New records set at Munster Indoors Championships for Kerry’s athletes
KERRY Senior and Master Athletes made the trip to Nenagh last Sunday for the Munster Senior and Masters Indoor Championships. The county’s clubs were well represented at all ages and all events.
The day started with the last of the Junior and U-23 events. Farranfore Maine Valley’s Rossa Foley hop skipped and jumped his way to gold in the U-23 Men’s triple jump and followed that up with gold in the Senior Men’s shot put and silver in the weight for distance.
There were three silver medals for Rachel Bowler (Tralee Harriers) in the Junior women’s triple jump, Senior Women’s long jump, where she was pipped into second place in the very last jump, and Senior Women’s 200m.
Elsewhere in the Senior events, Eoin O’Carroll (Tralee Harriers) took silver in the Senior Men’s long jump. In the Senior Men’s 400m there was silver for William O’Connor (An Riocht) with PJ Galvin finishing just outside the medals in fourth place. Lios Tuathail AC was represented by Aoife Mahony in the Senior Women’s events; she performed well taking silver in both the 800m and 1,500m. Niamh deHora (Farranfore Maine Valley) took third in the Senior Women’s 800m. The An Roicht Senior Men’s Relay team clenched gold in the 4 x200m with a great run from all four members setting a time 1.41 for the race.
The Masters field showed that they are no slouches when it comes to athletics. An Riocht was well represented with Ger Cremin in the O-35 group taking their first medal with gold in the 60mH and setting a new Munster record of 9.26secs. He followed this with an- other record and gold in the long jump with a great leap of 5.93m. Anthony Greaney won four medals in the O-40 category, gold in the 60m and three silvers in the 200m, shot put and weight for distance. Suzanne Neilan had a hat trick of medals with double gold in the O-40 1500m and 3000m and silver in the 800m.
Tomás Griffin was in fine form, winning gold and creating a new Munster record in the O-45 Men’s long jump with a jump of 5.48m. Tomás is one of the long jump coaches at the Kerry Development Squads and this win should really spur on his athletes.
Patsy O’Connor of Tralee Harriers picked up the expected gold medal in the O-60 shot put with a convincing 3m lead on his nearest competitor. His throw of 13.87m a very convincing Championship Best Performance. Patsy was involved in the sprint race of the day where three O-60 men crossed the line in unison. After the electronic timing and photo finish was judged, Patsy was awarded the bronze medal, but what a great effort from this popular Kerry athlete. Competing for Killarney Valley was Michael A. Murphy who finished second in the O-50 Men’s 60m.
St. Brendan’s AC team brought home plenty of silverware starting with Ursula Barrett who won gold in the O-40 Women’s 200m in a record breaking 30.01 seconds. She matched this win with gold in the long jump.
Artur Nowak brought home double gold in the weight for distance and the high jump in the O-45 Men’s group and then went on to win silver in the shot put. Kevin Lynch of Lios Tuathail AC made a welcome return to Nenagh following last year’s injury, competing as a guest athlete in some senior events before taking on his peers in the O-40 Men’s 200m, coming home comfortably in gold medal position.
Master athletes from Gneeveguilla put on a great show on the day, with their ladies taking top honours across the board. Siobhan Daly was a clear winner in the O-35 Women’s 800m; Catherine Moynihan O’Sullivan took gold in the O-35 long jump, with Eileen O’Riordan and Sheila O’Donoghue won gold each in the O-45 and O-50 shot put respectively – Sheila’s throw of 11.23m securing her a new Munster Record. Norma O’Connor placed second in the O45 Women’s high jump and Robert Purcell took silver in the O-45 Men’s 3,000m.
Last but in no way least, Farranfore Maine Valley’s Jim O’Shea continues to show that age is just a number, as this O70 athlete continues to compete and place well in all his events. Jim had a hat trick of medals on Sunday and is a huge inspiration for all the master athletes as well as the juveniles. Jim took second place in both the long jump and high jump and was third in the 60m sprint. Kerry Athletics would like to congratulate all the Junior, Senior and Master athletes who have competed over the last two weekends and wish them the best for National Competitions in the coming months.
The U9-U12 Muster Juvenile Championships take place in Nenagh on the 4th and 5th February with the U-13 to U-19 championships held on February 25 and 26. Online entry is now open for both events and any athletes wishing to take part should contact their club secretary.
Congratulations to Shona Heaslip (An Riocht) who was part of the Senior Women’s team at the IAAF Antrim International Cross Country in Greenmount last Saturday. Shona finished in a very creditable 12th position overall with Fionnuala McCormack Ireland’s top finisher crossing the line in fourth place.