A team of engineering students from NUI Galway has been awarded first place for technical innovation at Shell Eco-marathon Europe- Europe’s top competition for ultra-efficient vehicles.

Geec – the Galway energy-efficient car – is Ireland’s most efficient car, capable of travelling over 350 km on one unit of electricity, which means driving from Galway to Dublin for less than 15 cents’ worth of electricity.

Geec gets the equivalent of 10,000 miles per gallon of diesel.

Reacting to the win, NUI Galway President Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said: “Problem-solving at the service of society is at the very heart of our students’ learning experience.

“With their award-winning work on the Geec project, our NUI Galway Engineering students have brought their talent and ingenuity to bear on one of the most important challenges of our time – energy efficient transportation.

“I am delighted to pay tribute to their international success and I commend colleagues – academics, mentors and technicians from the College of Engineering and Informatics – and all those involved in supporting this important student initiative.”

This year 149 of the best engineering schools and universities in Europe qualified, built cars and sent teams to Shell Eco-marathon Europe in London.

Over 2,000 students, from Morocco to Siberia, took part. The award recognises the single best innovation on any car across all competition categories.

The Geec is Ireland’s first, and so far, only competitor at Shell Eco-marathon Europe, the world’s toughest test for ultra-efficient vehicles. Student teams battle it out in a 15-km race where efficiency, not speed, is what counts.

All the world’s cars, vans, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes and boats consume a third of the world’s energy and belch out a quarter of earth’s human-made greenhouse gas emissions, so developing highly efficient, low-emissions technologies is of paramount importance.

Competitors design, build, test and drive their own creations in a true test of ingenuity, grit and driving skills.

For the last four years, the Geec has flown the flag for Ireland in the battery-electric category, finishing 23^rd out of 50 in 2015, rising to 13^th in 2017.

This year’s Geec won the prestigious Technical Innovation Award, which is presented by Shell to the team which demonstrates outstanding technical ingenuity along with optimal use of new materials, components and inventions in their drive train, chassis, body, instrumentation and tyres.

The award was given to the NUI Galway team for an effective and simple approach to lower aerodynamic undercarriage drag. The wheels of a car can be a major source of aerodynamic drag or wind resistance, especially when the car’s main body has very low drag, like the teardrop-shaped, three-wheeled Geec. The innovation attacks this problem and is largely due to student Tom Dillon from Barna, Co. Galway, but is just one of the latest stages in a complex team project that has evolved for five years.

Tom explains: “Our new innovation is an aerodynamic seal that minimises the gap between the wheels and the car’s body at all times. From computer simulations of our car, we found that this new design offers a potential 27% reduction in aerodynamic drag.”

Professor Peter McHugh, Dean of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Galway, said: “This result puts us firmly on the map as one of the premier engineering schools in the world for the depth and quality of our education and for our mentorship and support of students.”

The annual Frances Thornton Memorial Galway Bay Swim took place on Saturday, with the event hoping to raise  €120,000 for Cancer Care West.

Now in its thirteenth year, the swim has become one of Ireland’s biggest and longest one day swims and donations can still be made online.

The swim which started with just three swimmers in 2006 has become one of Ireland’s biggest and longest one day swims.

This year, 146 swimmers began their 13 kilometre swim in Auginish in Co. Clare and finished at Blackrock Diving Tower in Salthill.

Hundreds of people welcomed home the victorious swimmers at Blackrock Tower from 12 noon.

Swimmers from across the world took part in the event, which saw a total of 65 solo swimmers and 65 relay swimmers taking part in teams of 2,3 and 4 swimmers.

Safety as always was a priority for the swim, the swim would not be possible without the maritime community in the west.

Each swimmer taking part needs a boat to follow and track their swim.

The swim has become one of the most important fundraising initiates for west of Ireland charity Cancer Care West.

This year the event is hoping to raise close to €120,000 through swimmers raising funds and awareness as well as bucket collections that were happening throughout Saturday.

Spectators and swimmers were treated to refreshments by Mr Waffle and all monies raised goes directly to Cancer Care West.

Kevin Thornton, son of Frances and one of the organisers of the annual Galway Bay Swim, said: “Having helped to start the event back in 2006 with just 3 swimmers, the Thornton family are immensely proud to continue to be a part of what has become the biggest annual fundraiser for Cancer Care West.

“The event leans heavily on the large maritime community of Galway Bay and the businesses within our home village of Salthill. The event wouldn’t be possible without their help.

“For the swimmers, our swim offers the open water experience of a lifetime and the opportunity to do their own little bit for the person in their lives that has been touched by Cancer.

“Everyone involved takes part in the event for their own special reason and we are honoured that the memory of our mother Frances, who loved to swim, lives on through those making the annual crossing across Galway Bay.”

Last year’s swim raised €108,000 for Cancer Care West, these monies raised helped to fund the expansion of support services for cancer patients including a counselling service for children and a dedicated gym rehabilitation space for cancer patients.

Photos: Murtography and Colm Henry

Investment of €977,180 has been announced for 54 coastal based projects in the West of Ireland under the Fisheries Local Area Action Group (FLAG) Strategy.

More than 400 applications have been made to the FLAG programme this year. All applications were reviewed by individual FLAG Boards in each of the seven FLAG regions throughout Ireland.

Projects must be able to demonstrate a clear link to coastal community rejuvenation, enterprise, innovation, job creation and skills enhancement across the fishing, aquaculture and maritime industries.

Jim O’Toole, CEO of Bord Iascaigh Mhara said that the FLAG Programme would continue ‘to promote sustainable growth in the local economies of Irish coastal towns and villages and provide a significant boost to these important communities’.

“By 2020, the FLAG Programme will have invested up to €12 million in Ireland’s coastal communities, providing jobs, and exciting opportunities to men and women who live along Ireland’s coastline,” he added.

Bláth na Mara, based on Inis Mór, Co. Galway, is one of 54 West based coastal projects that applied for FLAG funding this year and features in a new BIM video campaign to raise awareness of FLAG.

The seaweed harvesting business was established in 2002 and is managed by Jenny O’Halloran and employs four full-time staff.

Jenny O’Halloran’s father, Máirtín Ó’ Conceanainn, a native of Inis Mór, first began harvesting wild seaweed almost twenty years ago to supplement his main income.

Bláth Na Mara practices sustainable methods of harvesting to collect wild red and brown seaweeds and work according to the seasons and the tides.

Jenny (pictured above) has a background in business development and Dave’s marine biology qualifications have helped to develop the successful seaweed harvesting business that today supplies to food and beverage and cosmetic industries throughout the world.

The FLAG programme is co funded by the Irish Government and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).

BIM, Ireland’s Seafood Development Agency, administers the programme which will deliver a total of €12 million in funding to Ireland’s coastal communities over the 2014-2020 period.

The Galway Races begins next week, taking place until Sunday 5 August.

AA Roadwatch told road users to expect delays in the Ballybrit area of the city before and after the races.

Gates open at 2:30pm on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, at 12:30pm on Wednesday, at 11am on Thursday, at midday on Saturday and at 11:30am on Sun.

On Monday, the first race is at 5:20pm and the last race is at 8:40pm.

On Tuesday, the first race is at 5:20pm and the last race is at 8:40pm.

On Wednesday, the first race is at 5.10pm and the last race is at 7:20pm.

On Thursday, the first race is at 1:40pm and the last race is at 6pm.

On Friday, the first race is at 5:10pm and the last race is at 8:25pm.

On Saturday, the first race is at 2:30pm and the last race is at 5:55pm.

Then on Sunday, the first race is at 2:15pm and the last race is at 6pm.

There will be ample car parking facilities available in the vicinity of the racecourse.

There will be a shuttle bus service operating every day of the races between Eyre Square (Outside the Skeff Bar) and the racecourse.

It will start running from approximately 2 hours before the first race.

Return services will start bringing people back into the city from after the second-last race each day.