Week ending Saturday 20th December
Historic Euro Cross medals for Jack and Cormac
It was 25 years since Ireland won senior men medals at the European Cross Country, and last Sunday afternoon in Lagoa (Portugal), the five man Irish team that included Mullingar’s Jack O’Leary and Cormac Dalton were determined to put that medal drought to rights in the senior men 7,500m.
The day was dry and mild and the specially built course was full of twists and turns and made up of both grass and sand and gravel and looked more like a course used for cyclo-cross, or even BMX racing, certainly nothing like the miserable wet and mud experienced in Derry at the National Seniors after which the teams for Portugal were selected, but you can only race what’s put in front of you and nothing was going to deter Jack and Cormac from giving their very best over the five tough laps. For Cormac, this was his sixth consecutive appearance for Ireland at the European Cross Country, his fourth consecutive year in the senior race, while for Jack it was his first Irish vest since 2019, so he had plenty to prove.
Cormac went out quite hard but quickly settled in to his running, close to the leading group, conserving as much energy as possible and staying inside the top twenty places, a good place from which to gauge how a race is unfolding. The leading group began to slowly stretch out but Cormac stuck to his task and held his position as the laps counted down. Going into the final lap, Cormac had moved up to tenth place. As expected, the final lap was a furious burn-up and though Cormac lost one place, he was still delighted to cross the finish line well up in an excellent eleventh place, third finisher for Ireland, just behind Brian Fay (Raheny Shamrock AC) in tenth. In contrast, Jack was much more conservative and it wasn’t until going into the third lap that he closed up to Cormac and Brian before slowly pulling away from them and running hard, especially on the last lap where he moved from eighth to fifth, was delighted to lead the team home in a superb fifth place, matching the fifth place by Joe Sweeney (DSD) in 2011, the best finish by an Irish man since the first European Cross Country was held in 1994. Thanks to a superb collective team effort when all five Irish men finished in the top twenty places, Darragh McElhinney (Bantry AC) in sixteenth and Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers AC) in nineteenth, it was second place and the team silver medals for Ireland.
Speaking after the race Jack said that watching the u/23 men running to individual and team gold, and the other Irish teams doing well gave the senior men huge confidence. Nick Griggs (CNDR Track AC) winning the u/23 race was really inspirational, and everyone on the start line was raring to go. It was a tough course, so he knew he had to be conservative early on and work his way through the field. The whole team agreed that it was great to be on the podium, and hopefully they can stay there for a long time. Thanks to the senior men silver, individual and team u/23 gold, and u/20 bronze for Emma Hickey (United Striders AC), Ireland finished fourth on the medal table, a great result for Ireland. Congratulations to Jack and Cormac on their medal winning performances in Portugal, arguably the best athletic achievement in the history of Mullingar Harriers AC, all the more fitting in the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Club. A big shout out too to Mullingar’s Joe Ryan who was in Portugal as an accredited coach, and to Cian McPhillips (Longford & UCD AC) a member of the 4 x 1,500m mixed relay team that placed sixth in an exciting and close race [GD].
Malaga Half Marathon
The Andalusian port city of Malaga was the venue for the annual Malaga Half Marathon last Sunday morning. Located on the Mediterranean coast, the warm temperatures and spacious beaches are a nice backdrop to the race. The route winds its way through and around the city in a largely flat but twisting and turning course, with limited straights to get fully into one’s stride. Criona Reid was one of over 7,000 athletes to sample the race at the weekend. Running a steady and controlled race, Criona described the conditions as warm but very dry and pleasant. She was very pleased with her time of 1:36:04 and loving the enjoyable race atmosphere [MO’S].
Membership for 2026
The Club’s online membership system is open for everyone (except those aged 9, 10 11 and 12 years of age) to renew their membership online for 2026. It’s important to renew as soon as possible so you are insured to train at the Club and of course to enter events in January like the Leinster Intermediate and Masters cross country and Juvenile cross country relays, the National Indoor Games, and the many road races that will take place over the new year period. Memberships for the youngest members will be taken at the open day on Saturday 10th January and cannot be done online.
Open day for registrations in 2026
We’ll be holding an open day at the Club on Saturday January 10 when membership for 2026 for 9, 10, 11 and 12 year old girls and boys will be taken and they’ll return to training the week after. Membership for these young girls and boys will be taken on a first come first served basis and when the groups are filled, we’ll take no more. A change in 2026 is that unfortunately, we cannot accept membership from 8 year olds because we simply don’t have the coaches needed to manage this age.
An important rule introduced in 2023 and enforced every year since is that everyone had to take part in certain Club organised events during the year or they will not be allowed to register again for the following year. We’ll be enforcing this rule again in 2026, so if your child never competed for Mullingar Harriers during 2025, please don’t look to renew their membership in 2026 as it will be refused.
Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.
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