Leinster u/20, Senior & Masters Indoors 2026 (31st Jan)
The Leinster u/20, Senior & Masters Indoors in TUS Athlone on Saturday 31st January and Sunday 1st February really brought out the best in the small squad of Mullingar athletes that competed, winning 17 medals, recording 3 Championship Records, and 2 personal bests.
Aidan O’Donoghue got his Master Pentathlon campaign underway in style with the 60m hurdles first thing on Saturday morning, placing second in his category. He followed this up with second place in the long jump, first in the shot put, second in the high jump, before closing out with the 1,000m after a long day of competition, finishing second in the 1,000m and second overall in the pentathlon, to win the silver medal. Finn Roddy had an early start too placing third in his heat of the 60m u/20 in a PB of 7.37 seconds. In the final he blasted from the blocks, running even faster in 7.34 seconds, a true sign of a Championship competitor and crashed through the line out the medals but a fine sixth place.
It was only in the final lap of the 1,500m u/20 that Eleanor Kiernan had to surrender the silver medal but she was still delighted to run in third place in 4:54.12 to take the bronze medal. You’d never know that Conor Sherwin hadn’t competed indoors since he was 12 years of age and he put in a terrific performance in the Senior 1,500m to finish third in 4:05.76 and add another medal, bronze, to Mullingar’s rapidly growing medal haul.
Mullingar’s reputation in the race walks is legendary, and it was immediately obvious which Club is the strongest in Leinster in the older age groups as the Mullingar racewalkers made a strong start to the new season with impressive displays of attacking ability. First into battle was Aisling Lane in the Women 3,000m Walk, which was a combined race for u/20, senior and masters. Going straight into the lead from the gun, Aisling showed her class as she stretched this lead on every lap to eventually lap the entire field bar one and win in another satisfying sub-14 minute performance of 13:57.88. A good confidence booster for Aisling for the season ahead.
In the Men 3,000m Walk, which was a combined race for u/20, senior and masters, Mullingar had four participants – the Glennon brothers, Matthew (senior), John and Daniel (u/20), alongside master athlete Colm Walsh. Again, straight from the gun it was a sea of maroon and white singlets dominating as each of the Glennon brothers took it in turn to lead through the early laps. As the race progressed the volume of years training became clear as Matthew Glennon, the eldest, took control of the senior race with John Glennon taking full control of the u/20 race, followed by his younger brother Daniel Glennon in second place in the same u/20 race. In the masters race Colm Walsh walked confidently and safely throughout as he established his authority in his age group. This was the order to the end as Matthew Glennon finished first in 11:53.46 and a new Championship Record by five seconds. In similar fashion John Glennon too set a new u/20 Championship Record, but smashing the previous by almost two minutes with a classy time of 12:22.16. Not far behind came Daniel Glennon in second place who was also inside the previous record with a great time of 12:46.93. And, you guessed it, Colm Walsh too strode to a new Championship Record in his master category with a scintillating 15:55.06, bettering the previous by over sixteen seconds. Colm admitted to being absolutely shattered after the race, but that what it takes to win and set new records. A very satisfying day for our race walkers.
We moved back to the 200m u/20 sprint heats where Finn Roddy raced to fourth in his heat, narrowly missing a place in the final to join Kyle Faherty who cruised to victory in his heat in a new indoor PB of 22.93 seconds. With the fastest time in the heats, Kyle drew the favoured outside lane in the final and blasted to victory leading from gun to tape to win the Leinster title in 22.93 seconds again to equal his personal best for the second time in an hour.
While there was lots of action to follow on the track, Mullingar was also prominent in the field events. Ramona Carey was happy to get her indoor season underway and expressed satisfaction with her silver medal in the master shot put. For Paddy Boyhan it was an extremely rewarding day. His performances in the master high jump, long jump and triple jump, winning all three to become a triple Leinster Champion, were very good when measured against the Championship Records in these events, so Paddy can be very proud of his achievements.
In order to reduce the programme on Saturday, this year the 3,000m races were moved to Sunday 1st February and held between the morning and afternoon sessions at the Leinster Juvenile Indoor Relays & selected Field Events [GD/ML].
