AAI Novice & Juvenile Uneven Ages XC 2019 (15th Dec)
Illness robs Mullingar of its best at the final cross country event of the year
The final cross country event of the year, the AAI National Novice and Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships, took place in Dunboyne, Co. Meath on Sunday 15th December when the absence of many athletes due to illness was keenly felt by Mullingar. The absences were particularly noticeable in the older age groups, where not only were we missing some athletes from teams but in some cases we couldn’t even field a team. On what should have been our stronger day and one to reinforce our grip on the trophy for best Juvenile Cross Country Club in Ireland, the one Club gold and one Club bronze that we won is unlikely to be enough, but that’s sport!
To say underfoot conditions were tough would be an extreme understatement. As everyone knows there has been an extraordinary amount of rain in recent weeks and athletes and spectators were met with an absolute mud fest from the moment they entered the course. It was actually hard to tell if the course deteriorated much over the long twelve race programme because it was dreadful from the very first race! This is no criticism whatsoever of the host, Dunboyne AC, who deserve enormous credit for constructing a course in very challenging conditions. At least the weather on the day was reasonably good and we had no rain but it was very cold, adding to the hardship for athletes and spectators alike.
The programme opened with the u/11 girls 1,500m where the young Mullingar team was led home by Eleanor Kiernan, followed by Tianna O’Leary, Muireann Galvin, Therese Daly, Mollie Conlon and Allison Tourish who slipped and slid their way around the muddy course and despite their best efforts, they finished out of the medal places but can be proud to have competed in an All-Ireland final against the best teams in Ireland. When Jake Bell turned into the home straight full of running in the u/11 boys 1,500m and finished a magnificent 3rd place after a tough race, we were full of hope for team success to follow. Thanks to fantastic support and team packing by Darren Corcoran, Conor Geoghegan, Conor Walsh, Oliver Lynch and Daniel Boyle the team finished 3rd Club to give Mullingar its first team medals of the day. Jake also won a gold medal with the Leinster team in the Inter-Provincial competition.
Morgan Corcoran led the Mullingar team home in the u/13 girls 2,500m where despite strong showings by Rachel Murphy, Orla Manning, Ellen Daly and Lydia McDonnell, the girls finished out of the medal places but left nothing on the course and can be proud of their efforts against very stiff opposition. On to the u/13 boys 2,500m where the Mullingar team was the clear pre-race favourite. Led home by Jamie Wallace in a terrific 10th place, followed by Conor Liston and Luke O’Leary battling hard up the finish straight to finish 13th and 14th respectively, just outside the individual medal places, and with Matthew Molloy only a few places behind them, it was 1st Club and the gold medals for Mullingar by an enormous winning margin. We weren’t done cheering yet though as Niall Brady, Luke Greene, Cian Corcoran and Alex Lynch fought tooth and nail for every place and were rewarded with gold medals too as the team also finished 1st County. Jamie, Conor and Luke also won gold medals with the Leinster team, to put Jamie in that select and rare group of athletes that have won four All-Ireland medals in one race – individual, Club, County and Province.
Adele Geoghegan led the Mullingar team home in the u/15 girls 3,500m where despite great support from Leah Geoghegan, Grace Byrne, Jessica Cunningham, Ellen Foran, Shauna Traynor and Lucy Donnelly, the girls were unlucky to finish fifth Club, just out of the medal places but not for the lack of effort by each and every one of them. The cracks due to illness could be seen in the u/15 boys 3,500m where Mullingar was missing a few key athletes and even some of those that did run were only just over recent illness. The team was led home by Ross Killalea, followed by Philip McCartan, Adam Brady, Adam Smyth, David Burke, Callum Costello, Andrew Glennon and Conleth Mullen who all gave every ounce of effort they could muster but they had to settle for a place out of the medals on this occasion.
We had seven entered in the u/17 girls 4,000m but only three were able to compete on the day. Phoebe Bate showed why she has been selected to run for Ireland in the Celtic Cross Country in January with a polished performance and a very strong determined finish in 9th place to win a well-deserved individual medal. Also finishing well up was Meabh Killalea, followed by Karla Cunningham. Looking at the final results we can be sure that a full strength team would have won medals, very likely gold. Phoebe also won a gold medal with the Leinster team. Things went from bad to worse for the u/17 boys 5,000m where we could only field two out of six entrants but top marks for effort by Matthew Glennon and Tadhg Hunwick who ran very strongly and competed for every place as if there was a team depending on them.
The wheels finally came right off for Mullingar in the u/19 boys 6,000m, which was the last underage race where Mullingar had athletes entered. On paper the Mullingar u/19 team looked good for medal honours but was reduced to just one athlete that took to the start line. Credit to Ruairi Fagan for not letting the absence of a team bother him and he ran a very good race to round off the underage programme for Mullingar.
It was great to see Mullingar field a team in the Novice Women 4,000m where Michelle Bohan had the honour of leading the team home, followed by Jennifer Algar, Anna Broderick, Andrea Brady, Amy Mahony and Aisling Corcoran. For Andrea this was her first senior cross country race, the rest of the team were running their first cross country season, but for Aisling this was her first ever cross country race! Aisling was very well supported by her children Morgan and Cian, recovered from their earlier exploits, and they cheered for their mother every step of the way. The team finished out of the medals, but this was an extremely competitive race. The programme concluded with the largest race of the day, the Novice Men 6,000m where over 200 men dragged themselves around the mucky sloppy course. Among them was the team from Mullingar led home by Andrew Nevin finishing well up just outside the top twenty, followed by James Keegan, Gerard Gavin, Gerard Brady (another cross country debutant), Hans De Raeymaeker and Barry McDonald. The team finished out of the medal places but despite feeling understandably very tired after they can be satisfied with their efforts in truly grueling conditions.
That rounded off a day of mixed fortunes for Mullingar. Many thanks to the parents and supporters and to the coaches for their assistance and vocal support on the day from the first race right to the last. Many will now take a well earned break over the Christmas and come back refreshed for the indoor season in the New Year.
