It was a historic indoor track and field season for Killarney Valley Athletics Club in 2022. This was the first indoor season in two years with 2020 & 2021 being cancelled due to the pandemic, so the appetite for competition was huge amongst our Junior and Senior athletes. Across all the Athletics disciplines we have had athletes in National Finals in Sprints, Middle Distance, Relays, Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump, Pole-vault & Throws from which we had 12 National Medalists, 5 athletes 4th place in nationals, 2 in 5th place, 9 Munster Champions, 21 Munster medalists, 2 National League Teams. ( Pictures at end of article)
In January for the first time in our club history we fielded both a women’s and men’s senior team in the Athletics Ireland National League with rounds in both Athlone and Dublin. Our Women’s team of Sarah Leahy, Melissa Ahern, Ellen Moloney, Alison Butler, Grace O’Meara, Rachel Griffin, Ciara Kennelly & Katlyn Moynihan finishing in 10th place overall , while our men’s team of Connor Gammell , Sam Griffin, Karl McCarthy, Dara Looney, Oisin Lynch , Jason O’Reilly , Darragh O’Leary, Jordan Lee & Kevin O’Callaghan finished in 11th. The achievement of our club being able to cover so many events at this national level as a team was always an ambition of ours. The goal was to achieve this by 2024 , so to achieve by 2022 gives us great heart that our sport is definitely on the rise in Killarney.
In Munster Championships held through February & March we had 8 individual gold medalists & 1 relay team gold medal. Munster Champions in Senior women’s 60m & 200m for Sarah Leahy , Dara Looney U/19 Triple Jump, Keelin Veerasoo U/17 Triple Jump, Sam Griffin U/19 High Jump, Karl McCarthy U/19 400m, Michael Murphy Masters o/55 60m & U/20 4×200 relay team Connor Gammell, Karl McCarthy, Jason Lee, Dara Looney, Sam Griffin.
Munster Silver Medalists we had 5 individual & 1 relay team. Connor Gammell U/19 200m, Sam Griffin U/19 Long Jump, Jason O’Reilly U/17 400m, Oisin Lynch U/18 800m & Kevin O’Callaghan U/19 weight for distance.
Munster Bronze Medalists we had 7 those being, Oisin Lynch U/17 1500m, Dara Looney U/19 Long Jump, Connor Gammell U/20 200m, Kevin O’Callaghan U/19 & U/20 Shot Put & Anna O’Shea U/15 Pole-vault. Tony Harty also with a bronze medal in the Masters M45 Cross Country Championships.
At National Championship level the green & purple of the Killarney Valley AC vest was definitely noticed for all the right reasons, we have had 5 silver National medalists this season , 7 bronze medalists , 5 athletes finishing in the toughest of spots in 4th place in National Finals and two 5th place finishers. The National silver medalists were Sarah Leahy in 200m in both National seniors & Irish Universities, Ciara Kennelly in National U/23 and also Irish Universities, Jordan Lee National U/23s. The National Bronze medalists were Sarah Leahy 60m & Irish Universities , Jason O’Reilly U/17 400m, Oisin Lynch U/17 800m, Keelin Veerasoo U/17 Triple jump, Michael Murphy Maters O/55 60m & Darragh O’ Leary with UL in Universities Cross Country team.
Our Other National Finalists finishing in 4th were Sam Griffin U/19 Long Jump, Karl McCarthy U/19 400m, Connor Gammell U/19 200m, Dara Looney U/19 triple Jump, & Anna O’Shea U/15 Pole-vault.
Our U/19 men’s relay team of Connor Gammell, Karl McCarthy, Sam Griffin & John O’Connor finished in 2nd place in the national final in a blistering fast time of 1 min 32.76 seconds, however had to face the difficult news of a disqualification for a minor lane infringement.
Our County Roads Team finishing first in the Kerry County 5K Senior Team event , Oisin Lynch , Darragh O’Leary , Tony Harty, Derek Pyne, DJ O’Sullivan & Ted O’Gorman all with a historic first for the club, along with Grace O’Meara winning the Junior ladies gold medal and Hannah Collins in novice ladies 5th place.
The final event of the indoor season was our Juvenile Kids having their first indoor outing at the Kerry Athletics Indoor Sportshall Games on April 3rd, 34 Athletes testing their skills in sprints, Relays, Shot Put, Speed Bounce & Standing Long Jump. The team finished as the 3rd placed overall club.
Big thanks to our club coaching teams, Con Lynch on Distance, Tomas Griffin & Alan Delaney on Sprints, Hurdles & Jumps, Tom Doherty on throws. Brid Stack, Jean Courtney , Jerry Griffin & Sylvyn Veerasoo on our young teens, while our young juveniles are coached by Kevin & Karen Smith along with Amelie Leventi & the 2 Anna O Sheas all doing brilliant work.
The over arching theme for this indoor season has been the sense of “Team”, even though athletics is viewed as an individual sport, we can hold testament that when the culture and ambition is built on “We are Better Together” , then the future continues to be KVAC Rising.
Outdoor Season 2022 coming up fast , just like our crew!.
