Multi-medallist Anne proves a real past Master!

Family members and neighbours turned out in force to congratulate an East Galway woman who won six medals at the recent Masters Athletics Championships which were held in France.

It was a proud moment for Anne Kelly Ryan from Kilconnell when she won three silver and three bronze medals in a variety of disciplines.

Anne is an accomplished athlete and it is not her first appearance on the world stage. On this occasion, however, she was representing Australia where she now resides.

Her family in Kilconnell are delighted with her performance and held a celebration for her when she arrived home recently. She had her haul of medals on tow.

Anne, who was part of the Australian team that took part in the games held in Lyon, France, left Ireland in 1973 and settled in Brisbane. But she is a regular visitor to her home village.

The games are held every two years, and this year over 8,000 competitors from 98 countries, including Ireland, took part.

Anne won individual silver in the 1,500 metres and 8,000 metres and bronze in the half marathon. She also won silver in the 4 x 400 meter relay and bronze in the half marathon and cross country team events.

Her success in Lyon followed her gold medal winning performance at the games held at Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2013 where she won the half marathon race.

She recalls her first competitive race in Ireland in a inter-schools event when representing Ballinasloe Vocational School in 1971 and was unable to walk for some days afterwards.

Anne was home recently for a family function in Ballinasloe and she met with local Senator Michael Mullins, who congratulated her on her outstanding achievement at the World Masters Athletics Championships in France.  He said that her haul of medals was amazing and it was wonderful to see a local woman achieve such success on the world stage.

Senator Mullins wished her continued success and looked forward to following her progress at the 2017 championships.