Week ending Saturday 7th February
Medals, personal bests and records galore at Leinster Indoors
The Leinster u/20, Senior and Masters Indoors in TUS Athlone last Saturday and Sunday really brought out the best in the small squad of Mullingar athletes that competed, winning 17 medals, recording 3 Championship Records, and 2 personal bests.
Aidan O’Donoghue got his master pentathlon campaign underway in style with the 60m hurdles first thing on Saturday morning, placing second in his category. He followed this up with second place in the long jump, first in the shot put, second in the high jump, before closing out with the 1,000m after a long day of competition, finishing second in the 1,000m and second overall in the pentathlon, to win the silver medal. Finn Roddy had an early start too placing third in his heat of the 60m u/20 in a personal best of 7.37 seconds. In the final he blasted from the blocks, running even faster in 7.34 seconds, a true sign of a Championship competitor and crashed through the line out the medals but a fine sixth place.
It was only in the final lap of the 1,500m u/20 that Eleanor Kiernan had to surrender the silver medal but she was still delighted to run in third place in 4:54.12 to take the bronze medal. You’d never know that Conor Sherwin hadn’t competed indoors since he was 12 years of age and he put in a terrific performance in the senior 1,500m to finish third in 4:05.76 and add another medal, bronze, to Mullingar’s rapidly growing medal haul.
Mullingar’s reputation in the race walks is legendary, and it was immediately obvious which Club is the strongest in Leinster in the older age groups as the Mullingar racewalkers made a strong start to the new season with impressive displays of attacking ability. First into battle was Aisling Lane in the women 3,000m walk, which was a combined race for u/20, senior and masters. Going straight into the lead from the gun, Aisling showed her class as she stretched this lead on every lap to eventually lap the entire field bar one and win in another satisfying sub-14 minute performance of 13:57.88. A good confidence booster for Aisling for the season ahead.
In the men 3,000m walk, which was a combined race for u/20, senior and masters, Mullingar had four participants – the Glennon brothers, Matthew (senior), John and Daniel (u/20), alongside master athlete Colm Walsh. Again, straight from the gun it was a sea of maroon and white singlets dominating as each of the Glennon brothers took it in turn to lead through the early laps. As the race progressed the volume of years training became clear as Matthew, the eldest, took control of the senior race with John taking full control of the u/20 race, followed by his younger brother Daniel in second place in the same u/20 race. In the masters race Colm Walsh walked confidently and safely throughout as he established his authority in his age group. This was the order to the end as Matthew finished first in 11:53.46 and a new Championship Record by five seconds. In similar fashion John Glennon too set a new u/20 Championship Record, but smashing the previous by almost two minutes with a classy time of 12:22.16. Not far behind came Daniel who was also inside the previous record with a great time of 12:46.93. And, you guessed it, Colm Walsh too strode to a new Championship Record in his master category with a scintillating 15:55.06, bettering the previous by over sixteen seconds. Colm admitted to being absolutely shattered after the race, but that what it takes to win and set new records. A very satisfying day for our race walkers.
We moved back to the 200m u/20 sprint heats where Finn Roddy raced to fourth in his heat, narrowly missing a place in the final to join Kyle Faherty who cruised to victory in his heat in a new indoor personal best of 22.93 seconds. With the fastest time in the heats, Kyle drew the favoured outside lane in the final and blasted to victory leading from gun to tape to win the Leinster title in 22.93 seconds again to equal his personal best for the second time in an hour.
While there was lots of action to follow on the track, Mullingar was also prominent in the field events. Ramona Carey was happy to get her indoor season underway and expressed satisfaction with her silver medal in the master shot put. For Paddy Boyhan it was an extremely rewarding day. His performances in the master high jump, long jump and triple jump, winning all three to become a triple Leinster Champion, were very good when measured against the Championship Records in these events, so Paddy can be very proud of his achievements.
In order to reduce the programme on Saturday, this year the 3,000m races were moved to Sunday and held between the morning and afternoon sessions at the Juvenile Indoor Relays and some juvenile field events. Eleanor Kiernan returned for the 3,000m on Sunday, which was a combined u/20, senior and master women race and she was delighted to take the win in the u/20 category in a close race that was only finally settled on the last lap and add a gold medal to the bronze she won the day before for the 1,500m. Orlaith Flanagan contested the senior category where the field broke up but Orlaith struck to her task and was rewarded with a silver medal for her efforts. Conor Sherwin and Matthew Molloy contested the 3,000m for men, which was a combined u/20 and senior race. Conor showed great focus and determination and ran in to take the senior silver medal in a close race, improving on his 1,500m bronze the day before, while Matthew dug deep and took advantage of being able to track some of the senior men to finish third u/20 man and bring Mullingar’s total to seventeen medals in these Championships.
We weren’t finished with medals yet though and over at the triple jump pit Donnacha Doyle was trying out a new event for him, the u/15 boys triple jump, where he put together an excellent and consistent set of jumps to finish third and win the Leinster bronze medal and qualify for the National final. This brought the final medal total of the week-end for Mullingar to eighteen, seventeen u/20 and older plus Donnacha’s u/15 medal, an excellent medal tally over the two days [GD/ML].
PBs aplenty at Indoor T&F Live
Mullingar Harriers had a small but select number of athletes competing last Wednesday evening at the Track & Field Live meeting in the NIA Dublin. First up was the elite men’s 1,500m where Diarmuid Fagan (3:50.54), John Ryan (3:52.75) and Jamie Wallace (3:53.20) all raced to personal bests on the night, with Colin D Smith just behind. The next race on the track was the elite women’s 800m where Aimee Wallace ran a time of 2:10.87 again another personal best. The final two Mullingar athletes competed in the elite men’s 800m where Eoin Quinn finished in 1:52.05, ahead of Conor Liston who ran 1:53.85, another personal best time on the night [TW].
Trim 10 mile
Early morning showers cleared to give a dry and at times sunny day in Trim last Sunday morning. The local Trim AC staged the annual Trim 10 mile road race in good running conditions. With the start and finish at the Eugene Duggan Business Park, the race took its traditional route through country roads to the east of the town, with a number of challenging inclines at both 3 miles and again at the 7 mile mark. The closing mile also presents a steady rise before turning into the business park for the final 400m. Thirty one Mullingar Harriers athletes took part in a big field of 1,880 runners.
Dan Morris finished an excellent seventh place overall in 53:27 and was second in his master category. Ian McCormack was next home in 57:40, followed by Alan Crowley (58:22) and Steven Underwood (1:01:16). The four combined to finish fourth team, narrowly missing a podium place. Andy Boyhan completed the race in 1:01:36 and Susan Glennon in 1:02:54 was our first woman to finish. Following them was Enda Seery (1:03:11), Joe Doherty (1:06:20), Darren Carroll (1:06:47), Jacintha Reilly (1:06:55), Mick Fagan (1:07:32), Tom Byrne (1:08:28), Ger Feerick (1:08:36), Conor Corcoran (1:08:38), Criona Reid (1:09:10), Declan Claffey (1:09:17), John Long (1:09:41), Barry White (1:11:13), Joe Curley (1:11:23) and Aeilish McGovern completed the event in 1:11.40. Susan, Jacintha, Criona and Aeilish combined to finish fourth women team.
Also competing was Mark Dunne (1:12:27), Orla Gillespie (1:13:04), Conor Collison (1:13:14), Niamh Doherty (1:13:26), Laura Fitzpatrick (1:14:41), Brendan Rice (1:19:07). Martin Fitzatrick (1:20:34), Michael Purdue (1:22:06), Leona Behan (1:23:40), Sinead Campbell (1:27:02) and Anna Redmond (1:34.09) [MO’S].
Raheny 5 mile
The last Sunday in January (25 Jan) brought over 4,000 runners to the annual Raheny 5 miles, a race that takes in a looped circuit around the Dublin suburb, with some testing uphill stretches included. Road closures and excellent stewarding along the route made for a safe running environment. Mullingar Harriers was well represented with Jack Moran leading them home in an excellent ninth place finish with a time of 24:26. Kris Foster, in his first race of 2026, paid a little for sticking with the leaders early on but was pleased to hold a very strong pace and came home in 26:52. Enda Seery has taken up where last year finished, posting another personal best and finishing in 30:02. Joan Flynn with 32.33 was very happy with her first race of the year, and Liam McGlynn similarly on his first outing of 2026 came home in 37.35. Joan was on the podium as a result of her fine effort, picking up third in her master category [MO’S].
International Duty
It’ll be busy on the International front this coming week-end. Lily Walsh and Cillian Galvin will compete on Saturday with the Irish team at the Home Nations and Celtic cross country in London and further afield, Vinny Connolly, John Ryan, Ross Killalea, Kevin Moore, Ian McCormack and Conleth Mullen will be representing Mullingar Harriers on Sunday at the European Champion Clubs Cross Country in Albufeira, Portugal. We qualified a team by placing second in the national Senior cross country in Derry before Christmas. We wish Lily, Cillian and the Irish team and the Mullingar senior men team the very best of luck.
Leinster Juvenile Indoor Entries
Entries for the Leinster juvenile indoors in TUS Athlone on 14 and 15 February close this week (Wednesday), so if you wish to take part, don’t delay submitting your entries. If anyone has difficulty with the entry system, please contact Greg.
Sympathy
Finally, the executive and members of the Club wish to express sincere sympathy to Chloe Bell and the entire Bell family on the death of her grandmother, Quiney (Fay) in Longford. May she rest in peace.
Also, sincere sympathy to the Morgan and Kirwan families on the recent death of Eileen Kirwan (nee Morgan) from Mullingar and formerly Rochfortbridge, who competed with distinction for Mullingar Harriers in the past and was part of a very strong squad in the early years of the Club. May she 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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