St Joseph’s athletes stay the course to win awards in virtual ceremony
THE winners of the annual St Joseph’s AC awards have been announced.
Rachel Foley has been awarded the Female Juvenile Athlete of the Year. Despite the restrictions Rachel had an impressive year in which she picked up a silver and bronze medals at the County Indoors in Athlone.
The Male Juvenile Athlete of the Year award was given to Evan O’Toole who ended the year being awarded the WIT Viking Star Award after a season that produced three golds, three silvers and a new record breaking triple jump of 12.25m.
Maggie Helen O’Connor is the Female Senior Athlete of the Year. Despite the restrictions and lockdowns, Maggie Helen had a superb year with an Irish race walking record to her name, three gold medals and a silver medal. Maggie Helen was rewarded fourth in the world rankings for the 20k and 3000m road race walking and fifth in the world for 5000m Track race walking.
The Male Senior Athlete of the Year was awarded to Shane Power for his pole vaulting events producing a gold and two silver medals. Shane also competed for DCU at the University Indoor Championships in which Shane took a fantastic third place.
The Masters Track and Field Athlete of the Year award was given to Verena Fenlon for an outstanding year in which Verena took home eight golds and three silver medals at the County Indoors, the Leinster Indoors Masters and at the nationals.
Bernard Keane has been awarded the Masters Cross Country and Road Athlete of the Year. With very few events held in 2020 Bernard managed some excellent results which resulted in two silver medals, a third place and an excellent fourth place finish against some formidable competition at the Novice men’s Cross Country.
Fastest Female Marathon went to Breda Hennessy with a fantastic time of 3hrs 38mins 30secs. Breda completed this on the Waterford Greenway as the Dublin City Marathon went virtual making it an even more impressive time.
Fastest Male Marathon went to John Joe Lawlor who race walked to an unbelievable time of 5hrs 33mins 44 secs and again this was done in conjunction with the virtual Dublin City Marathon with John Joe completing his marathon route around the Pink Rock. Club Juvenile of the Year was voted for by the club coaches and the winner is Lily Ryan.
The coaches all agreed that Lily deserved this award due to her positive can do attitude that she has.
‘Lily is a joy to coach and has a very bright future ahead of her,’ her coaches said.
The Hall of Fame entry for 2020 is Kevin Walshe who joined St Joseph’s AC back in 1970. Kevin has been a valuable member for St Joseph’s AC winning numerous medals and serving on committees.
‘Kevin has been instrumental in a number of fundraising events and this award shows the appreciation the club has for Kevin,’ a club spokesperson said.
The Club Person of the Year is John McDonald which was voted for by Club Co-President Bob Saunders. ‘John’s commitment to the club this year has been outstanding, with John looking after all the technology based aspects of the club to enable training during restrictions, along with designing new race routes to adhere with Government guidelines during the pandemic.
‘Everyone of these athletes and club members are deserved winners of each award and we wish them all the best for the future. Hopefully we can get back to training and racing again sooner rather than later this year.’