Week ending Saturday 16th August
Dysart the venue for very successful 50 year celebration
When Bobbie Begley took on the role of chairperson of Mullingar Harriers at the AGM in January, as the club was in its fiftieth year, he made his intentions very clear early on that he wanted to hold a road race as part of the celebrations to mark the club’s milestone birthday. Thanks to Bobbie’s vision and leadership, the Dysart 4 Mile Classic took place last Tuesday on a lovely summer evening. Based at Murphy’s Public House, the race was run on a straightforward out and back course, and an added bonus was that the road was closed to traffic for the race, greatly adding to the comfort and safety of the runners, officials and stewards.
It’s hard to predict entries for a new event, but we were delighted with the final entry of 375, of whom 314 ran and finished, which is very good for a new event. Given the big entries, we were glad that we engaged chip timing company My Run Results who looked after the online entries and the results on the night with their customary professionalism. Of note is that nearly 140 from the club raced, and seeing the big number of volunteers and stewards and officials from the club on the night, there’s no doubt but everyone at the club really got behind the event to make it a success.
The race just didn’t happen of course and there’s a big list of people and organisations that deserve huge thanks for making the race such a great success. Front and centre has to be Bobbie Begley of course, who left no stone unturned in rallying the troops to either run or help out. A founding member, Bobbie has been a driving force in the success of the club over the 50 years. It was also great to see more of our founding members at the event, including John Mulvihill (who measured and helped marked the course with his customary precision and attention to detail), Seamus O’Brien (our MC on the night), Club President Seamus Gibney who started the race, Ollie Gallagher (who videoed everything), and it was great to see John Kenny another founding member from 50 years ago also there.
A special thanks to Adrian, Deirdre and Eleanor Murphy for hosting the race at Murphy’s Pub and for the delicious burgers and post-race refreshments that were very well received; their support was vital to the success of the race and came in for particular praise by athletes and spectators. Many thanks also to Ian McCormack for his Trojan work on the event and getting everybody in line before the race, and for organising the beautiful commemorative finishers medals. Thanks to Kris Foster for helping with the prize money and presentations, to Joe Fagan and his crew for helping to set up the course and organising parking. Thanks to Anna Bell and Matt Glennon for the use of their fields for parking, and to Adrian Murphy for other parking too.
Before we ever got to the race there was a lot of background work in the months and weeks leading up to it, and we must express sincere thanks to Barry Kehoe (Chief Executive, Westmeath County Council) and Municipal District staff members Frank Dolan and William Ryan for their help in securing a temporary road closure, and to Westmeath County Council for its generous support under the “Festival and Events Grant Scheme”, helping to offset some of the costs of the event. Thanks also to Jason McKevitt for publicizing the race so positively in the newspapers and on Midlands 103, which no doubt contributed to the high turnout, and thanks to the Westmeath Examiner and Westmeath Topic and Midlands 103 for promoting the race and reporting on it. Also thanks to Anthony Cassidy and the local residents for supporting the event and for putting up with any inconvenience caused.
On the night, we were very grateful to Sergeant Ambrose Duggan and members of the Garda Community Policing Unit who directed traffic, enforced the road closure and ensured the event went off smoothly, to Westmeath Civil Defence for their attendance to look after any first aid needs and provide ambulance cover, and we mustn’t forget Ger Flynn who marshalled the race from the front on his bike. Thanks to Margaret Daly, Pauline Gaffney and Amanda Dalton who managed registrations, to Chris Cole from Culinara Coffee for providing coffee and tea on tap at such short notice, and to all the volunteers who helped with parking, water stations, stewarding, food etc. In addition to hot food at Murphy’s, we’re very grateful to O’Briens Centra who provided food, and to Avril Corbett and the local tidy towns committee for supplying sandwiches and food too.
Organised primarily as a celebration of 50 years, it was great to see so many families, former members and training partners taking the opportunity to simply run together, among them Jack O’Leary who was still recovering from winning the National 5,000m bronze medal only two days before and used the race as his second easy recovery run of the day. But of course, it was still a race and first to finish was Michael Murphy (Tullamore Harriers AC) in a swift 19:42, clear of Vinny Connolly (Mullingar Harriers AC) second in 20:33 and Kevin Minnock (Tullamore Harriers AC) third in 20:48. In the women race, the winner was Laura Mooney (Tullamore Harriers) in 22:39, followed in by Elizabeth Carr (Mullingar Harriers AC) second in 23:05, and Edel Gaffney (Trim AC) third in 23:30. The full results can be found on the My Run Results website.
In addition to a 50 year celebration for the club, we also marked 30 years since Mullingar Harriers AC first won the National Senior Cross Country title (in 1995) and we were delighted to cheer on Cormac Finnerty, Tom McGrath, John Burke and David Burke who were the members of that memorable team.
In a twist on the usual category prizes, we didn’t use ages but instead used categories like occupations, trades, student, farmer, locals, retired etc which gave many people a chance to get a prize that they otherwise mightn’t win in other races. We must record a very special thanks to Honorary Race Director, John Burke, for his extremely generous donation of a very special spot prize of a Highland Escape in Scotland. We also received Generous Spot Prizes from Wholesome Kitchen, Bell Lane Coffee, O’Briens Centra, Belvedere House & Gardens, The Greville Arms Hotel, Outdoor Escapes, Fran Kiernan of FJK Wood Turning, Mistervini Wine Bar & Shop, and from many individual members of Mullingar Harriers.
As well as the nearly 140 athletes from Mullingar Harriers, we welcomed lots of athletes from our neighbour Westmeath clubs of Athlone, North Westmeath and Coralstown Kinnegad. We also welcomed athletes from many clubs in the surrounding counties of Offaly, Meath, Kildare, Roscommon and Cavan and even further afield from Dublin, Tipperary and Cork, which was excellent to see. A very big thanks to all the runners and walkers who competed in the race and stayed on for the lovely food and refreshments after and help us celebrate 50 years.
PBs for Cormac Dalton and Claire Fagan
Competing at the IFAM (International Flanders Athletics Meeting) at the Putbosstadion in Oordegem, Belgium last Saturday evening, which was a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, Cormac Dalton dropped down to race in the 1,500m and was very pleased to record a new personal best time of 3:42.28 for the distance [GD].
Also last Saturday, Claire Fagan improved her personal best for 5,000m to 16:04.40 in England. She was in action at the British Milers Club Grand Prix in Trafford (Manchester), a World Athletics Challenger Tour meeting. Following on from a big personal best for 3,000m in July, Claire’s new best for 5,000m shows steady progress over the last few years [GD].
Sympathies
The executive and members of Mullingar Harriers wish to express sincere sympathy to the following on their recent bereavements. Tom Conroy and family (Kilbeggan) on the death of his mother Margaret, and John Rafferty and family (Moate) on the death of his mother Ann (Nan). May they rest in peace.
Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.
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