Kilkenny athletes enjoy action-packed schedule with plenty of success
Plenty of local participation both at home and abroad
It’s been an action-packed few weeks on the athletics front at home and abroad. The schools track & field season got underway, the Leinster Road races were held in Gowran, while the highly competitive Irish Milers saw athletes in Clonmel vying for European and World standards.
Further afield Molly Daly (Kilkenny City Harriers) made history in Gaborone as she became the third generation of her family to represent Ireland at senior international level.
Leinster Para Games
Three athletes from Kilkenny clubs competed in the Leinster Para Games in Santry. Naoise Reddy (St Joseph’s) competed in the 100m track race winning gold, bronze in the shot put and bronze in the discus. Alex Donnellan (Gowran) won gold in the discus, silver in the 100m and bronze in the shot put. Kang O’Gorman (Brow Rangers) competed in six events across the games, winning bronze, silver and gold in three of his disciplines.
Schools
The first day of the Schools South Leinster and East Munster was held last week with relays, walks and some senior events taking place in Carlow and Waterford. A number of Kilkenny and Carlow schools were represented in the relays on the day with team medals and Leinster qualifications for St Kieran’s College, Presentation Secondary, CBC Kilkenny, Castlecomer CS and Presentation De La Salle Bagenalstown.
In the walks Evan Walsh (CBC) took gold in the senior boys’ 3k, while Lily Ryan (Our Lady of Lourdes, Rosbercon) took gold in the senior girls’ 2k. Caoimhe Barry (Abbey CC, Ferrybank) was second in the senior steeplechase. Also representing Abbey College was Kerry Widger in the 2k intermediate walk while Ava Hogan was third in the minor girls’ high jump. Aine O’Callaghan, representing Waterpark, won gold in the senior javelin, silver in the senior triple jump and was part of the 3x300m relay team who finished third. Cara Maher (Castlecomer CS) won silver in the junior walks while Ellie May Aylward (Mercy New Ross) won gold in the junior walk.
Leinster Road Race
The annual Leinster Master and Novice 3k and 6k road races were held on Bank Holiday Saturday in Gowran. The race, which covers two laps of Gowran for the women and four laps for men, is a highly competitive event especially in the novice races. This year numbers were slightly lower due to the change of date of the Dublin Half Marathon on the Sunday, with fewer teams entered from Kilkenny and other counties this year.
Fiona Kehoe (Kilmore AC) stormed home to first place in the Women’s Masters race in a time of 10:58, with Elizabeth Gahan (Dublin City Harriers) taking the Women’s Novice honours in 10:23. Kilkenny City Harriers were the only team in the Novice race, placing first and the county team, also winning gold.
Joe Keohane (Gowran) ran a superb race to finish third in 19:51 in the 6k and lead the county team home to gold. The KCH men’s team took the top spot in the team event with Gowran taking third place. James Kelly (Castlecomer) was fourth in the men’s Master 6k, with Thomastown’s over-35 team winning silver with the over-35 county team taking bronze. Thomastown’s over-50 team placed fifth in the club event and sixth in the county event.
Molly makes history
Molly Daly (KCH) earned her first senior international cap over the weekend as she competed in the women’s 4x400m at the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana.
Not only did Molly represent Ireland, which is an amazing achievement in itself, she created history in that three generations of the same family have now represented Ireland at senior international level.
Molly comes from a strong athletics background as her mother Fiona (Nee Norwood) wore the Irish twice as a 400m runner while her dad Rob Daly represented Ireland 13 times at senior level, most notably when he was part of the National 4x400m bronze winning team at the World Indoors in 2004. Molly’s grandad Robert Norwood also represented Ireland in the 400m at an international match in West Germany in 1974.
Molly was selected for the 4x400m relays following an exceptional indoors season where she set a new championship record in the under-19 400m race in a time of 54.25.
Molly then set another new record in the under-20 400m, bettering her time and setting a new personal best of 53.74 and achieving the World Athletics qualifying standards (subject to ratification).
Molly has worked tirelessly over the years, competing and medalling at national level across all the sprint distances. No doubt this is only the start of her international athletics career.
Irish Milers
Bank Holiday Saturday was a busy day at the Irish Milers Club meeting in Clonmel as athletes were competing for times and personal bests in the hope of meeting European and World qualifying standards for later this year.
This year the day also held the Dr Pat O’Callaghan Hammer and Shot Put Gala, attracting athletes from Kilkenny, with Meabh O’Donovan, Robert Patterson, Sophie O’Neill, Leah Hennessy representing Brow Rangers.