'Killarney Valley Athletics Club held a celebration of a record year of success. The event took place in the Great Southern Hotel Killarney Events Centre and was attended by 270 people from the club and the broader community.
'A very special treat for everyone attending was the premier screening of a documentary which told the story of the clubs high jump athlete Jordan Lee and his training through the covid effected time leading into the Tokyo Paralympic Games where he represented Ireland . The documentary got a standing ovation from the huge audience who were all amazed at the story of resilience and over coming all sorts of obstacles. The club raised funds at the event for a very worthy cause the Killarney Cardiac Response Unit and its volunteers who were also in attendance.
'The Club Chairman Jerry Griffin in his opening address painted a picture of how the Killarney Valley AC club and athletes have had a meteoric rise this past few years and now stands at 370 members and 9 different nationalities. The past 2 years have been incredible with in 2022 Killarney Valley AC being selected the Athletics Ireland Development club of the year, Jean Courtney the Club secretary selected early in 2023 as the Sport Ireland Volunteer of the Year and the clubs athletes in 2023 having a record medal haul of 47 national medals, 97 provincial medals and 1 European team medal.
'Special recognition awards were presented to 4 of the clubs athletes by Mayor of Killarney Brendan Cronin as they were interviewed on stage by 15 year old club member Amy Garvanovic. Sarah Leahy being the clubs very first senior national champion , Ciara Kennelly the clubs first senior national medallist in a field event of High Jump, Jason O reilly and Oisin Lynch also as 2023 European Youth Olympians.
'The evening concluded with a parade of the cups and titles won by the club in Kerry athletics championships this year which were , Senior Mens Track & Field Champions Quill Cup Juvenile Team Track and Field Champions, Senior Mens County Roads Champions Tadgh Crowley Memorial Cup, Juvenile Cross Country Team Champions, Novice Cross County Champion Freddy Murphy Memorial Cup , Juvenile Indoor Team Champions, Eamon Fitzgerald Triple Jump Memorial Shield. & the Patrick O Shea memorial cup in Iveragh.
'Badges of Honour were presented to all the athletes that represented the club at County, Munster, National and International level in 2023'Run Republic would like to thank Killarney Valley AC for this great report from their awards night and would like to extend our congratulations to the club for their very successful 2023. We are looking forward to seeing what's next!
Featured Image: Killarney Valley AC Marathoners & Munster Masters Team MedalsistsFront Row Fearghal O’Donnell, kevin Smith, Sinead Hickey.Back Row Tom Doherty, Noel Rice, DJ O’Sullivan, Philip Gammell, Paul Doolan , Karen Smith.
