G.C.H. had six athletes competing today in the Woodies DIY Intercounties Cross-Country Championships of Ireland. This is one of the main and most competitive events of the Irish winter athletics calendar. This year, it also serves as the trials for the European Cross-Country Championships to be held in Spain on December 9th.
Galway county fielded both Men's and Women's teams this year. In the Mens 10,000m race, Gary Thornton, GCH, was first home for the Galway team in 11th overall, followed closely by Paul McNamara, Athenry AC, in 18th.

The County Galway cross-country championships were held earlier today at Dartfield, Loughrea. Senior and juvenile athletes from around the county competed for Senior, Intermediate, Novice, Veteran as well as Juvenile titles and G.C.H. had a number of medal winners.

Juvenile Results
G.C.H. had 3 individual winners in the Juvenile events. Colm Huges won the U13 Boys, Rachel Shaw won the U17 Girls and David Gow won the U17 Boys.

GCH teams won the U15 Girls, U17 Girls and U13 Boys events.

We are pleased to be able to issue the final results for the 2007 FUTURE Streets of Galway 8k road race. The first 100 finishers can be viewed on this page and the complete list is available in the attached PDF file.

1	0:23:59	RYAN, Gerry	Galway City Harriers AC	Senior Men
2	0:24:07	MAHER, Brian	Kilkenny City Harriers	Senior Men
3	0:24:14	THORNTON, Gary	Galway City Harriers AC	Senior Men
4	0:24:25	YEATES, Richie	Raheny Shamrocks	Senior Men
5	0:24:41	TUREA, Sergiu	Clonliffe Harriers AC	Senior Men
6	0:24:51	O'CONNOR, Michael	Galway City Harriers AC	Senior Men

Update:

During the hectic aftermath of the race on Saturday we the finishing sheets were filed incorrectly. This led to some major discrepancies in the results posted earlier in the week. Fortunately we have been able to resolve the problem areas and the results are now confirmed. Thank you to all the runners that emailed to let us know about these problems.

Notes on the final results

The 2007 FUTURE Streets of Galway 8k Road Race took place on Saturday evening last from Southpark in the Claddagh. This was the 22nd running of the race which is now one of the most popular road races in the country, ranking alongside such events as the Ballycotton 10 and the Adidas Irish Runner Race Series in the Phoenix Park. This year, the organisers Galway City Harriers had received over 2000 entries before the closing date. After heavy rain all day, the skies cleared just ten minutes before the off, to a collective sigh of relief from the participants and organisers alike.

Gerry Ryan of Galway City Harriers A.C. and Rosemary Ryan of Bilboa A.C. took top honours at the 2007 FUTURE Streets of Galway 8k.

The provisional prize presentation list is shown below. The full report, results and photos will be posted in the coming days.

Senior Men
1  23:59 Ryan, Gerry       Galway City Harriers     
2  24:07 Maher, Brian      Kilkenny City Harriers
3  24:14 Thornton, Gary    Galway City Harriers
4  24:25 Yeates, Richie    Raheny Shamrocks
5  24:41 Turea, Sergiu     Clonliffe Harriers AC
6  24:51 O'Connor, Michael Galway City Harriers AC

Galway's senior athletes competed strongly at the National Track & Field League Final in a wet Tullamore yesterday. Galway men finished third in Divison One. They were only 6 points off the top spot - a narrow margin given the league's scoring system. The final Men's Divison One team placings were:

West Waterford AC 110
St. Abbans AC 110
Galway 104
Finn Valley AC 89
City of Derry 79
Ballymena & Antrim AC 73
Tir Chonaill AC 68
City of Lisburn 62

Nicola O'Ceallaigh, G.C.H. won the Headford 8k road race on Saturday evening last. Nicola, one of the clubs top junior distance athletes, won in a great time of 32:51 from Caroline Clancy Loughrea.

Gary Thornton, G.C.H., won the Men's 10000m final at the National Track and Field Championships held at Morton Stadium Santry at the weekend. This is Gary's first senior national track title and he led from the gun to record an impressive win with a time of 29:57.06. Clubmate Michael O'Connor was 3rd in the same event.

There was gold also for Mindaugas Kurcenkovas, G.C.H., who won the Javelin with his 4th throw of 58.56.

Gerry Ryan, G.C.H., won the Adidas Irish Runner 5 mile 2007, held on Saturday in the Phoenix Park. Gerry's winning time was 24:46. Sergiu Threa, Clonliffe, was 2nd with last year's winner Sandis Bralitis, West Waterford, in 3rd. The adidas Irish Runner Challenge is the third biggest road race in Ireland, after the Dublin Marathon and Women's Mini Marathon, where this year 2350 competitors completed the 5 mile race.