Kilkerley AC re-opens

Kilkerley Athletics Club has once again opened its doors to the public as they celebrated their re-launch at Kilkerley Community Centre on Thursday evening.

An introduction and training demonstration took place at the opening as they welcomed athletes from the age of 6-years old and above.

Kilkerley AC’s Peter Kelleher described the opening as “a great success” mentioning that “there were about 90 there, and by the following afternoon we had over 30 paid up members.”

When speaking about what inspired him to relaunch the club, Kelleher said: “I’ve lived in Kilkerley since 2014 having married into the parish in 2008 but first started coming here in 2003.

“In that time, I often heard about the successful athletics club that was here and in particular the Cross-Country tradition that was so strong.

“I had often spoken about wanting to restart the club but finally got the ball rolling, or at least rocking in summer 2023. The real work began in January 2024 when we got committee members* together and we started in earnest.

“I personally don’t know too much about the specific history of the club such as competitions won, races hosted etc,” he said.

“However, I have heard lots of anecdotes that exemplify what the club meant to people. People's fond memories of running around (or hiding in) Wallaces field, the excitement of competition day with 15 kids to a car (we won’t be doing that) and days hosting cross country championships.

“There were also lovely stories about unsung heroes of the club, like Sheila Connolly, who brought food and drinks to training sessions and competitions just to make sure all the kids got fed. That particular story moved me, as it shows what being a community means.”

Kelleher continued “The most rewarding part to date was seeing how much it meant to the older generation that ran the club before us.

“Some of the stalwarts of yesteryear have passed away but their legacy lives on both literally, with children and grandchildren, and figuratively with the positive feeling towards the club that smoothed the relaunch with Athletics Louth.

“That list includes Tommy Mulholland, Michael Corrigan, and Pat Gogarty. We also had some living legends with us on the day such as Stevie O’Hanlon, Gerry Smyth, and Pat Gogartys wife Maureen.

“I’ll plead the blow in the card if I have omitted any names and ask forgiveness. I expect the most rewarding part is in the future when we see kids from this part of Louth (we want to cast a wide net and encourage anyone from our catchment to come and try it out and don’t worry our colours are green and gold) participating in events and competitions and the highs (and lows) of sport.”

Kilkerley Athletics Club has a busy schedule ahead of them according to Kelleher. “There are loads of competitions all through the summer,” he said.

“In fact, we’ve already had a member of the club compete in the club colours when our registrar, Ian, ran in the Marist 5k. The calendar on Athletics Louth is excellent.”

He went on to say: “The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. There is great interest and the football club, community centre and school have all provided generous support with facilities. We have also gotten great support from all at Louth Athletics, Athletics Louth, and Louth Sports partnership.”

When talking about the goals of the club and how he sees it growing over the next few years, Kelleher said: Over the coming years we hope to build solid foundations to the club.

“The key to that is bringing in fresh perspectives and coaches. A new club has to start somewhere, and the current committee are excellent and committed, but we would love to see potential new committee members coming forward at our AGM later in the year.

“For example, we would love to recruit a coaching officer (if anyone is interested contact me). We’re hoping to cater for more than just running and want to emphasize that we’re not just a running club and we don’t just cater for kids.

“We aim to develop expertise in coaching jumping and throwing too. It may take some time as we as a coaching cohort develop our knowledge and experience.

“That's another aspect I’m looking forward to seeing, the development of committed young coaches. In the near future our aim is to have training two evenings a week on Tuesday and Thursday from 6.30pm-7.45pm using Scoil Mhuire gan Smál as our meet up point.

“From there we will conduct a group warm up and then break into our groups for different activities. We aim to finish every session with a few laps of the Kilkerley Emmets track, just to keep everyone honest.”