William & Cian with Ray Flynn

Later William Crowe came 2nd overall in a 4 event Connacht Schools Championship at Athlone, representing the Sligo Grammar School, for his age group (U14), winning a silver medal;
to gain enough points to achieve this position, he came first in the 800m and second in the long jump. The other 2 events in which he competed less successfully were the hurdles and shot putt.

William also won the Grammar School Junior Mile for this year, winning a shield.

The Sligo County Cross Country Championships were held on Saturday 16th October 2010 in glorious sunshine at Sligo Racecourse.
This was the first time out on the new distances for the forthcoming cross country season. All faired well and athletes look forward to Connaught Championships in Ballina at the end of the month.

A few photographs from the event:

Winner of the U12 Boys

Joint Winners William Crowe and Cian Mc.Bride (North Sligo A.C.)

third Ronan Anderson

fourth Dara McClosky

Connaught Even Ages Cross Country Ballina 31st October 2010

Ballina was the venue on Sunday, October 31st 2010 for the Connaught Even Ages Cross Country. Weather conditions on the day were perfect and the Club had many notable performances from the Juvenile athletes who competed on the day with qualification for the National Finals which are being held in Gransha, Co. Derry on November 28th at stake.

U12 Girls

We had 2 girls competing in this race with Sinead Regan running out of her age group, Sinead ran a great race to finish in the top 20 and will be a serious contender in the U11 race in Roscommon. Deirbhile McCloskey has continued to improve and this was evident last Sunday when she secured 12th place and a place on the start line in the National Championships.

U12 Boys

Again we had 2 athletes, Owen Anderson competing in his bad age group finished very strongly in the top 20 and James Devaney who challenged from the gun ran a superb race to finish 4th and qualify for the National Championships.

U14 Girls

Team Bronze was the prize for these girls who put in a good solid performance over 3000m with Kathy Devaney 11th leading the team home closely followed by Tory McGlynn 16th , Kate Anderson 17th , Niamh Cronin 18th and Katie McGlynn 21st.

U14 Boys

Team Silver and County Gold medals was a just reward for these four lads who packed well as a team and booked their place in Gransha. Cian McBride lead the team home in 2nd place followed by team mate William Crowe (who felt sick on the day and had been vomiting the night before) in 6th place. Ronan Anderson, on his debut at this level showed how talented this young lad is finishing in 8th place with Daire McCloskey returning to competitive athletics securing the medals by finishing in 20th place.

U 16 Girls and Boys

More fine performances at the longer distances with Sorcha Fallon and Elan McCarthy finishing in 8th and 12th place to qualify for the National Championships. Good performances also on the day from Cliodhna McGowan and Aaron McEnroy who will no doubt look forward to their good age group on the next day out.

2010 Connaught Uneven Ages & Novice Cross Country Championships, Taughmaconnell, Co. Roscommon, Saturday 13 November 2010

Good Results for North Sligo Ac Athletes

U15 Boys

William Crowe: 3rd overall
Cian Mc Bride: 4th overall.
Aaron McElroy: 11th overall.
Ronan Anderson: 14th overall.
North Sligo AC: 2nd club team (Craughwell AC , Galway came 1st, with individual 1st and 2nd places)
Sligo County: 1st County team
Sligo County team included the following Sligo AC members in addition to the above: Dylan Carty 10th; Daren Kilcawley 8th

National Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country Championships Gransha, County Derry Sunday 28th November 2010

Gransha, County Derry, was the venue, on Sunday November 28th 2010, for the National All-Ireland Even Ages Cross Country Championship Finals, in severe Artic Weather conditions.
The day was extremely cold, with a fairly thick layer of compacted snow on the ground, but managable to run on, and atheletes were often running through snow showers, with obvious bright red faces. Despite the severe weather conditions, there was a large turnout of competitors on the day from all over the country (for example there were teams from the South: Cork, Kerry; from the East: Dublin; from the West: Galway, Mayo; from the North West: Sligo and Donegal, and from many midland counties, as most of the atheletes and their families travelled the day before and stayed overnight in hotels in Derry or Letterkenny, showing a great deal of comitment.
The roads in the North West were passable on the day, though there appears to have been some mishaps according to Craughwell AC, and the event was well organised, with a fair start, on a fairly flat fast course (apart from the the snow). It would have been hard to cancel the event for these reasons, especially after all the preparations by the event organisers and atheletes themselves, not to mention the training scedules designed to peak on that day.
However, there was evidence of some of the children being under stress from the cold, with several visiting the First Aid tent. From our own North Sligo Athletics Club alone, Sorchia Fallon, in the Girls U16, collapsed mid way through the race and had to be brought to the First Aid tent; William Crowe in the Boys U14 finished 5th but was in a bad shape, shivering violently and with his fingers and toes paining, and a number of our younger slighter atheletes did not do so well as expected. During the day Several atheletes tripped and fell and had to be brought to the casualty tent, quite a number of the smaller or slighter atheletes were suffering from hypothermia at the end of their rasces, but were well provided with tin foil blankets.
One hardy U12 Boy ran his event in his bare feet and finished well, but I thought this was dangerous and possibly should have been discouraged (or stopped), as many atheletes were wearing long spikes because of the snow.
The conditions were bad enough that Thomas McBride, who is of slight build and suffers from the cold, decided not to run in the senior event.

Results of Good Events for North Sligo Ac Athletes

U14 Boys

Individual Results in this race: ( first 12 atheletes received medals).
All the first 5 Atheletes know each others form well, having competed against each other on at least several ocasions in cross country and middle distance track events, beating at least some of the other four competitors on some occasions!
Gold (1st): Peter Gibbons, Letterkenny AC: Peter took this event by storm from the start! Congratulations!
Silver (2nd): Harry Larkin, Lucan Harriers: A Good second!
Bronze (3rd): Willie Hinds, Swinford AC: an excellent result for Willie; congratulation from former Sligo Community Games Cross Country Team mates!
4th overall: Cian Mc Bride, North Sligo AC:
5th overall: William Crowe, North Sligo AC: The North Sligo AC team mates, close together as usual, this time Cian finishing ahead.

Team Results:
North Sligo AC: 2nd club team

Provincial Results in this race:
3rd Provincial team: Connacht (only a few points separated the first 3 Provincial Teams)

National Junior Cross Country U14 Boys Team silver Medalists: North Sligo AC.
From Left to Right: Ronan Anderson, Daire McCloskey, William Crowe, Cian McBride.
Ronan, a national swimmer who has been placed third in Britain in a Medaly event, is a very recent addition to the team. Daire also competes sucessfully in National Swimming events, has been involved for a long time in athletics with the club, but has been absent due to injury recently. Both did very well, both comming in the 40s, to support the team's 2nd placing, a great team result!
William and Cian are wearing their individual medals. The Team and Provincial Medals were not given out on the day.

Magnificent Team Gold for Men’s U23 Team at Euro Cross Sunday, December 12th, 2010

Ireland’s Men’s Under 23 Team Magnificent in Winning European Team Gold Medals in 17th European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal.

Ireland’s Victorious Men’s U23 Team Home from Euro CrossTuesday, December 14th, 2010

Ireland’s Euro Cross heroes received a warm welcome home this morning when their plane touched down at Dublin airport at 9AM and were greeted by members of the press together with friends, family and supporters of the winning Men’s U23 team.

The gold medal winning team of David McCarthy (West Waterford AC), Brendan O’Neill (DSD), Michael Mulhare (North Laois AC), David Rooney (Raheny Shamrock AC), John Coghlan (Metro /St Brigid’s AC) and Ciaran O’Lionaird (Leevale AC) were all in sparkling form as they appeared into the arrivals area with the rest of the Irish Team from the 17th European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal.