Relays.............

Now some may say that Newry AC were last in their two relay events yesterday and while the records may indeed indicate that was the fact of the case, the truth of the matter is that the girls were true champions! The work rate, dedication and enthusiasm that these young ladies showed yesterday and over these past few weeks have made their display yesterday the highlight of the winter season for this coach. The fun and laughter continued all the way home, absolutely what our club should be all about! Thank you girls for all your hard work. Thanks also to Mary McParland and to Damien Feehan of 3Ways AC who stayed on to the end of the day to support our girls.

Gold Medal and Ulster Champion

WooHoo! After a few near misses Lucy Quinn got us over the line and becomes the first Ulster champion for our club. And a good one it is, a track championship from the indoor champs in Magherafelt yesterday. Lucy went to the line in the 2 heat 600 mts race and with there being no final it was imperative that Lucy ran flat out to avoid the second heat being quicker. As has become her trademark Lucy took the race by the scruff of the neck, attacked from the gun and said to the rest "catch me if you can". Only one competitor was able and turning for home it looked ominous for Lucy, but as she has demonstrated in the past catching her is one thing, getting past.............well now that's another thing, and this time was no exception. Lucy fought all the way up the straight and got home by the thickness of her vest! Now it was down to the second heat and again it looked bad as the winner looked to be quicker and indeed dad Rory timed the second heat quicker. Anxious moments later the result had Lucy on top of the rostrum, by hundred's of a second! After having second third and fourth in title races this winter is is hugely satisfying to get a gold medal into the club and hopefully we can build on it. A big thanks to Rory for all his support. Aso competing were Jack O'Hanlon and Niall Conlon. Both lads ran their hearts out and first timer Niall led for most of his heat eventually finishing third. Surely with a bit more time a big improvement will take place. Thanks to John O'Hanlon for transport and support. It all helps.

Anoher medal for Our Ladys duo

Last Saturday Helen & Mairead were again in the medals when they were part of Our Ladys team in the Irish schools xc final at the UUJ. A bronze medal was a good reward for the hard work put in by the girls on a tough 2500mt course, well done.

Gold Medal success for Helen & Mairead

Congratulations to Helen McParland and Mairead Grant on being part of the winning Our Ladys team in the recent regional and Ulster schools cross country championships. Excellent work.

Indoor Champs

Two of our young athletes made the start line for the 800 mts in the Oddessy last Saturday. Aislinn Crossey & Helen McParland were the pride of Newry A.C. with their excellent performances and as representitives of the club. Both had worked hard over the Christmas break and were both very nervous on the day. Helen had been training to a 3 minute program and when she broke the tape in 2' 55" it was a brilliant effort and more encouraging was the fact that her last lap was the quickest! With 4 heats and only the heat winners guaranteed a place in the final Aislinn faced reigning champ Rachael Henderson from Willowfield A.C. A bad start didn't help and starting the last lap it looked like a hard task for Ais. It was a startled champ when the Newry vest came storming past on the home straight! Fastest heat by some margin too. 2 hours later in the final Aislinn ran the race from hell! Another bad start, running in the third lane on the bend and getting caught on the inside and having to check and come around the outside on the last bend......and she still came home with a brilliant silver medal! What a stunning run! Aislinn will never run as naievly again and all the competitors in the final will know that. A time in the fnal of 2'31.9" was a pb by an incredible 7 seconds and in 9 months was a reduction of 17 seconds! We'll be working on a futher reduction.............Well done to our girls and thanks to all who traveled to the event to support them, as always it really helps.

We're back!!!

The height off laziness, busy, bogey internet connection, pick any one for an excuse why there have been no updates....but we're back again. Tons of news but you already know most off it so we'll pass on that and start fresh. Sessions on Tues and Thurs are flying along and Sun joint sessions with 3 Ways are brilliant and this is biggest news of the winter. Two entries for the Oddessy indoors on the 7th of Feb and we'll get a big entry for the Magerafelt indoors in early March. Spring is coming so get your shorts out of the attic................

Thursday Sessions

We are splitting Thursday sessions to help manage numbers in the hall. Smaller kids and non competing people from 6.00 to 6.45 and those who compete from 6.30 to 7.30. If you are in doubt give me a call.

Ulster champs Pt. 2

Another day,  another shuck!!! More wind, more rain, just colder......and more mud, much more mud. It's no wonder kids give up on athletics when this is the best the governing body can come up with, dreadful course, shabby organising and a starter who was, at best,  as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe and at worst was heavily biased towards the local athletes!! A complaint will be lodged to Athletics N.I. Anyways onto the racing, and we had just two brave souls today. First up was Lucy Quinn in her first ever Ulsters.  As regular readers will know we are huge Lucy fans, she always gives 100%, and today she went the extra 1% that marks the really good from the rest. 101% from Lucy Quinn was good enough for a podium finish with an incredible 3rd place! A remarkable stat from the race was that Lucy was the only athlete  from the 6 counties to get into the top 20! An Irish championship appearance in Cavan on Dec 7th is Lucy's reward (or penance).  If there is an embodiment of all that is good in junior athletics then it must be Rachael Quinn. No-one enjoys their athletics more or is more popular than Rachael. Although more suited to sprinting on the track she gave everything for a qualification place and although she came up short it surely wasn't for the lack of effort. The disappointment she felt and still feels will be softened by the call we had with Athletics N.I. on Tuesday when it turns out Rachael made the county team with ease and will be going to Cavan in December! Unfortunately it's the Down county team so her folks might be asking her to move out..........a big thanks again to the support team.

Changed times from training

Don't forget 6.00 start on Tuesday night's from now on........

Ulster champs Pt.1

We travelled to the U.U.J. on Sat for the even age group xc champs.  With gale force winds and driving rain it was always going to hard for our athletes to make an impression. We train our athletes very lightly and with long term goals, principally for the track. This leaves them at a disadvantage in hard conditions on tough xc courses but should, we hope, pay dividend's over the passage of time. Despite this we had hopes of qualifying  a couple for the Irish champs, this needing a top twelve finish. Tiernan Forde, Lorcan Forde, Aishling McAnulty and Katie O'Hare all finished strongly in huge fields in their categories coming home in 63rd,  21st,  90th & 29th places. These races are the highest standard races in Ulster every year and the pace is always blinding fast and relentless and our less experienced athletes will learn from their day out. It's hard to believe that 11 year old Charlotte Rea is now our most experienced athlete and was competing in her third Ulster's and was chasing a place in the Irish champs for the second time. Charlotte has recently started to develop a more competitive streak and went to the line determined to give herself a chance of qualification. 700 mts into a tough 1km race Charlotte was on course and on the finishing loop she controlled her race and came home in an excellent 11th place. This was a tremendous performance full of maturity and aggression. Every time Charlotte competes she learns more about herself and applies these lessons well. A tremendous athlete doing a great job. Last one up was Aislinn Crossey and as usual Ais delivered a sparkling performance to both put herself in a position to qualify and to finish the job off. Ais stormed home in 4th place and left this coach with no doubt that without the wind and muddy conditions a gold medal was a distinct possiblity! All our young athletes deserve immense credit for their hard work as do the parents who give up their time to come and support them. We move on to Donegal for the un-even Ulster's in a fortnights time. 

Lucy wins again

Sunday morning at the Bush track for the Glenmore AC promoted cross country was on the schedule for just one of our athletes. This was due to the Ulster age group championship next Saturday. Only one but a good one! A cold, miserable, windy morning at the Bush was nothing new for us as we have hidden in hedges out here all summer to get out of the weather! Lucy made her normal electric start and led off the line but unlike the race in Stamullen she was challenged after 200 mts and indeed dropped 10 mts off the pace and looked uncomfortable in 2nd place. Lucy knows how to dig in and rounding the last turn 100 mts from the line she was back in the race and into the gale to the line she was the strongest. Lucy will improve even more from this run and as this was only her 4th event she gains invaluable experience each time she competes. A big thanks to Charlotte Rea for helping with the warmups. 

Sunday Session

At the back of the pool this Sunday for any-one interested.

Stamullen xc report

Another fine day, this time in the cattle fields of Co. Meath! A few of our young athletes were  making their debut today, as was our new kit. Both kids and kit performed brilliantly and all credit to the parents who turned up to support their children, it makes a big difference to them and to the coaches in the club. Niamh Hagen, Jane Rea, Lorcan Forde and Ben McConville were the 8 and 9 year old debutants and all finished well up in their races with Lorcan and Ben finishing 5th and 7th. In the older groups Katie O'Hare showed she learned from last weeks xc in Belfast  and had a great sprint finish to finish well, Gary Crummy, Aodhan O'Brien, Tiernan Forde and Luc Hanna all ran well in the boys u-12 1000 mts with Gary coming home in 7th. Charlotte Rea pinned the start this week, learning from last weeks mistake, and got away in the front bunch eventually finishing 4th, reversing places from last week. Fastest finisher off the day was Rachael Quinn using her natural speed to finish 10th. Lucy Quinn continued the good form from last week and led off the line in the most competitive race of the day, the girls u-11 800 mts. Lucy is a tenacious character and would not let go of the lead up the long hill and showed great composure and controlled the race all the way to the finish to win by 2 mts. Star performance from a classy athlete. Thanks again for all the support. Next xc for some is 19th of October in Carlingford. More info nearer the time.  

CHANGE of VENUE

From next Thursday night the 2nd of October the sessions are moving to the 3 ways community hall on High St in Newry. This is up High St and turn down to the right towards the Rope Walk football pitch. This only is on Thursday nights as the Tuesday sessions will continue at the swimming pool. These sessions will be almost always indoors but always take enough gear in case we go outside! Times will be the same but we may start a bit earlier in a week or two for any who want to do a bit more warm up and stretching. 

XC in Stamullen

Anyone interested in this Sundays XC please let us know asap so we can organise transport.