2019

Cow Park in Dunboyne was the venue for today’s Uneven ages All-Ireland cross-country final. There may not have been any “Cow Droppings” but there was plenty of muck to contend with. Add in very cold weather and it made for a tough outing for our young athletes. Full credit to them  took it in their stride. The U11 girls were first off and a fabulous run by Sinead Cormack saw her finish in 36th place scoring on both county and Leinster teams. Not far behind her was Kate Maher in 42nd place and also a scorer on the county team which placed fourth. There were further good performances by Martha Bergin, Kara Canavan, Ellen Cormack and Eabha Hanrahan. The under 11 boys had Robert Lacey finishing in 31st place and a county scorer. Both Thomas Hayes and Shay Molloy put in steady performances. Sinead, Kara, Ellen, Eabha, Thomas and Shay are all U10s so we can look forward to seeing them as U11s again in 2020. Todays experience should stand them in good stead. 

Ruairi McEvoy was our sole representative in the U15 race.  Finishing 94th was a considerable improvement on his Leinster performance. Our under 19 boys were without the services of Shay McEvoy and Cathal Kearney. The team worked well with Kevin Burns the leader coming 17th. John Muldowney had a fine run to place 25th. James Kearney and Dylan McLaughlin completed the scoring. The result was a set of silver All-Ireland medals. Well done lads.  

Once again we thank Noel Maher for having the tent in place and parents and other family members for their ongoing help and support. Happy Christmas to all – athletes, coaches, committee members, parents and all our supporters. 

The Gym in The Watershed proved the ideal venue for the welcome home reception for our galant representatives at Sunday’s Eurocross Championships in Lisbon. Club Chairman, John Maye, welcomed the athletes – Shay Mc Evoy (U20), Peter Lynch (U23), Eoin Everard (Senior), Aoife Richardson (Senior and silver medal winner) and Niamh Richardson (Manager U23 Ladies silver medal winning team), all club members (juvenile and senior), parents, relations, friends and members of the media. Presentations were made to the athletes and team manager. The Eurocross athletes in turn presented cross country medals to all juvenile members who competed for the club in this year’s championships. The chairman having thanked all involved in bringing the athletes to this level, expressed the hope of the juveniles present going on to emulate these high achievers. He also thanked the Watershed for making the hall available for the occassion. The evening concluded with distribution of selection boxes to all juveniles present.  

Sometimes we hear the expression “Horses for courses or courses for Horses”. Well the Eurocross course at the Bella Vista Park in Lisbon, Portugal was definitely a course for horses and the athletes who completed it were horses for the course. There were athletes from many countries  who despite years of preparation covering training sessions in wet and cold and strenuous qualification standards failed to complete this course. There were many others who completed the course but collapsed at the finish. Yes it was that tough. Apart from some 80m at start and finish that were flat and straight the rest of the course was either uphill or downhill, different size of hills, with twists and turns around short bends that at times the uneducated might feel the runners had lost their direction. Athletes who like to develop a rhythm as they run were out of luck. Yes it was tough out there today. So full marks to ALL the Irish.  They worked hard, fought the course and fought the opposition. And what results we got. The first race, the men under 20, had our own Shay McEvoy playing his part. With newcomer Efram Gidey showing the way and winning individual bronze Ireland scored 39 points. Announced initially as having won bronze but then lost out to Portugal on Countback – heartbreak. One less point and we had silver. Silver team medals were the rewards for Irelands U23 ladies, managed by Niamh Richardson and  also for Ireland’s senior ladies with our own Aoibhe Richardson in 17th place, and second scorer on the team, playing a vital role – bringing the first ever Eurocross medal to KCH. The team had no other than Fionnula McCormack – this her 16th appearance in this event –   as a battle hardened leader. What an inspiration and how hard she fought – uphill, downhill – from gun to tape – inspirational!.  Ciara Mageean three places behind Aoibhe completed the scoring. Stephanie Cotter led the under 23 ladies into second place with a fantastic display which brought her individual bronze.  Our under 23 men finished 7th overall. No disrespect to anyone. All team members left everything out there on the course with Jack O’Leary 25th and Peter Lynch 26th dead heating on the finish line. On the Ireland senior men’s team we had Eoin Everard who showed real class finishing in 61st place – three places ahead of Liam Brady current Irish National cross-country champion.  A great day to be Irish. A really great day for KCH. Thanks for all the support – in person and on social media. 

A word about the organisation – everything worked like clockwork. No charge at the gate. Wellcoming party inside – have an apple, an orange, a soft drink, a but or slice of cake – gratis. Next year Eurocross comes to Dublin!!!

Some forty members of the club, mostly from F4L, were in Waterford today for the Waterford Half Marathon. Included in the cohort were club coaches Pat Purcell and Noel Maher. Both were first and second respectively of our over 40 men while Anita Byrne was first of our over 40 ladies.. Top cudos of the night goes to Donna Dowling who took first place in the ladies over 35 section. In the senior section Louise O’Reilly and Oisin MacCinneide were our top performers. Eddie Hawe was our best result over 35 men.The over45 leaders were Anne Marie Shortall and Alan Mahon. Over 50 top results went to Marcella Dunne forthe ladies and Michael Grogan for the men. 

Returning from Waterford the Hibernian was the venue for the Christmas Party. It is reported that a great night ( and morning for some) was had by all. Keep the music playing.    

While the adults were happy to clinch the overall cross-country shield in Kilmacow today the juveniles were also happy and made their coaches/parents happy. To witness Ella O’Flaherty leading the under 7s and hear her brother Daire go wild with the excitement of seeing her head uphill to the finish would gladden anyones heart. And then the scene was replicated as Daire led the under 9s a merry dance. And Peter Quinn- what a finish to take second place. Emma Kelly was flying form also and won silver in girls u9. There were heroic performances in the u11 races. Eabha Hanrahan (u10) ensured there was an u11 team but her individual performance to work through the field and take 8th place was outstanding – 28th in the A race back in Castlecomer. And Clodagh Maye moved from 43rd to 28th – way to go. The u11 boys had a mighty warrior in Paddy Purcell. A long way back on lap 1 but a steady second lap saw him pick off athlete after athlete. He finished with silver but very close to the gold. Shay Molloy was steady throughout. Like Eabha, an u10 athlete, but a vital member of the u11 team resulting in bronze medals for the team. Hannah Quinn, Aoife Quinn and Rory Hanrahan worked hard in their respective u13 races. Well done all. 

Results – U7 1 Ella O’Flaherty, 4 Kate Cunningham.

– U9 Girls: 2 Emma Kelly, 8 Hannah Purcell, 10 Lucy Maher, 12 Aoibhinn Kelly, 13 Anna Cunningham, 15 Beth Cooney. Boys: 1 Daire O’Flaherty, 2 Peter Quinn, 6 Emmett Murphy, 11 Paddy Gibbs, 12 Daniel Hogan, 15 Zach Hennessy, 22 Micheal Trant, 23 Ultan Houlihan.   

U11 Girls: 8 Eabha Hanrahan, 9 Emma Hogan, 28 Clodagh Maye. Boys: (Third Team) 2 Paddy Purcell, 10 Shay Molloy, 15 Joshua Malone .

U 13 Girls: 5 Hannah Quinn, 10 Aoife Quinn. Boys: 9 Rory Hanrahan. 

Kilmacow was the venue for the last county cross-country race for 2019. For KCH this was an important encounter. Having already claimed the overall track and road awards the club came to the novice cross-country races with a slim lead of two points – 28 to Gowran’s 26 and hopes of achieving The Grand Slam. Thanks to the efforts of Kate Millea and Pat Purcell the club fielded teams in both races. The ladies attacked from the start and never relented. Jane Campbell in 4th led the team home. She was followed by Kate Sugrue and a fast finishing Joya Burns resulting in third team place and an important two points. The men were equally determined. The arrival of James Kearney onto the panel gave a boost to the other team members. James went to the front from the start and led for most of the race but was overtaken on the last lap by Oliver Mullally, St Senan’s. James attacked again approaching the finish chute but Mullally managed to take the individual title. Graham Bourne also had a great race, one of many  during the year, and claimed the bronze. Tony Lauhoff and Oisin MacCinneide with Billy Quinn completed the team scoring. The team placed second,  garnering a further four points. The final tally KCH 34 points, Gowran 30 points. The result – KCH wins the overall cross country award. A grand way to end the season  – Grand Slam Achieved. 

Juvenile results to follow.

Following a weekend of high achievemnet and great excitement comes the great news that five club members will be in action at the European cross-country championships in Lisbon on 8th December. Shay McEvoy goes in the Junior, Peter Lynch in the under 23, Aoibhe Richardson in Senior Ladies, Eoin Everard in Senior Men and Niamh  Richardson goes as a manager. This is just reward for all involved. Years of dedicated training and brilliant coaching have brought these fine achievements. We wish all five the very best as they head to Lisbon. Ye have been briliant representatives in the past and we are sure you will again. The days in the Castle Park and the nights in James’s Park set early foundations that have allowed these athletes to build their strenghts over the years. Best wishes now and into the future and thanks for the enjoyment given to so many. 

The rain of the past while made for tough running in Abbotstown for the national cross-country (Juvenile even ages, Junior, U23 and Senior) today. Credit therefore for all our athletes who dealth so well with the conditions. Our first group into the action were our U16 boys. Tom Lodge in 29th was our first man home followed by  Eoin Deely (80) and Robbie Cord (90). Then it was the turn of U18 boys. John Muldowney had a fine run to finish 37th. Cathal Kearney was 62nd and Dylan McLoughlin 93rd. The aforementioned three were also on the junior team which race was run in conjunction with the U18s. And in the Junior the club had a six man team led by Shay McEvoy. Shay has a had a good CC season and today continued in that vane. Finishing 5th puts him in contention for selection for the Europeans. Kevin Burns 56th and James Kearney 88th completed the team which finished sixth club. 

The final race was the men’s 10K. No team this year but two stalwarts in action for the club- Brian Maher and Eoin Everard. Both men gave it everything with Eoin reversing the finish order of the recent county seniors when Brian got away. Today was Eoin’s day with an eight place finish. Brian was not far off – 13th. Well done all. Keep up the good work. It pays off in time. 

Following inspiring runs in Invitational, Conference and Regional cross-country events our two American based athletes travelled to Terre Haute, Indiana, for today’s national finals. We knew they had excelled in the earlier rounds and our expectations were high for more of the same. We were not to be disappointed as both athletes surpassed our expectations. Aoibhe Richardson, running the ladies 6K with San Francisco, set off a good pace and by the 2K mark she was in 39th place of the 254 runners who had lined up at the start. Pushing on over the next 2K she dropped another 20 runners and was then in 19th place. Running steadily she held that place to the finish.   

Peter Lynch, by now a valued member of the Tulsa Hurricanes, had what has to be described as his finest race to date. His approach to his 10Km race resembled that of Aoibhe in the earlier women’s race. Early endeavour saw him the 64th of 249 athletes at the 3K marker and averaging three minutes per kilometer a pace he maintained right through. By the 5K mark he dropped a further 18 athletes. Three kilometers further on he had left another 19 in his wake. Now in 27th place he picked off another 14 athletes over  the last two Kms leaving him in an unbelievable 13th position as he crossed the line. With his team mate, Patrick Dever, in 11th place the Tulsa college team ended the day in 5th place overall – their highest ranking achievement ever.     

This was surely a red letter day for KCH. Full marks also to Alan, Aisling and Luke who made the trip providing moral and vocal support together with the national flag and club banner. Well done all.