Leinster Junior, Senior & Masters Indoors 2022 (26th Mar)
Magnificent Medal Haul for Mullingar Masters
At the final indoor competition of the season, the Leinster Junior, Senior and Masters Indoors held in Athlone on Saturday 26th March, eight master members of Mullingar Harriers competed and all eight of them won medals, some more than one, to yield a great haul of twelve medals over a very wide range of events from 60m to 3,000m and including jumps and throws, showing that there is more to athletics than just long distance road racing. More of our master members really should try track and field competition in the outdoor season ahead where they might just surprise themselves!
We had no junior members in action and only one senior, Shauna Leydon, who competed in a the senior 800m where she ran very well in what was a very tactical race to finish fourth, and very unlucky to miss a medal by a very narrow margin.
The first of our masters into action was Pat Boyhan in the master 60m where he was delighted to finish third in his category and win the bronze medal. Staying on the track, Pat took on the challenge of the master 3,000m race walk, a first time for him in the event, and was delighted to win his category and secure a gold medal. He wasn’t finished though, and in the master long jump, with his best jump in the third of four rounds, Pat took the gold medal to finish the day with two gold and a bronze medal. Another very busy man was Aidan O’Donoghue, who demonstrated his prowess as a multi-eventer. Starting with a third place finish in the master 60m hurdles, he then took to the master pole vault, a new event for him, and jumped to silver, and finally rounded off his day with a personal best of 1.50m in the master high jump, where there was a tie for gold and silver, with Aidan awarded the silver on count-back by virtue of more failures at lower heights, an extremely close contest. An added bonus for Aidan is that both men broke the previous Championship record. A great day’s work for Aidan.
Admitting it was always on her “bucket list” to run a 1,500m on the track, Pauline Troy was just happy to be competing in the master 1,500m but after a great performance, she was absolutely delighted to win her category and the Leinster gold medal in her first track race. No doubt, now that the bug has bitten, she’ll be keen to add to her medals in the outdoor season. Also delighted with his master 1,500m was Pauric Brady who raced hard in a very competitive race to win a well deserved silver medal.
Sean McMullin showed why he is the double European indoor master Champion with a flawless display in the master 3,000m race walk to win and secure another Leinster title. Over at the master weight for distance, Tom Walsh put together an excellent and consistent series of attempts to win his category and add to his collection of Leinster medals, and Mullingar’s growing medal haul on the day.
Gerard Gavin drew on all his track experience in the master 3,000m where he worked hard to stay with the pace set by younger master men in the mixed-age race and he was rewarded with a convincing victory in his own age category, with a new personal best of 9:54.03, an improvement by 0.74 seconds. The day ended in the medals again with Linda Cunningham in the master 400m where with a spirited performance and sticking to her task she was rewarded with a fine second place finish in her category and a Leinster silver medal.
