Rain doesn’t stop athletes from taking last chances

THE yellow status rain warning last Saturday did not stop athletes from Kerry, Munster and beyond descending on Castleisland, to take part in The Last Chance Meet hosted by Tomás Griffin and his team from An Riocht AC.

This was an event designed to give athletes a chance to achieve that season’s best performance before facing into the long slog of hard winter training in preparation for the 2018 indoor season. Although the numbers attending the event were below expectations, there were more than enough high calibre competitors, with a good mix of master, senior and up and coming junior athletes, to make the events competitive with many of the athletes achieving their goals and targets.

Events on Saturday included a graded 100m, 200m and 400m sprints, 800m and 3000m with shot put and long jump. Tomás and his team hope to make this a regular event, with plans for a pre-season trial, as well as small bench mark trials, taking in a variety of different disciplines on each occasion.

Kerry Athletics was delighted to be part of this event and welcome any meet where athletes have the chance to showcase their talents. Well done to all who took part.

RESULTS 100m Race 1

Jer O’Donoghue (An Riocht) 11.19; John Browne (Abbey Striders) 11.35; Marc Jones (Ballymore Cobh) 11.77; Mel O’Callaghan (Menapians) 11.85; Dylan Roche (An Riocht) 11.87; Daragh Miniter (St Mary’s Clare) 11.90

100m Race 2

Peter O’Sullivan (Killarney Valley) 11.70; Cillian Griffin (Tralee Harriers) 11.71; PJ Galvin (An Riocht) 11.87; Anthony Greaney (An Riocht) 12.01; Michael Lynch (An Riocht) 12.13; Finbarr Whelan (Liscarroll) 13.06; John O’Connor (An Riocht) 13.31; Adrian Garvey (Limerick) 13.31

3,000m

Niall Shanahan 8.56.01; Niall Shiel (St Killian’s) 9.00.26; John Treacy (Thurles Crokes) 9.12.36; Darragh Browne (Lios Tuathail) 9.19.31; John Fitzgibbon (Thurles Crokes) 9.25.30; Gary Egan (An Bru) 9.25.97; Denis Shanahan (Thurles Crokes) 9.26.72; Mark Buckley (North Cork) 9.50.11; Oisin Spillane (Tralee Harriers) 9.59.67; Trevor Dunne (An Riocht) 10.02.88; George Bastible 10.10.45

400m

Dara O’Carroll (Tralee Harriers) 53.26; Cathal Fitzgibbon (Tralee Harriers) 54.31; Kevin Lynch (Lios Tuathail) 55.04

800m

Adrian McGinley (Templemore) 2.07.91; Tomasz Krawczyk (Ballymore) 2.08.95; Conor O’Mahony (An Riocht) 2.09.36; Sean McDermott (Castlegar) 2.14.97; Louis Byrne (Tralee Harriers) 2.24.15; Aoife Mahony (Lios Tuathail) 2.29.13

200m

John Browne (Abbey Striders) 23.23; Marc Jones (Ballymore Cobh) 23.84; PJ Galvin (An Riocht) 23.88; Mel O’Callaghan (Menapians) 24.09; Cillian Griffin (Tralee Harriers) 24.17; Dylan Roche (An Riocht) 24.25

Shot Putt

Men

Adrian Garvey (Limerick) 7kg Senior - 11.23m; Daragh Miniter (St Mary’s Clare) 6kg Junior - 10.98m Women

Alana Frattaroli (Limerick) 12.71m; Vickie Cusack (Liscarroll) 11.23m; Leanne Cronin (Farranfore Maine Valley) 7.85m; Elaina Norris (Farranfore Maine Valley) 7.03m

Long Jump

Women: Vickie Cusack (Liscarrol) 5.26m

Men: Daragh Miniter (St Mary’s Clare) 6.07m; Cillian Griffin (Tralee Hariers) 5.86m; Corey Kissane (An Riocht) 5.63m

THE Kerry Athletic Development Squads will return in coming months for athletes U-13 and over. These sessions have proved vital for the development of young talent in the county and all clubs are asked to advise interested athletes to attend. See Kerry Athletics Facebook for start dates and updates on events in the county.

Runners get underway at The Kerryman Dingle marathon. Over 2,600 took part in the ninth running over the full and half marathons on the Dingle Peninsula Photo by Domnick Walsh / Eye Focus