Leinster Junior, Senior & Masters T&F 2022 (28th/29th May)
Big medal haul for Mullingar at Leinster T&F
The Leinster Junior, Senior and Masters T&F Championships were held in a sun-soaked Carlow on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th May where eleven Mullingar athletes amassed seventeen medals between them, including two Senior titles, one Junior title and seven Masters titles, making this a very rewarding week-end for Mullingar.
Mullingar got off to a flying start on Saturday morning in the master women 1,500m where the Mullingar women contested very strongly and after an excellent race, Linda Cunningham was rewarded with a silver medal in her category, Caroline Mullen took bronze in hers and Brigid McCabe took the gold and Leinster title in her category. On to the corresponding master men 1,500m where Gerard Gavin put in a great effort but had to settle for a place out of the medals in fifth place in his category but a great consolation was a new personal best of 4:44.16. Also running very well and finishing strongly was Aidan O’Donoghue to take earn the silver medal in his category, as did Nicky McCabe who also won silver in his category.
Charles Okafor would normally have several races under his belt by this time of year, but he had to delay the start to his outdoor season and finally got it underway in the junior men 100m where a second place finish in his heat earned him a place in final where he ran quicker again but finished just out of the medals in fourth place in a very close race. His time in the final was 11.06 seconds into a headwind, the fastest he has run in the first race of a season, which augers very well for the season ahead. Charles rounded off the day by running the anchor leg for the Irish junior men 4x100m relay, taking the baton in the lead and powering down the home straight to win in a very good 41.42 seconds.
Staying with the track, Paddy Boyhan tried a new event for him, the master men 400m and after negotiating the one lap sprint, was delighted to finish third in his category and win the bronze medal.
Over in the field events, Aidan O’Donoghue was having a busy day, winning his category and the Leinster title in the master men shot putt by a considerable margin, his best coming in the second of four attempts. Aidan then moved to the master men javelin where he won his second Leinster title, his best throw in the second round was good enough to put daylight between him and second place. In the master men shot putt, Paddy Boyhan took a while to get his rhythm but his best effort came in the last of four attempts to earn him another Leinster bronze medal. In the master men weight for distance, throwing the heavy 28 pound weight with one hand, Tom Walsh put together an excellent series to win the gold medal and Leinster title in his category. To put Tom’s performance in context, how many people in the Club could throw a 12kg weight nearly 8m using one hand? That’s throwing a 2 stone bag of potatoes the length of a good sized sitting room, with one hand.
The walks dominated the attention of the Mullingar athletes on Sunday morning where Andrew Glennon was untroubled and cruised to victory and the Leinster title in the junior men 5,000m walk and this was followed up with an excellent performance by Colm Walsh winning the senior men 5,000m walk giving Mullingar a senior Leinster title.
Meanwhile, at the field events, Aidan O’Donoghue leaped to gold in his category of the master men high jump, to win his fourth medal of the week-end and his third Leinster master title, while Paddy Boyhan jumped to victory in his category of the master men triple jump, a new event for Paddy, to win his third medal of the week-end, his second Leinster master title, adding another title when he won the master men long jump.
In the master men 5,000m run, Gerard Gavin showed little sign of fatigue after his personal best over 1,500m only the day before, and with a terrific display of determination and focus, accelerated hard at the bell and pushing strongly all the way to the line, was very pleased to finish second in his category and win the silver medal. The day finished with the senior men 5,000m run, where Vinny Connolly was running his first track race in ten years. Vinny transferred his excellent recent form on the road race circuit to the track and going off strong from the gun, settled into his running and with consummate ease kept up the pressure in the leading group which had reduced to just two going into the final kilometre. Accelerating hard at the bell, Vinny quickly opened a gap that increased with every stride to come home well clear and win the Leinster senior title in style to round off a terrific week-end of track and field action for Mullingar Harriers.
