Offaly athletics stars receive their awards

The Offaly Athletics Star Awards took place in Days Hotel on Friday night. The guest of honour was Liam Hennessy, President of Athletics Ireland. Tom Godley, development officer, welcomed Liam and outlined the developments that were taking place in Offaly Athletics. Chairman of Offaly Athletics Frank Kilrain congratulated the athletes on their achievements. The President of Athletics Ireland spoke in detail about the high standards achieved by Offaly athletes and noted that twelve athletes from Offaly had represented Ireland with distinction at international level. He then outlined the opportunities for international competition coming up in 2009 and expressed the hope that many of the athletes present would be a part of the programme. The awards were then presented to the juvenile male and female athletes of the year, the runners-up and international athletes. Female Athlete of the Year Emer Brennan (Tullamore Harriers) Emer excelled on the track in 2008. She won double gold at the Leinster indoor championships winning the 400m and the long jump. Emer then decided to specialise in the long jump. She followed this up by winning the Leinster junior long jump. At the All-Ireland indoors Emer won her first national medal, taking the bronze medal in the U19 long jump. At the Leinster outdoor championships she won the long jump and went on to finish her juvenile athletic career in style by winning the silver medal at the All-Ireland athletics championships. Emer is the daughter of Frank and Angela Brennan of Daingean and is a first year student in Carlow IT. Female Runner-up Niamh Mullen (Tullamore Harriers) Niamh had another excellent year in 2008. She started her year taking gold and bronze at the Leinster indoor championships, winning the 200m and taking 3rd in the 60m. At the Leinster outdoor track and field Niamh took double gold (200m and 400m). At the All-Ireland championships Niamh capped off a great season by taking her first national medal, winning the bronze medal in the 200m in a new PB. Niamh is the daughter of Cormac and Una Mullen, Mountbolus. Male Athlete of the Year & International Athlete Darragh Hanlon (Tullamore Harriers) The promise that Darragh showed is 2007 came to fruition in 2008. He had a limited indoor season finishing 4th in the shot putt in both the Scottish and All-Ireland indoors where he threw a PB of 12.63m. Darragh opened his outdoor season in the schools All-Ireland championships where he finished 2nd in the discuss at the national finals in Tullamore. He followed this up by winning gold at the Tailtean games with a throw of 45.31m, thus gaining his first international selection of the year. At the same meet Darragh threw a massive new PB in the hammer of 51.3m. Darragh"s next competition was the Leinster Track & Field where he won gold in the discuss and shot and silver in the hammer. In the subsequent All-Ireland championships, he won gold in the discuss with a throw of 45.78m and was selected on the Irish team for the Celtic games in Scotland. Male Runner-up Joe Mulligan (Tullamore Harriers) Joe Mulligan started the year by taking third place in the U19 shot putt at the Leinster indoor championships. He followed this up by taking 2nd place in the junior indoors. At the Leinster outdoor track and field, Joe was 2nd in the shot, 2nd in the discuss and 3rd in the javelin, and in the Junior he placed 2nd in the hammer and 3rd in the shot. In the county championships Joe won the shot, discuss and javelin. Joe is the son of George and Mary Mulligan, Clonbullogue, and is working as an apprentice carpenter. International Athletes 2008 Eoin Hannon (Tullamore Harriers) Eoin opened his 2008 Indoor season by winning the Long Jump at the Reebok Manchester Open with a jump of 6.99m. He went on to jump at the National Senior Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast where he won the Silver medal with a jump of 7.24m. As a result of this he was selected on the Irish Junior team for the Celtic Cup in Cardiff, where he improved again, winning the Silver medal with a best jump of 7.32. At the back end of the season, he competed in the British league as a guest with Sale Harriers winning the long jump in Guernsey with a best of 7.19. Gordon Kennedy (Tullamore Harriers) Gordon opened his 2008 season at the Geneva Grand Prix where he clocked 47.06 to take 2nd place in the 400m. At the Folkson Grand Prix in Malmo, Gordon ran 22.64 to win the 200m. He followed this up, at the Thermo Games in Finland, with one of his best performances of the year. He ran a superb race in the 400m to win in 46.81, setting a stadium record in the process. Gordon was selected on the Irish 4x400 relay team for the international in Belgium. There the Irish team finished 3rd with Gordon running the second leg in a split of 45.9. Two weeks later the Irish team were out again in the Europa Cup in Tallinn in Estonia and had a clear win in 3.04.43, unfortunately just short of the target time for Beijing. Gordon put the disappointment of the relay team not qualifying for Beijing behind him and continued his odyssey around Europe. Gordon competed in the National Championships in Santry where he rounded off a great year taking his first national senior title, winning the 400m. Johnny Feery (Tullamore Harriers) After a long lay off through injury, Johnny built on his successes from 2007 and was selected for the Irish team in the British & Irish Masters Cross Country Championships on the basis of a fine run at the Gerry Farnham race. In the international race in Swansea, Johnny improved on his run in the trials and was part of the men"s over-50 team that won bronze medals.