Lusk Athletic Club juvenile athletes are enjoying their summer break after a long but very rewarding season where they competed in all disciplines from Under 9 up to Under 19 with great success and won a hatful of medals. Even though it is a little quieter at the Hub for the summer months, Lusk AC adult athletes continue to train and excel in races from 100 metres right up to the Marathon and beyond. Our Track & Field athletes compete fortnightly in the Dublin Graded Track & Field meetings and our throwers Colm O’Donoghue and Stephen Fee won team gold at the National championships in July at the Morton Stadium, Santry.Club runners took part in The Docklands 5K, Dunshaughlin 10k, The National 10 Mile championships and a large group of athletes from the club ran in the Fingal 10K in Swords on the 17th of July with almost 30 club members volunteering as race marshals. Many thanks as always to our coaches, officials and volunteers who give their time freely to help make all these events happen.Training continues on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7 PM from the Hub on Rathmore Road and in Ardgillan on Sunday mornings for hill repeats. All newcomers are very welcome to come along and try a session.

Lusk has officially launched its Junior Parkrun at the Lusk Sports Hub. The first event, which took place on Sunday, May 22nd, saw 16 children completing in the 2km course event. The fifth week, June 19th saw this increase to 34 children.The Lusk Junior Parkrun is held every Sunday morning at Lusk Sports Hub at 9.30am, Rathmore Road. Organised by local volunteers it is open to all children from ages 4-14 years, each run is free to enter. The run can cater to children of all abilities and is safe and easy to take part in. Lusk Junior Parkrun is now inviting all youngers from ages 4 to 14 years to participate in future Sunday events. To enter, each child needs to be registered in advance of the run and must bring along a personal, printed barcode received by email after registering directly on the website www.parkrun.ie/register. Parents are free to join their child in running, however, only children will be recorded. Parents and children are also invited for a post junior parkrun coffee/drink in association with the Skinny Batch café in Lusk. Speaker, Resident and Director of Lusk Junior Park Run Siobhan Connor said,“We are delighted to bring Junior Parkrun to Lusk. Our goal is to assist children to get fit outdoors and meet new friends! 66 children have joined at least 1 event, with many now returning weekly. It’s a great place for families to enjoy together. If you would be interested in volunteering while your child/children take part, please come speak to the Run Director at any event or contact us through these links .For more information, please contact (Event Director). Email lusksportshubjuniors@parkrun.com , Facebook: facebook.com/lusksportshubjuniorparkrun and the Website: parkrun.ie/lusksportshub-juniors/.

The Lusk Summer Festival took place recently and was a day-long event filled with cultural experiences, a large variety of home-made craft vendors, food vendors, music, entertainment and kid-friendly activities ranging from Grasshoppers International Early Years Arts activities, fairground games, local sport club demonstrations and so much more.

The main stage hosted music acts such as Eva Campbell off The Voice UK. Buckshot Lariat, Jordan Dennis and Revolution Remains, along with the wonderful Black Raven Pipe band, the local gospel choir and DJ Joe who kept the day ticking along nicely.There were classic cars on display and free yoga sessions for all to enjoy..There was a multicultural area for local groups to show aspects of their cultural backgrounds to the rest of the community. Also to ensure that everyone was able to enjoy the day, the festival organisers together with the recently formed Autism Friendly Towns Working Group and with the support of AsIAm organised a Sensory Friendly Area at the event. This area, with reduced stimulation, was available to autistic individuals and their families to enjoy some quiet time together.

At the July meeting of Fingal County Council Cllr Rob O’Donoghue warmly greeted the announcement of plans to install a cycle track linking Blakes Cross to the Junction of Ministers Road. The proposal will contain protected cycle tracks on both directions of the R132 using the current hard shoulder for protected cycle lanes. There will be delineated cycle lanes with bollards, line markings and concrete islands for safety.O’Donoghue commented ‘This project will improve cycle connectivity to the Corduff School, public transport and residential estates in Lusk. As part of the project Kilhedge Lane will be resurfaced to improve connectivity between the Centra junction in Dun Emer and the R132.’ In the coming months there will be a public consultation to address any local concerns, a tender put out to procure a contractor and further consultation with stakeholders (schools, residents) prior to construction taking place, hopefully in Q1 of 2023.He continued ‘this project is part of phased plans to make the r132 safer for road users and improve connectivity links between towns for recreation and commuting in the North County’

The Lusk Mens walk and talk group meet at the Hub car park at 7:00pm every Monday for their weekly walk. This is open to all men and it’s an opportunity just get out of the house, have a nice walk, clear the head and have a chat if you wish. You can do it as a once off or every week, no joining necessary, just turn up. This group is organised by Ciaran Russell, so if you want to introduce yourself to him and before long you will find you have made new friends. So why not let any friends or neighbours know about it as new members are alaways welcome

The National Juvenile Track and Field Championships took place in Tullamore in July. It is the highlight of the Athletics Calendar, and this year LSA had two athletes competing. Éabha O’Farrell competed in U16 girls’ 3kg Hammer and Anna Gavigan competed in U19 Girls’ Discus. Both had qualified for this event by winning their respective competitions in the Dublin Championships in May and June.This was Anna’s final competition as a “Juvenile” and she signed off in style by winning the Discus Championships with a throw of 45.95m and setting a new U19 Championship record!This was Anna’s third major Championship win this summer. At the start of June, Anna won theSenior Girls’ Discus in the All-Ireland Schools Championship representing Loreto Secondary School Balbriggan. Three weeks later she had her best success to date winning the 150thNational Senior Track and Field Championships.Anna is a great example of the Long Term Athlete Development policy. She has been training and competing with LSA since 2014 but it was only in 2018 that she began to win medals in the Dublin Championships and qualify for national finals. Later that year she started to train with coach Gerry Ronan, and has gone from strength to strength since then.Our younger Juveniles may well be inspired by being coached by a National Champion – Anna is part of the coaching team with Fiona’s group at our Thursday evening training session, and she also coached at our recent summer camp.Meanwhile, Éabha is another up and coming LSA Juvenile Athlete, also coached by Gerry Ronan. Éabha set a new LSA club record for 3kg hammer when she threw 36.80m to finish 5th in the National Juvenile Championships. LSA Juvenile training will recommence in September – watch out for details on Social Media.We always welcome new volunteers to help out with our growing club.For memberships queries or to get involved please do so on our gmail account on lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com. Keep up to date on all the events by following LSA via our social media pages! Or facebook.com/lambaysportsacademy or even Instagram instagram.com/lsadonabateportrane/ Twitter twitter.com/LSARunning. For additional information on the above please visit our website lambaysportsathletics.ie/

Donabate Parish Hall autumn programme starts at the end of August with a large array of activities taking place every day, these range from Irish Dancing to Cards, from Montessori to Senior Citizens, from Traditional Music to Bridge. In October/November daily classes will be suspended for a number of weeks to facilitate Cultural & Creative events. These will include Photography Exhibitions and an Active Age for All Display to name but a few! There are still a few spaces available on the programme but it is filling up fast - we hope the addition of the new acoustic panels will create an even better ambience for all our activities & events to take place in! For further information please contact Bernie in the Parish Office

At Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed, we are continuing our activities over the summer months. We have exercise classes on Mondays, croquet at Newbridge House on Tuesdays, a cuppa and a chat at our Thursday morning get-togethers at the Scouts’ Den and work on our plots at Turvey Allotments at other times as the need arises.We also have regular outings to places of interest, most recently to the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, the Custom House Visitor Centre and the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire, three very different but interesting venues. These outings usually end with lunch at a local eatery. If you are interested in joining us, drop down to the Scouts’ Den any Thursday morning between 10:30am and 12:30pm or call Jim on 086-3694316. We look forward to seeing you.

We belong to the Walking Ireland Group which is part of Sports Ireland. There are over 400 groups in the country.We do SHORT EASY WALKS/TRIPS - 5km for most people require average fitness & we also do LONG MODERATE TO DIFFICULT WALKS which are 10/12km and can be hard so one needs to be fairly fit and able to keep up with the group.We try to vary the walks but sometimes we will repeat them especially as we try to be environmentally & cost friendly; we use trains & buses as much as possible! We are out to keep fit but also to have fun!!!! Our most recent outing with 15 people was after taking the train from Donabate to Balbriggan, we walked from there to Laytown some 11/12km along the beach with the tide out, going through some forest area which emerged near a great pedestrian bridge which lead directly into the Village Inn for some good food and well deserved refreshments! We returned by train from Laytown to Donabate after a great day out! Our next walk coincides and links with the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival, so it is local - Saturday 10th Sept- starting at 12noon at The Parish Hall - walking to the Shoreline then on to Tower Bay short stop at Wayne’s Coffee Box - then down to Portrane and the Burrow walking along Rogerstown Estuary up Marsh Lane and back to the Brook for Pizza and Trad at 4pm! Bus or walk back to Donabate for the train ! Sound good - put in your diary and contact Carolyn 087 9284307 or Breda 086 8693243 if interested!

Pacers Trip to Epic Museum and the Custom House - On Saturday the 18th June the Peninsula Pacers embarked on a slightly different trip. Eight of us ventured into Dublin to visit the Epic Museum and the Custom House. Both venues being on Custom House Quay and an easy walk from Connolly Station it was more about exercising the mind rather than the legs! First stop was the Epic Museum in the CHQ building which tells the story, or rather a lot of stories, about the emigration of the Irish to all parts of the world. Beginning with the defeat of the Irish at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, which resulted in the ‘Flight of the Earls’ from 1607, to the present day. The departure of the Earls was a watershed in Irish history, symbolising the end of the old Gaelic order. You won’t find leprechauns and pots of gold here but you will learn the stories of Irish emigrants who became scientists, politicians, artists, poets and even outlaws.Following a relaxed lunch in the CHQ building we strolled down the quay to the Custom House where we were delighted to find that admission, and an official guide, were free.After a very interesting and informative hour, and having plumbed the long-suffering guides’ knowledge to the depths, we left him in peace, did the obligatory photo shoot and wended our way back to Connolly Station, There we were pleased to discover that we had time for a little refreshment before the train home. All in all a very enjoyable outing a great easy paced walk albeit in an urban setting and we can strongly recommend visits to both of these venues.

It is that time of year again when you get to decide what exciting classes you will choose for the coming winter. Hard to think about it now with the sun shining outside, but we in Active Age have been working hard preparing our programme for 2022/2023. You will see many of your old favourites there such as Pilates, Yoga, Sit & Get Fit, Stronger for Longer Art and Singing and Music.Our free activities - Croquet, Boules and Bowls and Table Tennis will of course continue. We are also adding some classes for those who are not as interested in the more physical activities, with Drama and Crafts and hopefully Cooking to be added to our programme.The full programme will be available online for you to see in August with a date of 5th of September for Registration for classes. As you all know classes fill up fast so you need to mark the date and come and register, even for the free activities as we have waiting lists for some of these.Enjoy the rest of your summer, looking forward to seeing you all in September! The photo competition theme is Positive ageing and it is open to people of all ages and abilities.DCU are looking to find rare gems of local talent from our communities to showcase our intergenerational engagement throughout Ireland. The closing date is 28th August 2022