Autumn Open XC & National Juvenile XC Relays 2025 (19th Oct)
Heavy overnight rain took a while to clear on Sunday morning 19th October and it kept raining on and off for a few hours but stopped just before the first race at the Autumn Open International Cross Country Festival & National Juvenile Cross Country Relays, held at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown. Despite the rain, underfoot conditions were surprisingly good for running.
The day started with the cross country relays where Mullingar Harriers stormed to victory in the first race of the day, the u/11 girls 4 x 500m relay, leading the race from start to finish. Emily Rose Coyne led the team out with a very quick first 500m, before handing the baton to Cara Hickey who ran strongly over the next section of the course to hold onto the lead. Maisie Walsh was the team’s third runner and she maintained the girls leading position, before handing over to the anchor athlete, Mia Barry. Mia fought hard the whole way to the finish to claim a very well deserved first place. This team all put in fantastic individual performances and worked very well together to claim Mullingar Harriers first ever National Juvenile Cross Country Relay title. Along with our winning team, Mullingar also had two other teams in the race, Tara Coyne, Heather Kelly, Sophie Whitelaw and Laurie Keane made up a team, and Adele Bertolo, Rachel Robinson, Sophie Doran and Cliodhna Fitzpatrick made up the other. All the girls ran very well and all twelve girls are to be commended for their performances and achievements at National level. Six of these girls are underage again next year and will have gained valuable Championship, experience which will stand to them in future races.
The u/15 girls 4 x 1,000m team had three girls stepping up an age group, Amelie G Kelly, Chloe Bell and Clodagh Keane. They led the team out over the first three legs moving around the field between twelfth to seventh position, but never far off the leading places. Lily Walsh was in ninth place leaving the changeover zone for the final leg, and with a gap of over 100m to the lead pack, it was going to require something special to work her way onto the podium. Setting off at a blistering pace onto the 1,000m loop, Lily worked her way into second place just running out of track before crossing the line within a second of the winning team. After four strong legs the girls won National silver medals, which should give them a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.
The u/15 boys 4 x 1,000m team took to the line knowing they too had a chance of success, and Oisin Clarke gave them the best chance possible, leading the race after the first leg. John McManus moved up an age for this race, and Robert Whelan was making his debut at this level for the club. They kept the team in contention throughout, but more experienced teams managed to move ahead with just enough of a gap to hold off a fast chasing Antonio Bertolo closing fast on the last leg. The boys eventually finishing a very creditable 5th place. With a couple of team members unavailable to run on the day, this team is one to watch this cross country season with more successful days ahead. Well done to all our juveniles who ran today. Cross country is a team event and relays emphasis just how important each athlete’s contribution is.
The adult races in the Autumn Open Cross Country took place after the juvenile relays. This year, the event was part of the World Athletics Cross Country Tour, as a Bronze tour event. As in previous years, the races were also used as the trial for the Irish teams to compete at the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country in Leeds in mid-November, so competition was fierce, as master athletes fought for a place on teams.
The first race was the women 6,000m, which was a combined race for u/20, Senior & Master Women & for Master Men over 65 years, with a combined total of over 120 on the start line. Aimee Wallace was running very well at the front of the u/20 race before she unfortunately had to withdraw following an injury. Sinead Whitelaw was our first finisher, placing well in her master category but out of the top three places that would earn her automatic selection on the Irish team. Next in was Maura Dervin, who placed 3rd in her master category to claim an automatic and very well-deserved place on the Irish team, followed by Brigid McCabe who finished strongly in 2nd place in her master category to secure her place on the team too. Sean McMullin also secured a well-deserved place on the Irish team when he finished 2nd place in his master category, while Nicky McCabe put in a good performance to finish 5th in his master category, unlucky to finish outside the selection places.
The final race of the day was combined u/20, Senior and Masters Men race, where the u/20 men ran 6,000m and the senior and master men ran 8,000m, and we saw more Mullingar athletes among the very big field of nearly 170 competing on the challenging course. Jamie Wallace ran very well to finish well up in the u/20 men race. John Ryan worked hard throughout the 8,000m course to finish strong in the Senior men race, followed home by Vinny Connolly and Diarmuid Fagan. Kevin Moore showed his class to finish 5th in his master category and put himself in contention for selection for the Irish masters team. Dan Morris also ran well and finished two places behind Kevin in the same master category. Eddie Newman and Eddie Lynch both raced well to finish 5th and 7th respectively in their master category [CW/SW].
