European Team Racewalking Championships 2025 (18th May)
Aisling Lane makes her Senior International debut
The bi-annual European Team Racewalking Championships were held in the beautiful spa town of Podebrady, close to Prague in Czechia on Sunday 18th May.
Starting at 7am with the Senior 35k, it was a long day of non-stop racewalking with the elite of Europe pushing to the limit with one eye on World Championship qualification in September. In the Senior Men 35k we witnessed the unique experience of a new World record and in the Senior Women equivalent there was a great battle between the current Champion and a previous Champion.
Aisling Lane made her Senior International Debut in the Senior Women 20k. At 19 years old of age, Aisling was facing the tough challenge of competing in an event where athletes tend to reach their peak from their mid-twenties onwards. Aisling competed hard and held a very respectable pace to 5k. At 10k she still had several International athletes behind her but found the going extremely tough from there on. However, she showed true determination and battled on to the finish and had the satisfaction of finishing 31st of 34 starters. In this, the 50th anniversary year of Mullingar Harriers, Aisling has the satisfaction of becoming the 7th female Club member to progress all the way up to Senior International level, having worn the green of Ireland multiple times at underage level. Once she has recovered from this almost twelve and half mile ordeal, she can then focus on completing her qualification for the European u/23 Championships in Norway in July.
The Senior Men 20k included the youthful but experienced Matthew Glennon. Matthew held a consistent pace through 5k and on to 10k, which he reached in a little over 45 minutes. However, recent hamstring trouble came back to haunt him and so his technique suffered. The top tier International judges noted this and unfortunately this resulted in him being shown the feared red disc and he was forced to retire. Being positive, Matthew has immediately turned his attention to getting this problem cleared so that he too can focus on achieving the second qualification time that he needs for the European u/23 Championships at 10k.
In addition to the Team Championship races, the day before there was a series of open support events also held on the same course. At his own expense Matthew’s younger brother Andrew Glennon made the long journey to Podebrady under his own steam; a great example of commitment and dedication. Despite having some recent injury setbacks, Andrew gave a great account of himself and finished well up in 6th place in the u/23 Men 10k in a time of 45:50 and was delighted to also get the all clear from the judges. Well done Andrew [ML].
