Monday, February 25, 2013

Ratoath/Rathbeggan Community Games Swimming Gala


Ratoath/Rathbeggan Community Games have asked us to notify our members of their up an coming swimming gala, which will be held on Sunday the 3rd of March between 5-6 pm, at Coolmine Sports Centre (near Power City Store, Dublin 15). Registration will take place at 4:30 pm. Events for U6 – U16 Years, all levels welcome. Entry fee €3. Please contract Catherine at 086 8466495 if you require further information.




Sunday, February 24, 2013

All-Ireland Juvenile Inter-county Relays


The All Ireland juvenile inter-county cross country relay championships were held in Tullamore today (24th February) over a flat and dry 500m circuit. Ratoath A/C had a total of 3 athletes competing.

First up was Karen Hayes who got the Meath u 12 girls off to a good start but after a closely contested race, the Meath team finished just outside the medals in 4th. The boys u 14 team included Cormac Butler and Alex Hunter from Ratoath and both produced great runs to secure a team bronze medal.  Cormac ran as though his life depended on it and put in a storming run on the penultimate leg to bring the team up to 3rd while Alex held off the challenge of a determined Donegal team in a pulsating finish.

Well done to all the athletes who did the club proud.



Testing Session in DCU with Martina McCarthy, High Performance Manager DCU Sport and former Olympian, and Fionnuala Britton, Masters Student and current European Cross Country Champion.


On Sat 23rd Feb we brought 9 of our Leinster and National standard athletes to DCU to undergo fitness, prehab, power, speed and endurance testing.

The tests included double and single leg vertical and horizontal jumps, sprint tests, repeat sprint speed endurance testing, med ball throws and Functional Movement Screening (FMS).

We're still awaiting the results, but for our young athletes it was a great introduction into the more professional sphere of athletics. Through watching each other doing the tests they could begin to see the differences, strengths and weaknesses between those athletes who are speed and power as opposed to endurance trained. They could see their own strong and weak physical qualities. 
The next phase is to take the findings and educate them, and ourselves as coaches, how to build on the strengths and shore up the weaknesses as we prepare for the outdoor season and hopefully build speed and strength while keeping injuries at bay.





Thank you to Martina and Fionnuala for running the tests, we look forward to the results and building on this session as the year progresses.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Running Spikes

A number of parents have inquired recently on where to purchase running spikes. There are two local shops that supply running spikes:

Dunboyne Sports Shop, Main Street, Dunboyne, Tel: 01-8251036.
Jack Kiernan & Sons, 35 Trim Gate Strret, Navan, Tel: 046-9021465.

A good web site for smaller sizes/half sizes and a greater range of sprinting and middle distance spikes is www.sportsshoes.com
They offer a two week delivery period with free delivery with every purchase over €40. Please note that spike shoes are normally small fitting, so you need to order one size up from your normal running shoe size.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Meath Community Games Cross Country Report

The Meath Community Games were held in Oldcastle last Sunday; we had a good turnout out from the club with the following athletes taking part on the day, U8: Chloe Kenny, U9: Niamh Murray, Laura Kelly, Kyle Witter, Eoin Kane, Sam Bergin, U10: Aimee Doherty, Abbey McHugh Fionn Drummond, Tom Kilgannon, U12 Shauna Coffey, Ciara Coffey, Karen Hayes, Zara Kane, Rachel Doherty, U13: Fergal Kilgannon, U14: Cormac Butler, Pierce Butler, Conor Sheeran and U16: Peter Kilgannon. The tough course at old castle was in great condition considering the recent bad weather, and even with a cold sharp wind blowing, spirits were high amongst our athletes. Chloe Kenny got us off to a great start with a great run in the girls U8 500m finishing 3rd, this was Chloe’s first cross country and one she will remember. Kyle Witter put in a strong run in the boys U9 event taking silver with Sam Bergin finishing 7th and Eoin Kane 8th, this was a good run from Kyle who is one to watch for the future. Niamh Murray competed well in girls U9 but unfortunately had to pull up with a stitch.
Aimee Doherty had a great battle with her neighbouring club rival Doireann Ni Flaherta from Dunboyne in the girls U10 event, both girls fought hard with the lead changing hands throughout the race and were only separated on the sprint finish in with the Dunboyne girl just edging it. Abbey McHugh who only joined the club recently had a great run for her first time out finishing 6th.  
Tom Kilgannon put in a terrific performance with a very strong run winning the boys U10 event, he was followed home by Fionn Drummond who also had a strong run finishing second from a very competitive field.
Our biggest contingent of the day was in the girls U12 event with 5 girls competing from the club. In a large field of over 20 athletes Karen Hayes put in a great performance, Karen was second coming into the closing stages of the race, but had the strength to finish strongly passing out the Summerhill girl on the run in to take the gold. Karen was followed home by Shauna Coffey 5th, Ciara Coffey 6th, Rachel Doherty 8th and Zara Kane 10th. Ciara Coffey who was competing out of her age had her best run of the season, despite losing her shoe on the way around she continued on and was in 4th position until the closing stages of the race. Karen, Shauna & Ciara have all qualified for the National Finals which will be held in Athlone in May.
In the boys U13 event we had only 1 athlete competing, Fergal Kilgannon put in a good run finishing 5th from a strong field, Fergal has also qualified for the National finals in Athlone. Cormac Butler, Pierce Butler and Conor Sheeran all competed well in the boys u14 event. Peter Kilgannon who is still recovering from a cold did not let that affect him winning the boys u16 race in a convincing manner.
Thanks to all parents and athletes who travelled on the day, and thanks to St. Brigid’s Athletic Club who did a great job as usual hosting the event.













Saturday, February 16, 2013

Meath Community Games Cross Country Note

Please note any one travelling to Ballinacree tomorrow to the Meath Cross Country, that we are meeting up at 9am at our track in Ratoath. Also please note that under Community Games rules, spikes are not allowed up to U13. Only U14 and 16 Athletes are allowed wear spikes. So please bring runners, or football boots, other option is to run bare foot or in sock feet.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Issue getting documents

There was an issue for people trying to get documents from the website recently. This should now be fixed. Let us know if you have any issues.


Reminder- Meath Community Games Cross Country


The Meath Community Games Cross Country will be held this Sunday in Ballinacree beside St. Bridgets' GAA Club in Oldcastle this Sunday Feb 17th at 11am. Register on the day and the entry fee is €2 per athlete. Anyone who wishes to take part to be there by 10:30 latest. Competitors must be under-age on 31st July 2013, eg. under 8 Competition - Competitors must not have reached their 8th birthday on or before July 31st 2011. Note: Under 8, 9, 10 & 16 are County Competitions only and winners do not go forward to Athlone.


Events are for under 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16.
Medals for top six finishers in each event.

Events for Under 8, 9, 10 are 500m (County Competition only).

Event for under 12 is 500m and the first 6 (4 plus next 2 as subs) will qualify as a Relay Team for Athlone.

Event for Under 13 is a mixed event, distance 1,200m and top 5 boys & girls will go to Athlone.
Event for Under 14 is 700m and the like Under 12 the first 6 (4 plus next 2 as subs) will qualify as a Relay Team for Athlone.

Event for Under 16 is 700m. (County Competition Only)


Please see link below for directions to Ballinacree.
It takes approximately one hour and we will be leaving our track at 9am on Sunday morning for those who wish to travel in convoy.



Training Tues 12-2-2013

Training is on tonight in the hall and on the track.

Monday, February 11, 2013

All Ireland Junior and Masters Indoor Championships


The All Ireland Master’s and Junior indoor championships were held over the weekend in Athlone, Abraham Zaidan and Eamon Wallace competed in the Junior men’s section and Peter Doherty competed in the masters. The junior championships were highly competitive this year, with an increase of 100% on last year’s entries, this was due of course to the new state of the art indoor stadium which is proving to be a great success and will be a great boost to athletics over the coming years. In the 60m event there was a record entry of 46 athletes, Abraham Zaidan was disappointed not to improve on his time of 7.31s from the Leinster Championships, and although he finished 3rd in the heat, it was not enough to make it to the final. Again in the 200m there was over 40 Athletes competing, 8 heats were required, with the top 6 fastest times making it to the final, Abraham again was well below form in this event and did not qualify for the final, the final was won by Marcus Lawlor of St. Laurence O’ Toole Ac in a new National record of 21.3s, a remarkable time for a junior.
Eamon Wallace concentrated his efforts at the weekend on the junior men’s 400m, again there was record entry for this event with over 30 athletes entered. 5 heats were required with the winner of each heat qualifying for the final and only 1 fastest loser spot available. Eamon drew a tough heat and could not afford to take it easy in qualification, he won the heat in great style with a time of 49.59s, 3 tenths faster than his previous PB. Eamon set the fastest qualifying time and this gave him a good lane draw for the final. Running in lane 3, he blasted off from the start and ate up the stagger on the Athletes in lane 4-6 by the time he got to the second bend, off the second bend he was 3-4 metres in front when the athletes broke into the inside lanes, he then stretched out the field on the back straight of the second lap and finished strongly with a comfortable 8-10 metre lead in a new pb of 49.41s, securing the gold and another national title. This was another great run by Eamon who has now put his stamp firmly on the ¼ mile event and we wish him the best of luck in the National Seniors indoor championships this weekend where he will rub shoulders with Brian Gregan and a host of other top Irish senior sprinters.
Peter Doherty competed in the 60m event on Saturday, and finished second to Paul McKee, a former Irish Olympian in a new pb time of 7.52 seconds, Paul set a new National record in the 60m with a time of 7.19s. 

Eamon Wallace- National Junior Champion


Friday, February 8, 2013

Leinster Development Squad Day 4

Leinster Development & Performance Squads Day 4
Day 4 of the Leinster Development and Performance Squads will be held in Santry on February 9th 2013.
Development Squad:
Open to all athletes from U12-U15. The events covered on day 2 will be as follows: Hurdles, High Jump + Shot
The Development Squad will run from 10am – 12pm. Athletes are requested to register at 9.30am.If they wish, athletes can change to another event after the first hour of coaching.
Cost for the Development Squad is €5 per day
Please note that ALL athletes must report to the office in the stand area on arrival for registration. Any queries please e-mail colinbyrne@athleticsireland.ie

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Leinster Secondary Schools Cross Country



By Gerry Finnegan

The Leinster Schools cross country championships were held in Santry Demesne on 6th February. Despite the fact that it was a dry sunny day there was a bitterly cold wind blowing making it tough for all comptitors, Underfoot conditions however, were better than expected considering all the recent rain.

First up was Leah Farrell who battled hard all the way in the minor girls despite feeling unwell for most of the race. Leah is definitely an athlete for the future and will surely only improve over the rest of the season. Aine O Connor ran her usual strong race to finish 21st in the junior girls as she led home her team-mates Amber Roche and Shona Quigley. This trio, who recently finished second team in the North Leinster regionals, will surely form the basis of a strong  club and school team in the coming months & years.

 Philip Marron ran his best race to date in the Junior boys. He was in the leading bunch of four athletes almost from the start and put all the hard work he had invested into developing his speed over the winter months when he moved away from Alan Monaghan over the last 400m to take bronze in a very competitive race. An individual Leinster medal is a great reward for an athlete who always trains diligently and has steadily improved from season to season. Peter Kilgannon was not recovered from a stomach bug to do himself justice but there will be better days ahead for Peter over 800m this summer while Alex Hunter was unable to start as he was still suffering from the flu but no doubt he too will bounce back quickly.

Deirdre Healy ran yet another cracking race to finish 7th in the intermediate girls. Such was the quality of the field that the first seven home are all Irish internationals. Deirdre appeared to go through a rough patch early on and was outside the top 12 but she soon got into her stride and was doing her best running in the later stages and was a fast finishing 7th.

We wish Philip & Deirdre the best of luck in the All Ireland School championships. 









Monday, February 4, 2013

Dunboyne Juvenile Club Competition Report

We were blessed with the weather and the enthusiasm of the great numbers of young athletes who showed up for this inaugural Juvenile competition in Dunboyne. Thank you to their parents who gave up the first few hours of their Sunday afternoon to make the journey to Dunboyne and support their sons and daughters. They all did their club proud with some exceptional performances in many of the events and as an added bonus we won the Perpetual Shield.

For many this was their first example of competition and it will really stand by them as we look forward to the Meath Interclub and Championship competitions. It was a great opportunity for many of our parents to see an athletics competition for the first time and any feedback that I've received has been very positive.

Special thanks must go to Fergal O'Flaherty the man from Dunboyne with the idea for this competition and to all the volunteers from Dunboyne who made the day go so well.











Leinster Junior, Senior and Masters Indoor Track & Field Report

The Leinster junior, senior and Masters track and field championships were held last Saturday in Athlone in the new indoor stadium. We had 2 juniors, 1 senior and 2 masters competing on the day, unfortunately John Wallace who was competing for the first time in the Masters had to pull out in the warm up due to a hamstring injury. Eamon Wallace and Abraham Zaidan competed in the junior men’s competition, Eamon competed in the 400m and 60m, and Abraham competed in the 60m and 200m. Eamon who was running his first indoor 400m, ran a sensational race, leading from the gun he blasted through the 200m first lap in 22.9s, and powered on from there to finish in a time of 49.9s winning easily and breaking the Leinster indoor record by over one and a half seconds. This will be a great encouragement to Eamon who has his eye on the qualifying time of 48s for the European Junior Championships which will be held in Italy in July. Eamon also finished second in the junior men 60m in a time of 7.2s, which was a new personal best and a new Ratoath Ac club indoor record. Abraham Zaidan finished 4th in the 60m junior men event in a time of 7.31s, this was a huge improvement on his time of 7.75s in the same event last year, Abraham also set a new Ratoath Ac Club indoor record in the 200m in a time of 23.66s, also finishing 4th. Abraham did not medal on the day but will not be concerned about that as he continues to improve at this impressive rate.
Neil Finnegan was our only senior athlete competing on the day, and after a long break from serious competition, he will be pleased to have picked up two silver medals in the senior men 60m and 200m as he continues his comeback.
Peter Doherty won the Master M35 60m in a time of 7.58s and set a new Leinster Championship indoor record winning the 200m in a time of 24.64s.

Leinster Indoor Juvenile Relays

The Leinster juvenile indoor relays were held at the new indoor stadium in Athlone last Saturday. We sent six teams down to compete, a great turnout for our first time competing in this competition in a good number of years. First off on the day was our girls U13 team in the 4 x 100m relay,  the team made up of Ivie Okome, Karen Hayes, Shauna Coffey and Aine Cooney ran a great heat winning easily and qualifying for the final in a time of 58.5s, which was the second fastest time of the day overall in the U13 event. Unfortunately all did not go to plan in the final and the girls finished 5th with a time of 60s, they were very disappointed but the experience will stand to them and we hope to enter them for the All Ireland relays in April. The boys U19 were up next and they took gold in the 4 x 200m event in a time of 1:47s, the team consisted of Tom Gannon, Conor Duncan, Ciaran McCarty and Ross Hunter. The even ages events were up next and we had two girls U12 teams competing made up of Blue Team: Emma Coroner, Orla Hayes, Ella Healy and Rachel McPartlin, and Yellow Team: Aoife Rutherford, Ciara Coffey, Aoife Foster and Aine Foster. Both teams competed well with our blue team winning silver in the final, with a storming run from Emma Coroner on the final leg bringing the girls from third to second over the last 20 metres in a time of 61.5s. Our boy’s u12 team made up of Finn Mooney, Rohan Wardick, Matthew Buckley and Brian Kiely ran a good race but did not make it to the final, this was a young team with most of the lads U12 again next year and are ones to watch for the future. Our U16 boy’s team also medalled on the day winning bronze in the 4 x 200m event, the team of Philip Marron, Stephen Shaw, Owen Clayton and Mikey O’Malley all ran good legs and this was a great result seeing that the lads only got together in the last 2 weeks to train for the event. Unfortunately Tom Kilgannon and Peter Kilgannon could not make it on the day as both were sick would have been very disappointed to miss out.
I think everyone enjoyed the day and it was a great experience for our Athletes to compete in what can only be described as a World class facility. This is a great annual event and we intend to have more teams competing next year. Thanks to all parents and coaches who travelled and helped out on the day.




Sunday, February 3, 2013

Dunboyne Local Club Competition 3-2-2013 update

Reminder for Ratoath AC members that we are meeting at our track at 11:15 to be in Dunboyne before the 12:00 start time.

Information below received from Dunboyne--

Parking at Dunboyne A.C carpark for the Dunshaughlin, Rotoath and Tara clubs. Dunboyne AC members are asked to consider parking at library on way into village-approx 300m away.

THERE ARE 4 EVENTS FOR EACH AGE GROUP BELOW IS THE STARTING EVENTS FOR EACH AGE GROUP AT 12:00. When these finish they'll move onto their next event.

Starting Lineup of Events
1. U10s boys & girls ( Born 2004) long jump.

2. U11s boys & girls (Born 2003) turbo javelin.

3. U9 boys & girls (Born 2005) 60m sprints heats and finals

4. U12 boys & girls (Born 2002) 60m sprints heats and finals



5. Longer distance races will be run off at end of above events.

U9 (Born2005) 300m
U10(Born 2004) 500m
U11 (Born 2003) 600m
U12(Born 2002) 600m

A Perpetual Shield will be presented to the club with the overall greatest performance at close of meet.

All athletes regardless of their level of fitness level or ability are welcome - no pressure will be put on any child to compete at any particular event if they choose not to compete at the last minute.The long jump and turbojav are more in the way of fun events . No child will be too far behind in a 60m race. The longer distances are left to the end of the meet so as to allow those who do not wish to compete not to feel left out. Long jump will be a sand foot mark for U9 to U11 and from the board for u12. Due to the gravel surface all races will be a standing start.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Leinster Indoors 2-2-2013

Best of Luck to our 7 Relay Teams and Master, Senior and Junior athletes competing today in the brand new Indoor Arena in Athlone I.T. Report to follow.