Week ending Saturday 5th April
Lots to celebrate at National Juvenile Indoors
The indoor season concluded for Mullingar Harriers at the National Juvenile Indoors in Athlone last week-end, where our squad of fifteen athletes won four medals, five of them recorded personal bests and another eight bettered their performance in the Leinster Indoors, a testament to the hard work put in over many months under the watchful eyes of their coaches.
Early on Saturday morning, Kyle Faherty blasted from the blocks in his heat of the u/19 boys 200m, finishing third in a new personal best of 22.79 seconds. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to advance to the final and he missed a place in the final by just seven hundredths of a second, but can be very proud of his performance.
The medals for the u/12 boys 600m were decided on the fastest times over two races. Mel Bohan raced to a fine third place in his timed race in 1:47:89, quicker than he ran in the Leinsters, to place seventh overall. It wasn’t fast enough to win a medal, but seventh place in a National final is a very good result.
Lily Walsh competed in the u/15 girls 800m where again the medals were decided on the fastest times over two races. In Lily’s race, the top three girls had to run personal bests to secure a place on the podium, Lily crossing the finish line in second place with a two second personal best of 2:17.69, to win National silver and finish a big month of racing.
Despite running faster than in the Leinsters, Gareth Glennon finished out of the medal places in the u/14 boys 800m but gave it every effort in a good race. It was similar for Oisin Clarke in the u/15 boys 800m where he finished out of the medal places but was delighted to set a new personal best of 2:14.65 in his race. As a measure of the competition, the eventual winner broke the Championship record by over 3 seconds.
Conor Liston ran a very smart race in the u/19 boys 800m where after a very quick first lap by the leader, a gap developed back to the chasing pack, led by Conor. The race order didn’t change much until the final lap where Conor started chasing down the leader but ultimately it wasn’t enough in the end to catch the leader but it won Conor the silver medal in a new personal best of 1:54.99, in fact all three medal winners ran personal bests, such was the quality of the race.
On Sunday morning, it was the turn of our 1,500m athletes where, like the 800m the day before, the medals were decided on the fastest times over two races. Even though Eleanor Kiernan placed fourth in her timed race of the u/17 girls 1,500m in a quicker time than she ran in Leinster, she finished out of the medals, but gave a very good performance. Conor Walsh also ran quicker in the u/17 boys 1,500m but it wasn’t enough to get in the medal places. Matthew Molloy ran only marginally slower in the u/18 boys 1,500m than in Leinster, but finished out of the medals, and even though Ailbhe O’Farrell ran quicker in the u/19 girls 1,500m, she finished out of the medals too. On to the u/19 boys 1,500m where Donagh Carey improved by seven seconds and Jamie Wallace by nearly five seconds, finishing third in his timed race, fifth overall, unfortunately not enough to see either on the podium.
A super set of jumps by Chloe Bell in the u/14 girls long jump saw her better her personal best several times during the event, finally finishing sixth with 4.71m, only a mere 5 centimetres away from the medals, a great result in a National final. Chloe also bettered her Leinster standing, finishing second Leinster long jumper on the day, after picking up bronze in Leinster.
Mullingar has a fine reputation in race walk where we had three Glennon brothers in action seeking National honours. Gareth Glennon latched on to the early breakaway group in the u/14 boys 1,000m walk. Moving between fourth and third throughout, with a terrific last lap that came down to a furious sprint on the home straight, Gareth chased the leader hard but had to settle for silver in a photo finish, missing victory by just over a tenth of a second. Daniel Glennon made it look easy in the u/17 boys 1,500m walk where he cruised to victory to take gold and the National title, improving on his time in Leinster too.
The final race of the day was the u/19 boys 1,500m walk where John Glennon was always in contention for honours and after a great battle with the eventual winner, he crossed the line in second place, but just as we beginning to celebrate another medal for Mullingar, he was disqualified for an infringement, which is always a risk in this very technical event where the keen-eyed judges watch every step of the way. A disappointing finish to the day for John, but he knows the risks and is experienced enough to bounce back.
Now that the indoor season has come to a close, everyone can take time to re-group and look forward to the outdoor season ahead [TW/CW/GD].
Dublin Half Marathon
Nearly 12,000 people took part in the inaugural Dublin City Half Marathon last Sunday morning, which took runners across the city centre and the north side of the Capital. Mullingar Harriers had five athletes taking part and they were delighted with the race and the atmosphere. Weather conditions were near perfect, with a very light wind and sunshine all the way through a packed city centre and the north side, with the start and finish on O’Connell St. First home from Mullingar was Griffin Kearney in 1:22:39, followed by Paul Forristal (1:31:14), Mary Stuart (1:30:36) second in her master category, John Long (1:40:08) and Joan Hickson (1:43:48) [MO’S].
Dundalk 10k
In sun drenched Dundalk last Sunday morning, Paul O’Reilly competed in the Dundalk 10k. Starting and finishing in the town centre, the route took the field of over 430 runners on a stunning route around the environs of the town. Paul was always in contention with the leaders and was delighted to nail down third place in a new personal best of 35:23, almost 2 minutes quicker than his previous best time for the distance [PO’R/GD].
Clongowes 10k
Father and son combined to make the podium in their respective categories in the annual Clongowes 5k last Saturday morning. Zack O’Leary ran very well to finish in second place in 21:21 while his dad, Michael O’Leary, went one better by winning his master category in 27:18.
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