Clonmel AC Membership 2023

The present Club was formed in 1971 and since then it has been promoting Athletics as a way of life for all ages from 7 to 70+ years of age and our Club caters for all levels of fitness. The Club is very active at all levels and offers all its members the opportunity to enjoy running (athletics) at their own pace and level of fitness.

Joining Clonmel Athletic Club offers you many opportunities to enjoy your way to getting and keeping Fit. Becoming a member you are a register member of Athletic Ireland and that will give you Insurance cover. Being a member of the Club will also give you the chance to compete for the Club on Club teams at the many levels that are in our Sport at your own pace and such an experience can be very enjoyable as it is great to be part of the team success. The membership fee you pay at the start of the year helps the Club to pay for your entry fees to any of the Championship races, as many as 26 such events ranging from County, Munster and National at adult level. However, you can also decide to be a member of the Club and you don’t have to compete for the Club at a Championship event but you can compete as a Club member at any Open event. Our Current base is at the Dr Pat O Callaghan Sports Complex, Cashel Road, Clonmel, Postal Code E91 P5K6.

As a member of Athletics Ireland, Clonmel Athletic Club promotes all our events through our National Association by way of a Race Permit. This Race Permit covers the Club when it is promoting an event, say like the St Stephen’s Day 4 miler. As such we encourage all our members to only participate in events that have an Athletic Ireland race permit as they will covered by Insurance. In County Tipperary we are fortunate that 95% of events do have an Athletics Ireland race permit. Likewise we can only promote events that have an Athletic Ireland race permit on our Club notes, our Website www.clonmelac.com and on our Facebook site. It is also worth noting that funds raised by events promoted by Clubs like Clonmel Athletic Club, are ploughed back into the Sport at local level and so everyone benefits, especially the Juveniles in such Clubs.

Training Sessions

The Club caters for both Juvenile and Senior Athletes. At Juvenile level, athletes have to be 7 years of age before they can join, and they remain as a Juvenile athlete until they are 19 years of age. At that stage they enter the Senior ranks.

At Juvenile level we have two weekly sessions at our Track at the Dr. Pat O Callaghan Sports Complex, Cashel Road. These sessions are organised by qualified Coaches.

• Juvenile Athletics Training (age 7-13) Tuesday & Thursday 5.45 to 6.30pm  contact  Frank Lynch 0868282689, Nora Palazzo 086-8220892, Albert Doyle 0868625622 or Robbie Whelan 087-3163000 / 
• Juvenile Athletics Training (age 14 to 19) Tuesday & Thursday 6.30 to 7.30 pm contact Anthony Moynihan 087-9824557, Frank 0868282689
• Juvenile Sprint Training (age 14  to 19) Tuesday & Thursday 6 to 7:15 pm contact Niall O'Ceallaigh 086-3729761 
• Juvenile Race Walk Training (age 10 to 19) Contact Frank Lynch 0868282689
• Fit4Life for both Men & Women- Monday 7-8 pm (except bank holidays) contact:Aine Butler 087-9290418 and Donna Nagle 086- 0748455.
• Senior Club Training Session -  Monday & Wednesday nights 6.30 to 7.30 pm aimed at improvers  / advance club members(contact Niall O'Sullivan 086-1660888 and John Laste 0862268828) as we alternate training venues.

All our training sessions are supervised by AAI Qualified Coaches.  €2 per training session across the board with an allowance for Juveniles training of €5 for 3 or more children from same family per session. All funds go back into club development. Our facilities comprise of a 400m sanded track as well as a 100m tartan area and Long Jump arena. Club activities included: Sprinting, Relay, Middle Distance Running, Long Distance Running, Race Walking, Cross Country, Throwing, Hurdles, Long Jump & High Jump. In 2022 we will be moving to our new 400m IAAF standard tartan track at TUS Clonmel. 

To take part in these training sessions you have to become a member of Clonmel Athletic Club. The main reason for this is for Insurance purposes as our National Governing Body, Athletics Ireland, insists that everyone must become a member of the Association. Athletes have to be 7 years of age to join our club & we cater for all age categories. Due to Covid 19 Regualtions, only registeed Club members can attend Club training sessions. The registration fee is €25 for Juveniles and 3rd level students plus a transaction fee & €50 for adults plus a transaction fee (from Jan-Dec) and annual renewal is necessary.  Athletes must register online. It is worth noting that 15 Euors of the Juvenile fee of 25 euros and 20 Euros ofthe Adult fee goes to our National body to cover Registration and insurance. 

These training sessions are there to help you improve your level of fitness in a group atmosphere. For further information please contact Niall O Sullivan at 086 1660888 or email info@clonmelathleticclub@gmail.com

The track at the Dr Pat O Callaghan Complex, Cashel Road Clonmel is closed during club training sessions.

Club Committee

The club is a voluntary organisation run by a committee elected each year at AGM. The current committee are:

Chairperson - Frank Lynch

Secretary - Dan O Keeffe

Vice Chair (Adults) - Tony McCarthy

Vice Chair (Juvenile) - Frank Lynch

Treasurer - Patrick O Gorman

PRO (Adults) - Niall O'Sullivan

PRO (Juvenile) - Robert Whelan

Child Protection Officers - Frank Lynch and Nora Palazzo

Committee Members:  Albert Doyle, Susan Laste, Aine Butler, John Laste, Pat Walsh, Evan Lynch, Ian Patterson, Hazel Galloway. Sinead Kennedy, Geraldine Ryan and Nigel Flaherty

Ladies Fit4life coordinators -Aine Butler and Donna Nagle

Development Committee & Social Committee

We are also lucky enough to have a Development Committee who are working tirelessly for the benefit of the club. We'll keep you posted once we have concrete information to give on the future development.

Club Singlet

AAI rules require athletes to wear their club's singlet in official AAI competition & we encourage members to wear the club singlets to represent the club in any Open races they take part in too. The singlets range in size from age 9-10 up to XXL. We have an Online shop now for Club gear, it is at vergesportireland.com and click on the Clonmel AC tab. 

Age Groups

Juvenile age groups go up as far as U19 so not many juveniles take part in senior events. There are a number of different age group categories for seniors and typically competitions will be divided into these categories. To join Clonmel Athletic Club you have to be at least 7 years of age.

Senior Athlete. An Athlete enters the Senior ranks when they are 19 years of age. As a Senior athlete there are also different Championship levels in the Sport. An Novice athlete is an athlete who has never won the County Novice title be it on the Road or in Cross Country. An intermediate athlete is an athlete who has won the County Novice title but who hasn’t won the County Intermediate title while a Senior athlete is an athlete who has won an Intermediate title in their career. You can be an Novice, Intermediate or Senior Athlete at any age over 19 years.

A Master athlete is an athlete that reaches 35 years of age and they can compete at over 35 on their Birthday. Then from there on there is an age group competition for every five years like over 40, over 45, over 50, over 55, over 60, over 65, over 70, and over 75. Yes we have an athlete competing in the over 75 age group and he is enjoying the Sport.

There is competition in all of these age groups especially at Championship level while many Open Road races also have prizes to be won in the majority of these age groups, especially at the lower age groups.

We have many athletes who are Novice as well as Master athletes and they can compete for the Club in these events and the great thing about all these Championship races is the Club team event and that generates a great buzz among the Club members.

COMPETITIONS:

The official athletics year is split into a number of seasons: -

- Indoors track and field competition (December to April)

- Road Championships season (February to April)
- Outdoors track and field competition (May to July).
- Cross-country competition (October to March)

It is important to note that in the Road and Cross Country Championship events we emphasise the team effort, there are team events in all these categories and being part of a team and a winning team can be a great incentive and there are many athletes who came into the Sport and won a County Novice team medal and they never looked back.

The cross-country season consists of County, Provincial and National championships.

The cross-country races are sub-divided into the following categories:-
- Novice – Ladies 3K and Men 6K
- Intermediate – Ladies 4K and Men 8K
- Senior – Ladies 5k and Men 10K

-Masters – Ladies – 4k and Men 7K

The Road Championship season consists of County, Provincial and National Championships.

The Road Races are sub-divided into the following categories:-
- Novice– Ladies 3k and Men 6K
- Intermediate– Ladies 4K and Men 8K
- Senior– Ladies 5k and Men 10K

-Masters – Ladies – 6k and Men 6K

We also have the Road relays - County Road Relays – Women and Men 800m, 1500m, 800m, 3000m

Senior Training Sessions:

Fit4Life - Monday nights - Ladies & Men 7-8

The programme is aimed at all recreational runners and those who want to increase their level of fitness allowing them to achieve their personal goals by participating with a group of like-minded people.

Runners are grouped by ability for training sessions, allowing participants to train at an appropriate level whether they are total beginners or regular runners. A qualified Fit4Life leader, who has been trained by Athletics Ireland’s coaching team, sets out the training schedules, aimed towards getting just about anyone off the couch and fit enough to take on their first 5km challenge. Fit4Life members then often push on to 10km or make the leap to a 10 mile run and beyond.

Olympic and World medallist Sonia O’Sullivan commented “The Fit4life programme allows people to improve their fitness by increasing their level of physical activity and fitness in a fun and social setting. The great thing about running as part of a group is that there is a lot of energy in mass participation that drives the adrenalin in each person, and this allows us to run quicker and further than is normally possible on your day to day runs. You will push yourself more and be surprised with what you can achieve!”

Senior Track Sessions

These training sessions usually takes place at our Track at the Dr Pat O Callaghan Sports Complex, Cashel road every Monday and Wednesday night from 6.30 to 7.30pm. These sessions are a step up from the Fit4Life sessions. Like the Fit4Life session these adult sessions caters for all levels of fitness where the sessions vary from interval work to tempo runs, all at pre planned paces for each athlete. We also train on the road every Monday night, mainly tempo work, but again check with either John 0852268828 or Niall 0861660888 as this venue will change from time to time.

Club Lotto

The Club also promotes a Club Lotto which is aimed at developing the Club Facilities. The Lotto Draw takes place on a fortnightly basis and we have 26 Draws every year. Here we encourage all our Senior members to contribute to the Lotto. Due to Covid 19, the Club Lotto is now Online. This is the link - https://play.clubforce.com/play_newa.asp?LL_ID=2593#Anchor
Your support of our Lotto would be greatly appreciated.