Three Harriers in European U18 track and field selection

Last Tuesday, Athletics Ireland announced the final team selection for the European U18 T&F Championships to take place in Jerusalem, starting next Monday.

Among the team of 20 are three from Mullingar Harriers, the largest from any one club; in fact, Mullingar is the only club to have more than one member on the team. Aisling Lane will compete in the 5k race walk, Andrew Glennon in the 10k race walk and Diarmuid Fagan in the 1,500m.

Following their participation in Jerusalem, Mullingar will have had athletes compete at European U18, U20, U23 and Senior level in the past 12 months – a first for the club! Congratulations to Aisling, Andrew and Diarmuid, and to their coaches Michael Lane (walks) and Joe Ryan (1,500m).

National Senior T&F

The 150th consecutive AAI National T&F Championships continued an illustrious history as the 2022 edition was held in Santry last weekend.

The first national athletics championships were organised in Trinity College Dublin in 1873 and have been held every year since then, despite two World Wars, the War of Independence, the Civil War, and two global pandemics (Spanish flu and Covid-19), making the Irish national championships the longest running consecutive national senior championships in the world.

To mark the occasion, every athletics club in Ireland was invited to send an ambassador to Santry on Sunday afternoon, and wearing their club colours, to run 150m.

The Mullingar Harriers ambassador was Lauryn Smith, one of the youngest members, and she was delighted to be part of the occasion and after her 150m run she was presented with a commemorative 150th anniversary T-shirt. Well done to Lauryn on being such an excellent ambassador for Mullingar Harriers!

All the Mullingar athletes competed on Sunday, in cool and windy and at times absolutely soaking wet conditions. First into action in the 10,000m race walk were Oisin Lane and Matthew Glennon.

Oisín had planned to help Matthew to the World Junior standard and was on track at 5k but the conditions just weren’t in their favour and unfortunately that plan had to be abandoned.

Oisín went on to finish an excellent fourth place behind three world class race walkers, in a time just outside his personal best; Matthew finished creditable seventh in his first National Senior outdoor final.

Charles Okafor lined up in the fourth of seven heats of the 100m where he finished fourth in a time that would have won some of the other heats or placed second in most.

Though it was fourth, it was still quick enough to qualify for the semi-finals. Conditions deteriorated and were simply awful for the semi-finals, and running in the third of three semis, Charles placed fourth again into a ferocious headwind of 5.1m/s, but his time wasn’t quick enough to advance to the fiercely competitive final, but top marks for effort.

There were three races over 5,000m and in the B race, Jack Moran and Vinny Connolly competed for Mullingar. There was an early breakaway by four athletes, leaving Vinny and Jack to lead the chasing group. With just over five laps to go, Jack put in a significant injection of pace to close the gap on the leaders and quickly moved into second place.

He continued to work hard to close the gap on the leader but the effort took its toll and Jack was closed down and caught in the closing stages to finish fifth in 15 minutes 2.74 seconds, just outside his personal best.

Vinny finished fast in eighth place in 15 minutes 12.79 seconds, a new personal best by 20 seconds.

Jack O’Leary and Jamie Battle ran in the A race, which was run at a fast pace from the outset. Jack stayed in contention and Jamie was not far off the pace.

However, as the race progressed and the pace increased, Jack and Jamie had to ease back and though both finished strong, Jack well up in the large field, with Jamie behind, it wasn’t to be their day.

Tailteann Inter-Provincial T&F

In addition to the honour of representing their schools and Province at the Tailteann Inter-Provincial T&F in Tullamore last Friday afternoon, at stake for three Mullingar athletes was selection for the Irish Schools team that will compete against England, Scotland and Wales in Belfast in July.

Conditions were very changeable with heavy downpours throughout the afternoon but this proved no problem for Aisling Lane (Mercy Ballymahon) who showed her class with a dominant display in the Intermediate girls 3,000m race walk, and under the scrutiny of the ever vigilant judges gave a polished performance to win comfortably by well over half a lap in 14 minutes 54.91 seconds, a new personal best time for the distance, to secure her place on the Irish Schools team.

All-Ireland Schools Champion for the U16 girls mile, Grace Byrne (Loreto Mullingar) stepped up an age for the Intermediate girls 1,500m. The field was very competitive and the race was stretched out after one lap, and though Grace worked very hard to stay in contention, it wasn’t her day.

Also stepping up an age group, Conor Sherwin (Colaiste Mhuire Mullingar) contested the Intermediate boys 1,500m where he was up in the leading group for the first 600m but an injection of pace stretched the field and he did his best for the remainder of the race to just score for the Leinster team in the Inter-Provincial competition. Grace and Conor will be underage for Intermediate again next year, so this was good experience gained.

Community Games

Congratulation to Community Games who this year celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Community Games in Westmeath, and after missing two years due to the Covid pandemic, it was great to see the Westmeath Community Games T&F Finals return last Sunday when they were held at the Club Grounds, the first time for many to see our new all-weather track.

A great bonus with the new track is that we only had to mark and line the infield area for the sprints and hurdles events. Thanks to the Trojan work of a few volunteers, everything was in tip top shape for the Games.

The weather forecast was for wind and thundery showers, and it certainly lived up to its prediction. We started and finished in windy but dry conditions, but a few thundery showers in the middle of the programme absolutely soaked everyone, but the Games had to continue despite the difficult conditions at times.

There was a good attendance and the programme ran very well to time thanks to the volunteers who gave up their time to help. Thanks to the Principal and Board of Management of the Mullingar Educate Together National School next door for generously allowing the use of their car park. Finally, thanks to those Club members who turned out to officiate and ensure the smooth running of the event.

Congratulations to all the athletes who have now qualified for the National Finals. In order that they are as well prepared as possible to represent Westmeath, they and their coaches and team managers are very welcome to train at the Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays between now and the finals, which is particularly important for the technical events like hurdles, relays and field events.

Masters T&F

It was bright and sunny but very blustery at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast last Saturday where Aidan O’Donoghue was competing in the Northern Ireland Masters T&F.

After a long day of competition in three events, Aidan finished second in the high jump, second in the shot putt and third in the javelin in his age category, a fine collection of medals for his efforts.

Clonee 10k

Taking place on a beautiful summer evening, Stephen Naughton was very happy to finish well up in 19th place of the 229 finishers at the Dunboyne AC Clonee 10k last Thursday evening when his time of 39 minutes 28 seconds was good enough to place him second in his master category and earn him a well-deserved prize.

The St Coca’s AC 5k in Kilcock last Friday evening attracted a big entry and among the 486 finishers in a quality field were eight fro, Mullingar. The race’s reputation as a fast one is well founded and leading the Mullingar group home was James Keegan in a good 15 minutes 42 seconds, and following in quick succession was Ian McCormack (15:57), Andrew Nevin (16:09), John Whitelaw (16:25), Alan Crowley (16:40), Eddie Newman (17:19) third in his master category, Glenda Shaw (19:25) and Gemma Kelly (22:09) a new best time for her for 5k on the road. Well done to St Coca’s AC for hosting such a great race.

World Masters T&F

This week, Sean McMullin departs for Tampere in Finland to compete at the World Masters T&F Championships as part of the 94 strong Irish team, the tenth biggest team at the Championships. Sean has a very testing schedule of races, beginning with the 5k track walk this coming Friday, then the 10k road walk on Sunday, and finally the 20k road walk nest Wednesday.

Three races in six days at World level is a big undertaking but Sean has been training hard and everyone at the Club wishes him the very best of luck.

National Juvenile T&F

This coming Sunday, the first of three days of the AAI National Juvenile T&F takes place in Tullamore. Mullingar has athletes entered in the 600m, 800m and 3,000m steeplechase, all seeking National honours, and we wish them all the very best of luck.

Committee meeting

The next monthly meeting of the committee takes place next Tuesday July 5 in the clubhouse after training at 8.20pm and a full attendance is requested. There will be a full agenda, including final preparations for the Mullingar 10-Mile, so a full attendance is required.

Sympathy

Finally, the executive and members of Mullingar Harriers wish to express sincere sympathy to Brian, Gerry, Maurice and Declan Gillen and the entire Gillen family on the death last Friday of their mother, Dolly. May she rest in peace.

Check the club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or Facebook page for all the latest news.