It is with great sadness that we have lost one of Bandon AC’s original founding members and esteemed President Billy Good who passed away earlier today.
Our sympathies to Mathilda his wife and his sons Clive, Mervyn, David and extended Good family.
As a mark of respect the West Cork uneven ages due to be held in MTU tomorrow have been POSTPONED until a future date.
Ar dheis de go raibh a anam dílis
Dear Bandon Athletic Club Members and Friends,
The of 4th anniversary of Catherine’s passing occurs on the 12th of June 2021. Catherine will be prayed for at each mass at St Patrick’s church over next weekend. Her anniversary notice will be in this Saturday’s Irish Examiner. Because of the present covid situation I would ask that her friends in Bandon A.C to call to her resting place and remember her in their own time and in their own way. I want to express our families delight at the news of the long anticipated purchase of land for the Bandon A.C track and indoor facilities. A long held dream of Catherine’s, she would be so excited. I have no doubt she would be extremely proud of the performance of the clubs Junior and Senior athletes on the national and international stage in recent months especially in these difficult times. For the club to produce high performing athletes at this level was always her goal. We as a family will remember the wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister. For the club please remember the fierce competitor, coach, friend and the smiling face of Bandon Athletic club.
From Vincent Duggan and family.
For nearly a decade Bandon Athletic Club have been on the search for a field to help us build our dream, a home to call our own.
The long search for our field of dreams is over we are on the home stretch with the finishing tape in sight. We will soon be entering a new phase in the history of Bandon Ac as we seek to develop top class facilities over the coming years.
It has been a long road to get to where the club is now, with a lot of time and commitment from a large number of club members, but some people do deserve special mention.
One of the founding members Mr Billy Good has played a large part in obtaining this site and the associated planning permissions along with a very dedicated Track Development sub-committee who put in a huge amount of work. Thanks to their dedication we are now ready to start this development!
We need your support now more ever!
http://gofundme.com/f/bandon-ac-track-development-fundraiser
New page which will be updated with news and information of the development of the clubs track.
Bandon AC will once again hold its very successful athletics summer camp this year.
Please try to get your forms completed and returned as soon as possible to ensure you don’t miss out.
Dates: 12/13/14th July
Time: 10am-2pm
Venue: Bandon Town Park
SummerCamp Application 2021
Completed application forms and payments can be handed in at training to Carmel.
Bandon AC’s Phil Healy summed it up well recently after her fantastic 4th place in the 400m final at the European Indoor Championships,
“Explore so many events, because you never know which is the best for you. Don’t be afraid, and the main thing is have fun. If you know you’ve done your best then you can be delighted with your performance. It is not all about winning and it needs to move away from that mentality and thinking. If you give it your all, and walk off the track happy, then you’re winning for you. If you think you can do better then the next day is another opportunity to try that. I didn’t make finals or win anything until I was 17/18. You’re never too old. Just enjoy it, make new friends and most of all have fun. ”
Bandon Athletic club and the coaches have always had the long term development of the athlete as the primary driving force and it is with that same commitment we are about to embark on a new journey.
Bandon Athletic Club are extremely excited and proud to announce that it has recently concluded the purchase of an 8acre site just outside Bandon. Full planning permission has been granted for the development of a 400m all-weather track, field event area’s and an indoor training facility.
This is a huge step forward for the club and massive vote of confidence by the club in the talent within Bandon and the wider West Cork athletics community.
The site which is located at Clancoolbeg will see work commence shortly with the expectations that the all-weather track will be installed in 2022. The timeline for the development of the indoor training area will be determined by various fund-raising activities the club will be undertaking as well as grant allocations received. The indoor area, as well as having space for sprints and long distance will also include jumps and throws areas.
This development unlike majority of other all-weather tracks in this country will be owned and controlled by the club. Bandon AC for the last numbers of years has been one of the largest Juvenile clubs affiliated to Athletics Ireland, but due to lack of access to our own facilities it has not always been able to accept members and we frequently have a waiting list. Once this development is complete, the club’s expectations would be that it can eradicate waiting lists. Currently athletes frequently travel to Cork or further afield to avail of tartan track facilities, providing better facilities close at hand, will enable athletes to focus on training and recovery and not on travelling time. Our club also caters for recreational sport, which is called Fit4Youth. This aspect of the club is vital to ensuring athletes have opportunities to partake in athletics in a friendly social environment and progress at their own pace while getting all the health benefits from athletics.
Bandon AC which already has great working relationships with local schools and organisations such as Bandon Special Olympics and West Cork Athletics is looking forward to working even more closely with these schools, groups once the development is ready. This is a development which will greatly enhance the wider community and the athletics scene in West Cork.
It has been a long road to get to where the club is now, with a lot of time and commitment from a large number of club members, but some people do deserve special mention. One of the founding members Mr Billy Good has played a large part in obtaining this site and the associated planning permissions. A dedicated Track Development sub-committee put in a huge amount of work in rececnt years trying to find a suitable site and get the planning permission, current members of the sub-committee include Michael Weldon, Paul Kingston, Michael McKeon, David Gibson and Una Hutchinson. Landowner Liam Crowley who has been very helpful to the club throughout the long planning process. As a tribute to all past members, the club decided to make this announcement on St Patrick’s Day, as the club was known as St Patrick’s AC for the first two years after its formation in 1964.
The club will shortly be announcing some exciting fundraising activities to enable this development be completed as soon as possible, we will be hoping that the community of Bandon and the wider athletics community will respond in a positive manner.
This is truly an exciting time for the athletics fraternity in Bandon and West Cork.
Artistist impression of what the new Bandon AC facility will look like when completed – Drawing by Sadbh NiFhlaitheartaigh
Happy St Patricks Day from Bandon AC
Have a look at our video to celebrate St Patricks Day with some memories and a look to the future!
For more info please see Membership renewal for 2021
A note from the Club Covid Compliance Officer. Date: 23rd October 2020
Bandon Athletic Club will continue its training programme for all school going children 18yrs and younger. It will operate within the current Level 5 restrictions period, in conjunction with the Government’s Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19.
Training sessions will continue as normal set out below
Juvenile Athletes
Senior Athletes:
Conclusion