Bandon Athletic Club Est. 1964

Regular Training: Mon & Wed Nights in Town Park, 7pm-8pm. No training on Bank Holidays.

Upcoming events & news.

Some photo's from the West Cork 'B's have been uploaded (here)

Club results from recent Munster and National competitions are here

Bandon A.C Summer Camp will be on Monday 6th to Friday 10th of July (more info) Nearly full!!

To avoid disappointment be sure to book early by contacting any of the following Catherine 086-2399 665, Ann 086-2597 961, Denise 085-1066 366 or Sharon 085-7325 281

PRO Report: 23rd June 2009
Bandon Athletic Club is holding its inaugural Summer Camp which will run from Monday 6th to Friday 10th of July. The camp is open to children between the ages of 5 and 12 years. Cost for the week is €50 per person. The camp will be held at the Bandon Grammar School and will start at 10am and run until 2pm. The camp will provide an introduction to some athletics events and how to train for them. There will be fun exercises to get better coordination, flexibility, core strength, agility and of course how to become fitter overall. The camp is open everybody not just club members. There will be plenty fun and games as well as athletics. To avoid disappointment be sure to book early by contacting any of the following Catherine 086-2399 665, Ann 086-2597 961, Denise 085-1066 366 or Sharon 085-7325 281.
Bandon athletes had a number of record breaking championship bests at the Munster Juvenile U14-U19 Championships held at the Waterford Regional Sports Centre last weekend June 20th and 21st. Colin Kingston won both the U14 shot and hammer. He threw a distance of 36.06m in the hammer breaking the existing record of 32.02m. His shot throw of 13.70m broke the record which has been held since 1978. That record was for a distance of 13.37m. In the girls U15 shot Laura McSweeney beat the existing 2007 record of 12.55m with a throw of 12.65m. Laura also won the hammer and came third in the discus and 5th in javelin. The U16 boys had a good day’s competition with Eric Stam winning the boys U16 high jump, javelin and 100m hurdles and coming second in discus. Daire Harrington won a silver medal in the U16 hammer, bronze in the shot and came fourth in discus. Shane Howard came second in the triple jump and third in both high and long jumps. He was sixth in the 250m hurdles. Ronan Sheehan came fifth in the 200m and the relay team were second in the 4 x 100m relay. Lyn Bradfield won a bronze medal in the girls U16 discus and was fourth in shot. Phil Healy came 4th in the U16 100m sprint and 6th in the 200m. Robert O’Sullivan came third in the U15 javelin and Oisín Sedgewick was fourth in the 100m.
At U17 level Tracy Bradfield came second in the discus. Sipke O'Shaughnessy won the 300m hurdles and the 200m. Patrick McSweeney won the shot and came third in both the hammer and discus. Mark Sugrue came second in the discus and javelin. Mark O’Sullivan came fifth in the 3000m. David Reynolds won the boys U18 javelin. Sinead Mulcahy qualified for the final of the U14 200m. Also competing on the day were Sammy Jo Ho, Aoibheann Harte and Helena Murphy.
The BHAA John Buckley 5K took place at the Marina in Cork on June 16th. Kevin Wilmot finished in 18th position with Tom Laffan coming 21st. Tom was also placed second in the M40 section with Tim Lucey coming third in the M45 category. Also running well on the day were Paddy Murphy, Tom Sheehan, Declan O’Halloran, Joe O’Sullivan.
The coming weekend is a busy one on the athletics calendar. The West Cork Athletics Summer League takes place at 7pm Skibbereen. Please note that the venue for this event has been changed from Bantry to Skibbereen. The league due to be hosted by Skibbereen AC on Friday 24th of July will now be hosted by Bantry AC. The Courtmacsherry/Timoleague 10K will be run at 5.30pm starting in Courtmacsherry. The Tailteann Schools Inter Provincial games take place in Tullamore on Saturday 27th June. The Juvenile Team Games under 9, 10 and 11 will also take place on the same day in the same venue. The AAI Junior and U23 Championships take place the following day also in Tullamore. Tracton Open Sports will be held in Minane Bridge GAA pitch on Sunday 28th June.

PRO Report: 3rd June 2009

The third Cork City Marathon took place on Monday 1st June. Temperatures were high on the day making conditions difficult for runners but good for spectators. Temperatures during race reached 23 degrees with the heat causing many of the runners to struggle. Tom Laffan came in 15th position in a time of 2:54:57 which was similar to his time last year. Kevin Wilmot clocked up a time of 3:17:05. Also participating was Tom Sheehan, 3:35:07, Phil Murphy 3:37:05, Robert Merrick and Pat O’Sullivan. Matthew Gedden travelled to Scotland for the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday 31st May.
The All Ireland Schools Track and Field Championships were held in Tullamore on Saturday 30th May. There were some super performances from Bandon athletes who were representing their schools in the competition. Timmy Harrington (Kinsale Community College) won the senior triple jump and was third in the Long Jump. For Coláiste na Toirbithe, Joan Healy won the intermediate 100m and came second in the 200m and Laura McSweeney won the Junior Shot and came second in the discus. Tracey Bradfield (Bandon Grammar School) came second in the intermediate shot and third in the Discus. Eric Stam (Coláiste Cholm) came second in the javelin and 3rd in the Long Jump. Also competing but outside the medal positions were Ivan O’Brien and David Reynolds of Bandon Grammar School, Sipke O’Shaughnessy and Patrick McSweeney of the Hamilton High School and Shane Howard of Coláiste an Chraoibhín, Fermoy.
Events next weekend include the Munster Juvenile U9-U11 Team Events and the U12-U13 Track and Field Championships on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June in Templemore.
The West Cork Athletics Board B competitions will take place the following weekend on Friday 12th June at 7pm at the Town Park with competitions for U9 to U16. Relays will be for U10, U12, U14 and U16.

The County B Track & Field Championships took place on 24th May at the CIT track on what turned out to be one of the finest sunniest Sundays of the year so far. It was a paired competition and open to U9s to U12s. Gráinne Lucey and Kerry Buckley won the girls U12 shot. Gráinne also won the U12 700m with Fiona Everard. Fiona paired with Marie Dineen came second in the U12 long jump. The U11 boys won the shot – Cameron Blair and Conor Reynolds were the winning pair. Ryan Blackmore and Cameron Blair won the U11 long jump. Conor Reynolds and Ronan Lucey came second in the U11 500m and Ronan paired with Ryan Blackmore won bronze in the U11 100m. The U11 girls won gold for the 500m with Ava Stack and Aoibhín O’Sullivan on the team. Katie Bernard paired with Ava Stack took the silver medal in the U11 100m and Katie paired with Aoibhín O’Sullivan came third in the long jump.
The U10 boys, Cian Kingston and Jack Calnan came second in the 300m and second in the long jump. Angharad Shaughnessy and Leah Buckley won the U10 girls long jump. Róisín O’Sullivan and Gráinne Mulcahy won the gold in the U9 ball throw and in the 100m Gráinne and Chloe Buckley came second. The U9 girl’s pair of Ella Stack and Róisín O’Sullivan came third in the long jump.
Also taking place at the same venue was the Munster Pole Vault Championships. Eric Stam and Shane Howard came 4th and 5th respectively. At the County Multi Events, Colin Kingston won the U14 Pentathlon. Unfortunately, Fintan Shaughnessy was injured and not able to complete event. The pentathlon consists of hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot and 800m.
About 20 of the younger club athletes attended the Little Athletics Jamboree at Douglas Community School on Saturday 23rd May. Sonia O’Sullivan was in attendance with her own children to help out at this fun event.
Events next weekend include the All Ireland Schools Track & Field Championships to be held in Tullamore on Saturday 30th May. The club sends it best wishes to its athletes who will be representing their schools at All-Ireland level. Courceys Annual Sports take place on Sunday 31st May at the GAA pitch. Club members will be meeting at 12 noon at the ESB car park (opposite Kelleher’s) where lifts to the event can be organised.
One of highlights of the year for road runners, the Bórd Gais Energy Cork City Marathon and relay takes place on the Monday of the Bank Holiday weekend. A number of athletes from the club will be participating again this year. The West Cork Athletics Board B Track and Field Championships will be hosted by Bandon AC at the Town Park on Friday 12th June at 7pm. Athletes who did not win an individual medal at the A competition are eligible to participate.

PRO Report: 12th May 2009
Bandon athletes had a number of successes at the first round of the County Juvenile Track & Field Championships took place at the CIT Track on Sunday 3rd May. Aisling Everard won the girls U14 1,500m, Laura McSweeney took the gold medal for the girls U15 javelin and Lynn Bradfield won the U16 discus. Bringing home silver medals were Erin Kingston for the U12 shot, Aoibheann Harte for the U14 long jump, Helena Murphy for the U15 javelin, Lynn Bradfield in the U16 shot and Phil Healy in the U16 long jump. Ailis Crowley won silver in the U18 1,500m. Fiona Duggan won bronze medals for the U14 discus and shot and Niamh Mulcahy took bronze for the U16 discus.
The boys too performed impressively on the day significantly adding to the medals for the club. The following won gold medals, Travis Coomey, U11 shot, Colin Kingston, U14 hammer, Eric Stam, U16 80m hurdles, pole vault and javelin. Also at U16 level, Daire Harrington won the hammer, Shane Howard the 250m hurdles. Patrick McSweeney won the U17 shot, hammer and discus and Sipke Shaughnessy won the U17 300m hurdles. Winning silver medals were Jason Bradfield in the U11 shot, Oisin Sedgewick in the u15 100m sprint, Shane Howard in the U16 pole vault, Tadhg O’Donovan in the U17 hammer and Sipke Shaughnessy in the U17 100m. Bonze medals were won by Conor Calnan in the U10 300m, Victor Lovell in the U11 ball throw, Matthew Draper in the long jump, Colm Minihane in the U13 hammer, Gavin Hicks in the U13 shot, Joey Henchy in the U13 80m. Fintan Shaughnessy and Colin Kingston won bronze in the U 14 high jump and javelin. Mark O’Sullivan came third in the U17 steeple chase. The boys U16 team won their relay.
Club athletes representing their schools also had a number of fine performances at the South Munster Schools Track and Field Championships at CIT on 2nd and 9th of May. Full results can be seen on the Club website www.bandonathleticclub.com .
Upcoming events include the Munster Schools Track and Field Championships to be held at the University of Limerick on May 16th. The second round of the County Juvenile Track and Field competition will be held at the CIT Track on May 17th. Check in is at 10.00am with events starting at 10.30am. The Rising Sun Athletic Club will hold their annual Mile run in aid of Enable Ireland at 7pm also on Sunday 17th. This is always a very enjoyable event and supports a very worthy organisation. All ages invited to participate.

Bandon athletes had a number of successes at the first round of the All Ireland Juvenile Indoor championships which took place in Nenagh at the weekend. Laura McSweeney won an all Ireland gold medal in the U14 shot. Eric Stam won the U16 hurdles and the long jump. He came second in the high jump. Joan Healy won gold in the U18 60m sprint. Colin Kingston won silver in the U14 shot. Fintan Shaughnessy won a silver medal in the U14 long jump and came 4th in the high jump. Daire Harrington and Ronan Sheehan were also competing but finished outside of the medal positions on this occasion.
The second round of the All Ireland Juvenile indoors will take place in Magherafelt next weekend on April 4th and 5th, with Joan Healy competing again, this time in the 200m. Patrick McSweeney and Tracy Bradfield will contest the Shot.
Tom Laffan and Kate Coveney were the only representatives from the Club at the Cork County Road Championships held in Carrig na bhFear on Sunday 29th March. Tom competing over 4 miles came in third overall and won the M40 category.
The first leg of the West Cork Track and Field Championships take place at the CIT Track next Sunday April 5th with a start time of 12 noon. Events this Sunday are for the uneven ages starting with U9. There will be events also for Seniors and Masters. The athletic club will be bringing a bus to the track which will leave Kelleher’s at the bridge in Bandon at 10.45am.

PRO Report: Bandon Athletic Club Annual Awards
Long time Bandon AC Head Coach Catherine Duggan received the Club Person of the Year award at the 2009 Athletic Club Awards held on March 6th at the GAA Pavilion. While the award is for achievement during the past year, Catherine was being awarded for her dedicated contribution to the club over many years. John Sheehan received the Hall of Fame award and Fiona Duggan was the first recipient of the newly created President’s Award. John Sheehan is a Bandon native who has won County, Munster and All Ireland athletics medals in the 1960s. He is an athletics coach in Limerick and the Munster Regional Squad coach. He managed the Irish Junior team in Grangemouth, Scotland in 2008. He has never forgotten his Bandon origins and is very supportive of Bandon athletes at any athletics meeting. The President’s Award was donated by Club President Billy Good. The idea behind this particular award that it would be presented to a juvenile member who typifies what the club is about and shows exceptional personal qualities.
Carmel Crowley again received the overall Cross Country award. Her achievements last year included representing Ireland in Wales at the British and Irish Masters Cross Country event in November.
For Juvenile Cross Country Conor Callnan received the U9 award. The Everard family, namely Fiona, Aishling and Ciarán took the U11, U13 and U15 Cross Country Awards respectively. Mark O’Sullivan was awarded in the U16-19 section.
Joan Healy took the overall Track and Field track award for achievements including representing Ireland in Poland at World Junior Track and Field Championships. Liz Coomey won the overall Masters award. In Juvenile Track and Field, Erin Kingston won the U11 award. Fintan Shaughnessy was awarded in the U13 section. Fintan has an all Ireland silver medal for long jump and came first in the Munster A combined events. Laura McSweeney won the U15 award and the U16-U19 award went to Róisín Howard. Laura is the current U14 All-Ireland shot champion and Róisín Howard has won all Ireland silver for U19 shot and is Munster Champion in high and long jump.

Last weekend was a busy one for Bandon athletes. In Sheffield Eric Stam won a silver medal at the England Athletics U15 – U17 Combined Events. Competing in the U15 pentathlon, his events included the 60m hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot and 80m.
Mark O’Sullivan represented Bandon Grammar School in Jordanstown the same weekend at the All Ireland Schools Cross Country Championships. Ronan Duggan ran in the Inter Varsities Cross Country representing DCU at the same venue.
The Ballycotton 10k road race always attracts a large entry. Kevin Wilmot was the first Bandon AC athlete to finish coming home in 38th position in a field of 2,000 plus runners. Tom Laffan finished in 47th position. Also running for the club were Tom Sheehan, Matthew Gedden, James Daly, Phil Murphy, Padraig Sheehan, Robert Merrick and Paddy Murphy. Louise Cavanagh was the sole female runner from the club. In Dunmanway on the same the West Cork Road Races attracted a small entry due to the severe weather conditions on the day. Cameron Blair of Bandon AC won a silver medal in the boys U10 race. Fiona Everard won the girls U12 race with Gráinne Lucey sharing third position. Aisling Everard came second in the U14 race with Ciarán Everard taking the silver in the boys U16 race.
Upcoming events include the Munster Senior and Junior Road Race Championships on Sunday 15th March and the Rising Sun 4 mile on Tuesday March 17th . Detailed results and fixtures can be seen on the Club Website www.bandonathleticclub.com

The Munster Juvenile Indoors and Multi Events were held at the Indoor arena in Nenagh on the 21st and 22nd February. Competition is always tough at Munster level with large numbers participating on both days. Fintan O'Shaughnessy came second in the U14 Pentathlon, with Colin Kingston coming third in the same age category. Erin Kingston came fourth in the U12 shot
In Carrigaline, Kevin Wilmot came 5th in the BHAA Tommy Ryan Memorial 5 mile road race. The previous week he finished one place up in fourth position in the BHAA 5K Cross Country event.
Carmel Crowley came sixth over a distance of 4K at the All Ireland Masters Cross Country Championships held in Tallaght, Dublin on February 15th. Louise Cavanagh came 13th and both won all Ireland silver medals as part of the Cork which came second. Tom Laffan also competed in the Master men’s race over a distance of 7K.
The club will hold its Annual Awards Night on Friday 6th March at 8.30pm. The event will be held in the GAA Hall and all club members and families are invited to attend. The West Cork Road races will be held on Sunday March 8th at Kilbarry Road, Dunmanway with a 12 noon start. There will be races for U10s to U20s and for adults.

PRO Report: 26th Jan 2009

Bandon athletes brought home all Ireland medals for the Club at the Woodies DIY Junior Indoor Championships which took on place in Nenagh on Sunday 24th January. Timmy Harrington won the long jump with a best of 6.77m. Joan Healy won silver in both the 60m and 200m and Tracy Bradfield came third in the shot. Ronan Duggan competed in the 1000m at the AAI Senior Indoor games also in Nenagh on the same day.
The Woodies AAI All Ireland Juvenile B Cross Country Championships were held Lough Key Forest Park, Boyle Co Roscommon Sunday 25th January. Three members of the Everard family competed on the day. Fiona came 4th in the girls U11 race, her sister Aisling came 6th at girls U13 level. Ciarán came 7th in the boys U15 race. Elizabeth Prout and Aine Weldon both competed in the girls U17 race coming 16th and 17th respectively.
In Little Island on Sunday 25th January, Louise Cavanagh was the first woman home in the BHAA FMC 4 mile road race. Kevin Wilmot came 7th in the men’s race.
Upcoming events include the Munster Juvenile U13-U17 Indoors Championships in Nenagh on Saturday 7th February and Sunday 8th February. The Munster Masters Indoors championships also take place in Nenagh on Sunday 8th February. The AAI Senior Championships also take place in Belfast on Sunday 8th February.
Due to the hall at the Grammar School not being available, there will be no training for younger club members, who attend the 7pm-8pm session, on Monday 2nd and Wednesday 4th of February. Weather permitting, outdoor training will go ahead with the older group each evening at 8pm. Regular training will resume the following week.

PRO Report: 20th Jan 2009
The Cork County Athletics Board held its Annual International Awards night on Friday 16th January at the Vienna Woods Hotel. Athletes are recognized with International Awards for their achievements in representing Ireland in junior, senior or master’s international competition during 2008. Among those recognized this year were former World Indoor champion Derval O’Rourke, multiple Irish record holder and former European Indoor champion Mark Carroll, both from Leevale AC and Rob Heffernan of Togher AC who had 8th place finish in the men’s 20k walk at the Beijing Olympic Games last year. Receiving International awards for Bandon were Carmel Crowley and Phil Healy. Carmel Crowley has been at the forefront of Cork athletics for a number of years. She won the County Road Race Championship this year among other Road and Cross Country titles. Now in the over-40 category, Carmel represented Ireland at the British and Irish Masters Cross Country Event in Swansea, Wales in November 2008.
Joan is one of the top junior sprinters in the country. Along with receiving many Schools and National Junior accolades this year, she also represented Ireland at the 2008 World Junior Track and Field Championships in both the 100m and the 4x100m relay.
Linda O’Donovan picked up a County Award for County for her performance in 400m and long jump in Junior Track and Field competition. Rachel Roche was awarded in Senior Level Track and Field for the discus, javelin and shot. Well done to these athletes for their commitment and achievement.
Carmel Crowley had a busy weekend as she also competed for Bandon and Cork at the Munster Senior Cross Country Championships in Dungarvan. Carmel finished in 7th place behind fellow club athletes Louise Cavanagh who came 5th. Both were part of the Cork County team who came first on the day.
The AAI Woodies Juvenile Indoor Combined Events also took place last weekend at the indoor area in Nenagh. Fintan Shaughnessy and Colin Kingston competed for Bandon at U14 level finishing 5th and 6th respectively. Eric Stam having won his shot competition unfortunately had to withdraw from the U16 event due to injury in the hurdles. Phil Healy competed in the Girls U16 event but finished outside the medal positions.
Upcoming fixtures include the AAI Junior Indoor Championships in Nenagh on Saturday 24th January. Nenagh is also the venue the following day for the AAI Senior Indoor Games and the Juvenile B Cross Country Championships and Relays take place in Roscommon.