Moy Valley AC star athletes honoured at event
Seamus Clarke and Clodagh Gill were both honoured by their club Moy Valley AC at a special celebratory event. Pictured at the back, from left to right, Seán Gallagher, club chairperson, Paddy Ruane, club president, Clodagh Gill, European Championship athlete, Seamus Clarke, European silver medalist, Kevin Moran, Moran’s Meats, Aoife Cunnane, club secretary. Front, left to right: Joe Tighe, Kyle Molloy, Cian O’Flynn, John Lynott, Aoife Butler, Róisín Donegan.
Moy Valley AC had a special celebratory event to recognise the achievements of club members Clodagh Gill and Seamus Clarke at the recent European Under 18 championships where both represented their club, Mayo, Connacht and Ireland with distinction.
The evening opened with a viewing of the last six laps of Seamus’ silver medal winning race at the European championships. All in attendance could see the effort, grit and determination he had to put into the race. In a question and answer session afterwards, Seamus acknowledged the great support he receives from the club, his coach Deirdre Clarke, and Athletics Ireland as he was able to avail of warm weather training in preparation for the championships.
Clodagh Gill also spoke about her championships and the progress she hopes to make in the coming year. She is preparing for cross country season and also acknowledged the great support she gets from her coach Phillip Finnerty and all involved with the club. Clodagh was also able to avail of warm weather training in preparing for the championships and an additional but important added bonus for Clodagh is the fact she has so many friends all over Ireland as a result of competing on the Irish team.
A special part of the evening was the presentation of All-Ireland medals to some of the club’s youngest members who competed in the All-Ireland Children’s Games in Tullamore. They did not receive their medals on the day as a technical glitch delayed the release of official results for their events. Acknowledging the fact they won All Ireland medals, the club made a special effort to make the presentation of medals worthy of the effort that went into winning them.
Club President Paddy Ruane was on hand to congratulate all. Club Secretary Aoife Cunnane put the night together and Club Chairperson Seán Gallagher was the host for the evening. It was revealed that Kevin Moran, Moran’s Meats, Market Square made a generous donation to the club to help support those from the club progressing to international competition. This donation has been matched by James Clarke, Clarke Auto Services. Both Kevin and James were in attendance to show their support in person and were thanked by club chairperson Seán Gallagher in his closing remarks. He also mentioned the National medal winning achievements of Luke Johnston and Keelan Kilrehill in recent months - Luke was second in the National five Mile championships with Keelan winning the ten-mile championship.
The club is preparing for a busy cross-country season that will take club athletes to competitions all over the country - some may even earn international vests as a result.
