AGM 2020
2019 was another busy and eventful year for GlenmoreAC which also seen us enter intoour 50th year in existence. We marked this year with great celebrations and aimed to show respect and appreciation to our founders members Owen Mc Cann, Michael Mc Bride, Danny Ferguson, Vincey Savage and Kevin Barry and their families also to all those who helped in the set up of our Club in 1969. And to show that today, 50 years later, Glenmore AC is bigger and stronger as ever with juvenile membership at 173 and our senior membership at 160.
We launched THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GLENMORE ATHLETIC CLUB 1969-2019 FIVE DECADES -AND STILL RUNNING book, which was the accomplishment of a very special dedicated committee who gave up so much of their own time to put this book together and the evidence of that is borne out in the quality of the book that was produced , a book that will be passed down to many generations after us. and for that we are all very thankful. We also had our very successful 50th Anniversary Dinner Dance night, with speeches and spot prizes galore, again many thanks to our organising committee for putting on a brilliant night that we all got to enjoy. We added 50th anniversary jackets to our list of Club gear, which have proven very popular and look fantastic. We had custom made 50th anniversary medals for 2 of our flagship races, the Carlingford 5k and The Kearney & Mc Bride race.
2019 saw the introduction of our first Online Registration System being put in place. A lot of work went into the initial set up and management of this system and a big thank you to Lorraine O’Reilly and Emma Mallonwho were very much involved in this and many thanks to both of them for the patience they showed to us all with our many queries, I’d say their patience were tested on more than one occasionwith us!!
Jan 2019 seen our 6th year of Operation Bush4mation 4-week programme. We had 93 sign up for it which saw the club benefiting by €4650. Thank you to Irene for all her hard work inorganising this programme, it is truly an event that benefits the community as we have so many repeat members appearing each year, and to know that Glenmore AC plays a part in the health and wellbeing of its local community is a credit to the club. Thank you to all the tutors involved , to all the club members who gave up their time freely to help out, whether its opening/closing the facilities , attending the car park or coaching a class, events like this cannot happen without you. Thank you
In July Glenmore A.C. hosted its 1st Athletics Ireland Summer Camp, led by Glenmore athlete and coach, Lorraine Dunne. This was a week of fun-filled activities for 51 children from the ages of 6-12. The camp gave children the opportunity to try out a range of sporting activities alongside other activities such as Yoga, Mindfulness, Cookery, Zumbaand First-Aid Training. An educational programme was also incorporated which included a classroom session each day where the children learned about World Athletics, Body Structure and Nutrition. The Summer Camp week would not have been a success without the work of the coaches, team leaders and volunteers who gave their time to plan, co-ordinate and run the camp. These people were mainly members of Glenmore A.C, but also a special mention to St. Gerard’s Athletics Club who provided 2 team leaders, George Maas and Jamie Wynn, and also the County throws coach, Christian Maas, also from St. Gerard’s A.C who lead a throws session for the children during the week. The popularity and successful running of this camp may lead to it becoming an annual event on our calendar in the future.
The FUN ON THE RUN programme proved very popular again in 2019, thankyou to Melissa and all the parents and coaches who help out with this programme.
The Glenmore Challenge 10m &10k road race was a great success with 166 participants on the day. We would like to thank our sponsors Greenore Port, Carton Die and Nail Keenan roofing, also I’d like to thank all our 1mile sponsors along the route. The Maria Goretti Foundation received €1000 donation from his event. The Carlingford 5k proved again a very popular event with 486 participants. Thankyou to our sponsors Ma Bakers take away.The Kearney & Mc Bride 5k race took place in October, many thanks to all who turned out to help on a very wet day. It was a disappointing turn out of participants on the day and has been discussed since at committee level with a change of venue going forward. 1st Team prize went to both the Glenmore senior Male and Female Teams, congratulations to both teams. I’d like to also thank Tommy Neary, John and Mary McGeown who are always there to help at Glenmore events.
Our juvenile athletes had a very successful awards afternoon and enjoyed a treasure hunt up Slieve Foy followed by food and entertainment in Mullaghbouy community centre.
Thanks to Eamonn Conlon for updating the online tracking sheet and coaches for their input.
Cooley Credit union races proved a big hit again in April with all the local national schools. Many of the club’s juvenile athletes took home prizes. Thank you to all our volunteers on the night.
The County Awards night was held in The Crown Plaza, Dundalk in November, unfortunately it was poorly represented by Glenmore athletes, this has lead to discussions at committee level and we aim to have plans and structure in place going forward regarding juvenile participation in events.
We have two fundraising events thorough out 2019, our Flag Day in Dundalk and Cooley Peninsula and The Church Gate collection. Thanks to all members who helped at these very crucial events in our calendar.
Glenmore AC held a Gate collection for SVP before Christmas and alsohosted the annual charity walk for GOAL on the track on New Year’s Day.
Thank you to all the companies who have donated and continue to donate money for their advertisement Banners at the Bush track.
GLENMORE AC JUVENILE ACHIEVEMENTS
FEBRUARY 2019
Leinster Juvenile Indoors (Athlone) 3 athletes competed across 3 events.
All Ireland B’s (Dundalk) 7 athletes competed with Elliott Nichols taking gold medal as part of Louth team
Ras na hEireann 24 athletes competed claiming 1 individual medal and 2 team medals
MARCH 2019
Kearney & McBride 50th Anniversary Races 44 athletes took part winning 13 medals across all ages
APRIL 2019
Pre-Louths (Bush Track) 58 athletes competed
25 individual medals & 5 relay medals
MAY 2019
Louth Championships (Bush Track) 59 athletes competed in individual events
41 medals & 7 X 4TH Places
Relays: 9 teams entered winning 6 medals, 4 of which gold
North Leinster Schools T& F 13 club athletes competed for their respective schools bringing home 6 individual medals and several PB’s.
Blackrock Beach Races 9 athletes attended winning 4 individual medals.
National T&F Championships (Belfast) saw Niall Brady competing as part of Louth 4 x 100m relay team taking Silver.
Leinster Relay Finals (Greystones) 2 teams entered – u10 & u12 girls – both teams came 4th
JUNE 2019
Leinster Juvenile C’ships (Tullamore) 9 athletes competed taking 3 individual medals – 2 x gold & 1 x bronze
2 u10 girls competed in Leinster Pairs event – Gold in 500m
JULY 2019
National Juvenile C’ships (Tullamore) 3 athletes qualified to compete – Lucy White, Lisa Conlon & Niall Brady
Setanta Games (Drogheda) 26 athletes competed taking home 13 individual & 6 relay medals
AUGUST 2019
Carlingford Road Races 17 athletes competed collecting 3 top 3 finisher medals
OCTOBER 2019
Louth Cross Country C’ships 62 athletes across 2 days claiming 3 individual medals & 3 team medals
NOVEMBER 2019
Leinster CC C’ships (Ferbane) 5 athletes with James Dunne taking silver medal as part of Louth team
DECEMBER 2019
National CC C’ships (Dunboyne) 3 athletes qualified to compete as part of Louth teams (u11 & u15)
Thank you to all our coaches for their continued commitment to the club throughout the year. Some of you have successfully completed courses hosted by AAI with the intention of passing on your gained knowledge to our athletes, so that they can reap the benefits of experienced coaching. We have had a few new coaches this year, which can only, over time, and with improved communications and togetherness, our young athletes will thrive in T&F and cross-country events. Thank you to Dermot Barry, the Louth official at every event.
GLENMORE AC SENIOR ACHIEVEMENTS
Senior Athletes competed in the LouthNovice Cross Country championships in Darver, the Irish Masters and Intermediate Cross Country Championships at DKIT and The Louth Inter-club senior Relays 10k cross country event in Drogheda and the 50thRas Na hEireann in Oldbridge, Co Meath were Glenmore ac placed 3rdmale team. Glenmore AC were the winning male team in the Louth Novice RR Championship held in conjunction with our Carlingford 5k race and the ladies were 2ndwinning team in the same event.
Senior Athletes represented our club at various events throughout 2019.Our green singlet made appearances at a lot of local 5k and 10k events. Carlingford 10k & half marathon, Trim 10m, The Land of Legends Half and 10K, Galway Bay 10k, Longwood 10k in Co Meath, Grange and Strandhill in CoSligo, Achill Island half and even Inishbofin Island for the half marathon to name but a few. Belfast and Dundalk Marathons were popular for Glenmore senior athletes, with a 1st in age category for one of our athletes in Belfast, but Dublin proved to be one of the main events on the running calendar. 2019 had our biggest Dublin marathon club entry to date it was a year for also our biggest first-time marathoners’ entrants as well, with Dublin Marathon celebrating its 40thanniversary and Glenmore AC in its 50th year really added to this to momentous occasion. Further afield our athletes turned up in Manchester, Venice and New York Marathons. 2019 also was a year that a few senior athletes ventured into Ultra Marathons and Ironman events, some as far afield as Dubai, and some more extreme than others!! These athletes did not just complete these events, in all CASES they led the field at these international events…crossing the finish line to take a 1st 2nd 3rd or 4thposition on the winning podium. The calibre of senior athletes within Glenmore AC has been proven time and time again and we are very proud of their contribution, diversity and accolades.
Traditionally a Cross-Country club, we have perhaps not been as active on this scene as we would have in the past, cross country running is not for the feint hearted and perhaps this is the reason many of us prefer the road. Nevertheless, our juvenile coaches continue to support and develop our young athletes who are performing well and hopefully this will, in time, feed through to our senior club.
Thank you to our juvenile and senior PRO’s, Sarah Moore and Fiona Mhic Conchoille for keeping us updated with all our athletes achievements throughout the year.
Thank you to Shane Lynch for his winter strength and conditioning classes and to Melissa Mc Coy on her very warm and welcoming breakfast mornings.
I’d like to commend all our athletes, both juvenile and senior, for representing Glenmore AC to the best of their ability, for partaking in cross country and track & field events, to taking on a 5k, half or full Marathon or even more, that’s when we all discover the meaning of TEAM WORK, we all support and encourage each other to do the very best we can.
Finally, I’d like to conclude my report by thanking my fellow officers for their help and support over the year especially Rose, our chairperson, for her guidance, her invaluable knowledge and for keeping me on my toes, thank you Rose. Thanks to our loyal band of stewards and sponsors who have supported us over many years and finally I would like to wish the incoming committee well in the year ahead and to wish everyonean injury free 2020.
What you put into your club; you get it back many times.
Thank you
