Super achievements lauded
Flannellys worthy winners of lifetime service accolade
IT WAS standing room only in the Seamus Rafter suite of the Riverside Park Hotel, Enniscorthy, for the Wexford Athletics annual awards night.
Master of Ceremonies was outgoing Secretary Linda Rogers. Special guest was County Council Vice-Chairperson Cllr. Barbara-Anne Murphy.
Cllr. Murphy was able to tell the huge attendance that, while Council Chairman John Hegarty sent his apologies for being unable to attend, there was good reason for his absence: John’s wife, Karina, had just given birth to a healthy baby girl.
The Councillor went on to praise the recent successes of Wexford Athletics. She spoke of the fruit borne of the close relationship between the the County Board and Enniscorthy District Council in bringing a top-class athletics facility to Enniscorthy.
With a grant of just under €100,000 secured recently for developments at the new Sports Hub, the Vice-Chairperson was delighted to announce that the Council would not just be matching the grant amount but would be investing €250,000 in the facility. As one would expect, this news was greeted with rapturous applause.
Getting the finances out of the way early is a priority at many meetings, and this gathering was no exception. With news of the Council’s largesse still creating a buzz around the room, Marie Mooney of main sponsors Mr Oil stepped up to deliver a cheque to Chairman Paddy Morgan.
Then it was on to the awards. The Brother Egan Cup for best Senior track and field club went to Enniscorthy.
The Jim Redmond Cup for best overall cross-country club was only ever going to go to United Striders following a wonderful year for the resurgent club.
The Ann O Keefe Trophy for best Under-17 female in the Co. track and field was awarded to Karyn Murphy of Enniscorthy.
The Harry Keyes Trophy for best Under-17 male in the Co. track and field was won by Jack Roche-Doyle from Kilmore.
The Adamstown high jumper, Ryan Carthy-Walsh, was a worthy winner of the Mr. Oil athlete of the year award.
A ‘record breakers’ presentation was made to Juvenile athlete Seán Rowley of Bree. Seán won gold at the national indoors in 60m hurdles with a championship record. In the qualifiers, Seán set a C.B.P. of 9.48s. In the final, he not only cruised to victory but bettered his time to 9.43s.
A lengthy list of athletes were honoured for ‘international honours’ achieved.
Marguerite Furlong (Adamstown) was a Celtic Games silver medal winner in discus (36.74m).
Ryan Carthy-Walsh (Adamstown) won national medals in high jump at both Juvenile and Senior levels.
Aoife Cloke-Rochford (Bree) won six Under-19 national medals in 2017 - gold in indoor 60m hurdles, silver in indoor 60m and 200m, silver in track and field 100m hurdles and 200m, and a bronze medal in track and field 100m.
On the strength of her indoor performance, Aoife was selected to travel to the C.S.I.T. Games in Latvia where she won gold in 100m, silver in 200m, and a bronze medal with the Irish ladies’ team.
Discus thrower Marco Pons (D.M.P.) was part of the Irish team for the European Throwing Cup.
Lystus Ebosele (D.M.P.) was part of the Irish Celtic Games team in Santry (shot putt, 13.71m).
Ann Sullivan (D.M.P.) competed at the British and Irish Masters cross-country.
Pat Foley (Croghan) was a member of the Irish mountain running team which competed in Snowdonia.
Michael Bowler (Enniscorthy) captained the Irish combined event team in Spain.
Jackie Carthy (Kilmore) competed in the Home Counties Masters cross-country in Derry where she was a member of the silver medal-winning team.
She also won the European Masters Over-45 cross-country in Aarhus, Denmark, as well as winning a bronze medal in the 5,000m on the track the same weekend.
Fiona Kehoe (Kilmore) was a member of the Over-35 winning team in the Home Counties cross-country in Derry.
Niall Sheil (St. Killian’s) was part of the Over-40 team which won gold in the Home Counties cross-country in Derry. He was seventh in the European cross-country championships in Denmark, and qualified (very shortly afterwards!) for the final of the 1,500m, a race in which he ended up placing twelfth.
Jack Forde (St. Killian’s) was part of the Irish Schools International (S.I.A.B.) Under-16 combined events team which won gold in Glasgow in November.
Yvonne Naughton (W.M.C.) was a member of the Irish 24-hour ultra distance team.
Ger Moloney (St. Paul’s) won Over-55 gold in mountain running at the European Masters championships in Spain.
He was also on the Irish team which got bronze in the Over-55 section of the Home Countries cross-country.
Pádraig Hore (Taghmon) was a member of the Under-18 team at the Celtic Games.
At this event he surpassed his P.B. on three occasions, throwing 48.23m, 48.40m and 50.39m, and winning a silver medal while also gaining three points for the Irish team in the process.
The Kehoe Foods award for lifetime service to athletics went to Ted and Kathleen Flannelly from United Striders.
Ted is regarded as an outstanding endurance coach of both Juvenile and Senior athletes. He has played a big part in the dramatic revival of his club and of county Senior teams, bringing numerous provincial and national titles to both.
As an athlete he won every Juvenile county title from Under-11 upwards, won a national Juvenile 800m and a string of Leinster titles.
However, he wins only half of this award.
The other half goes to his other half - a lady whose family are also steeped in athletics. As an athlete she claimed a national Junior 3,000m title and a national schools cross-country title, the latter with only one shoe!
She is largely responsible for the complete revival of her club’s Juvenile section, with numbers shooting up from single digits in the mid-2000s to over 150 athletes today.
She is, like her better half, the mainstay of the club and no event is the same without her mighty roar of support for all Wexford athletes, up and down the country in cross-country, indoors and track and field.
She books the bus, the St. Patrick’s Day flags for the parade, the pizza for the celebration party, the medals for those subs who missed out, and her supportive hugs for all athletes are legendary.
In concluding, Linda Rogers welcomed the fact that Wexford Athletics is in a very good place and going from strength to strength.
‘Our numbers have increased by 61% over the past two years to 1,916 members at the end of 2017.
‘This is in no small part due to the efforts of clubs around the county and the support they have given the County Board in running a busy annual championship schedule of four road races, five cross-country and five track and field events.’
Linda thanked her fellow committee members, describing them as ‘a brilliant team of hard-working volunteers, united in your love for all things athletics’.
She welcomed her successor, Anne Marie Forde, and expressed confidence that she would be a strong addition to the team.
Then, before the outgoing Secretary could depart the stage, there were presentations to her by county track and field Secretary Michelle Byrne and, representing United Striders, Linda’s son Aedan.