Site menu:

Find us on Facebook

Supported by

Michelin

Bridgestone

W. Reilly Ltd

Global Tyres

Gift and Art Gallery

Reports - December 2013


31 December » 24 December » 17 December » 10 December » 3 December »

31 December 2013

There were several happy winners at the recent Christmas Draw in aid of Dromiskin-based St Peter’s AC. Prizes in this fundraising draw included hampers and complementary memberships of The Gym, Avenue Road, Dundalk.

The first prize went to Peter Mulligan, while Carmel Kelly, Ava Brennan, Ella Thompson, Emma McDermott, Eileen Hamill, Vincent Chapman, Mark Rogers, Daniel Finley, Tom McGrane and Mary McGrane were also among the lucky ones. In fact Emma McDermott was doubly rewarded for her generosity in supporting the draw, as she won two prizes.

Twelve of the club’s young athletes won selection boxes in a special additional draw. These were Elizabeth Bell, Ava Brennan, Conor Durnin, Chloe Finley, Emma McDermott, Orlaith McMahon, Ciara Murphy, Craig Murtagh, Lee Murtagh, Keela O’Connor, Andrew Owens and Heather Rogers.

St Peter’s AC would like to sincerely thank all who supported the draw in any way, whether by donating prizes, buying lines, selling lines or organising the draw. Club members are also reminded that training resumes next Tuesday evening (7th January).

Back to top »

24 December 2013

The athletes of Dromiskin-based St Peter’s AC enjoyed tremendous success in 2013, winning a host of medals at county, provincial, national and international level.

The year off to a great start at the Irish Combined Events’ Indoor Championships in January when Mark Rogers won the U18 Pentathlon and Maria Duffy claimed bronze in the W35 Pentathlon.

In February silver medals went to Brendan Rogers in the M50 Long Jump at the Irish Masters’ Indoor Championships and Tom McGrane in the M45 Shot at the Scottish Masters’ Indoor Championships.

Also in February Conor Durnin won the Junior Triple Jump and Frances Rogers took silver in the U23 Shot at the Irish Junior & U23 Indoor Championships.

The month finished with a bang when Emily Rogers won the High Jump and Conor Durnin finished 2nd in the Triple Jump at the Irish Senior Indoor Championships.

A very successful indoor season concluded with six more medals at the Irish Juvenile Indoor Championships in March. Conor Durnin and Katie Murphy won gold in the U18 Triple Jump and U13 Shot respectively. Silvers went to Niamh Fussey in the U19 60m Hurdles, Mark Rogers in the U18 Shot and Gabriel Bell in the U13 Long Jump, while Mark also claimed bronze in the U18 High Jump.

There was a great start to the outdoor season in May when Mark Rogers set a new Irish Youths’ record for the Octathlon when he won a competition in London.

In June there was silver for Emily Rogers in the Junior High Jump and bronze for Frances Rogers in the U23 Shot at the Irish Junior & U23 Championships.

The success continued in July with six medals at the Irish Juvenile Championships. Mark Roger won the U18 400m Hurdles and took bronze in the U18 High Jump. National titles also went to Conor Durnin in the U18 Triple Jump, Lauren Finegan in the U17 Javelin and Niamh Fussey in the U19 100m Hurdles, while Katie Murphy claimed bronze in the U13 Shot. Other athletes to finish in the top eight were Gabriel Bell, Chloe Finley, Liam Fussey, Emma McDermott and Martin McGrane.

At the end of July Emily Rogers and Niamh Fussey both won medals at the country’s premier domestic competition, the Irish Senior Championships. Emily finished 2nd in the High Jump and Niamh came home 3rd in the 100m Hurdles.

August was the final month of the outdoor track and field season and it was also quite a hectic time. Mark Rogers captained the Irish U18 Boys’ team to victory at the Celtic Games international between Ireland, Scotland and Wales, finishing in 3rd place in the 400m Hurdles himself. Kathleen McConnell was the throws coach and Angela McDonald was the jumps coach with the Irish teams at the Celtic Games.

Mark Rogers then broke his own Irish record, but had to settle for silver, in the U18 Octathlon at the Irish Combined Events’ Championships.

Later in August Niamh Fussey, Olivia McDonald, Emily Rogers and Frances Rogers helped the Louth Senior Women’s team to 2nd place in the National League Division One final. Lauren Finegan had also competed during the qualifying rounds, while Conor Durnin, Tom McGrane and Mark Rogers represented the county in the Senior Men’s competition.

The outdoor season concluded with a very successful club trip to the Tartan Games in Gateshead, at which Katie Murphy set a new meet record to win the U13 Shot. Gabriel Bell, Liam Fussey, Emma McDermott, Martin McGrane, Tom McGrane, Frances Rogers and Heather Rogers finished in the medals, while Ciara Murphy and Craig Murtagh also performed well.

Back to top »

17 December 2013

The athletes of St Peter’s AC have been taking advantage of a quiet time on the competitive front of late to put in some hard training sessions. Several of them have also been participating in Louth, Leinster and Irish squad sessions. Those who have been participating in provincial and national sessions include Conor Durnin, Lauren Finegan, Chloe Finley, Daniel Finley, Niamh Fussey, Martin McGrane, Katie Murphy, Emily Rogers and Mark Rogers.

Another member of the Dromiskin-based club was honoured recently by the Community Games organisation. This was Tom McGrane who received the Adult Volunteer of the Year award for Co Louth at a ceremony in Derry. During the year Tom developed a new website for Louth Community Games, www.louthcommunitygames.com, and also organised the athletics team which represented the Dundalk area.

The 2013 Youth Volunteer of the Year award went to Amy McTeggart of Boyne AC for her work at the Louth Athletics Finals, while Drogheda South received an award as the best overall area in Co Louth.

Back to top »

10 December 2013

Three weeks ago we reported that St Peter’s AC athlete Mark Rogers had finished top of the standings in the Senior Boys’ Pentathlon at the Irish Schools’ Combined Events’ Indoor Championships in Athlone, only to be disqualified for supposedly being too young to compete in the Senior age group.

There was a further twist to this bizarre tale recently when a more detailed study of the rule book revealed that Mark, who was representing his school St Joseph’s, Drogheda, had in fact competed in the correct age group, and that he was too old to have competed in the younger Intermediate age group. The Irish Schools’ Athletic Association have now acknowledged their mistake and have officially awarded the championship title and the gold medal to Mark.

Mark has a fine record in these championships, having won the Junior Boys’ title in 2010 followed by a silver in the Intermediate age group in 2012. He has also won seven national medals in the Combined Events while representing Dromiskin-based St Peter’s AC – gold in the U18 Pentathlon indoors in 2013, silver in the U14 Pentathlon indoors in 2009, the U14 Pentathlon outdoors in 2009 and the U18 Octathlon outdoors in 2013, and bronze in the U16 Pentathlon indoors in 2010, the U15 Pentathlon outdoors in 2010 and the U17 Pentathlon indoors in 2012.

Back to top »

3 December 2013

St Peter’s AC had just one athlete in action in last Sunday’s Louth Masters’ Cross Country Championships which, as usual, were staged on Jim McEvoy’s land in Termonfeckin. This was Margaret Finley, who has been in fine form of late, and who was rewarded on Sunday with her first ever county championship medal.

Margaret finished in 3rd place in the Over 45 age group behind seasoned campaigners Bernadette Muckian of North East Runners and Helen Cheshire of Dunleer AC. She was very pleased to win the bronze medal and it will be no surprise if she goes on to win several more Louth medals in the colours of the Dromiskin-based club.

She clocked a very respectable time of 14:11 over the 3000m course and would be strongly fancied to go under 14 minutes if she were ever to race over this distance on the track or the road.

Back to top »