Leinster Novice & Masters Road Championships 2024 (4th May)
Leinster Novice Road Title for Matthew Glennon
A decision taken after last year’s Leinster Novice & Masters Road Championships to target the event this year saw Mullingar nearly double the number competing, with a very big squad of 39 descending on Gowran, Co. Kilkenny on Saturday afternoon 4th May. After four excellent competitive races, Mullingar amassed 5 individual master medals, 4 sets of Club team medals and 4 sets of County team medals, but the icing on the cake came in the final race of the afternoon, when Matthew Glennon won the novice men title, with James Keegan on his heels in second place. A great feature of the day was the way the Mullingar squad gathered in a large group near the finish area to cheer their Club mates on in every race.
The course in Gowran comprises 1,500m laps, with a downhill start followed by a gradual long climb, an excellent course for a Championship. Gowran AC again proved excellent hosts for the event with every facility provided, including a large hall for registration, bag drop and medal presentation, toilets, public address, lead car, lots of race marshals and stewards, and plenty of refreshments after.
First race was the Master Women 3,000m, covering two laps. Finishing well up overall to lead the Mullingar women home was Aine O’Reilly (3rd in her category), followed in by Mary Stuart (1st in her category), Criona Reid (just missing a medal , with 4th place in her category), Claire Ross, Caroline Mullen, Linda Cunningham, Emer O’Hanlon (4th in her category), Michelle O’Halloran, Brigid McCabe (1st in her category), Terri Greene and Pauline Troy (2nd in her category). The o/35 team finished a very respectable 6th Club and 6th County, but top marks to the o/50 team of Mary, Criona and Caroline, with great support from Emer, Michelle, Brigid and Pauline, who finished 1st Club and 1st County.
Nearly 100 men lined up for the largest race of the afternoon, the Master Men 6,000m. With 4 laps of the course, everyone got plenty of encouragement as they passed the finish area. Having the honour of leading the big Mullingar squad of 17 men home was Alan Crowley in a terrific 14th place overall (4th in his category, very unlucky to miss an individual medal by a mere two seconds). Following Alan in was Eoin Clarke, Eddie Newman (1st in his category), Gerard Gavin, Evan McCormack, Steven Underwood, Ollie Geoghegan, James Cribbin, Tom McGrath, Darren Carroll, Jason McKevitt, Mark Geoghegan, Liam McGlynn, Paul Ginnell, Brendan Rice, Aidan O’Donoghue and Martin Mullen. The o/35 team placed 4th Club, very unlucky to miss team bronze by just six points, and a very creditable 6th County, but no trouble for the o/50 team of Eddie, Gerard and James, with great support from Tom, Mark, Liam, Paul, Aidan and Martin, who finished 1st Club by a distance and also took team bronze medals for 3rd County.
We knew we had a very strong team in the Novice Women 3,000m race and were quietly confident of team success. Always in touch with the leading group throughout, the two lap race seemed to fly by very quickly and Niamh McEntegart stormed to an terrific 5th place finish, with Susan Glennon on her heels in 6th. Attention then turned to Jacintha Reilly and Aisling Farrell to complete the team. Cheered excitedly to the finish, Jacintha finished very strong and with Aisling providing the vital fourth score, the team finished 2nd Club, an agonising one point behind the gold medal winners. The Mullingar team also finished 2nd County to add to the Mullingar medal haul.
The final race of the afternoon was the Novice Men 6,000m where Mullingar was always to the fore throughout the four lap race. The lead group gradually reduced to six men, four of them from Mullingar. Matthew Glennon timed his final push to perfection, pulling clear in the final sprint to win the Novice title, but pushed all the way by James Keegan in 2nd place. Seeing Ian McCormack finish 4th and John Whitelaw 6th, it was no surprise that the Mullingar men finished 1st Club by a huge margin. With great team support and packing from Stephen Campbell, Kedagh Geoghegan and Robert Yorke, the men finished 2nd County, only four points away from gold, nicely capping off the very considerable medal haul for Mullingar, and leaving everyone in high spirits for the journey home [GD].
