Week ending Saturday 21st December
Illness robs Mullingar of its best at the final cross country event of the year
The final cross country event of the year, the AAI National Novice and Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships, took place in Dunboyne, Co. Meath last Sunday when the absence of many athletes due to illness was keenly felt by Mullingar. The absences were particularly noticeable in the older age groups, where not only were we missing some athletes from teams but in some cases we couldn’t even field a team. On what should have been our stronger day and one to reinforce our grip on the trophy for best Juvenile Cross Country Club in Ireland, the one Club gold and one Club bronze that we won is unlikely to be enough, but that’s sport!
To say underfoot conditions were tough would be an extreme understatement. As everyone knows there has been an extraordinary amount of rain in recent weeks and athletes and spectators were met with an absolute mud fest from the moment they entered the course. It was actually hard to tell if the course deteriorated much over the long twelve race programme because it was dreadful from the very first race! This is no criticism whatsoever of the host, Dunboyne AC, who deserve enormous credit for constructing a course in very challenging conditions. At least the weather on the day was reasonably good and we had no rain but it was very cold, adding to the hardship for athletes and spectators alike.
The programme opened with the u/11 girls 1,500m where the young Mullingar team was led home by Eleanor Kiernan, followed by Tianna O’Leary, Muireann Galvin, Therese Daly, Mollie Conlon and Allison Tourish who slipped and slid their way around the muddy course and despite their best efforts, they finished out of the medal places but can be proud to have competed in an All-Ireland final against the best teams in Ireland. When Jake Bell turned into the home straight full of running in the u/11 boys 1,500m and finished a magnificent third place after a tough race, we were full of hope for team success to follow. Thanks to fantastic support and team packing by Darren Corcoran, Conor Geoghegan, Conor Walsh, Oliver Lynch and Daniel Boyle the team finished third Club to give Mullingar its first team medals of the day. Jake also won a gold medal with the Leinster team in the Inter-Provincial competition.
Morgan Corcoran led the Mullingar team home in the u/13 girls 2,500m where despite strong showings by Rachel Murphy, Orla Manning, Ellen Daly and Lydia McDonnell, the girls finished out of the medal places but left nothing on the course and can be proud of their efforts against very stiff opposition. On to the u/13 boys 2,500m where the Mullingar team was the clear pre-race favourite. Led home by Jamie Wallace in a terrific tenth place, followed by Conor Liston and Luke O’Leary battling hard up the finish straight to finish thirteenth and fourteenth respectively, just outside the individual medal places, and with Matthew Molloy only a few places behind them, it was first Club and the gold medals for Mullingar by an enormous winning margin. We weren’t done cheering yet though as Niall Brady, Luke Greene, Cian Corcoran and Alex Lynch fought tooth and nail for every place and were rewarded with gold medals too as the team also finished first County. 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.
Adele Geoghegan led the Mullingar team home in the u/15 girls 3,500m where despite great support from Leah Geoghegan, Grace Byrne, Jessica Cunningham, Ellen Foran, Shauna Traynor and Lucy Donnelly, the girls were unlucky to finish fifth Club, just out of the medal places but not for the lack of effort by each and every one of them. The cracks due to illness could be seen in the u/15 boys 3,500m where Mullingar was missing a few key athletes and even some of those that did run were only just over recent illness. The team was led home by Ross Killalea, followed by Philip McCartan, Adam Brady, Adam Smyth, David Burke, Callum Costello, Andrew Glennon and Conleth Mullen who all gave every ounce of effort they could muster but they had to settle for a place out of the medals on this occasion.
We had seven entered in the u/17 girls 4,000m but only three were able to compete on the day. Phoebe Bate showed why she has been selected to run for Ireland in the Celtic Cross Country in January with a polished performance and a very strong determined finish in ninth place to win a well-deserved individual medal. Also finishing well up was Meabh Killalea, followed by Karla Cunningham. Looking at the final results we can be sure that a full strength team would have won medals, very likely gold. Phoebe also won a gold medal with the Leinster team. Things went from bad to worse for the u/17 boys 5,000m where we could only field two out of six entrants but top marks for effort by Matthew Glennon and Tadhg Hunwick who ran very strongly and competed for every place as if there was a team depending on them.
The wheels finally came right off for Mullingar in the u/19 boys 6,000m, which was the last underage race where Mullingar had athletes entered. On paper the Mullingar u/19 team looked good for medal honours but was reduced to just one athlete that took to the start line. Credit to Ruairi Fagan for not letting the absence of a team bother him and he ran a very good race to round off the underage programme for Mullingar.
It was great to see Mullingar field a team in the Novice Women 4,000m where Michelle Bohan had the honour of leading the team home, followed by Jennifer Algar, Anna Broderick, Andrea Brady, Amy Mahony and Aisling Corcoran. For Andrea this was her first senior cross country race, the rest of the team were running their first cross country season, but for Aisling this was her first ever cross country race! Aisling was very well supported by her children Morgan and Cian, recovered from their earlier exploits, and they cheered for their mother every step of the way. The team finished out of the medals, but this was an extremely competitive race. The programme concluded with the largest race of the day, the Novice Men 6,000m where over two hundred men dragged themselves around the mucky sloppy course. Among them was the team from Mullingar led home by Andrew Nevin finishing well up just outside the top twenty, followed by James Keegan, Gerard Gavin, Gerard Brady (another cross country debutant), Hans De Raeymaeker and Barry McDonald. The team finished out of the medal places but despite feeling understandably very tired after they can be satisfied with their efforts in truly grueling conditions.
That rounded off a day of mixed fortunes for Mullingar. Many thanks to the parents and supporters and to the coaches for their assistance and vocal support on the day from the first race right to the last. Many will now take a well earned break over the Christmas and come back refreshed for the indoor season in the New Year.
Okafor and Leydon impress at Baseline Meeting
The AIT Baseline Indoor T&F Meeting at the Athlone International Indoor Arena last Wednesday evening was an opportunity for athletes to test themselves and gauge progress in training in a low-key environment. Given the time of year, many athletes are not race fit yet, so the programme included several non-standard distances often used in training to assess fitness, such as 150m and 300m.
Charles Okafor ran the 60m in 7.07 seconds, fractionally off his personal best, which is very encouraging at this time of the year. Later in the evening, Charles drew lane 2 in the 150m, which is tight for someone of his build but despite a slight stumble coming off the bend into the home straight, he still finished in 16.59 seconds, which would equate to just under 22 seconds for the 200m, another great performance for the time of year. Shauna Leydon also competed over 150m to record a good time of 20.59 seconds, and later in the evening ran a strong 300m where she ran a personal best of 45.03 seconds from the tight lane one. This was an excellent meeting for Charles and Shauna and both could take something very positive back to the training track, as they continue to prepare for the indoor season in the New Year.
Aware Christmas 5k and 10k
The annual Aware Christmas 5k & 10k in a bitterly cold and windy Phoenix Park last Saturday morning attracted an impressive total entry of over 1,200 runners, joggers and walkers, many in seasonal fancy dress. Nearly 800 competed in the 10k where Kieran Nolan was very pleased to finish in twelfth place in 36:11, with James Cribbin just a few places behind in sixteenth in 37:17.
Westmeath Examiner Sports Awards for 2109
The Westmeath Examiner recently announced the final nominations for the Westmeath Examiner Sports Awards for 2019, which includes Claire Fagan (June) and the Mullingar Harriers Senior Women cross country team (November). A personal best for Claire over 10,000m at the Galway Senior T&F in June was inside the qualifying standard for the European u/23 T&F in Sweden where Claire represented Ireland in July, her first Major Championship. In November, Claire finished second in the Leinster Senior Cross Country to lead the Mullingar Senior Women team including Aine O’Reilly, Sinead Whitelaw, Elizabeth Carr, Michelle Bohan, Jennifer Algar, Anna Broderick and Amy Mahony to its first Senior title since 1995. The team not only finished first Club but was first County too and is the worthy winner of the November Award. Congratulations to Claire and the Senior Women cross country team on their Awards, which will be presented at a Gala Function in the Mullingar Park Hotel on Friday evening 10th January.
Annual General Meeting
The Club’s Annual General Meeting will take place in the Annebrook Hotel, Mullingar on Friday 17th January at 8pm. We hope see all our adult members attend and the parents of the very many underage athletes who receive training, coaching and guidance throughout the year. The meeting will take about an hour and a half and we urge everyone to show your appreciation of the work done at the Club by attending the AGM. There will be light refreshments served after the meeting.
Westmeath Juvenile Indoors
Keep Friday evening 24th January free when Athlone IT AC will host the ever-popular Westmeath Juvenile Indoors. There will be events for boys and girls under 9 to under 17 years of age, but this fixture will be of particular interest to our younger members aged 8, 9 and 10 that are too young to compete in the Leinster Indoors. Full details of ages and events and how to enter will be available after Christmas.
Christmas arrangements at the Club
The young 6.30pm group finishes up this week for a small break over Christmas. There will be no training for them this Thursday (19th) but they will return on Tuesday 7th January, to prepare for the Westmeath Indoors.
For everyone else, as Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday, the Club grounds will not be open next week on Tuesday evening (Christmas Eve) or Thursday evening (St. Stephen’s Day) but that should not prevent anyone not on a well earned break after a long cross country season from making alternative arrangements to train during the day and they should speak with their coaches.
For the latest results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com.
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