Three European Masters medals for St Coca’s Bobby King
Michael Brennan (Naas) passes the baton to Cian Butler (Naas) in the boys u13 Cross-country relay Photo: Perri Williams
The Cross Country season has just got busier. Athletes racing at the Autumn Open, the National Cross-country relays and of course the pre-conference season in the USA. Seniors, Juniors, Masters and Juveniles, all ramping up their racing speed in preparation for Leinsters and ultimately the nationals.
Far from the mucky fields of the Emerald isle, in the beautiful island of Maderia, St Coca’s patriarch Bobby King took the European Masters Track and Field with a storm as he won a total of three medals. King who has been involved in Athletics for over six decades is no stranger to athletics in Kildare having competed at all levels from county, provincial, national and international.
Elsewhere last Saturday morning, the athletics world woke up to news that the Irish marathon record fell for the third time in less than a year. Fearghal Curtin (Youghal AC) had won the South Korea marathon in Gyeongju, taking almost two minutes off the existing marathon record which was set earlier this year by Kilkenny’s Peter Lynch.
With just two weeks to go to the National Marathon in Dublin, Curtin set a new mark of 2:07:54. With little previous international exposure and no sports brand sponsor, the iconic photo of the Corkman crossing the finishing line in his Youghal AC singlet has gone viral across the globe. Running ahead of fourteen Africans from the 800m mark his performance stunned both media and athletes alike. The question now remains; who is our next taker for lowering the record and how soon will that be? Will Dublin be the venue?
As always the national cross-country relays were an exciting affair. Two-hundred and thirty-six teams from clubs all over the island took part in the various cross-country relay age groups. Included in the mix were thirteen teams from Kildare. Star of the show was the Newbridge AC u17 mixed relay team.
The team of Hannah Cash, Alex Guther, Eabha Brennan and JP Archbold finished second behind a very strong Leevale team. Finn Valley (Donegal) were third. It was Hannah Cash who took the team out passing the baton to Alex Guther. Finn Valley and Leevale had pulled ahead, leaving six teams battling for the bronze medal.
Guther ran a strong leg, handing the baton to Eabha Brennan in fourth place. With her eye’s firmly focused on the athletes ahead Brennan gained both momentum and distance closing down on Longford AC. Moving into third place she placed the baton in the hands of JP Archbold, for the anchor leg.
Archbold ran a phenomenal leg surpassing Finn Valley AC in the latter part of his run, moving Newbridge into the silver medal position. Newbridge had a second team in this age group. The team of Eve Dowling, Robert Gleeson, Mia Lennon and Shane Matthews finished 8th.
It seemed that every child in the vicinity of Newbridge was in Abbottstown last Sunday. Newbridge AC had ten teams taking part ranging from u11 right through to u17.
The relays somehow produce the best in athletes, with many of them more willing to run through all sorts of conditions just to pass a baton. The u11 teams finished 11th and 16th. Which are excellent results considering 31 boys teams took part. 44 girls u11 teams lined up to compete for medals. In 21st position, the Newbridge quartet of Brooke O'Neill, Abbie Purcell, Charlotte Timoney and Sarah Kate McGovern were inside the top half.
By far the largest Kildare representation was in the boys u13 where Naas AC and Newbridge had two teams each. Patrick Guther (Newbridge), Senan Smith (Naas), Luke Callaghan (Naas) and Paddy Crampton (Newbridge) lined up along side twenty-one other teams ready to battle for the top honours.
It was indeed a close fought battle with the Kildare athletes performing very well. It was all green up front as Claremorris, Castlegar, Templemore and East Mayo took the leading positions. Not far behind the Newbridge and Naas teams were still in contention. Oscillating between fifth and tenth, Newbridge eventually settled on 6th place with Naas not far behind in 8th. The second Naas and Newbridge teams finished 17th and 24th respectively.
Both Naas and Newbridge were also amongst the thirty-two teams that contested the girls u13 relay. A race where a superb Ratoath team led from start to finish. With many of the Kildare girls competing at this level for the very first time, the Newbridge team of Grace Deegan, Amy Ni Cheallaigh, Mia Doughty and Elsa Moynihan, along with the Naas team of Amelie Moreau, Caoimhe Quinn, Hanna Fairless and Katie Malone ran a very good team race.
The Newbridge u15 boys team finished in 4th place only seven seconds off the bronze medals. Harry Boland got the team off to a good start, staying in contention for a medal. Ciaran Coogan ran the second leg passing the baton to Jayden Murphy who moved into 4th. Jack Brennan maintained this position, closing down on Clare River Harriers in third.
The National Cross-Country course in Abbotstown also provided the venue for last weekend’s Autumn Open Cross-Country. Added to the fixture list by Athletics Ireland within the last decade, the 9th edition of the event provided an opportunity for the Juniors (u20), seniors and masters to test their form ahead of next months national championships. A championships which as usual double as trials for selection for the European Cross-country. Callum Morgan (CNDR) was the winner of the men’s event with Fiona Everard (Leevale) taking the ladies title. There were just two Kildare athletes that were included in the senior races; Colm Roche (Celbridge) who finished 36th and Eoin Murphy (Newbridge) who finished in 50th place.
An integral part of the programme is the selection of masters teams for the forthcoming Five Nations Masters International to be held in Leeds on November 15th. In previous editions Kildare athletes have made those masters international teams. Just last year Breffini Kelly (Clane AC) and Stephen Conroy (Clane AC) were included in the selection. Ten Kildare athletes took part in this year’s races, across age groups that ranged from over 35 to over 45.
The previous nights torrential rain rendered the surface somewhat more sticky than anticipated, with the men bearing the brunt of the conditions. The ladies thankful of being the first race competed over a distance of 4,500m. Gillian Clyne carried the Clane AC flag in the over 40s race where she finished in 6th place. In the same age category Michelle Cox (Newbridge) finished just one place behind in 7th.
Athletics Ireland have indicated that the top three in each category will gain automatic selection with two wild cards to be decided by the Irish officials. Clyne lies just one place outside the team quota of five. The team will be announced over the coming weeks, with Clyne anxiously awaiting the result.
It is a similar situation for Emma Boland (Newbridge AC) who finished 5th in the over 45 ladies. With three automatic spots and just one wildcard place, the quota for the team selection this year is four places. Like Clyne, Boland is just one place off. Boland remained consistent throughout the 4,500m race with her lap splits and overall position remaining constant.
The over 45 race was won by Tipperary’s superstar Dymphna Ryan who won the overall masters competition outright. Alison Duff (Newbridge) finished in 8th spot. St Coca’s had two representatives in the same race; Denise Fox who finished just one place behind Duff in 9th and Niamh Cleary crossing the line in 11th.
As with the masters ladies, the men’s masters race was run as one race. The first Kildare athlete across the line was Marc Augustin (St Coca’s) in 26th place. Augustin was 10th in the over 40 masters category. The stickly conditions probably not to his advantage, although he did produce a rather rapid final lap where he gained over seven places. Damien Coogan (Newbridge) finished 17th.
Eric Boland (Newbridge) finished 11th in the over 45 category with clubmate Dean Ryan finishing 15th in the over 35 category.
It has been almost two months since Cillian Gleeson (Celbridge) flew stateside to take up an athletics scholarship with the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Spending the initial few weeks at an in-state training camp, Gleeson then headed back to campus to start his academic studies (physical education) while continuing to balance his athletics endeavours.
While on scholarship an athlete has four years of eligibility. Gleeson will be “redshirted” this year. A redshirt year extends an athlete's eligibility, giving them a fifth year to compete. In Gleeson’s case (as with many other freshman’s) this allows the athlete more time to settle in and develop their training base. While Gleeson will thus not be eligible for championship races, he can participate in invitational events, such as the Nuttycombe Invitational.
Held at home base in Madison, the Nuttycombe Invitational is a race that attracts top US Colleges from across the country. Last Saturday Gleeson took part in the B race (8km) where he performed well finishing 42nd in a large field. Gleeson will now continue his journey with his Wisconsin team-mates as he works hard to develop as an athlete over the next number of years.
The Chicago Marathon always attracts the Irish marathon runner. As one of the “Big 7” marathon majors, it is not only a tick-box on the round the world marathon series but it also has a fast course. This year it attracted several runners who are members of Kildare athletic clubs. Notably Patricia McLoughlin. Patricia completed the 26 mile course in 3:01.08. The Le Cheile athlete is well known for her exploits over ultra distances and has competed for Ireland in the Celtic Plate on several occasions.
The largest ever team of Irish athletes travelled to the Portuguese island of Maderia over the past few weeks to take part in the European Masters Championships. In general it has proved to be a very successful championships for Irish athletes. In particular for one Kildare athlete: Bobby King (St Coca’s). In last week’s edition of the Nationalist we reported the magnificent achievement of King in finishing 2nd in the over 80s 5km racewalking. Subsequent to this, King took gold in the Masters over 80 10km racewalking.
The St Coca’s AC athlete recorded a time of 1:14.53. He finished 46th overall in a race that amalgamated the over 65 to over 80 categories. The race included many former European senior medallists. There was further success as the invincible octogenarian took silver in the 20km walk thus completing a set of medals from this years championships.
11 Newbridge (Eirnin McElroy, Billy McCabe, Robert Dowling, Tim Barron), 16 Newbridge (Michael Gardiner, Adam Kehoe, James Deegan, Conor Farrell)
6 Newbridge (Patrick Guther, James Dooley, Seán Dennehy, Charlie McCabe), 8 Naas (Senan Smith, Michael Brennan, Cian Butler, Oscar Ross), 17 Naas (Luke Callaghan, Matthew Holland, Rian McCann, Max Drennan), 24 Newbridge (Paddy Crampton, David Durkan, Rorie McGirl, Aidan Murphy).
4 Newbridge (Harry Boland, Ciaran Coogan, Jayden Murphy, Jack Brennan).
21 Newbridge (Brooke O'Neill, Abbie Purcell, Charlotte Timoney, Sarah Kate McGovern).
20 Newbridge (Grace Deegan, Amy Ni Cheallaigh, Mia Doughty, Elsa Moynihan), 24 Naas (Amelie Moreau, Caoimhe Quinn, Hanna Fairless, Katie Malone).
8 Newbridge (Kate Hargaden, Anna Cullen, Robyn Rainbow, Robyn Browne).
30 Newbridge (Ella Kenny, Freddie Boland, Jennifer Kearney, Seán Holden).
2 Newbridge (Hannah Cash, Alex Guther, Eabha Brennan, JP Archbold), 8 Newbridge (Eve Dowling, Robert Gleeson, Mia Lennon, Shane Matthews).
