Leinster Juvenile Indoor Relays: AIT Arena Feb 2nd 2013

The new Indoor Athletic Stadium in Athlone is as different from the Nenagh Arena as chalk is from cheese but the performance of the juvenile relay squads from Kilkenny City Harriers was of vintage quality. With more than twenty clubs from around the province contesting the Leinster Indoor relay finals KCH added to their relay reputation with a number of outstanding performances.

With sixteen finals to be decided KCH medalled in twelve. The haul included winning in seven, finishing second in two, third in two and a fourth place in one. It wasn’t just the winning but the manner of their winning.

Five of the wins – Girls under 14, Girls under 15, Girls under 18, Girls under 19 and Boys under 17 –came with the esteemed label “championship best performance”. St Joseph’s A.C. had two excellent teams in Boys under 12 and under 13 winning bronze and silver respectively. The under 12 girls from Thomastown A.C. having come first in heat 2 were pipped for fourth in the final. Owing to the number of teams in some of the races qualification for finals was based largely on time, rather than place, in the heats. Consequently there is no time for hanging around as coming second in a qualifying round is no guarantee to getting into a final. This was well demonstrated in girls under 13 where KCH finished second in their heat but failed to qualify for the final, and again in boys under 14 where the KCH finished third in their heat but with a good time qualified for the final –where they finished  fourth.

Members of  medal winnng teams:-

KCH Girls –

1st Under14 – Martyna Balcer, Orla Casey, Leah Raggett, Ciara Deely, Rebecca Keane, Laoise Murray;

1st Under 15 – Lauren Gleeson, Jennifer O’Keeffe, Sinead Tuohy, Keeva O’Brien;

1^st  Under 16 – Aisling McDonagh, Keeva O’Brien, Grace Richardson, Aoibhe O’Shea and Lauren Gleeson;

2^nd Under 17 – Eimear O’Donoghue, Aoibhe O’Shea, Aisling McDonagh, Eimear McMullan, Niamh McMullan;

1^st  Under 18 – Sarah Kate Lacey, Eimear O’Donoghue, Eimear McMullan, Margaret Caldbeck;

1^st Under19 – Cliodhna Manning, Catgriona Twomey, Sinead McDonagh, Margaret Caldbeck, Sarah Kate Lacey.

KCH Boys –

3^rd Under 13 Rory MacGabhann, Patrick O’Shea, Darragh Maher, Shay McAvoy, James FitzPatrick, Ben O’Shaughnessy;

3^rd Under 15 – Ryan Poyntz, Luke FitzPatrick, Dylan Drennan Smyth, John Nolan, Nacho Rodriquez, Adam FitzPatrick;

2nd Under 16 – Jack Manning, Luke FitzPatrick, Dillon Drennan Smyth, Eamon Fennelly, John Nolan; 1^st

Under 17 – Aaron Barron, Jack Manning, Aidan Tuohy, Callan Byrne; 1^st Under 18 – Aaron Barron, Kelvin Murphy, Michael Ryan, Callan Byrne.

St Joseph’s Boys –

3^rd Under12 – Paul Murphy, Rory O’Connor, Ian Byrne, Killian Griffin, Kevin Saunders, Cathal Beirne;

2^nd Under 13 – Oisin Griffin, Paul Murphy, Rory O’Connor, Kevin Saunders, Sam Sutton, Killian Griffin.

Relay Results