29th annual Murray’s Pharmacy Brickey 5k race was held from the Bricky Rangers G.A.A. grounds with proceeds again going to the 2 local schools and the winners for 2024 were Evan Fitzgerald and Lucy Holmes. On the following Wednesday night Evan set a new course record for the long route in the Winter League and over the course of the league broke his own record almost every night.
At the Munster Masters Cross Country in Tipperary Joe Gough took home another gold medal in the O/70 category and once again we had a mens team at the National Novice held in Tramore. The team of Justin Ryan, Gearoid Coffey, Conor Hennebry, Mossie Keogh and Niall Barry finished in 24 place.
December 2024
The 32nd annual John Treacy Dungarvan 10 Mile opened for entries and quickly reached the target of 3,750 runners. The chosen charity for 2025 was the Irish Kidney Association
Lucy Holmes travelled to Antalya, Turkey to wear the Irish singlet in the European U/23 Cross Country Championships and was 4th Irish finisher of the 6 and Ireland finished 5th overall.
The Cleanzone Technologies Paddy Joe Curran Turkey Trot was held at the Marine venue and Evan Fitzgerald and Ciara O’Neill (Clonmel A.C.) were the race winners. €3,760 was raised on the day and was kindly donated to our new ambitious Track Development fund.
St Anne’s Park Raheny hosted by Raheny Shamrocks hosted the National Senior 20k, 35k and Junior 10k Race Walking Championships and also acted as a World Ranking event with walkers from over 20 countries taking part. Kate Veale won her 3rd title in the 35k distance finishing 5th overall while John Laste won the O/60 Masters title in the 10k distance.
€2,400 was donated to the local Surprise Surprise group by the runners in the Winter League as participation numbers continued to break records while the final event for 2024 was the St Stephens Day Run hosted by Dungarvan G.A.A. club and this year the beneficiary was Baby Cass and an amazing €3.,696 was raised for his medical fund.
January 2025
January saw the resumption of the Fordes Daybreak Winter League and numbers again were phenomenal. Evan Fitzgerald continued to break records and the league was proving a great success and on the final night long sleeve tshirts were presented to all those who had reached the mandatory number of nights
The 36th edition of the Kiely Monumental Colligan Cup took place at the Colligan Venue with Melanie Kelly the first person to cross the line after the clock struck zero. First man home was Eoin O’Riordan while the Victor Mullins trophy for first newcomer went to local man John Collins from Cork.
February 2024
The John Treacy Dungarvan 10 Mile Road Race, our flagship event of the year went ahead on Sunday February 2nd and once again we had a record number of finishers in just shy of 3,000 runners crossing the finish line. It was a hugely successful day for our club but it could not happen without our army of volunteers, our stewards (Karen Ryan who looks after them each year) our pacers, medical staff, our own hard working committee and of course our outstanding ourdoor trio of Conor, Jamie and John who make everything safe for us all on the day. They put in long hours before during and after the event, unseen work but vitally important for everyone’s safety.
We had 2 new course records this year were Fearghal Curtin (Youghal A.C). setting the mens course record of 47.42 the fastest 10 Mile time ran in Ireland in 5 years. Not to be outdone Niamh Allen (Leevale A.C.) finished 12th overall in a ladies course record time of 52.50.
The John Treacy Team Challenge prizes were won by Leevale A.C. (men’s) and St Finbarr’s (ladies). €6,000 was presented on behalf of the runners to the Irish Kidney Association which is once again an outstanding amount of money going to charity.
The Winter League/John Treacy celebration night held in the Park Hotel was once again a great success as our sponsor Kevin Forde presented the many prizes (over 90) on the night to the various prizewinners. This year’s winners were Padraig De Burca on the short course and Tony Ferncombe on the long course. The fastest man and woman on the long route were Evan Fitzgerald and Natalie Sheehan while Evelyn Tobin and Jack Casey were fastest on the shorter route. There was a very special moment on the night with a presentation to James Veale and Gerry Cantwell for their many years of work with the Winter League.
At the Munster Senior and Masters Indoor T & F Championships in Nenagh Gold medals were won by Kate Veale (3k Walk), John Laste (O/60 Walk), Joe Gough (O/70 400mts) where he also broke the record and Terri Gough in the O/80 category brought home 3 more gold medals in the 60 and 200mts and the shot. Pat Kennedy won a silver medal for the shot and a bronze medal for the weight for distance.
At the National Intermediate and Masters Cross Country Championships in Westport Joe Gough won the O/70 title for the 3rd year in a row.
At the National Universities Championships held in Abbotstown Lucy Holmes was once again representing her MTU college and finished 1st in the 1,500mts in a superb 4.22.29 taking 6 seconds off her time for 2023 and setting a new University record.
At the National Senior Indoor Championships held in the Sport Ireland Arena Kate Veale won her 8th National Senior Indoor title in the 3k walk while Lucy Holmes competing in the 1500mts took a brilliant silver medal after a very tactical race. Micheál Power also had a good outing finishing 4th in the 3000mts and 11th in the 1500.
March 2025
For 2025 the Munster 4 Mile Road Race Championships was hosted by West Waterford and we had a host of runners taking part on the day and we would like to thank Padraig Healy and Kelly Fitzgerald for organizing the teams.
We finished the day with an array of medals but pride of place goes once again to Lucy Holmes (22.49 ) who captured the Munster Ladies Road Race title with a super run on the day.
Medals on the day also went to:
Lucy Holmes, Angela Tobin, Natalie Sheehan, Grainne Moore (Senior team bronze)
Raivis Zakis, Gold O/45. John Coffey Silver O/45
Justin Ryan, Damien Murphy, Gearoid Coffey, Mark Blackwell, (Novice team Silver)
Justin Ryan, Damien Murphy (Novice County team Silver )
Raivis Zakis, John Coffey, Alan Gibson, Padraig Healy, (Master Mens O/35 team bronze)
Raivis Zakis, John Coffey, Alan Gibson, (Master Mens O/35 County silver)
Dermot Ryan, Eoin Walsh, James Whelan, Ray Hahesy, (Master Mens O/50 team bronze and county bronze)
At the National Masters T & F. Championships held in Athlone we had 3 representatives and all 3 brought home medals:
John Laste, gold O/60 3k Walk, Pat Kennedy silver O/65 Shot and Terry Gough gold in all 3 events, 60mts, 200mts and shot.
At the World Masters Indoor Championships in Florida USA Joe Gough captured his 10th World title when he won the O/70 800mts in 2.31.73 and went on to take a World Silver Medal in the 1,500mts. John Laste also travelled to these Championships and finished 12th in the 3k Walk and 21st in the 10k walk all good experience for John as he was nursing a knee injury and was restricted in his training.
Finally
This is a report on all the club’s activities during the year but what this report does not mention is the hard work put in each and every week of the year in particular by our dedicated group of coaches and helpers who each week make themselves available whether it is beginners, couch to 5k, Regulars and Improvers and also our ladies group who also meet together each week. We have a dedicated group that includes Jim Fleming, Tom Leahy, Dermot Ryan, Claire Kennedy, Linda Guilly, Mick Concannon and Michael Coakley and Deirdre Daly. If I have omitted anyone I apologise.
Membership for 2025 stands at 342 today which is again substantially higher than the past 3 years while last year we directly donated €23,000 to various charities and indirectly to many other clubs and societies in contributions from our races something we can be very proud of. I would like to thank the local papers for their support, all our loyal sponsors, James and Kelly for keeping our social media so active and up to date and of course our stewards and volunteers at all the races. To all those who have lost loved ones during the year I extend our sympathies on behalf of all our members.
I want to thank all my fellow officers for once again supporting me throughout the year especially Tom, Declan and Ray and each and every person who plays their part in the running of this club and it is a busy club with so many events during the year. This would not be possible without the contribution from all the committee members. Finally I wish the incoming committee well in the year ahead
Ann Dunford
Secretary West Waterford A.C.
