Storm Éowyn causes damage to the Ríocht track and gym in Castleland, Co Kerry - Jan 2025

While the main media outlets have plenty of photos of the damage done by Storm Éowyn around the country, there were plenty of places where the damage didn't make the news.

At the Ríocht AC athletics track in Castleisland, Co Kerry, a lighting pole toppled over and crashed onto the track as shown above. At the time of writing, it's not clear if there was any damage to the track surface.

There was also some damage to the gym building with a door smashed by the high winds.

New surface for athletics track in Kerry...

There have been two contrasting stories about athletic tracks in Ireland over the last two weeks.

Last week, Ian O'Riordan of the Irish Times wrote an article about the destruction of the athletics track in University College Dublin, Considering it is now being used as a car park in a busy university and there is no funding for a replacement, it would seem as if it isn't coming back any time soon.

In Kerry, the only full size athletics track is in Castleisland and is owned by An Ríocht AC. This was built some time ago and the track surface had begun to show a lot of signs of wear and tear.

This is how it used to look...

The club embarked on a fundraising programme to resurface the track and this is what it looks like now...

In fact, this is only the third two tone track in Europe.

While the new surface is just really a new version of the old one, it still looks pretty cool. It's also a major investment in athletics for the Kerry and Munster region.

Additional photos HERE

Links...
1) Sad tale of Belfield’s abandoned athletics track a running sore (Irish Times 17th June 2017)
2) Plans for €14 Million Investment in UCD Sports Facilities and New Running Track Scrapped (College Tribune 31st January 2017)
3) Dublin loses one of its most famous tracks (Running in Cork blog 23rd November 2011)
4) UCD apologise for handling of track closure in Dublin...(Running in Cork blog 2nd December 2011

Golf Classic to fund atheltes from Kerry for Rio Olympic bid

An Ríocht Athletic Club are organising a Golf Classic in Castleisland on Wednesday the 11th of June with the aim of raising funds to help two athletes from Kerry reach the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Laura Crowe who runs with An Ríocht AC runs over 800m/1500m and has shown a huge improvement in the last year.

Denis Finnegan who is also from Kerry and now competes with Leevale AC is a national triple jump champion.

More details can be found on this PDF document.

Laura Crowe & Mark Hanrahan in track races in New Zealand

Over the weekend, both Laura Crowe of An Riocht AC and Mark Hanrahan from Leevale AC were in action at the International Track Meet in Christchurch, New Zealand.

2014 International  Track Meeting - 22/02/2014  Rawhiti Domain & Christs College Upper Field         
Women 800 Metre Run                                                    
  1 Angela Smit               SR CANU                   2:07.52
  2 Laura Crowe                  Ireland                2:08.23
  3 Nikki Hamblin                Auckland               2:09.47
  4 Ariana Harper                Wellington             2:15.42
  5 Flora Brocherie           SR CANU                   2:16.64
  6 Pippa Trevella            19 CANU                   2:17.39

2014 International  Track Meeting - 22/02/2014  Rawhiti Domain & Christs College Upper Field         
Men 3000 Metre Run NZ Champs                                                 
  1 Ben St Lawrence              Australia              8:03.02
  2 Mark Hanrahan                Ireland                8:20.77
  3 Daniel Balchin            SR NBOL                   8:22.19
  4 Callan Moody              SR NBOL                   8:30.00
  5 Hamish Carson                Wellington             8:32.47
  6 Jonathan Jackson             Auckland               8:34.51
  7 Matt Harris                  Wellington             8:37.50
  8 Evan Cooper                  Wellington             8:38.22
  9 Rowan Hooper                 Wellington             8:43.83
 10 Craig Eustace             40 Christchurch Avon      8:49.72
 11 Stephen Lett                 Auckland               8:51.14
 12 Ben Musson                19 Papanui Toc H          8:52.71
 13 Tony Payne                   Auckland               8:54.88
 14 Cameron Avery             17 Christchurch Avon      9:07.91
 15 Dallas Wichman            SR Sumner                 9:13.37
 16 Alexander Gorrie          SR CANU                   9:16.39

Strangely enough, it seems as if all the races were held on a grass track. I presume the softer surface might make times a little bit slower??