Week ending Saturday 2nd April

Medal winning International Debut for Jamie Wallace

It was a fabulous day at Pembrey County Park in South Wales last Saturday morning where the SIAB Schools International Cross Country took place. The best Irish schools athletes were up against the best from England, Scotland and Wales running on a mixture of very flat firm turf and undulating sand dunes, making it a very fast course and with temperatures in the mid-twenties, it certainly wouldn’t be what cross country runners would be used to. The focus of attention for Mullingar was Jamie Wallace making his International debut and Caoimhe Kilmurray in her second outing in an Irish vest. Two great athletes reaping the rewards of hard work and dedication in training.

Jamie Wallace competed in the Junior boys 4,000m, where he got off to a great start and was up with the pace early on, mixing it with the best of the English, Welsh and Scottish runners, but just as the race was starting to develop Jamie took a tumbling fall on the twisting downhill part of the course and it looked like he was out of the race. However, as this International race was also a team event, after gathering himself together, he set off again trying to finish as far up the field as he could in order to help the Irish team score. Initially disappointed to finish further back than he was capable of, when the scores were added after the race, he was delighted to learn that the Irish team finished in second place, to win the silver team medals, a great result for Jamie on his International debut.

Caoimhe Kilmurray ran in the Intermediate mixed 4×1,500m relay, a firm favourite at the SIAB Schools International Cross Country. This was the first time Caoimhe ran this type of race but that didn’t stop her from putting in an outstanding performance. The running order was girl-boy-girl-boy and Caoimhe ran the first leg. After a three way battle between the Welsh and Scottish runners, Caoimhe came out on top and handed over to her Irish teammate in second place, just behind the English team. At the change-over, Caoimhe collapsed over the line having given every ounce of effort; true team spirit, leaving nothing behind! From there on, the Irish team held second place and it was another team silver for Ireland and Caoimhe was delighted to have played an essential part in the team performance.

It was a fantastic achievement for two Mullingar Harriers to represent their country on the International stage, and furthermore, to win two silver medals to take back to the Club. These medals don’t come easy and all their training partners and group members can take a lot of pride in the help and encouragement given in the last few weeks, as can their coaches.

Now that Jamie has made his International debut for Ireland, his name will be added to the International Roll of Honour in the Clubhouse, the one hundred and twentieth name on the marble wall plaque.

Fit 4 Life

Our Fit 4 Life programme concluded last Monday night at our all-weather track in Grange. Over a 10-week period, participants received coaching from club members to enable them to run a timed 5k. The majority of the participants would not have done any running in many years, if ever, and were seeking to get back to a level of fitness so they could enjoy regular exercise.

The club had run a similar programme before Christmas and 11 participants returned again for this latest programme. It was noticeable that all of them achieved an improvement in their times for the 5k last Monday night compared to their first efforts only a few months previously. In the pre-Christmas programme, participants completed the 5k in times between 24 and 42 minutes. On this occasion that range was 24 to 37 minutes.

The feedback from participants was very positive with universal satisfaction with the programme and a stated desire to continue with running activity. Some are planning to join the club’s senior/masters section and increase their level of participation, while others committed to keeping up with regular weekly activity.

Given the undoubted success of the Fit 4 Life programme, the club plans to continue with Fit 4 Life classes in the Autumn again and another 10-week programme will be launched in late September.

Magnificent Medal Haul for Mullingar Masters

At the final indoor competition of the season, the Leinster Junior, Senior and Masters Indoors held in Athlone last Saturday, eight master members of Mullingar Harriers competed and all eight of them won medals, some more than one, to yield a great haul of twelve medals over a very wide range of events from 60m to 3,000m and including jumps and throws, showing that there is more to athletics than just long distance road racing. More of our master members really should try track and field competition in the outdoor season ahead where they might just surprise themselves!

We had no junior members in action and only one senior, Shauna Leydon, who competed in a the senior 800m where she ran very well in what was a very tactical race to finish fourth, and very unlucky to miss a medal by a very narrow margin.

The first of our masters into action was Pat Boyhan in the master 60m where he was delighted to finish third in his category and win the bronze medal. Staying on the track, Pat took on the challenge of the master 3,000m race walk, a first time for him in the event, and was delighted to win his category and secure a gold medal. He wasn’t finished though, and in the master long jump, with his best jump in the third of four rounds, Pat took the gold medal to finish the day with two gold and a bronze medal. Another very busy man was Aidan O’Donoghue, who demonstrated his prowess as a multi-eventer. Starting with a third place finish in the master 60m hurdles, he then took to the master pole vault, a new event for him, and jumped to silver, and finally rounded off his day with a personal best of 1.50m in the master high jump, where there was a tie for gold and silver, with Aidan awarded the silver on count-back by virtue of more failures at lower heights, an extremely close contest. An added bonus for Aidan is that both men broke the previous Championship record. A great day’s work for Aidan.

Admitting it was always on her “bucket list” to run a 1,500m on the track, Pauline Troy was just happy to be competing in the master 1,500m but after a great performance, she was absolutely delighted to win her category and the Leinster gold medal in her first track race. No doubt, now that the bug has bitten, she’ll be keen to add to her medals in the outdoor season. Also delighted with his master 1,500m was Pauric Brady who raced hard in a very competitive race to win a well deserved silver medal.

Sean McMullin showed why he is the double European indoor master Champion with a flawless display in the master 3,000m race walk to win and secure another Leinster title. Over at the master weight for distance, Tom Walsh put together an excellent and consistent series of attempts to win his category and add to his collection of Leinster medals, and Mullingar’s growing medal haul on the day.

Gerard Gavin drew on all his track experience in the master 3,000m where he worked hard to stay with the pace set by younger master men in the mixed-age race and he was rewarded with a convincing victory in his own age category, with a new personal best of 9 minutes 54.03 seconds, an improvement by 0.74 seconds. The day ended in the medals again with Linda Cunningham in the master 400m where with a spirited performance and sticking to her task she was rewarded with a fine second place finish in her category and a Leinster silver medal.

Dunboyne 10k

The Dunboyne 10k took place last Sunday morning and it was a very successful event for the Mullingar Harriers athletes who travelled up to race it. The Mullingar ladies won the team event and retained the trophy that they won three years ago, as there has not been a race since 2019 due to Covid-19. There were many personal bests set along this route, which was a nice rolling course, albeit a little challenging on the day due to temperatures in the high teens, so it was tough going for the nearly 570 finishers. Sinéad Whitelaw led the Mullingar ladies home, fifth woman, finishing just outside her personal best in 37:09. Michelle Bohan ran a great race to finish in a new personal best of 39:53, and Glenda Shaw and Aisling Corcoran also ran new personal bests of 43:20 and 44:22 respectively to help the team finish strongly. Next to finish was Emer O’Hanlon, third in her master category, in 46:39 and Gemma Kelly in 48:25. In the men’s race, James Keegan continued to show his great racing form and finished fast in a fantastic new personal best of 33:16. He was followed home by Alan Crowley (35:59), Kieran Nolan (37:43) and Stephen Naughton (39:10), third in his master category, and the men’s team finished in a very creditable fifth place.

Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.

PRO