Week ending Saturday 3rd April
Virtual 10k Results Confirmed
While most people ran the St. Patrick’s Day Virtual 10k on the day itself, like all virtual events, allowance was made for anyone to run the distance up to a week after and submit their result, so it wasn’t until last week that the final results could be confirmed.
As expected, Mullingar athletes were very prominent in the results, though we didn’t have it all our own way. The first man was James Hyland (Raheny Shamrocks), second was Shane Ryan (Raheny Shamrocks) and in third place was our own Maurice Looby. Finishing in the top ten men was Alan Crowley (fifth), Eddie Newman (sixth), Andrew Nevin (seventh) and James Keegan (eighth). In the women race, Síle O’Byrne (Slí Cualann AC) took first place ahead of Mullingar’s Sinead Whitelaw (second), Aine O’Reilly (third), with Amy Mahony (fifth), Jenny Algar (sixth), Aisling Corcoran (seventh), Anna Broderick (eighth), Michelle Bohan (ninth) and Michelle O’Halloran (tenth) filling the top ten places.
With three Raheny men in the top four, Raheny easily won the men team prize, and with three Mullingar women in the top five, they easily won the women team prize. There was also a mixed team category with three to score and each team had to include at least one woman. First team was Mullingar Harriers thanks to Maurice Looby, Alan Crowley and Sinead Whitelaw, second was our near neighbours North Westmeath AC and third was Birr AC. The fourth team was from Ealing Eagles in London, so it was great to see the event being supported not only by Clubs in Ireland but also in England. Hundreds entered the event and while not everyone that entered actually ran the distance or submitted their time, their support is greatly appreciated and will help towards financing the new all-weather track.
Claire Fagan wins Special Achievement Award
Congratulations from everyone at Mullingar Harriers to Claire Fagan who won a Special Achievement Award at the Westmeath Examiner Sports Awards for 2020, which was presented at a virtual event last Friday evening. Buoyed up by u/23 team medal success at the European Cross Country in December 2019, Claire came into 2020 full of confidence and it showed at the Home Countries and Celtic International Cross Country in Scotland in January 2020 where she won gold for Ireland in the u/23 race. She continued her excellent form on to the track by winning the 800m at the National u/23 Indoors in January and at the National Senior T&F in August she finished third overall in the 5,000m to win bronze in the senior category and gold in the u/23 category. This is a well deserved award for Claire after a tremendous year despite the challenges posed by Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns.
Fundraising Table Quiz
This Friday evening our resident Quizmaster-in-Chief Michael O’Sullivan will be holding a virtual table quiz at 8pm as a fundraiser for the new all-weather track. The cost will be €10 per household and entry will be through the “track development” page on the website, which will also capture everyone’s email to which a Zoom link to the quiz will be sent. There will be prizes for the winners and a number of spot prizes too. We’re appealing to all members and friends of Mullingar Harriers to get behind and support this fundraiser. It’s only a bit of fun and as we can’t go anywhere, we might as well take part in the quiz.
Fixtures Update
In the expectation of competition resuming this summer, last week we advised that Athletics Ireland and Athletics Leinster have published provisional dates for the outdoor T&F season, but of course all events are subject to the easing of current Covid-19 restrictions. It’s important that our athletes are prepared for a return to activity, so there has to be a good lead in time before they can safely compete again, and changes to the competition calendar might have to be made intermittently, so check the Athletics Ireland or Athletics Leinster or our own website and Facebook groups for updates.
Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.
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