Good Luck: We send our best wishes to Cian McPhillips ahead of the European Indoor Championships taking place this weekend in Torun, Poland. This will be 18-year-old Cian’s first time to represent Ireland in a senior championships. He is one of 733 athletes entered from 47 countries and is one of only 19 athletes born in or after 2002. A total of 43 men are entered in the 800m and the heats are scheduled for Friday, March 5th at 7.05pm when Cian will attempt to qualify for Saturday evening’s semi-final. Follow it live on RTE2. Best of luck Cian and enjoy the experience!
Also in action this weekend, albeit many time zones apart, will be Nelvin Appiah in the US. In January, Nelvin moved to Levelland in Texas having secured a place at South Plains College. He has commenced with his studies there and has joined the college Track and Field team who this weekend travel to Kansas to compete at the National Junior Colleges Indoor Championships. Nelvin has achieved the qualifying standards in the heptathlon as well as the individual 60m hurdles and high jump events. Best of luck to Nelvin and congratulations on the move.
Bonds Appeal: Many thanks to all who have so far purchased a bond to help us finance the costs of developing our proposed indoor facility. We have already reached over half the €200k target. We are still a little short of where we need to be and are asking anybody with an interest in athletics and sport in Longford to consider buying one of our €2,000 bonds. These will be repaid over 10 years and bondholders will also be entered in a quarterly prize draw. Bonds will be secure and repaid in full. Please help us if you can. Bond enquiries and requests to purchase can be emailed to bonds.longfordac@gmail.com
Virtual Challenges: Our 6-week athletics challenges continue this week for juvenile members. Updates will be posted on the club Facebook page and the virtual challenge WhatsApp group. The Virtual Ireland Run takes place, for all ages, during the week of St. Patricks Day. Virtual distance options are 5k, 10k and half marathon for adults and a 3k for children. Register on www.myrunresults.com with the choice of purchasing a t-shirt and medal available also.
Membership: 2021 membership is open and registration renewals have been emailed out to last year’s members. Interested new members can register at membership.athleticsireland.ie
Fees are €25 for juveniles and €30 for seniors. For more information, please email pro.longfordac@gmail.com. It is hoped to resume club training immediately once the current restrictions are lifted.