Gold medals galore
Locals to the fore in Cup of Ireland
WEXFORD KETTLEBELL Club recently hosted the A.I.K.L.F. Cup of Ireland in St. Joseph’s Community Centre in Wexford town.
A total of 165 athletes from 14 clubs all over Ireland were in attendance for our first ten-minute competition in the Irish kettlebell calendar.
It was a competition to be taken seriously as all athletes had a chance to get their ranking and also a place on the Irish team for the upcoming Senior and Youths European championships. Wexford Kettlebell Club had a very successful two days with a total of 19 gold, six silver and one bronze medals.
Paul Kelly won gold in the veteran biathlon category, and our coach Mick Kelly also won a long cycle gold medal.
Our professional lifters, Kathleen Cleary and Rachel McManus, who both snatch a 24 kg. Kettlebell, had a fantastic day. Kathleen won gold with 101 reps. and Rachel hit 64 reps. to win the silver in their respective weight categories.
Club members would also like to congratulate both Kathleen and Rachel on achieving one of the highest positions called M.S. (or Master of Sports) under the A.I.K.L.F. ranking table. Well done ladies!
Both made the Irish squad and also lifted in the veteran category, with both winning a gold medal.
The open and veteran 16 kg. snatch results were: Fiona Kelly, silver medal and a P.B. in competition; Marie Laffan-Cullen won both a gold and silver medal; Maeve Carey snatched a massive 226 reps. and won gold; Sarah Clifford took home gold for her efforts and Alison Murphy earned herself a silver medal; Yolanda Gilbert got her first ten full minutes on the platform and won a bronze medal for her effort.
All the above girls are eligible to lift for Ireland in the European championships in Daugavpils, Latvia, starting May 11.
The long cycle category, though smaller, was equally as competive on Sunday. Marian Roberts won gold by lifting 20 kg. For 84 reps., a massive result.
We have to give a special mention for our three new team members: Joanne Powell, Orla McGuire and Catherine Tennant. Joanne long-cycled 16 kg. and won gold. She had a huge battle with a Rosslare girl on the platform beside her and beat her by only one rep.
Orla was in a large group of eight to nine other lifters in the 12 kg. long cycle lift and won a well-deserved silver medal. Catherine competed in the snatch also with a 12 kg. bell, and in a wellfought category she came home with a silver medal.
Our Junior lifters now have an exciting five months ahead of them. The Youth European championships will be held in Wexford.
Teams from Estonia, Latvia, Kazakhstan and Russia to name a few will descend on our town for four days at the end of July.
Our youth results were: Becca Dowdall, 16 kg., gold, long cycle; Emma Smith at only 13 is the youngest member on the Irish team and won gold with 12 kg. long cycle; the snatch category had Chloe Kehoe and Megan Lane, both winning gold with the 16 kg. kettlebell.
Dylan Walsh in biathlon won gold and Gary Carroll also won gold, both lifting 2 x 16 kg. bells. Brendan Smith at only 16 years of age lifted 2 x 24 kg. bells for the first time in the long cycle event. He had a fantastic lift and won gold.
Two of our younger boys also did very well. David Kelly lifted 2 x 8 kg. bells in biathlon and won a gold medal, and Kian Butler, also with an 8 kg. kettlebell, won a long cycle gold medal.
We’d like to thank everyone in the club who came down and helped with the judging, the setting-up on Friday night, and cleaning up over the weekend. Also, massive thanks to all of the supporters, family, friends and children, and it was great to see the guys from our gym who came down to cheer us all on.
Thanks to Liam, ‘Jazzer’ and everyone in St. Joseph’s who looked after us to the absolute best. We couldn’t have better people in a fantastic venue.