Loughrea AC

loughrea ac athletes brought home three gold and two silver from day 1 of the galway track and field held in dangan track on june19 . daniel loughnane won his gold in the mens 800m in a time of 2:01:2 laura shaughnessy won the ladies 800m in a time of 2:24:37 the final gold was won by mary barrett in the discus in a throw of 25.45m.laura shaughnessy won two silver medals in the 100m 14.3 and long jump 4.25m.these medals were hard earned and the club would like to congratulate all three on fine wins.

six loughrea ac athletes donned the maroon of galway in the national league aka mazda league in tullamore on sunday june 15th . olive loughnane took time off her olympic preparations to win the 1500m walk lapping the second placed walker and showing what a team player she is, club coach mary barrett picked up valueable points in both discus and javelin.

Every year, Australia hosts 543.7-mile (875-kilometer) endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. It is considered among the world’s most grueling ultra-marathons. The race takes five days to complete and is normally only attempted by world-class athletes who train specially for the event. These athletes are typically less than 30 years old and backed by large companies such as Nike.

olive loughnane is on the move literally as she prepares for the 2008 olympic games being held in beijing. indeed entering her third olympics the loughrea ac athlete can look foward in confidence given her preparations and recent excellent form.

The following three thursday evenings are the dates for the galway track and field series 2008, all events take place in dangan with an 8pm start.
june 19
track; 100m,800m,distance medley relay
field;shot putt, long jump
july 3
track;100/110 hurdles,200m,1500m,4 by 400
field;javelin
july 17
track;400m,5000m,4 by 100
field;high jump ,discus

In the galway schools track held recently in dangan two loughrea ac athletes won triple gold namely laura shaughnessy in the 400m hurdles,1500m and 3000m her clubmate melissa barrett won her gold in the shot putt, discus, and javelin. Both girls distinguished themselves further with laura winning an all ireland bronze medal in the 3000.

The loughrea leg of the Galway 5Km series takes place on may 27 on the old galway road, it is the same course as last years race that proved such a big hit with the athletes.

This year 2008 Loughrea Athletic Club celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the formation of the club (1968). Both Colm Moorehead and T.J.Beatty have been associated with Loughrea Athletic Club from almost the very beginning of it’s existence and while both recently (T.J. in 2007 and Colm this year) resigned as Officer’s of the club but, thankfully, both remain on as committee members.

Over the years both have served as Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer as the need arose and both have left a lasting legacy on Athletics in Loughrea and surrounding area.

Athletic field events were the order of the day for u12, u14 and u16 boys and girls community games hosted by loughrea ac yesterday april 22, 2008.
The weather gods,however, did not read the script with cold conditions prevailing but this did not dampen the spirit of the young athletes. The competition was exciting with sprint (Hannonesque) finishes, and runners being pipped at the finish line for top place on the podium, and that prestigious community games gold medal.

David Reilly from Loughrea AC ran his first ever Marathon in London on 13th of April in a time of 3 Hours 13 Minutes and 56 Seconds.

This was superb effort from Loughrea man in ideally weather conditions around London

Time Distance
21:24 5 K
42:35 10 K
1:03:43 15 K
1:25:21 20 K
1:30:05 Half
1:47:21 25 K
2:10:28 30 K
2:35:45 35 K
3:02:27 40 K
3:13:56 Finish