Limerick athletes excel at National Masters Championships

IT WAS a quite week for Limerick's elite athletes this week as they gear up to take on the best of the country in the National Senior Track and Field Championships this coming weekend.

However, there was still plenty of action with master athletes coming home with national titles, nearly 2000 people participating in the Run Kilkee 10km and Half Marathon and a UL student competing on the world stage.  

National Masters Championships: 

THE National Master Championships took place in Tullamore on Saturday with multiple Limerick athletes coming home as national champions. Tim Ryan (Dooneen AC) took the win in the M60 200 metres and silver in the 400 metres.

Shane O’Sullivan (Dooneen AC) won bronze in the M40 400 metres. Willie O’Donoghue (Mooreabbey Milers AC) won bronze in the M60 100 meter hurdles and silver in the 5000 metres. Derek Kiely (Limerick AC) took silver in the M45 1500 metres.

Paul Phelan (Dooneen AC) jumped 4.25 metres M40 long jump. JOhn Sheehan (Dooneen AC) had a busy weekend firstly winning the M65 discus, taking bronze in the hammer throw and finally winning the javelin. Larry O’Grady (Mooreabbey Milers AC) also competed in the M65 discus picking up a bronze medal as well as a silver medal in the shotput. Larry completed the collection as he won the weight for distance throwing 8.21 meters. 

Run Kilkee: 

IN THE 10km John Durcan and Marie Howard were the winners around the Loop Head Peninsula Martina Moloney (Mooreabbey Milers AC) was the first Limerick woman home finishing 44th overall and 9th female.

She was followed home by Michael O’Regan (Limerick Country Club AC) 63rd, Nigel Carroll (Limerick AC) 211th, Alejandro Angel (Limerick AC) 265th, Maureen Flynn (Limerick AC) 422nd, Shane Lillis (Dooneen AC) 438th and Colette Hackett (West Limerick AC) 651st.  

Gabriele Carraroli and Mary Gough took the individual honour’s in the half marathon. Conor Reale (Limerick AC) was the first Limerick man home in 10th overall. Aaron Gallagher (Limerick AC) wasn't too far behind in 20th. Amy Murphy (West Limerick AC) was the first Limerick woman home in 32nd overall and 2nd female.

Aoife Courtney (Mooreabbey Milers AC) followed her home for 46th overall and 4th female. Behind them came Nelson Nwakaihe (Dooneen AC) 54th, Kate Murray (West Limerick AC) 146th, Declan Kennedy (Dooneen AC) 166th, Kevin Toomey (Dooneen AC) 230th, Mark Quigley (Limerick AC) 260th, Des Lane (Mooreabbey Milers AC) 287th, Joan Mullane (West Limerick AC) 368th, Gerrard Hannon (West Limerick AC) 386th, Seamus Fitzgerald (Dooneen AC) 541st, Eileen Reeves (Dooneen AC) 542nd, Patrick Noonan (Dooneen AC) 725th, Mary Cosgrave (Bilboa AC) 795th and Conor Lovett (Dooneen AC) 1027th.  

World University Games: 

THE World University Games took place in Rhine, Germany last week with Ireland coming home with two medals. Kate O’Connor won the women's heptathlon setting a new Irish record and Nicola Tuthill won another silver medal in the hammer throw.

UL’s Oisín Lane finished 11th in the 20km race walk in a new pb of 1:23:06. A very impressive race from Oisín at his first world championships and only 6 weeks of training after picking up an injury. Oisín’s will now look towards securing qualification for the World Championships in Tokyo in September. 

Elsewhere Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) clocked 12.83 seconds to finish third in the Women's 100m Hurdles at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open in Eisenstadt and Alex O’Neil (Limerick Track Club) ran 2.05 minutes for 10th at the CAS Meeting Luxembourg.  

National Senior Championships: 

All attention turns to the National Senior Championships this coming weekend, August 2 and 3, as the best athletes in the country will descend to Morton stadium to battle it out for the chance to be crowned national champion. 19 Limerick athletes currently hold entries for a plethora of events.

Of course, it's not a guarantee that an athlete will compete in every event they are entered in. Sarah Lavin holds entries in the 200 metres on Day 1 and the 100-metre hurdles and 100 metres on day 2. She will be looking to win her 10th national title outdoors over the hurdles as well as compete well over the other disciplines.

Sarah is joined by rising star Destiny Lawal (Dooneen AC) in the 200 metres and 100 meters as well as Ciara Neville (Emerald AC) in the 100 meters. Victoria Amiadamen (Dooneen AC) goes in the 400 metres hurdles as the national leader this year having run 58.56 seconds in UCD this year.

Jenna Bromell (Emerald AC) and Alex O’Neil both hold entries in the women's 800 metres but will face stiff competition from Olympians Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan and Jodie Mccan. Jenna and Alex have jumped up to 5th and 16th all time on the Irish list this year and will be looking to make their mark in Morton.

Paul Costello (Limerick Track Club) holds an entry in the 100 metres and will be looking to make the final after 7 months out injured this year. Paul who finished 4th last year will be up against Israel Olatunde, Bori Akinola and a host of other top sprinting talents.

Away from the Limerick athletes the women’s 400 meters and men's 1500 metres look to be the races of the championships. 3 of the 4 athletes from the women's 4x400 relay who finished 4th in Paris hold entries.

Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker and Phil Healy will toe the line against Cliodhna Manning and Rachel Mccan who were part of the wider squad in Paris, Erin Friel who recently won a bronze medal at the EYOF and many more athletes who will be gunning for a spot in the relay squad for Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Andrew Coscoran, Darragh McElhinney, Nick Griggs, Cathal Doyle as well as 9 men who have run 3mins 40seconds or quicker are entered in the men’s 1500 metres. Those four men all recently ran 3.51 for the mile at the Morton games and are in flying form this season. All the action will be available to watch on Athletics Irelands youtube channel beginning Saturday morning.  

West Limerick AC Club Notes: 

Killarney Valley Meet 

Congratulations to Kieran O'Connor who set a new personal best of 7.25 seconds in the 60m Sprint. 

This is the latest pb that Kieran has set at the track in Killarney. It is great to see Kieran's times improve with the hard work that he puts into his sport. 

Bweeng Open Sports 

A number of our members travelled to the village of Bweeng, just outside of Mallow town, on Friday evening. 

Tadhg Lynch was 1st in the U8 60m and 200m. 

Tom McLoughlin competed in the U8 60m and 200m.  

Mia O'Sullivan was 4th in U9 60m and 3rd in 300m. 

Aoibhe Boyce was 3rd in U10 60m. 

Clodagh Cunningham was 1st in U10 60m and 1st in the 300m. 

Leyna Halpin Colclough was 4th in both the U11 60m and 600m. 

Evelyn Aherne competed in the U12 60m and 600m. 

Ciarán McLoughlin was 2nd U12 in the 80m. 

Sam Lynch competed in the U12 80m and 600m. 

The U12 sprint was a West Limerick 1, 2, 3 with Elsa Fahy, Amelia Nix and Maebh Cunningham taking the podium spots. 

Elsa was 1st in the U12 600m and Maebh was 3rd. 

Nessa Halpin Colclough was first in both the U13 80m and 600m. 

Ruairi Boyce competed in U13 80. 

Aine Cunningham was 2nd in the U14 800m. 

Alex O'Sullivan was 3rd in the U14 80m and 1st in the 800m. 

We had three mixed relay teams in the 4 x 300m. 

There was also a competitive parents 100m race. 

Eddie O'Sullivan was 4th in the Father's race. 

Tida Kirwan, Marian O'Sullivan and Christina Aherne ran in the mother's race, Tida taking home the gold medal. 

Run Kilkee 

The 2025 instalment of this annual Half Marathon and 10k event took place on the Loop Head peninsula this Saturday morning. 

Half Marathon 

Gabriele Carraroli was the overall winner in 1.13.06, while Mary Gough was first woman home in 1.26.02. 

Our own Amy Murphy was 2nd female in 1.29.48, putting in a very impressive performance. 

Also running from West Limerick were Kate Murray 1.40.52, Joan Mullane 1.51.55, and Gerard Hannon 1.53.27. 

10k 

This race was won by John Durcan of Togher AC in 33.28, with the women's race win going to Marie Howard of Leevale in 40.57. 

From West Limerick Collette Hackett was running with a time of 1.12.38. 

Congratulations to Amy on her 2nd place finish and a big well done to everyone - great to see the club colours out in action! 

Brandon Bay Run 

This event comprises a Half Marathon, 10k and 5k race, all of which are run entirely on sand along the beach at Brandon Bay.  

In the 5k race, Sandra Markham clocked a time of 27.54. 

In the 10k race, Eamon Moran was first club member home in 49.24. He was followed by James Dalton 51.55, Paul Casey 56.19, and Nora Keogh 59.31. 

Well done to everyone!