Leinster Juvenile Indoors 2024 (2nd/3rd Mar)
The Leinster Juvenile Indoors were held in Athlone on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd March where despite the strong juvenile membership at the moment, Mullingar had a smaller squad than we’d expect and certainly what we’re used to in the past. A smaller squad inevitably led to fewer medals but that didn’t take from everyone’s determination and efforts to do their very best against strong opposition. Of the 40 that had entered, 36 competed over the two days, some in 2 or 3 events, winning 5 medals, two more finished in 4th place, and many more reached their finals. To put this is perspective, only a few short years ago in 2019, Mullingar had a squad of 67 and they won 31 medals.
We nearly take it for granted that our race walkers will excel but it comes on the back of great coaching by Michael Lane and a lot of the hard work at training. With technically excellent performances on Saturday morning, it was little surprise when our race walkers again emerged victorious. Daniel Glennon won the u/16 boys 1,500m race walk in 6:59.57, a new Championship Record, bettering the previous record set way back in 2002. His older brother, John Glennon, made it look easy in the u/18 boys 1,500m race walk to also win and take gold.
Kyle Faherty qualified comfortably from his heat of the u/18 boys 400m in the morning and lined up for the final in the afternoon as a hot medal favourite. He didn’t disappoint, running quicker than in the heat, to take third place and adding a bronze medal to the Mullingar medal haul.
Moving to the middle distance events, Jamie Wallace put in a good effort in the u/18 boys 1,500m as he continues his return to full fitness but had to settle for a place out of the medals. In a very close race with less than a second separating the top five, Philip McCartan ran an excellent race to finish 5th in the u/19 boys 1,500m, narrowly missing the fourth automatic qualification place to the All-Ireland finals.
The u/12 boys 60m had such a big entry that it needed five heats. Cillian Gavin placed third in his heat and just missed qualifying for the semi-finals but well done for a great effort. The u/13 girls 60m needed a whopping eight heats where Clodagh Keane cruised to second place in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals but wasn’t to be joined by Lily McDonald or Liadan Gavin, though Liadan came very close, narrowly missing out in her heat by mere hundredths of a second. Clodagh ran even quicker in the semi-final but such was the standard of competition, she didn’t advance to the final. There were five heats of the u/13 boys 60m where Harry Flanagan raced to a fine third place in his heat but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to advance to the semi-finals. Aoibhe Martyn blasted to third place in her heat, one of five heats, of the u/14 girls 60m to advance to the semi-finals where she battled well but didn’t advance to the final. The sprint programme continued with the u/15 girls 60m where Hui Fen Bartley contested the very competitive heats but didn’t advance to the semi-finals. Likewise, Aaron Conroy and Andrew Lillis ran well in the u/16 boys 60m but didn’t advance from the heats. Finn Roddy was drawn in the quickest heat of the u/17 boys 60m where he finished third in a time that would have won any of the other two heats, but quick enough to advance to the final where he blasted from the blocks and crossed the line in 5th place in an extremely close finish where you could have thrown a blanket over second to fifth place, with Finn missing a medal by just two hundredths of a second. As a measure of the competitiveness of the race, the bronze medal was decided by one just thousandth of a second, and you don’t get closer than that. Quyen Bartley was drawn in a very fast heat of the u/18 girls 60m where she battled well but didn’t advance to the final. Parnad Bose competed well in the extremely competitive heats of the u/19 boys 60m but didn’t advance to the final, though a new PB by over half a second is some consolation.
It wasn’t all track action and over in the field event, Chloe Bell (u/13 girls long jump), Donnacha Doyle (u/13 boys long jump), Hui Fen Bartley (u/15 girls long jump) and Finn Jacob (u/14 boys shot put) competed well and enjoyed the competition despite winning no medals.
Returning early to Athlone on Sunday morning, Finn Roddy ran brilliantly in the u/17 boys 200m to finish second in his heat but with only the winner of the four heats guaranteed to advance along with the next two fastest times, Finn missed out on a place in the final by a very close margin but top marks for effort and a very determined run.
There were four heats of the u/12 girls 600m with only the top three in each heat guaranteed a place in the final. Aoife Dunne ran well in her heat but didn’t advance to the final and Katie Bohan raced hard to finish fourth in her heat, narrowly missing qualification for the final. There were three heats of the u/12 boys 600m where Conor Gavin finished fast in third place in his heat to qualify automatically for the final but despite a great effort he finished out of the medals in the final. With four heats of the u/13 girls 600m, qualification was tough but rising to the challenge, Chloe Bell finished second in her heat and Amelie Kelly fourth in hers to advance to the final, but unfortunately despite running well, Liadan Gavin and Clodagh Keane didn’t advance from their heats. The final was run at a fierce pace from the gun and despite the best efforts of Chloe and Amelie they finished out of the medal places. Harry Flanagan and Gareth Glennon cruised comfortably through their respective heats of the u/13 boys 600m to qualify for the final. Gareth really stepped it up in the final, running much quicker than the heat to finish an excellent 5th place, not far off the medals, with Harry finishing strongly behind him.
Moving up to the 800m, with five heats of the u/14 girls 800m, only the winner was guaranteed to advance to the final, but there were also places for the next seven fastest times and with Lily Walsh finishing second in her heat but with a very quick time, she advanced easily to the final. Unfortunately, no such luck for Aoibhe Martyn and Muirin Dunne, though they competed well in their heats. In the final, Lily put in a terrific effort and running quicker than in the heat was very unlucky to finish just out of the medals in 4th place, only a half second away from bronze. Antonio Bertolo and Cillian Galvin safely won their heats of the u/14 boys 800m to qualify for the final but weren’t to be joined by Oisin Clarke despite a good effort in his heat. Unfortunately, Antonio was unable to run in the final, but in a terrific race, Cillian came out on top with a superbly measured run to win in a close finish. Running well in their heats but not advancing to the finals were Lisa O’Brien (u/15 girls 800m), Daniel Horohoe and Evan Nohilly (u/15 boys 800m), Daniel Glennon and Conor Walsh (u/16 boys 800m), Conor coming extremely close in his heat but just missing out. Conor Liston finished third in his heat of the u/18 boys 800m to qualify automatically for the final but Jamie Wallace finished fifth in his heat and just missed out on a place in the final. Picking the perfect time to break two minutes for the first time, Conor stormed to second place in a great finish to win what turned out to be the final medal of the day for Mullingar, crossing the line in 1:58.15, a PB by 3 seconds and the first time he has run sub-two for 800m. The u/19 boys 800m was a straight final where Philip McCartan put in a great effort and deserved something out of it but after a very fast competitive race he had to settle for a place out the medals.
Over in the field events, Donnacha Doyle leaped to a fine 4th place in the u/13 boys high jump, just 3cm off a medal. Also competing with great enthusiasm in the field events but finishing out of the medals was Conor Gavin and Cillian Gavin (u/12 boys long jump), Oisin Clarke (u/14 boys long jump) and Aaron Conroy (u/16 long jump).
Cillian Gavin rounded off his day in the u/12 boys 60m hurdles where he raced well over the barriers in his heat but just missed a place in the final. Clodagh Keane was extremely unlucky not to qualify from her heat of the u/13 girls 60m hurdles, missing a place in the final by just three thousandths of a second, almost impossible to judge only for the photo finish camera. Liadan Gavin and Amelie Kelly made great efforts in their heats but didn’t advance either. In the heats of the u/13 boys 60m hurdles, Harry Flanagan was unlucky to miss out by one place, but Donnacha Doyle qualified from his heat though elected not to run in the later final. Aoibhe Martyn was also very unlucky to narrowly miss out in her heat of the u/14 girls 60m hurdles, finishing just one place off qualification for the final. The u/15 boys 60m hurdles was a straight final where Daniel Horohoe raced to a fine 5th place finish, no medal but delighted with his effort. The u/16 boys 60m hurdles was also a straight final and featured Aaron Conroy who ran very well but finished out of the medals. Also competing well over the 60m hurdles but not advancing to the final was Isabella Condon (u/15 girls 60m hurdles).
Medals won or not, Championship Records and personal bests aside, well done to everyone that competed for Mullingar Harriers, giving their very best over the two days [GD].
