Week ending Saturday 19th November
International honours for Dervin and McMullin
The British and Irish Masters International Cross Country took place in Santry Demesne last Saturday. This is an ideal course for cross country and though it was very windy, the weather was mild and dry, so the underfoot conditions were perfect for running. Contestants from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales qualified after battling it out for a place on their National teams, in Ireland’s case this was at the Autumn Open Cross Country only a few weeks previously, and among the Irish team was Mullingar’s Maura Dervin and Sean McMullin.
The women’s 6,000m race included women from all the master age categories but Maura Dervin ignored the distraction of younger faster women and kept close attention to those in her own age group. After an excellent race Maura finished a fine fifth place in her category, the first Irishwoman to finish and leading the Irish team to third place in a very close contest with Scotland and England to earn points for the overall team trophy.
The older master men also competed over 6,000m and they ran with the master women. Sean McMullin also faced the challenge of running along with several master men age categories, but he’s very experienced in International competition and remaining focused on his own race, he finished in eighth place in his category and had the signal honour of leading the Irish team to third place, also earning valuable points in the overall contest.
Each country was awarded points for their placings in all the age team categories. Ireland’s women had a narrow one point win over England, Ireland’s men had a more comfortable four point win over England, and in the overall contest for combined men and women, Ireland emerged victorious, the first time Ireland has won the overall trophy, it having been won by England every year since the first event in 1987. Congratulations to Maura and Sean for contributing to Ireland’s historic victory.
There were also open races for women and men. Brigid McCabe was delighted with her performance to win her age category in the women’s open race and Nicky McCabe was very satisfied to finish well up in his age category in the men’s open race.
Winter League
To give something different for our adult members to train for, Mullingar Harriers is holding a league at the Club’s grounds over the coming months. This is a 5-event league and will be held on our all-weather track. The events scheduled are 800m, which took place last Wednesday evening, and will be followed by 1,500m in two weeks, then 3,000m two weeks after that in mid-December, then 2 miles early in the New Year, and the league will finish with a 5k at the end of January.
This is a mixed team event with ten teams involved and every athlete counting each night. The men and women go off in separate races and the scoring is based on finishing positions. The overall team winner will be the team with the lowest combined score across all 5 events.
Fifty five athletes took part last Wednesday evening, and it proved an enjoyable and interesting challenge. Many were attempting their first ever 800m on the track. Some excellent individual efforts included a very good run by Jenny Algar in leading home the ladies race in a fine 2 minutes 36 seconds. In total 12 of the ladies dipped under 3 minutes, very creditable running. Kedagh Geoghegan led home the men’s race in 2 minutes 14 seconds, and we had a total of 27 athletes getting under 3 minutes in the men’s race.
Following from night one we have teams closely matched and the current standings are team 8 on 11.5 points, teams 9 and 6 each on 13 points, teams 7 and 1 on 14 points, team 4 is on 14.5 points, teams 3, 5 and 10 on 16 points and team 2 on 17.5 points. The standings are likely to change as we go through the different events, with athletes who are more adept at the longer distances likely to come to the fore later in the series, so it’s all very much to play for still.
Attention turns to All-Ireland Cross Country in Donegal
This coming Sunday, nearly forty underage and eleven senior athletes from the Mullingar Harriers are entered to compete at the AAI National Senior, Junior and Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country Finals at Rosapenna, Co. Donegal. Having qualified from the Leinster Cross Country in Dundalk in October, Mullingar will have teams in six of the eight underage races, teams in the Junior men and women races, and a men’s team in the Senior race. The senior and junior races are trials for the European Cross Country in Turin in December, so the Mullingar athletes in those events will be looking to perform to their very best. In addition to representing Mullingar and Westmeath, thirteen of our Juvenile athletes will also be on Leinster teams, the largest number by far from any Club in Leinster. Everyone has been training hard in recent weeks, at the Club and in Belvedere, and should reap their rewards on Sunday when we expect many of them will return with National medals.
As it’s Donegal, many will be staying nearby overnight on Saturday. The first race, the girls u/12, will be at 11.30am and the crowds at an All-Ireland are much larger than at Leinster, so leave in plenty of time, allow extra time for traffic and parking delays entering the venue and head straight for the Club banners near the finish area to collect your race number. It will take longer to collect and sort race numbers, so you should be at the course by 10.30am at the latest. If for any reason you cannot compete, please let Club officials know as soon as possible.
You must wear your Club vest in a Championship. Please bring water or sports drink and a light snack, wet gear and a change of clothes, suitably long spikes, and of course four safety pins for your race number. We strongly advise spectators to bring waterproof footwear and to dress appropriately for the weather.
Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.
PRO
