Dec 05 The Medieval Mile
What a day of rain we had today. But in cleared just in time and the crowds came out to run our annual Medieval Mile in conjunction with Yulefest Kilkenny. Starting at the military barracks it followed the usual route to end on the Parade. This years field had 60 plus KCH going to the start line together with athletes from 28 clubs from near and far.
Ruairi McEvoy, a junior, was first across the finish line in 4.29. Pia Langton was first junior lady in 4.58 with Clodagh O’Callaghan close behind her. Kyrell Mtinsi was 3rd Junior home. Our senior ladies were led in by Eleanor Godden and Annie McEvoy. Dena Rowe led the men home. KCH had great performers in the age categories – F40 – 3rd Emily Maher; F50 – 2nd Geraldine Grogan; F60 – 1 Helen Bacon, 2nd Brigid Rochford. 3rd Nichola Read. M40 – 1st James Ledingham, 4th Brendan O’Driscoll, 6 Brian Maher; M50 – 5th Sean Delaney; M60 – 3rd Paul Crowley, 5th SEan O hArgain, 6th Pat Holohan.
Many thanks to our generous sponsors, organising committee, volunteers, athletes and supporters.
Nov 30 County Senior Cross Country
This year’s senior cross country was hosted by the Thomastown club in the fields at Grennan. With over forty athletes taking part in the Waterford half marathon yesterday and others helping out at the Leinster B’s in Stradbally KCH were without many of their top distance runners but with great determination by all who made it to Thomastown they made it a successful day out. Both groups, ladies and men, won the team events – for the ladies it was the first win in a number of years – for the men it was the 14th successive win. The two wins added sufficient points to give KCH the overall cross country championship for 2025. Well done.
The Ladies – First home was Orla McPhillips in 2nd place followed by 4th Hazel Coogan, 8th Jill Kavanagh, 10th Oonagh Guilfoyle and 11th Rhoda Griffith.
The Men – Ger Forde with little apparent difficulty took individual gold. The rest followed – 4th Eamon O’Connor, 6th Paddy Kelly, 7th John Behan, 9th Dean Rowe, 14th Colm Smyth, 18th Padraig Ruane, 22nd Graham Bourne.
Nov 27 Peter in Connecticut
Peter Lynch made his return to competition today with a blistering run on the road in Connecticut, USA. The event was the 89th holding of the Manchester Road Race on the streets of Manchester, Connecticut. The race which had over 12,000 going to the start line this year is unusual because of the distance – 4.737 miles.
Peter went out strong at the start and maintained a steady pace throughout to finish 4th in 21.08. The time was a massive performance. Consider that Mark Carroll won the race in 2000 in 21.45. John Treacy won it on four occasions with his best time 21.26 in 1979. Eamon Coughlan was also the first finisher on three occasions his best being 1983 when he clocked 21.36. Well done Peter.
Nov 29 The Waterford Half
The annual Waterford half-marathon took place today with in excess of 2000 runners going to the start line. KCH had 40+ athletes taking part. Our top ten (Ladies and Men) finishers were Ladies – Leanne butler, Lisa Brennan, Claire Dermody, Jane Campbell, Kate Sugrue, Mags Clancy, Geraldine Grogan, Laura Andrews, Grainne Behan, Annemarie Shortall. Men – Denis Vasilgevs, David FitzGerald, Derek Aylward, Trevor Spillane, Declan Walshe, Rory Conlon, Aidan Clancy, Fergus Horan, Padraig Hyland, Ciaran Hughes. Full results with placings, age categories and times available on “myraceresults”.
Many of the participants and others, some having visited suitable recovery establishments, eventually congregated at the Christmas Party in Kytlers where a great night was had. Fit4life prizes for the recent league held in conjunction with The Kilkenny Parkrun were presented to the members of the winning teams.
Nov 29 Leinster Bs CC
Our under 11 girls were 4th club in the Leinster B Cross Country today led by a star performance by Eva Hoyne in 7th place. Others to feature were Jane Byrne, Winter Rose Molloy, Cara Burke, Sofia KaurChalal, Tamson Clarke, Elsie Clarke, Clodagh O’Connor and Summer Nova Molloy. Eva and Jane scored on the county team which also finished 4th. For the boys it was Joe Phelan who led the field to finish in silver position. The club team placed 6th. Other scorers were Ethan Maher, Daire O’Shea, Neal Walshe, Patrick Collins And Nicky-George Lyons-Teehan. Joe, Ethan, Daire and Neal scored on the 5th placed county team.
Star of the day was Kate Kelly who took home the gold medal in girls under 13. Sadie Murphy and Caoimhe Malone also had a good workout. The boys under 13 were all stars as working hard through the field they won bronze medals for the team. Scorers were Eoghan Buckley, Brandon Maher, Cillian Maher, Charlie O’Donohoe and Cooper Mguni. Eoghan, Brandon, Cillian and Charlie collected a second bronze as they helped the county team to third place.
We had two teams taking part in the 4×250 under 13 mixed relay. Both teams performed well with the A team coming 3rd and the B team were 6th. Team A – Daniel McIntyre, Aaron Tyrell, Casey Cleere and Maeve O’Shea. Team B – Conor Laurence Delaney, Charlie O’Donohoe, Lily Power and Madeline Kemple.
Nov 23 Nationals in Derry
It was a long trip for the even ages as they made the trip to Derry for the national cross country. There were very big entries and the course was tough -wind – rain and plenty of muck to spare. Nevertheless there were some excellent results. Daniel Greene was in fine form to take the gold in the under 14 race. The team placed 12th with Sam Woodcock 21st, Cillian Andrews 139 and Bandon Maher 146. Daniel and Sam both scored on the Leinster team which unfortunately didn’t make the medals.
Our under 12 boys were 10th club. One might say not great but there were twenty clubs competing so they finished in the top half. Daniel McIntyre 32nd scored on the Leinster team but unfortunately Leinster didn’t feature in the medals. Other team members were Daniel Quinn 50, Aaron Tyrell 101, Dylan Guilfoyle 103, Cillian Maher 114, Charlie Norris 117 and Rian Bergin 131.
The under 16 girls were outstanding. Led by Sinead Cormack in 19th they brought home silver medals. Sinead had a second silver with the provincial team. The other club scorers were 28 Emily O’Keeffe, 37 Amelia O’Brien, 51 Katie Byrne, 88 Ellen Cormack and 129 Heidi Ryan.
The under 18 girls were 11th club. Clodagh O’Callaghan 8, Eimear Cormack 87, Aine Foley 109 and Evelyn McEvoy 114. These four also formed part of the under 20 team which came 7th with Pia Langton having a fine run to finish 5th. Hazel Coogan in 89th completed the team. Clodagh O’Callaghan collected silver as part of the provincial team.
Callum Barron put in a great run to finish 6th in the junior men race. Other scorers were Ruairi McEvoy 12th, Tom Murphy 78th and Kyrell Mtinsi 8th to bring the U20 team into 5th place. Kyrell also placed 51st U18.
Under 23 finishers were Hannah Kehoe 15th, Cathal O’Reilly 16th and Myles Hewlett 27th. Their respective placings in the senior race were Hannah 58, Cathal 46 and Myles 79. Grace Richardson coped well with the heavy conditions to cross the finish line 12th in the Senior race.