“Battle of Clontarf” 10 Mile 2026 – incorp. Athletics Leinster 10 Mile (3rd Aug)

Mullingar masters “battle” to a big medal haul in Raheny

Due to essential maintenance work in St. Anne’s Park, Raheny at Easter, the Raheny Shamrock AC “Battle of Clontarf” 10 Mile, which incorporated the Athletics Leinster 10 Mile Championship, had to be rescheduled from its usual Easter Monday date to the August Bank Holiday Monday 3rd August. Very warm and humid conditions on the morning made what is already a testing race even more of a battle for the 322 finishers. Mullingar Harriers was well represented with full men’s and women’s teams at the start line.

The first home for Mullingar was a determined Eddie Newman in 61:49, winning the Leinster gold medal in his master category. Kieran Nolan ran strongly in 67:15, as did Gerard Gavin (69:42). Mary Stuart could be relied on to lead the women’s team home (73:25) and won her Leinster master category with ease. Also running well was Barry White (76:35), Zane Smukste (77:51) with a fine fourth place in her master category and just missing an individual medal, Paul Ginnell (79:11) and Mark Dunne (80:18). With the temperature rising with each mile, Linda Cunningham (83:17), Claire Lennon Gavin (86:33) and Kelly Dunne (87:29) fought hard all the way to the finish line. Joan Mulvihill had a very solid, steady run, finishing in 90:31 and was thrilled when she was awarded the Leinster bronze medal in her master category.

When the team scores were sorted, Mullingar really proved their strength and depth. The o/35 master women team of Mary, Zane and Linda was 2nd Club and awarded Leinster silver medals. The full team of Mary, Zane, Linda, Claire, Kelly and Joan finished 2nd Senior County. The o/50 master men team of Eddie, Kieran and Gerard took the gold medals for 1st Club. Our full team of Eddie, Kieran, Gerard, Barry, Paul and Mark was 2nd Senior County and also awarded the Leinster silver medals, meaning everyone who ran received at least one Leinster medal. There was a very impressive 21 Leinster medals in total awarded to these 12 athletes, who all placed in the top 10 in their respective age categories among the Leinster competitors [LC].