The Morton Stadium in Santry witnessed three world records, the one mile, two mile and three mile, in the summer of 1958. Fifty years on and a large international field at the Morton Memorial Meet on Friday night failed to set any records but delighted the spectators with the quality of their performances. The definitive event, the Morton Memorial Mile, saw the first nine finishers achieve sub four minute miles with victory going to Rob Myers, USA in 3 minutes 56.23 secs.
The women’s hammer, heralded as a showcase event, attracted a strong international panel of throwers willing to do battle with KCH Olympic bound athlete, Eileen O’Keeffe. Unfortunately Eileen was unable to take part. A swollen left knee following the national championships the previous weekend, led to a scan which revealed cartilage damage. Eileen was disappointed with not being able to compete but is still hopeful of getting back to her Olympic preparations at an early date. The event was highly competitive with the top four throwing above the seventy metre mark. The world champion, Betty Heildler of Germany was first with 72.43. The silver went to the world junior champion, Ivana Brkljacic of Crotia with 72.38 and Kamila Skolimowska, Poland won the bronze with 71.56. There were two positive outcomes for O’Keeffe. Firstly none of the international stars matched her winning throw of 72.75m at this year’s championships. Secondly her stadium record of 73.21 set in the 2007 championships, still holds.
In a junior mile, run as part of the programme, two local athletes Ciaran Phelan of Aughavillar and Thomas Hayes of Kilkenny City Harriers had personal best times of 4.30.07 and 4.47.91 respectively.
Further afield, Eoin Everard, had a satisfactory victory in the 800m in Brussels on Wednesday night. His time of 1m 49.70 showed more than two minutes improvement on his third place time (1.52.01 ) in the national seniors the previous weekend.
At the schools’ international in Bedford England a trio of Kilkenny athletes contributed to a second place finish by the Irish team. Fiona Dennehy, St Senan’s had the golden touch as she took first place in the walk. In the boys’ high jump, Michael O’Sullivan, KCH, jumped well to clear 1.80m leaving him in seventh place in the boys’ competition. Mary Kate Lanigan, KCH, made it third place in the girls’ high jump with a 1.65 clearance. Mary Kate travels to Scotland next weekend for the Celtic Games. Another KCH athlete, Aoife Hickey, also makes the trip to Scotland. Aoife competes in hammer and shot.
Inter-club relay finals
Tulamore was the venue for this year’s juvenile inter-club relay finals which took place on Saturday. With many athletes declared absent because of holidays, injuries and other commitments, full credit must go to the perseverance of team managers in preparing for these finals. Four relay teams from Kilkenny City Harriers made it into the finals in their respective categories. The first team through was the boys under 15 (Cormac Everard, Pijus Timas, Liam McWey and James Maher ) and they made fifth place in their final Next up were the girls under 17 (Laura Langton, Mary Kate Lanigan, Naomi NiChleirigh and Louise Holmes ). Then it was the turn of the under 14 girls (Catherine Doyle, Cliodhna Manning, Sinead McDonough and Catriona Twomey ). Qualifying from their heat as one of the fastest losers they were up against it in the final where they finished seventh. Three of these girls, Cliodhna, Sinead and Catriona travel to Santry next Saturday for the national combined events finals. The under 16 boys, Michael Lanigan and Conor O’Shea, had to bring forward two of the under 15 squad (Cormac Everard and Pijus Timas ) to make up their team. They gelled well, particularly on the baton changes and were rewarded with a third place finish.
