Virtual Medley Road League – Round 6 – 3k (24th/25th Apr)

Round 6 of the Virtual Medley Road League took place on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th April and the results were compiled and the age-grading adjustments made and released on Tuesday 27th April. Apart from keeping our adult members focussed and motivated to train during lockdown, one of the purposes of the league was for everyone to chart progress over the months and the 3k run in Round 6 was an ideal opportunity to compare it to the 3k run in Round 1 in early February, 11 weeks before. Numbers taking part in Round 6 were down slightly, but still well over 50 submitted a time. Nearly nine out of ten who ran both Rounds 1 and 6 improved in Round 6, which is really good. There was also about 10 best times recorded in Round 6, some improving significantly. For those who fell off the wagon and dropped out of the league, we hope they can get back on board again as soon as possible, as group training is now back and we can look forward to the return of real races in the coming months.

Eddie Newman’s 3k time in Round 6, when age-graded, stands as a “World class” performance, which is the second highest ranking in the Masters Athletics Age-Graded Calculator. Well done Eddie! No surprise therefore, that Eddie Newman was best of the men in round 6, ahead of Alan Crowley and Evan McCormack who turned in excellent performances too. Also with excellent results, Mary Stuart, Brigid McCabe and Aisling Corcoran were the best of the women. All in all, there were some great times posted and when compared to the last Leinster T&F Championship 3,000m, Mullingar ladies would have won medals across all master age groups and also at senior level. In fact, three of our senior women ran times fast enough to win a bronze in 2019 and 2018. Two of our master women would have run a Championship Best Performance at Leinster, so don’t simply write off or ignore Leinster T&F just because it’s not road running or cross country and you’re not familiar with it. Remember, it’s the same people you’d be running against whether it’s track or road or cross country.