National Outdoor Juvenile B Championships & National Outdoor Juvenile Championships 2024

 

By David Butler, St Brendan's AC Juvenile Head Coach

A successful weekend for our club athletes, first up on Saturday was Cody McKenna running the U12 boys 60m sprint heats. With 4 heats and just the 1st in each to qualify to the final with 4th fastest times to also qualify, Cody placed 4th in his heat but just missed out on the final by one place with his time as he had the 5th fastest time. Cody would be back in action in the afternoon.

Next up then was Katie Butler competing the U13 girl’s shot put where she would line up against 10 other competitors. Katie opened her competition with a throw of 7.36m which was the best throw of all in the first round. In the 2nd row with all the play for she kept for form and focus and improved her mark to 7.69m. A final round throw of 7.60m followed. All throws completed and the results in and it was a silver medal for Katie, her 2nd National medal having also won silver in 2022 in the turbo javelin pairs.

After a long wait Conor Slattery was up for the U12 boy’s high jump, Conor had first time clearances from 1m all the way to 1.20m. On his 2nd attempt at 1.25m he equalled his PB before the bar was raised to 1.30m. Conor had 3 attempts at this height and he was very unlucky to have the slightest clip of the bar on his 3rd go which saw his competition end. 2 athletes jumped the 1.30m bar but no higher and with the results in Conor placed 4th on countback. Not too long of a wait and Conor was back for his 2nd event, the U12 boy’s shot put. Conor opened his account with 6.33m with a safe throw. His 2nd round throw looked to be a big one but unfortunately didn’t meet the favour of the judge’s eye. Under pressure then going into the final round, Conor needed to improve to get into a medal position and he landed the shot out to 6.89m, breaking his old PB of 6.75m and to the silver medal, a first National medal for him.

Cody was back in action then, the u12 boy’s long jump. A large field of 17 athletes here and Cody was 2nd last in the jumping order before he could take to the runway. His PB of 4.06m would need to be surpassed to get him a chance at the podium. With that first jump Cody’s leaped to a new lifetime best of 4.14m and into the 1st place in the event, just getting ahead of the next best jumper on 4.13cm. Two rounds of jumps would follow but no one closed that gap on Cody and he won the gold, his first National medal.

On Sunday and day 2 of the National Juvenile Championships. Aoibhinn O’Driscoll was up first in the u14 girl’s long jump in a large field of 18 athletes. Aoibhinn opened her account with 4.66m before improving to 4.78m in the 2nd round and it was 4.62m in the 3rd round. This had Aoibhinn as 6th overall as she made the top 8 final then and all to play for. Aoibhinn had a target, 3 jumps to try win that medal. Her 4th and 5th jumps of 4.43m and 4.61m didn’t improve her position but taking to the runway for the final time she had a brilliant final jump of 4.92m (just 3cm off her pb of 4.95) to move into the bronze medal position. 5 more athletes would jump with two of them the potential to move Aoibhinn out of the hot seat and unfortunately that was to be the case as she finished 4th overall.

Next up then was Oisin Fletcher, making his first trip to Tullamore for his debut at Nationals. Oisin was competing in the u14 boys 2K walk. Oisin worked hard to prepare for the competition fitting training in during his holidays abroad with plenty of warm weather and hill training. Oisin warmed up for the event today with walks coach David Kissane present to support. Lining up in a field of 8 boys it was 5 laps of the track for all. A fast start before the boys settled into their pace, Oisin had a consistent race and avoiding the scrutiny of the referees he crossed in 7th place just two seconds off his PB of 13:56 for a fine debut at National level.

The final athlete to compete at these championships for the club then was Maddison O’Connor who would be taking part in the u15 girl’s triple jump. Maddison’s 2nd time to Tullamore having competed last year in National B’s she was excited to get going at her event. A field of 14 athletes for this new event in this age group Maddison opened her competition with 8.78m (a new pb for her moving on from 8.31m). On her 2nd round jump her right foot rolled slightly on landing on the step which didn’t help her jump and she landed at 8.28m. In the 3rd round she pushed to try improving on that first round but 8.48m the mark. Just missing out on the top 8, Maddison placed 9th overall.

That closed off the juvenile season for our athletes, thank you again to the athlete’s families and friends for making the trips to bring them to competitions and to the athletes for representing their club so well. Thanks also to our coaches and club volunteers who help prepare the athletes for their events and for supporting the athletes on the days across the country. It has been a very successful season for our club, 10 Nationals medals just one of the indicators of the success of our group and the many more positive experiences for all earned through the participation at training and competition. We look forward to next season when it all kicks off again.

Munster Athletics U14-U19 Track & Field Championships 2024 Review

 By David Butler, St Brendan's AC juvenile head coach.

There and back again….Waterford Regional Sports Centre was the venue for this weekend’s competition, it’s about as far away as you can get in Munster and still be in the province but it proved to be a successful weekend for our club with precious reward which came in many forms. Our athletes tested themselves against the best in Munster and came away with 9 medals, National qualification and personal bests as they went through the experience of it all.

First in action on Saturday was Eoin Malik, who was entered to compete in 3 U17 boys events over the two days. Triple Jump in terrible conditions meant that playing it safe was going to be the order of the day. Eoin opened and closed his event with a best jump of 12.31m to win the gold medal.

At the same time Aoibhinn O’Driscoll opened her weekend with the first of her trio, U14 girl’s high jump and after opening at 1.25m the bar rose to 1.40m which Aoibhinn cleared. The wind and rain was not helping Aoibhinn and her competitors as they fosbury flopped onto a wet mat but her best jump of 1.40m won the silver medal.

Action on the track then got going for the club with our duo of racewalkers for this Munster competition of Hannah Sheehy going in the U13 girls 2K race and Oisin Fletcher in the U14 boys 2K race. This was Hannah’s 2nd ever racewalking race (the last one at Munster Indoors this year season) but her first race at the 2K distance and it was Oisin’s 2nd ever racewalk having taken up the event this season too. Both athletes were put through a vigorous warmup by David Kissane which was certainly needed with the conditions and the standard of the event. Both the boys and girls in this age group went off together and working very hard across all 5 laps both athletes recorded clean sheets with Hannah crossing the line in 13:22.42 and Oisin in 13:56.85 (new pb). Both athletes won the silver medal in their age groups. A first Munster medal for Oisin, a day to remember!

Over to the hurdles then,

Aoibhinn was back in action then for her 2nd event of the day, this time in the 75mH. Running into a strong headwind she placed 2nd in the semi-final to qualify through to the final. With a quick turnaround the girls lined up for the final where Aoibhinn improved on her semi time of 13.56 to 12:95 to win her 2nd medal of the day, this time the bronze for 3rd place.

Alex Blackett was next up to face the short hurdles as he lined up in the U14 boys 75mH event. The wind was doing none of our hurdlers any favours but Alex crossed the line in 4th place in his semi-final and qualified for the final. The final ran off a short time, Alex improved on his time from the semi as he finished in 8th place overall with a time of 17.06m.

Maddison O’Connor stepped up to the blocks next in the U15 girls 80mH, with unfortunate scheduling Maddison’s favoured events of long jump, triple jump and short hurdles where going to be run in quick succession so she had a choice to make and decided to stick with one jump event and the hurdles. Maddison qualified from the semi-finals it was short notice before she had to quickstep it to the start line. With a better start Maddison improved on her time from the semi she crossed the line in 7th place in 15.8 seconds.

Maddison then switched over to the triple jump; thankfully conditions had slightly improved but still very changeable with wind, drizzle and sun alternating every 15mins. Maddison hop, skipped and jumped to 8.29m this best jump (just 2cm off her personal best) coming in the 3rd round. That jump secured her 4th place which secured her a spot at Nationals in the event.

Eoin Malik was competing in his 2nd event of the weekend, the U17 boy’s javelin. The head wind which can sometimes work in your favour with the javelin showed no consistency for the throwers as the javelins were sometimes stalling instead of rising through the air. Eoin’s best throw of 36.25m coming in the third round won him his 2nd medal of the day, a silver medal for 2nd place.

Alex Blackett was back in action where his 2nd event of the day was the U14 boys 200m heats. This was Alex’s debut in the 200s, he had a good start and attacked the bend before finishing strong down the home straight to place 5th in his heat with a time of 33.16.

The final athlete competing on Saturday was Zach Walshe who lined up in the U18 boys 3000m race. In this event, the U17s, U18s and U19s boys all raced together. A fast start over the first two laps before the field opened up and then it was solo running for the majority of the athletes including Zach. Crossing the line in 10:25.27 it wasn’t the time Zach had hoped for but still secured the bronze medal in his age group for him.

Back for the Sunday events, the rain clouds abated and it was sun cream weather this time out! Aoibhinn O’Driscoll competed in the U14 girl’s long jump and Eoin Malik in the U17 boy’s long jump. Eoin was first to the pits, with a narrow break on his first round jump on what was a certain pb his best jump of the day to that point came in the 3rd round where he leapt to 5.91m. Eoin had his eyes on the 6.10m mark and to also pb, the 4th and 5th jumps were back a little from his earlier best but there was more to come. In the final round with the pressure on he jumped to a new lifetime best of 6.18m (previously 6m) and to a silver medal for Eoin. This medal to go with his gold and silver from day 1 and close off an excellent Munster season for Eoin and he reverts back to National competition next weekend.

Aoibhinn then who had watched on in quiet interest to Eoin’s competition then took to the runway in the U14 girl’s event. A large field of 29 long jumpers competed in what was the largest field of the weekend in the long jump events. Her first round jump of 4.43m put her in 2nd place and she then stepped that up to 4.64m in the 3rd round. All to play for going into the delayed final, Aoibhinn’s kept focusing on improving her jump and in the final round jumped to 4.73m to put more distance between her and 3rd place and secure the silver medal. Aoibhinn’s 3rd medal of the weekend, with 2 silver medals and a bronze medal going home to Kilmoyley.

That drew to a close the Munster U14-U19 competitions, well done to our all athletes on their successes and thanks to their families and friends for bringing them to the competition. Thanks to the club coaches for preparing our athletes for the event and the support given to the athletes over the weekend.

Kerry Athletics Masters and Seniors County Championships 2024

 

By Ursula Barrett, Adult Head Coach, St Brendan’s AC

The much-anticipated Senior and Masters County Championships had a new and important focus this year. We knew for months that we would be trying to bring the Patrick O’Riordan Cup to St Brendan’s in its inaugural year, but we didn’t know that we would be doing so without having Patrick to present it to us.

Patrick’s passing brought new meaning to the cup and intensified the efforts of the club. This sense of purpose contributed massively to the large numbers representing the club and taking part in record numbers of events across numerous age categories in both the masters men and women’s events. We were all proud to wear the club colours and to do our best in honour of our President, Patrick.

Walking On

The day started with St Brendan’s dominating the 3,000m walk. Six athletes all in blue (David, Denis, Marian, Tina. Marie-Louise and Áine) battled against the clock to claim the first points of the day for the club as they secured five gold medals and one silver. Marie Louise was the first walker home in an impressive time of 18:46. Well done to coach David Kissane for getting everyone to the starting line, especially our new member Áine McKenna who learnt the technique in the week before the competition.

While the walks race was underway, the discus competition was also taking place. Brian McKenna and James Cullagh in the M45 category put their Walnut Grove practice to the test and walked away with a silver and bronze medal for throws of almost 15 and 16 metres. Eddie O’Flaherty showed impressive form in the M55 category earning another silver medal and vital points for the club and David Kissane added to the tally in the M70 category with a gold medal.

Next up on the track was the 100m sprints. The masters women showed off their speed with three gold medals and one bronze from our sprinters, Linda, Ursula, Aoife and Karen and some great times too ranging from 14 to 18 seconds. We had no men taking part in this event so will have to recruit for next year!

The long jump competition saw Linda and Ursula both walk away with first place positions in the masters competition. Darren took part in the senior long jump competition coming in 6th place overall against some serious competition.

In the 200m sprint distance we had several contenders taking to their starting lines on the bend. John Lane and Johnny Jeffers came in 5th and 6th in the M50 category while Tom McCarthy came home in second place in the M55 category. Our masters women both took part in the F45 race claiming the gold and silver between them.

While this track action was taking place the men’s javelin was proceeding in the centre field. Again, the blue t-shirts were visible to all as we showed up in numbers to compete. Gold medals from David Butler, Brian McKenna, Artur Nowak and Martin Butler as well as silver from Eddie and bronze from John Lane produced more welcome points for the club. The women followed suit a little later with another 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze to add the medal count.

High Gold

Our sole high jumper of the day was Artur Nowak. He collected his gold medal for a jump of 1.55m. Next up on the track was the most contested race of the day, the 3000 metres. Seven and a half laps of the track passes slowly when the sun comes out and the pack is competitive. Ten women took part in the first race and the St. Brendan’s runners were cheered each time they passed. Digging deep and running hard, Margaret Carlin was the first blue t-shirt over the line in a time of 14:22, followed by Aoife O’Driscoll and Jill Kenny. Seventeen men took to the track for the masters race and walked away with two more gold and two silver. The race yielded a great time of 12:18 for Tom McCarthy and thanks to Roland Rogers who volunteered to guide Ivan in this race, Ivan clocked 12:31. Well done also to Jim O’Meara and Willie O’Riordan for their strong performance and gold medal performances also. Darren was our only competitor in a fast paced senior race where he came in 12:45 and managed to smile and wave to his fan club on the home straight each time he passed them.

Senior Bronze

The 400m saw Rian claim a bronze in the senior race and golds for Jim, Margaret and Jill. Meanwhile in the shot-put Karen and Sheena (W50) bagged another silver and bronze while David, James and Brian got gold, silver and bronze in the O35-O45 category. More titles came for Artur (first place) and John Lane (third) in the M50 along with another gold and silver for David Kissane and Martin Butler in the M70 grouping. The final field event of the day was the weight for distance and another medal haul with triple gold for the Butler family of Martin, David and Irene, Gold also for Marie Louise, Silver for James and Karen and Bronze for Eddie.

Highlight of the Day

The highlight of the day was the final track event which saw 5 masters teams carrying the baton around the track. There is nothing like the teamwork and fun of a relay. Norma joined one team and two teams were ready to go. Then Helen arrived and we were able to add a third team once Sheena swallowed her mouthful of baguette. With lots of cheering St Brendan’s took on the Star of the Laune team and came home in first, third and fourth positions. The men were up next and under pressure to follow the women’s example. They did so by claiming gold in the M35 competition and second to Gneeveguilla in the M55 category. As Tom hadn’t made it back in time for the start the club had to call upon Willie O’Riordan to take his place and there was no hesitation.

It was very fitting then that when the numbers were crunched and it was obvious that we had secured the cup that Patrick’s daughter Katie would present the cup to Patrick’s brother, Willie, a long term member of the club and relay team runner. The magnitude of our victory was only clear after when the results were released. St Brendan's earned 144 Points ahead of second place Gneeveguilla AC on 55 points. A comprehensive win and a challenge posed to the other clubs in Kerry to try to claim the cup in future years.

Full results HERE.

For now, the cup is with the O’Riordan and St Brendan’s families.

Kerry Juveniles Track & Field Championships 2024

Kerry Athletics U9 to U20 Track & Field Championships 2024 Report

By David Butler, St Brendan’s AC Juvenile Head Coach

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.”

Thinking about the performances of the great children of this millennium last weekend for club and writing this report of this year’s county championships, I am drawn to this quote from a star of the last millennium. Over the course of 2 days, 90 athletes competed for St Brendan’s AC across a whole host of athletic disciplines. They took on the sprints, distance running, walks, long jump, triple jump, high jump, hurdles, shot put, discus, turbo javelin, javelin and relays. Each one of these events requires specific coaching and for an athlete to develop skills to be competent and compete in their chosen event. It is fair to say that all the athletes gave it their very best in representing the club and many finished in medal winning positions.

The fantastic team we had for this championships finished in 3 rd place position overall. This is the 3rd year in a row we finished in 3rd place and with an improved points total on last year. Well done to all, firstly for participating in this important annual benchmark for our club, some for their first time ever and congratulations to the many that achieved personal bests and of course those who won medals.

There is a lot of work gone into achieving this podium position and I thank our coaching

team in preparing the athletes since our year started last August and supporting them over the

weekend, the club committee and our club volunteers who support our activities both at training and competition, the families of our athletes and most of all the athletes themselves. The athletes are the reason we all do what we do and the county championships was another great time to stop and look around and recognise their excellent achievements.

Please see our county medal winners listed below. We look forward to Munster championships next.

St Brendan’s AC Results 2024

U9

Jack Feehan, Gold in Turbo Javelin, Bronze in Long Jump, Bronze in 300m

James Sheehy, Silver in long jump, Silver in 300m, Bronze in 60m

Silver in U9 Boys Relay (Iarlaith Murphy, Jack Feehan, Oisin Cashell, James Sheehy, Alex Diggins,

Tadhg Quille)

U10

Brandon Scanlon, Silver in 500m

Emma O’Flaherty, Bronze in 60m, Bronze in Turbo Javelin

Harrison Cahill, Silver in Turbo Javelin

Silver in U10 Boys Relay (Diarmuid Lawlor, Harrison Cahill, Karl Wallace, Brandon Scanlon)

U11

Daniel Collins, Silver in Turbo Javelin

Eabha Cowan, Silver in 500m

Jack Sheehy, Gold in 600m

Sophie Malik, Silver in Turbo Javelin

Gold in U11 Boys Relay (Fionn Cashell, Harrison Cahill, Daniel Collins, Jack Sheehy, Lucas Neale)

U12

Aoife Rice, Silver in Shot Put

Cody McKenna, Silver in 60m, Bronze in 600m

Colm Fletcher, Bronze in Shot Put

Olivia Leen, Bronze in Turbo Javelin, Bronze in Shot Put

Lacie Boylan, Bronze in High Jump

Gold in U12 Boys Relay (Corey O’Carroll, Cody McKenna, Daniel Collins, Jack Sheehy, Adam O’Leary,

Tomás O’Flaherty)

U13

Conor Walshe, Silver in Shot Put

Katie Butler, Gold in Javelin, Silver in Shot Put

Roisin Rice, Silver in Shot Put

Seán Collins, Bronze in Javelin, Bronze in High Jump

Bronze in U13 Boys Relay (Zach Shanahan, Seán Collins, John McCarthy, Conor Slattery, Luke Winter)

U14

Aoibhinn O’Driscoll, Gold in long jump, Gold in high jump, Gold in 60mH

Daniel O’Leary, Silver in Javelin, Silver in Shot Put, Bronze in 60mH

Illia Budiak, Silver in 60mH

Leah Doody, Silver in 2K Racewalk

Matilida Boulton, Bronze in 2K Racewalk

Matthew Cahill, Bronze in Javelin

Muireann Lawlor, Gold in 2K Racewalk, Bronze in 800m

Oisin Fletcher, Gold in 2K Racewalk

U15

Brendan Locke Fitzgerald, Silver in Javelin

Cori Boylan, Gold in Walks, Bronze in High Jump

Emily O’Sullivan, Gold in Javelin, Bronze in Shot Put

Maddison O’Connor, Gold in Triple Jump, Bronze in 75mH, Bronze in Long Jump

Nastya Kovalenko, Silver in High Jump

Bronze in U15 Boys Relay (Alex Blackett, Seanie Feehan, Brendan Locke Fitzgerald, Illia Budiak,

Matthew Cahill)

U16

Sadhbh Sheehan, Silver in discus, Bronze in shot, Bronze in Javelin

Aodhán Slattery, Gold in 100mH, Gold in 200m, Silver in 100m

Ruairi Walshe, Bronze in 100m

Gold in U16 Boys Relay (Kevin Horgan, Ruairi Walshe, Seanie Feehan, Aodhán Slattery, Brendan

Locke Fitzgerald)

U20

Aaron Horgan, Silver in 400m

Abbie Lane, Silver in Javelin

Eoin Malik, Gold in Triple Jump (winner of the Eamonn Fitzgerald Shield), Gold in Javelin,

Silver in Long Jump

Louise Lane, Gold in 400mH

Zach Walshe, gold in 3000m and silver in 1500m

Full results HERE

Triangular Athletics Match 2024

 

By David Butler, Head Juvenile Coach, St Brendan's AC

170 athletes from the U9 age groups through to U20 age groups competed for their clubs in triangular match between St Brendan’s AC, Iveragh AC and Lios Tuathail at An Riocht track, Castleisland. With events started just after 9:30am all athletes competed to their very best across a full range of athletic events from run, walk, throw and jump to try score points for their club. There was great excitement on many occasions with tight finishes in races as each club competed to be the first one across the line, to jump higher or throw further than the competitors in the other clubs in field events. With all the events competed just before 2pm the final scores were confirmed a few minutes later and this year, St Brendan’s AC came out on top with last year’s returning champions Iveragh AC in 2nd place and Lios Tuathail AC in 3rd place. The shield was presented to St Brendan’s AC joint club captains for the day, Maddison O’Connor and John McCarthy. All athletes were then rewarded with a medal based on that podium position for their club. Congratulations to them all, the motto of our club is "Athletics For All" and we hope that all athletes enjoyed the event and the joy that sport can bring. Athletics is simply a brilliant sport in that if you give it a try there is an event there for everyone.

Thanks to Lios Tuathail AC and Iveragh AC for making the trip to the track to join us in the match, it was an early start for all but with the events closed at 2pm it was off to enjoy the rest of the day in the sunshine. Thank you to the many volunteers who made the event possible, and to those helped out on the day to run the events off for the athletes. It's great bringing club officials, volunteers across clubs to work together on these occasions.

Patrick O’Riordan Tribute

 

It is with great sorrow that St Brendan’s Athletic Club announces the death of its President, Patrick O’Riordan.

Patrick was a founder member of two athletic clubs, Ardfert Athletic Club and subsequently St Brendan’s Athletic Club. He competed at all levels for club and county in decades from the 1960s to his last race in 2018. He was a leading light in masters athletics in Kerry and won numerous Munster and national medals for the club. He was an active athlete up to four years ago. He embodied the club motto of “Athletics For All” as he participated in, and promoted all athletic disciplines for all levels.

Patrick served many roles in St Brendan’s Athletic Club and was its distinguished President for the past number of years. He had served as officer on the County Athletics Board in the past. He belonged to a generation of Kerry athletes and officials who lived through a historic period in the development of athletics in the county and beyond, whose participation ensured a sound administrative structure at all levels for athletics today.

Patrick was a gentleman with a calm presence and a love of athletics and hurling. His positive attitude nurtured generations of athletes and his quiet sense of humour in competition and at meetings was well known. Patrick’s own family were involved in the club while his niece Linda is presently a club coach, and his extended family member Ursula Barrett is Adult Head Coach while his brother Willie is a club masters athlete.

Patrick’s presence will be missed by all in St Brendan’s Athletic Club.

The club offers its sympathy to his wife Josephine, his daughters Brenda, Siobhán and Katie, his grandson, Gary, his brother Willie, his sister Mary, his nephews Stephen, Brendan and Damien, his niece Linda (St Brendan’s AC Club Coach), his brothers-in-law Brendan, Gerard, Eugene and Mike, sisters-in-law Eileen, Phil and Mary and all his relatives, neighbours and friends, many of whom were and are club officials, members and supporters.

There will be a St Brendan’s Athletic Club guard of honour at Patrick’s funeral on Tuesday.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

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