26/04/2022
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
The Mayor of South Dublin County, Councillor Peter Kavanagh, held a reception at County Hall to celebrate the fantastic avhievements of Carol Kearney, Annette Durkan and Leanne Wellings at the European Masters Indoor Championships in the Portuguese city of Braga for the Lucan Harriers.
The women brought home gold medals in the Women’s over 50 200m relay and set a number of national records in their respective events including 200m and 100m relay, 400m outdoor and indoor events.
The athletes were joined by family and friends at the celebration. The Mayor Councillor Peter Kavangh opened the event with words of congratulations and admiration followed by PJ Hyland, Chairman of the Lucan Harriers and their coach Gerry Martin who both congratulated the athletes and encouraged everyone, of all abilities, to get involved in the club.
The Mayor said, “I’d like to congratulate Carol, Annette and Leanne on their amazing achievements in the European Masters indoor championships, Sport is an essential part of life and has a positive effect on our mental and physical wellbeing, it teaches us teamwork and connects us to our communities. The Lucan Harriers are indeed very fortunate to have such dedicated and talented athletes who will be an inspiration to new athletes of all ages.”
ENDS
Background on athletes
Carol Kearney
European Indoor Champion O50 relay Gold in Braga 2022 also 200m bronze, 400m silver at the same championships
Carol joined Lucan Harriers in April 2013, she was new to running she heard the terms pbs and sbs . and had no idea the meaning of these a language unfamiliar to a very articulate lady. She found everyone at the club so welcoming and didn’t take long to get into the swing of it Dublin Marathon runner in 2013 and again in 2014. Carol was introduced to track, running, she had no idea of the success that lay ahead over the next 7 or 8 years. She started training with the youngsters in Gerry Martin’s group.
March 2018 went to my 1st Europeans with Niamh and Eoin Fitzgerald and was delighted to get out of the heats into the semi, getting pbs, a term she has by now got to know
Next stop Arhaus in Denmark, again very happy to get a pb and progress through the heats and semi-final to get to her first European final,
Madrid 2018, European Masters indoors finishing an incredible 4th in the 400m final,
Malaga Worlds got through to semi in 200m and 400m.
Italy outdoors 2019 Carol got another pb and through to final.
Currently holds the O55 National outdoor record 400m and the Indoor 400m and 200m twice beating her own previous National record
O50 Relay 200m National record.
Carol is a regular competitor Leinster, National, Scottish and NI Ireland Championships.
Carols running has brought her to so many places, it is fair to say Carol is living and running the dream.
She won the 200m bronze, 400m silver and the O50 relay Gold in Braga this Feb, which obviously was her greatest of many achievements to date
Carol was also club secretary for three years and has been on many sub committees in the club. She is a regular on the roadside supporting our club and its members and is usually one of he first to volunteer for stewarding duties.
Annette Durkan
Gold medallist W045 4 X200 m relay 2022 European Indoor championship
Irish W35 4x100m relay team, silver medallist and setting a new Irish National record outdoor in Vernice 2019
Formerly a sprinter as a teenager, Annette joined the Lucan Harriers Fit for life group in Lucan Harriers in Jan 2016. After two months with this excellent group Annette found her love for short fast track running and Lucan Harrier stalwart Vinny Murtagh introduced her to Gerry Martin’s track group. Within 2 weeks of joining the group Annette was on a 4x200m Masters women's team alongside Carol Kearney, Edith Coakley, and Niamh Fitzgerald. This team won the National Masters 4x200m indoor title 2016 and Annette's love of sprinting and relay running was rekindled. Annette has since gone on to compete individually at 60m,100m and 200m at Leinster, National and Scottish Championships both indoor and outdoor. Annette has been a member of Lucan Harriers’ masters women's relay teams which have won both National indoor and outdoor gold medals on several occasions. The last being 4x100m National Master champions Sept 2021 in Morton Stadium. Annette travelled to Madrid for her first European master Indoor Championships in March 2018, where she set personal bests in both W40 60m and 200m. Venice 2019 was the location for the Outdoor European Master Championships where Annette was part of the Irish W35 4x100m relay team alongside Leanne which won silver and broke the National record. The greatest achievement so far for Annette was being on the Irish W45 4x200m relay team at the European championships in Braga Portugal in Feb this year, alongside Leanne again the team won gold in spectacular fashion and broke the National W45 record. Annette also ran personal bests in her individual 60 and 200m races and got to the semi-finals of the w45 200m.
Annette has also been a committee member of Lucan Harriers for the last few years where she represents the club at Dublin Athletics meetings.
Leanne Wellings
Gold medallist W045 4 X200 m relay 2022 European Indoor championship
Irish W35 4x100m relay team, silver medallist and setting a new Irish National record outdoor in Vernice 2019
Leanne formerly a senior sprinter for Ireland, and part of the highly acclaimed sprint squad headed up by coach Jim Kilty, Leanne has won many senior national sprint medals both indoors and outdoors over 60/100/200m. In 2018 after a 13-year break, Leanne won the W40 60m sprint title on her competitive return and has been enjoying every moment of her masters journey since. In 2019 Leanne was a part of the 4 x 100m relay sprint quartet that won European masters silver in Jesolo, Italy alongside Lucan’s Annette Durkan, (Kathryn and Sinead, not Lucan Harriers) in 2021 Leanne joined Lucan Harriers and went on to win four golds at the national outdoor championships in Santry and break the W45 200m outdoor national masters record. At the back-end of 2021 Leanne went on to break the W45 60m indoor national record. Winning the 4 X200m relay gold in Braga at the European masters indoor championships in February was her proudest moment to date (teammates Annette Durkan Lucan harriers Margaret O’ Connor of Enniscorthy AC and Mary Scanlon Blackrock AC) in achieving this win the team set a new W45 national relay record. Leanne described these as the pinnacle of all her many achievements.
She is also a senior sprint coach, coaching many young sprinters in High Wycombe where she currently lives. She is also keen to coach budding young Lucan sprinters when over in Ireland this summer
Leanne now holds two individual Irish national masters records:
• W45 60m indoor national record set in Lee Valley Dec 2021 of 8.53secs
• W45 200m outdoors set in Santry sept 2021 27.96 secs
he was also part of 3 Irish relay squads setting national masters records:
• W35 4 x 200m indoor relay set at the World masters indoors championships, ToruÅ„, Poland, March 2019
• W35 4 x 100m outdoor relay set at the European masters outdoor championships, Jesolo, Italy, Sept 2019
• W45 4 x 200m indoor relay set at the European masters indoor championships, Braga, Portugal 2022
Images
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Image 1 - Mayor's Reception for Lucan Harriers -
Image 2 - Mayor's Reception for Lucan Harriers -
Image 3 - Mayor's Reception for Lucan Harriers -
Image 4 - Mayor's Reception for Lucan Harriers