Triple gold for Joseph’s duo
Day two of the County Kilkenny track and field championships held in Scanlon Park on Sunday was a relatively quiet affair when compared with day one on the previous week.
With no juveniles involved there was little need for heats and with all track events going as finals it was an early finish for athletes and officials alike. Eoin Muldowney, Castlecomer, cemented his grip on the Costello Sprint Shield when he added the 200m title to the 100m and 400m won on day one. In winning he held off a valiant challenge from KCH veteran, Peter Lyons who earlier in the day set a lively pace to win the 100m over 35. There were treble victories for St Joseph’s athletes Verena Fenlon and Austin Lee. Fenlon started off the day with a victory in senior hurdles and she followed up with a win in the senior walk and senior javelin. Lee won gold in senior hurdles, senior javelin, and senior triple jump. KCH veteran Mike Hyland, having opted out of the longer 3,000m race, collected double gold with top quality performances in the 800m over 45 and the 1,500m over 50. The main interest of the day centred on the 3,000m team events. The initial pace in the men’s race was set by Eamon Maher, KCH. Mick Kelly, Gowran, then took up the lead but with 800m to go Maher upped the pace considerably and ran out an easy winner. Kelly with the support of team mates Brendan Kavanagh and Larry McGrath won the team medals for the Gowran club. St Joseph’s were second club. The ladies’ 3,000m was hotly contested. St Joseph’s with two teams in the field looked to have the winning form. When Mary Doolin took the silver behind the youthful Aoife O’Connor, Thomastown, it seemed that St Joseph’s would take the team title. However following close scrutiny of the points the St Joseph’s A team and Kilkenny City Harriers were tied on 14 points each. The city club with last scorer, Noreen O’Dwyer, finishing ahead of the last scorer from St Joseph’s, the Harriers were declared the winners.
Leinster Masters in Gowran
Kilkenny’s veterans scored with considerable success at the Leinster Masters Road Race held in Gowran on Bank Holiday Monday. The Kilkenny City Harriers (over 35s +over 40s ) team with Paul Cody at the helm were placed third.
Cody who ran the 6K in 20 minutes 16 seconds was supported by Paul Moran, Eamon Marnell, and Steve Dermody. The County Kilkenny (over 45s plus ) team went a little better to gain the silver medals. Team leader here was veteran Lar Lacey, St Joseph’s, who completed the course in 21 minutes 12 seconds. The other scorers on the team were Seamus Murphy, Kilkenny City Harriers, and Joe Wolfe, Gowran, Mick Walsh, Gowran, won individual bronze in the over 55 category.
Success on track for Maher and Holmes
Jonathan Holmes, Kilkenny City Harriers, and currently studying at Leeds Metropolitan University, had a successful venture in the British University Colleges track and field championships. Winning his heat in 10.70 seconds he went on to qualify for the final by placing second in his semi-final.
Finishing fourth in the final he was well satisfied with another excellent time of 10.72 seconds. Brian Maher went to the start of the 10K at the Dublin Graded Meet on Wednesday night. His ambition would be to come in close to the 31 minutes 5 seconds he clocked in his previous track appearance at the distance. Sharing the pace for most of the race with Mick Clohisey, Raheny Shamrock’s, he recorded a new personal best time of 30 minutes 12.41 seconds and scored first place in the race, a fraction of a second ahead of Clohisey following a sprint finish.
Kilkenny road series
This year’s Kilkenny Road Series passed the halfway stage with the recent holding of the Four Miler. This was quite a competitive run with less than a minute separating the top seven finishers. First home was Tommy Payne, Tinryland, in 21.39. Paul Cody, Kilkenny City Harriers, was next, just six seconds adrift, and Kevin Fenlon, Gowran, was third.
Then followed David McPherson, Tony Kenny, Eddie Moloney, and in seventh place Jim FitzPatrick on 22.37. For the ladies Niamh Richardson, Kilkenny City Harriers, once again occupied the number one slot finishing in 24.56 almost three minutes ahead of the second lady, Mary Doolin, St Joseph’s. Finishing within one minute of Mary Doolin were Frances Mullally, Caoilte Malone, Pamela Dowling, Irene Henebry, and Noreen Phelan.
