Tullamore Half Marathon 2018 (25th Aug)
Nollaig McEntegart with Jane Creevy, Lisa Duffy, Emer O’Hanlon – 3rd women’s Club team
Mullingar Masters in the medals at Tullamore Half Marathon
Between runners, walkers and relay entrants, the Tullamore Half Marathon was a sell-out on Saturday morning 25th August with nearly 1,000 taking part, over 800 runners alone, which added a real feel of carnival to the assembly area and it was quite a sight to see so many people fill the road for a long distance. Tullamore Harriers AC, the host Club, left no stone unturned in preparation and on the day the tremendous effort paid off and thanks to excellent attention to detail with plenty of marshals, water stations, closed roads and post-race refreshments, everyone was very well looked after. The event incorporated the Leinster Half Marathon Championships, where there were nearly 330 athletes entered, giving added incentive to the 23 Mullingar athletes that competed. The course was testing and the warm weather was also a challenge. Runners finished by entering the track at the Tullamore Harriers grounds and completing a lap to the finish line.
First finisher for Mullingar was the in-form Andy Nevin, finishing twelfth overall in 1:14:20, out of the individual and team medal places, but just as well because by not wearing his Club colours in the Leinster Championship, he would have been disqualified anyway, along with any Club team. Next in and finishing very strongly was Gerard Gavin (1:20:30), first in his Leinster master category and delighted to add another Leinster title to his collection. Following in was Pauric Brady (1:25:38), Alan Crowley (1:25:38) and Eddie Newman (1:28:15) unfortunately suffering an injury that robbed him of his best or he would certainly have taken Leinster individual honours. Then came Nollaig McEntegart (1:29:16) second in his Leinster master category, Sean Liston (1:33:00), Stephen Naughton (1:34:28), Robin Jackson (1:35:25), Paul Ginnell (1:36:39), Ollie Gaffney (1:37:26), Mervyn Kennedy (1:37:59), Aidan Rafferty (1:40:37) and Stephen Olwell (1:41:41). Jane Creevy was our first woman to finish in 1:42:39, third just out of the medals in fourth place in her Leinster master category. Jane was followed in by Emer O’Hanlon (1:42:57), thrilled to finish second in her Leinster master category and win the silver medal, then Lisa Duffy (1:44:15), Joan Hickson (1:46:01), Declan Costello (1:46:21), Jude Whelehan (1:53:31), Emer O’Hanlon (2:17:04), Anna Redmond (2:19:09) and PJ Ballesty.
After the race when the team scores were calculated, the Mullingar women team of Jane Creevy, Emer O’Hanlon and Lisa Duffy placed third Club overall, making up for Jane just missing an adding to Jane and Emer’s individual medals. Very Also happy to make up for missing an individual medal was Eddie Newman, as along with Nollaig McEntegart and Stephen Naughton the Mullingar men finished first second Club in their Leinster master category. It was great to see Mullingar so well represented in Tullamore and to achieve some memorable results in the Leinster Championships.
