Week ending Saturday 13th February
Athletics Ireland announces a limited Indoor event to look forward to
In a welcome break from the constant gloomy outlook on a return to in-person live competition, Athletics Ireland announced last Thursday 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.
Virtual road racing to continue
Meanwhile, back in the non-elite World occupied by the majority of Club members, following the pattern of last year, virtual racing is set to continue for some time yet and among the National events that will take place this year using the “virtual” model are the Irish Runner Virtual 5k on 27th February, the Irish Runner Virtual 5 mile on 27th and 28th March, the Irish Runner Virtual 10 Mile on 29th and 30th May and the Great Ireland Virtual 10k Run on 24th and 25th April, so members can pencil these into their racing diaries now. In addition, the Club will itself be holding a virtual medley league comprising six rounds between now and April, the first of which was a 3k run last weekend and we’ll report on that next week. The league can be tailored around some or all of these National events to keep everyone focussed and ready for when live racing eventually returns.
Membership for 2021
Thank you to everyone who has so far paid their annual club membership. This is just a gentle reminder to all other members to pay their membership fee as soon as possible. Many are currently following structured training plans set out by our coaches. While following these plans, members are covered by the club insurance, in the unfortunate event of an accident while training. However, where a membership has not been paid and in the event of a claim, this claim may not be covered. We therefore encourage all outstanding fees to be paid as soon as possible.
Family Membership Clarification
By way of an additional update in respect of family membership, family membership applies to children and/or dependents of school going age or who are in fill time third level education. Where a family member is aged 19 or older and not in full time education they must pay the adult membership (working adult or unwaged) themselves. When paying family membership, please add in the “additional notes” section, which members of the family are to be registered with Athletics Ireland. That is, those who will be competing for the Club in competition. Where family members are not competing, they do not need to be registered with Athletics Ireland.
Thank you in advance and stay safe everyone.
Online Annual General Meeting
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.
Cross country success this time last year
Held in the picturesque grounds of Avondale House, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, last year’s edition of the All-Ireland Masters, Intermediate and Juvenile “B” Cross Country Championships saw medal success for Mullingar.
Illness had robbed our strong u/15 girls team of the chance to showcase their talents at the All-Ireland Uneven Ages Cross Country a few months before and we knew they were going to feature strongly in the “B” Championship. With a fantastic surge in the finish straight, Grace Byrne gained significant ground to finish an excellent third place, and with great support from Jessica Cunningham in ninth and strong performances from Adele Geoghegan and Leah Geoghegan, the team packed well to finish first Club.
Finishing to the fore of a large field of more than two hundred competitors, Aine O’Reilly led the Mullingar team home in the master women 4,000m. Áine was followed in by Breda Daly, Michelle O’Halloran, Maura Dervin, Emer O’Hanlon, Linda Cunningham, Patricia Broderick, Brigid McCabe, Eileen Kenny and Caroline Mullen. Having come up just short of a podium finish in each of the last four years the older master women team was determined to bring home medals this year. Running together for much of the race Maura and Emer put in very strong performances, and backed up by Patricia, Brigid, Eileen and Caroline, the team accomplished its winter-long plan by finishing third Club. To top off the success, Brigid and Eileen won their respective categories earning National gold medals.
The 4,000m race incorporated the master men 4,000m for the older master men where for the first time ever Mullingar fielded a team and they did us proud. Nicky McCabe, Sean McMullin and Pat Boyhan combined to finish a very creditable fifth Club in a race that proved to be very popular attracting much larger than anticipated numbers.
There was a huge field of nearly two hundred and sixty in the master men 7,000m where Patrick Muldoon led the large Mullingar team home to finish well up in the individual rankings in his category. The same quartet who were third in last year’s competition were back in search of more National glory and some very strong running by Tom McGrath and Eddie Newman (third in his category) with surging finishes from David Fagan and Paul Ginnell ensured the Mullingar men a place on the podium again, repeating last year’s accomplishment of finishing third Club in their age category.
Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.
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