St. Stephens Day 5K Road Race 2014

Farranfore Maine Valley AC 53rd Annual St. Stephens Day Road race was held on Friday 26th December 2014. It was a very wet morning with a cool breeze. Thankfully by the race start time the rain had eased so conditions were reasonably good.
There was 340 entries for this years run.
This is an out and back course but unfortunately due to some miscommunication the return mark was not placed correctly which resulted in the runners were forced to run an extra 650m. The total distance was 5.65Km. We apologise for this.
Please take note of this in the finish result times. For the average runner your times would be around 3mins more than a normal 5K.

We would like to thank all our race organisers & volunteers for their continued support each year. Without your time it would not be possible to host this race each year. A special thanks to our main sponsors: LEE STRAND, DUNNES STORES, MORIARTY's CENTRA FOODSTORE, KEVIN BARRY General Grocers & LIDL Castleisland.

Tim O'Connor (An Riocht) from the start took command of the race, he maintained his impressive performance to cross the line in 1st place with almost 30sec to spare from 2nd place Anthony Mannix. Simon Mangan did very well to take 3rd place with Donal O' Callaghan only a second behind. Tim was awarded the course record prize as with some calculations it was clear that the current record of 16:03 for 5K would have been broken.

Maria McCarthy (FFMV) ran very well to retain her 1st place position. Carol Finn Leevale AC was 2nd with Corrina Teahan of St. Finbarrs 3rd.

Full Results: Race Results 2014
Selection of Photos from Flickr: HERE & through Facebook HERE

Top Male Finishers
1 17:49.6 Tim O Connor An Riocht AC

Tim O'Connor - Winner of the
Fr. Dan Brown Perpetual Cup

2 18:22.6 Anthony Mannix Leevale AC
3 18:36.2 Simon Mangan Gneeveguilla AC
4 18:37.5 Donal O Callaghan An Riocht AC
5 18:41.7 Cian Murphy Iveragh AC
6 18:48.3 Cillian Tierney Unattached
O40
7 19:12.0 Shane Simcox Mallow AC
10 19:39.1 Tommy O Brien An Riocht AC
O45
8 19:16.5 Robert Purcell Snr Gneeveguilla AC
9 19:25.8 Frank Conway Iveragh AC
O50
21 20:13.7 Eamonn Monaghan Enniskillen R.C
26 20:48.3 Gerard Ladden FFMV
O60
81 23:50.6 Con O Brien Unattached
130 26:01.2 Jerry TWOHIG Duhallow AC
Junior
34 21:16.0 Michael O Shea FFMV
U17
59 22:36.5 David Kenny FFMV
62 22:46.0 Andrew Purcell Gneeveguilla AC


Top Female Finishers

20 20:10.4 Maria McCarthy FFMV
23 20:27.9 Carol Finn Leevale AC
28 20:56.1 Corrina Teahan St. Finbarrs AC
42 21:45.3 Deirdre Nagle Eagle AC
43 21:47.0 Caitriona Barry FFMV
45 21:53.0 Edel Monaghan Omagh Harriers
O35
132 26:06.7 Maira McKenna Unattached
173 28:20.3 Kathleen Reidy Born To Run

O40
46 21:57.5 Aoife O Connor Clonliffe Harriers
113 25:14.1 Eileen Butler Sportsworld
O45

110 25:08.8 Liz Lynch Unattached
194 29:19.9 Bernie O Mahony Unattached
O50

66 22:58.4 Sharon Cahill An Riocht AC
80 23:44.1 Caroline Murphy Gneeveguilla AC
O60

112 25:11.5 Carmel MacDomhnaill West Limerick AC
332 42:41.8 Joan O Sullivan Unattached
333 42:42.4 Marian Costello Unattached
Junior

91 24:19.0 Aoife Mahony Listowel AC
U17
124 25:50.0 Natasha Myers FFMV
147 26:48.2 Shauna McCarthy FFMV

Club Novice Winners were Michael O' Shea & Maria Moriarty

Newmarket 5K Classic..2014

The Newmarket 5K Classic Road Race organised by Duhallow AC was held on Sunday 21st December 2014. A total of 232 runners turned out for this years race. This is recognised as a fast course so it attracts a strong number of elite athletes within the munster area. The top 3 finishers broke the 15 minute mark.

Maria McCarthy was 5th overall lady with a good time of 17:43. This was following her great success in the National Senior & Novice Cross Country Championships.

It was also good to see Verners Tess back in action when he finished in a very respectable time of 17:56

Top Finishers
1 14:38 SHEEHAN, Colm Leevale AC M 04:42.5
2 14:45 CIOBANU, Sergiu Clonliffe Harriers M 04:44.7
3 14:53 HARTY, Michael East Cork AC M 04:47.3 

14 16:33 FINN, Michelle Leevale AC F 05:19.5
25 17:11 KIELY, Martina St. Finbarrs AC F 05:31.7
26 17:16 O'CONNOR, Sinead Leevale AC F 05:33.3

The full results can be seen HERE

Development Squad Dates

Development Squad Dates for 2015

Next 5 squad sessions. 

• 30/12/14 squads training from 11am to 1pm. 
• 4/1/15 Munster junior & juvenile combined event. 
• 11/1/15 squads training 11.30. To 1.30. 
• 18/1/15 Munster Seniors & Masters Indoors
• 25/1/15 AAI juniors and u 23.Indoors 
• 1/2/15 squads training
• 7/2/15 juvenile relays Indoors
• 8/2/15 squad training.
• 15/2/15 squads training

There will be 20 sessions through out 2015. 

The Munster indoors will act as a benchmark for juvenile competition. 

From Brendan Cullen. County Board

County Juvenile Relay XC Trials

The  Kerry County Juvenile  U10, U12  and U14  Cross Country Relay Trials were held on Sunday 14th December in the demesne Killarney.
U10 Girls: Ellen Kelliher 1st & Eabha McCarthy 4th
U10 Boys: Cormac Costello 3rd
U12 Girls: Natasha Myers 1st & Shauna McCarthy 5th
U12 Boys: Cian Spillane 5th

Training will take place on Sunday 28th December @ 11am in Killarnay demesne. 
NOTE: The U12 Boys & Girls races will have to be run again as the incorrect distance was used at the trials. This will take place on December 28th during the training session.
This is only open to juveniles who competed today and are available for, and willing to travel to, the Munster juvenile relay races on Sunday 11th January 2015 in Waterford.

Munster Athletic Fixtures Jan 2015

Entry Forms for the Munster Junior & Senior Cross Country Championships & the Juvenile Cross Country Relays are now available on our "Forms" page. Closing Date for receipt of entries by post or e-mail is Friday 2nd January 2015.


Entry Forms for the Munster Senior & Masters Indoor Championships are now available on our "Forms" page. Closing date for receipt of entries is Friday 9th January 2015 for postal entries & Tuesday 13th January for e-mail entries. See Programme here. See important information here.


Entry Forms for the Munster Junior & U/23 Indoor Championships are now available on our "Forms" page. Closing date for receipt of entries is Wednesday 24th December for postal entries & Wednesday 31st December for e-mail entries. See Timetable here. See important informationhere.

Munster Athletic FORM page

County Juvenile XC Relay Trials ... Sun 14th Dec.

There will be open trials for the Kerry county juvenile  U10 (250m) , U12 (500m) and U14 (500m) cross country relay teams on Sunday 14th December in the demesne Killarney (next to the playground).
Trials are open to all registered athletes and runners can go up an age (U9 to U10 etc). 
Please only go if you are available for, and willing to travel to, the Munster juvenile relay races on Sunday 11th January 2015 in Waterford

GloHealth National Novice & Juvenile Cross Country C'Ships 2014

This years GloHealth National Novice & Juvenile Uneven Ages took place in Santry Demense, Dublin on Sunday 7th December 2014. With 12 races on the cards and over 2,000 athletes competing from U11's to the Novice Women & Mens races.
It was a cool 5oC and the rain held off for the most of the events.
Womens Novice Provisional
Men's Novice Provisional
Full Results

Kerry Novice Women Team: Niamh Clifford, Caitriona Barry,
Maria McCarthy, Annameria Costello & Caitriona Barry

The Kerry Women's team was in action again today in the Novice 4,000m race. Following their very impressive performance in the National Seniors two weeks ago we had high expectations from this group. Although they did not have their strongest team on the day they all did very well.
From our own club we had Maria McCarthy & Caitriona Barry competing for the county.

Farranfore team mates,
Maria McCarthy & Caitriona Barry

From the gun the race was a fast pace, with some of the best 800m & 1,500m athletes from around the country battling it out for podium position. Maria & Caitriona were positioned well back in the 133 field of runners. They had to work extra hard to fight their way through the mass of athletes over a 3 lap course. Maria did very well to work her way through the field. With 800m to go she was in 8th place and with an impressive last 800m she finished in 4th place overall and the first Kerry lady over the line. Karina Teahan (St. Finbarrs AC) equally had a great race to take 6th place. Caitriona & team mate Annameria Costello (Gneeveguilla AC) worked well together over the final stages of the course to take 22nd & 23rd places. Niamh Clifford (Star Of The Laune) who was the youngest in the group did very well to finish inside the top 50 at 48th place.

With all the positions combined the team came in 2nd place overall earning themselves the well deserved National Silver Medals. Dublin were 1st and Galway 3rd.

Tim O'Connor of An Riocht AC finished in 11th place in the 6K Novice Mens Race. An Riocht club finished 17th overall. There was no county men's team.

2015 Club Membership Due.

Membership for 2015 is now due
For Period: January 1st 2015 to December 31st 2015

NOTICE: Athletes whose membership is not up to date are not entitled to train with the club and will not be entered in competitions for 2015

New Members should fill out the Membership Form 2015 and return to any club officer or coach. Please read our New Members Welcome Pack to give you an insight into our club and the sport of athletics in Ireland.

New and Current Members can pay their membership by filling out the Membership Form 2015 and returning the appropriate fee to any club officer or coach.
Alternatively payment can be made online HERE

The membership fee includes:

• Entry to all AAI Championship Events
• AAI registration
• AAI insurance
• AAI Coaching Course fees
• Discounts to GloHealth Insurance (main sponsor of Athletics Ireland)

The subscription fees for the 2015 season are:

Juvenile / Junior                  € 25 (3rd additional child €20)

Senior & Master                   € 45

Fit4Life Membership           € 25

1 Adult + 2 Children            € 85  (additional child €20)

2 Adults + 2 Children          € 125 (additional child €20)

Kerry Athletics Information

Development Squad
Squads will continue this Sunday 7th December and on the 14th Dec from 11.3am0 to 1.30pm.

After Christmas there will be a squad session on Tuesday 30/Dec from 11AM to 1PM. 

The Munster Juniors indoors are on the 4th Jan 2015.Link Here

Please ensure that you have registered with your club for 2015 if you are intending to compete in the Indoors.

Cross Country Fixture
Trials for county cross country juvenile relay teams: U/10, U/12 and U/14 in Demesne, Killarney at 11.00am on Sunday 14th December. Those selected will go through to represent Kerry in the Munster Juvenile Relays to be held on Sunday 11th Jan. 2015 in WIT, Waterford.

County Championship Results

It was agreed at county board meeting on Monday Dec. 1st that all results for 2014 on county championships will be on Kerry Athletics website by the end of December.

Munster Masters & Juvenile'B' Cross Country C'Ships 2014

The Munster Masters and Juvenile B Cross Country Championships took place in Watergrasshill last Sunday 30th November 2014 in very good conditions. We saw some great performances from club members in what were very competitive, large entry races. The course consisted of a long downhill run at the start which took the runners into a long gradual climb and ended with a fast downhill to the finish.

Full Results: Master Women & Men    Juvenile 'B'
Pictures from our Flickr Gallery: HERE

First up was Sean Fenton & Kian Costello in the U9 750m race. Sean who won the county U9 race and missed the Munster A's due to illness had a great start and took the lead after about 200m's. Sean built on his lead and finished very comfortably in first place. Kian equally ran very well to finish in 31st place.'

Sean led the county team to Gold and he was teamed up with athletes from Kenmare AC & Spa Muckross.

Shauna McCarthy was up next in the U11 1000m. Shauna, who won the county U11's and came in 14th in the Munster A's ran the perfect race. At the bottom of the hill she was the top 30 runners, she continued to stay wide and passed over 20 runners in the up hill straight to place her in the top 10. Coming into the final downhill straight she was in 5th place. With a great sprint finish she took 2nd place. The Kerry team were 4th overall.

In the U11 boys race we had 3 competing, Cian Spillane, Malachy Kirwan & Cormac Costello.

Cian Spillane, who just joined our club in September had a good start and was in the top 20 at the half way point. Coming into the final straight he was in 13th place and knowing Cian's fast finish did very well and finished in 12th place overall earning himself his first individual Munster medal. Malachy continues to improve and finished in 33rd with Cormac taking 53rd out of 111 runners.

So well done to our juveniles who picked up 3 individual Munster medals. A great achievement.

We were fortunate this year to have a club team in the Masters Women's 4000m race. The 5 team members were: Maria McCarthy, Caitriona Barry, Michelle Hoare, Eileen Egan & Kathleen Chambers. From the onset Maria McCarthy took the lead, followed close behind by An riocht's Niamh O'Sullivan. After the first 1000m Maria & Niamh had opened up a large gap from the remainder of the field. Caitriona Barry was running very well and at one point she had worked her way up into 4th place.  In the main pack we had Michelle, Eileen & Kathy having their own battles fighting for positions.
Maria held the lead right through the race with

Niamh hot on her heels. With 200m to go Maria up a gear and opened up a big gap to cross the line first and also winning the O40 age category. Caitriona Barry finished in 6th place overall and was 3rd in the O40 category.

With some great running from Michelle & Eileen, Farranfore Maine Valley AC took 2nd place in the O35 team. Our club also secured 2nd in the O35 county team made up of Maria, Caitriona, Michelle & Kathleen.
This just showed the importance of fighting for places and finishing the race. There was some great running from Maria, Niamh & Caitriona who represented the county in the National Seniors race last weekend.

Maria & Caitriona will be in action again next week-end when they represent Kerry in the National Novice XC in Santry. We wish them all the best.