It’s that time of year again! The crisp autumn air is here, and our LSA groups are settling back into their new routines.

Fit4Life: Your Autumn Fitness Journey
For those looking to kickstart their fitness goals, our fit4life group is the perfect fit. We hold training sessions every Monday and Wednesday evening, catering to all abilities. Whether you’re a beginner taking your first steps or an experienced runner looking for a challenge, we have groups for intermediate and advanced levels as well. To help you on your journey, we have a special offer: join us for just €65 from now until December. For more information, please contact us at lsaadultreg@gmail.com.

Marathon Season is Upon Us!
With the days growing shorter, our dedicated marathon runners know exactly what that means: the Dublin City Marathon is just around the corner! On October 26th, members from all our adult groups—from first-timers to seasoned marathoners—will be lacing up their shoes. We wish them the best of luck and hope their training remains injury-free.

Community and Upcoming Events
LSA recently had a fantastic turnout at the Donate Family Fun Day and Community Group Expo, where we saw a tremendous response and great interest from the community.

Last but not least, mark your calendars! The 4th annual LSA Peninsula Road Race is back on Sunday, November 16th. Registration is now open, and you can find all the details you need on our Instagram page, @lsadonabateportrane.

We’re excited for what this new season holds and can’t wait to see both new and familiar faces.

The summer months have been full of road races and track & field with plenty of opportunities for our club members to reap the benefits of their training sessions. Marathon plans are now up and running with many now looking forward to the Dublin City Marathon in October. The club’s 50th anniversary celebration will take place on Saturday 6th September. There will be road races around the village green and a party in the parish hall. All welcome to join us.

Welcome back to training for our juvenile members after the summer break and a big welcome to our new members.

for December marathons in Valencia and Turin. There was also a Lusk AC parkrun takeover where our latest Fit4Life group completed their graduation 5k runs. The races will be coming thick and fast from January onwards so talk to your coach for a training plan to suit your needs.

Wow, what a summer it’s been for the LSA sports group! The athletes have been super busy, and their hard work really paid off in August. It was a month full of amazing achievements, with everyone giving their best.

One of the biggest highlights was our very own Sinead Farrell. Sinead represented Ireland at the World Youth Skyrunning Championships in Italy! Sinead had to run in the mountains against some of the best young runners from all over the world. It was a huge honour for her and for our whole club to see her compete at such a high level. Sinead has been selected to represent Ireland in the World Junior Championships in Canfranc, France in September.

But Sinead wasn’t the only one having a great month. Anna Gavigan won Silver in the National Discus U23, and also qualified to compete for Ireland in thU23 and an U23’s in Discus too.

The rest of the LSA team was also busy training and racing. Lots of our members were out at local races, like the weekly Parkruns in Newbridge Park, where they pushed themselves to get new personal bests. Whether they were running a short race or getting ready for the Dublin Marathon in the Autumn, everyone was cheering each other on.

The best part about LSA is that it’s a place for everyone. From experienced runners to people just starting out, the team is always there to support each other. With all this energy and success in August, we’re off to a fantastic start for the new season!

Adult membership queries; lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com
Little Athletics & Juvenile Athletics (7-18); lsajuvenilereg@gmail.com
Find us on Instagram lsadonabateportrane

May and June were incredibly busy months for our club athletes with lots of Juvenile competitions and plenty of options for the adults as well. The summer months are full of Graded meetings, road races and mountain running. Rest assured there’s a training programme for everyone to follow. There are always big numbers at Tuesday and Thursday training and Ardgillan hills on a Sunday morning are becoming increasingly popular. Well done to all who took part in the Dublin Juvenile Championships and good luck to those competing at the Nationals.

Our club members have been enjoying the beautiful weather recently. Some of our Juvenile athletes have had the opportunity to have their first experience on a full-size outdoor track facility when they competed with almost one thousand other young athletes in the Dublin Track and Field League at Tallaght Athletics Club, right where Rhasidat Adeleke started training just over ten years ago.

Our athletes competed in Shot Putt, Discus, Turbo Javelin, Javelin, High Jump, Long Jump and track events from 60m to 800m. Very soon we will have our own track and field facility, right here in Ballymastone.

We are very grateful to our volunteer coaches and to the parents who volunteered to help run the events.
Our secondary school aged athletes had great success in the North Leinster Secondary Schools Championships, with a total of six medals and some of them progressing to Leinster Championships. They represented their schools, Donabate Community College and Loreto College Swords. Congratulations also to Sara Dolczak who won the intermediate 400m at the Loreto Games.

Meanwhile our Under 20s, Seniors and Masters athletes have been participating in the Dublin Graded Meets. Congratulations to Xavier Hubert who won a Senior Dublin Championships Silver Medal in High Jump and Anna Gavigan who won Senior Gold in Discus.

Out on the roads and in the parks, club members have had some incredible performances in the London and Copenhagan marathons, and in the Dublin Race Series. Closer to home we had some notable Park Run milestones with Willie Cahill completing his 200th Park Run in glorious sunshine at the Donabate Park Run.

Save the Date for the LSA Peninsula Race on Sunday 16th November 2025. More details will be available shortly on our social media channels.

Every year, on the last Sunday of April, Phoenix Park transforms into a lively celebration of Japanese culture during the Experience Japan Hanami Festival. Visitors from across Ireland gather to enjoy authentic food, live music, traditional and modern dance performances, cultural workshops, art displays, and martial arts demonstrations. Families picnic on the grass, children try their hand at calligraphy and origami, and performances on the main stage bring Japan’s rich heritage to life in the heart of Dublin.
The festival takes its name and inspiration from Hanami, the Japanese tradition of admiring cherry blossoms. In Japan, sakura blossoms are more than just beautiful flowers — their brief blooming period is a powerful symbol of the fleeting nature of life. This awareness of impermanence, and the calm acceptance of it, is deeply woven into Japanese culture. The same philosophy shaped Bushido, the code of the samurai, where martial arts were not merely for combat but for cultivating discipline, resilience, and clarity of mind. These old values remain central to Japanese society even today.

That’s why martial arts demonstrations became an organic part of the Experience Japan Festival. This year’s performances featured both classical and modern disciplines — from Kashima Shinto-ryu, a traditional sword style, and Naginata, a polearm-based art, to Karate and Aikido, which adapt centuries-old principles to the modern world. Despite their differences, all these arts share the same core values: self-awareness, control, and respect.

Takemusu Aikido Society, a local club, proudly represented the Balbriggan community at this year’s festival. We train weekly at the Balbriggan Clubs Community Centre, and it was a pleasure to bring our practice to a wider audience in Phoenix Park.

Our 20-minute demonstration didn’t just display Aikido techniques — it guided the audience through the art’s structured progression, offering insight into how Aikido is studied and internalised over time. Aikido, though modern, is rooted in older forms of Jujutsu and swordsmanship, and it carries forward the samurai spirit: composure under pressure, centred movement, and profound respect for both partner and opponent.

The demonstration followed the traditional structure of Aikido studying: starting with sword-work, moving through empty-handed techniques, and concluding with staff practice. We began with solo and paired sword forms, demonstrating how Aikido movements originate from classical swordsmanship. Sword exercises form the foundation of Aikido, training balance, focus, coordination, and a refined sense of timing — all essential skills that underpin the entire art.

We then transitioned to empty-handed techniques, demonstrating how throws progress from basic to more advanced forms, including powerful hip throws. In Aikido, effectiveness doesn’t come from brute force, but from blending with an attack and redirecting it using whole-body movement. To highlight this principle, a 12-year-old boy performed clean, precise throws on a well-built adult partner — a beautiful illustration of how skill, timing, and connection outweigh size or strength.

We then moved on to staff techniques, the third pillar of Aikido practice. These exercises blend the principles learned through sword and empty-handed practice, building precision, rhythm, and responsiveness.

To conclude, our head instructor demonstrated how the same movements could be applied across all situations — empty-handed, disarming a sword, or neutralising a staff. This final sequence illustrated the universality of Aikido’s principles, regardless of weapon or context.

The demonstration ended with a dramatic staff-versus-sword defence, bringing everything full circle: from sword, to body, to staff — all connected in one seamless flow.

It was an honour to represent Balbriggan at this celebration of Japanese culture. We welcome new members of all ages and backgrounds to join us on the mats and explore the depth, clarity, and grace of Aikido for themselves.

To learn more, visit www.aiki.ie or find us on social media.

It’s not every day LSA members gather at the airport to welcome home a European Athletics medallist, but that’s just what happened on St Patrick’s Day when LSA’s Anna Gavigan arrived back in Dublin from the European Throwing Cup in Nicosia, Cyprus with a Silver medal for Under 23 Women’s Discus.

Anna was in good company and it was an added bonus for LSA to meet Olympian Nicola Tuthill who took Gold in the Women’s Under 23 Hammer, and Oisin Joyce who took Bronze in the Men’s Under 23 Javelin, at the event in Cyprus

Anna won her European Silver Medal with a massive new Personal Best throw of 53.91m. She is coached by Donabate resident Gerry Ronan. Anna joined LSA as a 10-year-old and she also coaches younger athletes at our Thursday sessions.

Our Under 20 athletes have been busy competing in the Schools Cross Country and the National Indoor Championships. As the focus moves to outdoor Track and Field, our Juvenile groups are taking advantage of the bright evenings and moving to different training venues around the peninsula.

Our club members were out on the Dublin roads at the end of March, providing valuable support for our Dublin City Half Marathon athletes, whilst other members travelled to Dundalk for a Half Marathon.

eanwhile our latest Couch to 5k group had a fun graduation. We’re very proud of their commitment and enthusiasm and looking forward to following their progress.

We will shortly announce details of the 2025 LSA Road Race, scheduled for November - follow us on social media for details.

Congratulations to all our athletes, coaches & supporters.

Socials: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lambaysportsacademy - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lsadonabateportrane/ - https://lambaysportsathletics.ie/

Adult memberships queries: lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com - Little Athletics and Juvenile athletes (7-18): lsajuvenilereg@gmail.com

The Lusk 4 mile road race took place in early March and was a huge success with over 1,000 entries for the 4 mile as well as hundreds more for the Thomas Ashe Dash. Many thanks to all sponsors , club members and the local community who helped in any way.

The men’s race was won by John Travers of Donore Harriers in a time of 18:43 with Annemarie McGlynn of Letterkenny AC winning the women’s race in a new course record of 20:30. The Lusk AC winners were Conor McGuirk and Emma Przymusinska.

There was also success for the club in the recent Leinster Indoor Championships and Nationals. Club members continue to clock up the miles with Half Marathons in Lisbon and Marathons in Brescia, Italy as well as events closer to home. The 40-day 6am 5k challenge started on 5th March and is open to everyone in the community from Lusk NS each morning.

LSA members have taken to the roads in the last month with lots of our members taking part in the Lusk 4 mile Road Race and the Bohermeen Half Marathon at the start of March.

In Lusk, James Keegan was the first LSA member home in 23:42 for the 4 miles. Grace Brady was the first female in 31:30.

In County Meath the following weekend, Shane O’Farrell led the twenty seven LSA athletes home, covering the thirteen miles in 1 hour 20:18. Sinéad Kiernan was the first LSA female finisher in 1 hour 39:16.

Meanwhile, the Indoor Track and Field season continues. Our Little Athletics group had a busy day of competition at the Dublin Spraoi Games in Abbotstown. A small group of LSA Under 20 and Masters athletes competed in the Leinster Championships in Abbotstown, The following week our Masters were back in action at the National Masters Championships in Athlone.

Masters athletes Dara Carr (W55) and Enda Gavigan (M60) took double Championships titles in the 60m and 200m at both Leinster and National Championships. Xavier Hubert (M45) claimed the Leinster High Jump title, and a second place finish in that event in Athlone

Our female relay teams claimed Gold and Bronze in the Leinster Championships and went on to mark International Women’s Day with a Bronze. We also had a Mixed Masters Relay Team who claimed Bronze in Athlone.

The Cross Country season concluded with Sinéad Farrell and Reuben Capocci qualifying for the All-Ireland Championships. Huge congratulations to Sinéad who helped her team to victory in the Senior Girls event.
We are very grateful to all the coaches and parents who volunteer their time to help all the members of our club. We always welcome new members.

Keep up to date on all the events by following LSA on our website and social media pages!
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lambaysportsacademy
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lsadonabateportrane/
Twitter https://twitter.com/LSARunning
https://lambaysportsathletics.ie/
Adult memberships queries:
lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com
Little Athletics and Juvenile athletes (7-18):
lsajuvenilereg@gmail.com