August 2023

 

In August the 2023 Track and Field season was coming to a close. David Kenny was competing in the world championships in Budapest on the 19^th. Hopes were high he could improve on his performance from last years’ championships in America. Unfortunately, the race didn’t go his way and he was unable to finish. The race which was run in very testing conditions having been delayed for 2 hours due to thunderstorms.  This shouldn’t take away from what was a marvellous achievement it was to get selected to represent your country at the world championships. At 24 time is definitely on his side.

The following day at the regional community games in Ennis both Roisin Daly and Ryan Vickers won the 100m and 800m respectively to qualify for the Nationals championships the following weekend in Carlow.  

Cross country training started in the new location of the Mass rock in Killaclohane wood at the beginning of the month.

The National Community games were held on the 26th of the month. The club was well represented with 8 of our athletes representing Kerry. Conor McCarthy was part of the Ballymac u 16 relay team. Unfortunately despite running well they did not qualify for the final but Conor still has the consolation of having the medal in the Marathon from earlier in the year.

Fionn Hogan was part of the Tralee team in the 4 x 100 relay but again despite running well they were unable to qualify for the final. Thadg Mannix competed in the U12 ball throw and despite throwing very well just failed to make the final. Kevin O’Shea was in the U 14 Javelin. He was unlucky not to throw well under his best in the windy conditions but he still came home in 2^nd position losing by a few centimetres.

Ryan Vickers was in the U 14 800 metres. He took the lead from the gun and maintained his lead to the finish line. This was a great achievement as he is underage again next year. Niamh O’Shea was in her final year in the community games competing in the U 16 Discus. In a close competition she saved her best for last winning in the final throw. Roisin Daly had a double success winning the girls u 16 100 metres and anchoring the Keel/Kiltallagh relay team to finish 2nd. Also on the team was Rachel Boyle. 3 golds and 2 silvers was a great return from the weekend.

Over the month we were well represented at the local parkrun

Fionn Hogan, Ethan and Amelia O’Sullivan also ran along with Sophie O’Brien in Tralee Junior Parkrun. Tomas Lynch and Liam and Matthew Smyth were regular competitors at the Killarney event

 

.

 

 

 

July 2023

 

July saw the All-Ireland juvenile championships take place in Tullamore. The first athlete into action was Fionn Hogan on the 1^st who was competing in the National championships for the first time. Fionn finished a very respectable 12^th out of a very large field with very little between most of the competitors. The following wednesday night saw the running of the Tribal Track meeting in An Riocht track in Castleisland. This event allowed athletes to get valuable race time before going to the National Championships without having to travel too far. Dermot Dineen and Ryan Vickers ran the 800 metres. Roisin Daly ran the 100 along with Natasha Myers who also ran the 200. Both ran very fast times in the torrential rain. Hopefully we will see more of these types of events being held in the future.

On Saturday 8th Tiernan Lynch was first across the line in the Inch Parkrun. In Killarney Laura Bradley came home in 1^st place in her category. In Tralee all 3 of the Hogan family ran with Roisin and Fionn setting PB’s

The junior parkrun in Tralee on the following day, Ethan and Amelia O’Sullivan ran along with Sophie O Brien who set yet another PB. The Star of the Laune Sports were on Sunday. Ethan and Amelia made the trip to Killorglin and competed in many events and got to meet special Olympic medal winner Ryan Griffin. In the All-Ireland juvenile championships (U 14-U19) were on in Tullamore. Kevin O’Shea came 3^rd in the Discus. He also finished 6^th in the Javelin which was held in very windy conditions. Ryan Vickers ran storming last 150 metres race in the boys U14 800 where he closed down a 10 metre lead to win smashing the existing record by 3 seconds.

Day 2 and 3 of the All-Ireland juvenile championships were held in a very wet Tullamore on the week of the 22^nd  Competition in these events is exceptionally high and getting to compete here is an achievement in its own right. We had 3 athletes competing and all did exceptionally well. On Saturday Roisin Daly lined up in the 2^nd heat of the u-16 100 metres. Despite a slow start she recovered well and closed the gap to the leaders all the way to the line finishing 5^th. Qualifying for the final was going to be difficult with only the first 2 in each heat going through. She was exceptionally unlucky missing the final by a mere 3 1/000ths of a second which is really only the width of her singlet. Had she been in any of the other heat she would have qualified for the final. She still had the consolation of knocking over 3/10ths of a second off her personal best. Here time of 12.82 in her heat would have gotten her 4^th place in the final.

Ryan Vickers competing in the 80 metres won his heat comfortably. In the final a problem with his starting blocks caused him to start poorly. In a frantic finish he came 4^th missing out on bronze by 3/1000ths of 1 second. He can take some satisfaction in knocking ¼ second off his time in the Munster Championships.

On Sunday 23^rd Niamh O Shea was competing in the U 17 Discus in the pouring rain. The standard exceptionally high and she did very well to finish 5^th improving on her throw in the Munster championship by 2 metres.

Ryan Vickers had a chance for redemption in the 200 metres on Sunday. In a tremendous battle with Sean O Riordan of Fanahan McSweeney AC in Cork he came second in 24.72 seconds losing by 5/100ths of a second. These 2 very talented athletes finished well clear of the field. Had this been run in better conditions the record of 24.11 would have been under serious threat. Well done to sprints coach Jerome Foley for all his work with Roisin and Ryan over the last few months.

Back in Kerry Ethan and Amelia O Sullivan ran in the Tralee junior parkrun along with Sophie O Brien who set yet another PB.

In the 5K run Jerome Foley ran in Killarney and Fionn Hogan smashed his PB in Tralee with an very impressive time of 22.24.

 

 

June 2023

 

On the June bank holiday weekend Kevin and Niamh O’Shea competed in the All-Ireland school’s championships. Both did very well with Kevin finishing 3^rd in the junior discus and 6^th in the Javelin. Niamh O’Shea finished 6^th in the Intermediate girl’s discus. On the bank holiday Monday the Munster championships were held in Templemore in the extreme heat. Michael O Connor won the 5K walk in a very fast 32.43. Sean O Shea won the Discus and Dermot Dineen came 3^rd in the 800m in 2.18. Natasha Myers came 4^th in the 200 metres and 6^th in the long jump.

Castleisland was the venue for the Munster U9-U-13 Munster Championships on the 10^th and 11^th . The crowds were up on last year with many events having over 60 competitors. We had 4 athletes competing. Most were competing at this level for the first time where they all did the club proud. Hazel Culloty competed in the girls U10 long jump and sprint recording an new personal best in the sprint.

Mollie O Connor did exceptionally well to come second in her heat. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough for a medal in a competition that had 70 competitors. Fionn Hogan was hoping to improve on his 5^th place last year. He came 4^th adding 2 metres on to his PB from the county championships ending up in 4^th just place 70 cm off a medal. He did however qualify for the National Championships in July. Fionn also ran in a very high quality 600m.

Star of the show has to be Roisin Hogan who came 3^rd  in the U9 Turbo Javelin out of a very large field. Congratulations to Roisin on this massive achievement from all in the club !

The Munster U 14-U19 championships were also on in Templemore on the 17^th and !8^th. We had 5 athletes competing. Ryan Vickers was the first athlete in action in the 800M. In a great race he came 2nd finishing 2 seconds inside the exiting Munster record.

Shortly afterwards Kevin O Shea came second the U 15 Javelin with very consistent throwing of just under 40 metres. Afterwards he lined up in the discus and with a big throw in the 3^rd round won the competition with a throw of 37 metres. Finally, Ryan Vickers lined up in the 200 metres where he won his heat. Again he came 2^nd  in another really quick time of 25 seconds.

On Sunday Niamh O’Shea came 2^nd  in the discus missing out on gold by just 15 centimetres. Ryan Vickers ran the 80 metres and for the 3^rd time he brought home silver. This time just losing out by just 3/100ths of a second. Roisin Daly won her heat of the 100 metres and came 4^th in the final just missing out on a medal. However she still qualifies for the National Championships next month. Conor McCarthy was competing in the 1500 metres. Conditions were tough by he still managed to come close to his seasons best.

The final weekend of the month saw Fionn Hogan representing the club in Templemore at the Munster B championships. Fionn competed in the U 12 Javelin and 600 metres. After coming 4th in the A championships, Fionn hoped to medal this time. In an exceptionally close contest he came 3rd with less than 30 cm covering the top 3 athletes. He also added in a PB in the 600m for good measures finishing in 7th position. Niamh O'Shea competed for Munster in the Tailteann Games in Carlow on the 24^th . Niamh added 2 metres on to her personal best where she finished 5th just over 1 metre outside the medals. We also had many athletes competing in Castleisland on the same weekend where many won medals and will now go on to represent Kerry at Munster and All-Ireland level. Over the month we were well represented in the local parkruns.
Ethan and Amelia O Sullivan are regulars in the Tralee junior Parkrun along with Sophie O Brien and Roisin and Fionn Hogan. Tiernan and Jessie Lynch run in the Inch Parkrun, Michael O Connor and the Vickers brothers run the Killarney Parkrun

 

 

May 2023

 

The first day of the County Juvenile championships took place on the 1^st May in Castleisland. The numbers were much larger than usual and as a result medals were very hard to come by.

We had a number of new athletes competing for the first time and they all did exceptionally well. Jacob Madden competed in the U9 Javelin throwing very well in a large field. Roisin Hogan had a busy day competing in the 60m Long jump and javelin where she was only a metre outside the medals.

Ethan O Sullivan also threw well in the U10 Javelin but again was just short of the medals. Sophie O Brien, Amelia O Sullivan and Sally Scroope all competed admirably in the girls u10 where all competitions had nearly 30 in each event. In the U 11 boys another new comer Tadgh Mannix came 4^th in the Javelin and 5^th in the long jump.

Fionn Hogan qualified for the final of the U12 60m and followed this up with a massive throw in the javelin of nearly 20m to finish 2^nd. Roisin Mannix had a great outing finishing 6^th in the sprint and finishing 2^nd in the High Jump.

Ryan Vickers won both 80m and 800m he had the added bonus of setting a new championship record in both. Older brother Isaac also set a new record in the U15 800. This race was noteworthy as teammates Conor McCarthy and Samuel Scroope completed a clean sweep for the club. Kevin O’Shea also chipped in with a gold in the discus and silver in the 100m.

His older sister Niamh also added gold in the discus and a silver in the Shot Put. Roisin Daly continued her impressive form from last year and was a clear winner of the U16 Girls 100m.

In total the club amassed 6 golds, 5 silvers and 1 bronze medal. This was a great haul and will surely be added to on the 14^th when the second day takes place. The most pleasing thing was the impressive showing of the newer athletes who finished just outside the medals. Success for these athletes is not to far away if they keep up the training.

More international duty for our champion racewalker David Kenny where he was selected on the Irish team for the European Team championships on the 21^st of this month in the Czech Republic.

The second day of the county juvenile championships took place in Castleisland on the 14^th May. Lauren O Sullivan, Maeve Ryan, Rosin O Neill and Amelie O Connor made up our girls under 9 relay team and in a very competitive event they finished strongly. Jacob Madden, Daithi Fleming, Jack O Mahoney and Ethan O Sullivan ran in the boys under 10’s and were a few seconds outside the medals. The gitls U 11 team of Amelia O Sullivan, Joanna Cronin, Mollie O Connor and Saoirse O Neill came 5^th in the girls U 11 relay with Molly and Joanna also running the 600m. In the older age group Ryan and Isaac Vickers both won gold in the 200m Connor McCarthy finished strongly to take 2^nd in the 200 U 15.  Isaac and Conor also had another 1-2 in the 1500m. Samuel Scroope completed the relay team that comfortably won the U 15 4  x 100.

Kevin O Shea also was a comfortable winner of the boys u 15 javelin. Roisin Daly was our final competitor on the day winning the 200m to add to her 100m run last week. Well done to all especially to those running for the first time.

The senior and master’s athletes to take centre stage in the county championships held in Castleisland on the 7^th . It was a very enjoyable day and all our athletes were successful. Natasha Myers continued her improvement from last year coming 2^nd in the Senior women’s long jump and also in a very tight race came 3^rd in the 200m. Not to be outdone mother Eileen came second in the Weight for distance. Keeping it in the family James Nagle made a successful return to competition after a few years of a break where he won the weight for distance and came second in the shot. Aidan Cahill and Dermot Dineen both won their categories in the 800m in very impressive times. Finally Niamh O Shea won the discus and came second in the shot with father Sean finishing in 3rd place in the discus.

Elsewhere Ethan and Emelia O Sullivan ran the junior parkrun for the first time in Tralee. Roisin and Fionn Hogan also finished well up the field. The Kerry post primary school’s championships were held in Castleisland last Thursday. Conor Mccarthy Roisin Daly Samuel Scroope and Niamh and Kevin O Shea were all successful.

The last week of May saw David Kenny representing Ireland at the European Race Walking championships in the Czech Republic where was part of a 4-man team. Conditions were tough in the City Park but David stayed in touch with the leaders despite the heat to finish in 16^th position in a seasons best of 1 hour 24 minutes and the first Irishman home. The team finished a very creditable 7^th position overall.

The Munster schools championships were held in Castleisland where the club was represented Aine, Niamh and Kevin O’Shea all whom brought medals home.

At the Kilmoyley 6K Cian, Fionn and Roisin Hogan all competed. Father Cian came 3^rd overall in a time of 18.51 with Fionn finishing in a very quick 23.27. Not to be outdone younger sister Roisin crossed the line in 39 minutes.

Tiernan Lynch came 3^rd in the Inch Parkrun with younger sister Jessie only a few minutes behind, Michael O Connor ran in the Killarney parkrun. Ethan O Sullivan ran in the Tralee junior Parkrun and in Killarney Ryan Vickers led the way.

 

 

April 2023

 

The final session of the All Ireland indoor championships took place in Athlone on the 1^st and 2^nd April. Ryan Vickers was the club’s sole representative in the 60 metres and 800 metres u-14. After finishing 2^nd in both events in the Munster championships, there was a very good chance of him competing for medals. In the 60 metres he qualified for the final comfortably but a bad start in the final left too much ground to catch up and had to settle for 5^th place in a very fast final.

The following day he also qualified for the final of the 800 metres. In an exceptionally fast race he let the eventual winner build up too much of a lead going into the final lap. He closed the gap all the way to the line but fell short by just under a metre to finish in 2^nd. He had the consolation of beating the existing record by more than 2 seconds with a time of 2 minutes 9 seconds. With the outdoor season around the corner he will surely edge closer to the magical 2-minute mark.

At the end of the month it was time to honour the county’s outstanding athletes at the County Award ceremony in Listowel. 3 club athletes received awards. Niamh O’Shea our first winner won county, Munster and All-Ireland medals in the Shot Put and Discus. Ryan Vickers had an outstanding season winning All-Ireland medals in sprints, middle distance, cross country and relay. His double in winning the All-Ireland championships in the U-13 80m and 600m was an outstanding achievement. David Kenny was our final winners. David already an Olympian, represented Ireland in both European and World Championships.

Juvenile training returned in the middle of the month for the outdoor season in Firies NS. As usual a lot of our members made use of the local park runs, with Fionn Hogan setting a notable PB in the 2K event.

March 2023

 

The indoor season was in full flow in march. The Munster indoor relay championships took place in Nenagh on the 4^th. The boys u-15 team were running in the 4 x 200m event where they were hoping to start the year on a successful note following on from their successful outings last year. Running in lane 2 didn’t help at the start but they stayed close to the leaders Middleton AC all around. A brilliant 3^rd leg by Isaac Vickers gave them a narrow lead on handing over to brother Ryan. An unfortunate stumble on the tight turn pushed them back into second place but Ryan closed the gap all the way to the finish line but unfortunately ran out of track losing by an agonising 5/100 of 1 second finishing in 1m 47 sec.

The following week the club had 4 athletes competing in todays Munster Schools Indoor Championships in Nenagh. Pride of place goes to Roisin Daly winner of the junior 60 Metres. Isaac Vickers again won a silver medal in the junior 600. Also competing in the 600 m was Samuel Scroope and Conor McCarthy who both finished just outside the medals.

On the 25^th in Athlone our boys under 15 relay team were hoping to medal in the 4 x 200 m relay. After the provincial championships they were ranked 3^rd fastest of all the teams so it was hoped they would be in the mix for the medals. In the heat a sluggish start left us in last position at the end of the first leg. Conor McCarthy put this right and very strong runs by himself and Isaac Vickers left brother Ryan in front on the final leg which he held comfortably to finish in just under 1 m 44 sec.

The final was a very close affair. A much better start by Kevin O Shea had us in 4^th place at the end of the first leg with very little between all 6 teams Conor McCarthy ran excellently to handover to Isaac in 3^rd  place after passing runners on the home straight. After a blistering final 100 m turned he handed over the baton to Ryan with a 4 metre lead. There was still plenty of work to be done but he extended their lead to finish 7-8 metres ahead of the 2^nd place team in a very fast time of 1.43.51. This was an improvement of almost 4 seconds from their provincial time. Their time could have been much faster except for the crowded nature of the race and having to pass runners on the tight bends Congratulations to the boys and to their coach Jerome Foley on the clubs first All Ireland relay championships.

In Slovakia David Kenny was competing in his first outdoor event of the year. This was a World Walking Tour Gold Level event. Competing alongside 3 time Olympian Brendan Boyce, David finished 15^th in a time of 1 hr 24 min 6 seconds ahead of his compatriot. This was a solid opening run for David as he looks to prepare for World Championships that are due to be held in Budapest in August.

We were also well represented in the local park runs throughout the month of March both young and old representing the club.

 

 

 

Feburary 2023

 

After the winter break and a quite January on the competitive front, the action started to pick up in February. At the very end of January David Kenny won the 3K event in the AAI games. He won the 3K walk beating fellow Olympian Brendan Boyce and moving into 3^rd in the all-time Irish list.  On the 12^th February in Nenagh at the Munster Indoor Championships he set a new Irish Record in the 5K walk knocking a massive 8 seconds the existing record finishing in 18 minutes 42 seconds.

That was the fastest time in the world at the time and was a tremendous return to form for David who has had injury problems that curtailed his performance somewhat last summer

Tiernan Lynch, Isaac Vickers, Conor McCarthy and Kevin O’Shea all won medals at the Kerry Schools cross country championships at the end of January. All 4 of them also qualified for the Munster Cross country championships to be held in Waterford at the end of the month from the regional championships that were held in Pallaskenry and Waterford. Tiernan was also very impressive in coming second in the Kerins O’Rahilly’s 5K road race. Dermot Dineen also showed up well in the 10K event held on the same day. Tiernan’s younger sister Jessie who is slowly coming back from injury also competed in the schools cross country races.

In the weekly parkruns the club is well represented. Cian and Matthew Hogan finished well up the field in the Tralee run. In the Killarney run Brendan Lynch finished second with Pirette Scroope and Michael O Connor both finishing well under 25 minutes.

The National master athletics championships were held in Athlone on the 5^th of February. The clubs lone representative Michael O Connor was a comfortable winner in the 3K walking event.

The National indoor championships were held in Dublin. David was our sole competitor in the 5 K event. He finished a comfortable winner in  19 min 11 sec. in the 5K walk

In the Munster Indoor championships we were represented with 6 athletes performing Fionn Hogan ran in the 60m and  600 finishing a very respectable 5^th and 8^th in both heats. Roisin Daly won her heat in the 60m comfortably. In a very fast final she came home in 6^th place. Shortly afterwards she ran in the 200m qualifying for the semi-final but unfortunately didn’t progress to the final. It was still a 2 brilliant performances from her.

Ryan Vickers continued his winning ways from last year finishing 2^nd in the 60 metres and showing great versatility also finished 2^nd in the 800.

Elder brother Isaac also finished on the podium finishing 2^nd in the 800m in an impressive time of 2 minutes 13 seconds. Nearly as impressive was the performance of Samuel Scroope and Conor McCarthy who in their first indoor championships both ran just over 2 minutes 20 in the same race. Well done to all who competed. Credit also go to their coach Jerome Foley for all his work with the athletes

The Farranfore Maine Valley AC’s annual St Stephen’s Day road race, took place today in Farranfore for its sixty-first year. The weather was dry and cold and a field of over 230 took to the start line. Last year’s winner, Oisin Spillane, now running for Ennis AC, was the favourite and he lead the field from early on. By the half-way turn, he had a lead of over 50 metres.

On the steep climb at the start of the final kilometre, he stretched his lead to over 100 metres to finish in 15:22, just outside last year’s time but almost a minute ahead of Aodan Mac Domhnaill who finished in 16:14 seconds, first in the over 40 category. In third place was Daragh O’Leary of Killarney Valley A.C with a time of 16:28

Niamh O’Mahony of An Riocht AC, was a comfortable winner of the ladies’ race. She dominated the female race from the start and finished in a very impressive 17:20, some 2 minutes ahead of clubmates Siobhan Daly 18:06 and Sharon Cahill 19:37 who also won the over 40 and 55 age group categories.

Tommy Arthur of Kenmare AC won the boys under 17 event and Ciara Eager of Star of the Laune, winning the girls under 17.

Cian Spillane won the Junior men’s category.

First local athletes were Marie Fitzgerald with brother Arthur (part of the Kerry Senior Football management team).

Other winners in the age group categories were :

Siobhan Daly (O40), Mary O Connell, Gneevguilla AC (O45), Niamh O’Shea  (O50), Mary Deane (O65) and Carmel Foran (O70) Born to Run Tralee.

The men’s equivalent age group winners were :

Tim O Connor An Riocht AC (045), Robert Purcell GneevguillaAC  (O50), David Kennedy (O55), Kevin Griffin (O60), Michael Mangan Star of the Laune (O65) and MEP Sean Kelly was the winner of the (O70) category.

 

November 2022

 

The cross country season wound down in November. 

Isaac Vickers made the long trip to Donegal on the 20^th November for the U-14 All-Ireland championships. On a dry but hilly course Isaac started well and was well in the mix with the leaders. He lost a bit of ground in the middle section before finishing very strongly finishing in 18^th place out of a large field of over 160 runners. He was part of the Munster team who won the silver medal. Isaac has had a very successful season winning multiple medals up and down the length and breadth of the country

Conor McCarthy finished a fine season with a 5^th place finish at the Munster B championships in Clare. This finished a very successful year for Conor winning multiple medals at County, Provincial and National medals over track and cross country. He also is excelling on the local Parkrun scene recently winning in Tralee, as well winning the community games cross country championships in October.

Congratulation to both on a very successful year !

St Stephens Day Road Race 2022

Entries are now open for the annual St. Stephens day Road Race. Click on link below to register.

https://ffmvac.niftyentries.com/FARRANFORE-MAINE-VALLEY-AC-ST-STEPHEN-S-DAY-5K-2K