Week ending Saturday 17th February 2018
All-Ireland Gold for Eileen Kenny and Christy Creagh
The weather certainly took a significant turn for the worse last Sunday when snow showers and a bitingly cold wind made conditions very harsh for the AAI National Masters and Juvenile “B” Cross Country Championships in Clarinbridge, Co. Galway.
Leading the Mullingar women home in the master women 4,000m in an excellent twenty third place overall of nearly 170 finishers was Aine O’Reilly, followed by Jane Creevy, Patricia Broderick, Emer O’Hanlon, Eileen Kenny, Nuala Moran, Caroline Mullen, Terri Greene and Michelle Kavanagh. When the results were sorted after the race, the Mullingar team of Patricia, Eileen, Nuala and Terri finished a very creditable sixth Club and Eileen Kenny finished first in her master age category to win the All-Ireland title. In the master men 4,000m Christy Creagh put in a great performance to win his master age category, giving Mullingar two All-Ireland Champions, which is a fantastic result. We had no team in the master men 7,000m race but Liam McGlynn put in a solid performance and was pleased with his race.
Earlier in the day Aoife McGouran competed in the u/15 girls 2,500m. Illness had robbed Aoife McGouran of her best for the All-Ireland uneven ages cross country in Waterford before Christmas but she more than made amends and can be very satisfied with her excellent ninth place finish in Galway.
Irish University Indoors medal for Vicky Harris
A few of the Club’s third level students were in action last Friday at the Irish University Indoors in Athlone IT. Building on her excellent performances at the AAI u/23 Indoors two weeks previously, Vicky Harris (Athlone IT) ran even quicker and placed fifth in the 60m and later in the day took bronze for third place in the 200m, earning valuable points for Athlone IT. Rachel Glennon (DCU) finished fourth in a competitive 1,500m race walk, and while Declan Brady (GMIT) was disappointed not to advance from the 800m heats, he can take satisfaction from setting a new record for GMIT.
Walkers to the fore at Leinster Juvenile Indoors
The underage indoor season proper got underway last Saturday on day one of the Leinster Juvenile Indoors in Athlone IT and the Mullingar athletes turned in some excellent performances, winning 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal, in addition, 4 others finished just out of the medal places in fourth place and we had a big number qualify for their finals, so excellent performances by them all. A particular highlight was four Mullingar boys in the 60m u/12 sprint final, so this will be a quartet to watch for in the relays in two weeks time.
Mullingar’s race walkers continue to blaze the medal trail with gold for Andrew Glennon (1,000m u/14 walk) in his first Leinster Championship, and it was gold too for Matthew Glennon (1,500m u/16 walk) and Sarah Glennon (1,500m u/18 walk). Finishing just outside the medal places in fourth place was Jayne Walsh (1,500m u/16 walk) but she still qualifies for the All-Ireland Finals. Staying with walks, this year Leinster held the Junior, Senior and Masters walks on day one of the Juvenile Championships and Sean McMullin was an easy winner of the gold medal in his master category and it was gold too for Rachel Glennon in the senior walk, so Leinster race walk titles for all the Glennon siblings.
Rachel Cornally ran her first indoor 400m when she competed in the girls 400m u/19 and was delighted to come away with the silver medal after a fine race. On to the 1,500m programme, where Bea Drummond competed well in the girls 1,500m u/16 but finished just out of the medals in fourth place. In the corresponding boys 1,500m u/16 race, Colin Smith came through strongly to take fourth place, just missing bronze by a narrow margin, with Colin McGee also finishing well. Andrew Shaw battled well in the boys 1,500m u/17 but finished out of the medals in a very competitive race. In the boys 1,500m u/18, Andrew Daly was unlucky to finish just out of the medals in fourth place, just missing bronze right on the line, but will still qualify for the All-Ireland Finals. We finally got in the medals again when Aoife Darby stormed through in the girls 1,500m u/18 to take the silver medal.
In the field events, Caoimhe Donohue (u/13) and Alanna Costello (u/15) enjoyed their long jump competitions despite not finishing in the medal places. Shane Ormsby got in the medals in the boys u/14 shot and with a fine series to finish third and take the bronze medal.
As always, entries for the 60m sprints were very big, so a lot of heats were required, making qualification for the finals extremely difficult. There were 7 heats in the girls 60m u/12 where Muireann Donohue, Aideen Langtry and Morgan Corcoran competed with spirit but didn’t advance to the semi-finals. Mullingar had nine competing in the 6 heats of the boys 60m u/12, where Hugo Sleator, Dara Smullen, Alex Lynch, Matthew Reynolds and Rory McDonnell ran well but didn’t advance with Criostoir Ormsby, Conor Liston, Jamie Wallace and Kyle Faherty to the semi-finals. All four safely negotiated the semi-finals and it was great to see four from Mullingar in the final where they all competed brilliantly, Criostoir taking the bronze, Conor Liston only hundredths of a second behind, and Jamie and Kyle also sprinting brilliantly. There were 8 heats in the girls 60m u/13 and Caoimhe Kilmurray, Grace Byrne, Caoimhe Donohue and Shauna Traynor competed strongly against stiff opposition but didn’t advance with Aimee Wallace to the semi-finals. Aimee ran quicker as the rounds progressed and made it safely thorough to the final where she ran another great sprint but was very unlucky to finish out of the medals in a very close race.
Callum Costello made short work of his heat of the boys 60m u/13, winning easily to qualify comfortably for the final. Lining up for the final as a real medal prospect, Callum didn’t disappoint and blasted from the blocks to take the silver medal in a very close finish, only a few hundredths of a second away from gold. Amy O’Donoghue (girls 60m u/14), Alanna Costello and Shannon Liston (girls 60m u/15) and Niamh Cully (girls 60m u/16) ran well in their heats but didn’t advance to their finals, but no problem for Awa Fane in the girls 60m u/18, cruising easily through to the final, running a personal best time of 7.83 second in her heat. The final was run at a blistering pace and it took close scrutiny of the photo finish to determine the winner of the bronze medal, with Awa placed fifth, only three hundredths separating third, fourth and fifth. This concluded a long but enjoyable day of indoor competition.
Leinster Indoor entries
The Leinster Junior, Senior and Masters Indoors will take place in NIA Abbotstown on Saturday 24th February. Athletes enter themselves and the online entry system is open until this Wednesday (14th February). Contact Greg for your 2018 AAI registration number. If any Juvenile athlete wishes to compete in the Leinster Juniors (must be at least 16 years of age this year), please ask your coach or Greg.
Finally, indoor competition continues this week end when a number of Club athletes will compete in the AAI Senior Indoors at the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown, Co. Dublin and we wish them the very best of luck.
For the latest results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com. You can also follow what is happening at the Club on our Facebook page.
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