Sport
As well as having a Regional Sports Centre, Athlone has a variety of sporting organisations, including Athlone Town Football Club, who play their home games at Athlone Town Stadium at Lissywollen (5,000 capacity).
Athlone hosted the European Triathlon Championships in 2010. Approximately 5,000 athletes participated in the event. Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain won the event. Two years later he won Olympic Gold at London 2012 in the Triathlon.
Athlone has many Gaelic football teams including Garrycastle GAA, Athlone GAA, with St. Brigids (Roscommon) GAA and Clann na nGael GAA (Roscommon) being located outside Athlone itself. Garrycastle GAA qualified for the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship for the first time in the club's history by beating Connacht Champions, St. Brigids GAA, in an all Athone semi final. Garrycastle eventually lost the final to Crossmaglen Rangers in a replay of the final as the first match ended up as a draw with a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-15.
Athlone is home to Buccaneers RFC, the club is grounds are Dubarry Park. Dubarry Park (10,000 capacity) is also grounds to the Connacht Eagles, the team that represents Connacht in the British and Irish Cup and in the All Ireland Inter-provincial Championship.
Athlone has been awarded the prestigious title of European Town of Sport for 2013 by the European Capital of Sport.
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Famous quotes containing the word sport:
“Drag racing is a sport of egos, and it’s all male egos.”
—Shirley “Cha Cha” Muldowney (b. 1940)
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—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)