Roundstone Bay 8K – Saturday May 21st, 2011
The inaugural Roundstone Bay 8K took place on the afternoon of May 21st in this very scenic seaside village on the west coast of Connemara. Under cloudy skies a good mixture of local and visiting runners took on the figure of eight course, which began opposite the Church of Ireland and then headed west passing by historic Errisbeg House. It wasn’t long before the heavens opened and anyone who had any ideas of finishing the race without breaking into a sweat soon had a lot more moisture to deal with!
After leaving Errisbeg House in the distance, the runners then turned onto the Ervallagh Road and the course followed some of the most stunnning scenery alongside the Atlantic Ocean and Ervallagh Harbour. From here the route briefly rejoined the Roundstone – Ballyconneely Road beofre diverting down towards the 5km marker at Gurteen Beach. A quick loop around and then a straight fast run back into the village with the wind at their backs.
After 31mins and 6 seconds, Damien Ridge of Cashel was first to cross the line. He was closely followed by Damien Joyce from Clifden and in third place was Shannon-based Michael Valelly.
The first female home was Eimear King of Roundstone, with Mary Faherty in second place, and another local lady Aine Conneely in 3rd.
The presentations of prizes took place in Roundstone Community Centre where teas, coffee and refreshments were also served up to the race participants as a fine antidote to the inclement weather. To make the occasion even more special, each winner received a unique, handmade vase specially commissioned from Rose and Seamus in Roundstone Ceramics. All in all, a good day was had by everyone and the fun progressed into the evening with the footage of Leinster’s European Cup win further raising the spirits. A great night then was rounded off with the Apres-Run party taking place in The Shamrock where crowds were entertained by the excellent Peter Byrne and the Glass Onion Band. A fantastic end to a fantastic day.
1st Over 40 Jim Vaughan 36.20 1st Over 40 Sue Britton 42.47
1st Over 50 Paul Gibbons 34.36 1st Over 50 N/A
1st Over 60 Martin McEvilly 33.08 1st Over 60 Mary Doyle 43.13
Tidy Towns Clean up:
My thanks to Donal Nee, Joe Mongan, Michael Ferron, Paddy shoulders
McDonagh, Pat Conneelly who are part of the Tidy towns committee in the
strimming of both sides of the verges on the Galway side as you enter in to
the village last Thursday evening, this sort of work will be on going every
two weeks as the judicator for this years competition starts the first
week of June and the in to the end of July. Joe Lynch the Clifden super
value manager gave me some tidy town’s florescent jackets for the volunteers
to wear while we are clearing the area of litter, we thank him for that.
As an added bonus a Supervisor and a number of persons who were
requested by the Courts to do community service work with the
Probation Service, Department of Justice and Equality, came down to Dogs
bay last week. As a part of their community service work they picked up
twenty bags of rubbish off the beach, and last Friday three more persons
on Community Service, together with their supervisor came again for a
clean sweep of Gurteen Beach, the weather being a little inclement, its
possible that they could not do much, however this extra help is incredibly
helpful, they were all thanked for doing this for our community, and it is
certainly very much appreciated. According to the Probation Service, they
are very happy to work with the local community in the maintenance of local
amenities, providing benefit to all users, locals and visitors alike.
Benefiting local communities through unpaid work is the spirit within which
Community Service operates. There will be another public Tidy towns
meeting in the lower Community Hall Tuesday 31st May at 8.30pm and all are
welcome to do some brain storming.
50 50 Draw:
The first 50 / 50 draw in Roundstone took place on Saturday at the Shamrock Bar, in aid of the All weather Roundstone Equestrian Arena, up on the show grounds. The first Prize of €560 on Saturday went to our own Geraldine King,Kings Bar, €25 attendance to Ian McDonagh and the unattendance €25 to a lady in Aughterard. The 50/50 draws will now take place every Saturday with the cut off point at 8pm in preparation for the draw at 10.30pm, so, next week the draw will take place in the Roundstone House Hotel €2 a ticket or €10 for the book of six tickets. The outlet of these tickets are placed all over the village
Metal Collection:
The Roundstone Pony show committee will collect for free any scrap heavy metals, household or agricultural. To book a collection all you have to do is to ring Paddy the Yank on 095 35833, but just some thing to be aware off if you are useing a mobile and if the number comes up Private it will not be answered. Monies raised from this service ie the sale of metal will go towards the All Weather Equestrian Arena up on the show grounds this will be a great benefit for the young riders of connemara
Children’s Fun Run:
Just a reminder that it is the annual childrens fun this Sunday coming 5th June, it would be great to have as many surporters for the children, lets just hope the weather is a little better than it has been for the past few days.
Father Jarleth PP:
A note for the diary, its 25 years since Father Jarleth was ordained, therefore there is mass of thanksgiving in the Roundstone Church on the 19th June at 6pm and this will be followed by refreshments in the lower parish Hall, i am sure some of our ladies might find the time to make cakes of sorts for this thanksgiving event.
