Mixed fortunes at final week-end of National Indoors

There were stark differences in fortunes for some of the Club's juvenile athletes at the conclusion of the AAI National Juvenile Indoors in Nenagh last week-end, from elation at winning medals and achieving personal best performances in finals to disappointment at being eliminated in the tough qualifying heats.The cream of the performances on Saturday was by Ciara Fogarty, Linda Conroy and Oisin Quinn. For Ciara, she had the satisfaction of rounding off a sensational indoor season with a personal best of 11.44m to finish second in the shot putt for girls under 17 and was very close to the winning throw, which will give her a great boost in confidence ahead of the upcoming Schools track and field fixtures.In the 800m for girls u/15, Linda Conroy really had to pull out all the stops in the closing stages of the final to pull herself from fourth place into the silver medal position right on the line.The race winner had to break Elizabeth Carr's record set in 2009 to be sure of victory, with Linda only six hundredths of a second outside the old record, which gives an indication of the ferocious pace of the race.Oisin Quinn showed great composure in t1,000m race walk for boys u/14 where warnings and possible disqualification is never too far away and was rewarded with a well-deserved bronze medal for his efforts. Well done to Ciara, Linda and Oisin.For others, there was mixed fortune.Robert Yorke went out too hard for the first lap of the 800m u/18 and was overhauled and had to settle for 4th place, but top marks for effort and proving that he fears no one and the experience will stand him in good stead for the outdoor season.Rachel Yorke struggled to find her best form in the 800m u/19 but can nevertheless be very proud of her performance in a National final.Likewise for Padraig Moran in the 800m u/15, his training has been hampered by injury but still managed a very respectable 5th place finish in the final. Lorraine Daly competed well in the 800m u/16 but she too had to settle for 5th place.Also struggling with the switch from cross country to indoors, Ciara Hewson and Elizabeth Carr ran well in their 800m u/16 heats but just couldn't find the necessary extra edge to join Lorraine in the final. For Glen Gaffney, he'll put the 800m u/14 down to experience as he too struggled to translate terrific cross country form to indoor 800m.Another athlete hampered by niggling injury of late, Mairead Sayeh ran well in her heat of the 200m u/16 where her time was 6th fastest overall, but with only 4 lanes in Nenagh, she didn't advance to the final.Unfortunately, injury and illness robbed Shane Fitzsimons and Jack Reid of their chances, but we'll see them in the outdoor competitions later in the year and we wish them well as they recover.The final day, Sunday, was dedicated to the sprint relay events where Mullingar was very unlucky to say the least. Having absolutely dominated the 4x100m for girls u/12 at the Leinster Indoors back in January, we had high hopes for Ellen Cronin, Adeola Ojomo-Amaka, Niamh Quinn and Meabh McNulty.However, when the girls were well ahead in the heat, disaster struck at the second handover and the baton was dropped.At National level, such mistakes are very costly and too much time was lost retrieving the baton and unfortunately the girls lost out on a place in the final.The girls 4x200m u/15 team of Victoria Harris, Edel Glennon, Linda Conroy and Caoimhe Shaw couldn't reproduce the sparkle of their performance in the Leinster Indoors and despite valiant team work and effort in the heat, didn't advance to the final. It was a similar fate for Liam O'Reilly, Boidu Sayeh, Padraig Moran and Oisin Quinn in the 4x200m u/15 and the Leinster Champions didn't advance to the final from the extremely competitive heats.Last week-end rounded off the indoor season for 2010, where Mullingar showed itself to be quite a force at Leinster, especially in the middle-distance events, but there is still a bit of work to be done to make a decisive breakthrough at National level, though full credit to Adeola Ojoma-Amaka (60 u/12 bronze), Cormac Dalton (600m u/13 gold), Vinny Connolly (1,500m u/19 bronze) who won medals on the first week-end, and to Ciara Fogarty (shot putt u/17 silver), Linda Conroy (800m u/15 silver) and Oisin Quinn (1,000m race walk u/14 bronze) for showing the way by example.Personal best for Eddie Newman in Paris MarathonCompeting alongside nearly 37,000 other runners, joggers and walkers and taking full advantage of the cool Paris weather last Sunday, Eddie Newman had little eye for the myriad monuments and famous landmarks dotted along the course of the Paris Marathon through the heart of the city.Eddie considered the conditions ideal for running and it proved a triumph for him as he finished in 2:56:38, well inside his pre-race target.We're not sure if the secret of Eddie's success was the free red wine and cheese handed at the 35km mark, which is a quirky feature of the Paris Marathon apparently!At the other end of the road race distance scale, Vinny Connolly had to battle ferocious winds that made conditions very difficult for competitors at the Mountpleasant AC 5km road race in Dundalk, Co. Louth on Easter Monday last.Despite the wind, Vinny stuck to his task and was delighted to finish 3rd overall, and an added bonus was his prize for finishing first junior man.Great Ireland RunThe next big road race of course is the Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park this coming Sunday, where we hope to see Martin Fagan in action, and as the race incorporates the AAI 10km Road Race Championships, a number of the Club's senior and master athletes are also entered and we wish everyone the very best of luck.Open SportsThere's plenty of choice of track and field competition coming up, with Cushinstown AC Open Sports (Co. Meath) and Crookstown-Millview AC Open Sports (Co. Kildare) taking place this coming Sunday. Please see the notice board in the Club house or the fixtures page on the website for details.The first of the Dublin Graded Meetings takes place on Wednesday evening 21st April, starting at 7pm.Fixtures18th AAI 10km Road Race Championships & Great Ireland Run, Phoenix Park18th Cushinstown AC Open T&F Sports, Kilmoon Cross (near Ashbourne), Co. Meath18th Crookstown Millview AC Open T&F Sports, Narraghmore, Co. Kildare21st CBS T&F, Santry21st Dublin Graded T&F, Santry22nd Loreto Schools T&F, SantryTrainingTraining continues each Tuesday and Thursday from the Clubhouse in Grange at 7pm and at Belvedere on Sunday mornings at 11am.For results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures check the Club's website at www.mullingarharriers.com.