Mullingar Harriers Athletic Club

AAI Juvenile T&F Championships 2012

The final day of the AAI Juvenile T&F Finals for individuals took place on Saturday 28th July in a warm but very showery Tullamore, and as expected, medals proved very difficult to win but the Mullingar athletes gave an excellent account of themselves as usual.

Alanna Bate was first into action, in the 1,500m girls under 14 where she ran a very good race, but despite a strong finish had to settle for seventh, which is a very good result for an All-Ireland Final. In the 1,500m boys u/15, Cormac Dalton and Shane Hughes kept right with the pace and only began to drift out of the medal places with one lap to go. Despite their best efforts however, they just couldn’t close the gap, with Cormac finishing fourth, very close to a medal, and Shane close behind in sixth. It took Padraig Moran in the 1,500m boys u/17 to end the medal drought. Padraig ran his best 1,500m race so far, covering every break and movement and with 300m to go looked like he could take the lead and win the title. There was a tremendous two-man battle down the back straight, around the final bend and into the home straight with both boys running nearly shoulder to shoulder, with Padraig refusing to give up and it was only in the closing yards that the gap opened a little and he had to settle for silver, but his time of 4:06 was a new PB by 4 seconds. Thomas Lynn gave a very good account in the 1,500m u/18 and was rewarded with a very respectable seventh place All-Ireland finish. The final 1,500m, for u/19, featured Stephen Nea and he too didn’t leave anything on the track after him, pushing himself hard all the way, particularly over the final 250m with his trademark fast finish which took him into fifth place and a new PB for the distance. Our metric milers certainly ran their very best and we’ll see them all in action again in the cross country season ahead.

We had only one Club athlete competing in a field event, Emma Jude Lyons in the u/15 javelin, where she put a good series of throws together but just couldn’t find the little bit extra that would put her in the medals, finishing fifth, just outside the medals.

Rachel Glennon competed very well in the 2,000m race walk u/15 but just couldn’t close the gap on the medal places in the closing stages and despite a strong last lap, had to settle for fourth. Edel Glennon never put a foot wrong in the 3,000m race walk u/17 and was rewarded with a richly deserved silver medal.

We finished the day with the 200m sprints where Mervyn Harris qualified comfortably from his heat of the 200m u/16, as did Vicky Harris in the 200m u/17, but Tommy Gallagher was unlucky not to advance from the very competitive heats of the 200m u/19 despite a strong run that saw him well placed in a competitive position coming off the bend. In the 200m u/16 final, Mervyn Harris ran a great race into a stiff breeze to finish an excellent fifth. It was a similar story for Vicky Harris in the 200m u/17 final, where she ran a storming bend and finished very strongly running much quicker than in the heat but just couldn’t get into the medal places on this occasion, finishing fifth.

This concluded the outdoor season for all those that competed and they can now enjoy a short break, before coming back refreshed to resume training again for the winter.

Sat/Sun 14th/15th July, the first two days of the AAI Juvenile T&F Finals took place in Tullamore. Things got off to a promising start on Saturday when Patrick Fagan took silver in the 3,000m steeplechase u/18, with Ryan Blundell finishing strongly in fourth, just outside the medal places. Both ran very good races and made light work of the solid wooden barriers that sap the energy of the strongest of athletes and require great stamina and concentration throughout the race, which Patrick and Ryan possess in abundance. Stephen Nea also showed his class in the 3,000m steeplechase u/19, sticking solidly to the task and was rewarded with a richly deserved silver medal.

On to the sprints where Lisa Cooke ran well in her heat of the 100m u/16 but competition at this level is ferocious and unfortunately she didn’t advance to the final. This was Lisa’s first time competing in the outdoor Finals but it certainly won’t be her last and she will have gained huge experience. Mervyn Harris made light work of qualification from his heat of the 100m u/16 and in the final he absolutely blasted from the blocks and executed a near perfect race in to a stiff headwind to take the bronze medal in a very tight finish and round off day 1 in style.

Sunday was a brighter day with less wind and Conor McHugh lined up as a real medal prospect in the 600m u/13. Settling in comfortably from the start, Conor bided his time and patiently waited until the halfway point before moving swiftly to the front, pulling away quickly and racing on in the long run in to the finish. Only one athlete had the pace to chase him and with less than 50m to go, Conor was caught and passed but was still more than happy to win a silver All-Ireland medal, which proved to be the final medal won by Mullingar on the week-end.

Glen Gaffney competed in the 800m u/16 where the pace proved a little too strong for his liking and he finished out of the medals but was still pleased to be competing in an All-Ireland Final. In the 3,000m u/16, Jack O’Leary kept himself in contention for a medal but with two laps to go as the pace increased a gap began to open which he found impossible to close despite his best efforts and a fast finishing last lap and had to settle for fourth place. Oisin Quinn, making a welcome return to All-Ireland competition, finished strongly and we’ll see him in the 1,500m in two weeks time.

Thomas Lynn gave a very strong performance in the 3,000m u/18 and was very unlucky to finish fifth, outside the medals but he gave an excellent account of himself. Also competing extremely well was Jonathan Daly in the 3,000m u/19 where he too finished fifth, but was pleased with his placing in an All-Ireland Final.

Overall, these were great performances from Mullingar athletes, many of whom will be in action again on the final day of the All-Ireland Finals in two weeks time.