League 1 Santry Saturday 13th April 2019

League 2 Santry Saturday 27th April 2019

Congratulations to Harvey and Cressida on their incredible performances at Nationals over the weekend.

Cressida was running in the U17 60m and came third in her heat just missing out on the final by .002. The second place qualifier had a time of 8.112 and Cressida’s time was 8.114. Very slim margins that hurt.

Harvey had a busy weekend competing on Saturday in the 60m sprints and Sunday in the 800m. He stormed out of the blocks and won is heat in a time of 7.95. Then onto finals, there was a false start in the lane beside him which made him more cautious coming out of his blocks but he powered down the track finishing in 4th place in a time of 7.94, which was an improvement in heat time.

Back to the track early Sunday morning for check in and warm up, where Harvey was in heat 2. He positioned himself , staying in the top 3 throughout the race finishing in 3rd in a time of 2.19.27 through to the final as an automatic qualifier. Time for food and chilling before the final at 5pm.

Nerves kicking in and off to line for final. Tactically aware of his rivals, he sat in 2nd in a very fast race but unfortunately ran out of steam for the last 200m, finishing in 8th.

Phenomenal achievement for both our athletes to be counted amongst the best in Ireland. Coaches and club are very proud of you both.

On Saturday three of our coaches, Keith, Kevin and David represented Ireland in the world Masters Half Marathon in Toruń in Poland. Having packed thermals it turned out Poland wasn’t so cold, and the morning of the race was quite hot and heavy. Also turned out the supposedly flat course was very hilly. That being said the boys (and yes they’ve had their metabolic ages taken and we can officially call them boys), took it in they’re stride.

Keith led the Irish team home with a PB of 1:17:29. He was shortly followed by Kevin (1:18:33) and David (1:19:29 another PB).

So proud of you all. You are an inspiration to our young athletes starting out on their athletic careers. Thanks also to everyone who sent messages of goodwill and support.

Now to recovery…. yes they do practise what they preach. Sea bath, great for those sore, tired muscles. Has to be 10 minutes though 🥶🥶🥶.

Congratulations to Lottie and John on representing their respective schools at the All Ireland Schools Cross Country on Saturday. in Clongowes Wood College. Fantastic achievement for them to have qualified for the event.

Both were competing in the Senior races, Lottie finishing in 33rd and John in 11th place in a time of 23.12. John was first man home for Belvedere College helping them secure the silver medal in the team event.

Congratulations to both of you.

Congratulation to David, Keith and John on their impressive runs in awful conditions in the Lusk 4 Mile 2019.

David was 8th overall in a time of 22.42 & picking up the bronze medal in his age category. Keith was hot on his heels in 9th with a time of 22.48, taking the gold in his age category and John was 35th overall with a time of 24:51. Great results from Skerries AC in a field of over 600 competitors.

The Irish Universities XC Championships took place in St Mary’s College Galway yesterday (Saturday 2nd March 2018). Orla competing for DCU came an impressive 20th with DCU taking the team title. Eibhlin competing for NUIG in her first University XC Championships finished 52nd, with NUIG just missing out on team medals finishing 4th. It was also great to see two past Skerries AC athletes competing, Rhona (NUIG) and Sive (Trinity). Well done all, great performances.

Hard to believe but Training has finished until 2019.

Congratulations to Shauna, Lottie and John who did not allow Storm Deirdre to deter them from competing in the National Uneven Age Cross Country Championships in Navan on Saturday.

All put in great performances under very tough conditions, with Shauna stepping up an age group to U/13’s. Lottie was the 6th scorer in 39th place helping the Dublin team secure gold in the County competition. John had an amazing race finishing in 8th position in the individual race and was 2nd team scorer for Dublin securing a silver medal for Dublin County team and a bronze medal for Dublin province team.

The Senior groups joined by the Sprint Group finished up with the annual Christmas cake run in Ardgillan on Sunday. As always a hotly contested competition with Nathan, Aoife and Shauna battling out for the first cake, Aoife just taking it on the line.

Another sprint finish for the older group with Philip just beating Josh.

Thanks so much to Joanne for organising and as always supplying the beautiful cakes. Thanks to the parents who supported and brought cakes, treats and hot chocolate, (including the Ericson & Fanning families for the warm sausages, and Nathan for his amazing healthy (at least that’s what I’m telling myself 😉) brownies.

Thanks to the coaches and committee members for all you do for our athletes during the year, the parents for your ongoing support and of course the athletes whose hard work and commitment make it all worth while.

Have a good break. Wishing you all a Happy and Peaceful Christmas. Look forward to seeing you all back at training in the New Year.

Friday night saw all Skerries Athletic Club’s training groups, coaches and parents/guardians come together to celebrate what has been another great year for our athletes. The achievements of all our athletes were recognised and acknowledged whether it was at their training sessions, races or a combination of both.

Some of our athletes are in their first year with Skerries AC which we hope is the start of a long enjoyable journey. Huge thanks were passed on to our coaches for the time and commitment they give to the club in supporting our athletes and parents for their continued support. Thanks was also given to our committee for their commitment, time and hard work throughout the year in supporting our coaches/athletes and organising our social/fundraising events.

We were delighted to welcome Ciara Durkan (long time member of the Club and successful Irish athlete) to present the Club Awards to our athletes.

Proceedings kicked off with a small presentation to a long time member of the committee who stepped down earlier this year Joanne Carron. We would like to thank Joanne for all her years on the committee, thankfully she is remaining with us as a coach.

Participation medals were awarded to our Junior athletes (Indoor and Astro) in recognition of their hard work at training in all weathers throughout the year. Next up were the Dublin League, Dublin Championship and National Championship medals of which were in abundance down to the fantastic runs by our athletes throughout the year. These medals represented the Clubs success in both Cross Country and Track races, over distances varying from 60m up to 6,000m. (The recent XC League medals were not available but the athletes achievements were recognised … hence the reason for no medals in their photos).

The Club Annual Awards for 2018 were presented to

Junior 1 Attendance – Conall Gilbride

Junior 1 Coaches – Chloe Walls

Junior 2 Attendance – James Walls

Junior 2 Coaches – Aisling Murphy

Female Track Athlete – Lottie Simons

Female XC Athlete – Shauna Prior

Male Track Athlete – Harvey Lowe

Male XC Athlete – John Fanning

Most Improved Athlete – Cressida Amaniampong

Jim Quigley Award – Nathan Harpur

At the end of the evening we held our Christmas Raffle, thank you to all the parents for their support. Huge thanks also go to our sponsors who donated fantastic prizes :

Gourmet Food Parlour

Stoop Your Head

McMeels Pharmacy

Apache Pizza

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LA Bakery

Red Island Wines

C&T Supermarkets

Price Family

Hackett Family

O’Hara Family

McGirl Family

Fanning Family

Last but not least thanks to Michael for the great photos.

Wishing you all an enjoyable break over the Christmas and we look forward to another successful year of athletics during 2019.

No Indoor/Astro training for our Junior Groups this Friday 26th due to Election. See you all on Friday 2nd.

Happy Halloween, stay safe. 🎃

The Dublin Even Age XC Championships took place in a cold damp Abbottstown on Sunday morning, with athletes competing from U/10 to U/18. The Dublin Championships is always a big step up in standard compared to the Cross Country Leagues, with the championships providing an opportunity for our athletes to qualify for the National Cross Country Championships in November. As always, our athletes did their club,coaches, families and more importantly themselves proud.

The morning started with our U/10 boys, Conor C 14th, Conor D 29th and Michael 47th. The Conor’s were treated to a trip to Krispy Kreme on their way home to restore their sugar levels.

The remainder of the races had our athletes hunting National qualification:

U12 Girls : Shauna 5th, Aoife 10th, Isobel 20th & Ava 48th and the team placed 4th overall

U12 Boys : Ben 11th

U14 Boys : Nathan 26th

U16 Girls : Emma 12th

U18 Girls : Lottie 4th and Kerrie 15th.

Following the Dublin Juvenile Championships in the morning, it was the turn of our Junior and Senior athletes, with Eibhlin competing in the Junior race and Orla in the Senior race. Both ran very well putting in solid performances in strongly competitive fields.

Thanks as always to the coaches for preparing the athletes for the competition and to those who were there to give that final bit of guidance and support. To all the parents who came to support, particularly to Chris, Liam & Michelle who acted as officials on behalf of the Club.

Congratulations to all our fabulous athletes.