Wet return to competitionat Westmeath Cross Country

In cold, wet and miserable conditions, day one of the Westmeath Cross Country Championships took place in Belvedere last Sunday morning.

Despite the weather though, everyone agreed that it was great to be back at a live athletics competition after so long. Strict adherence was required to the Covid-19 rules, including pre-entry online only, face masks, hand sanitiser, a limit on numbers attending, only one parent allowed to accompany each athlete, no waiting around to watch later races – to be fair, not a real problem with the weather on the day – meaning it all felt strangely quiet with less of a crowd, but the day was brightened by the great competition.

Credit is due to everyone that attended for complying with the Covid-19 rules, ensuring the safety of athletes, parents and officials. Many thanks too to the management and staff of Belvedere for their excellent work cutting and rolling the course during the last week to get it in the best possible condition for the event.

There were races for boys and girls under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years of age. Heavy overnight rain gave way to a cold windy start to the day, which was good for the youngest U8 and 10 year old boys and girls and they avoided getting wet, but then the rain started, first a light drizzle for the U12 races, turning steadily heavier until it was absolutely miserable for the last events of the day, the U18 races.

However, the older age groups are not easily put off and just accepted the conditions as real cross country weather and were simply glad to be back racing again, whatever the weather. We’re still all hoping it will be dry for day two though.

Possibly it was the weather forecast, or having to pre-enter online, but numbers taking part were down on last year, especially in the younger ages, but there was still great competition in each race and performances were very encouraging in the older age groups in particular, where the focus was on places on teams for the Leinster Cross Country Championships.

The boys and girls that ran in the non-Championship U8 and U10 races really enjoyed themselves and were delighted with their medals, one for everyone that finished. Moving to the Championships proper, the race distances proved no problem for those that have been training regularly.

The course in Belvedere is a great test of cross country endurance and those that train there regularly will have no problem with any course at the Leinsters. Thanks to all who helped last Sunday recording the results and stewarding on the course and particularly to the parents who came and supported their children.

There were some very good individual performances last Sunday but Championship cross country is also about team running, so everyone was being closely watched by Club officials, particularly the newcomers. The results of both days will be used to select teams for the Leinster Championships.

The results of the Novice men and women races this Sunday will also be used to select teams for the Leinster Championships, so all adult members that want to run in the Leinster Championships must run on day two.

Competition on day two this Sunday morning will be for boys and girls under 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 years of age, and for men and women junior, novice, senior and master. Like day one, entry will be online only and again only one parent is allowed with each underage athlete but the course will be cleared after the underage races and there will be spectators allowed for the adult races.

The results of day one are:

U8 girls 500m – 1. Penny Bohan, 2. Katie Bohan, 3. Aisling Fallon (AIT A.C.), 4. Ava Daly, 5. Roisin Dalton, 6. Robyn Samuels (AIT A.C.), 7. Lily Archbold, 8. Kaija Richards, 9. Orla Moore, 10. Grace Farry, 11. Kate Horohoe. U8 boys 500m – 1. David Canning, 2. Cillian Martyn, 3. Mel Bohan, 4. Jamie Doherty, 5. Harry Finn (Guest) (Longford AC), 6. Max Molloy, 7. Ruairi Horohoe, 8. Shane Cunningham. U10 girls 1,000m – 1. Chloe Bell (MHAC), 2. Lily Walsh (MHAC), 3. Muireann Caffrey (MHAC), 4. Aoibhe Martyn (MHAC), 5. Aoife Dunleavy, 6. Isabelle Mulligan (MHAC), 7. Alice Hyland (MHAC), 8. Amaia Lozano (MHAC), 9. Eabha Brady (AIT A.C.), 10. Anna Dunleavy, 11. Kayden Dalton. U10 boys 1,000m – 1. Cillian Galvin (MHAC), 2. Aodhan Fallon (AIT A.C.), 3. Tom Moore, 4. Antonio Bertolo (MHAC), 5. Bobbie O'Brien (AIT A.C.), 6. Louis Kiernan (MHAC), 7. Conor Reilly (MHAC), 8. Andrew Tourish (MHAC), 9. Oisin Clarke (MHAC), 10. Aonghus O'Reilly (MHAC), 11. Alex Sochanski (MHAC), 12. Seamus Clarke (MHAC), 13. Oran Flynn (MHAC), 14. Charlie Finn (Guest) (Longford AC), 15. Oisin McNamee (MHAC). U12 girls 2,000m – 1. Tianna O'Leary (MHAC), 2. Eleanor Kiernan (MHAC), 3. Roisin Flynn (MHAC), 4. Lisa O'Brien (MHAC), 5. Allison Tourish (MHAC), 6. Alice Moore, 7. Maeve Shaw (MHAC), 8. Emma Lagan (MHAC), 9. Gedera Rezgyte (MHAC), 10. Blathnaid Peters (MHAC), 11. Eleanor Mulligan (MHAC), 12. Aiveen Lynch (MHAC), 13. Sorcha McNamee (MHAC), 14. Mia Farrell (MHAC), 15. Charlotte Ripley, 16. Niamh Reehill (MHAC), 17. Beibhinn O'Reilly (MHAC). U12 boys 2,000m – 1. Conor Walsh (MHAC), 2. Conor Geoghegan (MHAC), 3. Zack O'Leary (MHAC), 4. David Reilly (MHAC), 5. Jake Bell (MHAC), 6. Oliver Lynch (MHAC), 7. Cian Hyland (MHAC), 8. Greg McDonnell (MHAC), 9. Remy McInerney (MHAC), 10. Jack Geoghegan (MHAC), 11. Kailen Richards, 12. Cormac McGrath, 13. Aaron Conroy (MHAC), 14. Daniel Horohoe. U14 girls 3,000m – 1. Rachel Murphy (MHAC), 2. Caoimhe Clarke (MHAC), 3. Orla Manning (MHAC), 4. Muireann Donohue (MHAC), 5. Rosie O'Grady (MHAC), 6. Lydia McDonnell (MHAC), 7. Síofra O'Reilly (MHAC). U14 boys 3,000m – 1. Jamie Wallace (MHAC), 2. Luke O'Leary (MHAC), 3. Matthew Molloy (MHAC), 4. Conor Liston (MHAC), 5. Cian Corcoran (MHAC), 6. Luke Greene (MHAC), 7. Niall Brady (MHAC), 8. Txema Lozano (MHAC), 9. Daniel Hickey (MHAC). U16 girls 4,000m – 1. Caoimhe Kilmurray (MHAC), 2. Grace Byrne (MHAC), 3. Adele Geoghegan (MHAC), 4. Leah Geoghegan (MHAC), 5. Caoimhe Donohue (MHAC), 6. Aisling Lane (MHAC), 7. Ellen Foran (MHAC), 8. Jessica Cunningham (MHAC), 9. Lucy Donnelly (MHAC), 10. Caitlin Maher (Guest) (Longford AC). U16 boys 4,000m – 1. Diarmuid Fagan (MHAC), 2. Ross Killalea (MHAC), 3. Conor Sherwin (MHAC), 4. Adam Brady (MHAC), 5. Andrew Glennon (MHAC), 6. Callum Costello (MHAC). U18 girls 4,000m – 1. Amy Geoghegan (MHAC), 2. Meabh Killalea (MHAC). U18 boys 6,000m – 1. Matthew Glennon (MHAC), 2. Colin P Smith (MHAC).

Road safety

The evenings are closing in fast, so a reminder to all club members that they must wear reflective clothing when running on the road in the evenings. That includes all who use our club grounds and who run from the clubhouse on training nights.

Online

For the latest news, results and details of fixtures check the Club’s Facebook page or the website at www.mullingarharriers.com.