A: Grange, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland | E: info@mullingarharriers.com

Autumn Open International XC Festival 2022 (16th Oct)

 

The first big cross country fixture of the season, the Autumn Open International Cross Country Festival was held at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, Co. Dublin on Sunday 16th October. This event is used to gauge early season form, with a focus for some of the Mullingar men being a place on the Irish teams to compete at the European Cross Country in Turin, Italy in December. The races also incorporated the trials for the Irish Masters team to compete in the British & Irish Masters International Cross Country in Santry in November and Mullingar had a number of its master athletes in action vying for selection on the Irish masters team. The Dublin Cross Country Championships and the National Inter-Club Juvenile Relays were held over the same course in the morning and the rain began to fall just as the afternoon programme got underway, so it was inevitable that the course broke up a bit and became softer and stickier in places and was a real test of endurance and mettle, but that’s what cross country running is all about.

The programme consisted of two races. The first race was the 6,000m for senior and master women, where Michelle Bohan put in a great performance and finished well up overall but unfortunately not enough to secure a place on the Irish team. It was a better result for Maura Dervin though as she finished only a few places behind Michelle, but it was enough to win her master category, which will secure her selection on the Irish masters team.

The second race was the 7,500m for senior and master men, which was combined with the 6,000m for the older master men and they ran a lap less. A huge entry of men took off at a furious pace, and going with the early pace and keeping right in the thick of the action throughout was Jamie Battle and Jack O’Leary. After a tough race on the testing course Jamie has to be satisfied with his fifth place finish, third under 23 man in his best race in over a year,  with Jack close behind in eighth, happy to dust off the cobwebs and is looking to improve as the season continues. With only a little over 30 seconds separating the top eight places, this was a quality field and it was great to see Jamie and Jack right in the mix to the finish. Also competing extremely well and finishing just outside the top twenty was Vinny Connolly, just ahead of Jack Moran and Euan Lagan packing in well to finish inside the top thirty, great performances by all three men and will give them added confidence for the season ahead.

Mullingar had two master men competing. Eddie Newman ran in the 7,500m race where he battled hard finishing well up in his category but not enough to secure a place on the Irish team. Competing over the shorter 6,000m distance, Sean McMullin was very satisfied with his performance but must await the decision of the selectors to see if he makes the Irish masters team.