Week ending Saturday 6th June

Great medal haul for Mullingar students at All-Ireland Schools

The All-Ireland Schools T&F took place in Tullamore last Friday evening and all day Saturday, continuing an excellent innovation begun a few years ago to reduce an overly long programme on Saturday by holding some events on the evening before. Friday’s programme included events for six of the eight Mullingar Harriers members that were competing for their schools and colleges over the two days. This is regarded as one of the toughest underage T&F Championships in Ireland, and the road to the finals is very hard, so even reaching the finals is a huge achievement.

First up on Friday evening was Gareth Glennon (St. Finian’s College) in the Junior boys 1,200m walk. Right from the gun, Gareth went quickly to the front and was never challenged as he raced to what looked like victory by a margin only to incur a 30 second time penalty after the race, which relegated him to second place and the silver medal, very unfortunate, but always a risk in this very technical event.

Moving to the Senior boys 3,000m walk where the early leader and eventual winner had set a blistering pace right from the gun. John Glennon (St. Finian’s College) knew the pace was too fast for him, so he wisely tracked him and was on course for second place when he was stopped in the home straight to serve a 30 second time penalty, which meant he had an anxious wait to see if he was clear enough of third place. Thankfully he was and when his 30 seconds was up he still had enough of a lead to race to the finish line to take second place and the silver medal.

There was no such drama for Daniel Glennon (St. Finian’s College) in the Intermediate boys 2,000m walk. He went out very fast to the front, pushing on to lead by nearly 50m after the first lap. Maintaining his form and pace, Daniel was simply too good for the opposition and raced to victory in 8:38.15, a new personal best by a narrow margin of just over one second, about 250m clear of second place to win a coveted All-Ireland Schools title and gold medal.

Away from the track, Chloe Bell (St. Finian’s College’s) won a fantastic silver in the Junior girls long jump. Chloe jumped 5.07m, a big personal best, to equal the eventual winner’s best jump, but the judges split the girls’ standings based on next best jumps. 5.07m was an improvement on her Leinster performance and saw her out-jump the girls she had shared a podium with at the Leinster Schools T&F.

Back on the track again, Tianna O’Leary (Ursuline Convent, Thurles) competed in the Senior girls 1,500m steeplechase. She was right in contention for the bronze medal up until the last lap when a mistake at the water jump proved critical, losing ground and falling back out of the medal places to fifth place. This was still a great performance from her in a new event and she’ll take the experience forward to the rest of the outdoor season ahead.

We ended the evening with the Senior boys 5,000m where Jamie Wallace (Colaiste Mhuire) stayed with the leading group of four up to 3,000m but then began to fall off the back of the group. Despite his best efforts to get back in contact, unfortunately he had to call it a day with four laps to go and made the difficult decision to stop.

The first event on Saturday morning was the Intermediate girls 3,000m and Lily Walsh (Loreto College) was one of the youngest girls in race, giving away a year to most of her opponents. Such was the standard in the race that the times recorded by first and second place were inside the European u/18 T&F qualifying standard. But a confident, tactically astute race ensured Lily a place on the podium with a third place finish and the bronze medal, in a new personal best time 9.52:38.

We rounded off a very successful week-end for Mullingar athletes with another medal, courtesy of Cillian Galvin (Colaiste Mhuire) in the u/16 boys mile. Tactically very aware, Cillian kept to the back of the pack out of trouble but keeping a close eye on the race as it unfolded. He was never far from the action at the front and going down the backstraight on the final lap he began to move up the field. With 200m to go he hit the gas and swept to the front and looked to be running to victory but was caught shortly before the finish and ran in second for the silver medal in a very close finish. A brilliant effort in a brilliant race.

That wraps up the schools competitions for everybody except Lily Walsh, Daniel Glennon and Cillian Galvin who have been selected to compete for Leinster in the Tailteann Inter-Provincial T&F in three weeks [GD/CW/TW].

Leinster Children’s Games and u/12 & u/13 T&F

Occasional heavy showers on an otherwise lovely day didn’t dampen the spirits of the hundreds of athletes, including 40 from Mullingar Harriers, that competed in the Leinster Children’s Games (u/9, 10, 11) and u/12 & u/13 T&F in Tullamore last Sunday. The younger under 9, 10 and 11 year olds competed as a “pair”, meaning that the best two times by our athletes in a race or throws in the turbo javelin or shot putt or jumps in the long jump were added together to give a team total or score, while the older under 12 and under 13 year olds competed as individuals. The level of competition was fierce and medals were very hard to win but all our young athletes competed to the very best of their ability and medals won or not they all thoroughly enjoyed the day and the fun of competition.

The first track event was the u/12 girls 600m where only the top 3 in each of the three heats were guaranteed to advance to the final, so competition was very tough. Maisie Walsh was fifth in her heat to just miss a place in the final and join Emily Rose Coyne who finished second in her heat to advance to the final. No luck either for Eiva Berzinyte and Aoibhinn Baker who both ran well in their heats. In the final, Emily Rose ran quicker to finish second in a very close race and win the Leinster silver medal. In the u/13 girls 600m Rose Harte competed well in her heat and despite running well she didn’t advance to the final.

Mia Barry won her race in the u/11 girls 600m, Cara Hickey was second in hers, Meabh Doyle won her race, and Sophie Whitelaw and Marie Harte ran well in their races. When the “pairs” team scores were calculated after, it was gold for Mia and Cara, comfortably clear of second place. In the corresponding u/11 boys 600m races, Rian Healy, Shay Gavigan, Tadhg Smith and Aaron Crowley gave good accounts in but finished out of the medals. On to the u/10 girls 500m where Tara Coyne and Alana Spain won their races, Eibhlinn Reihill was second in her race, and Ciara Baker also ran very well in her race. When the team scores were calculated, it was gold for Tara and Alana by a good distance, to add to Mullingar’s growing medal tally. Joe Hickey, Senan Byrne and Darragh Byrne competed in the u/10 boys 500m where they ran very well in the tough races but finished out of the medals.

Of course it wasn’t all track events and Mullingar athletes were very busy in the various field events. Heather Kelly leaped to a fine silver in the u/12 girls high jump, where Maisie Walsh and Eanin Staunton also competed and enjoyed the competition. Ryan Corroon and Senan Whelehan were very unlucky to finish just out of the medals in fourth place in the u/11 boys turbo javelin but top marks for effort. Another notable performance came from Eanin Staunton who finished a very creditable sixth place in the u/12 girls shot put. Also in action in the field events was Rocco Galvin and Aidan Buckley (u/10 boys long jump), Meabh Doyle, Lana Bekvalac, Fodhla Hughes and Cliodhna Fitzpatrick (u/11 girls long jump), Tiernan Martyn and Shay Gavigan (u/11 boys long jump), Padraig Savage and Ciaran Fitzpatrick (u/9 boys turbo javelin), Aida Keane (u/10 girls turbo javelin), Aoife Gavigan and Hannah-Mae Ledwith (u/11 girls turbo javelin) and while there were no medals won, they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Attention then moved back to the track for the sprints. There were so many in the u/12 girls 60m it needed nine heats. Emily Rose Coyne won her heat, running quicker in the semi-final to place second and book her place in the final. Eiva Berzinyte also won her heat, ran quicker in her semi-final to finish fourth, narrowly missing a place in the final. Running well in their heats was Laurie Keane and Heather Kelly but didn’t advance to the semi-finals. In the final, Emily Rose found another gear and ran even faster to finish sixth, an excellent result after such a tough schedule of races. Michael Kiernan was our sole entrant in the u/13 boys 80m where he gave a good account but didn’t advance from the very competitive heats.

Tara Coyne was second in her race of the u/10 girls 60m, Alana Spain won her race, Eibhlinn Reihill was second in her race and Aida Keane raced to fourth in her race. When the “pairs” team scores were reckoned, Tara and Alana combined to win the gold medal by a narrow margin of just three hundredths of a second, such was the level of competition. Joe Hickey, Rocco Galvin, Jamie Smyth and Senan Byrne ran well in their u/10 boys 60m races and while they won no medals, a shout out to Joe and Rocco who combined for a fine sixth place.

There were twelve races in the u/11 girls 60m where Fodhla Hughes finished second in her race, Mia Barry won hers, and Cara Hickey, Cliodhna Fitzpatrick, Lana Bekvalac and Hannah-Mae Ledwith ran well in their races. Unfortunately, the girls didn’t win any medals. though Fodhla and Mia combined for a very creditable sixth place. In the u/11 boys 60m, Conor Kiernan won his race in a tight finish and Senan Whelehan and Tiernan Martyn competed well in their races, but unfortunately there were no medals for the boys.

The day finished with the excitement of the Inter-County relays. Mia Barry, Meabh Doyle, Cliodhna Fitzpatrick and Cara Hickey combined well in the u/11 girls 4x100m to finish a creditable sixth place, out of the medals, but the but the experience will stand to them. Congratulations to everyone for giving their best, they did themselves, their families, their coaches and Mullingar Harriers proud [GD].

Coralstown NS 5k

The Coralstown NS 5k was held last Wednesday on a beautiful sunny and warm summer evening. Over 250 finished, a great number for a local race, and being so local, it’s no surprise that Mullingar Harriers was out in force and nearly 50 club members took part. Race winner was local club man Andy Nevin (Coralstown Kinnegad AC) in 16:34, followed by brothers Conor Leech and Ciaran Leech (Na Fianna AC). First Mullingar finisher was Gareth Glennon in seventh place (17:47) first u/16 boy too, followed by Enda Seery ninth (18:09) and Andrew Glennon tenth (18:22). In the women race it was a 1-2-3 for Mullingar Harriers with Sinead Whitelaw twelfth overall and first woman in 18:42, followed by Niamh McEntegart second woman in 19:15 and Orlaith Flanagan third woman in 19:31.

Mullingar athletes were prominent in the results, winning category prizes from u/16 to master men and women, including Criona Reid (21:02) and Mary Stuart (21:33) winning their master categories, and Muirin Dunne (22:04) first u/16 girl.

Also competing was Darren Carroll (19:36), Conor Collison (19:45), Alan Crowley (19:58), Tom McGrath (20:06), Olly Loughrey (20:15), Tommy Byrne (20:46), Dara O’Shea (20:50), Aeilish McGovern (21:09), Richard Carey (21:19), Mark Dunne (21:30), Robin Jackson (21:35), Marie Louise Johnston (21:40), Colm Brennan (21:44), Philip Burke (22:20), Shaun Mills (22:32), Zane Smukste (23:06), Brendan Rice (23:09), Matt Creagh (23:17), Lorraine Claffey (23:30), Eva Ross (23:31), Leona Behan (23:38), Michael Purdue (23:53), Eva McMorrow (23:57), Michael O’Sullivan (24:19), Ciara Dillon (24:46), Trijol Bhattacharjee (24:49), Senan Whelehan (25:39), Nollaig McEntegart (25:39), Olivia Cronin (26:33), Nuala Moran (26:38), Declan Costello (26:43), Kevin O’Brien (26:51), Anna Redmond (29:10), Estere Skrastina (30:11), Aisling Corcoran (36:56), Pauline Troy (41:17), Ger Langtry (45:09) and Marna Groenewald (46:35) [GD].

Cork City Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k

The Cork City Half Marathon last Sunday incorporated the National Half Marathon, adding an extra edge to the competition with National honours up for grabs. The race attracted a big entry of over 4,300 including four athletes from Mullingar Harriers, led home by Eddie Newman in 1:23:21 placing third in his master category in the National event to win the National bronze medal. He was followed in by Criona Reid in 1:34:27, second in her master category in the National event to win the National silver medal, Mary Stuart in 1:34:50, first in her master category in the National event to win the National gold medal, and Joan Hickson in 1:42:49. In the team event, Criona, Mary and Joan combined to place third senior women team, a fantastic result.

The marathon had an entry of just over 2,100 runners and Dan Morris was very happy with his finishing time of 2:32:37, second in his master category, followed by Dara O’Shea in 2:58:24, delighted to break the 3 hour barrier for the first time.

There was also a 10k race that saw 3,400 toe the line, including Kate Plunkett who finished in 47:05 [GD].

Athlone 10k

Organised by Athlone AC, the Athlone 10 mile last Saturday week (16 May) started and finished in Clonown Village in Co. Roscommon on what was described as a very flat course. The race attracted a good entry of 270, including two members of Mullingar Harriers. Paulius Patackas was very happy to finish fourth overall in 59:51, which was enough to win his master category, and he was followed in by  Mick Fagan in a fine twenty first place and he was very happy with his time of 1:07:22 [GD].

Leinster Juvenile T&F entry closing date

Entries for the u/14 to u/19 T&F in Tullamore on 13 and 14 June close this Friday (5 June). Everyone enters themselves on-line and the link to entries is on the Athletics Leinster website homepage and there’s also a link on the Heja groups.

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

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