2014 News & Reports

December

Newtownforbes 5k

Near to home, a good number from the Club decided to run off the Christmas turkey on St. Stephen’s day by running in the annual “Shane Brennan 5k” in Newtownforbes, Co. Longford, which drew nearly 370 competitors despite the awful cold, wet and windy conditions. Too many from the Club took part to name them all without fear of missing someone. None won prizes but it was really more about survival than prizes, and they were all just glad to finish the run and get out of the cold to avoid hypothermia and without catching pneumonia.

Fields of Athenry 10k

The weather on St. Stephen’s day was very cold, wet and windy in Galway for the annual Athenry AC 10k. The rain poured all day and was so bad that the course was flooded in paces in the second half but that didn’t prevent nearly 1,200 completing the course. It takes a tough disposition to run is conditions like this, let alone run well, but Michael Gibson-Brabazon was pleased to finish 9th overall in 34:04, followed by Eddie Newman in 36:07, to place 15th overall and win his master age category, and finally Michael Conway recording a PB of 39:40. Well done to the hardy Mullingar trio.

AIT Baseline Indoor T&F Meeting

Building on a successful inaugural event last year, the AIT Baseline Indoor T&F Meeting at the Athlone International Indoor Arena on Wednesday evening 17th December attracted more than double the number of entries of last year. A low key event, its purpose is to give athletes the opportunity to test themselves in advance of the indoor competitions to gauge progress in training. Obviously, many athletes wouldn’t feel race fit yet, so the programme included several non-standard distances often used in training to assess fitness, such as 150m, 300m and 600m.

Dolores Whyte was delighted with her 60m race, recording a time of 9.22 seconds, which is a PB and will give her confidence for the Master Indoors in the New Year where she’ll be aiming to win medals again. Vicky Harris posted 7.87 seconds in her 60m, not far off her PB and later in the evening smashed her 150m PB with an impressive 18.84 seconds. Mervyn Harris looked strong in the 300m and was pleased to finish in 36.10 seconds, not far off his PB and still looked very fresh after his effort. One of the performances of the evening was Shane Hughes in the 3,000m where he finished in 8:39.96, smashing his PB of 8:54 by some distance, and all the more impressive considering he is coming off a very successful cross country season and he was running on a tight indoor track, so he’ll be one to watch indoors in the New Year. Also looking very impressive with a show of strength and pace was Shane Fitzsimons in the 600m where he won in 1:22.58 to mark a welcome return to track competition. Laura Whitelaw was also coming off a cross country season and in her first time competing in a senior race, she impressed in the 600m with a time of 1:41.91. This was an excellent meeting for the Mullingar athletes, with each able to take something very positive back to the training track, as they continue to prepare for the indoor season in the New Year.

European Junior Cross Country

Aged 17, so eligible for two more years, Jack O’Leary was very realistic and downplayed his prospects in advance of competing in his first Major Championship on Sunday 14th December in Samokov, Bulgaria at the European Junior Cross Country Championships, knowing that really it was all about exposure to this level of competition and gaining as much valuable experience as possible. As it transpired, Jack had more than enough reason to celebrate afterwards on what was a terrific performance for him. The course was tough and undulating, with mud and snow, and at altitude for good measure, but Jack took it all in his stride and with characteristic grit and determination he stuck to his task to finish third score for the Irish team, well above his pre-race expectations. His placing of 61st overall was excellent on his debut at this level, and helped Ireland to 12th place in the team standings. It’s a big step up from juvenile competition to European level but Jack proved in Bulgaria that he thrives on the challenge of big competition and we hope Bulgaria was the beginning of a long International career at the top level for Jack.

AAI Novice & Juvenile Uneven Ages XC (Santry)

In Santry demesne on Sunday 7th December at the AAI Novice and Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships, the Juvenile cross country season concluded on a high for some of the Club’s athletes, in particular Shane Hughes, who picked up his third National Title of the year. Three Mullingar teams also won medals and we had another 5 top-twelve finish places and 9 athletes won medals with Leinster teams. Altogether, this was an excellent end to 2014 for the Club.

Phoebe Bate really made her mark on the National stage in the 1,500m for girls under 11 with a very impressive finish, closing down hard on the long time leader in the finishing straight to take 2nd place and lead the Leinster team to 2nd place. Despite good support from Aoife McGouran, Grace Loughrey, Meghan Bares, Ella Ennis Kelly, Anna McCartan and with Sinead Seery (AIT AC), Hannah McGuire and Aoife O’Connor of East Westmeath AC also contributing, the Club and County teams finished out of the medals. Grace though also secured a silver medal as part of the Leinster team.

In the 2,500m for girls u/13, Beatrice Drummond worked hard and was rewarded with an excellent 6th place to earn an individual medal and she also won a silver medal with the Leinster team. Running well in support was Caoimhe Brady, Jennifer Fidgeon, Ciara Smith, Francesca Walshe, Meabh Killalea and Caoimhe Monaghan. Running on the Westmeath team, Roisin Mulvihill (AIT AC) finished between Jennifer and Ciara but despite her valuable contribution, and that of Aoife Campbell (AIT AC), Westmeath finished out of the medals too.

Mullingar finally got in the team medals in the 2,500m for boys u/13 with Andrew Shaw leading the team home in 11th place to earn an individual medal and also a bronze medal with Leinster, but more importantly with great support and team packing by Ciaran Luby (also winning a bronze medal with Leinster), Colin Smith, Oisin Lane, Eoin Quinn, Ruairi Fagan, Paddy Rafferty and Lorcan Mullen the team finished 2nd Club to win silver medals. The County team finished 4th, just out of the medals. Unfortunately, Brian Farrell was forced to stop on the second lap when he slipped and sustained a nasty spike injury. A painful end to his race but with some first aid he was patched up and hopefully he won’t be out of action for too long.

Keeping with the leading pack throughout, Susan Glennon worked hard and was delighted to finish 5th in the 3,500m for girls u/15 to lead the team of Aoife Darby, Andrea Brady, Laura Shaw, Sarah Glennon, Rachel Cornally, Elysia Greene, Daria Fidgeon and Caoimhe Gaffney to 3rd Club and 5th County, winning bronze medals and keeping Mullingar on the team score board.

Improving with every race since recovering from illness earlier in the season, Jack Moran was very unlucky to finish 13th, just out of the individual medal places, in the 3,500m for boys u/15. Some consolation though was winning a silver medal with the Leinster team. Just two places behind Jack was the fast finishing Jamie Battle, followed by Conor McHugh, John Whitelaw, Enda Gaffney, Brian Martin and Joseph Cronin but the team was unlucky to finish 5th and out of the team medals. Despite good support from Dara Mulvihill (AIT AC) finishing between Conor and John, the Westmeath team also finished out of the medals. Adam Shaw was taken ill during the race and made the difficult but wise decision to stop. We all wish him a speedy recovery.

The finish of the 4,000m for girls u/17 proved one of the closest and most exciting of the day with five girls locked together in the closing hundred metres, among them Claire Fagan having an absolutely brilliant race. Only fractions of a second split the finishers, with Claire crossing the line in 4th and with excellent team support from Alanna Bate (winning a silver medal with the Leinster team), Laura Whitelaw, Ellen Cronin and Katie Daly the team finished 2nd to win silver medals, which proved to be the final team medals won by Mullingar.

Keeping the best to last, staying tight with the leading pack in the 5,000m for boys u/17, Shane Hughes simply cruised along biding his time to move and when he did so, he opened up a gap that the others couldn’t close and over the final kilometre kept up the pressure to win the race with ease and with a sizeable gap, leading the Leinster team to 2nd place. Also running well was Patrick Shaw and Declan Brady but without a fourth runner, Mullingar couldn’t feature in the Club team results, though a consolation for Patrick was winning a silver medal with the Leinster team.

This was a terrific win for Shane and a real reward for all the hard work and dedication he has shown in training these past months. Taken with the National titles he won over 1,500m and 3,000m on the track in the summer, Shane certainly has very good reason to remember 2014 for quite some time.

That concluded the Juvenile programme and proceedings moved to the 6,000m for Novice Men where Mullingar failed to field the team that had been entered, but despite no team, Ian McCormack ran anyway and was pleased with his performance in what is regarded as the most competitive cross country in Ireland. Ian was as disappointed as everyone from the Club that the team failed to appear on the day and no doubt will be anxious to learn why he was let down. We’ll also be keen to know why so many Juvenile athletes also failed to appear on the day, without any notice that might have let us make late substitutions and we’ll bear this in mind when submitting entries for the indoors in the New Year.

Overall, one individual winner, another 5 top-12 finish places, 2 Club team silver medals, 1 Club team bronze, 1 County team 4th place and 9 athletes winning medals with Leinster teams, make the results in Santry among the best by the Club and all those that competed can be very proud of their contribution. For many now, they’ll take a very well earned rest and come back refreshed to prepare for the Schools cross country or the indoors in the New Year.

Waterford Half Marathon

Martin Fagan gave a clear demonstration of his class on the road by winning the Waterford Half Marathon on Saturday 6th December by a big distance. His winning time of 1:04:16 was over four minutes clear of second place, which makes one wonder how much quicker could he have gone if there was any serious opposition to push him? Also running well was Eddie Newman to win his master age category in 1:18:05. Following in was Gerard Gavin (1:21:58), Michael Clinton (1:29:38), Enda Mimnagh (1:31:01), Paul Ginnell (1:33:39), Alan Crowley (1:34:24), Philip Burke (1:37:28), Martin McKeon (1:40:06), Gerard Flynn (1:42:05), Tommy Archbold (1:45:10), Siobhan McCarthy (1:45:47), Tommy Conroy (1:48:42), Liz Glennon (1:53:21) and Martin Brady (1:53:21), making sure Mullingar continues to be very visible and very well represented on the road race circuit.

Clonakilty Marathon

The course for the Clonakilty Marathon on Saturday 6th December was 4 laps with each lap taking the runners on a loop through the countryside along the coastline of West Cork, across the Dunmore causeway, onto and around Inchydoney Island and was billed as a course that seasoned runners could potentially run a personal best, as they get the measure of the route after running the first loop. For Maurice Looby, the reality was quite different and he described the course as possibly the hilliest course he has ever encountered with fast times not a real possibility at all. Despite that, he still finished in 2:54:31, which placed him 5th overall and 1st in his master age category. He was using the race as part of his preparations for the Donadea Ultra Marathon in February, so the time wasn’t really important and he just wanted a hard training run, which he certainly got. Also taking part and pleased to comfortably break the 4 hour mark was Garrett O’Brien, finishing strongly in 3:49:31.

November

BMAF 20k Road Walk Championships

Continuing his string of successes in International masters competition, Sean McMullin added to his collection of titles on Saturday 29th November with an excellent victory in his master age-category at the British Masters Athletic Federation 20k Road Walk Championships in Hillingdon, London. Congratulations to Sean on his latest success in this most difficult technical event.

Outstanding Coach Award for Michael Lane

At the AAI National Athletics Awards which took place on Wednesday 26th November in Dublin, Mullingar Harriers Coach, Michael Lane received the Outstanding Coach Award based on the significant difference he has made to race walking in Ireland developing it into one of the most successful disciplines of Irish athletics. Michael has coached numerous athletes to European Under 23 level, World Students, World Juniors, European Juniors and Schools Internationals competitions.

The Award was presented by the Minister for Sport, Mr. Michael Ring TD, who echoed the sentiments he expressed when officially opening the new all-weather sprint lanes at the Club in October when he paid tribute to the people on the ground like Michael Lane that help to make it all happen and he applauded the selfless contribution that volunteers make to sport. The considerable efforts of coaches like Michael and the willingness to give of their own time is of immense benefit to the sport of athletics as well as the wider community. Congratulations to Michael from everyone at the Club for winning this well deserved Award.

Jack O’Leary selected for Euro Junior Cross Country

Congratulations to Jack O’Leary on his selection for the Irish Junior Men’s team for the European Cross Country to be held in Samokov, Bulgaria on 14th December. Jack secured an automatic place with his third place finish in the National Junior Championships in Dundalk on 23rd November, so the announcement merely confirms his participation. Jack is one of the most improved young athletes in the Country over the past six months and his performance in Dundalk firmly establishes him as one of Ireland’s brightest endurance talents.

AAI Inter-County & Juvenile Even Ages XC (Dundalk)

Given the atrocious wet weather of recent weeks, we feared the worst in Dundalk IT on Sunday 23rd November for the first day of the AAI National Cross Country Finals, which was for Senior & Junior Inter-County and Juvenile Even Ages. However, our fears were unfounded and while it was cold, it was dry and bright with no wind and though underfoot conditions were difficult in places, it’s only to be expected and certainly tremendous credit is due the Louth Athletics County Board for setting out an excellent course across the College playing fields, with a few short but testing hills, which proved a fair but challenging test and one fit for an All-Ireland Final.

We know that All-Ireland medals are never easy to win but despite the absence of 14 athletes due to illness or injury or just not turning up, the 50 Mullingar underage athletes that competed last Sunday were determined to give their very best in the hunt for individual and team success. The Mullingar athletes were joined on Westmeath teams by athletes from Athlone IT AC and East Westmeath AC.

A highlight of the day was the performance of Jack O’Leary in the combined Junior and under 18 boys 6,000m where his third place overall finish (second in the u/18 race) earned him automatic selection on the Irish team to compete at the European Junior Cross Country in Bulgaria in three weeks time. Jack is underage for another two years, so this was a terrific achievement and we’re confident he’ll give a very good account of himself as he steps up to this level.

The day started with the 2,000m for girls under 12 where Beatrice Drummond finished very strongly and in a photo finish was judged to have placed 3rd, though it looked very much like 2nd, and with Phoebe Bate moving quickly through the field in the closing stages to finish in 9th and great team support from Meabh Killalea, Aoife McGouran, Rachel Darby, Evie Daly, Francesca Walshe and Caoimhe Monaghan the girls were unlucky to finish out of the team medals but were still pleased to have competed in an All-Ireland Final. In addition to winning medals for finishing in the top twelve places, Beatrice and Phoebe also won gold medals with the Leinster team in the Inter-Provincial competition.

The start of the 2,000m for boys u/12 was very congested and many fell but luckily the Mullingar and Westmeath athletes kept their feet and got off to good starts. First home for Mullingar was Colin Smith, and despite the efforts of Oliver MacNamara, Lorcan Mullen, Mikey Moffatt, Mark Shaw, Enda Gaffney and Kevin Martin the Club team medals were out of their reach this time. Sam Smyth (East Westmeath AC) finished very strongly just behind Colin and with Sean Leech, Colin McGee and Michael Doherty (all from East Westmeath AC) also running well the County team also finished out of the medals. A consolation for Colin is that he won a bronze medal with the Leinster team, so didn’t go home empty handed.

Susan Glennon timed her final effort well in the 3,000m for girls u/14 and with a strong finish she crossed the line in 7th place and with Aoife Darby having an especially good run finishing in 9th and brilliant support from Jennifer Fidgeon and Elysia Greene providing the vital team scores, the team finished 2nd Club to win silver medals. Packing well behind in support was Sarah Glennon, and the Athlone IT AC trio of Roisin Mulvihill, Lisa Gavin and Aoife Campbell but the County team was unlucky to finish out of the medal places but gave an excellent account of themselves. As well as individual top-twelve medals and Club team medals, Susan and Aoife also won gold medals with the Leinster team to add to their collections of All-Ireland medals.

Any hopes that the u/14 girls medals had finally set Mullingar on the path to further team success were dashed in the subsequent races and until the last underage race, the boys u/18, team medals continued to elude Mullingar. In the 3,000m for boys u/14, Andrew Shaw led the Mullingar team home with an excellent 15th place finish, just outside the individual medal places but enough to earn him a bronze medal with the Leinster team. Despite good support from Ciaran Luby, Eoin Quinn, Brian Martin, Enda Gaffney, Rian Hogan, Oisin Lane, Paddy Rafferty, Paul McCool and John Whitelaw, there were team medals for their efforts, but 5th Club is still a very respectable finish in an All-Ireland. As part of the Leinster team, John Whitelaw also earned a bronze medal.

Improving with every race since she returned after injury, Alanna Bate really dug deep and using every last ounce of effort found enough sprint finish in her legs to pull herself into 12th place in the closing stages and win an individual top twelve medal in the 4,000m for girls u/16. This was also good enough to earn her a gold medal with the Leinster team. Despite brilliant support and packing by Andrea Brady, Laura Shaw, Daria Fidgeon, Ellen Cronin, Caoimhe Gaffney, Katie Daly and Catriona Kennedy the girls were extremely unlucky to finish 4th Club, just out of the medals but all know they left nothing on the track and gave it their all. Andrea and Laura also won gold medals with the Leinster team.

On to the 4,000m for boys u/16 where the Mullingar was particularly weakened by illness but top marks to James Maxwell who finished in the top twenty and earned a bronze medal with the Leinster team, his first All-Ireland medal, which is particularly noteworthy as James isn’t long running with the Club. Jamie Battle, Jack Moran, Conor McHugh and Joseph Cronin stuck to the task but it wasn’t to be their day and they finished out of the team medals. Jack also won a bronze medal as part of the Leinster team. Adam Shaw warmed up for the race but a painful knee prevented him racing and he could only look on from the sideline and cheer for his team mates. These boys will get another chance in two weeks time in Santry.

The 4,000m for Inter-County Junior Women and girls u/18 was a combined race where Claire Fagan found another gear in the closing stages to move up several places to finish 21st overall and was delighted to place 12th in the u/18 race to win an individual medal. Also competing strongly behind was Laura Whitelaw, Elizabeth Carr and Maria Kelly but there were no team medals for the girls. Claire and Laura also won silver medals with the Leinster team.

The 6,000m for Inter-County Men and boys u/18 was also a combined race with the added bonus of being the trial for the European Junior Cross Country. Three laps of the by now very sticky course took its toll on many, including Padraig Moran who was unwell and was forced to stop after two laps. However, no problems for Jack O’Leary as he kept in contention throughout, carefully monitoring and covering every break and move at the front so when it came to the closing stages he was well clear of the pack and chased hard to the line to finish 3rd overall (2nd in the u/18 race) and book his place on the Irish team to compete at the European Junior Cross Country in Bulgaria. Running an excellent race to finish 12th overall (5th in the u/18 race) was Shane Hughes and with great support from Patrick Shaw finishing well up and Andrew Nevin providing the vital fourth score, we concluded the underage part of the programme with gold medals for 1st Club. To add to the medals, Jack, Shane and Patrick also won gold medals with the Leinster team.

The final race of the day was the Inter-County Senior Men 10,000m where Mark Christie was competing as an individual and hoping to earn selection for the European Cross Country team. Mark looked comfortable early on but as the laps unfolded, he had to drop back out of contention though a late rally and very strong finish placed him well up in the final rankings but out of the automatic selection places on this occasion, which rounded off the day for Mullingar.

There’s no doubt but injury and illness robbed us of some key performers and the fact that some that competed last Sunday were only just over recent illness really took its toll but they can all be proud of their efforts. That said, despite the scarcity of team medals, with 8 juveniles finishing in top-twelve places, 17 medals won with Leinster teams, one Club gold and one Club silver, together with the tremendous performance by Jack O’Leary in the 6,000m for boys u/18 that earns him a place at the European Junior Cross Country, last Sunday was still a good day for the Club and testament to the spirit of the underage athletes in particular. We think our underage teams are stronger in the uneven ages this year, so we hope to make a bigger mark on day two in Santry.

NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Finals

The NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships concluded in Terre Haute, Indiana on Saturday 22nd November where Jake Byrne finished the tough 10k course in 49th place of nearly 250 finishers with a time of 31:04.2 to lead the Iona College team to 8th place. Iona has had a top-10 finish in eleven of the past twelve years, which in US terms is an excellent record. Jake has had a great US Collegiate cross country season and has fulfilled his role as Captain of the men’s cross country team with exemplary performances. It has been a tough season so far for Jake, but as he was the third Irish man to finish in the race, we might see him in action one more time on the Irish team at the European Cross Country next month.

British & Irish Masters International XC

Three members of the Club competed on Irish teams at the British & Irish Masters International Cross Country in Nottingham, England on Saturday 22nd November. As expected at a cross country event in England, the course was well laid out but was quite tough and even though the weather was good on the day, the recent very wet weather in England meant the ground was soft and the course broke up as the races progressed, adding to the difficulty.

Brigid McCabe finished 8th overall in her age category and was the 2nd score on the Irish team that finished 3rd team to earn a bronze medal. Geraldine Walsh was the 4th score for the Ireland team in her age category, also helping the team to 3rd place. Making his International debut, Eddie Newman was very satisfied with his performance, finishing well up in his age category and playing his part in helping Ireland to finish 2nd team and earn a silver medal on his debut.

Congratulations from everyone at the Club to Brigid, Geraldine and Eddie on their successes. Eddie’s name will now be added to the International Roll of Honour in the Clubhouse, making him the 86th member of the Club that has represented Ireland in International competition.

Irish University Road Relays

Mullingar had a number of athletes taking part in the Irish University Road Relays in NUI Maynooth on Saturday 15th November. Shane Fitzsimons was on the comeback trail after missing the entire track season and ran a storming opening mile leg for Athlone IT against some quality opposition. Shane produced his trademark finishing kick to ease away from the field over the final quarter and paved the way for Athlone IT to win silver medals behind a strong DCU team. Stephen Nea ran the final leg to secure the silver medals. Also in action from Mullingar Harriers was Martin Fagan (AIT), Elizabeth Carr (DCU), Ian McCormack (WIT) and Eoin Lynam (WIT).

Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships

Congratulations to Jake Byrne on winning the Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships at Van Cortlandt Park, New York on Friday 14th November. This victory marks a significant breakthrough for Jake. Always well placed in the race, Jake asserted his control in the final quarter when he eased away from his rivals to complete the 10k course in 30:26 to record a comprehensive victory by a margin of three seconds. Jake joins a very select group of Irish athletes to win Regional titles and it’s a fitting reward for his hard work over the past number of months. His Iona team placed third and they now focus their attention on the NCAA National Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana on Saturday 22nd November.

Leinster Cross Country – Day 2 (Adamstown)

Things looked very bleak for some of the Mullingar underage teams that travelled to Adamstown in Co. Wexford on Sunday 9th November for Day 2 of the Leinster Cross Country Championships, when so many key athletes had to stay home due to illness or injury.

This time last year, at the same venue, Mullingar secured 9 Club team medals and 6 County team medals, in addition to 1 individual winner and 19 other top-12 finish places. Hopes weren’t high this year of coming even close to anything like that performance but as it transpired, we learned that our underage athletes are made of very stern stuff, and weakened teams or not, they more than rose to the challenge as each and every one of them gave absolutely everything they could and managed to secure 7 Club team medals and 5 County team medals, (fully acknowledging the great contributions of athletes from AIT AC and East Westmeath AC), together with individual wins by Susan Glennon and Padraig Moran and another 10 top-twelve finish places. These were brilliant results in the face of such adversity and really showed that the Club spirit is very strong.

Before the Championship races proper, Adamstown AC hosted non-Championship races for boys and girls under 9 years. In the 500m for girls/9, Mullingar was very ably represented by Saoirse Sheridan and Robyn Bates who ran really well and gave an excellent account of themselves. In the 500m for boys u/9, Callum Costello stormed to victory, and following him in was Darragh Smith in 2nd, Philip McCartan 8th and Conor Liston 9th, all winning medals, followed by Matthew Shaw and Niall Brady, finishing strongly just out of the medal places. These youngsters show that the Mullingar continues to be able to find and nurture young talent and we look forward to seeing them compete in Championship races in a year or two.

It was on then to the Championships proper and in the first race, the 1,500m for girls u/11, newcomer Grace Loughrey looked full of confidence and went into an early lead, with the huge field of 153 girls behind her. Grace paid a bit for her early exuberance and was slowly caught and passed by a number, including Phoebe Bate who ran a brilliant race to finish 2nd in a very close contest. Grace rallied and came through strongly in 13th, just out of the individual medal places, but with great team running by Aoife McGouran, Ella Ennis Kelly, Anna McCartan, Meghan Bates and Alanna Costello, the team finished 3rd Club to win bronze medals and put Mullingar on the score board. Finishing between Aoife and Ella was Sinead Seery (AIT AC) to provide a vital County team score and with great performances also by Hannah McGuire (East Westmeath AC) finishing between Meghan and Alanna and by Aoife O’Connor (East Westmeath AC), the Westmeath team finished just out of the medals in 4th place but a great performance all around and we’ll see this team again at the All-Ireland Finals in December.

Ross Killalea led the Mullingar team home in the 1,500m for boys u/11 and despite great finishing and team packing by Nathan Sleator, Adam Brady, Tadgh Sheridan, Sonny Drummond, Joe Darby, Mikey Walsh and Nathan Cornally the boys finished out of the team medals. No County medals either despite terrific performances by the East Westmeath AC team of Paul Hillick and Jack Cannon, finishing between Ross and Nathan, Robert Cleary finishing just ahead of Sonny, and Sam Goldsberry just behind Mikey. Of note is that the entire Mullingar team are all underage again next year, so it’s fair to predict that this time next year this group of boys are going to make their mark and finish in the medal places.

In the 2,500m for girls u/13, Beatrice Drummond led the team home with a fine 6th place finish, and with Jennifer Fidgeon, Caoimhe Brady, Ciara Smith, Meabh Killalea, Alison Bane, Francesca Walshe, Caoimhe Monaghan, Rachel Darby, Katie Moore, Jodie O’Leary and Katie Murphy providing excellent support, the girls finished 3rd Club, which was a great result. Finishing between Caoimhe Brady and Ciara Smith was the AIT AC pair of Roisin Mulvihill and Aoife Campbell providing the vital 4th and 5th scores for Westmeath to put the County in 4th place, just outside the medals by only a few points. But for the absence of a couple of girls due to illness, the County team would surely have finished in the medals.

No shortage of talent in the 2,500m for boys u/13 where Andrew Shaw was delighted to win an individual medal with a 2nd place finish. With Ciaran Luby in 11th, and great support from Oisin Lane, Colin Smith, Brian Farrell, Paddy Rafferty, Rian Hogan, Ruairi Fagan, Eoin Quinn, Oliver MacNamara, Lorcan Mullen, Paul McCool, Mikey Moffatt, Mark Shaw, Cormac Mullen, Leo Gunning and Kevin Martin, the boys dominated the team races to finish 1st Club and 1st County, giving us our first double team gold of the day and keep the team medals coming Mullingar’s way.

Not to be outdone, the Mullingar team in the 3,500m for girls u/15 went one better with Susan Glennon taking a magnificent victory and a well-deserved Leinster Title. Aoife Darby also won an individual medal, finishing in 6th place and with Andrea Brady and Laura Shaw finishing strongly, the team finished 1st Club. Also finishing strongly and packing well behind was Sarah Glennon, Elysia Greene, Caoimhe Gaffney, Rachel Cornally, Daria Fidgeon, Orla Geraghty and Catriona Kennedy to win gold medals for 1st County too.

The Mullingar team in the 3,500m for boys u/15 was really impacted by illness that left a few key members at home, and though clearly under the weather himself but determined to run, Jack Moran dug deep and pulled himself into an individual medal place in 11th, to lead the team of Jamie Battle, Adam Shaw, Brian Martin and Joseph Cronin to 3rd Club. With terrific support from Dara Mulvihill of AIT AC finishing just ahead of Adam, the boys were very unlucky to finish out of the medals in 4th place but can still take their places in the All-Ireland Finals.

We had another team seriously weakened by illness in the 4,500m for girls u/17 but that does not take from the performances of the rest of the team where we saw Alanna Bate finishing an excellent 5th place and with Ellen Cronin producing a typical gutsy performance fighting for every place to finish very strongly, supported by Katie Daly, Meabh McNulty, Dorothy Bane and newcomer Maria Kelly giving every ounce of effort, the team finished 4th Club, but only 2 points off bronze, so they can be justifiably very proud of their collective efforts.

Such were the ravages of illness that affected Mullingar, we were lucky to be able to field the bare minimum team of four in the 5,000m for boys u/17. Shane Hughes was first home for Mullingar in 3rd place, ahead of Patrick Shaw in 4th who continues to improve with every race and with Michael Moran in the top-twenty, and Declan Brady fighting hard all the way despite being clearly still not fully recovered from recent illness but determined to run and not let the team down, the boys were rewarded with silver medals for 2nd Club. This was a sterling performance from these boys and they showed great Club spirit and camaraderie.

The final underage race of the day with a Mullingar interest was the 6,000m for boys u/19, though with just three starting, unfortunately we had no team. Determined to finish on a high note in his final underage race in a Leinster Championship, as he moves to the Junior ranks next year, Padraig Moran controlled the race from early on, and despite close attention from Jack O’Leary entering the final lap Padraig began to pull away to take the victory and the Leinster Title, with Jack finishing in 3rd and Andrew Nevin very unlucky to finish just out of the individual medal places in 13th place, but this was still an excellent performance from him.

Despite the gloomy outlook at the start of the day, our underage athletes performed brilliantly and this was very good day for the Club and gave the many parents and others that travelled in support plenty to cheer about. Their vocal support and encouragement makes a big difference and is always appreciated. Finally, we wish a speedy recovery to all those that missed Day 2 due to illness or injury.

The teams that qualified from Adamstown will go forward to the All-Ireland Finals in Santry in December.

October

MAAC Conference XC Championship

Jake Byrne continued his excellent cross country season for Iona College by winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship on Friday afternoon 31st October at Holmdel Park, New Jersey. Jake controlled the race from the outset and led a hugely impressive team performance as Iona had the first nine finishers in the race. This is Iona’s 24th consecutive MAAC team title. Jake can now look forward to his Regional Championship on 14th November in Van Cortlandt Park, New York and the NCAA National Championships on November 22nd in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Dublin City Marathon

The number from the Club that competed in the Dublin City Marathon on the October Bank Holiday Monday was down on the record number of 66 in 2013 but we still had an impressive total of 53 among the more than 12,000 that finished the 2014 event, which meant that maroon and white was spotted throughout the huge field to give the army of supporters from Mullingar plenty to cheer about.

As is normal in a marathon, some crashed and burned, others sailed through delighted with their finish time, and still others will be plotting a return for revenge next year! They all finished though, and very well done to them all, in particular to Nollaig McEntegart on winning his master category, and to Eddie Newman, Michael Gibson-Brabazon and Maurice Looby who finished second master team to take silver medals in the AAI Championship, that was run in conjunction with the marathon.

First man to finish for Mullingar was Michael Gibson-Brabazon, 49th overall in 2:43:07 and the first woman was Clare O’Donnell in 3:53:52, absolutely delighted to run significantly under her four hour pre-race target.

Leinster Cross Country – Day 1 (Avondale)

For the last two years the Mullingar underage teams have won medals in each of the eight events on day one of the Leinster Cross Country Championships. On Sunday 26th October, in Avondale, near Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, where competition was for boys and girls under 12, 14, 16 and 18 years of age and for Novice and Master men and women, we only finished seven underage teams, but all of them won medals to carry on a great tradition for the Club – dominance at underage Leinster cross country! In addition to seven Club team medals, our underage teams also won six County team medals. With these performances we’ve again made a fantastic start to the cross country season.

As well as winning team medals, we had one individual winner and seventeen other top-twelve finish places, so Mullingar will be well represented on Leinster teams in the All-Ireland Finals in Dundalk in four weeks time with eighteen of our juveniles earning automatic selection on Leinster teams. It’s hard to live up to the class of our juveniles, but our novice and master athletes also performed well, the stand out performance being Aine O’Reilly finishing 4th in the master women race, leading the team to a very respectable sixth place. These fantastic results show that Mullingar continues to set the standard in cross country running in Leinster.

The weather on Sunday was mild and dry, making it ideal for cross country running, and because there hasn’t had much rain recently, the course in Avondale was in tip top shape and held up magnificently to the battering it received from so many races.

Before the Championships proper began, there were non-Championship races over 1,000m for boys and girls under 10 years of age, and athletes as young as 7, 8 and 9 years of age from across the Province competed with great enthusiasm. In the 1,000m for girls u/10, Shauna Traynor, Ella Ennis Kelly and Soirse Sheridan ran very well and were delighted to run in front of thousands of cheering supporters and finish well up in the race. Mullingar had a big number in the 1,000m for boys u/10 where Sonny Drummond, Philip McCartan, Tadgh Sheridan, Callum Costello, Darragh Smith, Conleth Mullen, Ross Killalea, Adam Brady, Nathan Sleator, Ted O’Leary, Killian Traynor and Hugo Sleator also ran brilliantly and finished well up. Some of these youngsters will be underage again next year, but we’ll see others in action again in two weeks time competing under 11 and last Sunday’s race was an ideal taste of competition for them.

The Championships proper got off to an excellent start for Mullingar when Beatrice Drummond finished 2nd in the 2,000m for girls under 12, just beaten by a very slim margin, and with Phoebe Bate in 6th, Caoimhe Brady 11th and Evie Daly providing the vital fourth Club team score, the girls finished 1st Club. With great support from Rachel Darby, Francesca Walshe, Meabh Killalea, Grace Loughrey, Caoimhe Monaghan, Aoife McGouran, Jodie O’Leary, Anna McCartan and Alanna Costello, the team also finished 2nd County. It was great to see Emma Flannery, Hollie Walsh and Eilish Naughton of AIT AC competing and playing their parts in supporting the Westmeath team.

Colin Smith ran a blinder in the 2,000m for boys u/12 to finish 4th and lead the team of Oliver MacNamara, Lorcan Mullen, Mark Shaw, Brian Gaffney, Kevin Martin, Oisin Loughlin and Mark Langtry to 2nd Club. Sam Smith and Sean Leech of East Westmeath AC finished between Lorcan and Mark, with their Club mate Colin McGee just behind Mark, but despite these great performances, Westmeath were very unlucky to finish 4th County, just out of the medals. Caimin Boland of AIT AC also competed under the Westmeath banner.

A close finish in the 3,000m for girls u/14 saw Susan Glennon finish 2nd, ahead of Aoife Darby 5th and with Elysia Greene, Sarah Glennon, Jennifer Fidgeon, Ciara Smith and Katie Moore packing well behind her it was 1st Club again to keep the team medals coming Mullingar’s way. Roisin Mulvihill and Lisa Gavin of AIT AC split Elysia and Sarah, and with Aoife Campbell, Ella McGlynn and Sorcha McGlynn also of AIT AC running well, Westmeath finished 2nd County on count-back, on the same points as winners Wicklow, but their sixth finisher was two places ahead of the Westmeath sixth finisher, just two seconds separating them and you don’t get much closer than that!

On to the 3,000m for boys u/14 where John Whitelaw showed a great return to form with a 7th place finish, and with great support from Andrew Shaw 9th, Oisin Lane, Ciaran Luby, Brian Martin, Ruairí Fagan, Enda Gaffney, Paddy Rafferty, Rian Hogan, Eoin Quinn and Paul McCool all running strongly, the boys team earned the first double of the afternoon, 1st Club and 1st County.

Alanna Bate is only back from injury and was delighted to finish 8th in the 4,000m for girls u/16 to lead the team of Andrea Brady 10th, Laura Shaw 12th, Ellen Cronin, Daria Fidgeon, Caoimhe Gaffney, Catriona Kennedy, Katie Daly, Meabh McNulty and Niamh Quinn to 2nd Club and 2nd County. Newcomer Rachel Cornally competed very well early on but took ill on the second of two laps and had to withdraw and we wish her a speedy recovery.

Mullingar absolutely dominated the 4,000m for boys u/16 to finish 1st Club by a very big margin thanks to the sterling performances of Ciaran Nolan 3rd, James Maxwell 4th, Jack Moran 7th, Jack Tyas, Adam Shaw, Conor McHugh and Joseph Cronin giving everything for the team. The boys were also rewarded for their efforts with silver medals for finishing 2nd County.

We had the bare team of four in the 4,000m for girls u/18 where Claire Fagan timed her finish perfectly to take 3rd place, and with great support from Rachel Glennon finishing just out of the top-twelve and Dorothy Bane also running really well, team medals would have assured only unfortunately Laura Whitelaw took ill during the race and was simply unable to finish, which is very unlike her and she was bitterly disappointed not to have been able to finish and secure the team medals but these things happen and she’ll compete again in two weeks time.

The final underage race was the 6,000m for boys u/18 where Shane Hughes made light work of the tough three lap course that took the boys over the full Avondale course, including the infamous hill, to win in style and secure Mullingar’s only individual title of the day. Oisin Quinn finished strongly in 8th, just ahead of Patrick Shaw who really dug deep and found a resurgence in form to finish 9th, and with Andrew Nevin, Michael Moran and Declan Brady providing great team support, it was medals all around with 1st Club and 1st County to reward the team’s valiant efforts.

With the conclusion of the underage programme, our attention turned to the senior races. In the 6,000m for novice men, Paddy Kelly battled well throughout the tough course to finish 9th and lead the Mullingar men’s team to a very respectable 7th place, thanks to good support from Thomas Lynn, Ben Vaitkevichius, Ian McCormack and Stephen Nea.

In the 4,000m for master women, Aine O’Reilly kept in contention throughout and with a strong finish she crossed the line if 4th place overall, 2nd in her master age category and with Breda Daly, Brigid McCabe and Nuala Moran also running well, the Mullingar team finished in a very creditable 6th place.

The final race of the afternoon, the 6,000m for master men had one of the biggest entries of the day, with 113 master men taking to the line. No team for Mullingar but Matt Glennon and Andy Quinn were very pleased with their performances over the tough Avondale course to round off a hugely successful Leinster Championship.

The second round, for juvenile uneven ages and Intermediate adults, will take place in Adamstown, Co. Wexford in two weeks time. The teams that qualify from Avondale will go forward to the All-Ireland Finals in Dundalk in four weeks time. Teams for Adamstown will now be finalized by Club officials but in the meantime it is vital that everyone continues to train hard and be in the best possible condition for the next round of the Leinsters and for the All-Ireland Finals beyond, so we expect everyone to keep in full training over the coming weeks, especially in Belvedere this coming Saturday and Sunday mornings at 11am.

Finally, thanks to the many parents that travelled to Avondale to cheer on the Mullingar athletes from the first to the last race. Your presence really is appreciated.

Autumn Open Cross Country

The Autumn Open Cross Country Event (formerly the Gerry Farnan cross country) in a warm and windy Phoenix Park on Sunday 19th October incorporated the Masters Trials for the British and Irish Masters Cross Country International to be held in Nottingham, England in November and was also an important test for the National Junior squads, which include a number from the Club, ahead of the AAI National Cross Country in November, which is the trial for the European Cross Country in Bulgaria in December.

In the Senior Men 8k race Mark Christie had his first cross country race of the season and was always in the leading group and finished in 3rd place. Mark will be one of the favourites to make the European Cross Country team in December. In the Junior Men 6k race Jack O’Leary featured prominently throughout and was rewarded with an excellent 2nd place in what represented a real breakthrough run for him. Jack is eligible for this event for two more years and this performance establishes him as one of the leading Junior cross country athletes in the country.

In his first ever cross country race, Eddie Newman had a fine run to finish 4th in his master category with Justin Murtagh just ahead of him throughout the race. With the first four earning automatic selection on the Irish master men team the stage is now set for Eddie to make his International debut.

Elizabeth Carr can be satisfied with her first cross country race of the season finishing in 12th place in the Junior women 4k race. In the Open 5k, Joan Flynn had an excellent run throughout to finish in 7th place in her category, while Brigid McCabe and Breda Daly also ran well to finish 5th and 8th in their respective categories and Geraldine Walsh was delighted to win her master category. Christy Creagh and Maurice Creagh enjoyed their runs over the 5k distance finishing in 7th and 9th places in their master categories and Paul Moore was also very pleased with his run.

Amsterdam Marathon

The forecast of unseasonably warm temperatures of between 18 and 20degC in Amsterdam on Sunday 19th October prompted the organisers of the Amsterdam Marathon to issue pre-race advice to the more than 12,000 participants to lower their goals substantially by taking it easier during the run and properly listening to their bodies or run the risk of not finishing. Clearly heeding the advice, Damien Monaghan maintained a very consistent pace throughout, reaching the half-way point in 1:28:02 and by keeping the pace right, reached the finish in a very respectable 2:56:16. Even though it was not as quick as his 2:50 in Manchester in April, Damien was still satisfied and knew it was a good performance considering the wind and very warm conditions he had to contend with.

Longwood Village 10k and 5k

Among the more than 220 finishers enduring the warm and windy conditions but thankfully missing the rain at the Longwood Village 10k in Co. Meath on Sunday 19th October was Bernard Groenewald finishing 11th in 38:58 having paced Áine O’Reilly through the first 8k and she finished 13th overall in 39:17 to take 2nd place in the women’s race. Also competing were Philip Burke, Tommy Archbold (2nd in his master age category), and Clare O’Donnell finishing 11th woman. In the shorter 5k race, best of the nearly 160 finishers and taking the victory was Andrew Nevin. Also competing over 5k was Robin Jackson who finished well up in his category.

Wisconsin Adidas Invitational Cross Country

Well done to Jake Byrne on an excellent 11th place finish at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational Cross Country on Friday 17th October. This annual event is held on the Thomas Zimmer Course and it is one of the most prestigious Collegiate races in the United States outside of the NCAA Championships. Jake was just 15 seconds behind the race winner and led his Iona team to second place in the team competition, which firmly establishes them as contenders for the NCAA Championship. This performance is an indicator of Jake’s significant progress since his return to Iona this autumn and he can look forward to a very successful season.

Westmeath Cross Country – day 2

Once the early morning mist burned off, it was glorious sunshine for Day 2 of the Westmeath Cross Country in Belvedere on Sunday 12th October, which was universally welcomed by both runners and spectators. Despite some absences for a variety of reasons, the number of underage athletes was up on last year, helped by large numbers from East Westmeath AC and Athlone IT AC, which was particularly good to see.

Day 2 was for boys and girls under 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 years of age and for men and women Novice, Senior and Master. Many of the juveniles who took part on Day 1 the previous week were back in action again either running in their own age or moving up an age group to get in some race experience. As on Day 1, the competitors in Round 2 came from all across the County and included a number of welcome newcomers, with everyone keen to perform well and looking to secure a place on Club and County teams to compete in the Leinster Championships in a few weeks time.

All the underage races were keenly contested with everyone hoping to run well and impress officials and make sure of selection on Club and Westmeath teams in the Leinster Championships. The last race of the day was a combined race for girls u/17 and older and men and women Novice, Senior and Master, with each group running over the same course but with different numbers of laps, so it was a great event for spectators.

Thanks to all who helped recording results and stewarding on the course, and to the many parents who came and supported the competitors, but in particular to all the athletes who competed.

The results of Round 2 are:

Juvenile Club and County teams for the Leinster Championships will now be picked based on the results from both days and very importantly application in training. A few juveniles unavoidably missed one day or other, or were ill on the day, but they might still be considered for team selection if officials are happy that they are fit and able to train.

Westmeath Cross Country – day 1

It was cool and windy in Belvedere on Sunday morning 5th October for Round 1 of the Westmeath Cross Country Championships, but thankfully the rain held off and the entire programme ran off very smoothly in perfect underfoot running conditions. Round 1 was for boys and girls under 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years of age. It was great to see athletes from all the Clubs in Westmeath, namely Athlone IT AC, East Westmeath AC, Mullingar Harriers AC and North Westmeath AC, so numbers competing were well up on last year. The numbers from Athlone were particularly good and it’s great to see the fruits of the effort put in building a new Club in Athlone. Competitors came from the four corners of the County and included a number of newcomers that had run in the Westmeath Schools Cross Country held in Belvedere in September. If not members of a Club, they’re strongly encouraged to join their nearest Club.

The race distances were longer than in the Westmeath Schools but that was no problem for those that have been training regularly. The course in Belvedere is a great test of cross country endurance and those that train there regularly will have no problem with the course in Avondale, Co. Wicklow for the first Leinster Cross Country Championship for the juvenile even ages on 26th October. There were some very good individual performances in Round 1 but Championship cross country is also about team running, so everyone’s performance was being closely watched by Club officials, particularly the newcomers. The results of Round 1 and of Round 2 on 12th October will be used to select teams to represent the Club and Westmeath in the upcoming Leinster Championships.

The results of the Novice and Master men and women races in Round 2 will also be used to select Club and County teams for the Leinster Championships, so all adult members that won’t be competing in the Dublin City Marathon but want to run in the Leinster Championships must run in Round 2.

Thanks to all who helped in Round 1 recording the results and stewarding on the course, and particularly to the many parents who came and supported the competitors.

The results of Round 1 are:

Round 2 on Sunday 12th October and will be for boys and girls under 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 years, and for men and women junior, novice, senior and master. Juvenile Club and County teams for the Leinster Championships will be picked after Round 2 and will be based on the results from both Rounds. The Leinster Championships take place over two Sundays, with two weeks between each, so juvenile athletes can run in their own age-group and can move up an age-group to make up teams. Therefore, we expect all juveniles to compete in both Rounds of the Westmeath Championships or they might be disappointed not to be selected.

Run with Catherina 5k

Beautiful autumn sunshine, the opportunity to run with Catherina McKiernan and a generous prize fund drew over 600 to the Run with Catherina 5k organised by Annalee AC 5k in Cavan Town on Sunday 12th October. Finishing 6th overall was Eddie Newman and his time of 17:08 was good enough to win his master age category with ease.

Dublin Simon 5 Mile

Well done to Kevin Baker on his fine run at the Dublin Simon 5 Mile in the Phoenix Park on Saturday 4th October where he finished 2nd of over 1,650 finishers in a time of 26:58 and continues to make his mark on the road race circuit.

Athlone Three Quarter Marathon

The Glasson Golf Hotel on the shore of Lough Ree was the race headquarters for the Athlone Three Quarter Marathon on Sunday 5th October. The race provided the more than 700 competitors, including a number from Mullingar, an excellent opportunity to finalize their preparations for the Dublin City Marathon in three weeks time. The Mullingar group was led home by Nollaig McEntegart finishing an impressive 37th overall with 2:17:39 on the clock to win his master category with ease. A notable feature of Nollaig’s splits was that he got quicker as the race unfolded, which will give him great confidence ahead of Dublin. Mel Carthy and Enda O’Carolan ran together and finished in 2:24:13, followed home by Alan Byrne (2:24:45), Alan Crowley (2:34:50), Gerry Gavin (2:34:44) and Stephen Naughton (2:37:23), all pleased with their performances and they too can look forward to Dublin with increased confidence.

September

Star of the Sea AC Cross Country

The annual Star of the Sea AC cross country meeting in Greenanstown, near Stamullin in Co. Meath has been the cross country season-opener for Mullingar Harriers for many years and on Sunday 28th September we travelled in force once again to Meath. Mullingar has won the perpetual shield for best juvenile Club for the past nine years and given the current crop of talented youngsters in the Club, confidence was high that we would retain the shield this year. The day was overcast but mild and dry, so was perfect for running and many took advantage of the dry lovely underfoot conditions to run barefoot.

This fixture is always relatively low-key, relaxed and friendly, making it ideal for newcomers and youngsters to try cross country running and many of our newcomers ran very well and were delighted to win medals. Teams of three were required to win points towards the trophy for best overall juvenile Club. As always, the organisers laid out an excellent course that was challenging but fair and proved a great early season test of fitness. We had 39 top-ten finish places, including 5 individual victories, and our teams won 8 gold, 4 silver and 2 sets of bronze medals, so it was no wonder Mullingar Harriers easily retained the Shield for best juvenile Club for the tenth year running. This is an amazing record and there’s no doubt but Mullingar will be very hard to beat this cross country season. To add to the celebrations, Shane Hughes won the boys u/17 race to win the Sean Higgins Memorial Perpetual Trophy, which has been won by a Mullingar athlete for the last four years.

The first race of the day was the girls 500m u/9 where Grace Byrne finished 7th, and with Sorcha Sheridan, Jessica Cunningham and Robyn Bates finishing strongly in support the team was very unlucky to finish out of the team medals. In the boys 500m u/9, Darragh Smith finished in 2nd place, just ahead of Callum Costelloe in 3rd, Philip McCarton in 5th, Conor Liston (7th), Colm Duffy (10th), and with great support from Cormac Swan, Hugo Sleator and Niall Brady, Mullingar finished 1st and 2nd Club to put Mullingar’s first points on the team score board. Clare Gaffney ran an excellent race and finished strongly in the girls 500m u/10 but unfortunately we didn’t have a team to support Clare. We had no shortage in the boys 500m u/10 where Ross Killalea finished 6th, just ahead of Nathan Sleator in 7th and with Tadgh Sheridan, Sonny Drummond, Adam Brady and Mikey Walshe finishing very strongly and packing well, it was gold team medals for Mullingar.

Phoebe Bate stormed to the finish in the girls 1,000m u/11 in 4th place, but despite good runs by Aoife McGouran, Aoife Swan, Alanna Costelloe and Meghan Bates the girls were unlucky to just miss team medals. Our first individual win of the day came from Bea Drummond who won the girls 1,500m u/12 by a big margin, and with support from Niamh Cully sprinting very strongly in the closing stages to finish 9th, Nicola Gavin and Francesca Walshe, this team deserved their silver medals for 2nd team. Oliver MacNamara showed great spirit to finish very strongly in the boys 1,500m u/12 to cross the line in 3rd place, ahead of Mikey Moffett in 6th, Lorcan Mullen in 7th, Oisin Loughlin in 10th, and with great support and team packing by Colin Smith, Brian Gaffney, Mark Shaw, Fintan Duffy, Oisin Sheridan and Mark Langtry, it was an amazing gold, silver and bronze team medals for Mullingar.

Ciara Smith (7th), Katie Moore and Katie Murphy ran extremely well in the girls 1,500m u/13 and were delighted to win bronze medals for 3rd team. Our second individual win came from Ciaran Luby in the boys 1,800m u/13, and with Eoin Quinn on his heels in 2nd, Andrew Shaw 3rd, Rian Hogan 6th, Brian Farrell 7th, Ruairi Fagan 8th and Paul McCool 9th, it was gold and silver team medals for Mullingar. Susan Glennon made it look very easy in the girls 2,000m u/14 to record a convincing win, Mullingar’s third individual win of the day, with Elysia Greene finishing very strongly in 4th but unfortunately we hadn’t a third girl to make up a team or team medals would have been a certainty. Long time leader John Whitelaw really had a battle on his hands in the final 400m of the boys 2,200m u/14 and despite giving it every effort was outsprinted in the closing stages but finished very strongly in 2nd place.

Andrea Brady looked impressive too in the girls 2,200m u/15, finishing in 2nd place, and with great support from team mates Laura Shaw in 3rd, Daria Fidgeon in 4th, Catriona Kennedy 6th and Caoimhe Gaffney 9th all running so well, it was team gold again for Mullingar. In the boys 2,500m u/15 Conor McHugh showed that he is beginning to come back into form with a good 4th place finish in a very competitive race and with Adam Shaw finishing strongly in 5th and Enda Gaffney providing the vital third score, it was team gold again for Mullingar.

Such is her class, there was little doubt about the outcome of the girls 3,000m u/17 and Laura Whitelaw simply controlled the race and ran well clear to give Mullingar its fourth individual win of the day. Providing terrific support was Meabh McNulty (6th) and Caoimhe Gaffney (9th) to easily win the team gold medals and more points for the Club. The final juvenile race of the day, the boys 4,500m u/17 saw Shane Hughes make a decisive break on the final hill to pull clear and win comfortably, the Club’s fifth individual win of the day, also winning the Sean Higgins Memorial Perpetual Trophy. Newcomer Jack Tyas had a very impressive debut in cross country to finish in 6th place and Declan Brady in 10th provided the vital third score so the team finished 1st Club and earned the final underage team gold medals of the afternoon for Mullingar.

After the final juvenile race, attention turned to the 6,000m for junior, senior and master men where Justin Murtagh led the Mullingar team home, followed by Andrew Nevin (1st in the junior men category), Ian McCormack, and Andy Quinn making up the Mullingar team competing in the master category where he was very satisfied with his performance.

We saw some excellent individual performances at Star of the Sea, especially from some of our newcomers and it was particularly good to see so many of them win medals, but we also saw some great team running, which is essential for success in cross country competition and will give everyone a lot of confidence ahead of the Leinster Championships. Finally, thanks to the many parents and supporters who travelled to Meath to support our athletes, as it does make a big difference to be cheered on.

Berlin Marathon

Despite the warm and very humid conditions, the World best for the marathon was broken on Sunday morning 28th September at the Berlin Marathon where Dennis Kimetto of Kenya improved the best mark to 2:02:57, the fifth time in eight years that the record has been broken in Berlin, which understandably grabbed all the headlines. Among the more than 40,000 competitors Mark Carroll had his own personal target in mind and was looking to break the 2:40 mark. Maintaining a brilliantly consistent pace of between 3:44 and 3:47 per kilometre throughout, Mark finished a very impressive 155th overall in 2:38:16 and was understandably absolutely delighted with his performance, which is terrific reward for all the hard work put in at training over the past number of months. Also competing in Berlin was Jason McCabe who kept a consistent pace up to the three quarter mark but suffered a little in the last few miles and finished in 4:01:36 but knows that the 4 hour barrier is there waiting to be broken the next time. Congratulations to Mark and Jason on their performances, particularly Mark’s, which should inspire others in the Club to push that little bit harder.

Rathfarnham 5k

Dropping down distance for the Rathfarnham 5k on Sunday 28th September, which attracted a huge entry of over 1,100 competitors, Martin Fagan had his work cut out and after a terrific race up front, had to concede to David McCarthy (West Waterford AC) in the closing stages who went on to win in 14:13, ahead of Martin in 2nd in 14:21, just having enough to hold off some late challenges in the final sprint to the finish line and showing that he is really enjoying his running and showing great form on the road over a variety of race distances.

Blackrock AC (Louth) 4 Miles

The Blackrock AC 4 mile road race in County Louth on Saturday evening 27th September attracted over 300 competitors. Run over two laps with the backdrop of the Cooley Mountains, spectators were treated to an impressive display by Mark Christie who won in 19:07, which was a huge 37 seconds clear of second place, to continue to excellent form on the road race circuit.

Virginia (USA) Invitational Cross Country

Jake Byrne got his cross country season off to an excellent start for Iona College finishing 4th at the 2014 Panorama Farms Virginia Invitational on Friday 26th September and helping Iona to third team place. Jake was in the leading group from the start and a margin of less than ten seconds separated the first four. His time of 24:05.4 for the 8k distance was an excellent indicator of form. Jake will be racing again in two weeks’ time in Wisconsin where he can expect another encouraging performance. An added incentive for Jake this season is the fact that he is the captain of the Iona Men’s Cross Country team.

Successful International Debut for Claire Fagan

Claire Fagan had a very successful international debut at the Home Countries Hill Running International on Saturday 20th September at Camaderry, Glendalough, Co Wicklow. Claire was second Irish finisher and battled bravely on a tough and challenging course. The experience gained racing in International competition should provide Claire with plenty of confidence as she focuses on the upcoming cross country season.

Charleville International Half Marathon

Martin Fagan continued his dominance of the National road race scene with a great win at the Charleville International Half Marathon in Cork on Sunday 21st September. His time of 63:56 had Martin over a minute clear of his nearest rival. Martin has a great record in half marathon races and used his experience to comprehensively beat a field that included several international competitors. The course was quite flat and was conducive to fast times and Eddie Newman took full advantage to run a PB by over a minute in 1:17:13.

Dublin Half Marathon

The Dublin Half Marathon took place on Saturday September 20th and a number of Club athletes were in action. Michael Gibson-Brabazon led the way in 13th position with a time of 1:14:31. Kevin Baker also had an excellent run directly behind Michael in 1:14:41.

Marconi Half Marathon

At the Marconi Half Marathon in Clifden, Co Galway on Saturday 20th September Dave Fagan had an excellent run to finish in 7th place in a time of 1:28:16. Nollaig McEntegart was just one place behind in a time of 1:28:45 and he easily won his master category. (There may be other Club participants and we’ll bring further news of them if we find out).

Westmeath Schools Cross Country

The annual Westmeath Schools Cross Country Championships were held in Belvedere House and Gardens on Wednesday 17th September. There was a great turnout from both primary and secondary schools around the county. It was great to see so many enthusiastic competitors from first class in primary school all the way up to sixth year in secondary school.

One feature of the day was the increase in numbers in the secondary schools races, particularly the race for fifth and sixth years. This demonstrates the popularity of the event and we hope that competitors and schools will continue to support this excellent event in future years. We are indebted to the many volunteers who turned up to help officiate and make the day a success. In addition, the work of the Westmeath Civil Defence greatly assisted the efficient running of the event. The management and staff at Belvedere House and Gardens also were of great help in organising the day at a venue that is ideal for the hosting of such an event. Finally, our thanks to the teachers and schools for competing in great numbers to ensure that the event continues to be one of the most eagerly awaited sporting events on the calendar for those of school going age in Westmeath.

The results show a great distribution of medals to schools throughout the county. Congratulations to all who took part and as usual, the standard of competition was extremely high and medals were hard to secure for competitors.

Athlone Half Marathon

The Athlone “Flatline” Half Marathon on Saturday 13th September was once again an extremely popular race with over eight hundred entries. The “Flatline” certainly lived up to its name and is as flat a course as one is likely to find although conditions were hot and humid which made it more challenging for the athletes. Mullingar Harriers was well represented, with eight ten from the Club taking part.

In the men’s race, first home for Mullingar was Maurice Looby, who had an excellent run to finish 20th overall in a time of 1:18:39. Ollie Donnelly was next with a time of 1:19:26. Damien Monaghan (1:22:47), Gerry Gavin (1:23:47), Kieran Nolan (1:24:57), Alan Byrne (1:29:04), Paul Moore (1:32:20), Alan Crowley (1:34:03), Olive Malone and Deirdre Fallon all ran very well and can be very pleased with their performances. Paddy Kelly and Martin Lyons very sportingly paced the athletes looking to complete the race in 1:25.

Dingle Half Marathon

At the Dingle Half Marathon on Saturday 6th September, Nollaig McEntegart finished an impressive 20th overall of nearly 1,500 finishers in a time of 1:28:21 to comfortably win his master category with nearly 22 minutes to spare and continues to show excellent form ahead of the Dublin City Marathon in October where he is looking to break the 3 hour mark.

August

Tullamore Half Marathon

Continuing their preparations for the Dublin City Marathon in October, a very large group of 49 athletes from the Club competed in the Tullamore Half Marathon on Saturday morning 30th August. Given the number in the Club currently training for the marathon, it’s not really any surprise such a large group took part, being only outnumbered by Tullamore Harriers, which was the host Club. While it was a bit windy in places along the course, the cool conditions were perfect for running, which was reflected in the performances of the Mullingar athletes with several recording PBs for the distance. This was an excellent fixture, attracting 569 finishers, reflecting the huge effort and energy put in by the organising committee at Tullamore Harriers. With big performances from Mark Carroll and Aine O’Reilly, the Mullingar men and women teams finished second place and there was a first place in his master category for Eddie Newman.

Leading the Mullingar group home was Mark Carroll, finishing 5th overall in 1:14:18. With support from Mark McCann 9th in 1:17:58 (a PB for the distance), Eddie Newman 10th in 1:18:14, which was also a new PB and placed him 1st in his master category, and with Gerry Gavin 20th in 1:20:54, also a PB, providing the vital fourth team score, the Mullingar men finished second team. These were followed home by Damien Monaghan (1:21:51), Matthew Glennon (1:22:58), Enda O’Carolan (1:25:22), Eoin Clarke (1:26:44), Mel Carthy (1:27:10), Aine O’Reilly an impressive sixty fifth overall in 1:28:12 to finish 3rd senior woman, Enda Mimnagh, Michael Conway, Dermot Berry, Cian Ryan, Alan Crowley (PB), Paul Moore (PB), Ollie Gaffney, Brian Collentine, Christy Doyle, Garrett O’Brien, John Bannon, Seamus Kiernan, Matthew Johnston, Tommy Conroy, Siobhan Moore, Doug Bates, Barry Carr, Joe Fagan, Gerard Flynn, Siobhan Farry, Tommy Archbold, Clare O’Donnell providing the vital fourth team score for the Mullingar women to finish second team, Philip Burke, Dearbhail Gibney, Christy Creagh, Marian Frain, Linda O’Driscoll, Criona Reid, Niamh Molloy, Michael O’Sullivan, Joanna Tyrrell, Ger Langtry, Stephen Naughton, Marna Groenewald (PB), Michelle Kavanagh, John Raleigh, Deirdre Raleigh, Lola Brogan and Nollaig Mahon. All of the Mullingar group were pleased with their performances, which gives them a very useful indicator of how their training is progressing and a good idea of a realistic target time for the big test in October.

Northern Ireland Masters T&F

Sean McMullin added to his growing collection of master titles with another fine performance in Belfast on Saturday 30th August at the Northern Ireland Masters T&F where he cruised to victory in the 3,000m race walk, following it up with victory in the 5,000m run too, to finish his track and field season on top of the podium.

Frank Duffy 10 Mile

A group of thirteen athletes from the Club joined over four thousand others from the four corners of Ireland on Saturday 23rd August for what is essentially a “Grand Tour” of the Phoenix Park at the Frank Duffy 10 Mile Road Race. This is the latest in a series of races in preparation for the Dublin City Marathon and marks an important milestone on the training road to the marathon. So far they’ve raced 5 miles, then 10k, now it was the turn for 10 miles, before a half marathon in a few weeks time, all aimed at preparation for the ultimate endurance challenge in October.

It was dry but cool and with only a light wind, so conditions were excellent for running, which clearly suited the Mullingar athletes as they all performed to target. First to finish for the “baker’s dozen” of thirteen was appropriately enough, Kevin Baker, 34th overall with a time of 55:24, which augers well for a very fast marathon. Coming in behind Kevin was Maurice Looby (57:53), followed by Justin Murtagh (58:16), Eddie Newman (58:27) to finish second in his master category, Ollie Donnelly (59:38), Patrick Muldoon (60:43), Enda O’Carolan (63:10), Mel Carthy (65:35), Alan Byrne (68:11), Alwyn Thornton (68:43) ninth woman overall, Alan Crowley (69:57), Ollie Gaffney (71:35) and Jane Creevy (87:34), with all of them expressing satisfaction with their performances and getting in some valuable experience of running with  a very large crowd in race conditions. This race is a very useful indicator of progress in training and we’re glad to see that they all passed with flying colours.

CFCW 5k

The Castletown Finnea Coole Whitehall 5k attracted nearly 170 finishers on Wednesday 20th August and as expected, given that Finnea is so close, among them was a good number from Mullingar Harriers. Race winner by a small margin of 2 seconds was Paddy Kelly, finishing in 16:00 dead, followed by Mal McDonnell third in 16:14 and Tom McGrath (16:42) winning his master category, Gerry Gavin (17:24) and Ben Vaitkevichius (17:42) third in his master category to complete the top six places. Also competing from Mullingar was Alan Crowley (19:11), Declan Brady (19:39), Ollie Gaffney, Tadgh Sheridan, Caoimhe Gaffney, Olive Malone, Oisin Sheridan, Catriona Kennedy, Christy Creagh, Shelly Smith, Caoimhe O’Brien, Maurice Creagh and Martin Lyons, all enjoying the race and with most of our underage athletes picking up prizes too.

Duleek 10k

Well done to Declan Costello who was Mullingar’s sole representative at a dry but windy Duleek AC 10k on Sunday 17th August where he finished well up in his master age category among the large entry of nearly 500 participants, posting a time of 49:20.

Castlepollard 5k

The race fixture list is jammed with 5k races, which is leading to some 5k fatigue among athletes and leading many to look around for more interesting challenges. However, no such problem for the “Tullynally Castle” Castlepollard 5k on Wednesday 13th August organised by North Westmeath AC. This event has a great reputation as a very well organised race, which was reflected in the excellent turnout of 440 finishers enjoying the cool but pleasant evening, ideal for a run through the beautiful grounds of Tullynally Castle and back for the legendary spread of food and refreshments and the very generous number prizes on offer across a wide range of categories. Being local, it was no surprise that Mullingar Harriers was very well represented with 55 Club members taking part. Between them they amassed two team prizes and 15 individual prizes across all categories including senior, master, junior and juvenile.

Given his current form it was no surprise that King of the Castle and race winner was Martin Fagan in 14:11, ahead of Freddie Keron-Sittuk of Raheny Shamrocks in 14:28 and Jarlath Byrne in 14:36, leading the Mullingar men’s team to first place. Coming in behind was Mal McDonnell 9th in 16:11 (to finish 1st in his master category), Tom McGrath 11th in 16:23 (1st in master category), Michael Gibson-Brabazon 12th in 16:24 (2nd in master category), Andrew Nevin 16th in 16:39 (2nd junior man), Ben Vaitkevichius 20th in 16:56 (1st in master category), Eddie Newman 21st in 16:57 (1st in master category), Gerry Gavin in 17:14 (2nd in master category), Damien Monaghan (17:47), Kieran Nolan (18:24), Michael Conway (18:31), Alan Crowley (18:56), Paul Moore (19:07), Brian Collentine (19:24), Declan Brady in 19:36 (3rd u/16 boy), Adam Dunne (19:55), Ciaran Luby (19:56), Paul McCool Junior (20:08), Brian Farrell, John Bannon, Enda Gaffney, Olive Malone in 20:42 to finish 1st in her master category and lead the Mullingar women team to second place, Mikey Moffatt, David Mills, Jason McCabe, Caoimhe Gaffney in 21:14 (3rd u/16 girl), Jason Scarff, Frank Kavanagh, Sean McMullin, Tadhg Sheridan, Robert Mills, Leonard Doyle, Brigid McCabe in 22:20 (1st in master category), Katie Daly, Kevin Mulligan, Niamh Molloy, Christy Creagh in 22:59 (2nd in master category), Ciara Smith, Shelly Smith, Francesca Walsh, Vera McCool, Seamus Gaffney, Criona Reid, Paul McCool Senior, Anna Redmond, Callum Costello, Declan Costello, Olive Costello, Caoimhe O’Brien, Aisling Martin (1st junior woman), Jim Dwyer, PJ Ballesty and Alanna Costello.

AAI Masters T&F

Conditions were far from ideal in Tullamore on Sunday 10th August for the AAI National Masters T&F but the wind and heavy showers didn’t prevent some great performances from the Mullingar athletes. Dolores Whyte got the day off to a great start with a well earned bronze medal in her category in a very competitive 100m. Sean McMullin won his 5,000m race walk with ease, bettering his National record by 19 seconds into the bargain. In the 5,000m run, Eddie Newman turned in a very good performance and was unlucky to finish fourth, just out of the medals, but no problem for Christy Creagh who won his category of the 5,000m run to earn another National title. However, the performance – or rather performances – of the day came from Brid Leydon who won the shot, discus and javelin and took silver in the hammer to round off an excellent day for the Mullingar masters and showing it’s not just the Club’s underage athletes that can excel in track and field.

Celtic T&F

Having got the taste for International competition at the Schools International T&F in July, Niamh Fogarty was anxious to follow it up with another selection for Ireland. Thanks to her win at the AAI Juvenile T&F Finals, she was selected to represent Ireland in the u/16 shot at the Celtic T&F in Santry on Saturday 9th August, where she competed for Ireland against teams from Scotland and Wales. Niamh threw an excellent series, with a best of 11.78m, which was close to her best and good enough to win the silver medal. She actually threw over 12m in the fifth round but her momentum was just too much and she fouled, but this was still a great performance by Niamh and added to the team points total to help Ireland to victory overall.

Streets of Galway 8k

Martin Fagan took full advantage of the excellent conditions and quality opposition at the Streets of Galway 8k on Friday evening 8th August where he was in scintillating form and posted an impressive victory. Making a decisive break at the 5k mark to pull clear, Martin showed a clean pair of heels to some of Ireland’s finest distance runners, going on to win in 23:38, well clear of second placed Sean Hehir (Rathfarnham WSAF) by 28 seconds, with Freddie Keron-Sittuk (Raheny Shamrocks) in third and Sergiu Ciobanu (Clonliffe Harriers) in fourth. This was an impressive victory by Martin in a very good time for 8k.

Fr. Murphy’s AC 5k

Promoted by Fr. Murphy’s AC in Athboy, nearly 250 competitors toed the line for the “Streets of Athboy 5k” on Friday evening 8th August and as we’ve come to expect, despite being few in number, the Mullingar athletes were to the fore and won prizes in several categories. First to finish for Mullingar was Gerry Gavin 16th overall in 17:24, followed by Ben Vaitkevichius 17th overall in 17:35 to win his master category, then Alan Crowley (19:16), Niamh Molloy (20:24) to finish third senior woman, Martin McKeon (21:00) and Leonora Doyle (23:10) making up the Mullingar group.

AAI National Half Marathon Championship

The AAI National Half Marathon Championship was held in glorious sunshine around the streets of Dublin on August Bank Holiday Monday, 4th August where over 800 AAI Club athletes joined nearly 7,000 runners for the race, with the AAI National Championship being run in conjunction with the “Rock n Roll” Half Marathon.

Best of the Mullingar group was Eddie Newman who finished in 1:19:12, 44th overall and third in his master category, followed by Nollaig McEntegart in 1:25:31 to win his master category and Alan Crowley in 1:38:24. National medals for Eddie and Nollaig are richly deserved rewards for these two dedicated master athletes.

Lough Sheelin 16 Mile Challenge

In contrast to 5k, the St. Brigid’s AC Lough Sheelin 16 Mile Challenge on Sunday morning 3rd August offered ideal preparation for those training for the Dublin City Marathon in October and combined relatively flat sections with some challenging hills. Given the distance, this race was not for the faint hearted but still drew over 100 participants. The runaway winner was Tom McGrath in 1:35:55, a long way ahead of second place by nearly four minutes. Also taking on the significant 16 mile challenge was Stephen Naughton who finished third (second in his master age category), Jason McCabe, Niamh Gibney, Grace O’Meara and Assumpta O’Meara.

Glenmore AC 5k

On the back of victory in a fast time at the Mullingar 10 mile a week before, Martin Fagan dropped down distance and was back in action again on Friday evening 1st August at the Glenmore AC 5k in Carlingford, Co. Louth where he was the best of the 252 finishers by a long way, winning in a quick time of 14:26, despite the terrible wind and rain, an impressive 25 seconds clear of the well-regarded Freddy Keron-Sittuk of Raheny Shamrocks in second place.

July

AAI Juvenile T&F Championships – Days 2 & 3

The last week-end of July (Sat 26th / Sun 27th) was a particularly memorable one for the Club as our juvenile athletes excelled at the AAI Juvenile T&F Championships in an overcast but warm and humid Tullamore. Over the course of the two days, Mullingar athletes amassed 8 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals, in addition to several PBs and many more close finishes, marking this Championship as the best by far that Mullingar has ever competed at.

Shauna Leydon got Mullingar off to a great start on Saturday with a polished performance in the u/13 shot, putting together a great series of attempts to clinch the silver medal. Over in the discus circle, Niamh Fogarty really saw all the hard work in training over the past few weeks and months pay off handsomely to take gold in the u/16 discus with a best throw of 30.64m, her first time over 30m and a new PB, to give Mullingar its first gold medal of the Championships. Patrick Leydon put together an excellent series in the u/16 triple jump to finish an excellent sixth place, not far off the medal places.

Adam Daly and Mervyn Harris competed in the 400m u/18 where Adam ran well in his heat but didn’t advance to the final. On any other day, Mervyn would have cruised through his heat into the final and be one of the favourites for a medal, but illness during the week robbed him of his best and he was very unlucky not to advance from his heat.

On to the 800m u/17 where Laura Whitelaw and Claire Fagan ignored the frantic early pace, running their own races and keeping keep right in contention throughout. Down the back straight on the final lap, Laura had the pace to move into third place and held her position to the finish line to take the bronze medal, and using her characteristic strong finish on the home straight, Claire sprinted to the finish line to cross in an excellent fifth place. Michael Moran battled well in the 800m u/17 but though he finished strongly, had to settle for a minor place out of the medals on this occasion. In the 800m u/18, Glen Gaffney and Oisin Quinn were perfectly placed at the bell but couldn’t go with the pace of the leaders on the back straight and a gap opened on the medals places, though a very strong final 200m by Glen saw him hold on to fifth place, with Oisin finishing strongly not far behind.

We really kept the best to last with an excellent display of dominance in the boys 3,000m that resulted in a phenomenal gold rush for Mullingar. Shane Hughes, Patrick Shaw and Cormac Dalton worked brilliantly as a team in the 3,000m u/17, helping each other along and slowly separating the field as the laps passed, until with three laps to go the three were clear and from then it was only a matter of how they would share out the medals. Going through the bell, the three were still locked together but with 300m to go Shane made his move to the front and began to pull clear and went to take the title and the gold medal, while Patrick managed to get clear of Cormac with 200m to go, going on to take silver in 9:07.36, which was a new PB, closely followed by Cormac in the bronze medal place also with a big new PB of 9:09.70, bettering his previous best by a massive 12 seconds. Buoyed up by the fantastic performances of the Mullingar u/17 boys, Jack O’Leary ran the perfect race in the 3,000m u/18 that came down to a two man race at the bell and going in the back straight for the final time, Jack moved to the front and pulled clear, increasing his lead with every stride to take the title and the gold medal with a new PB of 8:43.19. Padraig Moran was the clear pre-race favourite in the 3,000m u/19 and he certainly lived up to that tag with a dominant display of front running that won him the title and the gold medal, some 150m clear of second place to round off a great day for the Club with four gold, two silver and two bronze medals won, whetting the appetite for the following day.

It took a while to get into the medals on Sunday morning, but Susan Glennon (1,500m u/14) and Jack Moran (1,500m u/15) competed brilliantly and kept in contention in the opening laps but couldn’t stay with the pace of the very fast closing laps and had to settle for a place out of the medals on this occasion. Despite their efforts over 800m the day before, Claire Fagan and Laura Whitelaw ran strongly in the 1,500m u/17 where Claire had the fresher legs and came through the field with a late surge to finish just out of the medals in fourth, with Laura close behind in sixth. First medal on Sunday came from Shane Hughes in the 1,500m u/17 where he ran clear on the back straight and showed great grit and determination to hold off a late challenge in the closing stages to take his second National title and second gold medal of the week-end. Also competing well and finishing strongly but out of the medals were Patrick Shaw (fifth), Cormac Dalton and Michael Moran. Jack O’Leary had his mind on a double too and in the 1,500m u/18 he kept with the leaders to the bell but his exploits over 3,000m the day before came back to bite him on the last lap and despite a great effort just couldn’t maintain the pace required to keep him in the medal places and he had to settle for fifth, followed closely by Glen Gaffney and Oisin Quinn who also ran well. No problem for Padraig Moran who ran from the front in the 1,500m u/19 to win with ease by a large margin and take his second gold medal and National title of the week-end.

Niamh Fogarty took the lead in the first round of the u/16 shot and increased it with every round to win her second gold medal and National title of the week-end to round off an excellent season. In the u/17 Javelin, Emma Jude Lyons went into second place from round one and held this position right up to the fifth round when she was passed and finished the competition in third place but was still pleased to win a bronze National medal. Shauna Leydon put together a very good set of jumps in the u/13 long jump to finish a very respectable fifth place, just 10 centimetres off the bronze.

The Mullingar girls have an excellent reputation in race walking and showed it when Sarah Glennon stormed to victory in the 2,000m u/14 race walk to earn a well deserved national title. Rachel Glennon competed strongly in the 3,000m u/17 race walk where she was very pleased to take a bronze medal after a flawless display in this most technical event.

Mervyn Harris had been ill on Saturday and was feeling a bit better on Sunday and competed in the 200m u/17 but you need to be at the top of your game in an All-Ireland and he didn’t advance from the very competitive heats. Vicky Harris made qualification look easy in her heat of the 200m u/19 and in the final stormed off the bend in a strong position and held her form to finish in third and win a bronze medal in her final track Championship as a juvenile athlete.

Overall this was a particularly memorable week-end for the Club and the total of 15 All-Ireland medals is quite astonishing and surpasses anything achieved before and is a tremendous credit to all the hard work put in at training by our juvenile athletes. They will now take a well earned break for a few weeks and the middle-distance athletes will come back fresh for the cross country season and the sprinters and field event athletes for the start of winter training.

Mullingar 10 Mile Road Race

All the months of hard work put in by the organising committee paid dividends on Sunday 27th July for the inaugural Mullingar 10 Mile Road Race, which was deemed a great success by everyone involved. Attracted by the chance to run a 10 mile race on a flat fast course on quiet country roads the event drew entrants from Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, Longford, Laois, Kilkenny and Tipperary that we know of, as well as a huge number from Westmeath of course, including 61 from the Club alone, and a total of 291 took part, which is brilliant for a first time fixture.

The weather was perfect and the warm dry conditions added to the occasion for the runners and spectators alike. Martin Fagan and Sean Hehir (Rathfarnham WSAF) were still running together at 8 miles but then Martin began to pull clear and went on to win in 48:43, which is possibly the fastest 10 miles run in Ireland in years, nearly 2 minutes ahead of Hehir, with Peter Mooney (Inverse) finishing in 54:43 to take third prize in the men’s race. The women’s race was won by Pauline Curley (Tullamore Harriers) in 60:29, with Sonya McConnon (DSD) second in 63:15 and Charlotte Kearney (Donadea AC) third in 65:17. Apart from race winner Martin Fagan, among the prize winners from Mullingar Harriers in the various master categories were Maurice Looby (third in his category), Eddie Newman (first in his category), Nollaig McEntegart (third in his category) and Brigid McCabe (first in her category).

Of course an event that caters for such a large entry doesn’t just happen and special thanks is due to the army of volunteers who helped on the day with parking, registration, stewarding, water stations, post-race refreshments and all the other elements needed to make an event such a success. First aid and ambulance cover was provided by the Westmeath Civil Defence to whom we are very grateful. Results were looked after with the usual professionalism by Precision Timing and the whole venture wouldn’t have happened at all without the generous assistance of our sponsors, including Brooks, Tri & Run Mullingar, SteriPack, Dunbia, Allied Irish Bank Mullingar, O’Brien’s Centra, McDonnell Property Partners, Campion Insurance, Woods Pharmacy, Grange Motors, Nissan Mullingar, Birmingham Autos and Mullingar Physiotherapy. Of course, the greatest thanks is due to everyone who took part and we hope they’ll return again next year and help make the event an even bigger one.

AAI Senior T&F

Defending his 5,000m National title was never going to be easy for Mark Christie, especially when the main opposition was Kevin Batt (St. Coca’s AC), an Australian who declared for Ireland earlier in the season and has run the fastest 5,000m by an Irish man this year, but Mark is never one to back off from a challenge. Going to the front from the gun at the AAI Senior T&F in Santry on Sunday 20th July, Mark piled on the pressure and as the laps counted down, the pack of chasing runners slowly reduced until it was down to just Mark and Batt, with Batt firmly placed on Mark’s shoulder where he had been throughout the race. The pair went through the bell together but Batt made his move on the back straight, passing Mark and pulling clear to take the title with a very fast final 200m, which Mark was unable to match, crossing the line in second place to win silver.

Competing for the first time at All-Ireland Senior level didn’t appear to faze Vicky Harris at all. On Saturday 19th July she qualified from her heat of the 200m with ease and in the final, despite running into a headwind, finished sixth with a new outdoor PB of 24.88 seconds, which is a brilliant result in a senior event and will give her added confidence for the All-Ireland Juvenile T&F Finals. Vicky returned on Sunday for the 100m and again was delighted to qualify for the final but had picked up a minor niggle in the heat and was advised not to run the final in case she jeopardised her chances of competing at the All-Ireland Juvenile T&F Finals in a week’s time.

Fingal 10k

Eddie Newman was back in action again on Sunday afternoon 20th July at the Fingal 10k in Swords, Co. Dublin where he finished 28th overall of nearly 2,800 finishers in a time of 35:29, which was good enough to win his master age category.

Schools International T&F

Saturday 19th July marked a memorable day for Niamh Fogarty and Laura Whitelaw when they made their International debuts for Ireland at the Schools International T&F in Cardiff, Wales. Far from being overawed by the occasion, Niamh competed really well in the shot with a best effort of 11.38m, which though was a little short of her best, was still good enough to finish sixth and earn valuable points for the Irish team. Laura got sucked into a very fast opening lap of the 800m that was impossible to sustain even for someone of Laura’s ability but she still finished strongly in 2:19. The points earned by Niamh and Laura’s efforts contributed to the second place finish for the Irish team, behind England and ahead of Wales and Scotland. Congratulations to Niamh and Laura and now that they have competed for Ireland, their names will be added to the Roll of Honour in the Clubhouse. Congratulations to them both from everyone at the Club.

Bertie Quinn Memorial Graded T&F Meeting

Padraig Moran put in a huge performance in the A race of the 3,000m on Wednesday 16 July at the “Bertie Quinn Memorial” Graded T&F Meet held in sunny conditions in Tullamore. Padraig set out at a fast pace from the gun and never eased off throughout. Shane Fitzsimons helped with the pace to a mile and then bowed out leaving Padraig to battle to the finish alone, managing to keep going and finishing with a strong 66 second final lap, to win in 8:29.34 which was a new PB by almost 20 seconds. In addition to a new personal best, Padraig was rewarded for his fine run by being presented with the “Bertie Quinn Memorial Shield” for the best performance of the night. Staying with the 3,000m, finishing second was Shane Hughes (8:54.90), sixth was Patrick Shaw (9:08.56) and completing the Mullingar group in this thrilling race was Jonathan Daly (9:31.78). Ian McCormack placed fifth in the B race, with 10:00.53.

Being a graded meeting meant everyone competed against athletes of a similar ability, and some took the chance to try a new event for the first time. Meabh McNulty ran 67.29 to finish second in her 400m race, and Laura Whitelaw also finished second in her 400m race in 60.30, using the race to sharpen up ahead of her International debut over 800m in the Schools International T&F in Wales. In the 800m, Dorothy Bane placed fifth in her race in 2:44.40, with Claire Fagan going one better with a fourth place finish in her 800m race in 2:22.00. Michael Moran recorded a new PB of 2:03.16 to finish third, just ahead of Oisin Quinn in fourth also recording a new PB of 2:03.60, with young Jack Moran sixth in 2:17.30. Glen Gaffney also recorded a PB in his 800m race, finishing sixth in 2:01.39 and edging ever closer to the 2 minute barrier. Mervyn Harris moved up to the 800m to try it out and was pleased to finish in 2:09.95 with a controlled effort.

Finally, in the sprints, Vicky Harris continued her return to form with a very clear victory in the 100m in 12.46. Another winner was Odhran Cully in his 100m race, finishing in 12.65. This was an excellent fixture and hopefully will become a permanent one on the athletics calendar.

Oldcastle 5k

There was a good turn-out from Mullingar among the 375 runners at the Oldcastle 5k on Wednesday 16th July where on a warm evening on a hilly course, Michael Gibson Brabazon finished second in 16:37, to lead the Mullingar men’s team to victory thanks to the great team efforts of Martin Lyons sixth (16:56), Eddie Newman ninth (17:06), winning his master age category, Gerard Gavin fifteenth (17:48), second in his master age category, and with support from Stephen Naughton, Michael Conway and Alan Crowley. Congratulations to the Mullingar men’s team on their victory.

AAI Juvenile T&F Championships – Day 1

The first day of the AAI National Juvenile T&F Finals took place in Tullamore on Sunday 13th July where Shauna Leydon qualified with ease from her heat of the 60m hurdles u/13, posting the second fastest time going into the final and looking a favourite for a medal. However, it wasn’t to be as disaster struck when she was disqualified for false starting, thus ending her hopes of adding an outdoor All-Ireland hurdles medal to the bronze she won indoors. Shauna will be in action again in two weeks time in the long jump and shot looking to make amends.

Over in the field events, Moya Leydon improved on her performance at the recent Leinsters in the u/17 discus, which was good enough to see her finish in a very respectable fifth place. Moya also competed in the u/17 shot where she again improved on her performance in the Leinsters, but such is the standard at an All-Ireland that she had to settle for a place out of the medals, though eighth in an All-Ireland final is still a very good result. Niamh Fogarty has only recently taken up the event and in the u/16 javelin she couldn’t quite match her performance in the Leinsters and finished seventh, out of the medals but a great result in a new event. The next time we’ll see Niamh compete, she’ll be swapping the maroon and white of Mullingar for the green and white of Ireland as she competes in her International debut this Saturday.

Only three from the Club competed last Sunday on day one but in two weeks time we’ll have an impressive total of twenty four in action on days two and three for the conclusion of the All-Ireland Finals.

British 30k Road Walk Championships

Competing at the British 30k Road Walk Championships in Coventry on Sunday 13th July, Sean McMullin turned in a terrific performance in this gruelling and very technical event where total focus and concentration is vital to finish second, and set a new Irish masters record into the bargain, bettering the old mark by a whopping two minutes

Letterkenny AC Invitation T&F

Vicky Harris was invited to compete in the Women’s 200m as part of an action packed programme at the Letterkenny AC Invitation T&F on Sunday13th July. Competing against some of the best up-and-coming female sprinters in the Country, in less than ideal cold wet and windy conditions, Vicky gave an excellent account of herself to finish second in a thrilling race and this performance sees her coming into form right in time for the upcoming All-Ireland finals.

Cork City Sports

Padraig Moran was the Club’s only representative at the Cork City International Sports on Tuesday evening 8th July and he made the long trip to Cork worthwhile with an excellent win in the Junior Men’s 1,500m. Despite the windy conditions, Padraig gave a fine display of front running in a race that contained many of Ireland’s leading up-and-coming middle distance talents and was a most deserving winner. His time of 3:55.77 was an excellent run and he can look forward to further success on the track this season.

Clontarf 5 Mile & Half Marathon

Billed as the flattest 5 mile course in Ireland, the Clontarf 5 Mile on Saturday 5th July attracted an entry of over 700 looking to test that bold claim! The race quickly came down to a two man contest between Ethiopia’s Wishu Gebreselassie and Mullingar’s Kevin Baker. After a great race, the stronger finish of Gebreselassie in the closing stages showed and he went on to win in 26:58, with Kevin finishing second in 27:10, which was over a minute clear of third place such was the dominance of these two in the race. In this form, it will be interesting to see Kevin race over the longer distance of the Mullingar “10” at the end of July. Also competing in Clontarf was Kieran Nolan who finished strongly, well up in 14th place overall, in 31:13.

In addition to 5 miles, there was also a Half Marathon, which attracted a huge entry of over 1,600 participants, with Gerard Gavin leading the Mullingar group home (17th overall) in 1:24:35, followed by Alan Byrne in 1:32:16, Alan Crowley in 1:35:17 and Tommy Archbold in 1:50:17.

Belfast International T&F Meeting

Mark Christie switched from road to track on Wednesday evening 2nd July when he competed in the International Senior Men 5,000m at a windy Belfast International T&F. The opposition was led by the in-form Ben St. Lawrence from Australia who was using the race as part of his preparations ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow at the end of the month, winning the race with an impressive 13:27.72. Mark put in a strong performance to finish third in 14:03.32, only narrowly missing second place by less than half a second and we look forward to seeing more of Mark on the track in the coming weeks.

South O’Hanlon AC 5k

The Club’s sole representative among the 222 that competed in the South O’Hanlon AC 5k, near Navan, on Wednesday 2nd July, Eddie Newman was in great form and despite the windy conditions on a very hilly course still managed to finish an excellent 7th place overall in 17:16 to comfortably win his master category.

June

Leinster Juvenile (u/14 to u/19) T&F

Our older juvenile athletes excelled at the Leinster Juvenile T&F Championships for ages u/14 to u/19 years in Tullamore on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June. Conditions were excellent for both the athletes and the spectators on both days, being dry and bright with little wind, which was a real bonus. Over the course of the two days, the Club’s athletes won 27 medals, and placed fourth in six events, indeed a few won more than one medal, and with the top four in each event qualifying automatically for the All-Ireland Finals in July, means Mullingar will be extremely well represented with 21 athletes competing in 33 individual events.

First in action on Saturday morning was Niamh Fogarty in the u/16 javelin where she took silver with a new PB of 30.54m and later in the day added to her medal tally with a gold medal in the u/16 shot to book her place in the All-Ireland Finals in July. Also in the field events, Moya Leydon put together a good series of attempts to take silver in the u/17 shot. Our female race walkers have quite a reputation in Leinster and therefore it was little surprise when Sarah Glennon pulled well clear to win the 2,000m u/14 walk by a big margin, with her sister, Rachel Glennon, doing likewise in the 3,000m u/17 walk. On to the flat 3,000m u/17 where Patrick Shaw put in a tremendous performance to take silver, just ahead of Cormac Dalton in third who continues to get back into top form with every race.

Mervyn Harris and Adam Daly lined up for the 400m u/18 where Mervyn had the better run, winning comfortably, with Adam also running well and finishing strongly in an excellent sixth place. Newcomer Maimouna Fane showed great promise in the 100m u/17 where she finished just out of the medals in fourth place in her first race for Mullingar. Vicky Harris powered to yet another Leinster medal when she took silver in the 100m u/19. Another newcomer, Artur Karolewski, also showed tremendous promise in his first competition for Mullingar, the 100m u/17, finishing just out of the medals in sixth place. There wasn’t much time between the 400m and 100m races, but Mervyn Harris still put in a great effort in the 100m u/18 and was unlucky to finish just out of the medals in fourth place in a very close finish.

Shane Hughes’s class showed through in the 800m u/17 and his gutsy performance was rewarded with a bronze medal, closely followed by Michael Moran finishing strongly and unlucky to finish out of the medals in sixth place. In the 800m u/18, Glen Gaffney and Oisin Quinn kept right in contention throughout and after a great race Glen was forced to settle for silver only in the closing stages, with Oisin close on his heels in third. No problem for Laura Whitelaw in the 800m u/17 where she was just too strong for the opposition, timing her break for home to perfection and pulling away to win comfortably, with Dorothy Bane also running well to finish strongly in sixth place.

No medals in the 200m sprints where Patrick Leydon and Odhran Cully (200m u/16) didn’t advance from the very competitive heats, and it was a similar fate for Awa Karen Fane in the 200m u/14 and Caitriona Kennedy in the 200m u/15 though both ran well. Jack Moran was very pleased to take bronze in the 1,500m u/15 in his first time running 1,500m on the track. In the 1,500m u/14, it was evident from the gun that there was only going to be one outcome as Susan Glennon took command and ran clear to win gold with some ease. We finished on the track with Alanna Bate in the 1,500m u/16 where she ran a very good race to take bronze to round off an excellent day for Mullingar with a total of 16 medals and two fourth place finishes, whetting the appetite for day two.

Whatever cloud there was early on burned away very quickly on Sunday morning and the stadium in Tullamore was bathed in glorious sunshine all day long. Daria Fidgeon was early in action in the 250m hurdles u/15 and was unlucky to finish out of the medals in sixth place. Meabh McNulty competed in the 250m hurdles u/16 where she finished fourth, just out of the medals but qualifies for the All-Ireland Finals. There was no luck in the 800m races where Laura Shaw and Daria Fidgeon (800m u/15), Meabh McNulty (800m u/15) and Enda Gaffney (800m u/14), Jensen Nagle and Peter Bane (800m u/15) didn’t finish in the medal or qualification places.

In the field events, Emma Jude Lyons addd to her collection of Leinster titles with a win in the u/17 javelin, while Artur Karolewski just missed bronze by a few centimetres in the u/17 long jump, but fourth place sees him qualifying as of right for the All-Ireland Finals. Awa Karen Fane competed well in the u/14 long jump but finished out of the medal places on this occasion. Conor Fogarty made the final eight of the u/14 shot and despite every effort just couldn’t get into the medal places but finished a very respectable seventh place. Niamh Fogarty made it three medals for the week-end when she won silver in the u/16 discus, so will be very busy indeed at the All-Ireland Finals.

Our 1,500m athletes were in fine form and turned in plenty of medal winning performances. Though still feeling the effects of winning the 800m on Saturday, Laura Whitelaw put in a strong performance but had to settle for silver in the 1,500m u/17 though she was still pleased with her race. Shane Hughes pulled clear of the field with 300m to go in the 1,500m u/17 and powered on to win comfortably. Patrick Shaw timed his finish perfectly and moved into second place coming into the home straight and despite a fierce battle, held on to second and finished in 4:15 a new PB, with Cormac Dalton finishing strongly in sixth, crossing the line in 4:21, which was a new PB for him. In the 800m u/18, Glen Gaffney battled well and was rewarded with a bronze medal and a PB of 4:14, just ahead of Oisin Quinn finishing in fourth in 4:24 a new PB.

Our 100m sprinters were unlucky not to advance from the very competitive heats but we saw spirited performances from Caitriona Kennedy (100m u/15) and Odhran Cully (100m u/16). Moya Leydon added to her week-end medal tally with a fine win in the u/17 discus, while Patrick Leydon jumped to third place in the u/16 triple jump. In contrast, the 200m sprints provided Mullingar with plenty to cheer about, starting with an excellent fourth place finish by Maimouna Fane in the 200m u/17, just missing a medal by a small margin but showing great promise for a novice in this event. Vicky Harris added to her medal haul with another silver medal, in the 200m u/19, and Artur Karolewski qualified from his heat of the 200m u/17 and in the final finished fifth, only a fraction outside the medal places, showing tremendous promise in the 200m sprint. We had two athletes in the 200m u/18, where Adam Daly missed a place in the final by just one place but Mervyn Harris qualified with ease from his heat and in the final led from gun to tape to take the gold medal in style.

We rounded off the day with a polished performance from Jack O’Leary in the 3,000m steeplechase u/18, not showing any sign of unease in his first race over the barriers and after taking the early lead he just kept increasing it with every lap to finish first in a new CBP of 9:52.

Winning 11 gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze medals, and finishing fourth in six events over the two days shows that Mullingar has plenty of talent in depth across a wide range of events and many of our athletes have very realistic prospects of taking honours at the All-Ireland Finals in July.

Irish Runner 5 Mile

Finishing well up among the 3,119 finishers of the Irish Runner 5 Mile in the Phoenix Park on Saturday 28th June was Mark Carroll, finishing an excellent 17th place in 27:33, followed in by Eddie Newman in 26th place overall in 28:08 to win his master age category. Well done to Mark and Eddie on these great results.

St. Coca’s AC 5k

The long awaited head to head contest between Martin Fagan and Mark Christie, finally took place on Saturday 28th June at the St. Coca’s AC 5k in Kilcock, Co. Kildare. Both of these extremely talented athletes are in tremendous current form and from the gun they set off at a blistering pace that no-one else could live with and they made the sparks fly, such was the pace they ran at. The course certainly lived up to its billing as a fast flat course, with only one short incline up a motorway overpass and coming into the final straight it was Mark who had the edge on Martin, winning in 14:06 with Martin second in 14:18, over a minute clear of third place. This is certainly one of the fastest 5k road races run in Ireland in a very long time and we can’t wait for a re-match! Following in for Mullingar was Justin Murtagh (16:38), Patrick Muldoon (17:46) and Michael Conway (18:37), finishing well up in the large entry of 412. Mark and Martin’s performances really set the St. Coca’s 5k apart and adds to its reputation as one of the fastest road races of its kind in Leinster.

The members of St. Coca’s AC must be given great praise for organizing another fantastic night of racing for runners, joggers, and walkers. The weather was dry and humid and this made a good evening and an enjoyable night for everyone with a large crowd gathering at the finish to cheer on the participants.

Waterford Half Marathon

Preferring the longer race distance, Nollaig McEntegart made the long trip to Waterford on Saturday 28th June for the Waterford Half Marathon, which attracted a huge entry of 867, and where Nollaig finished well up in 1:28:20 to place 44th overall, which was good enough to win his master category by a long way.

Tailteann Inter-Provincial T&F Games

The Tailteann Inter-Provincial T&F Games were held in Santry on Saturday 21st June where the very best of Ireland’s young athletes were in action in an effort to gain selection on the Irish Schools Team for the Schools International to be held in Cardiff on 19th July.

It was a day to remember for Niamh Fogarty (St. Joseph’s Rochfortbridge) and Laura Whitelaw (St. Finian’s) as they achieved their lifetime ambition of being selected to compete for Ireland and in the process gain their first International vest. Laura Whitelaw was first in action in the 800m and following a superb piece of running finished a brilliant second place in a new PB of 2:15.53, which is great running for a sixteen year old and knocking over eight seconds off her best since the start of the year. Also in the same race Claire Fagan had a fine run to finish fifth following a late call-up to the Leinster team.

In the shot putt circle, Niamh Fogarty put together a great series of attempts, pulling out a huge effort in the final round with a new PB of 12.06m to move her into second place. Niamh certainly deserves her selection on the Irish team, as she has been a model of consistency all year. Also, it is a great tribute to the hard work of her father, Richard, who is also her coach, for all the work in field events over the years.

The 3,000m was a most interesting race, with Jack O’Leary (Clongowes Wood) running an outstanding race and being just denied victory in a final sprint on the home straight, finishing second with a new PB of 8:51.09. Unfortunately, Jack will be in Australia at the time of the International and had to decline selection. Shane Hughes (CBS Mullingar) did not have one of his best days, finishing in fifth place having been in contention until the last two laps.

In the javelin, Emma Jude Lyons (St. Joseph’s) had a good series of throws in this very technical event and was more than happy but just failed to make the top three. However, she will be underage again next year and will get another chance.

All in all a great day for all the young athletes, all of whom helped the Leinster team to win the Inter-Provincial Trophy for best Region. All of our athletes that competed in the Tailteann Games will be in action at the upcoming Leinster Championships in Tullamore.

Dunshaughlin AC 10k

There’s no doubting Martin Fagan’s class after a resounding victory in the Dunshaughlin AC “Michael Manning Memorial” 10k on Saturday evening 21st June, winning in 30:03, over forty seconds clear of second place. This race is widely acknowledged in the running community as one of the best races in Ireland and this year a record field of 885 took part. Also running well to finish well up was Mark Carroll in 33:49, followed by Ollie Donnelly in 35:13 (to finish second in his master category), Eddie Newman (35:29), Justin Murtagh (35:34), Patrick Muldoon (37:09), Aine O’Reilly (39:23), Philip Burke, Tom Griffith, Robin Jackson and Clare O’Donnell, all running well and enjoying the atmosphere and beautiful summer evening sun.

BMAF 5k Road Race Championship

Having competed in every British Masters Athletic Federation 5km Road Race Championship since the event was first held at Horwich, near Bolton, Sean McMullin returned on Sunday 15th June to keep his unbroken record intact. Competing in the 5k road walk Sean finished third to claim the bronze medal, just 6 seconds behind silver and 30 seconds ahead of fourth place who had finished fifth in the World Championships held in Budapest last March. As a measure of the standard of competition, Sean’s opponents included two of the British team that won gold at the Worlds and the race winner set a new British record. Congratulations to Sean on this great performance against top class opposition.

Region of Brittany 10k

Paddy Kelly and Tom Cully travelled to Pacé, just outside Rennes in the Brittany Region of France for the Region of Brittany 10k Championships on Sunday 15th June. A diversion on the road to the race delayed them and they arrived with only 10 minutes to the start; not the ideal way to prepare for a race!

Unfortunately, Tom was sick the night before and decided not to run. Paddy ran and was pleased to finish in 34:25, which was good considering the conditions were very warm and the heat was an issue but he managed to finish well up the field of 800 runners in 22nd place, with the top five places filled by Kenyans. For Paddy it was a great experience to compete abroad and race against some top athletes and he hopes to get the chance to do it again.

Irish Milers Club/GV Ryan Meeting

There were some excellent performances at the Irish Milers Club/GV Ryan Meeting in Irishtown, Dublin on Saturday 14th June. Cormac Dalton was in action in the 3,000m race and continued his comeback to full fitness with a fine run in a PB of 9:21.85. This was an improvement of 11 seconds on his PB. Michael Moran was also in excellent form running the 800m in 2:02.29, a new PB, which was two seconds faster than he had previously completed the distance. Both Michael and Cormac are improving with every race and can continue to progress throughout the season. Stephen Nea continued his track season with a solid race in the 800m finishing in 2:06.46. Johnny Daly was just outside his PB in the 3,000m with 9:38.89.

Claire Fagan raced in the 1,500m and looked very comfortable racing in senior competition for the first time. Claire ran a very controlled race to finish in 4:54.50, which was an excellent performance and was her first time to break five minutes for the distance providing another PB. Jack O’Leary was our final competitor in action, in the men’s 1,500m. Running a very aggressive race and always in contention with the leaders, Jack was rewarded with sixth place and a huge PB of 4:00.75 for 1,500m. This was a twelve second improvement for Jack and he can now look forward to the remainder of the track season with great confidence.

Trim AC “Braveheart” 5k

In contrast to the atrocious conditions in 2013, this year’s edition of the Trim AC “Braveheart” 5k trail run on Friday evening 13th June was run in very warm but otherwise ideal conditions and attracted nearly 550 finishers, well up on last year and bucking the recent trend of declining numbers at 5k races. The event takes place in the Porchfields on a lovely trail along the banks of the Boyne, overlooked by Trim Castle, and continues to grow in popularity thanks to the tremendous effort put in by everyone at Trim AC. The customary claxon siren started the race which included a number of warriors from Mullingar. Leading the Mullingar group home was Eddie Newman, finishing 8th overall in 17:31 to win his master category in a photo finish. Ken Whitelaw was next in (18:23), followed by Sinead Roche (18:47) to finish third woman in a very close finish, then Michael Conway (19:46), Philip Burke (20:23) and Robin Jackson (22:42) completing the group that stayed on to enjoy the spread of fine food and refreshments afterwards in the pleasant summer evening sun.

Bailieborough AC 10k

The Bailieborough AC “Castle Lake” 10k trail race on Sunday 8th June was a very well organised race that took the runners on a tough trail run around the lakes and forest but well able for the challenge was Eddie Newman who finished second overall in 35:56.

Bohermeen AC “Patrick Bell memorial” 5k

It was an excellent night for running on Saturday evening 7th June for the Bohermeen AC “Patrick Bell Memorial” 5k near Navan, which attracted over 400. A change of route due to a funeral in the area was handled excellently by the organizers and brought the race on one of the old routes for the race. The trio from Mullingar was led home by Ollie Donnelly, finishing 19th overall in 16:57 to win his master age category, followed by Damien Monaghan (17:42) and Christy Creagh (23:03). A great crowd stayed around to enjoy the usual spread of burgers, cakes, sandwiches, tea and coffee.

Leinster Pairs, u/12 and u/13 T&F

Saturday 7th June saw the Leinster Pairs, u/12 and u/13 T&F Championships held in Tullamore where the u/12 and u/13 athletes competed as individuals but the younger ones competed in “pairs” with their times, or throws or jumps added together to give the team score for the pair.

There were no medals for our pairs teams but Darragh Smith and Conor Heffernan performed really well in the 60m u/9 and turbo javelin u/9, Adam Brady and Sonny Drummond paired up in the 500m u/10 and long jump u/10 and really enjoyed the experience, as did Tadgh Sheridan and Ross Killalea in the 500m u/10 and turbo javelin u/10, and finally Emer Fogarty and Tori Coyne loved the competition in the 60m u/10 and 500m u/10. These are among our youngest athletes in the Club and they really performed well and were a great credit to the Club.

Medals were very scarce for our u/12 and u/13 athletes too. Bea Drummond ran a very well judged race in the heat of the 600m u/12 to qualify comfortably for the final where she was always in contention and after a great effort and strong finish, placed second to win the silver medal. Unfortunately, Meabh Killalea and Francesca Walshe didn’t qualify from the extremely competitive heats. Francesca also competed in the 60m u/12, as did Terri Molloy and Niamh Cully, but with so many heats, qualification to the final was very difficult and all three just missed out but ran really well. Colin Smith and Lorcan Mullen competed in the 60m hurdles u/12, where Lorcan was unlucky not to qualify for the final but no problem for Colin where he cruised to second place to qualify for the final but was unlucky to finish out of the medals in the final. Lorcan and Colin also ran in the 60m sprint, together with Killian McDonald, and though all three boys competed well didn’t advance from the extremely competitive heats. Colin had a busy day and with Oisin Sheridan and Lorcan Mullen ran in the 600m u/12 but none of the three advanced to the final despite good efforts.

Shauna Leydon got Mullingar back in the medals with a polished performance in the 60m hurdles u/13 where she took the silver medal. She also competed well in the long jump u/13 but struggled a bit with her check mark and was pushed into second place in the final round but made amends in the shot u/13 with a convincing win. No luck for Ciara Smith in the 600m u/13 or for Orla Fogarty in the 60m hurdles u/13 or the 80m sprint but full marks for effort. We had three in the 600m u/13 where Ciaran Luby and Eoin Quinn made it safely through the heats but Brian Farrell just missed out by a narrow margin. The final was a great race and Ciaran and Eoin kept in contention throughout but were edged out of the medal places only in the final sprint finish, Ciaran finishing fourth and Eoin only a few places back. Deji Sotona was very unlucky to pick up an injury in the 60m u/13 and though he qualified from his heat was unable to take his place in the final.

A small medal haul with only Bea Drummond (600m) and Shauna Leydon (60m hurdles, long jump and shot) advancing to the All-Ireland Finals in July but all our young athletes showed great heart and performed to the utmost of their ability and no matter the result, they were all very gracious in defeat, which is a great credit to them.

Multyfarnham 5k

PROVISIONAL RESULTS

Leinster u/23, Senior and Masters T&F

It was a small group from Mullingar that travelled to Tullamore on Sunday 1st June for the Leinster u/23, Senior and Masters T&F. It was dry, mostly overcast and with just a light breeze that gave a tail wind on the home straight that was nicely within the legal limit for the sprinters but not really too noticeable into the faces of the middle distance runners on the back straight. These were perfect conditions for running. The 9 athletes that competed amassed an impressive total of 11 medals between them by day’s end, which are terrific results for the Club.

First into action were Paddy Kelly and Martin Lyons in the Senior 3,000m steeplechase. This is a very tough event that takes great strength and endurance but Paddy had the better performance on the day and ran to second place, ahead of Martin in fourth. Sean McMullin cruised to yet another in a very long line of Leinster titles in the Masters 3,000m race walk to further reinforce his reputation in this highly technical event.

Returning for her first outing since injury in the Schools T&F, Vicky Harris made short work of the Senior 200m with an emphatic victory and later in the afternoon made it a sprint double with an equally clear victory in the Senior 100m with a new PB of 12.39 and looking like there’s plenty more to come as she gets back to full fitness and runs a few more races. Dolores Whyte looked impressive in the Master 100m and was delighted to take gold, her first Leinster title. Mervyn Harris was pleased with his Senior 200m performance where he finished second and later in the day powered to victory in the Senior 400m with his customary “burn” off the second bend to pull clear.

It was on to the middle distance races next, where Eddie Newman ran to victory in the Master 5,000m. Hard to believe but this was Eddie’s first race ever on a track but he took it very much in his stride. He dropped down to the 1,500m later and though he admitted the distance is very short for him, was delighted to take bronze. In the 5,000m u/23, Jonathan Daly was very pleased with his performance that secured him gold. Our final competitor was Ian McCormack in the 1,500m u/23, an unfamiliar distance for him, but he worked hard and was rewarded with a bronze medal to round off an excellent day for Mullingar.

May

All-Ireland Schools T&F

In glorious sunshine on Saturday 31st May the All-Ireland Schools T&F Finals were held in Tullamore and the Club was very well represented by some of its very best underage athletes competing for honours for their Schools and Colleges. All the hard work in the past number of months really paid off with some outstanding performances.

Pride of place must go to Alanna Bate (Loreto Mullingar) who won the u/16 mile in a close finish and to Niamh Fogarty (St. Joseph’s Rochfortbridge) who won the Intermediate shot with 12.03m to win by a big margin. However, St. Finian’s College must be absolutely delighted with the performance of their athletes, taking six medals. It was silver for Laura Whitelaw (Intermediate 800m) and for Sarah Glennon (Junior 1,200m walk), bronze for Rachel Glennon (Intermediate 2,000m walk) and Edel Glennon (Senior 3,000m walk), and ensuring the boys got a look in it was bronze for Patrick Shaw (u/16 mile). The sixth medal for St. Finian’s was a bronze won by Darragh Caffrey (Junior shot) who competes with North Westmeath AC. Also taking a medal was Jack O’Leary (Clongowes Wood), a well earned bronze in the Intermediate 3,000m.

Also competing well at the most competitive underage T&F competition in the Country and giving excellent accounts were Emma Jude Lyons (St. Joseph’s Rochfortbridge) in the Intermediate javelin, Oisin Quinn (CBS Mullingar) in the Intermediate 1,500m steeplechase and Moya Leydon (St. Finian’s) in the Intermediate shot.

These performances will give every one of them a terrific boost ahead of the Leinster T&F Championships in June.

Navan AC 6k

Conditions were excellent for the Navan AC 6k on Friday 30th May and this very popular event attracted 239 runners. Finishing 9th overall in 20:46 was Eddie Newman to place 3rd in his master age category, ahead of Damien Monaghan 13th overall in 21:17 to place 4th in his master age category.

Mullingar Road League – Round4

The final round of the BROOKS /Tri & Run Mullingar Road League was held on Wednesday 28th May on a wonderful warm summer’s evening at Belvedere. Again, as in previous weeks, there was a very good attendance at the race. This race brought the curtain down on a successful League with good numbers registering over the four nights.

It could have gone seriously pear shaped though on the final night as the weather and the “Life” festival in Belvedere the previous week-end played havoc with the grounds and as of Tuesday evening it was looking extremely doubtful the race could be held safely in Belvedere such was the amount of mud and the general damage on the paths and trails. Plan “B” was to run an out and back course on the N52, not ideal but needs must. However, thanks to the Trojan efforts of the Council staff the grounds were put back into shape just on time and we could run on the same course as the first three rounds.

The success of the League is due to the very many volunteers who gave up their free time to make it the success it is. These are the people who took registrations, stewarded the course, organized prizes, and did all the other tasks required to run a race series successfully.

Peter Mooney (Inverse) made it four victories in a row, winning in 16:38, to win the trophy for first man. Mark Carroll (Mullingar Harriers) had his best placing of the series, finishing second in 16:42, with Tom McGrath (Mullingar Harriers) also improving to third in 16:56, ahead of Jo Lynam (Mullingar Harriers) 17:07, just edging out Ashton farrell (Naas AC) fourth in 17:08, and Ollie Donnelly (Mullingar Harriers) completing the top six in the men’s race. First to finish in the women’s race was Charlotte Kearney (Donadea AC) 118:39 to also make it four in a row and secure the trophy for first woman, followed by Fiona Gettings 19:13 and Breda Daly (Mullingar Harriers) third in 19:59.

Prizes were decided on the total of the three best times over the four races, so there were battles taking place throughout the entire field for prizes in the various categories. After the race, there were plenty of refreshments for everyone in the Courtyard Café at Belvedere and the prizes were presented to the various category winners by Susan Finnerty, wife of the late Pat whom the League commemorates. Peter Mooney was the clear overall winner of the senior men’s category and in the senior women’s category, Charlotte Kearney was also the clear winner and both were presented with the Pat Finnerty Memorial Trophies for first man and first woman.

The other men’s prizes were awarded to Mick Fogarty (Athlone Tri Club) second and Declan Fahey third. Women’s prizes were presented to Fiona Gettings and Breda Daly (Mullingar Harriers) second. Full details of all junior and master prize winners can be seen below. In addition to the various category prizes, there were very many spot prizes awarded too.

Finally, many thanks to the Management and Staff of Belvedere House, Precision Timing for looking after results in a professional manner, the Westmeath Civil Defence for providing first aid cover every evening, all those who took part, to BROOKS and Dorothy Duffy at Tri & Run Mullingar for their very generous sponsorship of the event, but especially to the Council staff who worked so hard on Wednesday to repair the course.

Prize Winners