Leinster Juvenile (u/14 – 19) T&F 2023 (17th & 18th June)
Despite having to contend with extremely changeable weather over both days of the Leinster Juvenile T&F in Tullamore on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th June, the Mullingar athletes rose to the occasion and excelled themselves, finishing the long weekend of competition with an impressive total of 10 medals, and 2 more of our athletes finished just out of the medals in fourth place, so Mullingar will be well represented at the National finals in July.
It might have been mild but it was wet and miserable first thing on Saturday morning but that didn’t deter our race walkers who simply dominated their events, winning four medals from four races, reinforcing Mullingar’s formidable reputation in race walking. It was well deserved victories for John Glennon (u/17 boys 3,000m walk), Aisling Lane (u/19 girls 3,000m walk), Matthew Glennon (u/19 boys 5,000m walk) in a new Championship Record of 22:34.42, bettering the previous set in 1998 by nearly 14 seconds, and Daniel Glennon (u/15 boys 2,000m walk).
Thankfully, the rain stopped in time for the sprints and the sun began to come out. Mullingar was well represented by Sean Higgins, Hakeem Yonta and Ciaran Mulvany who contested the 80m u/14, Aaron Conroy the 100m u/15 and Parnod Bose the 100m u/18, all competing well but not advancing from the very competitive heats. Finn Roddy won his heat of the 100m u/16 with ease to advance to the final where he simply blasted from the blocks with his customary fast start and powered to the finish to win the silver medal and add to Mullingar’s growing medal tally. Aaron Conroy was back in action later in the day for the long jump u/15 but finished out of the medal places.
Moving to the 1,500m races, it was great to see Scott Cogan simply cruise to victory in the 1,500m u/14, winning by a good margin and able to ease off at the finish and enjoy crossing the line to win the Leinster title. Also competing well in the race were Hakeem Yonta and Cormac McGrath. Conor Walsh made up a lot of ground in the closing stages of the 1,500m u/15, moving rapidly through the field on the home straight going quickly from seventh to fifth and closing down rapidly on fourth place but unfortunately the line came to soon and he finished in fifth place. Conor Mulvany contested the 1,500m u/16 but finished out of the medals. We were back in the medals in the 1,500m u/18 where Conor Sherwin put in a great performance, finishing strongly to win the gold medal. We finished with the 1,500m u/19 where Ross Killalea ran a fine race to finish second and win the silver medal.
Chloe Duggan raced in the 300m u/14 finishing second in her race but the event was a series of time trials and Chloe’s time was just hundredths of a second outside the medals in fourth place. Hakeem Yonta raced for the third time on the same day where he finished fifth in the 300m u/14.
Mullingar interest on the day finished with the 2,000m steeplechase u/17 where Ailbhe O’Farrell had to endure very wet and miserable conditions as the rain returned with a vengeance, but she stuck to her task and was rewarded with the silver medal in a close finish.
It was raining again on Sunday morning when Chloe Duggan ran a brilliant heat of the 800m u/14 to finish fifth in a new personal best time to advance to the final. Lisa O’Brien competed well in her heat but didn’t qualify to join Chloe in the final. Txema Lozano contested the 800m u/16 but didn’t advance to the final later in the day.
By the time the programme came to the 200m sprints, the weather had changed dramatically and it was very hot and sunny, ideal for sprinters. However, there was no medal joy for Mullingar. Daniel Horohoe and Morgan Isdell took on the 200m u/14 but didn’t advance to the final, likewise for Barry Walsh in the 200m u/17, but Finn Roddy came very close in the 200m u/16 where he finished fourth, missing a place in the final by mere hundredths of a second. Daniel Horohoe and Morgan Isdell rounded off their day in the 75m hurdles u/14, which was a straight final, where Daniel placed fourth to secure a place in the National final but Morgan Isdell finished out of the medal places.
In between her heat and final of the 800m, Chloe Duggan competed in the u/14 long jump but despite jumping a personal best, finished out of the medal places. By late afternoon it was very hot and sunny, tough conditions for distance running but that’s what faced Ross Killalea in the 3,000m u/19 but he’s made of stern stuff and put in a fine performance to finish second and win a silver medal. Chloe Duggan finished the day with her final of the 800m u/14, digging deep in the tough hot conditions and despite running nearly as quick as in her heat and a very strong finish, had to settle for a place out of the medals.
