Week ending Saturday 28th July

Medal winning International debuts for Jennifer Fidgeon and Matthew Glennon

Jennifer Fidgeon and Matthew Glennon have good reason to remember last Saturday for a very long time, as that was when they made their International debuts for Ireland at the Schools International T&F in Grangemouth, Scotland. In perfect conditions for competition, Jennifer put in a terrific performance in the girls 3,000m walk to finish second and earn a silver medal in her first International competition. In the boys 3,000m walk, Oisin Lane showed his class to win comfortably but behind him finishing strongly in third and also earning a medal on his International debut was Matthew Glennon. These great performances added to the team points to place Ireland second overall behind England and ahead of Wales and Scotland. Congratulations to Jennifer and Matthew on these great performances in the Irish vest and now that they have competed for Ireland, their names will be added to the Roll of Honour in the Clubhouse, bringing the total so far up to 104 since the Club was founded in 1975. Congratulations to them both from everyone at the Club.

All-Ireland sprint title for Awa Fane

The third and final day of the AAI Juvenile u/12 to u/19 T&F finals in a very warm and humid Tullamore last Sunday marked the conclusion of the domestic underage season. From a Mullingar perspective, focus was on the 200m and 1,500m events.

The only 1,500m age group that required heats was the boys 1,500m u/17 where Eoin Quinn bided his time until the final lap and then moved quickly through the field with ease to finish fifth and qualify for the later final. However, Eoin is not long over a recent illness and not wanting to overdo it, wisely decided not to run in the final. Phoebe Bate started well in the girls 1,500m u/15 final and was right with the pace to the mid-way mark but a bout of recent illness clearly robbed her of her best on the day and she had to settle for a place down the field on this occasion. The boys 1,500m u/16 final was a very tactical affair and the early slow pace followed by a big burn up didn’t suit Colin Smith and he finished out of the medal places, though he ran very well and finished strongly. Better recognised as a top class 3,000m athlete, Jamie Battle dropped down to the boys 1,500m u/19 final where he took the early lead looking for a fast time. However, it wasn’t to be this time and as the race unfolded he paid for the early pace and finished out of the medal places.

Easily winning her heat of the girls 200m u/18 in the morning in the fastest time marked Awa Fane as the favourite to win the final in the afternoon. Blasting from the blocks in the final, she powered around the bend and though trailing slightly in second place coming into the straight, knowing that she gets stronger towards the end, she kept her form and focus and took the lead in the dying stages to win the race, adding the outdoor 200m title to her indoor 200m title. This was to be the only medal won by a Mullingar athlete on the final day, but when added to the five gold and seven silver All-Ireland medals won on previous days, the total medal tally means this has been one of the best underage T&F seasons for the Club in a long time.

Volunteers (and food!) needed for the Mullingar 10

We’re appealing for as much help as possible this Saturday from members and friends of the Club to help at the “Mullingar 10” mile road race in Dalystown. Pre-entries online at www.myrunresults.com are well up on the same time last year, so we expect big numbers to compete on the day. We need help with registration, parking, marshalling along the course, water stations etc. If you can spare a few hours, please let a Club official know. For those planning to run, you can still enter on-line. This is an important fundraiser for the Club and we’re asking everyone to row in behind the event and give a helping hand.

It’s really important to feed the hungry runners well when they’re finished the 10 miles, so we’d really appreciate it if members and/or parents could bring sandwiches, buns, cakes, in fact anything edible, to the Clubhouse before Saturday or out to Dalystown on the day.

Edenderry 10 Mile

Despite admitting afterwards that it was extremely hard work maintaining his pace in very warm and extremely humid conditions at the Edenderry 10 mile road race last Sunday, and even very nearly hitting “the wall” in the process, Eddie Newman managed to finish in an impressive 58 minutes 53 seconds to place sixth overall and first in his master category. Also performing really well in the challenging conditions was Joan Flynn (67:17), second woman to finish, closely followed by Nollaig McEntegart (67:36), second in his master category and Michelle O’Halloran (78:01). They were certainly glad to get over the finish line and avail of the refreshments, especially liquid, on offer after the race, courtesy of hosts Edenderry AC.

Open T&F Sports

The T&F season is over for most Club members now but some might like to extend it a bit by competing at the Boyne AC Open T&F Sports at the Lourdes Stadium in Drogheda on Sunday 5th August. There will be events for boys and girls from u/8 to u/17 and for junior men and women, starting at 1.30pm.

For the latest results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com.

PRO