Kilkenny athlete lands national gold as cross-country season concludes

The final event of the national cross-country season saw athletes head to the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown recently.

It was an incredible day for Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) athlete Callum Barron, who had an incredible run to clinch the Men’s National Novice title.

Despite losing a spike after he broke free from the pack, Callum maintained his composure over a 6,000m course that suited his running, as he stormed to a great finish to take the national honours.

In his post race interview Callum described how it has been a good season for him and he is delighted to finish it off with a great win.

“I’m over the moon,” he said. “It’s been a good season, but to finish it off here with the win is unbelievable. I decided to just go for it when I felt strong, and when I started to move away from them, I said I’d see how long I could keep it going.

“I like a bit of muck on the course, it reminded me of Gowran a few years ago, so it played right into my hands,” he added.

“Niamh and Noel Richardson are my coaches, and I can’t ask for any better. It’s great to see all the training pay off today.”

Barron led the county team home with Joe Keohane (Gowran), James Kelly (Castlecomer), Michael O’Keeffe (Thomastown), Matthew Holland (Gowran) and Tadhg Ryan (Thomastown) all making up the team that finished 4th overall.

The uneven age juvenile races kicked things off, starting with the under-11 1,500m event, raced over one big loop. Kilkenny had a county team, with athletes from Thomastown, Castlecomer, Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH), St Senan’s and Gowran all running on the day. Castlecomer also had a club team that qualified from the Leinsters in Kilbeggan last month.

Luke Hanlon (Thomastown) just missed out on a medal, finishing in 13th place, but his fantastic run saw him as the fourth scorer on the Leinster team that took the gold. Luke was also the first home on the county team that came in ninth. Castlecomer boys finished 14th in the club event, with four of their athletes still under-10 and eligible to run again next year under-11.

In the girls’ under-13 race Gowran had a club team and Kilkenny a county team that qualified from Leinsters to run in the 2,500m race. The Gowran team was the most successful Kilkenny club team on the day, winning bronze with Orla O’Keeffe, Abigail Hunt, Lydia Phelan and Sarah Mulrooney scoring for the club. Sinead Grant (St Senan’s), Kate Kelly (KCH) and Emily Nevin (St Joseph’s) made up the county team that finished 10th.

Kilkenny City Harriers had a club team in the boys’ under-13 event. Again there was a good county team representing Kilkenny, with athletes from KCH, Gowran, and Barrow Harriers running for the county. In a strong and stacked race that saw 173 runners take to the start line for another tough trek through the muddy course, all ran well with the county team finishing 13th and the KCH club team placing 16th overall.

The KCH club team were the only runners from the county in the girls’ under-15 3,500m race. While the club team were unlucky not to medal, finishing sixth overall, strong performances from Katie Byrne and Emily O’Keeffe saw them score in fifth and sixth places on the Leinster team to secure a gold provincial medal.

In the boys’ under-15 race Daniel Greene, fresh from his National win in Derry a fortnight ago, had another strong race up in age this time to finish in eighth place. Daniel was the second scorer on the Leinster team that placed fourth. Sam Woodcock (KCH) also had a fine run up in age to finish in 42nd place.

Sinead Cormack (KCH) took home some silverware as she ran in 12th place to secure another national bronze medal. Sinead’s strong run also saw her finish as second scorer on the Leinster team and claim a bronze provincial medal on the day too.

By the time the boys’ under-17 athletes took to the start line the downpours were getting heavier and the winds had certainly picked up, making the course even tougher to contend with. This was the eighth race on the outer loop, so the course was really starting to give way to the mud and very slippery conditions for the athletes to contend with. Kyrell Mtinsi (KCH), Conor Carroll (Gowran) and Lewis Morgan (St Senan’s) all had good runs, with Mtinsi the third scorer on the Leinster team that finished fourth.

Charlotte Carpendale (St Senan’s) was the first home in the girls’ under-19 5,000m for the Kilkenny team that placed sixth. Hazel Coogan (KCH), Eimear Cormack (KCH) and Caoimhe Barry (St Joseph’s) made up the county team.

Tom Murphy (KCH) was in action in the boys’ under-19 race and ran a good solid race, placing 40th out of the 87 finishers in a great time of 19:06 for the 5,000m race.

Racewalking

The Kilkenny County Racewalks, which were hosted by St Joseph’s on Sunday, saw committed walkers brave the blustery conditions to take on the even age race distances.

Both the under-12 girls and boys walked the 1,000m with KCH duo Caoimhe Malone and Cillian Maher taking the honours. In the under-12 Nora Carroll (KCH) won silver and Ailbhe Ni Dhubhda (St Senan’s) won bronze, with Emma Power (St Joseph’s) fourth and Katie Lou Culleton fifth.

In the under-14 1,500m races it was a double win for St Senan’s with Ellie Mae Aylward and Tadgh O’Callaghan taking the gold medals. Kerry Widger (St Senan’s) won the under-16 girls’ 2,000m in fine style while Maggie Helen O’Connor (St Joseph’s) took home the Master Women’s title and John Joe Lawlor (St Joseph’s) the Master Men’s title.

Thanks went to all in St Joseph’s for organising and facilitating the county walks.