KCH celebrate 2010

Friday night april 15th  was a night of celebration at the Awards ceremony for Kilkenny City Harriers athletic club in The Pembroke Hotel, Patrick Street, Kilkenny. Many of the highlights and achievements of the 2010 season were recounted in what was a particularly successful year for the club.

 In the Leinster Indoor championships the club had first place finishes in fifteen individual events with the result that the club was awarded The Mick Byrne Cup for the best indoor club in Leinster.

 Outdoors the juvenile athletes retained the county shield in both track /field and cross-country and with many teams having success in the relay events the club retained the The Hehir shield for the best relay club in Leinster.

 But it wasn’t just the juvenile teams who were winning. The ladies had a good year with wins in county junior cross-country, Leinster Junior cross-country, County Novice cross-country and County Senior cross-country. They also finished first in County Road Novice and Leinster Road Novice.

 The highlight of the year was the participation by the Junior Ladies Track and Field team in the European Club Champions Cup in Rieti, Italy in September. Participation in such a prestigious event gave a great boost to the club. Louise Holmes and the 4x100m relay team both winning silver in that competition showed that the club can hold its own in any company.

There was special praise for a number of individual athletes including : Under 11 girls, Martyna Balcer and Ciara Deely who won gold in the All-Ireland Long Jump Pairs competition; Brian Maher who won gold on road, track and cross-country, including setting a unique record in winning his sixth successive title in the County Senior Cross-Country championships; Joanne Cuddihy who became the 2010 400m champion in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. Nineteen athletes, fifteen juvenile and four senior were presented with Perpetual Awards. A further thirteen juveniles received Achievement Awards.

 The awards were presented by club chairman, Sean Kelly. He thanked all the athletes for their commitment to training and competition. He also thanked the parents, volunteers and coaches who week after week give their time, energy and expertise to the development of the athletes. Great strides had been made in all sections of the club and in conclusion he wished them every success in 2011 and the years ahead. He also thanked the club officials who do an amount of work behind the scenes in order to keep the club running smoothly. The ceremony concluded with a presentation to outgoing secretary, Josephine Eviston.

Perpetual Award Winners -Juvenile

Under 11/12 Cup, Luke FitzPatrick; Dungarvan Trophy, Orla McPhillips; Hacketstown Trophy, Sarah Nolan; Whitebridge, Catriona Twomey; Sean Byrne, Teresa Conlon; Bree, Jonathan FitzPatrick; Cross Country Cup, James Maher; Under 14 McDonagh Cup, Charmaine O’Donoghue; Achievement Cup, Sinead McDonagh; Versatile, Jack Manning; Mazda Cup, Mary Kate Lannigan; Costello Shield, Laura Langton; Lynch Shield, Louise Holmes; Tommy Deegan Trophy, Cliodhna Manning, P J Smyth, Lorraine O’Shea.

Perpetual Award Winners -Senior

The Lanigan Cup for Track Athlete, Joanne Cuddihy; Sean Byrne Shield, for Field Athlete, Aoife Hickey; The Nolan Cup for Cross-Country, Brian Maher; Achievement Shield and Harry Meighan Cup, Jonathan Holmes.

Achievement Awards Winners:_

Ciara Deely, Martyna Balcer, Craig Byrne, John Nolan, Aisling McDonagh, Aidan Tuohy, Margaret Caldbeck, Niamh Tuohy, Cormac Everard, Ian Boland, Michael Lanigan, David McGeary and Peter Walsh.