2020, a year that will live long in our memories, for many reasons. Let’s take the opportunity to focus on the positive events of the past 12 months. The year started on a high, lots of the club getting ready for half marathons, the now annual trip to Barcelona was highly anticipated and didn’t disappoint. Holly Brennan, Aaron Smith and Lauren Murphy were all honoured at the Meath Athletic Awards night in Feburary, in recognition of their national medals in 2019.
Our AGM, also in Feb, brought a change of personnel to the committee, it has been a busy and challenging year, reopening after the first lockdown was difficult, masses of paperwork to be trawled through to glean what applied to our clubs situation and how best to apply all the safeguards to ensure everyone could train in a healthy and safe environment. It’s a tribute to everyone on the committee, all our coaches, parents and athletes who’ve put in so much effort to get all groups back out (all be it in a modified format), thank you all.
The B5 went ahead in a virtual format, 439 entrants raised over €3,200 which we divided between the Irish Hospice Association and Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. Irish charities are in need of our help, now more than ever.
The high light of the year has to be Holly and Aarons performances at The Irish Life Health national senior and U23 T&F Championships. Holly stormed home to a fantastic win in the ladies 5,000m and Aaron is national junior silver medallist in the men’s. Everyone in the club is so proud of their achievements. The Meath Cross Country championships in October didn’t disappoint, Aaron Smith struck gold again and a star was born – Jack Daly (u16) taking gold on his cross country debut and helping his team to the boys team silver.
Training is now back up for all the juvenile groups, thank you to our athletes and parents for their patience while we worked to secure safe and appropriate facilities for our athletes to train in. Thank you to our coaches who’ve changed their schedules to allow for weekend training.
I’d like to once more extend our appreciation to everyone who gives their time and energy to make this world a better and safer place for us all, especially those frontline workers who give so much, words can’t convey the depth of our gratitude for all you do. Many good things have come out of this year, so let’s bring that positivity forward into 2021 with us, focus our efforts on supporting each other and keep our wonderful club moving forward! Lastly, a thank you to Dermot at the Coaster for all his support during the year. So here’s to better times for us all! Wishing you and your families, a very happy Christmas and a safe & healthy 2021.