Plenty of medals in hectic spell

The first weekend of the national Community Games finals for the 'Winter Games' is fast approaching and is being held in Athlone IT this year on the weekend of 22nd-24th May. This is the first time that the Games finals have moved from Mosney, Co. Meath. The children of Beechpark/Coosan have been busy training and competing locally, at county level and at Leinster level over the past few weeks and have approximately 20 so far competing in the finals in such diverse activities as Art, Culture Corner and Swimming. The following swimmers won gold in a recent County Swimming Finals held in the Athlone Pool recently and will represent Westmeath in the Community Games Finals to be held here in Athlone later in the year include: U8 Boys (front crawl) Nathaniel O"Neill; U11 Boys (front crawl) Bill Kelly; U12 Boys (back crawl) Shane Gibbons, U11 Boys (breaststroke) Eoin Meaney; U14 Boys (front crawl) David Fitzsimons; U16 Boys (front crawl Brendan Gibbons; U12 Girls (front crawl) Sinead Reidy; U13 Boys Relay Team David Fitzsimons, Bill Kelly, Shane Gibbons, Ciaran McDermott and Eoin Meaney and U13 Girls Relay Team Sinead Reidy, Michelle Gibbons, Orla Mooney and Briona Geoghegan. The Culture Corner Group competed in the county finals on Easter Wednesday and won gold and will be competing in the All Ireland final in AIT soon. This event is an Irish Cultural sketch and includes music, dancing and recitation. The group includes: Terry O"Sullivan, Ashling and Cliona Golden, Emily Henshaw, Sinead Reidy, and Ciara Egan. Both Edel Hannon and Eileen Reidy who had trained hard had to pull out on the night of the final because of a clash of events unfortunately. Others to win gold medals at county level include Sinead Reidy in the Girls U12 Art Competition and the U11 Mini Rugby team who defeated Moate in the County final by a score of 8-3 and await Longford/Offaly opposition in the first round of the Leinster championship soon. The U12 Chess team also were county champions and reached the Leinster final, only to lose against Kildare opposition. Had they won, they would have competed against the All-Ireland Champions for the last two years in the Connaught champions from Ballinasloe. Other teams to compete in County competitions were Boys Soccer U12, Football U10, Girls Basketball U13 and 16, Boys Basketball U13 and 16. The U16 Girls team lost by one point to Milltownpass in the county final, having beaten Rochfortbridge and Tubberclair-Glasson along the way. Beechpark/Coosan had three mixed Tag Rugby teams competing at U11, 13 and 15 levels and each were beaten by Mount Temple/Baylin opposition. Swimming The local swimming gala was held recently at Athlone Swimming Pool. There was a great turnout of children with approximately 30 swimmers participating. Congratulations to all those who participated. Plenty of adult help was available on the day which made the occasion enjoyable for everyone. All gold medal winners are eligible to represent the local area in the County Finals. Those who have won more than one event must make a choice and 2nd placed winner in the other events will be eligible. Local Area Swimming Results Boys Freestyle: U8 - 1st Nathaniel O"Neill; U10 - 1st Robert Kelly, 2nd Padraig McDermott, 3rd Joe Reidy; U12 - 1st Billy Kelly, 2nd Ciaran McDermott, 3rd Shane Gibbons; U14 - 1st David Fitzsimons; U16 - 1st Brendan Gibbons. Girls Freestyle: U8 - 1st Saoirse Hynes, 2nd Cliona Murtagh, 3rd Aoife McDermott; U10 - 1st Shannon Hynes; U12 - 1st Sinead Reidy; U14 - 1st Orla Mooney, 2nd Michelle Gibbons, 3rd Eileen Reidy. Boys Backcrawl: U10 - 1st Robert Kelly, 2nd Joe Reidy, 3rd David McNamara; U12 - 1st Bill Kelly, 2nd Ciaran McDermott, 3rd Shane Gibbons; U14 - 1st David Fitzsimons. Girls Backcrawl: U10 - 1st Shannon Hynes; U12 - 1st Sinead Reidy; U14 - 1st Michelle Gibbons, 2nd Orla Mooney, 3rd Eileen Reidy. Boys Breaststroke: U12 - 1st Eoin Meaney, 2nd Bill Kelly, 3rd Shane Gibbons; U14 - 1st David Fitzsimons. Girls Breaststroke: U12 - 1st Sinead Reidy; U14 - 1st Michelle Gibbons, 2nd Orla Mooney, 3rd Eileen Reidy. Relay Teams: U13 Boys - David Fitzsimons, Bill Kelly, Ciaran McDermott, Shane Gibbons, Eoin Meaney; U13 Girls - Orla Mooney, Michelle Gibbons, AN Other and Sinead Reidy.2