Week ending Saturday 9th June
Impressive medal haul at Irish Schools Track & Field
The Irish Schools track and field championships took place in ideal conditions in Tullamore on Saturday June 2nd. Such is the level of competition that a mere four per cent of competitors make it from the district championships through to the provincials and onto the All-Ireland finals. It is widely regarded as one of the best day’s athletics on the calendar and this year’s edition certainly lived up to expectation for our Mullingar Harriers athletes.
Our walkers were first into action and got the day off to a great start. Oisin Lane (Mercy Ballymahon) was an emphatic winner of the Intermediate boys 2,000m walk in a time of 8 mins 57.84 secs. Oisin provided a great display of race walking and had almost a minute to spare over his club mate, Matthew Glennon (St. Finian’s) who walked a fine race to secure the silver medal in a time of 9 mins 55.73 secs. Sarah Glennon (St. Finian’s) produced an excellent performance in the Senior girls walk to take the silver medal with a time of 14 mins 34.32 secs.
In the Junior boys race Andrew Glennon (St Finian’s) was in contention throughout but had to settle for fourth place in 6 mins 27.38, missing a medal by just a quarter of a second. Undoubtedly, he will make amends before the season ends. Jennifer Fidgeon (Loreto Mullingar) finished just outside the medals in seventh in a competitive Intermediate girls with a time of 10 mins 25.08 secs.
Mullingar has a proud middle distance tradition and this was further enhanced by Caoimhe O’Brien (Loreto) finishing second in the Intermediate girls 800m in a time of 2 mins 17.08 secs. Caoimhe was narrowly beaten in a sprint finish but can be well satisfied with the silver medal in a personal best time. Jamie Battle (Colaiste Mhuire) was in action in the Senior boys 5,000m in his final schools race and produced a storming last lap to take the bronze medal in a time of 15 mins 35.84 secs.
In the Junior boys 1,500m Lorcan Mullen (Cistercian, Roscrea) was in the leading group throughout and finished in sixth place in a time of 4 mins 35.2 secs while Eoin Quinn (Colaiste Mhuire) was also run narrowly out of the medals in the final stages of the Intermediate boys 800m race in a time of 2 mins 4.72 secs. Bea Drummond (Athlone Community College) was in action in the Junior girls 1,500m and battled all the way to the line and like Lorcan and Eoin, was just outside the medals on this occasion.
Awa Fane (Loreto) has been making a real name for herself over the past year but on this occasion, she was in the very unfavourable lane one for the Senior girls 200m final. This was simply too much of a barrier and Awa finished just outside the medals in 25.03 secs. However, she can look forward to the remainder of the season as it was an excellent performance from a very unfavourable lane draw. Her training partner Shauna Leydon (Loreto) produced a fine effort in the final round of the Triple Jump but fell just short of a medal winning performance.
Leinster Senior Track & Field
A number of our members were in action in the Leinster Senior and Masters Track & Field Championship in Tullamore on Sunday June 3rd. There were some excellent performances but pride of place goes to the Senior ladies 4 x 100m relay team who successfully defended their title and smashed the championship record they established last year. The team of Awa Fane, Vicky Harris, Eve Wallace and Maimouna Fane dominated the race to win in a time of 49.67 seconds, which was a huge improvement on their time of 51.43 secs set last year.
There were medal winning performances from Gerry Gavin, silver in the 5,000m, Pauric Brady third in the 1,500m, Andy Nevin third in the Senior 5,000m, Rachel Glennon second in the 3,000m walk and Vicky Harris second in the 100m. Paddy Kelly is just returning from injury and ran a strong race to finish fifth and it was great to see him back racing on the track.
Community Games
The Westmeath Community Games will be held at the club grounds next Sunday June 10th and all help would be appreciated to ensure that the event is a success. Further details are available at training or from any committee member.
For the latest results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com.
PRO
