GCH Women's team claimed Silver in the Tuam 8k, just behind winners Mayo AC. The placings of the club's first four athletes were counted for the team prizes. New members Carmel Brannigan and Rochelle Howell, who have recently joined GCH via the Fit4Life programme, were the 2nd and 4th GCH women home. Adrienne Walsh, making a welcome return to road racing, was the 3rd scorer. The team was led home by Regina Casey. The 1st four were closely followed by Brenda Gannon and Aine Harvey. Carmel and Adrienne also claimed 1st prizes in their categories with times of 35:44 and 39:29 respectively.

Fit4Life Training resumes after the Christmas break on Tuesday 8th Jan. What better way to kick start the New Year than with a bit of exercise?

Well done to Don, Nicola, Carmel, Rochelle, Kristin, Gerard and Joseph who all ran in the Fields of Athenry 10K on St Stephens Day.

The next event to look forward to is a 5K walk-jog-run organised by our sister club Craughwell Fit4Life on Sunday 27th January at 1:00pm.This will be the first time for most of the Fit4Life members to take part in a road race and should be great fun. 5K is about 3 miles so don't panic it is well within everyone's capability.Pacers will be available on the day to help everyone achieve their personal goals, whatever they might be.

Do you want to get fit?

Do you want to go out and jog a few miles?
Do you want someone to give advice and guidance?
Maybe you just want a bit of company and a bit of craic as you run?
Whatever your reasons Fit4Life Meet an Train groups are here to help you.

What is Fit4Life?

The FUTURE Streets of Galway 2007 official launch takes place next Monday 25th June at 6:30pm at FUTURE , Merchant's Road. Club members and friends are all welcome to help launch the 2007 road race. On account of this, the usual Monday night GCH club run is rescheduled to Tuesday at 7pm from Renmore, for this week only.

The 2007 FUTURE Streets of Galway 8km Road Race will take place on Saturday August 11th at 7:30pm, starting and finishing at Southpark in the Claddagh.

Galway City Harriers Athletic Club are delighted to announce that FUTURE have chosen to continue their sponsorship of this event. FUTURE Wealth and Protection, the leading Financial Services provider based in Merchant’s Rd. Galway have committed to sponsorship of this event for the next 3 years. Mickey McLaughlin, Managing Director, said “FUTURE is very pleased to be once again associated with the Streets of Galway 8k, which is a major feature of the local and national running calendar. We are looking forward to a great event on the 11th of August”.

The Monday evening run, 7pm from Renmore Church, is a key session for many of those who join in. It's normally about an hour or so long and covers 7-8miles around the city. Many of the club stalwarts keep this run going week-in, week-out but anybody is welcome to join for all or some of it. [Note: On Bank holiday weekends, 1st Jan included, the run normally moves to 11am.]

The route varies and takes account of the weather and available light. Of course this time of year both can be pretty miserable yet the run is a great way to clock up miles. It's good for overcoming the temptation to slouch on the couch on a wet and windy evening.

Are you looking for information on running, athletics, training, nutrition, injury managemant and prevention, masters running, marathon preparation, biographies, autobiographies, track and field, olympics...?

Where?

The Galway County Library has one of the best collections of books in the country on running and every aspect of it. These books are in stock throughout our network of 30 branch libraries throughout the county library network. There's a direct link to the library catalogue here.

This article explains why warming up and stretching is important for runners and outlines how to do both properly.

Why warm up before running?

By warming up before any exercise you increase blood flow to muscles and other soft tissues, an important factor in avoiding damage to ligaments, muscles and tendons, including sprains and strains-common sports injuries. Your routine should include cardiovascular exercises to increase your heart rate gradually and stretches to prepare muscles and increase flexibility.