Our highly successful Cúl Camps 2021 took place in Thomas Ashe Park recently with 125 children aged between 6 and 12 years taking part.The children had an eventful week, with the weather on our side thankfully. A big thank you to all our coaches for ensuring everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable week playing camogie, hurling, football and a couple of spontaneous waterfights!! It was great to see all our young members back playing and training with their friends once again after a difficult year.Our Online Lotto draw takes place live on Facebook every Thursday at 9.00pm. Tickets can be purchased online at www.klubfunder.com.The lotto is an important fundraiser for the club and we appreciate all the support.
After 2 years as Lusk Utd Chairman, Ciaran Russell, stood down from his position at the recent AGM in July. Ciaran has been involved in the club for most of his life as a player, coach and committee member. Indeed, Ciaran has spent the best part of a decade on the committee in various roles always giving 100% commitment and bringing a rare skill set that will be a great loss to the committee and the club. The impact Ciaran made as Chairman should not be underrated and he leaves the club in good stead as we come through one of the toughest periods in the club’s and the country’s history. Ciaran has overseen the first club survey, the development of a club strategy, a restructuring of the committee and a very successful girls only academy at which Ciaran was a coach.The Russell name is synonymous with Lusk and with Lusk Utd; Ciaran’s contribution will go a long way to cementing his name in the history of the club and we as a club would like to thank him for all his efforts. We wish him the best for the future, and we hope to see Ciaran back on the sidelines at games or even on the training pitches again in the future. We are also now recruiting for our U16 Girls, U 19 Girls, U 14 boys and U 19 Boys teams and we are delighted to have received an allocation of €25,453 towrds clb machinery under the Sports Capital Grant
Our first ever summer camp for children took placer this summer. We hoped to give our young LSA members and other members of the community an opportunity to experience a range of athletics disciplines without having to travel outside the Donabate/Portrane peninsula. It was fitting that Ballymastone GAA Grounds was the venue for the first two days of the camp, where St Pat’s GAA club generously gave us their pitches, storage and clubhouse. Ballymastone could be called the spiritual home of Donabate, since this was the location of the first Community Games that led to the formation of the club in 2011. We made full use of all the space in Ballymastone with six different activity stations. Children and teenagers from age 6 up tried out Throws: (Shot put, Turbo Javelin and Discus); Jumps: (High Jump and Long Jump) Sprints and Middle Distance, as well as fun games, yoga, obstacle course and tug of war. We are hugely grateful to our 30+ volunteer coaches and helpers who gave their time and shared their experience, energy and enthusiasm with our 85 participants. Apart from being great fun, this was also a wonderful opportunity for many of our club members to meet for the first time.As we have gradually returned to competition, LSA members from our juvenile and adult sections have had great success competing. Anna Gavigan was selected to represent Ireland at the under 18 International Team Match in Franconville Paris. Anna secured a 2nd Place finish in Discus with a new PB of 43.33m. Anna and her coach Gerry Ronan continue to go from strength to strength; shortly after her international appearance, Anna went on to become the National Champion Discus U18.September will see a return to training for all our members. Our Masters Track and Field team take on the National Masters Championship on September 5th in Tullamore. Note that our next C25K will start September 7th and finish on October 30th for a Halloween run. If you’re interested in joining our C25K, email lambaysportsatheltics@gmail.com.
June saw another round of virtual competitions run by Special Olympics Ireland.Our club saw twice the number of competitors this time around; with 24 athletes representing our club, in 4 of the 5 sports offered. DPSO club had at least one competitor in each competition (except the wheelchair races) offered, which included Basketball, Bocce, Golf as well as several athletics events.Well done Sorcha for taking first place in golf, despite the fact that we didn’t have any left handed clubs available for her. Special Olympica competitive events are open to athletes aged 8 and over -we had two of the youngest competitors as Liam and Tom had only just turned 8 by the qualifying date. There have been some very heavy post bags for our athlete’s post men as their medals were delivered over the past week.Some of our volunteers reminded us that they are also athletes and competed in the adult section of the challenges; Becca, Ciaran and Ruairí all winning medals in Bocce. We are especially delighted with this as we have plans for Bocce in our club. Several of our coaches are training as Bocce officials. Well done to everyone! No club sessions for a while as we enjoy the summer break. Looking forward to lots more fun and games in September and hopeful for real life competitions in 2021-2022.
Balbriggan Boys recently won the Leinster Junior A trophy for the first time in their history, beating Pembroke in the final by six wickets. Batting first Pembroke got 117, with Bruce Whaley top scoring with 35 before retiring.Hassan Shahid claimed four wickets, while Jesse Makris also bowled well, conceding just 16 off his four overs.Hassan was also to the fore with the bat, as he made 38 before retiring, with Jesse Makris enjoying the final, making 32.Skipper Fionn Bannister and Tom Harford brought home the win with Tom hitting the winning runs in the penultimate over.Jim Bennett and Martin Russell did the trophy presentations, praising “a great game played in good spirits’. Well done to all.
Our thanks for these great pictures from Theresa Gannon Junior Convenor for the club of the Fingal Boys Final hosted in Balbriggan very recently. Congratulations to Portmarnock GC. The overall winners on the day were Portmarnock with Beaverstown and very close second. Rory Callaghan won best gross on the day. The cadets are playing this evening in the Cadets End of Year scramble, accompanied by the Captains and vice Captains and others a great way to cap off a very successful season , A great days golf in BGC. Well done again to all concerned.
While some of the covid restrictions are still in place , at Junsa we are still training outdoors while we have this fantastic weather. Our more experienced players are in preparation for international competition in August, if our travel restrictions allow it. At Junsa Taekwondo we always try to develop our students to their fullest potential, weather it’s Kyrougi ( fighting competition) Poomsae competition ( sets of Taekwondo moves which are judged in tournaments) or develop them into referees , coaches or train just for fun. There is something for everyone in Junsa Taekwondo.Junsa is always taking on new members young and old or past students are always welcome. Don’t hesitate to contact Master Stuart Russell on 087 7775202 or follow us on Facebook @ JunsaTaekwondo.
It was brilliant to see many of our athletes in competition action as the events came thick and fast across July. Between Dublin Graded meetings, Dublin Juvenile Championships and Leinster Athletics Track & Field Championships there was an opportunity for everyone to take part in their chosen events. There was a large medal haul for our athletes and it was clear to see the long lay off from competition has been put to good use. Thanks to our coaches and volunteers for there fantastic work and well done to all athletes who took part. The club also held a competition for U8 to U11 members on a very wet but fun night at the Hub
Recent confirmation on the IAAF website that the Olympic Qualifying table has been finalised, showing unbelievably, that Andrew Coscoran from Balbriggan has finished in 41st place of the 45 qualifiers for the 1500m in Tokyo! It’s been an emotional few weeks following Andrew’s touch and go performances on his quest to qualify for Tokyo for us here in Balbriggan and his club Star of the Sea. How stressful it must have been for Andrew himself, but he’s proved he’s a champion and can rightfully take his place among the World’s elite athletes! Some names that flash through my mind are that of Joe Roy (Backbone of Juvenile Athletics in Balbriggan for years), Siobhan White (Balbriggan Community games), Alison Browne (Balbriggan Community games), Brendan Meade (Star of the Sea coach supremo who has inspired many a champion over the years) and Feidhlim Kelly (coach and creator of the Dublin track club) who have helped get Andrew to where he is today. Volunteers like these are priceless in finding and encouraging young future Andrew Coscorans. We involved in athletics are all delighted and thrilled in Balbriggan Roadrunners/ Balbriggan & District AC to have helped Andrew in some small way!
Balbriggan Basketball are delighted to announce we will return to training in August.
Great news, we are so excited to partner with Bremore Educate Together Secondary School (bremoreetss.ie) as our new home base. Our training schedule will be listed on our Facebook page (9) Balbriggan Basketball -Irish Vikings Club | Facebook. A big thank you and welcome to Rafael, Ken, Chris some of our coaches for the upcoming season and if you have free time and would like to volunteer and/or coach, get in touch with us on 0866004340.Balbriggan Basketball is an all inclusive club.Balbriggan Basketball Club founded in 2009 is a non profit club promoting inclusion through sport in the Balbriggan Community for all age groups. Our club’s accomplishments include:
Team of the Year Award 2018 and also Person of the Year 2019.We look forward to seeing you all again soon.