Week ending Saturday 27th January
World Double Bronze for Jessica Cunningham
Congratulations to Jessica Cunningham on winning two bronze medals at the World Deaf Youth Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil last Friday. Dropping down from her customary middle distance to 400m didn’t faze Jessica at all and she was delighted to finish third and earn a place on the podium. She followed that up with another great performance in another unfamiliar event, the long jump, where she again placed third after a close contest.
Representing Ireland for the first time is a huge milestone for any athlete and is well deserved for Jessica. Now that Jessica has made her International debut for Ireland, her name will be added to the International Roll of Honour in the Clubhouse, the one hundred and twenty fifth name on the marble wall plaque.
Good Leinster cross country medal haul for Mullingar
The Leinster Intermediate and Masters cross country and juvenile cross country relays were held in a windy and eventually very wet Avondale Forest Park, Co. Wicklow last Sunday. All the talk in the days leading up to the event, especially on the eve, was of Storm Isha and forecasts of yellow and orange warnings for very high winds. The high winds were forecast to hit the east coast by evening, well after the event was to be finished, so the event went ahead as planned. Huge credit must go to Athletics Wicklow for hosting the event and putting everything in place in difficult conditions, all the time worrying that the event might have to be cancelled and all their hard work would be for nothing. As it turned out while the winds were quite strong and gusting, they weren’t too bad and it was only in the later races that the rain came, drenching runners, spectators and officials alike. Everything was finished and everyone had left for home before 3pm, well before Storm Isha struck.
We had one relay team, Mel Bohan, Michael Kiernan, Noah Morgan and Rory McDonnell, in the u/12 boys 4 x 250m relay. Despite all being u/11, they stepped up to u/12 and though the team finished out of the medals they worked very well as a team and gave a great account and you can’t ask for more than that.
Better known for his prowess as a race walker, Sean McMullin competed in the 4,000m for master men o/65 and though he finished out of the medals in his age category he was still very satisfied with his effort on the tough Avondale course. The master women 4,000m had a very big entry and running hard over two laps with a long steep uphill section on each lap, thankfully with the wind on their backs, the Mullingar women were led home by Aine O’Reilly. Following Aine in and providing great team support was Maura Dervin who won her master age category, Michelle Bohan, Ciara Dillon, Linda Cunningham, Caroline Mullen, Eithne Spellman, Terri Greene, Nuala Moran, Pauline Troy and Kelly Dunne. No team medals for the younger master women, but thanks to Maura, Caroline, Terri, Nuala and Pauline, it was gold for Mullingar as first Club in the o/50 category and with Anna Marie Dowd (Athlone) finishing between Maura and Caroline adding to the County score, it was gold for Westmeath as first County in the o/50 category.
The master men raced over 7,000m and first home for Mullingar with a great run was Patrick Muldoon, but despite great support from Eddie Newman who won his master age category, Pauric Brady, James Carton, Paul Ginnell and Mark Dunne, there was no team honours for Mullingar, but well done to all on giving one hundred percent effort on a very tough course that was starting to get muddy underfoot as the rain fell.
By the time the Intermediate men 8,000m was called to the start, the rain was falling heavily. Negotiating the tough hilly course over four energy sapping laps really tested the mettle of all the runners. Working hard all the way and finishing strongly in a terrific fourth place was James Keegan, followed in by Ian McCormack who despite suffering a bad stitch on the final lap as he was closing on James, which forced him to lose a few places, he rallied at the end and pushed home to finish well up in eleventh place, and with terrific team support and packing by Kedagh Geoghegan, Andy Boyhan, Stephen Campbell, Brian Martin and Robert Yorke all digging deep and leaving nothing behind, the men were delighted to finish third Club and third County, the set of bronze medals being great rewards for their valiant efforts.
Leaving home windswept and wet after the final race, Mullingar had won two individual medals, two sets of Club team medals and two sets of County team medals, making it an excellent day’s work for the Mullingar squads.
National Indoor medals for Smith and Glennon
Mullingar had a small group competing at the National u/20 and u/23 Indoors in Athlone last Saturday.
Colin P Smith competed in the 1,500m u/23 and right from the start it was clear that he was not going to be going home without a medal as he kept right up with the leading group, which slowly whittled down as the laps unfolded. Colin was in second place at the bell and made a determined effort to chase down the leader, racing hard to the finish but unable to close the gap, crossing the line in second place in 3 minutes 55.48 seconds, close to his best for the distance. Diarmuid Fagan competed in the 1,500m u/20 where he raced well but had to settle for a place out of the medals on this occasion.
Still relatively new to the event, Kyle Faherty competed in the 400m u/20 and at only 16 years of age, was one of the youngest in the competition. That didn’t concern him though and in his heat he went hard from the gun and with strong athletes just in front and on his shoulder he was pushed to a new personal best of 52.17 seconds. With the 6 fastest times from 6 heats qualifying for the final, Kyle’s fourth place finish in his heat wasn’t enough to advance, but it was all about the experience and this race will give him great confidence when he drops down to his own age group in the season ahead.
Mullingar has a great reputation in race walking and that was on show again in the 3,000m race walks. In the u/20 race, Andrew Glennon battled hard and finished in second place but unfortunately he was subsequently disqualified, which is always a risk in this tough very technical event. In the u/23 race, Matthew Glennon went straight to the front from the gun and continued to set the pace throughout the race but never managing to pull clear of the athlete in second place who tracked him closely. It took all of Matthew’s experience to hold off a late challenge on the home straight to finish first and retain the National title he won last year, but only by a half second, which is a very close finish indeed in a 3,000m race.
Notice of Annual General Meeting
The Club’s Annual General Meeting will take place this Friday evening in the Greville Arms Hotel at 8.30pm. We hope to see all our adult members attend and the parents of the 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.
Membership for younger members is now closed
The training groups for girls and boys 8, 9, 10 and 11 years of age are now full and membership is closed. We had a very big attendance last Saturday morning for the open registration day for these ages and many thanks to everyone that helped make the registration session run as smooth as possible. We had more interest than expected, so we’re asking those that might be disappointed to please respect the fact that we have now closed membership for these younger age groups.
Renewal of membership for 2024
Thanks to everyone that has renewed their membership for 2024 already. Membership can be paid online though the Club’s website or any evening at training if more convenient. For everyone else, it’s important to renew as soon as possible so you are insured to train at the Club and of course to enter the many indoor, road and cross country events that will take place in the coming weeks.
Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.
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