February 6, 2018 
Well done to everyone who turned out for today’s races in Bramblestown with upwards of 17 teams in many of the races – putting that in perspective, that means 51 athletes turned out for some of the races. With A, B and C teams from some clubs, it can only mean that athletics is still thriving in county Kilkenny.
With sharp Artic air circling the morning dew and the sun just bursting to get through, hoards of athletic enthusiasts descended upon Bramblestown – a tiny enclave nestled between Dungarvan and Goresbridge. The little circle of 250m was quickly set up for the relay course, and before very long a bright array of club colours and just about every kind of wellington boot that could exist was surveying the course. Spikes were changed, drills completed and butterflies nestled comfortably in each stomach.
Katie Byrne of Barrow Harriers won the first race of the day, the girls u/8. And it wasn’t long before her club mate David Hayden matched her success by winning the boys u/8.
With the intermediate men and women starting to warm up across the much larger and hillier field, the cross country relays soon got underway. A blast of sunshine, coats off and relay batons distributed, the 17 teams from across the county put their toes to the starting line for the girls u/10 250m realy.The lead changed hands a few times in the race but it was KCH who cross the line in first place, from St Josephs and Thomastown.
Race after race, butterflies after butterflies, the athletes all lined up to do their duty for their club. These shorter cross country relays are an ideal bridge between the cross country and track and field season. A merging of sprinting and distance running talents.
KCH topped the table with some fine wins in the girls and boys u/10 and the girls and boys u/12. However St Josephs won the girls u/14 with St Senans winning the boys u/14. St Josephs also won the boys and girls u/16. There is “gold brewing in them there hills” of Tullogher, Glenmore and Rosbercon.
Barrow Harriers from Greiguemanagh had a fantastic turn out today with wins in the boys and girls u/8 200m. Katie Byrne and David Hayden are names to watch for in future years. It is great to see the Barrow Harriers athletes improving all the time. It won’t be long before these kids get older and wiser and considerably faster. We expect to see these spritely youngsters passing all the established clubs out shortly. Some of their relays teams looked pretty impressive too.
Gowran AC did very well with several 2nd placings across the board and a multitude of teams in each race to boost. Castlecomer girls u/14 did particularly well with their 2nd placing. And Thomastown looks like they have a great little girls u/10 team ready to break on the scene for the track season.
The county ladies intermediate was won by Meave O’Connor of Thomastown with three Kennedys of Gowran – Ruth Kennedy, Elenore Kenedy and Catherine Kennedy finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th. By the time Michelle Ryan of Gowran came along in 8th place, we had kind of assumed we could call her Kennedy as well. But to our pleasant surprise Ryan’s also exist in Gowran. According to the 2017 census of Ireland there are 2,501 Kennedys in Gowran and 5 Ryan’s. All of them are athletes. Gowran took the team event from Thomastown.
The men’s race was won in fantastic style by the ever improving James Kelly of Castlecomer. It has been a great year for James and he has been clocking up the milage on the Castlecomer plateau – producing the results to boost. Danny Shannon and Denis O’Sullivan – both from Thomastown, finished 2nd and 3rd. Thomastown won the team title from Gowran.
Thanks to the host club Gowran AC for hosting a great day of competitive action on behalf on Kilkenny County Board Athletics. We shall see you all next weekend at the Indoors.
RESULTS
Girls u/8 200m: 1 Katie Byrne (BH), 2 Alisha Slawinska (KCH), 3 Amelia O’Brien (KCH), 4 Mia Brennan (TT), 5 Saoirse Doyle (SJ), 6 Aoife Murphy (BH), 7 Zoe Brandon (TT), 8 Heidi Ryan (G), 9 Emily O’Keeffe (G), 10 Praya Dawson (BH), 11 Muirinn O’Shea (BH), 12 Shauna O’Neill (BH), 13 Holly Murphy (SJ), 14 Mairead Ring (CC), 15 Ruth D’arcy (KCH), 16 Allison Ryan (TT), 17 Eimear Keating (G)
Boys u/8 200m: 1 David Hayden (BH), 2 Sean Croke (SJ), 3 Aidan Malone (G), 4 Peter Quinn (KCH), 5 Rory Treacy (G) , 6 Daniel Hogan (KCH), 7 Darragh Browne (KCH), 8 Conor Foley (BH), 9 Jamie Murphy (SJ), 10 Adam O’Brien (BH), 11 David Carroll (G), 12 Rory Hayden (G), 13 Michael Fitzgerald (BH), 14 Shea MacUistin (BH), 15 Joe O’Neill (KCH), 16 Booby Coomey (G)
Girls u/10 3 X 250m
1 KCH, 2 St Josephs A, 3 Thomastown A, 4 St Senans A, 5 Barrow Harriers A, 6 Castlecomer A, 7 Gowran A, 8 St Josephs B, 9 Gowran B, 10 Barrow Harriers B, 11 St Senans B, 12 Gowran C, 13 Thomastown B, 14 Barrow Harriers C, 15 Gowran D, 16 Castlecomer B, 17 Barrow Harriers D
Boys u/10 3 X 250m
1 KCH, 2 Gowran A, 3 Gowran B, 4 St Josephs, 5 Gowran C, 6 Thomastown, 7 Castlecomer, 8 Barrow Harriers, 9 Gowran D, 10 Gowran E, 11 SS/KCH
Girls u/12 3 X 250m
1 KCH A, 2 Gowran A, 3 St Senans A, 4 St Josephs A, 5 KCH B, 6 KCH C, 7 Gowran B, 8 KCH D, 9 St Senans B, 10 Castlecomer, 11 St Josephs B, 12 KCH E, 13 Barrow Harriers A, 14 St Senans C, 15 Thomastown, 16 Barrow Harriers B, 17 Barrow Harriers C
Boys u/12 3 X 250m
1 KCH A, 2 Gowran A, 3 St Josephs A, 4 St Senans A, 5 Castlecomer A, 6 Gowran B, 7 KCH B, 8 KCH C, 9 St Josephs B, 10 Thomastown A, 11 Castlecomer B, 12 Thomastown B, 13 Gowran C, 14 Barrow Harriers, 15 Castlecomer C
Girls u/14 3 X 500m
1 St Josephs A, 2 Castlecomer A, 3 St Senans A, 4 Gowran A, 5 Thomastown, 6 St Senans B, 7 St Josephs B, 8 St Senans C, 9 Gowran B, 10 Castlecomer B, 11 Barrow Harriers
Boys u/14 3 X 500m
1 St Senans, 2 KCH, 3 Gowran, 4 Castlecomer
Girls u/16 3 X 500m
1 St Josephs, 2 Gowran A, 3 Gowran B
Boys u/16 3 X 500m
1 St Josephs
Intermediate Ladies
1 Maeve O’Connor (TT), 2 Ruth Kennedy (G), 3 Eleanor Kennedy (G), 4 Kathryn Kennedy (G), 5 Sinead O’Keeffe (TT), 6 Maria Cormack (KCH), 7 Niamh O’Shea (TT), 8 Michelle Ryan (G), 9 Cathy Millett (KCH), 10 Ailis O’Shea (TT), 11 Sheila O’Callaghan (KCH), 12 Loraine Carroll (G), 13 Siobhan O’Dwyer (G), 14 Ann-Esther Joyce (G), 15 Hilary O’Neill (KCH), 16 Martina Brennan (G), 17 Tracey Malone (SJ), 18 Yvonne Cusack (G). Teams: 1 Gowran A, 2 Thomastown, 3 KCH, 4 Gowran B
Intermediate Men
1 James Kelly (CC), 2 Danny Shanahan (TT), 3 Denis O’Sullivan (TT), 4 Simon O’Dwyer (G), 5 Vivien Fennelly (KR), 6 Tom Walsh (TT), 7 Tom Corrigan (G), 8 Patrick Bookle (SJ), 9 John Davis (TT), 10 Gerry Walsh (TT), 11 Neil Challoner (TT), 12 Joe Treacy (G), 13 John Leamy (G), 14 Liam McCabe (TT), 15 Paul Larkins (KCH), 16 Pat Lennon (G), 17 Mick Walsh (G). Teams: 1 Thomastown, 2 Gowran
Athletics Kilkenny 
No comments yet... Be the first to leave a reply!