Week ending Saturday 19th December
Cross Country dates announced
Last week, Athletics Leinster and Athletics Ireland announced the dates for the rescheduled cross country season. Needless to say, all dates are provisional and subject to change in line with Government guidelines in force at the time. Competitions will be subject to strict protocol and only limited numbers will be allowed to compete as per Government Guidelines. Of importance to underage athletes, even though competing in early 2021, age groups will be based on 2020 ages.
Week-end one for Leinster on 30th and 31st January 2021 in Stradbally, Co. Laois will be for junior, senior and juvenile even ages and week-end two (at a venue to be confirmed) on 13th and 14th February will be for juvenile uneven ages. Week-end two might include novice and masters, but this has not been decided yet because there are concerns about the entries anticipated for these events, which due to significant pent up desire for competition, might be too high to manage properly under the Covid-19 regulations in force at the time. The situation is being kept under constant review.
Compliance with Covid-19 regulations has required some difficult decisions to limit numbers in races and to limit overall numbers on the course. The main decisions are that there will no Club competition for juvenile even ages, or individual entries either, and there will be a maximum of just 8 athletes from each County in each underage race. Qualification for juveniles will be from County cross country only but there will be open entry for juniors and senior individuals and for Club and County teams, and if novice and masters events will be held, they will also have open entry. No spectators will be allowed on the course and juvenile athletes will be allowed to be accompanied by one parent only.
All-Ireland week-end one on 27th and 28th February will be for junior (under 19 and 20 only) and juvenile even ages, and week-end two on 13th and 14th March will be for senior and juvenile uneven ages. A third week-end is also planned for 27th and 28th March and is for juvenile uneven age Club teams, but as of now, Leinster has no plans to hold the corresponding Inter-Club competition, so this fixture will be going ahead without Leinster teams. No decision has been made regarding an All-Ireland for novice, master or intermediate athletes. As per Government Guidelines there will be a limit on the numbers permitted to participant. For the first time, there will be no open entry for senior individuals or teams and they must qualify from Leinster, with allowances made for elite, high performance and under 23 athletes based on European cross country championship participation over the last 3 years, which might be of relevance to some Mullingar athletes. For juniors, open entry is permitted but restricted to under 19 and 20 only (based on 2020 ages). For juveniles, competition will be for individual and Inter-Provincial only, and qualification is restricted to the top 15 from each Province.
With the first Leinster fixture at the end of January, this gives an opportunity to conclude County cross country fixtures but any delay at County level will very likely push back the dates for Leinster. Whether we can hold day two of the Westmeath cross country in January or not depends on what Covid-19 level we are at then, which we mightn’t know until after Christmas, so if we’re allowed to race, be prepared to move at very short notice.
Beanie Hat Cake Prize
Lynn Cross Bakery held a Facebook competition asking sports clubs for nominations of a coach who has made an extra effort through Covid-19 to be entered in a competition to win one of two Chocolate Biscuit Cake Beanie Hats in the Club colours. Joanna Tyrrell (our Treasurer) nominated Margaret Daly, our Chairperson and a coach at the 6pm group who has put in Trojan work on behalf of everyone at Mullingar Harriers. We were delighted when Lynn Cross Bakery announced a few weeks ago that Margaret was the winner of one of the prizes and last week she received a fabulous cake in maroon and white. Very many thanks to Oonagh Murphy of Lynn Cross Bakery for the beautiful prize that looks too good to eat!
Christmas arrangements at the Club
The younger 6pm groups finish up this week for Christmas. The 8 and 9 year olds will stay on a break until February (we’ll let parents know of the precise date by WhatsApp nearer the time) but the 10 and 11 year olds will only break for the school holidays and will return to training in January when the schools are back. For everyone else, training will continue, as usual. The Club grounds will remain open over the Christmas period, though as Christmas Eve is on a Thursday, the grounds will not be open that evening.
What were we doing this time last year?
At the final cross country event of 2019, the AAI National Novice and Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships in Dunboyne, Co. Meath, athletes and spectators were met with an absolute mud fest from the moment they entered the course. However, very challenging underfoot conditions was only one problem but we also had to contend with some seriously depleted teams due to illness.
Despite the muck and illness, we still enjoyed some standout performances in several races. Jake Bell was full of running at the end of the u/11 boys race to finish a magnificent third place, leading the team of Darren Corcoran, Conor Geoghegan, Conor Walsh, Oliver Lynch and Daniel Boyle to third Club. Jake also won a gold medal with the Leinster team in the Inter-Provincial competition. After runaway success at Leinster, the Mullingar u/13 boys team was the clear pre-race favourite and with Jamie Wallace (ninth), Conor Liston, Luke O’Leary, Matthew Molloy, Niall Brady, Luke Greene, Cian Corcoran and Alex Lynch fighting tooth and nail for every place it was first Club and first County for this extremely talented team. Jamie, Conor and Luke also won gold medals with the Leinster team, to put Jamie in that select and rare group of athletes that have won four All-Ireland medals in one race – individual, Club, County and Province.
In the u/17 girls Phoebe Bate showed why she had been selected to run for Ireland in the Celtic Cross Country the following month with a polished performance and a very strong determined finish in ninth place to win a well-deserved individual medal. Phoebe also won a gold medal with the Leinster team.
For the latest news and details of fixtures check the Club’s Facebook page or the website at www.mullingarharriers.com.
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