Abundance of medals for Mullingar athletes
A total of six club gold, two club bronze, three county gold, three county silver and 24 top 12 finish places by Mullingar athletes from under 12 years of age to over 65 years of age marked out Mullingar as the outstanding club at the first round of the Leinster Cross Country Championships last Sunday in Belvedere. Competition was for boys and girls from under 12 years of age up to Novice and Master men and women. An added incentive for the underage athletes, if one was needed, was that the underage teams that qualified from Sunday will go forward to the All-Ireland Championships in Derry on November 28, which will mean an overnight stay in Derry on Saturday, November 27.Before the Championships proper began, there were non-Championship races over 1,000m for boys and girls under 10 years of age, and athletes as young as 7, 8 and 9 years of age from across the province competed with great enthusiasm, chasing a top 12 finish place to get a medal. No surprise that many young Mullingar athletes got among the medals.Finishing in second place in the girls race, Aoife Darby was just ahead of Maolíosa Ní Léannacháin in thirrd, followed by Elysia Greene (6th), Susan Glennon (10th) to win medals, but also competing and running well were Amy Maxwell, Jennifer Fidgeon, Caitriona Kennedy, Siofra Ní Léannacháin, Rachel Darby, Laura Gaffney and Orla Fogarty, many of whom will be competing under 11 in Wexford in two weeks time. In the boys 1,000m race, John Whitelaw overcame a late challenge to win, with Eoin Quinn (9th) and Andrew Daly (10th) getting medals, with Charlie Drumm, Liam Moran, Anthony Moran and Enda Gaffney also running strongly to the finish, giving us great hope of team success at under 11 in two weeks time in Wexford.On to the main programme then, where the new longer race distances introduced by Athletics Ireland for the underage athletes this year were used for the first time, so there was great interest from everyone present to see how things would go. A consequence of the longer distance was that there was no bunching of athletes at the finish and everyone could generally run freely through the line, unlike in previous years where tail-backs meant athletes were stopped sometimes 50m or more from the finish line, especially in the younger ages. No such problems on Sunday, so that was a definite plus.Starting with the 2,000m for girls under 12, Meabh McNulty had a great run and finished in 8th to lead the Mullingar team of Niamh Quinn (12th), Ellen Cronin (13th) and Alanna Bate (14th) to gold medals for 1st Club. With Nicole Gorry next in and Sarah Moloney running an absolute blinder to provide the vital sixth score, and great support from Adeola Ojomo-Amaka, Daria Fidgeon, Alisha Greene, Katie Daly and Caoimhe Gaffney, the girls finished second county. By finishing in the top-twelve, Meabh and Niamh will also compete on the Leinster team in the All-Ireland Finals in Derry. Eva O’Donovan (Navan AC) who regularly trains with us in Belvedere on Sunday mornings was narrowly beaten into second place.Hard to believe that Jack Moran was giving away a year in the 2,000m for boys Under 12 where he finished very strongly in 10th place to earn a place on the Leinster team, and with great support from Jonah Kelly (18th), Joseph Moran, Mark McCann, Joseph Cronin, Jonathan Lynam, Eunan Lagan, Sean Scanlon, Conor Leavy and Andrew Finnerty, the boys were extremely unlucky to miss out on medals for 3rd team by an agonizing single point. They finished 6th County, which is also a great result for this young team, many of whom will be running under 11 in two weeks time. Spare a thought for Conor McHugh who was well placed in a medal position with about 400m to go and sure to qualify for Derry when he was forced to stop with a painful calf injury. He had to receive medical attention but hopefully he will recover soon and get to compete in Wexford in two weeks time.From the auspicious start by our young under 12 athletes, things went from good to better for the rest of the afternoon. Aisling Moody stayed right with the leading group throughout the 3,000m for girls under 14 and was rewarded for her confident run with an excellent 5th place finish and with Claire Fagan who ran a terrific last 1,000m to go into 6th place, the girls earned their places on the Leinster team. Laura Whitelaw and Rachel Glennon made up great ground in the closing stages to secure the medals for 1st Club, while Hilary Harris came in next and Caoimhe Kelly provided the vital sixth score to earn the medals for second county, with great support running from Niamh Nolan, Faye Walsh, Lucy Langley, Laura Doherty and Dorothy Bane showing talent in depth throughout the squad.The first Club and County gold double came in the 3,000m for boys u/14 where Glen Gaffney really dug deep on the home stretch and snatched victory with less than 20m to go in a thrilling sprint to the line. With Cormac Dalton (4th), Oisin Quinn (6th), Patrick Shaw (8th), team gold was certain. Michael Moran (9th) and Declan Brady clinched the County gold medals, with Kevin Giles, Mervyn Harris, Eoin Gallagher, Niall Brady and Eoin Sheridan (finishing like an express train) completing this superb team that will be hard to beat in the All-Ireland finals, where Mullingar will have an amazing five athletes on the Leinster team.After the opening 1,000m, there was never any doubt about the result of the 4,000m for girls Under 16 as Ciara Hewson, Linda Conroy and Lorraine Daly were simply in a league of their own and gave an exhibition of cross country running at its best, going on to finish 1st, 2nd 3rd respectively, and with Edel Glennon finishing strongly the medals for first club were won by a big margin.As Ciara was competing for her native Kildare, we were depending on Caoimhe Shaw (19th), Lorna Moody, Victoria Harris and Lorraine Claffey for the extra scores for the County and all four rose to the challenge, especially Lorraine who finished very strongly giving the vital sixth score to win the medals for first county. Ciara, Linda and Lorraine of course will play major roles on the Leinster team in the National Finals.For most of the 4,000m for boys Under 16, hopes were high of another Mullingar individual victory as Thomas Lynn looked very strong and ran comfortably with the leaders but had to yield inside the final 1,000m and settle for third place, but led his team of Jack Reid (5th), Ryan Blundell (14th), Padraig Moran (15th), Liam O’Reilly, Eoin Lynam and Philip Giles to very convincing gold medals for 1st club and 1st county. Unfortunately, Patrick Fagan fell ill with about 1,000m to go and had to stop, but we’ll see him in action again in two weeks time in Wexford.No team in the 5,000m for girls u/18 where Anna Ryan was Mullingar’s sole representative and finished a very credible 20th place, despite giving away a year to older opposition. We had just the minimum six athletes in the 6,000m for boys u/18, but all very seasoned and experienced Championship competitors. Led home by Thomas Fagan (7th) who looked very strong all the way, well supported by Robert Yorke (8th), Stephen Nea (9th) and with Adam Daly (20th) providing the vital fourth score, the boys comfortably won the medals for 1st Club. Jonathan Daly and Ian McCormack meanwhile were playing their important roles too and finished strongly and were delighted to help secure the medals for 2nd County. Of note in this race was the excellent 2nd place finish by Gavin Doran, who attends St. Mary’s CBS in Mullingar and has been training regularly with us in the Club for the past number of months.The novice women 3,000m was a keenly fought contest and Michelle O’Halloran was not afraid to go with the leading pack right from the gun and though she complained after of a little mid-race drain in energy, still came through well in the end to record an excellent 7th place finish. Newcomer Hannah Buchanan is only running about 6 months and while she admitted she found the course tough was still delighted to have competed and looked forward to future competition. We had a large team in the novice men 6,000m which was led home by Paddy Kelly (20th), with Martin Lyons on his heels, followed in by Colm Walsh, Kieran Nolan and Keith Gorry completing the Mullingar team. No team medals, but the novice men race is one of the most competitive races on the cross country fixture list and the Mullingar team were delighted to be part of it.The master women also competed over 3,000m and there was no surprise that first home for Mullingar was Maura Dervin (3rd in category), followed by Vera McCool, Bridget McCabe (2nd in category), Nuala Moran, Terri Greene and Geraldine Walsh (1st in category) and the women were delighted to win medals for 3rd Club, so a medal for everyone!Leaving the best to last, the race of the day was the master men 6,000m which was won by Ger Heery (St. Brigid’s AC, Meath), who is very well known to us from his Mullingar Road League victories in the last two years. Giving him a good race to finish 5th was Tom McGrath, followed in by Paddy Daly, Ben Vaitkavichius (2nd in category), Liam McGlynn (3rd in category), David Fagan, John Bannon, Ronan Bracken, Enda Finnerty, Christy Creagh (1st in category) and Nicky McCabe (3rd in category). A bonus was that Mullingar men were third club in the over 40 group, so there were team medals for Tom, Paddy, Liam and David to round off a truly great day for Mullingar Harriers.There’s little doubt, but the club’s underage athletes excelled themselves last Sunday and reinforced the club’s reputation as the premier underage cross country club in Leinster by a long way. Individual medal winners apart, the team spirit throughout the squads was excellent, exemplified by the determination of the Under 16 boys to do well and qualify a full team for the All-Ireland finals in Derry so that if Shane Fitzsimons is recovered from injury, he can join the team. That’s the kind of mature attitude and camaraderie that keeps the club going from success to success.With medals won by six underage teams, this ranks as one of the best performances by Mullingar in a Leinster Championships and the club will be very well represented in the National Finals in Derry on November 28. Arrangements for travel and overnight accommodation will be finalised over the coming weeks. The club will not waste money sending athletes to the National Finals if they don’t train so qualifiers for Derry, and competitors for Wexford in two week time must keep in full training over the coming weeks, especially in Belvedere this coming Sunday at 11am.We must record our gratitude to Westmeath County Council and to Bartle D’Arcy, General Manager of Belvedere, and his staff for the use of the first class facilities in Belvedere, which came in for much praise from athletes and parents and coaches from the four corners of Leinster, to Brian Gillen and his dedicated volunteers in the Westmeath Civil Defence for providing essential First Aid and ambulance cover, to Dr. Liam Dalton for giving his time to be the Medical Officer on the day, to the very many and too many to mention by name stewards who helped on the day with parking, marshalling, helping strangers find their way, assisting at the start and finish areas, and all the other largely unseen but critical tasks required for the smooth running of an event like this.Athletics Leinster has expressed its great appreciation to Mullingar Harriers and everyone associated with the event for a job very well done. Finally, sincere thanks to the army of parents for turning out in great number to support our hugely successful club teams.International call-up for Mullingar MastersFollowing on from last week’s report on the Gerry Farnan Cross Country in the Phoenix Park that incorporated the trials for the Ireland teams to compete at the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country in Santry on November 14, we’re delighted to announce that Tom McGrath, Ben Vaitkavichius, Christy Creagh, Mary Scully and Geraldine Walsh have all been selected on Ireland teams. Tom, Christy, Mary and Geraldine have run for Ireland before, but this is the first time for Ben from Lithuania to be selected to represent his adopted Country. The “International Roll of Honour” plaque in the Clubhouse will have to be updated again, to add a very un-Irish name to the list.Conditioning and weight training courseIn the next few weeks, the club is introducing a conditioning and weight training education course for adults. Under the direction of one of Ireland’s best known weight training coaches, Wayne Healy, the course will run for six weeks. The idea was floated quietly a little while back and there has been an amazing response, and it looks like the course will be completely booked out prior to registration night.The course will include all aspects of conditioning and strength training, injury prevention and recovery, the importance of core strength, physical imbalances, body weakness and co-ordination. It’s important to say that this is not a body-building course and is ideal for all sports, for the elite sportsman and woman and the ordinary sportsman and woman. If you want to look like the Incredible Hulk, this is not the course for you!Dublin City MarathonA number of athletes from Mullingar competed in the Dublin City Marathon last bank holiday Monday and we hope to report on how they got on in next week’s notes.Road safety/reflective clothingPlease note that athletes running from the Club house on the roads on Tuesday and Thursday nights must wear reflective clothing. It’s too dark in the evenings now and it’s unfair and downright dangerous to expect drivers to see runners in the dark. No reflective vest, no road running.Important fixturesNovember 7: Leinster Cross Country (uneven ages, Intermediate) Adamstown, Co. WexfordNovember 14: Masters Home Countries Cross Country, SantryNovember 28: AAI Cross Country (even ages, Inter-Counties) DerryDecember 19: AAI Cross Country (uneven ages, Novice) TullamoreTrainingTraining continues each Tuesday and Thursday from the Clubhouse in Grange at 7pm and of course the all important Sunday morning session in Belvedere at 11am, especially for those who have qualified for Derry and for those hoping to run in Wexford. For the latest results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com.