Fast-finishing Harrier! Langton .makes the European standard

Europe is calling for Pia Langton. The Kilkenny City Harrier athlete raced and won the South Leinster Schools 800m. Then, three days later, she achieved the qualifying standard for the European under-18 championships which will be held in Slovakia in July.

In the East Munster Schools Caoimhe Barry broke the intermediate girls’ steeplechase record by over six seconds to record a resounding victory. Elsewhere the Leinster Novice and Masters Road Championships were held in Gowran with KCH duo Dean Rowe and Megan McCarthy taking third place in their respective novice events.

Langton wins

At the Irish Milers Meet in Santry, Pia Langton (KCH) ran her first ever sub 2.10 800m. In doing so she achieved the qualifying standard for this year’s under-18 Europeans in Slovakia.

Langton was competing in the 800m B race, which was paced for a 65 second lap - 2.10 pace. The pacemaker executed her duties perfectly and handed over the mantle to Pia Langton and Ava Downey (City of Lisburn) at the 400m mark.

For the final 400m Langton was marginally in front of Downey, with the Lisburn athlete coming shoulder to shoulder with Langton at the top of the home straight. It was a hard-fought final 100m, when both athletes pushed themselves hard, each trying to get under that 2.10 mark.

As she came towards the final, it was evident that Langton had her eye on the clock and knew the time was going to be marginal. The strain on her face was reflective of the magnitude of effort she mustered over the final 50m. Crossing the line her face changed from determination to an emotional cry of relief as Langton realised that she had run 2.09.20 and had run the under-18 standard.

Langton was one of two under-18 athletes that achieved the standard. Nenagh’s Jennifer O’Leary also ran 2.09 in the 800m A race.

Getting the qualifying standard is not a clearcut ticket to Slovakia as only two athletes per event are sent at under-18 level.

Currently Saoirse Fitzgerald (Lucan) has already run 2.08 in January at the national junior Indoors. With Fitzgerald yet to race outdoors, her indoor mark is the fastest of the three Irish girls but she will most likely be required to run the time again.

Mary Fitzgerald (Gowran) prepares her shot-put for her final throw at the IMC meet in Santry

Three other Kilkenny athletes competed in Santry. Racing in his first 3,000m of the season, Gearoid Long (St Senan’s) competed in the A race. Paced for 66 second laps, Long kept to the pace for the first few laps. After three laps the pack split into two main groups, with Long falling into the second one. The final 600m was fast with Long finishing in ninth place, just one second off his personal best.

Callum Barron (KCH) took part in the 300m B race clocking a time of 8.57.1 to finish in eighth position. This was Barron’s first outing as part of KCH and his first time under nine minutes for 3000m.

Myles Hewlett (KCH) competed in the 1500m C race, finishing strongly to cross the line in first place and recording a time of 3.59. This is his first time dipping under the magic four minute mark.

South Leinster Schools

It was another terrific day at the Leinster Schools as it was the turn of the intermediate and senior boys and girls to start their journey towards qualifying for a schools All-Ireland competition.

Held in the SETU Arena, the performances from the county’s intermediate girls were noteworthy. Of the six running races on offer, athletes from Kilkenny won four of them and were second in two. Kate Maher (Loreto) recorded a double in the intermediate girls’ 100m and 200m. Maher will now compete in both events at the Leinster schools next week.

Molly Daly (Loreto) comfortably won the 300m while Clodagh O’Callaghan (Presentation) took the fourth Kilkenny gold of the day with an outstanding performance in the intermediate girls’ 800m. Her fellow Presentation classmate, Katie O’Shea, was second in the 1500m, which was won by Rachael Eyers of St Leo’s. Katie previously won the steeplechase. The final intermediate girls’ medal of the day was from Hazel Coogan in the javelin.

Pia Langton has had plenty of South Leinster schools 800m titles to her credit and bagged the 800m gold with a comfortable win. With another 800m scheduled for Santry three days later, Langton wanted the race to be as comfortable as possible. The junior discus was postponed to day two and resulted in a win for Presentation student Anna Kelsey.

It was a clean sweep for Kilkenny athletes in the senior boys’ 5,000m. Billy Coogan (CBS) who has laid a claim on the South Leinster Steeplechase for the past few years can now do both steeplechase and the 5000m. This has been made possible by the Schools Athletics Association holding the championships across two days. Coogan has already won gold in the steeplechase and added another gold to his collection as he was also the outright winner in the 5,000m. Second was Callum Barron * Good Counsel), while Ruairi McEvoy (St Kieran’s) was in third.

It was no surprise to see Andrew Cooper on the top step of the podium. The Kilkenny College student has been nothing short of remarkable since he first emerged on the throwing scene two years ago.

Alex Cullen (CBS) is another athlete who has won multiple gold medals. He had the 110m hurdles title to that of the 400m hurdles he had already won. Mathias Quaglia (Kilkenny College) took gold in the intermediate boys’ 100m.

East Munster Schools

In the south of the county, the athletes were taking part in the East Munster Schools. Structured a little differently than the South Leinsters, the girls competed last Thursday with the boys due to compete this week. Top performer was Caoimhe Barry (Abbey CC) who managed a rather unusual double.

Barry achieved a personal best in the high jump to take gold. Shortly afterwards she also won the intermediate girls steeplechase, smashing the existing record by a full six seconds.

Abigail O’Regan and Charlotte Carpendale, second and first in the East Munster Schools

Eve Dunphy (Abbey CC) finished second to Jennifer O’Leary in the 1,500m. Dunphy had been out sick since returning from warm weather training in Portugal a month ago. Having been forced to miss the All-Ireland indoors, she hopes she can make a significant impact at schools track and field level.

Moya O’Keeffe took silver in the intermediate javelin with Keelin Byrne also taking silver in the intermediate shot-put. Keelin Duggan (Abbey) was another athlete to win a silver medal as she finished runner-up to Doireann Hickey in the senior walk.

There were also bronze medals for Grace Gilmartin in the intermediate javelin and Monika Rogala in the intermediate 80 metre hurdles. In total the Abbey CC took home nine medals and secured qualification for the Munster Championships, which will be held on May 18.

Leinster Novice and Masters

Gowran AC once again hosted the Leinster Novice and Masters Road Championship. The hosting of the event has become something of a habit for the club, as this event has been with Gowran since before the pandemic.

The women’s novice race had nothing like the numbers from the county last year. Confined to just athletes from Kilkenny City Harriers, what the race was missing in numbers it made up for in the quality of the athletes competing. Megan McCarthy (KCH) won the women’s novice event, her first individual Leinster medal. The women were the winners of the county section with Grainne Behan (KCH), Joanne Fitzpatrick (Thomastown) and Claire Dermody (KCH) the four scorers. Westmeath was second and Offaly third. KCH won the club title from Mullingar Harriers and Ferbance AC.

Dean Rowe, now running for KCH, secured his first individual Leinster medal when he finished third. Kilkenny also won the men’s county team - the scorers were Dean Rowe (KCH), Matthew Holland (Gowran), Eamonn O’Connor (KCH), Padraig Ruane (KCH), Andrew Smith (KCH) and Tadgh Ryan (Thomastown AC). KCH finished second club.