Westmeath Road Championships 2026 (17th June)
For the full results, click HERE.
The Westmeath Road Championships were held on a lovely warm summer evening 0n Wednesday 17th June. Between online sales and entries taken on the night, nearly 90 entered to run and 74 ran on the night, showing that the event continues to grow and we expect it will get even better in the years to come as word spreads in the County. The 8k course proved so popular last year, that thanks to the support of Waterways Ireland, this year we staged the race on the Greenway again, using the Park Run route, running 2 laps, a smaller 3k lap followed by a longer 5k lap.
The organisers, led by Philip Burke and Joanna Tyrrell, made excellent provision for the warm humid conditions with water stations on the course and at the finish area. All the runners remarked afterwards on how warm the evening was, so plenty of water was taken on board during the race and again at the finish.
Mark Darby (Mullingar Harriers) and Andy Nevin (Coralstown Kinnegad) set the early pace and passing through the finish area for the first time approaching 3k they had a good lead of over 30 seconds on the chasing pack, led by Dan Morris (Mullingar Harriers). Heading out on the longer 5k lap, they continued to push on and it was only in the last 2k or so that Mark began to pull clear of Andy, going on to finish in 26:27 to take the gold medal in the senior men race, to Andy’s 26:36 for silver, and Dan coming home in third place in 27:39 for the bronze, to seal the top three places in the men race. In the women race, Sarah Glennon (Mullingar Harriers) continued her impressive recent form on the road race circuit and sticking with Conor Collison and Eddie Newman, ensured she maintained a fast pace to finish in 31:53 to take the gold medal in the senior women race, ahead of Criona Reid (Mullingar Harriers) in 33:46 and Marie Louise Johnston (Mullingar Harriers) in 35:29, giving Mullingar a clean 1-2-3 sweep of the medals in the women race.
As expected, there were many great battles for Championship honours In the master categories. In the F35 category, Deirdre Flynn (Mullingar) won gold, ahead of Theresa Geoghegan (Knockdrin) and Nicola Reynolds for silver and bronze. In the corresponding M35 category, Johnny Morrissey (MHAC) won gold, Tommy Byrne (MHAC) won silver and Timmy Mescall (MHAC) won bronze. Laura Fitzpatrick (MHAC) finished strong to win the F40 category, clear of Abi Manning (Mullingar) in second and Miriam Walsh (MHAC) making a welcome return to competition in third. Paulius Patackas (MHAC) won the M40 category, with Enda Seery (MHAC) in second and Conor Collison (MHAC) in third. Linda Cunningham (MHAC) won the F45 category, ahead of Zane Smukste MHAC) and Julie Wallace (Rathconrath), while Eoin Clarke (MHAC), Kieran Nolan (MHAC) and David Baker (Westmeath) were the 1-2-3 in the M45 category. It was another 1-2-3 for Mullingar Harriers in the F50 category thanks to Mick Fagan, Richard Carey and Jason McKevitt. Caroline Mullen (MHAC) won the F55 category, and in the M55 category it was gold for Andrew Bracken (Coralstown Kinnegad), silver for Mark Cunningham (Castletown-Geoghegan), and bronze for Gerry Molloy (North Westmeath). Majella McGrath (Roscommon Harriers and Creggan) won the F60 category, with Julianne Ryan taking the silver medal. In the “Battle of the Eddies” in the M60 category, the gold medal was won by Eddie Newman (MHAC), the silver was won by Eddie Lynch (MHAC), with Tom McGrath (MHAC) winning the bronze medal. The evergreen Brigid McCabe (MHAC) won the F70 category, with Breda McDonnell (MHAC) winning the silver medal, and concluding with the M70 category, the timeless trio of Nollaig McEntegart (MHAC), Sean McMullin (MHAC) and Nicky McCabe (MHAC) took gold, silver and bronze respectively.
The full results are available HERE.
Sincere thanks to Westmeath Civil Defence who provided very valuable assistance and while their expertise was not called into action on the evening, they are always available to Mullingar Harriers when we stage events, and are ever helpful to athletes, stewards and spectators in ensuring a safe event [GD].
