270 people from the club and the wider community attended the Killarney Valley AC awards night at the Great Southern Hotel in Killarney on Saturday last.

A very special treat for everyone attending was the premiere screening of a documentary that tells the story of the club’s high jumper Jordan Lee and his training through the Covid-affected period leading into the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

The documentary got a standing ovation from the huge audience who were all amazed at Jordan’s story of resilience. The club raised funds at the event for a very worthy cause, the Killarney Cardiac Response Unit, and their volunteers were also in attendance.

In his opening address, Club Chairman Jerry Griffin painted a picture of how the Killarney Valley AC club and athletes have enjoyed a meteoric rise this past few years with membership now standing at 370, including nine different nationalities.

In 2022, Killarney Valley was selected as the Athletics Ireland Development Club of the Year; earlier this year, Jean Courtney, the club secretary, was announced as the Sport Ireland Volunteer of the Year; and the clubs’ athletes secured a record medal haul of 47 national medals, 97 provincial medals and one European team medal in 2023.

Special Recognition Awards were presented to four members by Mayor of Killarney Brendan Cronin and they were interviewed on stage by 15-year-old club member Amy Garvanovic. Sarah Leahy, the club’s very first senior national champion, was honoured, as was Ciara Kennelly, who is the club’s first senior national medallist in the high jump, The achievements of European Youth Olympians Jason O’Reilly and Oisín Lynch were also recognised.

The evening concluded with a parade of the cups and titles won by the club in the Kerry Athletics Championships this year, and Badges of Honour were presented to all the athletes that represented the club at county, Munster, national and international level throughout 2023.