History of the Foundation
To date the Jerry Kiernan Foundation has given almost €100,000 in grant funding to over 30 athletes. This has taken the form of annual grants as well as prizes for performances by Irish athletes at the Morton Games, Ireland’s premier international athletics meet.
The Foundation has supported Olympians, World Championship finalists, European medallists and national record setters as well as athletes trying to break through to the next level of international performance.
In our first year of funding over 20 athletes received more than €30,000 in funding with Louise Shanahan (800m), Efrem Gidey (10,000m) and Jack Raftery (4x400m mixed relay) all achieving top eight finishes at the European athletics championship. Reece Ademola was another standout performer with a fifth place finish in the long jump at the World Athletics U20 Championships.
In 2022, in conjunction with Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, the Foundation hosted Science of Running Symposium. This full day event shared the latest running science with members of the athletic and research communities and featured a panel discussion with some of Ireland’s greatest athletes. This symposium was continued in 2023 and we hope it will become a stable of the Irish athletics calendar.
In 2023 the Foundation awarded €30,000 to 12 athletes who again represented Ireland with distinction on the international stage with Jack Raftery taking 6th in the World Championship 4x400m mixed relay, Eilish Flannagan finishing 15th in the World Athletics Indoor 3,000m while setting an Irish record. Reece Ademola continued his progression as a Foundation athlete in setting new Irish U23 records in the indoor (7.93m) and outdoor (7.97m) long jump.
The Foundation as continued this support into 2024 with over €30,000 being granted to athletes this year. This again will take the form of structured grants as well as sponsoring a special for the best Irish performance and the U20 men’s and women’s mile races at the 2024 Morton Games.