National AAI Games and Combined Event

The National AAI Games kicked off proceedings for the new Indoor Track & Field season in Dublin over the weekend. The National Indoor Combined events were held in Abbotstown in alongside the games. There was great season opener for many of the sprinters and middle distance runners, while 8 athletes competed in both the Pentathlon and Heptathlon. Ellen Daly and Aisling Phelan of Kilkenny City Harriers were running in the shorter sprint, and both girls won their heats in the 60m sprint S1. Ellen won Heat 4 in 8:02, while Aisling won heat 7 in 7.98. In the 60m S2, both girls were drawn in heat 3, Aisling finishing just ahead in 2^nd in 7.87, while Ellen was 3^rd in 7.92.  Molly Daly Kilkenny City Harriers was off to a flying start in her 200m sprint, winning Heat 1, and was ranked 2^nd overall behind Rachel McCann with a time of 24.07. Conor Lyons also competed in the shorter sprints running 7.44 in Heat 6 of the 60m S1, and 7.39 in 60m S2 finishing 3^rd in Heat 5. There were three Kilkenny City Harriers sprinters in the Male 400m heats. Alex Cullen was 2^nd in Heat 1, the fastest heat of the 5 races, finishing in an impressive time of 48.78 and ranking 3^rd overall. Patrick Wall was 3^rd in Heat 2 in 53.68, while Eoghan O’Farrell was 5^th in Heat 4 in 55.87.

Ruairi McEvoy and Callum Barron swapped the cross country fields for the track in the Men’s 3000m. Racing 15 laps of the Abbotstown indoor track, Callum was first out in Heat 1 finishing 8^th in 8:45.20 over the 3000m. Ruairi was in Heat 2 and finished first in 8:41.89.

Combined Events

Noah Gilmore Kilkenny City Harriers and James Kelsey Gowran both took on the Men’s Heptathlon of 7 events over the two days. Noah competing in the Senior age and James in the U20, saw them on Day 1 sprinting 60m, long jump, high jump and shot put. Day 2 was the 60mH, pole vault and the 1000m to finish the event. Both James and Noah had a great second day where they both won their last event to claim silverware. James gained valuable points and won both the Pole vault and the 1000m to secure the top spot in 1^st place for his first gold of the indoor season. Noah produced a great win in the 1000m to climb into 3^rd place winning bronze, a great start to the indoor season too. The Pentathlon event was held on Sunday with 5 events for both the juvenile and master athletes. Mia Brennan Kilkenny City Harriers, was competing in the Girls U16 event, winning her 60mH heat with 781 points, a great start to the day and good points to earn her 7^th place in National and 2^nd in Leinster. Zoe Beck Kilkenny City Harriers competed in the Women’s Youth Pentathlon and placed 12^th overall in a highly competitive field of 17 athlete altogether. Cathal Comerford Kilkenny City Harriers was up in the Boys U14, after a strong display in Shot Put where he placed 3^rd in the field Cathal finished in 6^th in the National and 1^st Leinster. Conor Knox Kilkenny City Harriers also produced a great effort in Shot Put, his strongest event winning 706 points for his throw of 13.64m. Conor finished an impressive 3^rd overall in the Boys U15 National Pentathlon and 2^nd in Leinster. Fiach Crowley Kilkenny City Harriers was in the Boys U16, placing 2^nd in the 60mH, to earn 583 points to finish in 7^th place overall nationally and 2^nd in Leinster. Graham Bourne was the only Master athletes in the event on the day, and after a full day of events ran a superb 1000m to gain a massive 710points to finish 1^st in the Men’s O50.