National Senior T&F 2025 (2nd & 3rd Aug)
It was great to see Mullingar Harriers represented by twelve athletes at the National Senior T&F Championships in Santry on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd August, each giving their all on the National stage and winning four medals, another two coming very close in fourth place, others recorded personal bests, but every one of them performing brilliantly in the Mullingar colours.
Having finished his season with a memorable performance at the European u/23 Championships in Norway, Matthew Glennon could not resist the call to return to the fray one more time and competed in the Men 10,000m Race Walk on Saturday morning in warm and sticky conditions, a real challenge for distance athletes. Due to the extended racing season and a lot of top International events happening in recent weeks, it was a relatively weakened field and numbers were down this year. With one of Ireland’s Tokyo Olympians dominating the race, Matthew seized the opportunity to win a silver medal and while he would have wished for a faster time, the recent break took its toll on him in the second half of the race but to his credit his technique held up to the end. Now he can take a well-earned break satisfied with his National Senior silver medal.
Next in action for Mullingar was Aisling Lane who lined up with a full field of the best racewalkers in Ireland in the Women 5,000 Race Walk. By one kilometre, a pack of four had drawn away from the rest of the field. While even pacing is the best known strategy for distance events, the pack members were ultra-competitive and the lead changed hands a few times as various surging strategies were employed to try and break each other. By half way, the final finishing order had more or less been sorted and Aisling found herself having to settle into second place. While everyone suffered from the early aggressive tactics, Aisling fought to close the gap on the winner, but also having to fight hard to increase her lead over her pursuers who never let up either. That was how it remained with Aisling winning her second National Senior silver medal while still only age 19. A well-earned break now beckons for Aisling after a great season of personal bests, Championship records, and a Senior International vest while still a teenager.
Though a master athlete, Aidan O’Donoghue competed in the Men Javelin, where he was pleased with his overall performance, throwing right up to his best and will have learned so much competing against the best senior javelin throwers in Ireland. Drawn in the first of three heats of the Men 800m, Eoin Quinn timed his finish to perfection to finish in second place and automatic qualification for Sunday’s final. In the Women 1,500m Aimee Wallace cruised through her heat to qualify comfortably for Sunday’s final. We finished Saturday with the Men 400m where qualification was the eight fastest times over five extremely competitive heats. Kyle Faherty went out very hard in his heat, going through 200m and then 300m well up with the leaders and though he fell back a bit on the home straight, a new personal best of 52.11 seconds was just reward for a great effort. Patrick Leydon also ran a great race in his heat to finish strong in fourth place in 49.02 seconds, only marginally outside his best, which he set a year ago, so another great effort on the National stage.
Sunday was warm and humid, not ideal for distance races but Jamie Wallace stuck to his task in the 3,000m for u/20 men, which was run as part of the senior programme. Going with the early pace, Jamie quickly found himself in the early breakaway group of three. A big injection of pace midway saw the eventual winner pull clear and Jamie was left to fight for the silver medal. He continued to race well and it was only in the closing stages that he had to surrender the silver but came home in third in 8:43.23 to win the bronze, adding another National medal to Mullingar’s haul.
Given the huge entry for the men 5,000m there was two races and John Ryan and Ian McCormack were assigned to the Men 5,000m B Race, which was very competitive. John was right up with the leading group for most of the race, with Ian leading the chasing group for a long time. The pace really picked in the closing laps and John lost a few places but finished strong in an excellent eight place in 15:20.31, with Ian following him in to finish strong in 16:10.46.
The Men 5,000m A Race was packed with some of the best distance runners in Ireland, including Jack O’Leary and Cormac Dalton prominent throughout the race and setting the pace and leading it for most. With three laps to go, the pace increased and a group of four broke clear and raced hard to the finish, Jack in third and Cormac in fourth, but keeping right in the mix for medals. It was only on the final lap that the leading two began to open a gap and though Jack and Cormac chased hard the gap was too big at the finish and they crossed in third and fourth, Jack in 13:41.47 to win bronze and Cormac in 13:43.65 to take fourth. This was a terrific race that showcased the very best of Irish distance running and it was brilliant to see Mullingar men competing at the highest level.
The final of the Men 800m was always going to be a showdown between Mark English (Finn Valley AC) and Cian McPhillips (UCD AC) but Eoin Quinn settled quickly into his running in what turned out to be a cagey tactical race, which actually suited Eoin. Coming into the finish straight for the final sprint to the line, Eoin was right in the mix and chased Mark and Cian all the way to the line, but in a close race he finished just out of the medals in fourth place in 1:50.85 but knows that fourth in a National 800m final in a tremendous result considering he isn’t long back racing after a prolonged absence due to injury.
The final race with a Mullingar interest was the Women 1,500m final where Aimee Wallace set our hearts racing with medal expectation early on as she closely tracked the leaders in third place in a breakaway group of three. However, it wasn’t to be and despite her great efforts Aimee was reeled in over the final lap, eventually finishing seventh in 4:24.44 but can take so much pride from the race and being so competitive and brave in an exciting National final [ML/GD].
