Ciara O’Brien RIP

After a brave fight against the odds the club are saddened to hear that Ciara O’Brien lost her battle and passed away peacefully yesterday. Ciara was a member of the club since she was 8 years old and took part in her first cross country race in Edenderry in 1986. She represented the club many times over the years both on the track and cross country. She had a great competitive spirit which helped her over the past number of years as she fought her illness. She will be greatly missed by all her friends here in the club and our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.

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Kildare Cross Country Uneven Ages/Intermediate/Sealed Handicap

There were some more super results from the second Kildare cross country today in Suncroft. Both U9 teams girls performed very well with the girls winning silver and the boys bronze medals. Isobel Doherty 5th, Alison Healy 6th, Orla Flynn 23rd and Niamh Flynn 38th were on the girls team and Ben Kirwan 8th, Pearse O’Reilly 13th, Tadhg McCauley 17th, Adam Walsh 20th, Conor Rattigan 21st and Daire McNickle 26th on the boys team. Aoife Rattigan 3rd U11 led a very strong team to the gold medals followed closely by Orla Reidy 5th, Kirsten Monaghan 6th, Jodie Flanagan 9th, Nise O’Cuill 12th, Anna Malone 15th, Holly Ginty 18th and Rebecca Travers 30th all running well. The U11 boys all ran well but were just outside the medals in 4th place. Johnny O’Sullivan 21st, Thomas Gabbett 22nd, Diarmuid Smyth 26th, Ben Doherty 35th, Aaron Curtin 39th and Alex Ginty 44th. In the girls U13 Aoife O’Cuill was first home for the club in 6th place and her team finished 3rd. Emma Ginty 18th, Cadhla O’Reilly 20th, Shannon Kenny 22nd, Laura McDermott 24th, Saibh O’Reilly 25th and Amie Roberts 30th. We did not have a full field in the boys U13 but Jake Reidy ran great to finish 13th, Rossa Monaghan 22nd and John Ball 27th. The girls U15 all ran well to take a silver team medal with Lucy McCann 6th, Laura Rattigan 7th, Kerry Warfield 14th and Caoilann O’Reilly 16th. Another gold team medal for the U15 boys, Eoin Reidy 4th, Steven Smyth 7th and Ciaran Smyth 8th. In the Intermediate mens race Sean Talty came 2nd and Andrew Smyth had a great run in the sealed handicap. Next Sunday the even age Leinster Cross country takes place in Avondale in Rathdrum Co Wicklow. Well done to all who took part in the Kildare cross country and best wishes to all who have qualified to the Leinsters.

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Kildare Cross Country Even Ages/Masters

Some great running by the St Cocas athletes at the first round of the Kildare Cross Country today. 46 athletes represented St Cocas from U10 age group to masters. Underfoot conditions were far from perfect after the early morning downpour but it did not deter the athletes and the club started off in winning style with the U10 girls. Rebecca Travers ran a fantastic race to win comfortably and lead the team to the gold medals. Aine Field 8th, Doireann Killeen 9th, Isabel Doherty 14th, Lea Groome 15th, Alison Healy 29th and Clodagh Flynn 46th making up this team. All of the boys U10 were running our of age and they performed very well. Most of them running cross country for the first time. Ben Kirwan 15th, Conor Rattigan 24th, Tadhg McCauley 30th, Adam Walsh 33rd and Tadhg Killeen 35th finished 5th team. Another strong performance by the U12 girls where they took team silver. Aoife O’Cuill 3rd overall led the team. Aoife Rattigan 9th, Shannon Kenny 15th, Kirsten Monaghan 16th, Jodie Flanagan 19th, Anna Malone 20th, Nise O’Cuill 21st, Nicole Gilbert 22nd, Jodie Cleary 27th and Maud O’Shea 32nd. Most of the boys U12 were also running up an age and they just narrowly missed out on a bronze medal by one point. The team was led by Rossa Monaghan 16th, Diarmuid Smyth 22nd, Ben Doherty 24th, Johnny O’Sullivan 28th, Thomas Gambett 29th, Jamie Campbell 31st, Aaron Curtin 32nd and John Ball 33rd. Lucy McCann ran a fantastic race in the girls U14 to come 4th over. The club team finished 3rd to claim bronze medals. Aine Burke 13th, Karla Burke 15th, Soirse Buckley 16th, Amie Roberts 25th and Helen Field 26th. Oisin O’Cuill was a clear and impressive winner in the boys U14 where he led his team to gold too. Ciaran Smyth 4th, Steven Smyth 5th and Hugo Travers running his first cross country 10th. Laura Rattigan had an impressive run in the U16 girls race to finish 3rd and Naimh Burke won the U18 race with Sophie Courtney 2nd. In the masters womens race the team of Louise Manders, Deirdre O’Reilly, Annette Whittaker, Debbie Burke and Carmel Kelly came 3rd. Next up will be the odd ages from U9 upwards which will take place next Sunday in Suncroft. The first round of the Leinsters will take place on Sunday 28th October in Avondale Forest Park in Rathdrum in Co Wicklow. Well done to all who were in action today.

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Training resumes for Autumn

After the not so glorious summer training has resumed for the Cross Country season. There are two outstanding fixtures from the Track and Field programme. Next Sunday 2nd September the final round of the Kildare league will take place in Naas starting at 12 midday. The rerun of the girls U10 relay will take place at 11.45.

Events for Sunday are as follows Girls and Boys U8 Ball Throw and 150m, Girls and Boys U9 60m and 200m, Girls U10 Long Jump and 300m, Boys U10 80m and 300m, Girls U11 80m and 300m, Boys U11 60m and 300, Girls U12 Ball Throw and 150m, Boys U12 80m and 150m, Girls U13 100m and 800m, Boys U13 Long Jump and 800m, Girls U14 Long Jump and 600m, Boys U14 80m and 200m and Girls U15 80m and 800m and Boys U15 Long Jump and 600m.

The following Sunday the Kildare “B” Track and Field Champoionships will take place in Celbridge at 12 midday. The hurdles and Javelin will also take place.

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European Track and Field Championships - 30th July 2012

Paul Robinson will compete at his first European Seniors on Saturday 30th July in the mens 1500m heats. This is a great achievement for Paul and is well deserved after all his hard work over the past months. Everyone at St Cocas wishes Paul all the best on Saturday.

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Schools International

Congratulations also to Sinead Burke who has been selected to represent the Irish Schools at the upcoming Schools International which will be held in Ascot next month. Sinead had a great walk at the Tailtean games on Saturday to secure her place. She also won the award for the top walker of the day. Well done to her coach Bobby King also.

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Kildare Track and Field Championships – Day 2

This event is now FIXED for Sunday 8th June in Celbridge starting at 12 midday.

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Kildare Track and Field Championships - Day 1

Over 40 St Cocas athletes were in action at round 1 of the Kildare Championships held at Leixlip last Saturday and there were some exciting performances. In the girls U10 100m Rebecca Travers had an impressive win to take the county title. Later on in the day she led the U10 relay squad to gold medals in the 4x100m. Orla Reidy led the girls off and handed to Aine Field who passed cleanly to Doireann Killeen who then gave a good lead to Rebecca on the anchor leg. Pearse O’Reilly won bronze in the U9 boys sprint and his sister Sadhbh won silver in the U12 girls shot. Eva McPartlan and Lucy Benndorf both won their heats of the U15 100m and Eva went on to win the final and Lucy 3rd. One of the big stars of the day was Tanisha Dions who had a specular double in the U13 200m and Long Jump. She looked particularly impressive in the 200m and will look forward to doing well at the Leinsters in late June. Tara Whittaker and Emma Ginty both made this final but were just out of the medals. Rachael Smyth dominated the Senior womens 800m to win her 2nd title and with Sophie Courtney 2nd and Aislinn Hurley 3rd the club’s kept up their middle distance tradition. Oisin O’Cuill was a clear winner in the U14 800m and Eoin Reidy 2nd in the U15 800. Just out of luck and finishing 4th were Laura Rattigan in the girls U15 1500m and Michael Malone in the U17 800m. Niamh Burke came 2nd in the U17 1500m after a great battle with a Naas athlete down the home straight. Aoife O’Cuill also came 4th in the U12 600m. Cormac Divilly won the U15 boys shot putt and the girls U14 relay team came 3rd in an exciting final. Tahisha Dions, Helen Field, Karla Burke and Lucy McCann were on this team. Kevin Kelly moved down from his usual 800/1500m races to take on the Le Cheile boys in the 400m U17 and he ran a superb race to take gold in the last few strides. Deirdre O’Reilly and Louise Manders both won gold in the masters 800m and Carmel Kelly silver. However the most exciting race of the day was the Masters men 1500m where Larry Kelly and Tom Gallagher (Naas) battled up the final straight with Tom just getting the better of Larry. All in all a great days competition for the club with many other super performances many of whom were competing for the first time. Kilcock will host round 2 in June and the next event is the Inter club league next Sunday 20th in Naas.

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Fixture list for May/June

The fixtures for May and June have been added under fixtures. We will be taking entries for the Leinster events over the coming nights and the relays and teams for the various events will be selected at training and after the Kildare championships.The next round of the Kildare league has not been fixed yet.

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West Leinster Schools Track and Field

At the recent West Leinster schools track and field St Cocas athletes had some fine performances. Emily Milner (Maynooth PP) had a double in the Senior 800m and 1500m, Rachael Smyth (Scoil Dara) 1st in the senior 3000m and 2nd 1500m. Sinead Kelly (Scoil Dara) also had a double in the Senior Long and Triple Jump. Kevin Kelly (Scoil Dara) was also in fine form with a double in the Inter 1500m and 3000m. Niamh Burke (Lucan CS) was 3rd in the Inter 1500m and 3000m. The walkers were in top form too with Sarah Bourke (St Wolstans) Senior, Sinead Burke (Maynooth PP) Inter, Karen Bourke (St Wolstans) Junior and Nathan Murphy (Scoil Dara) Junior all winning gold. Claire Kennedy came 3rd in the Junior walk. Eva McPartlan was impressive when winning the Minor 80m and she also came 3rd in the High Jump. All of the above athletes will go on to represent their schools and the Leinster finals in Mid May.

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All Ireland Indoor Championships - 31st March 2012

31st March 2012 The final day of the National Indoors took place in Nenagh on Saturday 31st. It was another successful day for the club winning 3 gold medals and 1 silver. Emily Milner is certainly in top form at the moment and she followed up on her win last weekend with another emphatic win in the 800m. Kevin Kelly also in good form qualified for the final of the 800m where he posted another PB of 2.04 to finish 5th in the final. In the walks Sinead Burke claimed another gold in the U17 event winning by 200m and Nathan Murphy also won the U16 event. Karen Bourke won silver in the U16 girls where she was beaten by her training partner Sinead O’Connor (Celbridge). Sarah Bourke finished in 4th place in the U19 race. 25th March 2012 Another fabulous run by Kevin Kelly in the 1500m final where he finished 5th in another new PB of 4.13.4. 24th March 2012 Emily Milner won a gold medal today at the National Indoors in Nenagh at the U19 1500m. Niamh Burke was also in action in the 1500m final where she finished 7th and Kevin Kelly has qualified for the U18 final tomorrow afternoon.

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Kildare Road Race Championships - 11th March 2012

The full Kildare Road Championships too place over the past two weekends with great successes for the St Cocas athletes. Last weekend on Sunday 11th the Intermediate and Masters championships took place hosted by Naas A/C. Two fine individual performances by two young athletes were the highlight of the day with Aislinn Hurley taking the Inter Womens title and Kevin Kelly taking the Inter Mens. Success too for Gerry Robinson first M3 and Larry Kelly 2nd M2. The two intermediate teams both claimed 2nd team prize. Along with Aislinn, Teresa Hannon, Carmel Kelly, Dara Malone and Aine Traynor all performed well. In the men’s race Gerry Robinson, Martin Baten, Robert Barnes, Mick Burke, David Hynes, Noel Cullen, Michael Collins and Michael Malone all ran on the team with Kevin. The Masters men were winners for the first time ever and the Masters women claimed silver team medals. Today (Sunday 18th) was another glorious day for the St Cocas women. Rachael Smyth, just back from a lengthy injury finished 3rd individual and was backed up superbly by Lynda Gormley 5th, Niamh Burke 7th, Louise Manders 17th, Adrienne Kiely 18th, Carmel Kelly, Debbie Burke, Deirdre Traynor and Aine Traynor to win the Club gold and be crowned as Senior Kildare Champions. We have real strength in depth especially in the womens section with a number of promising young athletes coming through the ranks. The mens race was a top class affair with a brillant sprint finish between a Celbridge athlete and John Canning from Newbridge, with John just taking the title by one second. Andrew Smyth had a solid run to finish in the top 10.

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Fantastic new PB for Paul Robinson

At the Sydney Track Classic in Australia Paul Robinson smashed his 1500m time by almost 2 seconds last Saturday. In a top class field he finished 8th in a time of 3.40.5.

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Leinster Indoor Championships, Nenagh - 18th/19th February 2012

There were some marvellous performances last weekend by the St Cocas athletes at the Leinster Indoors in Nenagh. 29 athletes represented the club with a lot of success. Emily Milner, just back from injury won gold medals in both the U19 800m and 1500m. Sophie Courtney was also in top form winning silver medals in the U18 800m and 1500m. Keeping up the tradition Kevin Kelly won his first juvenile Leinster medal ever with a brillant silver in the U18 1500m followed by a bronze in the 800m. Niamh Burke and Oisin O’Cuill were just out of luck in their finals finishing 4th. The walkers too were in top form and Sinead Burke set the stadium alight with a championship best time to win the U17 Walk, Sarah Bourke U19 and Nathan Murphy U16 also won their respective walks and Karen Bourke 2nd U16. Ciara Heslin and Ciana Curley both finished 4th. It was great to see a number of club athletes in action in the 60m sprints and cream of the crop on Sunday was Tanesha Dions who took a marvelous bronze medal in the U13. Eva McPartlan was just edged out for 3rd in the U15 event where Lucy Benndorf came 7th. Others in action in the sprints were Emma Ginty, Jake Reidy, Caoilann O’Reilly, Amy and Laura Mc Dermott and Cadhla and Saidbh O’Reilly. They all ran great and really enjoyed the experience of the indoors for the first time. In the Long Jump Helen Field and Karla Burke both performed well and Lucy McCann, Sorcha Gillman, Eoin Reidy, Ciaran Smyth, Steven Smyth and Aoife O’Cuill all ran great but did not make the finals. It was great to see the club represented in such big numbers. Well done to everyone who took part and good luck to the All Ireland qualifiers.