SECRETARY’S REPORT
Glenmore committee and members can justifiably be very proud of the many events that the Club managed to organise during this past year. Also I’d like to acknowledge the many events that individual athletes, both senior and juvenile, managed to participant in on behalf of the club. Our list of events both on the field and virtually is a true testament of dedication and resilience of our club and its members during a year that was filled with restrictions and lockdowns.
The following is a brief account of our accomplishments during 2020.
We kicked off 2020 with our 7th very successful Bush4mation 4 week programme on the 6th January. Thanks to Irene Brady who is crucial to the organisation of this very successful event which aims at improving the fitness level of our wider community. I’d also like to recognise and thank all our other members and tutors who gave up of their time to ensure the smooth running of the programme.
The month of January had some juvenile athletes competing in the Blackrock Cross Country races which seen them come home with 2nd team prize in Boys u9 and Girls u11.
We also had a Relay Team competing in Newtownstalaban at the Louth Relay Championships.
In Early February Molly Anne Moore, Sophie Cumiskey and James Dunne competed in the All Ireland B’s Cross Country races in Wicklow and Gillian Tuohy and Sophie Cumiskey competed in the Armagh road races. Also in February Katie Mc Donald and Molly Anne Moore competed in the Leinster Indoor Championships.
We’d a large turnout of seniors for the Fitzers 5K in February and also a large turnout of juveniles in Glaslough Co Monaghan road races.
Our annual Kearney & Mc Bride Cross Country event on the 16th February took to a new location and showcased in the grounds of Bellurgan Park. The event proved a huge success and we were commended for a great day by many clubs including Christian Maas, Louth Athletics Chairman. We also managed a 1st, 2nd and 3rd podium finish for our Senior men, well done to Shane Lynch, Shane Toner and PJ Hynes as well as the Glenmore Men’s Team taking the Kearney Cup and Dunleer taking the Mc Bride Cup also many thanks to our 2020 sponsor Ma Bakers Takeaway, Carlingford.
Donal Mc Moreland and Shane Lynch managed to compete very successfully in a few Challenging events that involved mountainous terrains in the early part of the year and Paul Savage completed The Carlingford and Dingle Olympic Triathlons. Marie Louise Mc Govern also done the club proud in earning 3rd place in 200m Leinster Indoor Races at Abbottstown. Shane Toner earned 1st place in the Carlingford 10k race after returning from injury and well done to the other athletes who competed in the Carlingford 10k and half marathon event that day. And well done to all our seniors who may have competed in other events in our pre covid days in 2020.
Glenmore AC, like everyone and everything else found itself in lockdown early in the year. Facilities at the Bush track were no longer available to our members. This is when some of our Club members came together and helped reinvent our Club for the health and well being of our members and to keep us all active during these very difficult times we had found ourselves in along with the rest of the world.
Several Challenges were set up to include our juveniles and senior members, these also included our walking members. These generated a great buzz among our us and again we were commended by other clubs on our continuous ability to engage and encourage all our members!!
All our Challenges were carried out following the relevant Covid Restrictions at the time.
Juveniles vs Stephens Marathon Challenge – 62 juveniles took part in this great event that raised a significant amount of funds for 2 charities.
A Juvenile Quiz was held on “How Well Do You Know Your Club” – well done to the winners , Craig and Gillian Tuohy.
Seniors vs Juveniles Challenge followed by Females vs Males virtual running distance challenge – 112 Athletes took part in this and of course the female Team WON!!
25th May saw our own athlete Sinead MacErlane take on her own personal Challenge of covering a distance of 5k on a crutch, in which she raised an amazing amount for her designated charities.
Our Virtual 24 Hr Glenmore Challenge 10k/10m event took place on the 13th June and proved to be an event to be remembered and perhaps repeated at some stage – we managed to raise over €3000 for our local charity , The Maria Goretti Foundation and a big thanks to our sponsors Castletown Pharmacy, Dundalk and Elite physiotherapy, Omeath. This event received a great response from members and other clubs.
When restrictions eased we managed to host The Louth u14-19 T&F Championship at the Bush track on 15th August which was great for the juveniles to enjoy a bit of competition and togetherness again .
Well done to James Dunne on achieving 1st place in the national Irish Life Juvenile Mile Challenge on the 19th August also well done to our Juvenile and Senior athletes who represented the club at the Louth Cross Country Novice Championships on the 4th October in horrendous weather conditions.
In October we held a socially distant Presentation to our long serving member Jim Clerkin to thank him for his many years of service to our club.
After that we were back in lockdown and back to our Virtual Challenges
We finished off our 2020 Virtual Challenges with The November Run Challenge that had an amazing 132 Athletes go head to head in a distance challenge
We also hosted our Virtual Cross Country Championships at the Bush track in November where juveniles got to race over a 500m course .
The Charities that benefitted from our Virtual Events and our members events in 2020 were
The Maria Goretti Respite Centre Lordship
Special Olympics Ireland
Cappagh Hospital
The Irish Cancer Society
SOSAD Ireland
Santa made it to the track on 15th December to the delight of our juveniles , and a big thankyou to the man himself!! We also had our annual St Vincent de Paul gate collection the same evening.
With our Virtual Goal Mile between 24th-26th December we managed to raise €330.
I’d like to commend our Juvenile coaches for their continued support of our juvenile athletes and especially during these very trying times and their willingness to enhance their coaching skills., this is very encouraging to see as it reflects a high level of commitment to our club and athletes.
As always I’d like to acknowledge and thank Shane Lynch for his winter strength and conditioning classes he holds for our members.
Thank you to our juvenile and senior PRO’s, Sarah Moore and Paul Savage for keeping us updated with all our athletes achievements throughout the year and for the promotion of the club through our social media platforms.
Thank you to Dermot Barry and Sharon Tuohy, our Louth Athletics representatives.
Thanks to our loyal band of stewards and sponsors who have supported us over many years
If any members have any ideas that they feel about the running of our club please come forward, we are always willing to listen and perhaps adapt new ideas and initiatives.
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 early in the year and for all the Virtual Challenges thereafter. We can only support and encourage each other to do the very best we can.
I’d like to conclude my report by thanking my fellow officers for their help over the year. And a special thank you to Kenneth, our chairperson, this had to be an extremely tough first year as chairman but he stood up to the challenge for all of us.
Finally I would like to wish the incoming committee well in the year ahead and to wish everyone many enjoyable miles and injury free 2021.
What you put into your club; you get it back many times. Thank you.
