Week ending Saturday 3rd December
European Cross Country selection for Cormac and Jamie
Congratulations to Cormac Dalton and Jamie Battle on being named on the Irish team to compete at the European Cross Country in Turin, Italy in two weeks. The recent AAI National Senior Cross Country in Donegal was the trial for the Europeans but only guaranteed the first three finishers a place on the team, with the selectors free to consider three others, such as US based student-athletes like Cormac, who secured his place on the senior men team thanks to a magnificent fifteenth place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma the day before. Jamie’s fine fourth place finish in the u/23 race in Donegal was more than enough to secure his automatic selection for the Europeans on the u/23 men team.
Cormac will be looking to improve on his performance in the Euro Cross in Dublin last year where he finished a fantastic twenty eighth place, the third finisher for Ireland, helping the team to fourth place, only four points away from the bronze medals. Jamie was part of the Irish u/23 men team that won gold in Dublin last year and he will be looking to replicate that memorable gold medal winning performance again in Turin. Everyone at Mullingar Harriers wishes Cormac and Jamie the very best of luck.
All roads lead to Cork
Attention turns to Cork this coming Sunday where the 2022 domestic cross country season concludes with the AAI National Novice and Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Finals taking place. Over forty underage Mullingar athletes are entered on teams and we will have Novice women and men teams too. In addition to representing Mullingar and Westmeath, ten of our underage athletes will also be on Leinster teams, one of the biggest representation from one Club.
The Mullingar senior men were third in Donegal and with many of that team also eligible for Novice, the Mullingar Novice men will be serious contenders for team honours. Our underage athletes won an individual title, one set of team medals, two teams finished just outside the medal places in fourth, and four athletes won medals with Leinster teams in Donegal, so they’ll be looking to build on those performances in Cork and add to Mullingar’s reputation in cross country.
If for any reason you cannot compete, please let Club officials know as soon as possible. Everyone has been training very hard in recent weeks and expectations are high of more excellent performance in Cork.
The first race is at 11.30am and as the crowd at an All-Ireland is much larger than at Leinster, leave in plenty of time, allow extra time for traffic and parking delays entering the venue, and head straight for the Club flags to collect your race number. It will take longer to collect and sort race numbers, so you need to be at the course by 10.30am at the latest.
You must wear your Club vest in a Championship. Please bring water or sports drink and a light snack, wet gear and a change of clothes, suitably long spikes, and of course four safety pins for your race number. Spectators should watch the weather forecast and dress appropriately.
Sympathy
Finally, the Executive and members of Mullingar Harriers wish to express sincere sympathy to Muireann and Cillian Galvin and the Whelan and Galvin families on the death last week of their grandfather, Peter Whelan. May he rest in peace.
Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.
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