National Champions 2007

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Jackie O - Thu, 2007-12-20 13:12

While we've been a bit slow of the mark in announcing the National Champions it gives me great pleasure to do so now. Congratulations to:

  • Kim Siekerman, Ladies k1
  • Tom O Donoghue, Junior Mens K1
  • Leonard Kelleher, Mens K1
  • Katie Moorhead, Junior ladies K1

A video in honour of our National Champions 2007 (sorry katie cant find footage of ya)

The competition this year was a great success with 36 competitors from all over Ireland and a couple of faces from abroad. The first event was held at Clifden and on a sunny Saturday we saw some convincing performances from Kim and Leonard.
Sunday came and much to our dismay not only was the hole very flushy and washed out, the tide came in an hour early due to the gale force wind. I have never seen conditions that bad. Please see the video it tells the tale! So unfortunately semis and finals for the mens and ladies class were cancelled.

Two weeks later the second leg of the Championships were held in Curragower, Limerick. With lots of spectators and the added attraction of the TV cameras filming for nationwide everyone was trying hard to impress! Tom O Donoghue, Kerry, put in a strong consistent performance on the wave securing a win and with a second place at Clifden ensured he would take the national title. Well done Tom! Once again in the ladies event Kim was unstoppable and with two wins in both event she successfully defended her title from the previous year!

The Men’s event was a great showcase for the sport but Leonard Kelleher was on form and proved his place at the top of the heap. Leonard has had a great year in kayak competition as he represented Ireland at two world championships. He came home a winner of the Men’s Longboat class of the Kayak Surf World Championships in Spain! Leonard was also crowned paddler of the Year at The Annual Irish Canoeing awards. Congratulations Lenny.

At this year's national championships we were also delighted to see a Junior lady competing, so well done to Katie Moorhead, a meat factory local! We need to encourage this if we are to see the sport grow in future years so should welcome more competitors in this class for 2008.

At the AGM it was decided, as it was not possible to run all the finals in Clifden, to take the results from the heats as the final result for that event. As such, the full rankings are as follows:

Mens K1

1. Leonard Kelleher

2. Brian Cahill

3. Mark Leonard

4. Dan Griffin

5. Andy Mullins

5. Ollie Castle

7. Killian Kelly

8. Tom Dunphy

8. Mickey Barry

10. Mike Jones

11. Shane Lynch

11. Louis Kelleher

13. Alan Leonard

14. Dave Byrne

15. Pete Barron

16. Shane Flaherty

17. Peter O Sullivan

18. Michael Flynn

19. Neil Gibson (note Neil did rank 13 but result at clifden was discounted because he got disqualified again this time for dropping in on one of the Juniors during his run)

Ladies K1

1. Kim Siekerman

2. Jenny Kilbride

3. Ashling Corkery

4. Jackie Ferguson

5. Gill Crawley

6. Muireann Lynch

7. Rosie Cripps

8. Rebecca Oglesby

9. Jane Clayton

Junior Ladies

1. Katie Moorhead

Junior Mens

1. Tom O DOnoghue

2. Conor Bredin

3. David O Sullivan

4. John O Rourke

5. Rory Moorhead

6. Rory O Reilly

7. Paul Lydon

 

Well Done to all and ....See you all this april for 2008 championships!

 



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