St. Coca's Athletic Club
Kilcock, Co. Kildare
Archives from 2013
Leinster Cross Country
The arrival of winter time last night also brought with it the first real cross country weather. However that did not daunt Rachael Smyth who stormed to victory in the Novice women’s race at today’s Leinster cross country held in Dunboyne. Underfoot conditions which started firm had seriously deteriorated by the time the women got started but Rachael was always among the leading bunch as the large field passed the half way mark. At this stage she pressed on and ran on for an impressive victory. Her first senior Leinster cross country title.
For the first time ever the club had a full novice team and Joan McGillicuddy, Marcella Crampton, Annette Whittaker and Caitriona Slaughter all ran well even though all expressed how difficult the conditions were. The team finished 9th overall. Rachael also led the county team to silver medals.
Earlier on the juvenile programme saw the u12 girls club team finish 5th just one place from qualification for the All Ireland. However Orla Reidy had the race of her life to claim 9th place and qualify on the Leinster team. Kirsten Monaghan and Nise O’Cuill also qualified on the Kildare bronze medal winning team. Rebecca Travers, Anna Malone and Lea Murray were also members of this team. This team were unlucky not to qualify as one of the members picked up an injury earlier in the week.
The boys u12 were always up against it as they were out of age but they recovered after a bad start and finished well. Diarmuid Smyth, Fionnan Brady, Kieran Lima and Ben Doherty all ran well.
Aoife O’Cuill also had a great run in the u14 girls and scored on the gold medal winning Kildare team. Aine Burke also shone in the tough conditions making the all Ireland for the Kildare team along with Tara Whittaker who had a solid run.
Our u14 boys were also running out of age and the distance seemed to prove difficult along with the wet conditions. However they all ran well with Odhran Brady finishing best and Jamie Campbell not far behind. Rossa Monaghan also ran well.
Laura Rattigan ran in the u16 girls race and qualified for the all Ireland as the Kildare team finished 2nd.
Oisin O’Cuill was also going well in the top 10 of the boys u16 when he had to pull up with an injury. Ciaran Smyth finished in the top half of this race.
The athletes gained a lot of experience from today races and are to be commended for their performances under such bad conditions. Well done to them all.
Rachael Smyth will be competing in Antwerp next weekend with an Irish selection in preparation for the upcoming European cross country. We wish her the very best of luck. Rachael started with the club when she was 10 years of age and has worked hard over the years competing for club and county and deserves her success.
Dublin City Marathon 2013
Fantastic running! In the end an excellent day for a 42k ‘stroll’ in Dublin. The dreaded weather of yesterday, rain and wind, stayed away today and it even turned into a nice late summers day (very late though). Well done to the St. Coca marathon runners who all got over the line after a hard campaign of weeks. All of the runners can be extremely proud of the achievement today, a marker in life, times can be found on the fit4life page.
Dublin City Marathon 28th October 2013
1. David S - 3:03:02
2. Aidan - 3:05:23
3. John - 3:24:55
4. Lynda - 3:34
5. Caroline - 3:40:20
6. Fiona - 3:56:56 (the new Favourite!!!
Massive pb!)
7. Miguel - 3:59:05
8. Michael M - 3:59:21
9. Ado - 4:05:43
10. John F. - 4:06:57
11. Caoimhin - 4:10:11
12. Mick - 4:12:22
13. David A. - 4:16:09
14. Mark - 4:16:11
15. Teresa - 4:17:16
16. Peter - 4:17:50
17. Noel - 5:00:34
18. Sara - 5:0
Kildare Cross Country - Round 2 - Kildare Town - 13th October 2013
There were some more super individual and team performances at the Kildare cross country today in Kildare town. On a beautiful mild morning the conditions were excellent for running.
First up were girls u9 and out of a field of 61 runners the St Cocas team came first. Leading the team was Ava Geoghegan 8th in her first cross country race. Orla Flynn 14th, Aoishe Gormley 21st, Jessica Lima 24th, Aisling McCarthy 30th, Aoife McNerney 44th and Niamh Flynn 54th. What a great little team, well done girls.
Boys u9 and three of the team were only 7. Daire McNickle ran a stormer to finish 6th, followed by Sean Walsh 9th, Tadgh Killeen 22nd and Sean Kelly 47th in a field of 50 runners. The team won bronze medals after a great race.
Orla Reidy was really on fire and won with some style in the girls u11. Rebecca Travers 7th, Doireann Killeen 10th, Isabel Doherty 23rd, Aine Field 25th, Ciara Gormely 29th, Lea Groome 40th, Mary Marron 41st and Clodagh Flynn 61st from 62 runners, the team won silver medals.
Bronze medals for the boys u11 where Kieran Lima 10th, Liam Curley 16th, Fionnan Brady 17th, Tadgh McCauley 27th, Conor Rattigan 28th, Adam Walsh 42nd, Rian O’Domhnaill 43rd, Rasheed and Alhamin Ibrahim all ran great.
A superb performance also from Aoife O’Cuill in girls u13 to finish 2nd overall and her team also came 2nd. Aoife Rattigan 7th, Kirsten Monaghan 12th, Nise O’Cuill 16th, Shannon Kenny 25th and Laura McDermott 31st from 40 runners.
Jamie Campbell also had a great run to finish 4th in boys u13. Odhran Brady 10th, David Brennan 12th, Shane mcNerney 17th, Diarmuid Smyth 31st, Ben Doherty 38th, Rossa Monaghan 35th and Lorcan Keogh Cribbin 44th helped the team to silver medals.
Oisin O’Cuill had a marvellous gun to tape win in the u15 race and Aaron Keogh Cribbin also had a good run but no team.
Clara Wasser came 16th in girls u15 and Laura Rattigan 4th in girls u17 and Michael Malone had a great 5th place finish in boys u17.
All in all a great days competition. One of the better days to be out running. Great to see the athletes out in such big numbers and to see teams working well together for the club. Well done to all who represented the club.
Next up is the first of the Leinsters in two weeks time in Dunboyne
Kildare Cross Country – Round 1
There were great performances all round today at round 1 of the Kildare cross country in Suncroft. The girls u10 were first up and a field of 64 young girls lined up. It was difficult at the start for he girls in such a packed up field but Isabel Doherty has a fantastic race to finish 5th overall. Also running were Aoishe Gormely 46th, Orlaith Byrne 47th, Orla Flynn 49th, Jessika Lima 57th and Niamh Flynn 59th. Boys u10 also saw a big field, 42 runners and Conor Rattigan 10th and Pierce O’Reilly 15th led the team to 4th place just outside the medals. Tadhg McCauley 23rd and Sean and Adam Walsh were the other members of the team. First gold medal of the day in the girls U12 where the club had strength in depth. Orla Reidy ran a brilliant race to take the title! however Aoife Rattigan had done the early work and was only overtaken in the last 100m. The two girls inspired the team members behind and Kirsten Monaghan in 4th and Nise O’Cuill 15th they took the team title. Rebecca Travers 22nd, Maud O’Shea 24th, Anna Malone 26th, Aine Field 40th, Ciara Gormley 56th and Lea Groome 57th in a field of 65 runners. Fionnan Brady ran a stormer in the boys U12 to finish 3rd. His team finished 4th, just out of the medals. Diarmuid Smyth 20th, Kieran Lima 27th, Ben Doherty 30th, Cormac Nolan 40th and Lorcan Keogh Cribbin 43rd from 52 runners. Girls u14 saw another set of bronze medals for the team of Aoife O’Cuill 7th, Aine Burke 18th, Tara Whittaker 18th and Kathy Nolan 27th. One of the performances of the day came from the boys u14 who claimed a team victory with tremendous team spirit. Odhran Brady 9th, Jamie Campbell 10th, Jake Reidy 11th, Shane mcNerney 15th, Aaron Keogh Cribbin 25th and Rossa Monaghan 26th all ran brilliantly. Laura Rattigan had a great run in the girls U16 finishing 6th as did Eoin Reidy in the boys u16. Ciaran Smyth also ran well in this race but no team. In the masters women Glynnis Reidy had a fantastic run moving up he field on each lap to cross the line 4th place overall.
Very well done to everyone today. The training is really paying off, especially the people who are managing to make an extra night or the Sunday runs. Next Sunday we will be in Kildare town for the uneven age groups from u9 upwards. See you all at training on Monday.
Very well done to everyone today. The training is really paying off, especially the people who are managing to make an extra night or the Sunday runs. Next Sunday we will be in Kildare town for the uneven age groups from u9 upwards. See you all at training on Monday.
Club Note - September 2013
Training resumes for all members on Monday 2nd September at 7pm. New members from 8 years are also welcome. Over the next couple of weeks training will continue as normal on Monday and Wednesday at 7pm. The cross country season will be commencing so the training will be geared towards these competitions. We will also have a long slow run on Sundays either in Donadea or the field behind Scoil Dara at 11am. This will be an easy run which parents will be able to do and we would encourage you to consider doing this run with your children.
Martin Baten & Larry Kelly at the 2013 Tullamore Half Marathon.
Summer Happenings
Even though most of you took a well deserved break over the summer athletics in general did not, and St Cocas athletes were busy taking part in places from Santry to Tullamore to Tampere (in Finland) to Moscow. Also our Fit4life runners were running the high roads and byroads of Ireland at the various 5k and 10k and half marathons around.
Our club members were also part of the historic county Kildare men’s team who won the National League Division Title in August. Paul Robinson, Kevin Kelly, Oliver Back, Nathan Murphy and Andrew Smyth all members of this team. The women’s team too got to the national league final, coming 7th to retain premier status for the coming year. Rachael Smyth, Sinead Burke, Niamh Field, Caoimhe Whittaker, Emily Milner and Niamh Burke part of this young squad.
Paul Robinson set the scene for us with some good early season form and headed to the European U23 finals with a real chance of a medal. After winning his heat he went into the final as one of the favourites. After a perfectly run race he was run out of a bronze medal in the final 80m. A great performance but bitter disappointment all the same. He returned to Ireland and had his sights set on a good performance in the National Seniors at the end of July. But before that he ran the 5th fastest 800m time by an Irishman at the Morton games in Santry and made the “b” standard for the world championships in Moscow. He followed that up with a magnificent win in the senior 800m. Another star of these championships was walker Sinead Burke who won her first senior title at the age of 16. So two National senior champions – not bad! For good measure Kevin Kelly came 4th in the junior 3k. Also having a good season was Rachael Smyth who won the u23 1500m national title.
Progress of the fit4life group is amazing. The numbers of members continue to increase and the level of improvement is immense. A small number of the runners were entered in the masters track and field championships in Tullamore in mid August and they performed brilliantly. Lynda Gormley winning the 1500m, Deirdre O’Reilly the 400m and Glynnis Reidy 3rd in the 800m. But the race of the day was the 4x400m relay where the women took the title in a fantastic race. Deirdre O’Reilly, Glynnis Reidy, Lynda Gormley and Annette Whittaker were the four runners.
Another win for Paul
Watch this amazing race – keeping a special eye on the last 80m, well done Paul!!
Leinster Track and Field Championships - 15th June 2013
On Saturday 15th June the Leinster track and field championships got underway in Tullamore. First up were the walks where Claire Kennedy won her first medal for the club finishing 3rd in the u17 race. Anna Bourke also won bronze in the u14 and Nathan Murphy 1st in the u17 boys. Kevin Kelly competed in the 400m and 800m coming 5th in both. Caoimhe Whittaker ran a storming last lap to take a bronze in the u18 800m. Oisin O’Cuill was unfortunate to be pipped on the line for 4th in the 1500m and Gavin Judge ran well in the u16 1500m. On Sunday morning Sophie Courtney had a great win in the 1500m and was followed by Kevin Kelly who won his first Leinster medal finishing 2nd after a great 1500m. Oisin O’Cuill ran great again to take 5th in the 800m.
Trim Braveheart 5k - 14th June 2013
On Friday 14th June in Trim a number of our athletes braved a miserably wet night to compete in the annual Braveheart run over a 5k course at at Trim castle. Having a great run was Larry Kelly who led the gang home in 11th place overall in 18.11. John O’Boyle 20.13, Patrick Conlon 20.30. Lynda Gormley 21.18, Piotr Fryc 21.52, Martin Geraghty 22.14, Michael Malone 23.30, Marianne Mulreid 23.31, Fiachra Purcell 25.50 and Fiona King 26.25. Well done to everyone.
National Track and Field League - Tullamore
Brillant performances by all the Kildare athletes. The day started in fine style with top points from Sandra Lawlor in the hurdles, St Cocas 2 walkers Sinead Burke and Nathan Murphy winning their walks. Sinead getting a PB in her walk. Rachael Smyth 2nd in the 1500m also a PB and a third PB for the club for Kevin Kelly winning the 800m in 1.55. David McCarthy from Le Cheile a real star winning the 400m and 400m hurdles. Kieron Stout from celbridge another to score top points in the shot putt. Fiona Hill another to gain top points in the triple jump. With the great support from all the clubs in the county the teams should be in with a real shout of making the finals. Also in action today Niamh Field, Caoimhe Whittaker, Niamh Burke, Andrew Smyth, Ciara Gallagher, Eileen Woods, Aston Farrell, Mairead Drewitt, Elaine Corrigan, Michael Jordan, Vivien Fleicher, Suzanne Quinn, Kathryn Weir, Neil Halsted, Ikenna Jacob, Danny Cahill, Michelle O’Dea and Michael Kenny. Teriffic performances by everyone and a great team effort.
Maynooth 10k - 19th May 2013
Good running by our lads in the Maynooth 10k yesterday. Aidan Kelly 40.51, John O’Boyle 42.45 pb and Martin Geraghty 42.58 pb.
Weekend Update - 18th May 2013
Brillant running by Paul Robinson in LA early Saturday morning when winning his 1500m race in a fantastic time of 3.37.99. Another brilliant last 100m for his 2nd win on US soil in the past fortnight. Paul is currently sitting on top of the Irish and European ranking for the 1500m.
In Santry at the Aviva Leinster schools Sinead Burke again broke the schools record to win the Inter walk, Nathan Murphy also winning his Inter walk. Kevin Kelly had a brilliant last lap to almost snatch the senior 1500m but in the end had to settle for silver. Sarah Bourke also winning silver in the senior walk. Caoimhe Whittaker finished 4th in the senior 800m after a fine run in a race where the winner broke the current leinster record.
Finally across the Atlantic Laura Kelly ran the Brooklyn half marathon where she recorded a time of 1.33.8.
Well done all round.
Paul wins in San Diego
Another top class win for Paul Robinson in San Diego today. In a tactical race he won the mile race in a time of 4.04.35. Fantastic running!
Kildare Juvenile Track and Field Championships
Well done to all our athletes who competed in the Kildare championships today in Celbridge. Tanisha Dions was a double winner in the u14 claiming the gold in the 100m and the shot putt. In one of the first finals of the day Orla Flynn also struck gold in the u9 80m, Niobh Ginty qualified for the final. Pearse O’Reilly won his boys u10 heat and went on the finish 3rd in the final. Maud O’Shea qualified for the final of the u12 80m and ran great but was just out if the medals. Eva McPartlan competing u18 in the high jump won a silver medal and also a bronze in the 100m. Rebecca Travers left it late in the u11 200m and dipped to win in the last stride. Aine Field, Doireann Killeen and Lea Groome also ran great to make this final. Doireann Killeen had earlier finished 3rd in the ball throw. Aoife Rattigan also finished 3rd in the shot putt. In the middle distance races Lucy McCann had a great race in the 1500m to finish 3rd. Aoife Rattigan and Kirsten Monaghan both ran fantastically in a field of over 30 runners to be 4th and 5th in the 600m and Laura Rattigan 4th in the 1500m. Also running well to make finals were Luke Kosinski, Isobel Doherty, Emma Ginty and Gavin Judge. A good day all round for the club with many others performing well. Niamh Flynn, Conor Rattigan, Tadhg McCauley, Adam Walsh, Clodagh Flynn, Lauren McDermott, Conor McDermott, Ben Doherty, Diarmuid Smyth, Tara Whittaker, Ciaran Smyth, Steven Smyth, Sarah Neville, Pauline Hill, Harriet McDermott, Amy Roberts, Aine Burke, Roisin Daly and Karla Burke all ran great. Well done all.
Kildare Senior and Masters Track and Field
There were some super performances today from St Cocas athletes at today's senior and masters track and field championships in Naas. Biggest cheer of the day went to Lynda Gormley who ran the race of her life to win the 1500m with a powerful last lap. Kevin Kelly also looked strong in the 400m which he won and Andrew Smyth took a leaf out of Paul Robinson's book to win the men's 1500m arms outstretched as he crossed the line. He finished 2nd on the 5000m later on. Emily Milner won the 800. The women's 400 saw Caoimhe Whittaker take silver and Rachael Smyth bronze. To finish off the day there was a very exciting relay where the team of Rachael, Caoimhe,Emily and Niamh Burke all ran fantastically to take home the gold medals.
Kildare Juvenile Track and Field League
After 2 rounds of the Kildare Juvenile track and field league the club are sitting nicely in 2nd position. Some great performances by all of our athletes in round 2 saw us move up a place from 3rd to 2nd.
All the U8 athletes were competing for the first time and they all were great. Dáire McNickle had 2 great track wins in the 80m and 100m and Sean Kelly won the Ball Throw. Aoishe Gormley also winning on the double to gain maximum points.
Orla Flynn has been running great all season and did the business in the U9’s. She was ably assisted by her sister Niamh and Niobh Ginty. Boys U9 Conor McDermott and Tadgh Killeen and Sean Brennan all competed in round 1 where they gained loads of points.
U 10 boys and girls saw Lily Kirkpatrick and Katie McKeon competing for the first time for St Cocas and Conor Rattigan, Tadgh McCauley and Adam Walsh also doing well for the club.
We are very strong in the U11 girls age group and Rebecca Travers led the group, however Doireann Killeen, Aine Field and Lea Groom not too far behind on points. Lauren McDermott, Clodagh Flynn, Ciara Gormley, Mary Marron and Aoibhe Kennedy also performed well in this age group. In the
U12 girls Emma McGrath, Kirsten Monaghan, Maud O’Shea, Anna Malone, Aoife Rattigan and Holly Ginty were all in action and in the boys events Luke Kosinski scored good points winning the 300m. Josh Fogarty, Diarmuid Smyth and Alex Ginty also running well in round 1.
In the older age groups Jamie Campbell, Rossa Monaghan, Tara Whittaker, Emma Ginty and Tanish Dions gained good points and Lucy McCann, Karla Burke, Pauline Hill and Oisin O’Cuill also did great in the U15.
Others to perform well were Saoirse Buckely,Lisa McGrath, Aine Burke, Emer Brennan, Roisin Daly, Cadhla O’Reilly, Shannon Kenny, Saidhbh O’Reilly, David Judge, Harriet McDermott, Helen Field, Caoilann O’Reilly, Aoife O’Cuill and Nise O’Cuill.
With approx. 50 athletes competing for the club in round 1 and 2 we have done really well, however there a number of other athletes who have not competed at all or just in one of the rounds. Round 3 will take place in Kilcock on Wednesday 5th June starting at 7pm. Looking forward to seeing as many as possible on the night.
Well done to all our athletes, including Aoishe, Dáire and Rebecca below who scored top points in their age categories.
Kildare Championships - 12th May 2013
Well done to everyone who competed in windswept Crookstown on Sunday 12th May at the Kildare Championships. In the U9 100 metres Orla Flynn was a clear winner in the final. Niobh Ginty made it through to the final and Niamh Flynn also ran great in the heats. Isobel Doherty also made the final of the u10 girls sprint.
In the boys event James Ball, Tadgh McCauley and Adam Walsh were in action and James made it through to the semi-final. However he slipped at the start and although he ran great just missed out on the final. Tadgh Killeen also ran in the heats of the u9 boys event. U11 girls and we had 5 girls taking part, Rebecca Travers made it all the way through to the final where she came 2nd in a great race. Later on in the afternoon she ran a very mature race in the 600m to win the gold medal with a great run up the last 100m. Aine Field, Doireann Killeen, Lea Groome and Clodagh Flynn all competed in this age group.
There were over 50 under 12 girls for the heats of the 200m and even though all the girls ran great in the heats, it was two to a lane and only 8 made a straight final out of 50! Anna Malone just missing out by one place. Kirsten Monaghan, Nise O’Cuill, Holly Ginty and Maud O’Shea all running great. John Ball also ran great in the boys u12 sprint. Tanisha Dions followed up on her great run last week to win the u14 200m in fine style. Tara Whittaker and Emma Ginty also made the final just out of the medals. Aine Bourke and Roisin Daly both performed well in this age group, Roisin competing in her first county walk. Anna Bourke came 3rd in a very competitive u15 walk and Karla Bourke 4th.
In the u12 boys 600m a very courageous run by Luke Kosinski saw him finish 4th after leading out the race for almost 400m. Ben Doherty and Diarmuid Smyth also ran well in this event. The numbers in the events were a bit smaller in the older age groups but the competition was every bit as intense. Lucy McCann ran a great 800m to win a silver medal and a couple of minutes later lined up as part of the u17 relay team with Niamh Whittaker, Lucy Benndorf and Karla Burke where they had a fabulous run to finish 3rd. The two teams who beat them were all older girls. Gavin Judge and Michael Malone both ran in the U17 age group but were out of the medals.
Well done again to everyone on some fine performances. Next weekend sees the final Kildare championships. The “B” championships will take place in Crookstown again commencing at 1pm. Events open to anyone who did not win a medal over the past two weekends.
Leinster Schools – West Leinster Day 2 - 25th April 2013
Well done to Emily Milner winner of the senior girls 800m at the west Leinsters on Santry today. Sophie Courtney 2nd in the same race and Kevin Kelly 2nd on the senior boys 800m. Good luck to all competing in the south Leinsters next week.
Leinster Schools – West Leinster Day 1 - 23rd April 2013
Well done to everyone on their performances today in Santry. Tanisha Dions, Nathan Murphy, Sinead Burke, Sinead Kelly and Sarah Bourke gold medals, Kevin Kelly and Laura Rattigan silver medals and Claire Kennedy bronze. Special mention to Karla Burke who had a terrific walk in her first race to finish 4th only a few metres from bronze. Good luck in the Leinster finals in a few weeks time.
Kildare Track & Field League Day 2
Well done to all our runners on 20th April in the Kildare league which was held in Naas. Terrific performances all round and loads of points for the club. Good work everyone!
Paul Robinson wins Great Ireland Mile - April 2013
Well done to Paul Robinson who made his way onto national television on Sunday last when he stormed to victory in the Great Ireland Mile run in the Phoenix Park. Despite a heavy fall at the start he cruised to victory. Great also to see junior club member Kevin Kelly in the race. Later on in the afternoon Sean Talty had a terrific run in the main event the Great Ireland 10k finishing in the top 50 of almost ten thousand runners.
Congratulation to all the St Cocas athletes who completed the Rotterdam Marathon the day before. Four of our athletes were finishing Rotterdam between 4.04 and 4.14 and some of our supporters were standing close to the finish line.
Having completed all the hard training over the past few cold weeks and months conditions could not have been more different in Rotterdam…nevertheless a great achievement for us all. Larry led the posse in 3.22.53, Mark and Aidan crossed the line together in 3.29.05, Bobs just after them in 3.33.20. Then the first of our women Marcella 3.36.40, Adrienne 4.03.32, Marianne (first timer) 4.08.36, Mick B 4.10.23 and Michael M 4.14.03. The other two first timers Sara Cusack 4.23.35 and Carmel Kelly 4.37.47. Congratulations to all and a huge thanks to Martin and Marie and Steven for all their support and encouragement along the way.
What’s next…..Dublin maybe??