Mullingar Harriers

Medal winners Eddie Newman, Sean McMullin and Gerard Gavin represented Ireland at the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country in Glasgow.

International honours for Gavin, Newman and McMullin

Mullingar Harriers

Published: Wed 15 Nov 2023, 4:30 PM

Regarded by many as the highlight of the masters calendar, the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country took place last Saturday morning in Tollcross Park in Glasgow. Teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland battled it out on a challenging undulating course, but the crisp, dry sunny day meant underfoot conditions were good. Among the Irish team was Mullingar’s Gerard Gavin, Eddie Newman and Sean McMullin, who swapped the maroon of Mullingar for the green of Ireland.

The event was first held in 1985 and every year since, barring the Covid cancellations of 2020 and 2021, the overall contest was won by England until last year’s event at Dublin, where Ireland won the men’s and the women’s contests to take a shock overall win. Ireland was not expected to be as strong away from home and hosts Scotland were hoping to mount a challenge for overall honours but the Mullingar men were determined.

Race one of four was the 6,000m for older master men, where Sean McMullin faced the challenge of running along with several master men age categories. His experience in international competition came to the fore though, and he remained focused on his own race to finish an excellent 10th place, the third score for the Irish team, who placed second to win a team silver medal and earn valuable points for Ireland.

The final race of the morning was the 8,000m for master men, where Gerard Gavin and Eddie Newman competed. Both ran great races and Gerard finished strong to help the Irish team to third place in his master category and win a team medal, followed in by Eddie, who was delighted to finish second score for the Irish team, who placed third in his master category and win a team medal too.

Each country was awarded points for their placings in all the age team categories. Ireland’s women were victorious, Ireland’s men were second to England, and in the overall contest for combined men and women, Ireland finished second to England, just ahead of hosts Scotland.

National and Leinster marathon medals

The Dublin Marathon incorporated both the National Marathon and the Athletics Leinster Marathon and the results of the individual category and team places were published last week. With 17 personal best performances among the 25 strong squad, it’s no surprise that Mullingar featured in the medal places.

Winning the national titles in their master categories, and of course the Leinster title too, were Ray Hynes, Eddie Newman and Mary Stuart. With great team running by Johnny Morrissey and Ken Whitelaw, Ray led the Mullingar master men over 35 years of age team to fourth place in the national event, missing third place and the bronze medals by less than 4 minutes, but they placed third club in the Leinster event to win the Leinster bronze team medals. Congratulations again to our marathon runners on their excellent performances, but especially to our medal winners Mary Stuart, Eddie Newman, Ray Hynes, Johnny Morrissey and Ken Whitelaw.

Senior men on the hunt for national glory

Mullingar Harriers won the National Senior men cross country team title in 1995 and 1996, were second in 1997, and won it again in 1998 and 1999, each time with the same squad of David Burke, John Burke, Cormac Finnerty and Tom McGrath. No club outside the ‘big four’ Dublin clubs of Clonliffe Harriers, Dundrum South Dublin, Donore Harriers and Raheny Shamrock have won the senior title since. Will Mullingar be the first club outside Dublin to break that monopoly on Sunday at the National Senior, U20 and Juvenile Even Ages cross country in Gowran, County Kilkenny and become all-Ireland senior cross country champions again?

A lot of hard work has gone into getting the current team together and a lot of miles have been run on the roads and on cross country over the last few years. A large contingent of supporters are travelling in the hope of seeing them succeed, which would be a huge boost for sport in general in both Mullingar and in County Westmeath if they succeed.

Hopefully all the juvenile athletes and their parents will remain on to see both the senior women and senior men races and give them their support.

Mullingar will have more 50 underage athletes and more than 20 adults, so the Mullingar colours will be prominent in Gowran. Mullingar will have teams in seven of the eight underage races, teams in the U20 women and men races, a senior women team and a senior men team too.

The senior and U20 races are trials for the European Cross Country in Brussels in December, so the Mullingar athletes in those events will be looking to perform to their best. In addition to representing Mullingar and Westmeath, 11 juvenile athletes will be on Leinster teams, the largest number from any club in Leinster. Everyone has been training hard in recent weeks, at the club and in Belvedere, and should reap their rewards on Sunday, when we expect many of them will return with national medals.

The first race is at 11.30am and the crowds at an all-Ireland are much larger than at Leinster, so leave in plenty of time, allow extra time for traffic and parking delays at the venue and head straight for the club tent and banners to collect your race numbers. It will take longer to collect and sort race numbers, so you should be at the course by 10.30am at the latest. If for any reason you cannot compete, please let club officials know as soon as possible.

You must wear your club vest in a championship. Please bring water or sports drink and a light snack, wet gear and a change of clothes, suitably long spikes, and four safety pins for your race number. We strongly advise spectators to bring waterproof footwear and to dress appropriately for the weather.

Offaly Athletics awards

At the Offaly Athletics Awards in Tullamore last Friday evening, the Mullingar master women team were presented with the trophy for best non-Offaly master women team in the Offaly Race Series held between March and July. The series was eight races, and while not everyone could compete in every race, being able to pick from a big panel including Mary Stuart, Emer O’Hanlon, Brigid McCabe, Nuala Moran, Pauline Troy, Joanna Tyrrell, Caroline Mullen, Claire Lennon, Olivia Cooney, Linda Cunningham, Gemma Kelly, Susan Glennon and Aisling Corcoran meant that Mullingar could field a strong team at each of the eight races and amass valuable team points on each occasion to win the non-Offaly Club team event. Congratulations to our talented master women athletes.