Athletics combined bronze for Kilkenny's Conor Knox

The snows are melting and the 2025 competitions are finally getting underway after an initial opening season weather glitch.

The AAI Games and National Combined Events Championships were held in Abbottstown last weekend with some Kilkenny athletes in action. Conor Knox (Kilkenny City Harriers - KCH) received a Leinster bronze medal for the under-14 pentathlon.

The Valencia 10km saw Efram Gidey (Clonliffe) break John Treacy’s 40-year-old 10km record by three seconds, putting Gidey on a positive trajectory for 2025. At home Ger Forde (KCH) won the Tom Walsh 10km in 31.13.

AAI Games

With the first indoor competition of 2025 postponed due to snow all the athletes competing at the AAI games and National Combined Events were competing in their first indoor competition of 2025.

The AAI indoor games give athletes an opportunity to test the waters ahead of the main championships, ironing out issues and for some seeing how their winter training has paid off.

Kilkenny’s pole vaulters Shane Power (St Joseph’s) and Chloe Lynch (Gowran) certainly made use of the opportunity to compete. It is not every fixture that includes pole vaulting and most of the competitors are only too happy to support those that do.

Power opened up his season with 4.20m which he achieved on his first attempt. His attempt at 4.40m was so close on two occasions but unfortunately, he had to settle for 4.20m. The event was won by National Champion Matthew Callinan-Keenan with a vault of 4.60m.

Lynch on the other hand almost saw her day end early as she shook the bar on the final attempt at 3.00. Luckily it remained in place and she went on to clear 3.10m on her first attempt with a clearance of 3.20m on her second attempt. Moving upwards to 3.30m the Gowran AC athlete was very unlucky not to have cleared this distance. But no doubt will do so on her next outing.

Evan Walsh (St Joseph’s) took part in the 3,000m walk which he won in 14:42.41 – not a personal best, but a decent season opener.

Walsh will have another competition at the end of January with several more through to April. This includes a chance to compete in Guadix, Spain at the end of the month.

On the track Jamie Gahan (KCH) chased down Clonliffe’s Colm Rooney but the Dubliner had a blazing final 400m that saw him take the 3,000m in 8.47 with Paul Carty (CNDR) in second and Gahan taking third place in 8.51 just four tenths of a second behind Carty. Both athletes saw off a challenge from Belfast’s Stephen Lyster who finished fourth two second behind.

Kate Maher (KCH) is back on form after her international appearance in 2024. Heading into 2025 as an Irish international she will be chasing fast times over 200 this year in a bid to seek another green vest.

Thirty-four athletes lined out for the 200m over seven heats. Competing in heat three Maher finished fourth in a time of 26.14 laying down some early markers for 2025.

There was a new two second personal best for Eoin Aylward (St Senan’s) as he clocked 2.01.76, finishing third in the second of two heats. This is a good season opener for the Kilmacow man as he has come off a good block of winter training. Like most 800m athletes that sub 2.00 is an attractive goal.

There were four athletes from Kilkenny competing in the Combined Events. There was success for Conor Knox (KCH) as he finished third in the boys’ under-14 pentathlon. His podium position is attributed to his magnificent shot-put efforts. The tall Kilkenny athlete threw 12.25m in the shot-put, finishing over 1.69m ahead of his nearest opponent, bagging him over 100 extra points and, most importantly, propelling him into a podium place after two fifth place finishes in his hurdles and long jump. He then finished third in the high jump with his 2.34 for 800m sealing his bronze medal. The overall winner was El Nathan Okoh of Longford.

Fiach Crowley (KCH) competed in the boys’ under-15 pentathlon, finishing eighth overall. Crowley’s best event was the long jump where he finished second with a leap of 4.66m.

James Kelsey (Gowran) and Noah Gilmore (KCH) competed in the youth and senior heptathlon. Kelsey finished seventh overall with two third placed finishes in the pole vault and 1,000m. Gilmore finished fifth with consistent performances across all events.

The Leinster Indoor combined events were also included in the National Combined Events competition. Conor Knox was elevated to a silver Leinster medal under-14 with Fiach Crowley finishing third in the Leinster under-15 pentathlon events.

Forde wins 10km

Several road races were held nationally and internationally at the weekend, some spilling over from the previous weekend’s postponements.

The Valencia 10km in Spain attracted international interest as the world’s fastest 10km played host to a plethora of record-breaking performances. Sweden’s Andreas Almgren won the event in 26:53, breaking the European record and becoming the first European to break 27 minutes for the distance. Ireland’s interest lay in Efrem Gidey who surpassed John Treacy’s 40-year-old national record by three seconds to record a new Irish record of 27:43 and bag 20th place. This is the second Irish record that Dubliner has recorded in the space of a few months.

On the domestic front Ger Forde was breaking boundaries of his own. The Kilkenny City Harrier headed to Caherconlish, Co. Limerick for the Tom Walsh 10km road race. The one looped course took the athletes through the rolling Limerick countryside before finishing back in Caherconlish. Forde finished first out of 411 participants in a time of 31.13, almost a minute ahead of Niall Shanahan (An Bru AC) in second.