A: Grange, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland | E: info@mullingarharriers.com

Q1, 2021 News & Reports – January to March

 

MARCH

 

Fingers crossed for a return to group training (30th Mar)

We were all rightly heartened by the Government announcement on Tuesday 30th March that from the end of April, subject to prevailing public health conditions, outdoor sports facilities can reopen and underage non-contact outdoor training in pods of 15 or fewer can restart. This is great news for our underage members and we’ll be delighted to see them back training at the Club in a few weeks time. It’s only for our underage members initially but we’re hoping that the adult members will be allowed to return not long after. Fingers crossed that we don’t hit a speed bump and the date has to move out.

Westmeath Examiner Sports Awards for 2020

Congratulations from everyone at Mullingar Harriers to Claire Fagan who won a Special Achievement Award at the Westmeath Examiner Sports Awards for 2020, which was presented at a virtual event on Friday evening 26th March. Buoyed up by u/23 team medal success at the European XC in December 2019, Claire came into 2020 full of confidence and it showed at the Home Countries & Celtic International XC in Scotland in January 2020 where she won gold for Ireland in the u/23 race. She continued her excellent form on to the track by winning the 800m at the National u/23 Indoors in January and at the National Senior T&F in August she finished third overall in the 5,000m to win bronze in the senior category and gold in the u/23 category. This is a well deserved Award for Claire after a tremendous year despite the challenges posed by Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns.

St. Patrick’s Day 10k & Medley League Round 4 – 10k

The Mullingar Half Marathon is normally held on St. Patrick’s Day, but as this year’s event unfortunately had to be postponed, Mullingar Harriers was able to use the date to hold a Virtual 10k Fundraiser for the new all-weather track, and it also incorporated round four of the Virtual Medley Road League. After the trials and tribulations of the mile in round three, many were glad to get back to the more familiar territory of 10k. Entries for the event were very strong and hundreds had entered online for the 10k and a lot more of the Club’s underage members had entered in the 3k or 4k run organised by the Club coaches and more suited to younger ages.

In a very pleasant change from the days and weeks before, the weather on St. Patrick’s Day was bright and quite warm despite a light breeze, ideal for a run, and from early morning the Royal Canal Blueway and the Old Rail Trail in Mullingar were nicely busy with runners completing their socially-distanced 10k races. To keep within 5k of their homes, many more runners from every corner of Westmeath and even further afield were out running, jogging or walking their 10k on the day. Many had entered just to support the fundraising efforts and did not run but we’re still very thankful to them for their financial support. Those that did complete the run uploaded their results to the My Run Results website.

As expected, Mullingar athletes were very prominent in the results, though we didn’t have it all our own way. The first man was James Hyland (Raheny Shamrocks), second was Shane Ryan (Raheny Shamrocks) and in third place was our own Maurice Looby. Finishing in the top ten men was Alan Crowley (fifth), Eddie Newman (sixth), Andrew Nevin (seventh) and James Keegan (eighth). In the women race, Síle O’Byrne (Slí Cualann AC) took first place ahead of Mullingar’s Sinead Whitelaw (second), Aine O’Reilly (third), with Amy Mahony (fifth), Jenny Algar (sixth), Aisling Corcoran (seventh), Anna Broderick (eighth), Michelle Bohan (ninth) and Michelle O’Halloran (tenth) filling the top ten places. Mullingar athletes featured strongly across the various senior and master categories, including at least 10 best times for the distance, and 6 men ran under 36 minutes for 10k, so it’s good to see so many making good use of their time and continuing to train well.

With three Raheny men in the top four, Raheny easily won the men team prize, and with three Mullingar women in the top five, they easily won the women team prize. There was also a mixed team category with three to score and each team had to include at least one woman. First team was Mullingar Harriers thanks to Maurice Looby, Alan Crowley and Sinead Whitelaw, second was our near neighbours North Westmeath AC and third was Birr AC. The fourth team was from Ealing Eagles in London, so it was great to see the event being supported not only by Clubs in Ireland but also in England. Hundreds entered the event and while not everyone that entered actually ran the distance or submitted their time, their support is greatly appreciated and will help towards financing the new all-weather track.

Nearly everyone that entered in the 10k, 3k or 4k included the event tee shirt with their entry, so we expect to see a great number of people in the coming weeks and months sporting their commemorative tee shirts here there and everywhere in the County demonstrating their support for this important fundraiser.

Concentrating on the Medley League, over seventy adult Club members ran the distance, and when the results were age graded as in previous rounds, the first three women were Mary Stuart, Aine O’Reilly and Sinead Whitelaw. With only a minute between third and sixth woman, if all the women were running together, there would have been a terrific finish. Eddie Newman was first man, followed by Maurice Looby and Evan McCormack. Round five is a 5k on Easter Monday, 5th April.

NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championship 2020 (rescheduled from Autumn 2020)

Thanks to a brilliant individual 25th place finish and leading the Iona College men team to 10th place of 30 teams at the rescheduled 2020 NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championship on Monday afternoon 15th March, Jack O’Leary earned a coveted All-American honour for his efforts. All-American honours are awarded annually to the most outstanding athletes in a sport.

The race was held in Stillwater, Oklahoma and the nearly 250 runners faced a very tough hilly 10k course on a bone dry surface. Jack described the course as brutal, but while it might have been a tough course, Jack is tough too and he worked hard all the way, digging deep to move up five spots over the final two laps to finish 25th, only a little over a minute behind the winner in an extremely competitive race.

This was Jack’s fourth time competing in the NCAA Cross Country Championship and he has improved in each of his four years. Jack was delighted with his run, the All-American honour was the icing on the cake, and he can’t wait for the upcoming outdoor T&F season.

Fingers crossed training can resume at the Club after Easter (14th Mar)

The headline news this time last year was that all athletic activities had fallen silent due to the cancellation of many races. The expectation at the time was that they would be rescheduled in due course and members were urged to keep training from home because the fitness that they would retain “over the following weeks” would benefit them greatly on their return to racing. Imagine, the expectation back then was that the impact of the health restrictions could be over in a matter of weeks? How very wrong we were and here we are twelve months later in yet another lockdown, the third but hopefully the last one! Given recent comments by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste about a loosening of restriction after Easter, fingers crossed we can see a return to training then and possibly an outdoor track and field season this summer.

Medley Road League – Round 3 – Mile

It’s rare for most of our senior and master members to race a mile as hard as they can, but round three of the Virtual Medley Road League gave them the chance. They were warned in advance that even though it’s a relatively short distance, they needed to treat it with respect because it’s a lot tougher than it sounds. Running one mile as hard as you can go is hard, everyone would go anaerobic much earlier than normal and would be fighting lactic build-up a lot earlier than expected and if all went to plan they would be begging for the finish line with 100m to go. With these, or perhaps despite these, somewhat chilling words of advice and encouragement, over seventy adult Club members ran the distance on their own within 5k of home on either Saturday 6th or Sunday 7th March, timed themselves with a GPS device, submitted proof of their times, and the age graded results were confirmed on Monday 8th March. As predicted, some surprised others who had been beating them over the longer distances with a burst of speed they have not had a chance to use before. For some, this round will be their best score and for others it will be their worst, all because of the shorter distance.

An interesting observation on the results is that if this had been a real race, it would have been very exciting. Six women ran between 5:44 and 5:55, and eight men ran between 4:55 and 5:10, which would have seen some close finishes. As expected, the top three places changed from previous rounds, and the top three men in round three were Maurice Looby, Eddie Newman and Evan McCormack, and the top three women were Vera McCool, Mary Stuart and Aisling Corcoran. Round four is a 10k, and will be run on St. Patrick’s Day in conjunction with the fundraiser for the new track.

Bohermeen AC Virtual Half Marathon

While some Harriers members were running round three of the Virtual Medley Road League, Joan Flynn and James Cribbin took part in the Bohermeen AC Virtual Half Marathon, which they ran on Saturday morning 6th March. Running within 5km of home in compliance with the Covid travel restrictions meant finding a 21.1km half marathon route presented a real challenge, and involved running several loops of their localities on quiet country roads in the Curraghmore and The Downs areas of Mullingar. It was a fresh windy morning, but still quite good for long distance running. The Bohermeen Half Marathon was the last real race that Joan ran in 2020 before Covid took its grip, so she wanted to run the Virtual Half in 2021 and keep the momentum of training up when there are no live races to go to. Joan completed the distance in 1:25:48, and James completed his race in 1:26:58, which was a best time for him and he was very pleased with that. Running 21.1km on your own without the usual buzz of race day crowds and the resulting adrenaline is no mean feat, but both considered it very good training for when live racing eventually returns. Congratulations to Joan and James on their mental resolve to run the distance on their own.

Joe Ryan provides a link from Mullingar to the European Indoors (7th Mar)

It was terrific to be able to enjoy the European Indoors in Toruń, Poland and congratulations to all the Irish athletes who gave great accounts across a wide range of events against some top class opposition. As a measure of the quality of the competition that the Irish athletes were exposed to, many of the European athletes will feature among the medal places at the postponed Tokyo Olympics later in the year. We must give a particular mention to Cian McPhillips (Longford AC) and John Fitzsimons (Kildare AC), two young men who competed with distinction in the 800m, John just missing a place in the semi-finals but Cian advancing and securing a brilliant fourth place finish in his semi-final. They are coached by our own Joe Ryan and have been a regular presence at Club training sessions over the past number of years and everyone who has watched them training alongside our own Mullingar athletes would have known they were very special and their performances in Poland came about after a lot of hard work and dedication to the sport, a valuable lesson that we’re sure all Mullingar members will appreciate. Congratulations to Joe for steering them to success, and we know there is a lot more to come.

 

FEBRUARY

 

Medley Road League – Round 2 – 5k

Round two of the members-only Medley Road League took place over the week-end and the age graded results confirmed on the Monday evening after, the 22nd February. Round two was a 5k and numbers taking part were up on round one, with nearly 80 adult Club members running the distance on their own within 5k of home on either the Saturday or Sunday, timing themselves with a GPS device and submitting proof of their times. Conditions were good for running, cool and dry, though a bit windy, but like in round one, at least runners could organise their route to keep the wind on their backs for most if not all of the distance, which helped. The times submitted were age graded, which adjusts the times to reflect the effort of someone in their twenties and balances out the results across the wide age range of our adult senior and master members. In round two, the top three places were filled by Eddie Newman, Maurice Looby and Alan Crowley, the same order as in round one, but there was a small change in the top three women places, which were filled by Mary Stuart, Aine O’Reilly and Sinead Whitelaw. Round three is one mile and can be run either on Saturday 6th or Sunday 7th March.

Annual General Meeting 2021

For the first time in over 45 years since the Club was founded, the Annual General Meeting on Friday evening 19th February couldn’t take place in person but had to go online due to Covid-19 restrictions. The numbers attending online were still comparable to what we would have expected if the meeting had been held in person, which is excellent and shows the real interest among members and parents of underage members on how the Club is managed and organised on their behalf.

Chairperson, Margaret Daly opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and introduced the Secretary’s report by Colm Walsh, the Treasurer’s report by Joanna Tyrrell and Competition Report by Greg Duggan. These were followed by Margaret’s own Chairperson’s Address and finally the President’s Address by Sean McMullin. Like every Club in Ireland, membership fell last year, but the foundations in Mullingar Harriers are strong and membership will recover once we are past Covid and back to normal. Despite the challenges of the last year, the Club’s finances are in a healthy state. Some important matters were discussed, including the construction of the new all-weather track which will start in the coming weeks, subject to weather and an easing of Covid restrictions on construction activities. It’s a huge financial commitment for the Club and an appeal was made to members to support a number of fundraising initiatives to be announced in the coming weeks and months, the first being a virtual 10k on St. Patrick’s day.

Due to Covid-19, last year was obviously very difficult for the Club and we’re not out of the woods yet, but most members rose to the challenge of what is called the “new normal” in terms of lone training and lack of live competition. It has been difficult for all members, but especially the adults who suffered more from closures of the Club than the juvenile members who were allowed to return to training for longer periods. The road race fixture list was all but wiped out; the indoor season was cut short; the outdoor season was very short and there was no competition for most of the underage members; and except for day one of the Westmeath Cross County, the autumn cross country season was cancelled. However, while there was a big reduction in competition last year, we still had a number of notable highlights, which were recalled at the meeting.

Among the many highlights were Claire Fagan’s 34:46.8 for 10,000m and as a measure of the quality of that time, would have placed her just outside the top ten at the European u/23 T&F Championships, where Claire had competed the year before; over 50 athletes from the Club competed in nearly 70 events over 3 days of competition at the Leinster juvenile indoors and amassed 18 medals, with Championship Records for Matthew Glennon (3k u/18 walk) and Charles Okafor (200m u/18); Jack O’Leary (Iona College) recorded a huge breakthrough 3,000m with 7:53.47, the fastest indoor 3,000m recorded by a Mullingar Harriers athlete in the Club’s history and followed this with a terrific PB of 13:44.12 for 5,000m to lead the Irish 2020 indoor ranking list in the 3,000m and 5,000m; Charles Okafor won the 100m and 200m at the AAI National Junior T&F, and it is little surprise that he has since been selected onto the National Junior 4x100m relay panel; and National titles were won by Colm Walsh (5,000m race walk), Sean McMullin (5,000m race walk) and Tom Walsh (35 pounds weight for distance) at the AAI National Masters T&F.

No doubt, 2020 was a tough year for the Club, but when members could compete, they turned in some outstanding performances. Hopefully we’ll see a return to normal service soon. The Club is strong and we can look forward to more exciting times in the year ahead, membership will recover, especially with the development of the new all-weather track.

The following were elected as officers and committee members for the coming year:

Sean McMullin (President), Breda McDonnell (Vice-President), Margaret Daly (Chairperson), Greg Duggan (Vice-Chairperson, and will take on the roles of PRO coordinator, Registrar and Competition entries), Joanna Tyrrell (Treasurer), Colm Walsh (Secretary), Philip Burke (Assistant Secretary), Tom McGrath (Minute Secretary), Pauline Quinn, Margaret Daly and Greg Duggan (Child Officers), Cormac Finnerty, Pat Muldoon Senior, Vera McCool and John Shaw (Trustees). The officers and trustees are automatically on the new committee, as are Life Vice-presidents Seamus Gibney, Cormac Finnerty, Martin Fagan, Bobbie Begley, John Mulvihill, George Bell and Christy Creagh, and will be joined by Mark Bate, Declan Costello, Amanda Dalton, Catriona Duffy, Joan Flynn, Sean Liston, Patrick Muldoon, Clare O’Donnell, Joe Ryan and Tom Wallace who were elected to the committee, and by Club Captains Aine O’Reilly and Tom McGrath.

Concluding the meeting, Margaret Daly thanked all present for their online attendance and input and closed a successful AGM.

Bryggen Sports Invitational

Competing in the 3,000m at the Bryggen Sports Invitational in Manchester, England on Saturday 13th February, Jack O’Leary ran an excellent competitive race, staying with the leaders throughout, to finish strongly in third in 7 minutes 58.34 seconds, not as quick as his 7 minutes 53.47 seconds in Boston this time last year, but still inside the standard for the European Indoors in Poland in three weeks time. His time in Manchester currently puts him third on the 2021 Irish indoor rankings.

Medley Road League – Round 1 – 3k

The results of the first of six rounds of the members-only Medley Road League that had taken place on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th February were confirmed on Tuesday 9th February. Round 1 was a 3k and nearly 70 adult Club members ran the distance alone within 5k of home on either the Saturday or Sunday, timed themselves with a GPS device and submitted proof of their times. Conditions were very cold and windy either day, but at least most could organise themselves to run the distance with the wind on their back for most if not all of the distance, which helped. The times submitted were then age graded, which adjusts the times to reflect the effort of someone in their twenties and nicely balances out the results across the wide age range of our adult senior and master members. After round one, the top three places were filled by Eddie Newman, Maurice Looby and Alan Crowley, and the top three women were Mary Stuart, Aine O’Reilly and Michelle O’Halloran. Round 2 is a 5k and can be run either on Saturday 20th or Sunday 21st February.

Athletics Ireland announces Indoor “Micro Meet” (4th Feb)

In a welcome break from the constant gloomy outlook on a return to in-person live competition, Athletics Ireland announced on Thursday 4th February that the Sport Ireland Expert Group had secured Government approval for an Indoor “Micro Meet” for invited high performance and elite athletes to take place at the National Indoor Arena on February 20th and 21st. The meet will provide qualification opportunities and preparation races for the European Indoors, which takes place in Poland in early March. The event will also be used to attain World Ranking points for athletes working towards qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Entry will be restricted to athletes tracking towards Olympic Games qualification and European Indoor Championships qualification, including senior relay panels. A small number of additional athletes may be invited to ensure the event is compliant with the requirements of the event permit, such as minimum number of competitors per event, so that all results are valid for qualification purposes. It is anticipated that only about 60 athletes will take part over the two days and the arena will be emptied after each race or session, in the same way as we saw last summer in Santry at the National T&F. The participation of each athlete must be approved by the Sport Ireland Expert Group.

This event has been planned and negotiated over many weeks and it is a great result for the entire athletics community to secure the backing and trust of Sport Ireland and the Government to allow Athletics Ireland to host the event.

 

JANUARY

 

Domestic indoor season cancelled (29th Jan)

It came as no surprise, but on Friday 29th January, Athletics Ireland confirmed the cancellation of the National Senior Indoor Championships, which were scheduled to take place at the National Indoor Arena in Dublin in three weeks time. The decision was taken in light of the ongoing Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions, which have been extended until early March. Similarly, the National juvenile committee decided that it would not be in a position to hold the National Juvenile Indoors either. Whilst a small cohort of elite athletes have been granted a Government exemption to continue to train at Level 5, the prohibition on any Club training would not allow most athletes sufficient time to prepare safely for events, even if held at a later date than normal. Following suit, Athletics Leinster has also confirmed the cancellation of the Leinster Indoors this year, thus ending any prospect of indoor competition this season, except for a few elite athletes.

On a more positive note, the Athletics Ireland juvenile committee met recently to discuss fixtures for 2021 and have developed several proposals to offer as much competition at juvenile level as possible. A meeting is scheduled this week with representatives from the Regions, including Athletics Leinster, to discuss the proposals and agree fixtures for the coming months. The juvenile committee is also aware of a need for qualification for the European u/18 and u/20 T&F and believes that something needs to be put in place for athletes to work towards and to help Clubs recruit and retain members. We also hope to learn of the fixture plans for outdoor T&F for seniors and masters too. As we learn more, we’ll update members.

It looks like the Club will be closed for some time yet (24th Jan)

The current level 5 restrictions were supposed to end on Sunday 31st January but of course the number of Covid infections is still far too high and there’s talk of extending the restrictions by a further four or six weeks, which would mean all of February and possibly into mid-March. If we stay at the current level, the Club will obviously remain closed but as of now we don’t know if there will be any relaxation for sports, though that would be a long shot, so we’ll just have to wait and see how things pan out in the coming week. While it’s very hard to see any competitions on the horizon in any shape except perhaps some virtual road races or similar, in an update from Athletics Ireland last Friday, we learned that the Athletics Ireland Covid Group continues to work closely with the Sport Ireland Expert Group in regard to providing members with regular updates and information during this difficult time and is coordinating regular, on-going discussions with key stakeholders on a return to competition as soon as possible.

For now, all we can do is try to keep training on our own as best as we can and everyone should keep in touch with their coach for advice and guidance on what training to do. Members are reminded that they can run and exercise within 5k of home on an individual basis but not in groups. They can exercise in pairs being mindful of others and keeping a social distance between others and should avoid congregating in groups when exercising outdoors and are reminded to be mindful of pedestrians at all times.

Something that Club members need to know is that registered Club members are covered by Athletics Ireland insurance when exercising from home, if the session is part of a coordinated programme supplied by the Club. Additionally, all AAI registered members participating on a live virtual Club training session facilitated by their Club coach are also covered under the Athletics Ireland personal accident insurance cover.

Annual General Meeting is going online (22nd Jan)

This year, due to Covid restrictions, the Club’s Annual General Meeting will be held online on Friday evening 19th February at 8pm. The AGM will be held using Microsoft Teams and members should email info@mullingarharriers.com requesting a link to the meeting.

Motions and nominations shall be submitted to the same email address by Friday 12th February.

Cormac Dalton is USA bound (17th Jan)

Congratulations to Cormac Dalton as he embarks on the next chapter of his athletics career! Cormac will join the Division 1 College University of Tulsa in August to complete a master’s degree following the completion of his undergraduate degree at DCU. Cormac will be a key contributor to the Tulsa team and he also brings excellent leadership qualities, as was highlighted by his selection as the DCU athletics club men’s captain this year.

Over the past two years Cormac has established himself as one of Ireland’s leading endurance athletes, finishing fifth at the National Senior Cross Country and representing Ireland at the European u/23 Cross Country Championships in Lisbon in December 2019. He has enjoyed great success in the sport to date, winning his first All-Ireland title as an u/12 on the track before gaining schools cross country internationals at Junior & Intermediate age groups. His International debut came way back in March 2013 at the Schools Cross Country International in Wales as part of the silver medal winning Ireland team in the Junior boys race. Fast forwarding to the present, it’s great to see Cormac has successfully made the transition from underage success to senior success and is still representing Ireland in International competition.

Cormac is an excellent example to the younger athletes in Mullingar Harriers and his successes to date are a combination of his ability, work ethic and great dedication to the sport. We wish him every success stateside.

Colm Walsh – 2020 Volunteer of the Year for Westmeath (10th Jan)

Congratulations to Colm Walsh on receiving the 2020 Volunteer of the Year for Westmeath. The Federation of Irish Sport is the representative organisation for the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) in Ireland. Their membership consists of over 110 NGBs and LSPs from every corner of the country. They hold the Volunteers in Sport Awards annually, which were created to recognise the contributions, commitment and dedication of the 450,000 volunteers who give their time to Irish sport every year.

Over the past Covid-ridden year, Colm has kept the adult members of the club motivated through restrictions and lock-downs, producing training plans that could be done on their own, organised innovative virtual events and competitive training sessions like the recent Mullingar Ekiden, managed the backroom online solutions to register for and attend training when we were allowed to train again at the club, coached at the training sessions for the club’s youngest members on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, but still kept training and running himself, carrying out the duties of Club Secretary during a very difficult period, and all the other unseen things done in the background to keep  a big club like Mullingar Harriers ticking over, all as a parent of a young family and while holding down a full time job too. Such energy and dedication is commendable and Mullingar Harriers is very fortunate to have someone like Colm in its ranks!

Impressed by this dedication, Bashir Hussain, the Athletics Ireland Regional Development Officer for the Midlands, nominated Colm for the award and a panel of judges have awarded him the 2020 Volunteer of the Year for Westmeath. Colm admits to be being totally taken aback by the nomination, let alone the award, because he modestly thinks there are more deserving volunteers at the Harriers, let alone other sports clubs in Westmeath, but he considers the award is worthy recognition of Mullingar Harriers as a club and the dedication of all its coaches and committee members. The award ceremony has moved online this year and will be streamed on Tuesday night 12th January at 7pm at https://vimeo.com/event/589341. Congratulations to Colm from everyone at the club.