Pictures- Harriers were really impressive in Leinster

It was another busy weekend for Kilkenny athletes with four events at various different locations over last Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday the Leinster combined events were held in Tullamore while, in Dublin, the Irish Milers race was held at the new UCD track. On Sunday it was back again to Tullamore for the Leinster Juvenile Relays while Kilmacow was the venue for the county road novice race.

There was plenty of success with Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) athlete Noah Gilmore shining in the combined event and Cathal O’Reilly running an impressive mile at the IMC on Saturday.

On Sunday it was the turn of David Williams (St Senan’s) to impress at the County Road Novice while KCH were on fire at the Leinster relays, returning home with 11 sets of medals, four of them gold.

Leinster Combined

One gold medal came back from the Leinster combined events in Tullamore last Saturday.

The combined events see athletes compete over several events all in one day. This is the ultimate test of an athlete’s versatility. Worldwide athletes like American Garreth Scantling or Frenchman Kevin Meyer have received much acclaim for their gruelling decathlon endeavour, 10 events over two days. Closer to home, Ireland’s Kate O’Connor has competed with the best in Europe winning Commonwealth and European medals in the process.

Noah Gilmore has recently embarked on the decathlon journey. He tried out several events in Carlow a few weeks ago, events that he had only trained for, for the first time this year, such as the discus.

Things went well and the decision was made. His victory last Saturday gave him a hint of what he was capable of ahead of the national combined events next month.

While Gilmore was taking part in multiple events, it was middle distance as usual for Cathal O’Reilly (KCH) at the Irish Milers meet at the new UCD track. The Irish Milers meet is one of two milers meets held in Ireland, the first one was held in Belfast last month.

Despite a disappointing cross-country season O’Reilly has more than made up for it on the track this season, where he continues to achieve new personal bests. Cathal won the B mile race in a time of 4.07, a time which would have placed him in fifth position in the A race. He was in a similar position in Belfast where, in winning the B 3,000m race, he was good enough to have been well placed in the A one.

Eoin Everard (KCH), the world over-35 Indoor 3000m champion stepped back a distance and competed in the A mile race, where he was ninth in a time of 4.10.

Irish Milers Meet

Also competing in Dublin were the Manning siblings Jack and Cliodhna. Jack finished second in the 400m in a time of 49.55 marginally behind the eventual winner Zak Higgins of Donore Harriers who ran 49.08 for the win.

Cliodhna clinched yet another 400m victory with a winning time of 54.33. With Rashidat Adeleke now in world class form over 400m and Sharlene Mawdsley continuing to lower her own 400m time, Cliodhna will be hoping to make the Irish 4x400m relay squad once more for the world championships in Budapest in August. All eyes will be on the continuing improvements of the Irish girls over 400m this summer.

Leinster Relays

Kilkenny City Harriers own the relays. The city club just thrives on this event. In the past when individual events produced limited medals, their relay teams still managed to bring home large medal hauls.

A large medal haul it was too, with 11 sets of medals across multiple ages, four of them gold. Outside of Kilkenny City Harriers, Kilkenny clubs do not traditionally have large numbers of teams competing in the relays. However, Thomastown AC always managed to produce some good results with their smaller numbers competing. The club took home two sets of medals from two teams.

The girls’ under-13 team of Jasmine Timmons McEneaney, Molly Rose Keegan, Ella Sorohan and Emma Kelly were superb.

Technically adept with their baton changes and having the two fastest under-13 sprinters in the province, the advantage was all theirs to produce that gold medal-winning performance.

And a gold medal winning performance they did produce when they crossed the line in first place, over three seconds ahead of Kildare team, Crookstown-Millview. In fact their winning time was a new championship record.

There was more gold and more records for the girls’ under-15 team of Kate Maher, Martha Bergin, Ellen Daly and Kara Canavan. Their winning time of 50.50 eclipsed the old Leinster championship best performance by seven-tenths of a second.

This team is no stranger to podium finishes having won or being placed in many Leinster and All-Ireland relays over the last few years. Like the girls’ under-13, their gold was at the expense of Crookstown-Millview in second place.

There were more records and gold medals to come in the afternoon when the KCH girls’ under-14 and under-16 teams both won their respective relays, and both with new championship records. The under-14 girls’ team of Ellen Daly, Jasmine Timmons McEneaney, Kara Canavan, Molly Rose Keegan along with subs Emily Long and Emma Roche, were neck and neck with Ratoath coming into the final baton change. Superb baton changes by both teams meant a head to head down the finishing strait with the Kilkenny girls pushing forward for the victory. Both teams finished inside of the old championship record of 53.12, which was set by Kilkenny City Harriers back in 2018.

Not to be outdone by the younger girls, the girls’ under-16 team of Molly Daly, Aoibhe Quinn, Kate Maher and Martha Bergin smashed the nine year old record set by St Laurence O’Tooles of Carlow back in 2016. Similar to the girls’ under-14 team, their victory was at Ratoath’s expense.

While other teams brought home medals of other colours, their performances were top notch. A special mention to the Thomastown girls’ under-10 team who surprised many with their silver medals, beating traditional relay powerhouses like Kilkenny City Harriers, Dundalk St Gerard’s and Ratoath. The team consisting of Jessica Mackey, Sarah Collins, Siofra Croke O'Neill, Ella Jasinghe, Alisha Farrell, and Chloe Brennan, battled all the way with Ardee and District and Suncroft to take silver and were not too far behind the eventual winners Ratoath. The top three teams in all ages now go forward to the All-Ireland next month.

County Road Novice

It was south to Kilmacow on Sunday for the annual Little South Run, which incorporates the County Road Novice. As usual it was a well laid out course, with the weather being kind too.

A total of 119 athletes took part with victory going to David Williams (St Senan’s AC). Leaving Cert student, Williams only decided to do the event that morning, just to take a break from his studies. For almost all of the race he stayed behind Dermott O’Gorman (Carrick-on-Suir) and Craig O’Brien (Ferrybank).

After the two-mile mark O’Brien started to fall from the pace, leaving just Williams and O’Gorman. It was O’Gorman who led all the way until the final 400m, when Williams blitzed home with a 60 second last 400m, a pace O’Gorman could not match.

In addition to winning the overall race, Williams also won the county road novice title - not bad for his first ever road race. He finished over two minutes ahead of Andrew Smyth (KCH) with Callum Barron (Barrow Harriers) being third in the County Novice.

The overall women’s race was won by Louise Morgan (Ferrybank) whose children run with St Senan’s AC. It was actually a family affair as her son Lewis won the first juvenile under-16 race. St Senan’s long runner veteran Adele Walsh was the second woman home with Eve Dunphy (St Senan’s) in third place.

The women’s novice was won by Siobhan Barron (St Senan’s). Anna Walsh (Kings River) finished second with Marie Widger (St Senan’s) third. Kilkenny City Harriers won the men’s team and St Senan’s the women’s team.