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