Killarney Valley Athletics Club held a night of celebrations to reflect on a record year of success with the event, in the Great Southern Hotel, Killarney, attended by 270 people from the club and the broader community.
A special treat for everyone attending was the premier screening of a documentary which told the story of the club’s high jump athlete Jordan Lee and his training schedule for the Tokyo Paralympic Games where he represented Ireland. The documentary, which received a standing ovation from the huge audience was a great story of resilience and of Jordan overcoming all sorts of obstacles.
The club raised funds at the event for the Killarney Cardiac Response Unit and its volunteers who were also in attendance.
Killarney Valley Chairman, Jerry Griffin, painted a picture of how the club and athletes have had a meteoric rise and now membership stands at 370 with nine different nationalities.
“The past two years have been incredible,” he said.
“In 2022 Killarney Valley AC was selected the Athletics Ireland Development Clun of the Year. Jean Courtney, the club secretary, was selected early in 202 as the Sport Ireland Volunteer of the Year and the clubs athletes in 2023 had a record medal haul of 47 national medals, 97 provincial medals and one European team medal,” the chairman added.
Special recognition awards were presented to four of the club athletes by Mayor of Killarney, Cllr Brendan Cronin, and they were interviewed on stage by 15-year-old club member Amy Garvanovic.
Those honoured were Sarah Leahy, the club’s first senior national champion, Ciara Kennelly, the first senior national medal winner in a field event of high jump and Jason O’Reilly and Oisin Lynch who were 2023 European Youth Olympians.
The evening concluded with a parade of the cups and titles won by the club in the Kerry athletics championships this year and badges of honour were presented to all the athletes that represented the club at a county, Munster, national and international level in 2023.
KillarneyToday.com: Your free online daily newspaper. Call 087-2229761 or email news@killarneytoday.com
