Several Kerry athletes have qualified for and will compete in the Munster Schools Athletics Championships this Saturday in An Ríocht
Ian O’Riordan, left, son of the late Olympian Tom, presents his father’s gold medal won in the All-Ireland Schools’ senior mile in 1956 to Helen Hayes, Deputy Principal of Tralee CBS, and Robert Flaherty, Principal of Tralee CBS. Photo: David Kissane
The All Ireland Schools’ mile gold medal, won by Tom O’Riordan in Ballinasloe in 1956, was presented to the Green at the weekend. Tom’s son, Ian O’Riordan presented the medal to the Principal of CBS Tralee, Robert Flaherty and Deputy Principal, Helen Hayes to fulfill the wishes of the Olympian who passed away in 2022. The former CBS student from Ardfert went on to a US scholarship, the Tokyo Olympic Games, seven senior national cross-country titles, multiple national track titles, 13 records on the track and was the first Irish athlete to break 14 minutes in the 5,000 meters.
The medal will be on display in the trophy cabinet in the Green who were proud to receive the medal from the O’Riordan family.
Meanwhile, several of Kerry’s second level students have qualified for the Munster Schools Athletics championships this Saturday in An Ríocht.
A range of schools provided medal winners in runs, jumps, throws and walks in the North and South Munster Schools qualifier championships. Among the excellent performers was Kevin O’Shea (Mercy Mounthawk) who created a new championship best performance in the intermediate javelin in the North Munster championships with a monster throw of 64.23m.
In the South Munster Schools in MTU in Cork, Lily Riordan (Intermediate School Killorglin) also created a new CBP in the intermediate 3000m with a time of 10:05.14. Both athletes, and many more, will be going into the Munster Schools championships, and beyond, with much hope.