Action at home and abroad for Kilkenny athletes

There was an abundance of competitive action for Kilkenny athletes recently.

From Robert Coogan competing in his first ever Irish vest at the SIAB International in Dublin, to the Masters competition in Poland, the National 10km in Dunboyne and of course the first day of the National Juvenile Indoors in Athlone.

The latter produced four gold relay medals for KCH including a new championship record for the girls’ under-15 relay. Andrew Cooper took another national title when he won the boys’ under-19 shot-put.

SIAB International

To compete for Ireland is a dream for many athletes. Some take years to get their first Irish vest, others get the opportunity in their young juvenile years.

For 14-year-old Robert Coogan (CBS Kilkenny and Kilkenny City Harriers), the opportunity to compete for Ireland was realised the day he finished sixth in the All-Ireland schools cross-country. With eight being selected for the Irish junior team, his position was secured.

The age groups for the schools competition are based on the athletes being born on or after September 1, 2009. This unusual age grouping meant that the first five in the All-Irelands were deemed ineligible to be selected for the Irish team. This left Robert in the unusual position of being sixth but yet, the first eligible team member. In fact, the schools selection committee had to go back to 13th place to get the full complement of eight required. This was very lucky for Adam Noone who, on that day, was 13th.

On Saturday at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown it was Noone who led the Irish team home in 14th position. Two places behind Noone, Robert Coogan finished his first international race in the green vest of Ireland. The Irish team finished in fourth place. England were the team winners, with Scotland’s Louie Muir the individual winner.

National Juvenile Indoors

The national juvenile indoor relays and a selection of age groups in shot, triple jump and high jump were held in Athlone on Saturday.

For Kilkenny there was an individual champion in the form of Andrew Cooper (Gowran) in the under-19 shot-put.

Cooper delivered the winning throw from the first round. In doing so he was over a metre and a half further than the nearest competitor.

The current national senior shot-put champion had, in fact, only one legal throw. He is currently trying to adapt to the ‘spin’ technique. It is not unusual for athletes in this transition phase to have several illegal throws, though Cooper would have liked to have more than one legal effort.

Such is his dominance at this event, in nearly all his competitions even his lowest throw is often over a metre further than that of his nearest competitor. The Gowran AC athlete will now look forward to competing in the schools track and field before taking in a competition or two on the international circuit.

Robert Coogan was on the Irish team who competed at the SIAB International

There were three other individual competitors on the day. Conor Quinlan (Brow Rangers) competed in the under-17 shot, Rachael Gardiner (Gowran) also competed in the shot while Conor Knox (KCH) jumped 1.35 in the under-13 high jump and finished in seventh place.

The main concentration of events on day one centred around the relays. Kilkenny City Harriers were the only club from the county with teams who qualified for the nationals.

The city club delivered one of their best performances in recent years in these All-Irelands. They took home four gold and one set of silver medals. Of the gold medal medals, one resulted in a championship best performance, another a personal best.

The girls’ under-15 were the first team to compete. The team of Aisling Phelan, Kara Canavan, Emily Long, Ellen Daly and Mollie Rose Keegan set a new championship best of 1.45.51, surpassing the 1.46.55 set by Limerick’s Doneen AC last year. They beat relay specialists Ratoath AC by almost two seconds. Cork’s Leevale AC were third.

Handing over the baton in first place at the end of the first leg set the tone for how the race was to unfold. With a strong third leg, the team drew further and further away from Leevale to produce a decisive victory. This team was third in 2023 and improved their time by eight seconds. The addition of Aisling Phelan to the team has made a substantial difference.

Just as the euphoria of victory was reaching its highest, there was another victory, this time from the girls’ under-17 team.

The team of Kate Maher, Ruth Crowley, Aoibhe Quinn and Molly Daly have performed well at the national relays over the years.

However last year, things did not go according to plan and the team failed to qualify for the final. Things were different this year and the team knew going into these championships that they were stronger than they had ever been before.

Starting in lane six, KCH were in the lead at the first baton change. A great second leg by Leevale AC saw KCH drop back to second place. However, from the third leg, the city team started to pull away from Leevale and the other teams.

By the time Molly Daly got the baton for the final leg, there was no way anyone was going to snatch victory from this team.

They took the gold in 1.42.24, well over two seconds ahead of Metro St Bridget’s and Leevale AC. They were only one-tenth of a second short of the championship best performance set by Ratoath in 2022.

Maggie O’Connor (St Joseph’s) was fourth in the European Masters in Poland.

The KCH boys’ under-12 team of Cathal Comerford, Eoin Hoyne, Caelan Bambrick, Johnny O’Carroll and Simon Brennan surprised their coaches when a combination of superb baton changing and an ‘out of their skin’ performance saw them take the gold medal by half a second over Metro St Bridget’s. These young boys are only starting out on their athletic career and have much to look forward to, based on that performance.

And the boys did not stop there. The under-14 team of Aidan Malone, Fiach Crowley, Conor Knox, Killian Croke and Noah Flynn came easily through the heats to look good for a podium finish.

Again, their superior baton changing was unrivalled by any other team and was the winning formula for this team. They finished one and a half seconds clear of relay specialists Ratoath, in what would have been a shock defeat for the Meath team.
The girls’ under-12 team of Julia Daly, Ellen Ryan, Ella O’Flaherty, Kate Kelly and Hannah O’Brien took silver medals. They were so close to gold too, as they were beaten by just one-tenth of a second by Tara AC.

European Masters

The European Masters have been taking part in Torun, Poland over the last 10 days. The Irish team have performed very well with many golds, podium finishes and even some world records.

The sole competitor from Kilkenny was Maggie O’Connor (St Joseph’s). Maggie was taking part in the over-50 5,000m walk and finished a very creditable fourth. Her time of 27.49 was a new personal best. The race was won by Olga Cabrera Ysas of Spain in 26.20.

National 10km

The National 10km was held in Dunboyne on Sunday. It was an efficient event with none of the issues that marred the same event in the Phoenix Park the previous year, where incorrect routing caused the course to be short and all times were thus invalid for 10km purposes.

Over 1,000 individuals were in action in Dunboyne. Ger Forde (KCH) was the first Kilkenny athlete home, finishing in 13th place with a time of 31.01, a new personal best. This is the first race for the KCH man since competing in the European clubs last month.

The overall winner was Irish international Sean Tobin (Clonmel). Forde, along with other athletes, will be hoping for selection as part of the Irish team for the European 10km championships.

James Kelly (Castlecomer) was 60th overall in a time of 33.27. This was enough to place him in 13th place in the national over-35 race, which was won by the 2022 national marathon champion Martin Hoare.

News from Abroad

At the University of Oregon Track and Field Maebh Richardson (KCH) was competing in her first 5,000m track race of the season. Richardson had run 16.50 for 5000m indoors in Spokane, Washington last month and was keen to surpass that mark.

Competing in the famous Hayward field, an iconic venue in the USA track and field history, Richardson finished fifth in a time of 16.37, a new personal best by over 13 seconds.

The race was won by Maddie Elmore (Oregon) in a time of 16.13. Irish international Anika Thompson (Leevale), competing for the University of Oregon, was second in 16.13.02.