AAI National u/20 and u/23 T&F 2023 (2nd July)

Mullingar race walkers to the fore on National stage

It was cool and windy in Tullamore on Sunday 2nd July for the AAI National u/20 and u/23 T&F where Mullingar Harriers had a number of athletes in action.

We got off to a winning start courtesy of Aisling Lane who simply dominated the 3,000m u/20 walk right from the start, going straight into the lead and heading the field throughout, slowly increasing her lead with every lap with a faultless display to win by over 100m. The men 5,000m walk was a combined u/20 and u/23 race, where our u/23 duo Oisin Lane and Matthew Glennon raced to the front from the start and quickly pulled clear of the field. Oisin replicated the dominance of his sister Aisling in her walk by racing ahead to win in 20 minutes 23 seconds, breaking his own Championship Record set last year, with Matthew having a great race behind him to finish second. Meanwhile, in the u/20 race, Andrew was locked in a great battle from the start. Pushed all the way, he led up to the 3k mark at which point he had to surrender the lead but he drove on, chasing hard, to finish in second place with a solid competitive performance.

Grace Byrne competed in the 1,500m u/20 which was a typically cagey tactical Championship race but she competed well and even though she finished down the field in a time outside her best, the experience will stand to her. Possibly the youngest in his race, as he doesn’t turn 17 years of age until later in the year, Conor Sherwin made a big step up to run the 1,500m u/20 for the experience. If the weather had been better he might have targeted a time too, but the wind was difficult and he finished down the field in 4:11.98, which was good considering the conditions, but the experience was invaluable.