Kerry Seniors & Juveniles Cross Country Relays

Kerry juveniles cross country relays for U10,U12,U14,U16 Boys and Girls , 30 October 2016 in Cahirciveen. Teams of 4 plus 1 sub, distance 4 x 500m for all ages.

U10 born 2007/8

U12 born 2005/6

U14 born 2003/4

U16 born 2001/2

Also Kerry Seniors Cross Country championships on the same day.

Please contact club secretary if interested in going (0877985557).

Munster Juvenile Even Age Cross Country 2016

Another weekend of cross country competition took place in Co.Cork on Sunday, 23 October 2016. This was the first Munster competition of the season and the glorious weather conditions brought a hugh number of athletes in Juveniles and Novice/U23 categories.
St.Brendan's AC had 5 juveniles in Boys U10 category competing as individual and as a team for club and Kerry: Aaron Horgan, Zach Walshe, Eoghan O'Flaherty, Matthew O'Sullivan and Darragh O'Flaherty.

Following on from gold medal performance in Kerry U10 competition, our group of runners put in some great effort when battling with well over 150 other boys in this age category (1000m distance). 

With the huge numbers on the starting line it was a sprint from the start and trying to settle into a rhythm and not trip over. Our boys finished in positions: 31, 32, 93, 111 and 142.
Well done to all 5 boys, especially Matthew and Darragh who stepped up from U9 category to made a St.Brendan's AC team for the Munster competition, finishing in 8th place.
Aaron and Zach also placed for Kerry team in 5th place.
Thanks to all the parents who travelled and supported our athletes on the day and for commitments to help them to fulfil their full potential.
Results HERE and video HERE.

Edinburgh Marathon Festival 2017

The Edinburgh Marathon Festival is now in its 15th year and takes place on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th May 2017. This ever-growing festival of running is now a major event in the Scottish sporting calendar. Starting in Edinburgh, the course heads out through East Lothian offering stunning views and an unforgettable running experience.

The marathon route is one of the fastest in the UK making that that elusive personal best a distinct possibility! Edinburgh Marathon joined the world's elite road races in 2012 by becoming the first marathon in Scotland to be officially recognised by the IAAF, the athletics governing body. The IAAF bronze label puts the race among the top 75 in the world making it a pivotal part of the sporting calendar for runners.

The Edinburgh Marathon Festival is the UK’s largest running festival and it’s right on your doorstep! The full weekend of events attracts around 30,000 runners, with thousands more lining the course to support. There are 9 races on offer over two days including the marathon, half marathon, team relay, 10k, 5k and junior races. There really is something for everyone, so why not make the most of the Bank Holiday weekend.

Find out more at www.edinburghmarathon.com

St.Brendan's AC AGM 2016

                                    

St.Brendan's AC Annual General Meeting will take place on Wednesday, 26 October 2016 at 8:00pm in Cul Mhuire, Ardfert.

Strength & Conditioning (Circuit) training for Adults - Autumn 2016

Strength & Conditioning (Circuit) training is back for Autumn & Winter months.
Start date: Tuesday, 18th October 2016 at 8:00pm - 9:15pm
Venue: Ardfert Community Centre
Cost: €2 per session
Suitable for adults and teens over 16 years old.

Circuit training is a convenient way to exercise. It maximises the total exercise volume (number of sets, repetitions, and amount of weight) completed in a period of time. Exercises are completed in a row, and therefore, the time spent exercising is condensed. Separate cardiovascular training is not necessary. All body parts are trained in one session, and therefore, exercisers do not need to work out everyday.
Due to the lack of rest that circuit training demands, exercisers maintain elevated heart rates for the entire period of exercise. The combination of weight training and increased cardiovascular effort makes circuit training a beneficial type of cross training.

Benefits of Circuit Training (cross training):
"Simply stated, aerobic fitness develops faster than the muscular system (i.e. tendons, muscles, ligaments, and bones). For example, you may be able to hammer out a long run or a tempo run at 8 minutes per mile and not feel aerobically taxed, but your hips aren’t yet strong enough to handle the stress of the pace or volume of the run and your IT band becomes inflamed.
This experience is very common for runners who get injuries such as recurring shin splints or other persistent aches and pains when they first start running. Their aerobic fitness is allowing them to continue to increase the distance of their runs because they no longer feel winded at the end of each run; their shin muscles, however, haven’t adapted to the increased pounding caused by the increase in volume and they quickly become injured.
Therefore, it’s important that new runners and injury-prone athletes include ancillary routines, such as general strength training, into their weekly training plans to speed the development of the muscular system. In doing so, you’ll improve the strength and resiliency of your muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones and enable the muscular system to keep up with your aerobic developments.

What is holding you back from running more mileage and faster workouts each week? It isn't your aerobic system, but rather your body’s lack of resiliency toward increased mileage and harder, longer workouts.

Strenght & Conditioning training for Juveniles U13 - U18

Juveniles Strength & Conditioning training for U13 - U18 will start on Tuesday, 18 October 2016 in Ardfert Community Centre with Orla and Artur.


Each session will be 1hr and based on circuit training (with and without additional equipment) from 7-8pm and is €2 to cover hall.
For more information please contact via club secretary 0877985557.

Kerry Cross Country Championships - Day 2

Second event of the 2016/2017 cross country season took place on Sunday, 
9 October 2016 in Firies, organised by FFMV AC. Weather conditions were very good for this time of the year with sun shining all day long.

This week it was the turn of juveniles uneven ages, Intermediate and Masters athletes.
Day started with Intermediate and Masters Women race over 4500m distance and our club had Linda O'Sullivan (Intermediate), Yvonne Quill and Cathy Quilter (both in Masters O35),Moira Horgan and Kirstie Nowak (both in Masters O45). This was the biggest turnout in cross country event in recent club history and means that St.Brendan's AC had 2 teams competing - Intermediate: Linda, Cathy, Moira, Kirstie & Yvonne and
Masters: Moira, Cathy, Yvonne & Kirstie.

As the rules of Masters categories changed regarding age in Kerry, we have to wait for official results in individual and team placing based on new structure for Masters (O35-44, O45-54, O55-64, O65+). Great performance by all the ladies (some of them did 10K in Killarney the day before!) and the few slips on the course is just part of the fun! Cross country running is not easy and has a huge benefit for overall performance in any other running events.


Juveniles competition started with U9 categories.
St.Brendan's AC was represented in Boys U9 by Matthew O'Sullivan and Kevin Horgan, our youngest athlete on the day in his cross country debut. Both boys did very well with Matthew earning bronze medal, finishing 4th (medals awarded for top 6 in cross country competitions) and Kevin in excellent top 10 position.

Next on the starting line was our team of U11 girls who unfortunately missed official start and had to chase main group almost 1 minute behind from the start line. Despite this early mishap all 4 girls finished the race and deserve big applause for their determination and team spirit to finish this race with smiles on their faces. This was also the first ever cross country race for 3 of the girls from the team: sisters Caragh & Caoilionn Kenny O'Sullivan and Ellie O'Connor. 4th runner on this team, Lilly Nowak was more experienced and managed to move up the field over the 1500m and finished in remarkable 6th place and earned a medal in the process.

After Girls U11 it was turn of Boys U11 and we have one newcomer in cross country running - Jamie O'Sullivan who put a great effort on the day. Aaron Horgan and Zach Walshe stepped up into U11 category and produced another top 10 finish with Aaron placing 5th and Zach in 7th position.

In Girls U13 category we had Daisy Nowak tackling 2500m distance and finishing in a respectable 10th place, getting stronger as the race progressed. Longer distances are definitely more suited to this young athlete.

Our only competitor in Boys U13 was Rian Kenny O'Sullivan also in his first cross country event at the same distance of 2500m. He paced himself very well to finish in comfortable middle of the field position.

Our last juvenile athlete on the day was very experienced (at this stage) Eimear O'Sullivan in Girls U15 category (running a year out of her age which is currently u14). From the very start this was group of 3 runners including Eimear. Girls were running distance of 3500m and our club athlete repeated her result from previous week to finish in 3rd place and a  huge distance ahead of next runner.

Last event of the day was men's Intermediate and Masters race over 7000m.
There were some puzzled faces at the start with Masters age categories changes made in lead up to this competition (O35, O45, O55, O65+).    
This was not made clear before competition started and caused a lot of confusion among participants at the finish line.

St.Brendan's AC welcomed back past member David Kissane from a long break. Together with Pat Sheehy and Artur Nowak, they made up St.Brendan's AC team - another novelty for our club in cross country competition. Both David and Pat stepped up the distance to compete in 7000m race to score for the team - they only had to finish 5000m in they own age category. Not only did they finish the race but managed to finish in medal positions with David getting silver and Pat in bronze medal position, just a few seconds behind in O55 age category. Third team member - Artur Nowak also finished in medal position, finishing 3rd in the debated and confusing O45 age category.

Few pictures from Cross Country competition on our FB page HERE

Kerry Cross Country Championships - Day 1

First event of the 2016/2017 cross country season took place on Sunday, 2 October 2016 in Killarney, in excellent weather and ground conditions.
St.Brendan's AC had boys and girls competing in even age categories, some of them year out of age.

The first race for our athletes and the most attended was Boys U10 race at 1000m distance. We had Matthew O'Sullivan, Zach Walshe, Aaron Horgan and Darragh O'Flaherty. Aaron took the lead midway through the race and held on to win despite the very best efforts from a Killarney Valley runner to pass him several times. There was more good news at the finish line as Zach Walshe finished very strong to take 3rd place and bronze medal. Great weekend for Zach, who just day before set another PB in Tralee Parkrun (5K).
Thanks to an outstanding performance from Matthew (just outside top 6) and Darragh - St.Brendan's AC were declared team winners!

Next at the start line was Lilly Nowak competing in Girls U12 category. Lilly had a good race, finishing in the middle of the pack and she was happy with her effort competing out of her age.

In Boys U12 we had Tom O'Flaherty competing over 2000m distance and it was another good performance from our young athlete who ran a very comfortable first lap to up the tempo on the second lap and move a lot of places at the finish line. It's good to see some of the training effort being put to good practice.

In the last race of the day with St.Brendan's AC athletes, Girls U14 we had Eimear O'Sullivan and Daisy Nowak taking part over 3000m distance. Very fast first lap was set by Star Of The Laune AC runner with Eimear in second place while Daisy competing in out of age category was running at her comfortable pace for first 2 laps. On the last lap FFMV AC athlete took the second spot from Eimear to eventually win this race on sprint finish in the last 100m. 

Eimear finished in excellent 3rd position and Daisy in few places below, passing a good few runners on the last lap.

Unfortunately, we had no one representing St.Brendan's AC in any of the older age categories (U16, U18, U23) or adults in Novice category. We are hoping for better turn out next week for Intermediate and Masters competition. 
Few pictures from Cross Country competition on our FB page HERE.