Week ending Saturday 2nd January

Happy New Year to all our Members and Friends

We wish all Club members and supporters of the Club a very happy New Year. We certainly won’t be sad to see the back of Covid-ridden 2020 and have to be hopeful 2021 will see things get back to normal, though it will still take some time. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the festive season and normally we’d be encouraging everyone to get back into training again for the season ahead, but of course there remains huge uncertainty over any competition in the coming months. Athletics Ireland and Athletics Leinster remains committed to holding cross country events from Late January into March, subject to Covid-19 restrictions allowing. However, the recent surge in the number of confirmed infections, the third such surge, together with confirmed reports of a more infectious strain of the virus, makes it extremely unlikely we will see a return to competition any time soon. In fact, judging by the recent comments of the Taoiseach that he is hopeful next summer will see a “degree of normality” return makes it clear that when dealing with Covid-19, there are no quick fixes and we’re in for the long haul!

Virtual Cross Country Challenge Team Results

On a more positive note, in response to the total lack of competition opportunities for juvenile athletes in Ireland due to the challenge of Covid-19, Athletics Ireland had organised a Virtual Cross Country Challenge last November and more than 4,600 Juveniles took on the Challenge, including more than 100 from Mullingar Harriers. The Certificates of Participation were presented just before Christmas and they were greatly appreciated by the athletes, coaches and parents.

Last Wednesday, Athletics Ireland published the team results. It took much longer than expected to standardise the various time formats sent in, as the event was much more popular than expected, with well over 4,600 individual results to rank from more than 120 different Clubs! This was a fantastic celebration of running and congratulations to all who took part.

Mullingar had girls and boys teams in the combined under 9 and 10, under 11, under 13 and under 15 events and they all featured well in the results, though team prizes were extremely hard to win, as expected in a National event. We had no team prizes in the under 9 and 10, or under 11 but Cillian Galvin excelled in the under 9 and 10 boys with a fine eight place finish overall. In the under 13 boys event, Matthew Molloy finished well up in ninth place, and in the corresponding under13 girls race, Tianna O’Leary raced into a top-20 place in sixteenth, a very noteworthy performance as she was giving away a year. The under 15 boys team of Conor Sherwin (6th), Pablo Lozano, David Burke and Criostoir Ormsby came close, finishing fifth Club, only four seconds off third but the drought of team prizes was finally ended by the under 15 girls team, led home by Grace Byrne (7th) and supported strongly by Adele Geoghegan (9th), Leah Geoghegan (14th) and Caoimhe Kilmurray (15th) to finish third Club.

As Athletics Ireland noted in their report on the event, there is sure to be some reflections from coaches and athletes on how they could squeeze an extra second or two, perhaps by improved pacing, technique, tactics, concentration or finishing speed. This is what is great about athletics – there are so many areas to develop and we know the coaches of our juvenile members will continue to work towards this in 2021.

Membership for 2021

The Athletics Ireland month’s end registrations for November 2020 showed a reduction in registrations of 13%, which is hardly surprising and reflects the impact of Covid-19. The Mullingar numbers were down even more, at 23% due no doubt to the lack of cross country last autumn, when we normally see a spike in registrations. This has a big impact on Club income, and we hope the reduction will be reversed soon as we head into 2021 and plan to begin work on our new all-weather track in the spring, which will be a big draw on financial resources.

As we head into the New Year, members are asked to please renew their membership as soon as they can. If you’re not registered, you’re not insured and can’t train at the Club or take part in Club competition, when they return. Membership can be paid online though the Club’s website or any night at training. Rates are unchanged from 2020.

Sympathy

Finally, the Executive and members of the Club extend sincere sympathy to Matthew Molloy and the Molloy family on the death on Christmas Day of his grandfather, Michael (Mick) Molloy, Slanemore, Mullingar. RIP.

For the latest news and details of fixtures check the Club’s Facebook page or the website at www.mullingarharriers.com.

PRO