AAI Intermediate & Masters XC 2019 (3rd Feb)

Intermediate women team crowned All-Ireland cross country Champions

The AAI Intermediate and Masters Cross Country took place in cool damp conditions in Dundalk IT on Sunday afternoon 3rd February, a welcome relief from the bitter cold of the week leading up to the event. Underfoot conditions were generally very good and the course was relatively flat with a few short sharp hills here and there, making it a fast course. Mullingar had entered an Intermediate women team and we had teams in the master men and master women races where of course everyone was also competing for individual success in the various master age categories.

First race was the Master Women 4,000m where Mullingar fielded a competitive team that stuck to their task and ran strongly throughout, led home by Maura Dervin, followed by Emer O’Hanlon, Patricia Broderick, Eileen Kenny (taking silver in her category) and Geraldine Walsh (taking gold in her category). When the results were sorted after the race, the Mullingar ladies were unlucky to finish 4th Club, just out of the team medal places by only a few points but they know they competed well and can take great satisfaction from their performances. Instead of running 7,000m in the later master men race, the older Master Men ran with the master women over 4,000m too and Des Walsh was delighted to finish third in his age category and win an individual All-Ireland bronze medal.

Nearly 250 runners competed in the Master Men 7,000m where the pace was fast from the gun but the Mullingar men ran well, digging deep and finishing strongly, led home by Eddie Newman, followed by Gerard Gavin, Patrick Muldoon, Tom McGrath, Kieran Nolan, Paddy Daly, David Fagan, Hans De Raeymaeker, Paul Ginnell and Thomas Cully. There was no individual medal success but the team of Eddie, Tom, Paddy, David, Paul and Thomas were delighted to finish 3rd Club and richly deserved their All-Ireland team medals for their efforts.

Mullingar had a very strong team in the Intermediate Women 5,000m and they kept right in touch throughout, packing well to keep themselves in the hunt for team honours. Aine O’Reilly had the signal honour of leading the Mullingar team home with a fantastic 10th place finish, just ahead of Linda Conroy in 11th and Sinead Whitelaw in 13th in a very close finish, building a solid base for team success. It was down to Breda Daly and Linda Cunningham to provide the vital remaining team score but the team was in safe hands as Breda and Linda fought hard all the way to finish well up and ensure the team finished 1st Club and 3rd County. Crowned All-Ireland Champions is a thoroughly deserved award for this very talented team and was a great way to end the day for Mullingar.