The North West Indoor Games took centre stage in the Irish athletics calendar when over 500 athletes from twenty-eight counties converged on Athlone for the sixth edition of the Games.
The games have become the highlight of the Christmas fixtures, inaugurated by Bernie O’ Callaghan in 2015 in an attempt to make Donegal athletes more comfortable competing on the tight banked indoor track.
At that time the Ulster Indoor Championships were held in Magherafelt in an indoor arena built for indoor hockey, and as Donegal is one of the few counties who do not hold indoor championships, he believed that Donegal Athletes were going to the AAI Indoor championships each year at a severe disadvantage to athletes from all the counties in Munster, Leinster and Connaught who had both County and Provincial Indoor Championships on banked 200m tracks.
The initial games took place in Athlone in the week after Christmas and attracted athletes from Donegal Cavan and Monaghan, and Iain Shaw and Ronan O’ Harte provided electronic timing for all the races. In 2016 the word was out and a number of athletes like Bandon’s Phil Healy who were chasing European qualifying standards asked to compete.
Phil got the 200m qualifying standard and there was a rush of others who wanted a chance to get qualifying standards at home took part.
The games never lost sight of why they were set up and continued to provide every indoor event for our young athletes from under 12 up and also included Junior, Senior and Master events.
This year events were introduced for under 10 athletes and the reaction by both athletes and clubs was very positive and this age will become a permanent fixture and be expanded to include more events in the future.
A feature of this year’s event was the presence of twenty athletes from the famous Ferrybank club in Waterford who were taking part in the games for the first time.
In 2022 athletes from eight Donegal clubs Killybegs, Tír Chonaill, Finn Valley, Rosses, Letterkenny, Lifford Strabane, Cranford and Milford took part and were prominently represented on the Victory Rostrum.
In the U/10 girl’s events Enya Logue, Rosses won the 400m Walk with clubmate Tamara Parker in third. Coela Mc Glinchey, Finn Valley was third in the 60m.
Adam Breen, Finn Valley won the 60m with Keelan O’ Donnell, Killybegs a close second. Ethan Diver Killybegs won the 400m walk with clubmate Cian Mc Monagle in third.
The Killybegs team of Cian Mc Monagle, Ethan Diver, Keelan O’ Donnell and Flynn Daly won the U/10 4 x 200m Relay comfortably from Castlerea Crusaders in second and Rosses in third.
Mila Rose Boyle Conwell, Killybegs won the U/12 girls 60m and Long Jump events and Leah Mc Monagle , Killybegs was second in the 600m Walk.
Aileen Logue, Rosses won the U/12 High Jump with Caoimhe Mc Gonagle also Rosses in third. Caoimhe was also second in the Shot and Rosses were third in the 4 x 200m Relay. In the boys events Mark Boyle Gildea, Tír Chonaill won the shot with Finn Valley’s Nathan Kearns in second, and Reuben O’ Domhnaill, Letterkeny won the 600m walk Mark was joint second in the High Jump.
Donegal had a clean sweep in the U/14 High Jump with Eva Logue, Rosses in first Aoife Mc Gonagle, Rosses in second and Leona Slevin, Finn Valley in third. Eva Logue was also third in the Shot.
Harry Mc Ilwaine, Letterkenny won the U/14 Boys 60m, and Aaron Perry, Tír Chonaill was third in the shot. Finn Valley were second in the boys relay with Lee Mc Granaghan, Michael Breen, Nathan Kearns and Conor Waters on duty.
Finn Valleys Erin Sproule was second in the 800m with Ailbhe Doherty, Tír Chonaill in third. Katie Louise Mc Monagle, Finn Valley was second in the Long Jump. Katie Elliott was third in the High Jump, Caoimhe Brown, Finn Valley was third in the triple jump and Sheila Gallagher, Rosses was second in the shot.
Finn Valley won the 4 x 200m relay. Jamie Kennedy, Tír Chonaill won the 60m Hurdles and Triple Jump, Ace Rodruigez, Finn Valley was second in the 60m sprint. Ethan Dewhirst, Tír Chonaill was second in the 200m and Shot.
Elvis Okoe, Letterkenny won both the Men’s 60m and Triple Jump, while the Finn Valley duo Bobby Hennigan and Daniel Mc Hugh were second and third in the Long Jump and the Finn Valley team won the relay with Bobby Hennigan, Blaine Lynch, Daniel Mc Hugh and Luca Brown on duty. Amber Gallagher, Rosses was the only winner in the U/18 Women section when she took silver in the Shot.
Letterkenny’s Joseph Aidoo was the winner of the senior 200m, Oisin Kelly Cranford won the 400m in a new personal best time of 50.89 seconds and Finn Valleys Oisin Thompson won the men’s Long Jump. Patrick Galvin, Finn Valley won the Master Men Long Jump, Niamh Moohan, Tír Chonaill was third in the Long Jump and Cathriona Kearns Killybegs was second in the Masters 1,500m.
