Week ending Saturday 26th May
Leinster Pentathlon Title for Shane Ormsby
Despite suffering from a heavy head cold, Shane Ormsby competed in the Leinster u/14 Combined Events in Kilkenny last Saturday. The competition was a pentathlon, where the faster you run, the longer you jump or throw, and the higher you jump, the more points you get. Shane started his campaign in the 75m hurdles where he finished third in a very close race. A fourth place in the long jump into a very strong wind kept him just off the medal places but a massive 10.40m effort to win the shot by over 3m to spare on the competition put him firmly in the driving seat. The strong wind played havoc with the high jump bar, which had to be changed to a heavier one and the officials even had to keep a finger on each side to keep it from blowing off between jumps, but a good performance in a new event for him kept him in contention. He finished with the 800m, never a favourite for multi-event athletes, and though he finished fourth in the race and thought he was out of the reckoning, when the points were totaled across the five events, Shane emerged as the winner to claim the Leinster title, much to his delight. This was a great start for Shane in a new event and he is sure to build on this success.
Great success at Leinster Juvenile Relays
This year the Leinster Juvenile Relays were held at a new venue, The Hub in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, which meant a longer than usual journey for Mullingar athletes last Sunday to compete in a track event. First into action were the girls 4x100m u/13 team of Aimee Wallace, Shauna Traynor, Lucy Donnelly and Grace Byrne who qualified from a very competitive heat and in the final gave a spirited performance and despite some excellent baton passing, finished just out of the medals in fifth place. Conor Liston, Luke O’Leary, Jamie Wallace and Daire McDonald qualified comfortably from their 4x100m u/13 heat and in the final ran even quicker to finish second and earn Leinster silver medals. Buoyed up by this success, the junior women 4x100m team of Awa Fane, Whitney Imafidon, Eve Wallace and Shauna Leydon put on a fine display of sprinting talent, leading from start to finish to win with ease. This same quartet returned to the track later in the afternoon for the 4x100m u/18 where they finished second in a close race but were still delighted to claim their second set of Leinster medals of the day. Criostoir Ormsby, Conor Liston, Jamie Wallace and Kyle Faherty showed why they are the current Leinster and All-Ireland indoor 4x100m u/12 Champions by winning their heat with ease in 55.24 seconds, which is a new Championship Record, breaking the record set in 2001. The final was really a foregone conclusion, barring accidents, and thankfully there were none, and they ran out easy victors to take the Leinster title and now look forward to adding the All-Ireland outdoor title too. Mullingar might have had only a few teams competing in Enniscorthy, but they really made their mark with some fine individual and team performances.
Club’s youngest athletes compete in Tullamore
We received very short notice of the Inter-County T&F match last Friday evening in Tullamore, so numbers taking part from the Club were down on previous years. Competition was for boys and girls aged 8 to 13 years, and the Mullingar athletes represented Westmeath against athletes from Counties Offaly, Laois and Longford. The weather was absolutely glorious and conditions were perfect for competition, which added hugely to the enjoyment of this popular event by the young athletes and their parents and coaches. Despite the few in number from the Club, they made their presence felt with plenty of them visiting the podium to receive medals, including Charlotte Ripley (u/9 turbo javelin silver), Megan Charles (60m u/9 bronze), Joshua Scahill (60m u/9 silver), Cathal Kilmurray (u/9 turbo javelin silver), Jack Geoghegan (300m u/9 silver), Greg McDonnell (60m and 300m u/9 bronze), Oliver Lynch (500m u/10 gold), Matthew Webb (60m u/10 silver), Lydia McDonnell (u/11 long jump silver), Katie Kilmurray (600m u/11 silver), Jayne Charles (u/11 turbo javelin bronze), Cian Corcoran (600m u/11 silver), Eoin Donohue (u/11 long jump bronze), Morgan Corcoran (600m and shot u/12 gold), Orla Manning (600m u/12 silver), Jamie Wallace (60m and 600m u/12 gold), Caoimhe Donohue (u/13 shot gold), Adele Geoghegan (600m u/13 silver), David Burke (600m u/13 silver) and Alex Lynch (600m u/12 bronze).
Vicky Harris to captain Irish Universities Team
Congratulations to sprinter Vicky Harris (Athlone IT) who has been selected to captain the Irish Universities women’s team against the Scottish Universities at the Celtic Universities T&F International Match in Grangemouth, Falkirk (Scotland) this coming Saturday. Vicky’s selection is in recognition of her tremendous commitment to University athletics over the past four years. Vicky will compete in the 100m and 200m and everyone at the Club wishes her the very best of luck.
European team bronze for Sean McMullin
Despite picking up a niggling injury a few weeks ago, Sean McMullin had committed to competing in the 30km road walk at the European Masters Athletics Championships Non-Stadia (EMACNS) in Alicante, Spain last Saturday. The injury naturally put paid to individual honours in his age category, but he was still the third score on the Irish team that finished third in the team competition behind Latvia and Spain to earn a European bronze to add to his collection of International honours.
Club athletes in fine form at Leinster Schools T&F
Last week a number of the Club’s underage athletes competed for their Schools and Colleges in the Leinster Schools T&F, which was the final step to the All-Ireland Schools T&F Finals in June. Competition was fierce as every event was a straight final and only the top two in the sprints and top three in the longer track races and top three in the field events would advance to the All-Ireland Finals.
Ten of the Club’s athletes earned qualification from Leinster across a range of events, which is an excellent representation from the Club. The Glennon siblings are synonymous with race walking excellence and the St. Finian’s trio of Sarah Glennon (senior 3,000m race walk), Matthew Glennon (intermediate 2,000m race walk) and Andrew Glennon (junior 1,200m race walk) all won their respective events with ease to advance to the All-Ireland Finals. There was a winning performance too from Caoimhe O’Brien (Loreto) in the intermediate 800m. Winning silver medals were Awa Fane (Loreto) senior 200m, Eoin Quinn (Colaiste Mhuire) intermediate 800m and Lorcan Mullen (Cistercian Loughrea) junior 1,500m. They will be joined by bronze medal winners Jamie Battle (Colaiste Mhuire) senior 5,000m, Jennifer Fidgeon (Loreto) intermediate 2,000m race walk and Shauna Leydon (Loreto) intermediate triple jump. Amy Geoghegan (Mercy Kilbeggan) minor 1,100m and Diarmuid Fagan (Colaiste Mhuire) minor 1,100m also won bronze medals, but there is no All-Ireland in these events.
Also competing but missing out on qualification was Shannon Liston (Loreto) minor shot and discus, Phoebe Bate (Loreto) junior 1,500m, Patrick Leydon (St. Finian’s) senior 200m and Colin Smith (Oaklands CC) senior 800m, who was very unlucky to finish fourth, just missing third and qualification by just one hundredth of a second. For the record, Shauna Leydon (Loreto) also competed in the intermediate 80m hurdles and Awa Fane (Loreto) in the senior 100m but they just missed qualification in these events but can focus on their triple jump and 200m respectively in the All-Ireland Finals.
It was a great day too for our near neighbours, North Westmeath AC, and congratulations to Niamh Fogarty (St. Joseph’s Rochfortbridge) who won the senior discus with a record throw of 49.31m, which is also a “B” standard for the World Junior T&F Championships this summer.
Navan AC 6k
Well done to Eddie Newman on his seventh place finish of over 900 entrants for the Navan AC “Simon Cumbers & Paddy Hyland” 6k on a glorious sun soaked evening last Friday. His time of 20:42 saw him win his master age category comfortably, with nearly a minute to spare. Kieran Nolan (22:17) finished twenty fourth overall, fourth in his master age category and missing third place by only a few seconds. Close behind was Enda Seery in 22:53 to finish an excellent thirty first and well up in the senior men rankings. With their racing done, the Mullingar trio settled into enjoying the customary excellent hospitality and post-race refreshments provided by Navan AC.
Leinster Senior and Masters T&F entries
Entries close next Tuesday (29th) for the Leinster Senior and Masters T&F in Tullamore on Sunday 3rd June. Seniors and masters enter themselves, but any junior athlete or older juvenile considered competitive enough by their coach can ask to be entered by the Club. Speak with your coach.
Finally, the Executive and members of the Club extend sincere sympathy to Alanna and Callum Costello on the death of their grandmother Maidie Reidy, and to Karen McGouran on the death of her father, Pat Cassidy, Aoife’s grandfather. RIP.
For the latest results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures check the Club’s website www.mullingarharriers.com. You can also follow what is happening at the Club on our Facebook page.
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