Golden Glow at County T&F
St Senans athletes turned in superb performances and scored some great wins at the first stage of the county T&F championships in Scanlon Park last Sunday, taking home in total 62 medals including 20 gold, three from the talented Ciara Vereker. Well done to all out athletes who competed on the day. Check out all the results from Stage 1 here.

Club T&F, all results in 
Complete results from Club Open T&F on April 17th available here
Once again well done to all the St Senans athletes who competed and thanks to the clubs and parents who supported the event making it such a great success. A special thanks also to our sponsors FOgarty Car Sales Miltown, Kilmacow, 

and Don Butler Plant & Haulage, Skeard Kilmacow for their continued support.

King and Queen of Four Counties
Adele Walsh won the overall ladies section of the Four County League with another fine run in the final stage in Tolerton last Friday night. Again the race turned into a duel between Adele and Eilis Connery of St Lawrence O’Tooles, with the Carlow athlete taking the final leg with a late sprint up the home straight. This is a superb result for Adele and shows the level of improvement over the past year and the standard she now competes at. Meanwhile our men’s ‘B’ team of Sean Caulfield, Nicholas Halley, PJ Dwyer and James Howley were in a tight tussle for the silver medals and managed to hold off a strong Ballyfin challenge in the final leg. Gowran with the aid of Niall Sheehan in the last stage won this section comfortably. The individual ‘B’ winner was Sean Caulfield, while PJ Dwyer placed 4^th in the O/45 section. Pat Byrne of Tinryland was the individual ‘A’ winner with Tinryland taking the team title with ease. Well done to all our athletes who took part in the league.

From the Quay to the Sea
The Paddy Flanagan Memorial Waterford Tramore race drew huge numbers on Saturday night last with the win again going to talented West Waterford athlete Sandis Bralitis. Runner up was team mate Dzintars Klava who had just eight seconds to spare over Mick Kelly of Gowran AC. Diane Behan and Norma Wall of West Waterford AC were the leading ladies with Collette Holland of Waterford AC taking 3^rd place.

Kilkenny Road Race Series
Following their victories in the opening two-miler Paul Cody and Niamh Richardson repeated the performance in the four-miler on Wednesday night last. Veteran Seamie Murphy showed good form finishing in second place, while Stephen O’Keeffe, was the first juvenile  home. The series continues next Wednesday at 7.30pm when the distance moves up to five miles for the Pete Gaule memorial race.  

Give Me Five
Coming up on May 12^th at the Augustinian Friary in Dungarvan is the West Waterford Open Pentathlon which consists of a 100m, 400m, 1mile, long jump and shot putt and is graded for regular and beginner athletes of 16 years and over. It starts at 6.30pm and entry is just a fiver with prizes for senior and vets. There will also be a 4x100m relay race with teams picked on the night. Several St Senans athletes are listed to compete including Damien Walsh and it sounds like a great nights fun. For more info phone 087 7657805

A Drop of Hennessy's
On Saturday 20^th May the popular Butlers 10K race and 5K Walk and Fun Run takes place starting at 7.30pm. Over the years Pat Hennessy has made this a great event and has raised vast sums of money for local charities.  Not one to be missed, are you listeng Lacey, or am I talking to myself!!!

AAI Congress
The bi-annual AAI National Congress took place in the Ramada Hotel, Limerick Junction on Sat/Sun last. Outgoing President Michael Heary was re-elected by a large majority and in his address spoke of the transition that the organisation is currently going through and his aspirations for a more streamlined and professional body in the future. A new website is to be launched shortly, which will be of interest to athletes and coaches alike.

Intervarsity success
Congratulations to Damien Walsh and Colin Butler who both ran well in the National Intervarsity T&F in Belfast last weekend. Damien placed 3^rd in the 400mH with Colin in 5^th place. Colin also ran well in the 800m heats posting a time of 2.05. KCH athlete Eoin Everard won the final of that particular event in impressive fashion. Pride of place however must go to Callan girl Eileen O’Keefe, who representing the College of Surgeons won gold in the hammer, discus and weight for distance setting championship bests in all three events. Another Kilkenny athlete Joanne Cuddihy won both the 200m and 400m for her UCD club.

National 10K
There was a large turnout for the national 10K road race which was held in sun soaked Tinryland last Sunday week. Pauline Curley, Tullamore took the ladies title while Paul McNamara, Athenry was victorious in the men’s race. Gowran athlete Tommy Evans mixed it with the best of them and had a fine 8^th place finish, while team mate Robbie McGee also performed well finishing 36^th. Kilkenny City Harriers had Paul Cody in 39^th and St Senan’s had Aidan Lanigan and Sean Caulfield in 45^th and 50^th respectively, while others who showed good pace were Derek Deevy, Gowran and Eddie Hawe, KCH.

Cruz Control
Must mention my brother Liam Madden and his team of hardy relay runners named ‘Desperately Seeking Santa Cruz’, who recently completed the Napa to Santa Cruz 200 mile relay race and raised over $3,000 for an organ donation charity in the process. The race started in the famous wine region of California and finished on the beach at Santa Cruz. The race organisers really need to talk to James Veale of West Waterford AC who will explain that all good races should really start on a beach and end in a wine region, aka the Marine Climb!! Liam who is a late vocation to running has also completed two Dublin marathons as well as the Las Vegas marathon and has been casting an eye in the ultra marathon direction of late. Nice to know that crazy Carrick-on-Suir gene I inherited from my father, runs through all my family.