KENNEDY AND MOORE EXCEL IN SWISS MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE.
West Waterford Athletic Club athletes Paul Kennedy and David Moore produced excellent performances last Saturday when they took on the famous Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland. The spectacular but gruelling mountain marathon is one of Europe’s great Alpine races, presenting competitors with more than 1,800 metres of climbing as they make their way through the Swiss Alps. Paul Kennedy had another outstanding day on the mountains, completing the challenging course in a superb 4 hours 13 minutes, recording a personal best for the Jungfrau Marathon. It was also a memorable day for club mate David Moore, who completed the course in an excellent 5 hours 12 minutes. David’s latest performance continues an impressive progression in the event. He first tackled the Jungfrau Marathon in 2024, when he and his wife Ann Moore completed the race together in 5:34. They returned in 2025, improving their time to 5:20, before David went a step further this year with his excellent 5:12 finish. David has therefore now completed the demanding Jungfrau Marathon on three occasions, improving his time on each visit — from 5:34 in 2024, to 5:20 in 2025, and now 5:12 in 2026.Paul has also built up an impressive record at the event and he has completed the gruelling race on 4 other occasion, he returned this year for the 5th time and produced his best performance yet, stopping the clock at 4:13.The Jungfrau Marathon is renowned not only for its breath-taking scenery but also for the physical demands placed on competitors. The course takes runners through the Swiss Alps before the tough final stages of the race, making it a huge test of endurance and determination. For both West Waterford athletes, Saturday’s performances were a great reward for their preparation and commitment to distance and mountain running. It was another excellent international outing for West Waterford AC, with Kennedy and Moore proudly flying the club flag in the Swiss mountains. Congratulations to Paul on his superb 4:13 personal best and to David on his excellent 5:12 performance and his remarkable record of improving his time on each of his three Jungfrau Marathon appearances.
GARY CANTWELL TAKES SUPER 2ND PLACE IN DINGLE MARATHON.
West Waterford AC’s Gary Cantwell produced a brilliant performance in this morning’s Dingle Marathon, finishing second overall in a new personal best time of 2:47:51.The Rathgormack native was in excellent form going into the race and showed his class on the tough and undulating Dingle course, which attracted 744 competitors. While the half marathon had a field of 2,020. Gary had already enjoyed a fine run in last year’s race when he finished seventh overall in 2:55:08. He returned this year in determined mood and improved his time by more than seven minutes, breaking the 2:48 mark and setting a superb new marathon personal best. The race was won by Ben Mathewson in 2:47:04, with Gary just 47 seconds behind in second place. Daniil Miasoedov took third in 2:49:35.There was also a tremendous performance in the ladies’ race from Lillian Bradley, who took the women’s title in an excellent 2:48:37.The Dingle Marathon is renowned for its spectacular scenery, but the undulating nature of the course makes it a demanding test of endurance. Gary handled the challenge superbly, producing a controlled and determined run to secure his first podium finish in the event. Moving from seventh place last year to second this year, while improving his marathon time from 2:55:08 to 2:47:51, represents a fantastic progression for the West Waterford athlete. In the half another club member competed among the field of 2,020 finishers when Eddy Higgins recorded time of 2.20.16Congratulations to Gary on a superb second-place finish and a brilliant new marathon personal best and to Eddy of his performance also .
A fantastic run by both on a tough Dingle course.
WATERFORD GREENWAY HALF MARATHON.
Taking a little look back at the recent Waterford Greenway half marathon we can reveal some interesting stats form the 8th year of the race.
We had a record number of 712 finishers
Male 61%
Female 39%
Male finishers 434
Female finishers 277
Some interesting age category stats
MS 160
M40 85
M45 69
M50 51
M55 29
M60 13
M65 8
M70 3
MJ 5
FS 78
F35 28
F40 54
F45 47
F50 39
Pacer 16
F55 14
F60 9
F65 4
CLUB PARTICIPATION
One of the most interesting stats from the Race was that 454 athlete who ran have no club affiliation. The largest club represented was of course ourselves West Waterford AC with 81 finishers followed by Kilkenny City Harriers AC with 20 and United Striders AC 10.
BE SAFE BE SEEN
It’s that time of the year again when we must remind all those out running on the road to wear a reflective bib, also most important is to wear bright coloured clothing, remember you can see that car but can the driver of that car see you it’s a simple motto, be safe be seen.
CROSS COUNTRY SEASON IS HERE.
The cross country season is about to kick off and it is again a very busy time of year for our club. The county championship season starts off with the Novice men’s and women’s due to be held on October 4th, here we hope to have a full Ladies and Men’s squads competing. This is not a pre-registered event so you pay on the day 5 euro. The annual St Senans open cross country will be held on Sunday 20th September if anyone fancies a run out before the counties.
Some of the dates for the cross country season.
Sunday Sept 20th St Senan’s Open Cross Country Kilmacow
Sunday Sept 27th Tramore AC open cross country
Sunday Oct 4th County Championships Evan Ages and Novice
Sunday Oct 11th County Championships Uneven ages and Senior
Sunday Oct 18th Autumn Open – Abbotstown
Sunday Oct 25th Munster Even ages and Novice
Sunday Nov 1st Munster Uneven ages and senior, under 23 and 20
Sunday Nov 15th Munster B’s and Intermediate
Sunday 22nd Nov National Even Ages, U20, and Senior (Abbotstown)
Sunday 29th Nov Munster Juvenile Relays and Masters
Sunday 6th Dec National Uneven ages and Novice Cross Country Abbotstown
