Success for Kilkenny athletes in track and cross-country events

The indoor track and field season got underway with the National AAI Games at the weekend.

The national indoor combined events were held in Abbotstown alongside the games. This was a great season opener for many of the sprinters and middle distance runners, while eight athletes competed in both the pentathlon and heptathlon.

Ellen Daly and Aisling Phelan of Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) were running in the shorter sprint. Both girls won their heats in the 60m sprint, Ellen winning heat four in 8:02, while Aisling won heat seven in 7.98.

In the 60m S2, both girls were drawn in heat three, Aisling finishing just ahead in second place in 7.87, while Ellen was third in 7.92. Molly Daly (KCH) made a flying start to her season, winning heat one of the 200m sprint. She was ranked second overall behind Rachel McCann with a time of 24.07.

Conor Lyons also competed in the shorter sprints, running 7.44 in heat six of the 60m S1, and 7.39 in 60m S2, finishing third in heat five.

There were three KCH sprinters in the 400m heats. Alex Cullen was second in heat one, the fastest heat of the five races, finishing in an impressive time of 48.78 and ranking third overall. Patrick Wall was third in heat two in 53.68, while Eoghan O’Farrell was fifth in heat four in 55.87.

KCH duo Ruairi McEvoy and Callum Barron swapped the cross-country fields for the track in the men’s 3,000m. Racing 15 laps of the Abbotstown indoor track, Callum was first out in heat one, finishing eighth in 8:45.20 over the distance. Ruairi was in heat two and finished first in 8:41.89.

Combined Events

Noah Gilmore (KCH) and James Kelsey (Gowran) took on the men’s heptathlon of seven events over the two days. On day one Noah (senior) and James (under-20) took on the 60m, long jump, high jump and shot-put on day one. Day two was the 60m hurdles, pole vault and the 1,000m.

Both James and Noah had a great second day where they both won their last event to claim silverware. James gained valuable points and won both the pole vault and the 1,000m to secure the top spot for his first gold of the indoor season. Noah produced a great win in the 1,000m to climb into third place overall, a great start to the indoor season too.

The pentathlon event was held on Sunday with 5 events for both the juvenile and master athletes. Mia Brennan (KCH), who competed in the girls’ under-16 event, won her 60m hurdles heat with 781 points, a great start to the day and good points which helped earn her seventh place overall. Zoe Beck (KCH) competed in the women’s youth pentathlon and placed 12th overall in a highly competitive field of 17 athletes.

Cathal Comerford (KCH) was in action in the boys’ under-14 pentathlon. After a strong display in the shot-put, where he placed third in the field, Cathal finished sixth overall.

Conor Knox (KCH) also produced a great effort in the shot-put, his strongest event, winning 706 points for his throw of 13.64m. Conor finished an impressive third overall in the boys’ under-15 pentathlon. Fiach Crowley (KCH) was in the boys’ under-16, placing second in the 60m hurdles, to earn 583 points and finish seventh overall.

Graham Bourne was the only masters athlete in the event. After a full day of events, the KCH athlete ran a superb 1,000m to gain a massive 710 points to finish first in the men’s over-50 category.

Leinster Cross-Country

The Centre of Excellence, Carlow was the venue for day one of the 2026 Leinster cross-country championships, where Carlow Athletics held the even age relays, intermediate and masters events.

This was the first time the event was held in Fenagh, with a great venue, parking and facilities all exceeding expectations.

First up for the day was the under-12 girls’ race, where the KCH team of Edie Kemple, Jane Byrne, Winter Rose Molloy and Eva Hoyne ran a great race, with a fast sprint finish from their last runner saw them clinch third place from SLOT of Carlow. The Thomastown’s boys’ under-12 team of Liam Grant, Sean Leadbetter, Luke Hanlon and Matthew Fennelly were unlucky to just miss out on a medal, finishing fourth after a great run from all the team. The Gowran boys’ under-12 team of Jack Keyes, Harry O’Regan, Killian Lyons and Conor Maher finished eighth overall on the day.

In the girls’ under-14 race Gowran won their first medals of the year. Abigail Hunt, Sarah Mulrooney, Roisin Corrigan and Lydia Phelan produced a great race over the 500m lap to secure bronze. Thomastown’s team of Alisha Farrell, Ella Jasinghe, Siofra Croke O’Neill and Sarah Collins finished sixth overall on the day. In the boys’ under-14 race Gowran were the only Kilkenny club in action with Cian Shortall, Oscar Langton, Cian Larkin and Jay Pollock having a great run in an extremely fast relay.

The KCH girls’ under-16 team of Emily O’Keeffe, Katie Byrne, Amelia O’Brien and Maria Kraljevic dominated the relays again and stormed to first place, winning the gold. In the boys’ under-16 race KCH finished an honourable second behind a very strong Newbridge team. The team of Daniel Greene, Marcus Lyons, Sam Woodcock and Cameron McDonnell Butler fought off the challenge from St Abbans to bring home the silver.

The Masters women and men 65+ 4,000m was the first race off in the afternoon at the Leinsters. The relatively flat fast course did have sharp corners to navigate around over the 1,500m around the pitches, with a slight drag uphill on each loop.

Imelda Kennedy (Nuenna) was first home for the county in 28th place, followed by the St Joseph’s duo of Maria Griffin (41) and Anne Watkins (46) with Elaine Gamble of Nuenna fourth home for the county in 60th place. The Master Men 65+ had great success winning bronze for the county with Mike Redmond (Thomastown), Eddie Hoyne (Tullaroan) and Mick Walsh (Gowran) the three scorers on the day.

In the Master Men’s 7,000m race James Kelly (Castlecomer) was the first home for Kilkenny in 12th place. Neil Shanahan (Thomastown) was 30th, Lonan Farrell (Thomastown) 31st, Michael Bergin (Nuenna) 65th, Peter Barry (St Joseph’s) 75th and James O’Reilly (Gowran) 92nd. The county team of first four scorers was seventh overall.

The women’s intermediate race was up next with teams from KCH and Thomastown competing over the 5,000m distance. Nuala Fitzgibbons (KCH) was the first home for the county in 12th place. Sinead O’Keeffe (Thomastown) in 15th, Ellen Ryan (Thomastown) 18th and Grainne Behan (KCH) 24th were the three other scorers for the county team that won silver. Robyn McDonald (KCH) was 29th, Tara Brett (KCH) 30th, Katie Matthews (KCH) 31st, Gill Kavanagh (KCH) 32nd, Lucy Coady (Thomastown) 35th and Laura Meaney (Thomastown) 36th. KCH were fifth club and Thomastown sixth club overall.

The men’s 8,000m race was the most successful race of the day for Kilkenny, as not only did Kilkenny team win first in the county team event, but KCH took the top club team place, with three of their scorers all within the top 10. Paddy Kelly was first home in sixth place, Eamon O’Connor was eighth and John Behan 10th. Dean Rowe was fourth home for the club in 16th place while Gowran pair John Coady (17) and Martin Desgrandchamps (22) were fifth and sixth on the county team to win gold.

Other finishers for the county were Matthew Holland (Gowran) in 30th, Johan Muller (Gowran) in 34th, Padraig Ruane (KCH) in 35th, David Fitzgerald (KCH) in 40th, Trevor Spillane (KCH) in 48th and Derek Aylward (KCH) in 50th. The Gowran club team was sixth overall.