Annual General Meeting 2021 (19th Feb)
New Committee elected at AGM to manage Club affairs in 2021
For the first time in over 45 years since the Club was founded, the Annual General Meeting on Friday evening 19th February couldn’t take place in person but had to go online due to Covid-19 restrictions. The numbers attending online were still comparable to what we would have expected if the meeting had been held in person, which is excellent and shows the real interest among members and parents of underage members on how the Club is managed and organised on their behalf.
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. Like every Club in Ireland, membership fell last year, but the foundations in Mullingar Harriers are strong and membership will recover once we are past Covid and back to normal. Despite the challenges of the last year, the Club’s finances are in a healthy state. Some important matters were discussed, including the construction of the new all-weather track which will start in the coming weeks, subject to weather and an easing of Covid restrictions on construction activities. It’s a huge financial commitment for the Club and an appeal was made to members to support a number of fundraising initiatives to be announced in the coming weeks and months, the first being a virtual 10k on St. Patrick’s day.
Due to Covid-19, last year was obviously very difficult for the Club and we’re not out of the woods yet, but most members rose to the challenge of what is called the “new normal” in terms of lone training and lack of live competition. It has been difficult for all members, but especially the adults who suffered more from closures of the Club than the juvenile members who were allowed to return to training for longer periods. The road race fixture list was all but wiped out; the indoor season was cut short; the outdoor season was very short and there was no competition for most of the underage members; and except for day one of the Westmeath Cross County, the autumn cross country season was cancelled. However, while there was a big reduction in competition last year, we still had a number of notable highlights, which were recalled at the meeting.
Among the many highlights were Claire Fagan’s 34:46.8 for 10,000m and as a measure of the quality of that time, would have placed her just outside the top ten at the European u/23 T&F Championships, where Claire had competed the year before; over 50 athletes from the Club competed in nearly 70 events over 3 days of competition at the Leinster juvenile indoors and amassed 18 medals, with Championship Records for Matthew Glennon (3k u/18 walk) and Charles Okafor (200m u/18); Jack O’Leary (Iona College) recorded a huge breakthrough 3,000m with 7:53.47, the fastest indoor 3,000m recorded by a Mullingar Harriers athlete in the Club’s history and followed this with a terrific PB of 13:44.12 for 5,000m to lead the Irish 2020 indoor ranking list in the 3,000m and 5,000m; Charles Okafor won the 100m and 200m at the AAI National Junior T&F, and it is little surprise that he has since been selected onto the National Junior 4x100m relay panel; and National titles were won by Colm Walsh (5,000m race walk), Sean McMullin (5,000m race walk) and Tom Walsh (35 pounds weight for distance) at the AAI National Masters T&F.
No doubt, 2020 was a tough year for the Club, but when members could compete, they turned in some outstanding performances. Hopefully we’ll see a return to normal service soon. The Club is strong and we can look forward to more exciting times in the year ahead, membership will recover, especially with the development of the new all-weather track.
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), Philip Burke (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, Declan Costello, Amanda Dalton, Catriona Duffy, Joan Flynn, Sean Liston, Patrick Muldoon, Clare O’Donnell, 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 online attendance and input and closed a successful AGM.
