Week ending Saturday 21st June
Medal filled Leinster Juvenile T&F
To say conditions were tough at the Leinster Juvenile T&F in Tullamore last weekend, especially on Saturday, would be a serious understatement. Competitors had to endure frequent very heavy prolonged thundery showers for most of the day on Saturday that at times nearly flooded the track in places. Sunday started very wet, but thankfully the rain finally cleared to give a warm and sunny afternoon. Despite the challenging conditions at times, the Mullingar athletes performed brilliantly and always to the best of their abilities.
We started Saturday with the race walks where Daniel Glennon was simply too good in the u/17 boys 3,000m walk, winning comfortably in 14:10.47, a new personal best. Moving to the sprints, Liadan Gavin competed in the u/14 girls 80m where she finished fifth in her heat but didn’t advance to the final. In the u/14 boys 80m, John McManus raced to second place in his heat to qualify for the final where despite running even faster, he finished out of the medals but gave a great account. Our first sprint medal came courtesy of Joel Kelly who finished second in his heat of the u/15 boys 100m in a personal best time of 12.72 seconds, and in the final he equalled this time to finish third and win the bronze medal. Cian Hyland and Aaron Conroy contested the very competitive heats of the u/17 boys 100m where they ran well but didn’t advance to the final.
Over at the javelin runway, Blathnaid Peters threw her best throw in the fifth round of six of the u/17 girls javelin, launching the javelin out to 16.27m which was enough to win the bronze medal, her first Leinster field event medal. Seth Walsh had to face very tough conditions with some heavy rain in the u/15 boys javelin but had a solid set of throws to finish fourth, which will see him advance to the National finals. Staying with the field events, competing in the long jump but finishing out of the medals was Saoirse Peters (u/13 girls), Conor Gavin (u/13 boys), Evan Nohilly (u/16 boys), and Donnacha Doyle and Rian Gavin (u/14 boys).
Illness during the week robbed Amelie G Kelly of her best but she still gave a good effort in the u/14 girls 1,500m. Gareth Glennon ran extremely well in the u/14 boys 1,500m and was unlucky to finish just of the medals in fourth place by a narrow margin. Rian Gavin doubled up in the u/14 boys 1,500m, which ran at the same time as the long jump, not ideal, joining Harry Flanagan who raced to a fine sixth place, followed in by Rian. In the u/15 girls 1,500m Lily Walsh set a fast pace leading from gun to tape to win another Leinster title, setting a Championship Record of 4:41.10 while doing so, bettering the previous by just over 4 seconds. More success followed when Oisin Clarke continued the excellent form he had shown in the schools T&F, racing to silver in the u/15 boys 1,500m, where Antonio Bertolo finished fourth, missing a medal by just six hundredths of a second. Daniel Horohoe had a very solid run in the u/16 boys 1,500m and we wrapped up with the u/17 girls 1,500m where Eleanor Kiernan finished strong and was delighted to win the bronze medal.
The weather finally picked up in time for the 400m and 300m races. The u/16 boys 400m was a straight final where Scott Cogan put in a powerful display of sprinting in a new event for him, racing hard to an excellent third place and to secure the bronze medal. Liadan Gavin was back on track for the u/14 girls 300m where the medals were awarded to the best three times over the two time trial races. Liadan was drawn in the faster of the two races where she raced hard from the gun, always in contention, to finish an excellent third place. Unfortunately she was narrowly beaten into fourth place overall on times, but can be very proud of her efforts in a new event for her. In the u/15 girls 300m, Aoibhe Martyn was drawn in the faster of the two time trial races against the top seeded girls, running a fine race but finishing out of the medals on this occasion.
We finished the day with the steeplechase, run in dry sunny conditions. Ailbhe O’Farrell was always in contention from the start of the u/19 girls 3,000m steeplechase, attacking each barrier with purpose, especially proficient over the difficult water jump, and with a strong finish on the home straight, finding a bit extra to hold off a late challenge she crossed the line in third place to win the bronze medal by a very narrow margin of just two hundredths of a second. We finished the day with the u/18 boys 2,000m steeplechase where Oisin Kehoe ran a very good solid race, negotiating the barriers with ease, and was very pleased to win a Leinster medal for his efforts, the bronze medal for a fine third place.
Sunday was another super day for Mullingar, with lots of medals won and great performances by all. Morgan Isdell started with his debut over the hurdles, first over the “long” hurdles and then the shorter sprint hurdles. Starting with the u/16 boys 250m hurdles in the morning, he finished sixth, and later in the day in the u/16 boys 100m hurdles he finished fourth to qualify for the National finals. Clodagh Keane also competed in the sprint hurdles in the afternoon, racing in the u/14 girls 75m hurdles and was very unlucky hit the final hurdle in her heat while in a good position, which saw her drop out of the qualifying places and so didn’t advance to the final, which is always the peril with the sprint hurdles.
Chloe Bell won her heat of the u/14 girls 800m where Siomha Leonard had the misfortune of being disqualified for a lane infringement. In the later final, Chloe ran a tactically clever race to pass and pull clear of the leading group on the last lap and pushing on to win the Leinster title. The u/14 boys 800m was a straight final where Harry Flanagan ran a personal best of 2:27.12 to finish a very creditable sixth, and was followed home by Rian Gavin. The u/15 boys 800m was also a straight final and Oisin Clarke picked up his second silver medal of the weekend, with Antonio Bertolo racing hard, close behind finishing fifth overall but in a personal best of 2:18.37. Conor Liston reprised the tactical intelligence and blistering finishing pace he showed in the Leinster Indoors to win the u/19 boys 800m and add another Leinster title to his collection.
Liadan Gavin made her debut over 200m to finish second in her heat of the u/14 girls 200m to qualify for the final, but unfortunately Siomha Leonard wasn’t to join her as she didn’t advance from her very competitive heat. In the later final, Liadan ran well in a very fast race but finished out of the medal places. Aoibhe Martyn was fourth in her heat of the u/15 girls 200m but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to qualify for the final. Also making his debut over the distance, Scott Cogan lined up in the u/16 boys 200m where he ran well but finished out of the medal places in sixth. We finally secured a 200m sprint medal when Kyle Faherty blasted from the blocks in the u/19 boys 200m to come into the home straight in a great position. Holding his form and pace, Kyle raced on to finish in second place in a close finish to win the silver medal.
In the field events, Donnacha Doyle leaped to silver in a very close and exciting u/14 boys high jump, and added to his medal tally when he made his debut in the u/14 boys triple jump and won the silver medal, just one centimetre away from gold. Noteworthy was that Donnacha matched his best jump in three of his six jumps, which shows great consistency.
Alice Hyland made the final eight in the u/14 girls shot putt to earn a further three attempts, finishing an excellent seventh. Also making the final eight was Clodagh Doran in the u/15 girls shot putt, finishing a very creditable eighth place after a long competition. Alice also competed in the u/14 girls long jump and Clodagh in the u/15 girls long jump where they enjoyed the thrill of competition despite finishing out of the medal places. Finally, Aoibhe Martyn finished her day with the u/15 girls long jump, making the final eight and finishing a fine eighth place after a very good competition.
We finished an excellent weekend of competition with another bundle of medals and great performances in the 3,000m. Daniel Horohoe completed a weekend double of distance running and after racing in the 1,500m on Saturday, returned for the u/16 boys 3,000m where he finished a very respectable sixth place. Conor Walsh stuck to his task in the u/17 boys 3,000m and was rewarded for a fine effort with the bronze medal. Matthew Molloy and Luke Greene contested the u/18 boys 3,000m and after a tough battle all the way, Matthew finished third, ahead of Luke in fourth, just out of the medals. The final event with a Mullingar interest was the u/19 boys 3,000m where Jamie Wallace set out at a furious pace to split the field wide open, going on to win by a margin and take the Leinster title in a new Championship Record of 8:50.08, bettering a record that has stood since 1996. Running a more conservative pace behind, Donagh Carey timed his final effort perfectly to finish third and secure the bronze medal to round off a medal filled weekend for Mullingar Harriers, where we saw lots of debuts in a wide range of new events, lots of medals and fourth place finishes that will see Mullingar well represented in the National finals in a few weeks, but also lots and lots of great performances by everyone, medals won or not [GD].
Matthew Glennon secures qualification for Euro u/23 Championships
Matthew Glennon made the trip to the Dutch National Road Racewalking Championships in Tilburg last Sunday with the sole objective of walking fast enough to achieve the Athletics Ireland qualification standard for 10k at the European u/23 Championships. While temperatures in the Netherlands had recently reached over 30degC, fortunately on Sunday they dropped a bit to the mid to high 20degC. On an unusually designed course used primarily by racing cyclists, Matthew set off at his pre-planned pace and soon eased into an even stronger rhythm to reach 5k ahead of schedule. However, with no shelter from the direct midday sun he began to suffer and fell marginally behind target. However with 2k to go he really dug deep and drove as hard as possible to reach the finish line in 43:09, which was mission accomplished with a mere 6 seconds to spare. This was a truly superb performance by Matthew, as there was no one who could in any way match his pace so it was an entirely solo effort from gun to tape. With two qualification standards now required for selection, Matthew has now achieved that goal and can now focus on being at his best for the Euro u/23 in Bergen, Norway in July.
Aisling Lane was on the same mission, as she had already achieved one qualification standard. Aisling set off at a very controlled pace and was on schedule at 5k, with her second fastest 5k ever, when the heat began to take its toll. She lost some precious seconds on each lap but still had a personal best of 50:26 for the win over 10k. She had almost a minute to spare over the second placed finisher, so she can be content in the knowledge that she can travel to European countries and dominate their National Championships [ML].
Braveheart 5k
The Braveheart 5k trail race, held by Trim AC, took place on a warm evening last Friday at the Porchfields in Trim. The off-road course took nearly 500 athletes on a trip through history at the beautiful setting of Trim Castle, Newtown Abbey and along the banks of the River Boyne. The Yellow Steeple provided a scenic uphill finish to a tough race. First home from Mullingar Harriers was John Glennon in an impressive time for this course of 17:01, fourth overall and first u/20 man, followed closely by Andrew Glennon in 17:30, second u/20 man. Susan Glennon repeated her placing of last year and was a convincing winner in a fast time of 19:15. Also battling hard were Barry White (21:43) and Linda Cunningham (23:22) third in her master category [LC].
Naomh Mhuire 5k
Naomh Mhuire AC hosted the latest 5k in the Healthy Offaly series, the Daingean 5k, last Friday evening. It was a dry evening with high humidity proving a challenge to the 379 participants. The course took in a section of roads off the main street before emerging at the Town Hall just after the 1k mark, then headed out towards Tullamore and taking a right back towards the town at the midpoint, with the remainder of the course on testing country roads back to the town centre. Mullingar Harriers had 22 competing.
The leading athletes included 5 from Mullingar as the early kilometres were covered. As the field broke up, it was Dan Morris who battled with two others before having to settle for third place in 15:42. He was closely followed in fifth place by Kris Foster who came home in 16:02, with James Keegan next to finish in sixth in 16:13. Kedagh Geoghegan (16:44) just got the better of Paulius Patackas (16:45) helping him to third place in his master category. Alan Crowley (17:13) and Mark Ronan (17:30) were both pleased with their performances, as was Sinead Whitelaw who finished second woman in 18:09. Kieran Nolan finished in 18:30, while Orlaith Flanagan continued her sub-19 minute runs over the distance, recording 18:42. Also competing was Jason McKevitt (19:14), Sharon O’Dowd (19:26), Conor Collison (19:38) and Mary Stuart (19:45) first in her master category, Joe Curley (20:10), Aisling Corcoran (20:06) first in her master category, Padraig Beglin (20:37), Robin Jackson (21:03), Gemma Kelly (23:06), Claire Lennon Gavin (23:33), Michael O’Sullivan (25:49) and Nicky McCabe (26:19) second in his master category.
In the team events, the Mullingar women team of Sinead Whitelaw, Orlaith Flanagan, Sharon O’Dowd and Mary Stuart finished first Club, and the men team of Dan Morris, Kris Foster, James Keegan and Kedagh Geoghegan were second Club [MO’S].
The Bridge Run – From Denmark to Sweden
Caroline Mullen, Martin Mullen and Ray Smyth took part in the 25th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Oresund Bridge that connects Denmark with Sweden. Opened in 2000, the route includes 4k of tunnel, a further 4k across the man-made island Peberholm and 8k across the bridge, which is off limits to all but vehicular traffic. Closed last Sunday morning to all but 40,000 runners, this spectacular event captured the attention of both nations for a few hours. The Oresund Bridge half marathon started in Tarnby on the Danish side, before entering the tunnel after 3k and then on through the island and up and along the bridge, before entering Sweden and finishing in Sibbarp, on the outskirts of Malmo. Caroline, Martin and Ray described the event as mind blowing and were delighted to carry the Mullingar Harriers singlets across two countries [MO’S].
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