Munster medals for Junior and U-23 athletes
SOME of the county’s Junior athletes headed to Waterford last Saturday for the Munster Junior and U-23 Championships. The Tralee Harrier ladies were out in force and all came back with bronze medals – Rachel Bowler in the triple jump, Aoibheann O’Brien in the long jump and Aoife O’Carroll in the 100m. Orla O’Reilly joined them for the 4 x 100m relay, where they finished in 3rd place.
There were also bronze medals for Kenmare’s Christine McCarthy in the high jump and Fiona Doyle (Star of the Laune) in the 200m. Leanne Cronin (Farranfore Maine Valley) was second in the discus and third in the hammer.
There were several gold medal winners in the U-23 age group. Solange Diego from Tralee Harriers in the triple jump, Amy Cronin (Gneeveguilla) in the 100m and 200m, Kayleigh Cronin (Farranfore Maine Valley) in the discus and club mate Rossa Foley in the triple jump and javelin. Rossa also picked up bronze medals in the shot and weight for distance.
Also competing for Gneeveguilla were Tomas O’Neill who won silver in the hammer and Andrew McCarthy who won bronze in the discus.
Elsewhere, the Munster juvenile multi events were held over the weekend and Tralee Harriers had two medal winners, Jordan Kissane taking gold in the U-15 age group and Cillian Griffin silver in the U-16 event. Cillian also made the trip to Cork on Sunday for the Leevale Open Sports which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. He performed well on the day with silver in the U-16 100m, bronze in the 100m hurdles and javelin and a fourth place finish in the high jump.
Also competing at Leevale were Rhona Randles (Kenmare) who had a superb run in the U-16 800m to finish in second place just behind the All-Ireland champion Corinne Kenny, Katelyn Reid from An Riocht who won the U-16 javelin and her sister Stephanie who was second in the U-11 turbo javelin.
Meanwhile, the Kerry Athletics County Masters Track and Field Championships took place in Castleisland on last Friday week with many decades of training paying dividends across all age groups. There were several fights for the finish line and huge cheers from the crowds for both the track and field athletes.
Here are the gold medal winners with full results on www. kerryathletics.com
St Brendan’s AC had a large group taking part, with wins for Artur Novak O-45 high jump, javelin and 200m; Stephen O’Sullivan O-35 Shot; Ger Pierse O-35 100m, 200m, high jump and long jump; Ursula Barrett O-40 100m, 200m and long jump; David Butler O35 javelin and 3,000m; Martin Butler O-60 javelin; Irene Butler O-35 100m; David Kissane O-60 100m and 3,000m; Cathy Quilter O-35, 200m and 400m; Master Men’s 4 x 100m relay.
Farranfore Maine Valley AC had wins with Aidan McCarthy O-40 shot, high jump and long jump; Sean O’Shea O-45 shot and discus; Mossie Brosnan O-40 100m; Bernie O’Mahony O-45 200m and 400m; Mary O’Shea O-40 400m.
There were two titles for Kenmare with David Littlejohn winning the O-40 javelin and Jeremiah McCarthy winning the O-45 100m. Gneeveguilla AC had wins from Eileen O’Riordan in the O45 discus, shot and hammer and Anette O’Brien O-45 100m, javelin and long jump. Patsy O’Connor (Tralee Harriers) had wins in the O-60 shot, discus and weight for distance. Lios Tuathail AC had wins with Donal Leahy O-45 in the 800m and 3,000m. Killarney Valley AC had wins with Michael Murphy O-50 100m. An Riocht’s Masters men and women dominated in the 3,000m with wins for Trevor Leen O-40, Niamh O’Sullivan O-55 and Mary O’Connor O-45.
In the points table, Kenmare AC headed up the Junior Women, Tralee Harriers topped the Junior Men, St Brendan’s the Senior Women and An Riocht Men won the Senior category and retained the Quill Cup.