Athletics to take centre stage at Community Games finals

ATHLETES from Westmeath and South Roscommon are bidding to build on a healthy medal haul by their respective county's at last weekend's HSE Community Games, as they prepare fr the third weekend of this year's Games in Athlone IT (August 21 and 22). A total of ten individual medals were claimed by competitors from this corner of the country at last weekend's events, while Kiltoom/Cam, Drum/Clonown and Beechpark/Coosan all landed medals in team events. There were several gold medal winners, with Beechpark/Coosan's Brendan Gibbons, Moate's Rhys Rowlands and Balymahon Road's Aidan Mannion among the winners in the pool. Last weekend's activities centred mainly around swimming, but other events such as Gaelic football, soccer, pitch and putt, tennis, hockey and volleyball were competed for at various venues around Athlone. The opening weekend of this year's Games took place in Athlone in May, when events like cross-country, chess, handball, table tennis and model-making took place. This coming weekend, South Westmeath will only have four competitors in action, with Retreat's Conall McHugh and Anna McGann taking part in the Long Jump, and Jack McGann competing at the under-16 discus. Moate's Mairead Smyth will also be in action on the track at Athlone IT, taking part in the Girls' under-16 100metres. Other areas in Westmeath to be represented at this weekend's big event include Castlepollard, Delvin, Kilbeggan and Tyrrellspass. A total of 13 individuals will represent South Roscommon at this weekend's fare, with Drum/Clonown and Kiltoom/Cam also looking forward to the efforts of various relay teams. South Roscommon's youngest competitor this weekend will be Ronan Finn (Moore), who competes in the under-8 60m, while Oisin Reilly and Aoife Gavin (both Knockcroghery), Daniel Farrell (Moore) and Kiltoom/Cam's Liam Martin all turn out at under-10 level. Deji Adeleye, representing Drum/Clonown, competes in the under-12 100m, while Brian Stack, of Kiltoom/Cam, is taking part in the under-14 hurdles. Grainne O'Neill and David Griffin (both Drum, shot putt and under-14 long jump respectively), Brian Derwin and Dearbhail Ni Catháin (Kiltoom/Cam, ball-throw and under-16 100m respectively), and Rachel Corcoran (Knockcroghery, walk) are also hoping for success this weekend. Drum/Clonown are also represented in the under-10 mixed relay by Aoife O'Brien, Laura Johnson, Molly Dolan, Nashir-Kola Ishola and Mark Naughton, while their under-12 boys' relay team consists of Conor Costello, Callum O'Brien, Deji Adeleye, Sean Ryan and Niall Connaughton. Kiltoom/Cam will also partake in the under-13 mixed relay, represented by Luke Carty, Brian Daly, Colin Daly, Caitlin O'Brien and Martha Louise Bowe, while Kiltoom/Cam's under-14 boys' relay team is made up of Adam Gavin, Paul Daly, Jack McDonnell and Brian Stack. More than 200,000 children aged between six and 16b take part in the HSE Community Games each year, and the emphasis is on participation, rather than competition. Thousands of people have already travelled to Athlone over the course of the opening two weekends of activities in this year's Games, and thousands more are set to embark on the town and its surrounding areas for this weekend's events.