St. Coca's Athletic Club
Kilcock, Co. Kildare
Archives 2020 January to March
All Ireland School's Cross Country Championships - Santry Demesne - Saturday 7th March 2020
Event report by Carmel Kelly
St Cocas were represented by 6 athletes at today's All Ireland Schools Cross Country in Santry Demesne. First up was Conor Murphy representing Scoil Dara. Always in the lead bunch it was down to a sprint finish and Conor was just 1 second behind 1st and 2nd winning a bronze medal.
Aoife McNerney and Niamh McDonald (Maynooth PP) and Cliona O'Toole (Dunboyne CC) ran in the intermediate race. All three ran well Aoife 28th, Niamh 32nd and Cliona 60th.
Thomas Richards started in the intermediate boys for Belvedere College but was carrying an injury into the race and was unable to do his training any justice.
And the last race of the day the senior boys Eoin Richards assisted his school Belvedere College to gold medals with an 18th place finish. Great running by all in top class competition.
Leinster Championships - Juvenile Relays and Field Events - National Indoor Arena, Abbotstown - 23rd February 2020
The final day of the Leinster Championships and in the field events, Kirsten Monaghan claimed silver in the U19 High Jump. St Coca's had seven relays teams, 28 girls, competing in the U12-U16 categories today, a few for the first time at Leinster. Everyone gave their best and more. Honourable mention to the U15 girls who won their heat and placed 6th in the final and with the U16 girls who just missed the final by one place. A good result in the face of hot competition in the age groups and a championship where several records were broken. Well done girls.
Kildare Intermediate and Master Road Race Championships - Naas RFC - 16th February 2020
Super running by St Coca's ladies this morning in Naas, where Áine Burke has added the Intermediate title to her many victories. and leading the St Coca's ladies to 3rd intermediate team overall. Congrats also to Marianne Mulreid 2nd M1, Linda Gormley 2nd M3 and Carmel Kelly 1st M5 and also finishing ahead of 2nd place M4. Olivia Bermingham claimed a vital 20th place finishing ahead of all in the M3 category to ensure the master ladies also took the 3rd master team title overall.
The men's race saw a very competitive field with nine St Coca's athletes lining out. Another super run for Alex Wallace winning the M2 category this morning, having won the intermediate category last year, with Aidan Maher taking 3rd in the M4. Well done all competitors.
Leinster Schools Cross Country Championships - Santry - 12th February 2020
Event Report by Carmel Kelly
The Leinster schools cross country took place today in Santry Demesne. St Cocas had 14 athletes representing a number of schools taking part and 7 of them have qualified to all Ireland in early March.
Conor Murphy (Scoil Dara Kilcock) was best placed in minor boys finishing 4th. Joseph Richards( Maynooth PP) 32nd in the same race. Lucy Martin (Maynooth CC) finished 50th in the minor girls. In the junior girls race Ruby Olivier (Maynooth CC) 39th and Kate Carroll (Scoil Mhuire,Trim) 65th both ran well.
The Maynooth PP girls team who won the all Ireland last year had moved up to Intermediate this year and just missed out on qualification to All Ireland. However Aoife McNerney 12th and Niamh McDonald 15th both qualified as individuals. Cliona O'Toole (Dunboyne CS) also qualified in 28th place. Sadhbh Buckley (Maynooth PP) 43rd just missing out.
Boys Intermediate and a huge run by Thomas Richards (Belvedere College) 8th saw him lead his school to 3rd place and qualification to All Ireland. His brother Eoin running in the Senior boys finished 5th and assisted Belvedere to the gold medals. Oisin Farrell (Scoil Dara Kilcock) had a super run in the senior finishing 23rd and missing out on qualification by one place, Orla Reidy (Loreto Mullingar) 22nd and a qualification while Kirsten Monaghan (Maynooth PP) 24th just narrowly missing out. Great running and congratulations to all.
National Inter/Master, Juvenile B & Relays Cross Country Championships
Avondale Forest, Wicklow - 8th February 2020
Event report by Carmel Kelly
The All Ireland B Cross country took place in the grounds of the picturesque Avondale House in Co Wicklow yesterday. The club were well represented and had strong teams in 6 races. Even though the forecast was bad the conditions were good for the races and there were some medal winning performances by a number of athletes.
The event was well supported by athletes from all over the country and there were big fields in all of races. First up girls U11 and Juliet Olivier finished 17th of 135 runners. Aisling Nolan 60th, Maeve McNerney 81st, Aine McCauley and Aoibhin Beggan all ran great and the team finished 10th.
The boys U11 won our first medals of the day with three of our lads scoring on the county Kildare team which won bronze medals. Luke McKeon 44th, Cormac Buckley 46th and Daithi Killeen 56th along with Colm Cahill the club team came 10th also.
The girls u13 were a particularly young team and combined will to finish 8th. Roisin Beggan 42nd, Katy Hayes 49th, Saoirse O'Toole 51st and Eirn Murray 67th.
The boys u13 were in with a good chance of medals after a fast start by Daniel Geraghty and Brian Caffrey. Brian finished 7th to take an individual medal and lead the team to bronze. Fionn Killeen 32nd, Daniel Geraghty 37th, Harry Cahill 38th, Gearoid McCauley and Cormac Murray team members here.
The girls U15 were also expecting a big performance and this they did. Finishing in a pack led by Aoife McNerney 12th, Niamh McDonald 13th, Sadhbh Buckley 14th and Meadhbh Caffrey 16th the team claimed silver medals just 3 points behind the winners Mullingar Harriers. Ruby Olivier and Nessa Stagg also members of this team. Kildare county were also winners of silver medals also with the four St Cocas leading the county.
Final race for the club was the U15 boys and our 4 lads performed well but were out of the medals. Joseph Richards top finisher in 37th place. Tadhg Killeen, Jim Harrigan and Conor McNerney all running well.
Irish 50K Championship - Donadea Co. Kildare - 8th February 2020
Congratulations to Gary O'Hanlon on winning the 50K and setting a new course record 2:49:13 I think the official time, and well done to the three lads, Ken Murray (39th) making a Sub 4 hour, followed by Henry Cahill(56th) and Leeroy Graham(65th) all home safe within 4hrs 20 mins out of a field of 218 finishers. Thanks to all the pacers and supporters and those who helped out with the food and drink tent.
Leinster Indoor Championships - Athlone - 1st February 2020
Congratulations to Niamh Flynn winning the first medal of the day for St Coca's, winning bronze at the Leinster Indoor Championships in the girls U16 race walk. This was followed by another solid run by Thomas Richards in the boys U17 800m, who came through a large field also to take bronze. Well done all competitors.
Kildare Novice Road Championships - The Curragh - 19th January 2020
Sub zero conditions with beautiful bright sunshine for the Kildare Novice Road Championships this morning at the Curragh. Well done to all competitors and congratulations to St Coca's Ladies novice team of Kirsten Monaghan, Alison McCormack, Niamh Cleary and Kate Brennan claiming bronze.
St Coca's U17 Boys take bronze in 2019 National Cross Country
Following a review of the results of the U17 National Cross Country race held in Dunboyne on 15th December last, the St Coca's team of Oisín Farrell, Eoin Richards, Thomas Richards and Tadhg McCauley have now been awarded 3rd place and bronze medals. A tremendous achievement for the lads who showed great resilience on a very tough course on the day. Congratulations to them and their coaches setting a great example for all our upcoming athletes. More pictures and details of the December event in Dunboyne can be found here.
Leinster Cross Country Championships Day 1 (Intermediate & Masters) - Gowran, Co. Kilkenny - 12th January 2020
Well done to all who competed at the Leinsters today in Gowran. A cold but beautiful sunny day. The men's Intermediate team took 7th place overall with top four scoring, Ken Murray 28th, Patrick Conlon 29th, Niall O'Reilly 32nd and Gary Cahill just pipping his brother Henry to 43rd place. Henry Cahill finished 44th, with Ruairí Nolan and Tommy Walsh 47th and 48th.
In the Ladies Masters both Marianne Mulreid and Lynda Gormley were 7th in their categories, and Olivia Bermingham 21st, Fiona King 24th in their category.
