The start
of September was a quieter with the Track and Field season coming to a close.
We still had competitors in the weekly parkruns. Laura Bradley frequently finishing
near the top of the field in Killarney along with Michael O Connor. Cian and
Matthew Hogan kept the club flag flying in Tralee. Aidan Cahill and Brendan
Lynch finished the Dingle half marathon along with Dermot Dineen who was busy
preparing for his mammoth charity run from Dublin.
A few weeks
later Laura Bradley made her breakthrough to the National stage leading Kerry
to the gold medal in the National community games in the marathon which was
held in Limerick. She also finished 2nd overall. This was a
tremendous and well deserved achievement for one of the clubs most dedicated
athletes.
The county even age cross country championships were held in
Killarney on the 25th September. In the U 10 boys Odhran Hayes, Tadgh
Mannix and Michael Griffin all ran very well in their first competitive race,
unfortunately they didn’t have another runner necessary to get a team medal.
Mollie O ‘Connor likewise ran in her first race and finished well up a very
large field. Fionn Hogan discarded his javelin for the day running a fine race
in the U 12 boys along side Tomas Ryan. Roisin Mannix also ran in the U 12
girls race.
Our U 14 boys won gold in the Team event. Conor McCarthy
continued his rapid improvement coming 2nd followed home by Ryan and
Isaac Vickers in 4th and 5th. The team was made up by
Samuel Scroope and Martin Giles.
Natasha Myers and Cian Hogan were our only competitors in
the Novice races.