Annual General Meeting 2020 (17th Jan)
New Committee elected at AGM to run Club affairs in 2020
Attendance for the Club’s Annual General Meeting on Friday evening 17th January in the Annebrook House Hotel was well up on previous years, which is great to see and shows increased interest among adult members and the parents of underage members on how the Club is managed and organised on their behalf. It gave everyone present an opportunity to be reminded of the many successes enjoyed by the Club over the last year on the road, at indoor and outdoor track and field and in cross country thanks to the performances of members from the very youngest juveniles up to our most senior master athletes.
There were many highlights during 2019, really too many to list them all but seeing four Mullingar athletes competing for Ireland at the European Cross Country in Lisbon has to take pride of place. Jamie Battle, Jack O’Leary, Cormac Dalton and Claire Fagan competed with distinction, and for Claire Fagan it was particularly memorable as she was part of the Irish team that took silver medals in the u/23 race. Another notable highlight was Oisin Lane placing fourteenth in the Junior European Cup of Race Walking in Lithuania, which is a Major event and is the race walking equivalent of the European Cross Country. His time of 45 minutes 17 seconds was a new personal best and is inside the qualifying standard for the World Cup of Race Walking in Minsk in 2020.
In all, 17 Mullingar athletes competed on Irish teams in 2019. We know Jack O’Leary competed at the European XC. Cormac Dalton also represented Ireland at the Celtic International XC at the beginning of 2019, Claire Fagan represented Ireland at the European u/23 T&F, Jamie Battle at the European Junior T&F, and Oisin Lane at the EYOF and at the Youth Nations Cup. There was an International debut for Diarmuid Fagan (Schools International XC), Eoin Quinn (Youth Nations Cup), Charles Okafor (EYOF) and Gerard Gavin (British & Irish Masters XC). The others were Sean McMullin (World Masters Indoors and European Masters T&F), Eileen Kenny (World Masters Indoors, European Masters T&F and British & Irish Masters XC), Sarah Glennon (CSIT Games), Awa Fane (IFAM), Vicky Harris (European Games), Matthew Glennon (Schools International T&F and Youth Nations Cup), Brigid McCabe and Aine O’Reilly (British & Irish Masters XC).
Chairperson, Margaret Daly opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and introduced the Secretary’s report by Colm Walsh, the Treasurer’s report by Joanna Tyrrell and Competition Report by Greg Duggan. These were followed by Margaret’s own Chairperson’s Address and finally the President’s Address by Sean McMullin. Club membership remains very strong and the Club’s finances are in a healthy state. Some important issues and motions were discussed and debated, including the major track development works planned at the Club grounds, a change to the Club’s Constitution, and the increasing pressure on the coaches due to increased membership and an appeal was made for more parents to step forward and assist the existing coaches, even if only occasionally. An extra pair of hands and eyes is really all that is asked for and no coaching experience is required, as they’ll be working alongside experienced coaches, though any that wish to gain a coaching qualification will be gladly assisted.
The following were elected as officers and committee members for the coming year:
Sean McMullin (President), Breda McDonnell (Vice-President), Margaret Daly (Chairperson), Greg Duggan (Vice-Chairperson, and will take on the roles of PRO coordinator, Registrar and Competition entries), Joanna Tyrrell (Treasurer), Colm Walsh (Secretary), James Cribbin (Assistant Secretary), Tom McGrath (Minute Secretary), Pauline Quinn, Margaret Daly and Greg Duggan (Child Officers), Cormac Finnerty, Pat Muldoon Senior, Vera McCool and John Shaw (Trustees). The officers and trustees are automatically on the new committee, as are Life Vice-presidents Seamus Gibney, Cormac Finnerty, Martin Fagan, Bobbie Begley, John Mulvihill, George Bell and Christy Creagh, and will be joined by Mark Bate, Philip Burke, Declan Costello, Amanda Dalton, Catriona Duffy, Joan Flynn, Gerard Gavin, Sean Liston, Joe Ryan and Tom Wallace who were elected to the committee, and by Club Captains Aine O’Reilly and Tom McGrath.
Concluding the meeting, Margaret Daly thanked all present for their attendance and input and closed a successful AGM.
