Brilliant Bronze for Yemi
Well done to Yemi Talabi on a very strong performance last Saturday at the SIAB Schools’ Pentathlon International in Glasgow. All her effort on the day reaped rewards as she achieved 4 new PB’s in 60m Hurdles, High Jump, 800m in her total score. Yemi was the second highest scorer on Team Ireland and helped her squad to win Bronze. Super result for Yemi in a challenging competition with many of the 5 events out of her usual comfort zone. She finished 6th overall in a field of 16 competitors.
Ganly’s Longford Sports Awards 2019
Congratulations to all our recipients of awards at the Ganly’s Longford Sports Awards 2019 held in the Longford Arms Hotel on Friday night last. Nelvin Appiah received the Junior Sports Person of the Year accolade and confirmed the exciting news that he will be moving to Louisiana next year to commence a scholarship at McNeese State University. Well done to our individual sports star award winners of Yemi Talabi, Cian McPhillips, Niamh Kiernan and Barry Sheil. Due to her competing in Glasgow over the weekend, Yemi’s sister Fumi collected the award on her behalf. Congratulations also to Donal Mulligan who was recognised for his excellent marathon performances during 2019 as well as his recent international cross country representation. A massive congratulations also to Patsy Kenny, Life President of Longford Community Games, who was named the 2019 Hall of Fame inductee. Patsy has given great service to the community games movement in the county over the best part of the last five decades and is certainly a worthy recipient. Well done to all award winners on the night. Thank you to the Longford Leader, Longford Sports Partnership, Ganly’s and all the sponsors for a great evening.
Civic Reception
This Friday evening, December 6th, Longford AC is one of the invited local sports groups to be honoured at a civic reception to be held in St. Mel’s College. This recognition is to mark 50 years of the athletic club. Those invited club members, past and present, are requested to be in their seats at 6.50pm. Due to some of the coaches/athletes attending this event, Friday evening’s juvenile training group is cancelled. Little Athletics will however take place as normal in the Mall at 7pm.
AGM
Thank you to all who attended our annual club AGM in the Longford Arms Hotel on Sunday evening last. There was a great turnout with new officers elected to the executive committee. Full details in next week’s notes. A big thank you to outgoing executive committee members Chairman Paddy McPhillips, Treasurer Mick O’Hara and Juvenile PRO Leslie Finnan, for all their hard work and service over many years. Word of thanks was extended to all the Club volunteers, the Facilities Task Force, parents and athletes that made the Club a success in the past year. Also to The Longford Leader, especially Sports Editor Padraig O’Brien, and Managing Editor Alan Walsh, for their support throughout the year and the wonderful coverage the Club received in print and online editions.
Registration 2020
The Club will be using the paperless registration system developed by Club Registrar Colman Reilly again this year. All present members will be sent a link to complete the online document and a payment night is planned for Friday 10th January 2020 at The Mall. Details will be sent out in the coming weeks.
Fundraiser
We continue our efforts this weekend to raise funds for our proposed indoor athletic facility. We will have a stand in Longford Shopping Centre all day on Saturday, December 7th. Tickets will be available to buy for our draw which takes place in the New Year. Buy a ticket to be in with a chance to win the €20,000 first prize!
Results Roundup
John Scott made the long trip to west Cork to run in the Clonakilty Waterfront Marathon on Saturday. On a tough course in far from ideal conditions, John put in another solid marathon running a time of 3:24 to finish in the top 50 out of over 400 entrants. Also on Saturday, Colin Beades followed up his sub-3 hour run at the Dublin Marathon with a strong showing at the Clontarf Half Marathon. Colin ran a time of 1:22 to finish in 10th out of almost 1,500 finishers and this earned him third place in his age category. Well done lads.
Fixtures
With December now upon us, thoughts begin to turn towards the upcoming local road races at Christmas. First up is the MS Christmas Day Run from Newtowncashel to Lanesborough. The 12th annual Shane Brennan 5k takes place in Newtownforbes on December 26th. Also, the Ardagh 10 mile Challenge and 5k take place on December 28th. So, plenty of opportunities to get out and run off the Christmas turkey!
