Week ending Saturday 15th June
Excellent performance by Oisin Lane at European Championships
In tough hot conditions in Rome last Saturday evening, Oisin Lane turned in a terrific performance in the 20k road walk at the European T&F Championships to finish a fantastic 23rd place in 1 hour 25 minutes 2 seconds, less than 2 minutes outside his personal best set only 3 weeks ago. Oisin finished better than his pre-race ranking would predict and in doing so he gained very valuable Senior Championship experience. We’ll have a full report in next week’s notes when we’ll also report on how Cormac Dalton fares in the 10,000m this coming Wednesday evening [GD].
Leinster Juvenile Relays
The Leinster Juvenile Relays were held in a cool and windy Tullamore last Sunday, where Mullingar had just the one team in action, but what a team. Even though they are all u/18, they elected to run in the 4 x 400m u/19 relay in the morning, as the timing of the morning race suited them better than the time for the u/18 relay late in the afternoon. Kyle Faherty took the lead leg and running a good strong leg he handed over in second place to Luke O’Leary. Luke gave chase and slowly closed down the lead but coming up to the 200m mark he simply swept effortlessly into the lead, and opened a sizeable gap to hand over well clear to Conor Liston. Conor kept up the pressure and increased the lead even further with an excellent leg to hand over to Jamie Wallace with a lead that was simply too much for the chasing teams and Jamie had the luxury of being able to ease off on the home straight to bring the team home comfortably clear to win the Leinster title [GD].
Leinster Combined Events
The Leinster Combined Events were held in Tullamore last Saturday where cloudy conditions in the morning cleared to give a sunny but breezy day. Mullingar had three athletes in action, Daniel Cummins and Aaron Robinson in the u/12 triathlon (long jump, shot put and 200m) and Aidan O’Donoghue in the master pentathlon (long jump, javelin, 200m, discus and 1,500m).
Daniel started his campaign with three consistent long jumps, his best of 3.96m coming in the final round, while Aaron also recorded three good jumps, with a best of 3.47m. Both were again very competitive in the shot put where they executed three good efforts each. Aaron’s best throw of 6.80m came in the final round, as did Daniel’s 6.19m, to earn them valuable points leading into the final event, the 200m. Aaron raced hard in the first of two heats and was delighted to finish in third place in a time of 33.43 seconds into a headwind. Daniel ran a blistering race in heat two, stopping the clock at 30.23 seconds into a stiff headwind. When the points over the three events were added, Daniel finished just 26 points outside the medals in fifth place with a total of 851 points in a very tight competition, while Aaron finished in a very creditable eighth place on 636 points. Both boys should be very satisfied with their performances and it won’t be long before they stand on the podium.
Aidan opened with the long jump, his best effort of 3.67m coming in the first round to place fourth. A best of 33.83m in the javelin was enough to win and the points earned moved him to second place after two events. Third place in the 200m into a very strong headwind saw Aidan drop back to third after three events, but comfortably winning the discus with 26.83m moved Aidan up the first place going into the final event, the 1,500m run, which is always dreaded after a long tough day of competition. Despite giving every ounce of effort, Aidan finished third in the 1,500m and when the points were finally tallied, Aidan scored 2,175 points and was happy with the bronze medal [AO’D/GD].
Mullingar Ladies to the fore in Bohermeen
A large group of Mullingar Harriers athletes made the trip to Bohermeen, Co. Meath last Saturday evening for the 38th Patrick Bell & Nicky Phillips 5k. On a warm but windy summer evening there was a great atmosphere as a large turnout of 341 athletes from many parts of the country descended on Bohermeen AC for one of the most popular and competitive events of the summer racing calendar.
It was the Mullingar women who turned out in force in this event, and with excellent performances by Glenda Shaw (18:47), Ann Hall (19:03), Mary Stuart (19:59), Aisling Corcoran (20:05), Aeilish McGovern (20:10), Criona Reid (20:24) and Meabh Killalea (20:31) who all ran really strongly and packing well together they were rewarded with individual category and team prizes. The team of Glenda, Ann, Mary and Aisling were delighted to finish first Club and were presented with the Mallon Cup. Meanwhile Mary won her masters category while Criona was second in her master category.
We also had a men team who competed for the Paddy Murtagh Cup and Enda Seery (18:50), Tommy Byrne (19:08), Patrick Muldoon (19:43), James Lally (20:10), Joseph Doherty (21:29) and Philip Burke (21:30) were all very happy with their performances and they finished a respectable ninth Club in this competition.
After the race there was a very enjoyable social barbeque with live music on the infield of the Bohermeen AC track, followed by the presentation of prizes. Many of the Mullingar athletes stayed to enjoy the excellent hospitality of the host club and were delighted to join in the well-deserved celebrations for the great achievements of our ladies squad faring so well [PM].
Vinny Connolly wins in Killarney
The annual Killarney 10k last Saturday morning gave competitors the chance to run one of the world’s most scenic routes and among the very big entry of nearly 1,150 was Vinny Connolly who was on holiday in Kerry and decided to take in the race. The route took the big field through some beautiful scenic areas including Muckross Park and Gardens and up some very challenging hills near Torc waterfall. Vinny was very strong throughout and continuing his recent good form he was delighted with his run and was very happy to take the win for the third year in a row in a very impressive 31 minutes 2 seconds, nicely clear of second place, and nearly a minute and a half faster that his winning time in the same race last year, proving he’s in excellent condition (IMcC/GD].
British Masters Decathlon medal for Aidan O’Donoghue
In Connah Quay, North Wales on the June Bank Holiday week-end (1 and 2 June), Aidan O’Donoghue competed in the British Masters National Combined Events Championships. It also incorporated County Championships for the North West of England and Noth Wales, so there was a large field of athletes competing, as u/15, u/17, u/20, Senior and Masters competitions ran side-by-side for both men and women. Aidan competed in the Masters Decathlon and had some great results over the 10 events and was locked in a 3-way battle for the gold medal with the lead changing hands throughout the competition. As it happened, the result would be decided on the final event, the 1,500m. A very fast 5:09 from Ian martin (York) was enough for him to leap frog Aidan and Glyn Price (Swansea) into first place. The battle remained for silver and bronze. Aidan had to finish 16 seconds faster than the Swansea athlete to take silver, which he achieved and was delighted to win the silver medal in such a close contest [AO’D].
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