The academy had a very exciting 2024, full of success, friendship and great team spirit. Competition kicked off in February with the Dublin Spraoi games. All our academy teams medalled at the Dublin Spraoi games. Athletes worked in teams of up to 10, competing in the 60 metres, standing long jump, beanbag throw and a relay.
The 2015 boys had great success in the Dublin indoor relay championships, winning a silver medal in the 4 by 200 metre relay. The team was Sam Merriman, Denis Dixon, Matej Musik and Darragh Smith.
The academy athletes gained confidence from their indoor success, as they moved on to compete in the Dublin and National Children’s games.
Clongriffin AC won a total of 16 medals at Dublin games, qualifying 27 athletes into the National Children’s Games in Tullamore last June. This included all 6 relay teams born across 2014, 2015 and 2016.
After the summer break, our 2014 athletes moved into the pre performance section of the club and 2017 moved from Little Athletics into the academy. The 2016 and 2015 athletes competed in the Dublin cross country league and in the Dublin cross country championships. There were many top 20 finishers from both age groups throughout the season. Many athletes showed great improvements as they progressed through the league. Congratulations to Darragh Smith (2016), who medalled in the Dublin Cross country championships and also in the cross country league.
In November, we had our Club championships and Open day in the NIA. We had 80 athletes competing across the academy. Athletes competed in the 200m, 60m, a jump and a turbo javelin. Combined scores were calculated and the top 4 in each age category were awarded medals at our club awards in December. Congratulations to all that participated in the club championships.
The club also hosted the first academy cup in the NIA in November. 400 athletes competed from 9 different clubs. Teams competed across a range of run, jump, throw and a relay. Our 2017 group came out on top of the 9 clubs in their age group, as did the 2016 boys. 2015 boys won the silver, with 2015 and 2016 girls winning bronze.
We are now looking forward to building upon our successes and progress in 2025. The 2014 group have graduated now to the Development Group and have been training with them since September. We are excited about the new talent that has joined our squads since the open day in November. Thank you to all our Academy coaches for making it all possible.
Clongriffin AC 