North Sligo AC reflects on a busy 2019
THE AGM of the North Sligo Athletic Club was held in the Sports Centre in Grange recently as the club looked back on a successful 2019.
The Chairperson Mary Gilmartin welcomed everyone to the meeting, where she thanked all the coaches for their commitment and dedication to the athletes in their various age groups
Mary praised the committee who worked as a team to make the club run as smoothly as possible.
She was very warm in her praise for club secretary Viera Stupakova who put a massive amount of administration work with GDPR documents, updating the club constitution and getting all the child protection data and Garda vetting forms up to date.
The Treasurer Brian McBride showed that the club lost some money, when exceptional none recurring items were taken out of it the club broke even.
He emphasised the need for continued fundraising efforts and said with McLeans Pub closed it will leave a hole in the finances as they were very supportive of our club for many years.
He showed that the club had acquired two storage containers one in Grange and one in Oxfield, a branded tent for crosscountry events and lots of sports equipment which should serve the clubs for many years.
The Secretary Viera Stupakova gave a very comprehensive report on the happenings in the club during the past year.
She picked out some outstanding performances especially from Christopher O’Donnell who won a silver medal in the 400m at the European team championship with a season’s best of 46.70seconds.
He also retained the senior men’s 400m title in the national championships.
Feidhlim McGowan became the fastest Sligo athlete to ever run a marathon with a great performance in the Dublin City Marathon when he clocked 2 hours 25 minutes 52 seconds.
Ciara Schmidtmeier, a recent winner of the club’s Superstar competition, has been selected to compete in the fastest kid in the world race at the Millrose Games in New York.
This will take place from Thursday to Sunday and all at the club wish Ciara well.
Several committee members and coaches lost close family members during the year and we sympathise with them on their loss
Conor McCann Assistant Secretary of our club ran the Sligo Road League on his own in 2019 from start to finish and he deserves great credit for a successful league.
Viera said the club would like to extend Mary Cullen best wishes and a full recovery, renewed good health in 2020 after tough year of treatment in 2019.
The secretary acknowledged the support of sponsors,especially SuperValu Grange for the bag packing, Langs Restaurant who sponsor the food for the Superstars and Grange Pharmacy who help sponsor the Oxfield 5k.
She thanked everyone who supported her in her first year as Secretary which was challenging but rewarding.
The register Conor McCann said there were 300 athletes registered with the club, this was down somewhat on last year but he expected this to grow as the year went on.
He said it was great to see so many getting on the coaching ladder and expected this to reap rich dividends in the years ahead.
The various coaches gave a synopsis of the achievements of their athletes during the past year, these have been acknowledged in the press etc already.
The following committee was elected for 2020; Chairperson Mary Gilmartin,Vice Chairperson Marie Mullen, Secretary Viera Stupokova, Assistant Secretary Conor McCann,Treasurer Brian McBride,Register Conor McCann,Seniors PRO Michael Carney,Juvenile PRO Christine McBride,Child Protection Officers Catherine Keogh and Paul Cleary.