Friday 16th December 7 to 8pm Community Centre Hall

Athletes, Coaches & Parents, you are cordially invited to join us to celebrate the athletic achievements of our members over 2016. It’s been a great year with more athletes competing than ever before, across all the training groups. It was exciting to see our new Sprint Group compete for the first time, under the guidance of Irish Sprint Record holder, Ailis McSweeney, who we are delighted to welcome to the club. It will be an exciting evening with the achievements of all recognised. We will announce female and male track and XC athletes of the year, most improved athlete of the year and of course the all important Jim Quigley award.

As well as the awards, there is our annual raffle, tickets still available from Liz, Donna or Ruth. There are a number of exciting prizes including a selection of wines, gift vouchers and an amazing Children’s Xmas Eve Hamper. Don’t forget if you’re not in, you can’t win…

Get your Party gear ready. Santa hats and Christmas Jumpers are the order of the day. We look forward to you joining us on the night.

Selection of Wines

Gift vouchers

Children’s Xmas Eve Hamper

Each year Skerries Athletic Club present an award called the Jim
Quigley Award. It is given to an athlete who has shown commitment & perserverance over many years, who respects their coaches and is supportive to their fellow athletes. Basically someone who exemplifies the attitude we promote as a club, rather than based on athletic ahievement. But who was Jim Quigley?

The award is presented in honour of Jim Quigley, a champion of community
development; a larger than life personality who was a dreamer and a doer;
an idealist and an activist. Jim was born in 1942 and grew up in
Toomevara, County Tipperary. He attended school firstly in Nenagh and then
Mungret College, Limerick. He spent two years in the SMA Seminary, Cork
before moving to Dublin where he worked initially in the bar trade and
subsequently in sales, with Telecom Eireann. In 1970, Jim married Brigid
Carolan and shortly afterwards the couple came to live in Skerries,
purchasing their home in the newly built Hillside Estate.
An Irish Times obituary in honour of Jim, published shortly after his death
in August 2001, refers to the ‘missionary zeal’ with which he approached
his involvement in community development. In this, Jim was inspired and
influenced by the movement, Muintir na Tire, founded by Canon John Hayes in
Thurles, County Tipperary, in 1937. Self-help, neighbourliness, service
for the common good are the core principles of Muintir na Tire and Skerries
provided ample opportunity for Jim’s energy and commitment to these goals.
Jim firstly volunteered in his local Residents Group and from there was
drawn to the Skerries Development and Community Association where his
involvement lasted 22 years. Jim was Chairperson of the SDCA for ten of
those years and worked on many, many projects. Perhaps the most visible
legacy of his work in Skerries is the Community Centre. In 1977, the
Skerries Development and Community Association set up a sub-committee to
look at the needs of their fast-growing town. Jim was a leading member of
this sub-committee which lobbied central government; the local authority,
then Dublin County Council and the residents of Skerries to raise the
necessary funds to build a Community Centre. The Centre opened in December
1982 and Jim was determined that it would succeed and flourish. He kept a
keen eye on income streams including the Saturday evening bingo event where
he was a regular presence. In the course of encouraging his own children
Orla and Edel, Jim became involved in community games at local and national
level and served as chairman of our own Skerries Athletic Club. In the early
1990s, the SDCA was asked to collaborate with the County Council in the
development of Ardgillan Castle as a visitor attraction. Jim became
Chairman of the Board of Management and attended meeting after meeting as
this project got off the ground. The same can be said of his involvement
with Fingal Tourism, formed in 1994 to coincide with the new Fingal County
Council.
The opportunity to take early retirement from Telecom Eireann allowed Jim
to pursue his ideals for community development and to commit his energies
to this area which was so important to him. He had rekindled his links to
Muintir na Tire in their Golden Jubilee year of 1987 and in 1994 was
elected the organisation’s first full-time President. As with every other
project, Jim threw himself into the work; travelling up and down the
country; establishing Community Alert units; lobbying and advocating on
behalf of vulnerable people and communities. He became a member of the
Rural Development Strategy Group; was a member of a steering committee for
a White Paper on ‘Voluntary Activity and its relationship to the State’; in
1999, he was nominated to the National Crime Forum by John O’Donoghue TD
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Jim was named Tipperary Man
of the Year in 1999, an accolade he treasured as he dealt with the onset
and diagnosis of a brain tumour. Jim died on the 29 August 2001. We
remember him and celebrate his life’s work with this award.

Congratulations to all the athletes who competed at Tymon Park on Sunday. We were blessed with a dry day. It was an exciting course (if not a little hard to find). Thanks as ever to the coaches and parents for support. Results to follow shortly, but here’s a few photos to keep you going.

Tymon Park – Sunday 4th December 2016

Details for this Sunday’s Race as Follows (including links to route to start, and course maps). Please arrive at course at least 90mins before the start of your race, to allow time to obtain numbers, walk the course, and warm up. If you have any queries don’t hesitate to contact your coach.

Event Schedule

If time permits the U16 boys will be run as a separate contest

pedestrian-route-to-start-in-tymon-park-dec-16

600m-l3-tymon-park-dec-16

800m-tymon-l3-dec-16

1000m-plus-3000m-l3-tymon-park-dec-16

1500m-l3-tymon-park-dec-16

2k-and-4k-l3-tymon-park-dec-16

Beautiful day at Santry (even though a little chilly). Strong team and individual performances. All our athletes did us proud. Thanks to Kevin Cohen and KPMG for our beautiful new flags, (made finding each other a lot easier). Thanks also to the coaches and parents for their continued support, and to Dublin Athletic Board and Clonliffe Harriers for putting on such a great race.

Santry Demesne Sunday 6th November 2016

Good luck to all our athletes competing on Sunday. It is important to be at the race at least 90mins before your start time to allow time to familiarise yourself with the course and warm up. Bring plenty of warm dry gear.

DUBLIN COUNTY ATHLETIC BOARD

Event Schedule

U9 Girls 800m 11.00am

U9 Boys 800m 11.08am

U11 Girls 1500m 11.16am

U11 Boys 1500m 11.26am

U13 Girls 2500m 11.35am

U13 Boys 2500m 11.50am

U15 Girls 3500m 12.03am

U15 Boys 3500m 12.22pm

U17 Girls 4000m 12.39pm

U17 Boys 5000m 1.00pm

U19/Junior Ladies 4000m 1.25pm

U19/Junior Men 6000m 1.45pm

Senior Ladies 6000m 2.15pm

Senior Men 10000m 2.45pm

 
IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM DUBLIN ATHLETIC BOARD

CAR PARKING:

There will be limited car parking available in the Morton Stadium – competitors and spectators please use gate number 1 (the gate closest to Santry).

Stewards and officials please use gate number 3 – the Clonliffe gate. Competitors are asked please not to use this particular side of the car park.

Fingal County Council who own Santry Demesne Park and are kind enough to allow us use of the park have specifically requested that competitors and spectators refrain from using the public car-park in the park itself. If this car-park is used it will become congested very quickly and will lead to problems with future events being held in the park. We appeal, therefore, to please respect the wishes of Fingal County Council and do not use this particular car-park.

There will also be car parking available in Gulliver’s Retail Park which is situated up at Homebase in Northwood which is approximately a ten minute walk to the cross country venue.

Competitors and spectators are reminded that there is no parking permitted along the Swords Road itself, along the Northwood Road, there is strictly no parking on any of the grass verges along Northwood. Please also note when parking in the Morton Stadium that the avenue cannot under any circumstances be used for parking. Competitors and spectators are also reminded that An Garda Siochana regularly enforce no parking along the Swords Road.

Competitors and clubs are requested to ensure that all litter is removed from the park post event. Your help and co-operation in doing this would be gratefully appreciated. Please bear in mind that if you do not bring home your rubbish it falls upon the people who are kind enough to give freely and willingly of their time to build the course and will be on site from 8 a.m. in the morning to tidy up your rubbish. Please, therefore, do the right thing!

Good luck to all our coaches doing the Dublin Marathon this morning. It takes months of long and lonely training to make it to the start line. You are an inspiration. Good luck we’re proud of you.