Cormac Dalton wins National Senior Cross Country

Mullingar Harriers Club notes

It took the final race of the day, the Senior and U23 Men 9,000m, at the National Senior, U23 and Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country last Sunday in Gowran, Co. Kilkenny to get the Mullingar supporters in full voice as Cormac Dalton powered up the finish straight to win the senior men title after a thrilling race.

From the start, Cormac kept the early leaders in sight on a tough sticky muddy energy sapping course. He showed his true strength and mettle on the rapidly deteriorating course with a perfectly timed surge in the closing stages that saw him close up to the leading pair and he waited patiently before making his final decisive move to the front and with a tremendous sprint over the last 150m he pulled clear to cross the line first, punching the air with delight to secure the National senior cross country title and he will now lead the Irish men team at the European Cross Country in Brussels in December.

Cormac has come a long way from winning his first National medal, in 600m U12, to being crowned National senior cross country champion, but it hasn’t come easy and only after a long time of dedication and effort. Cormac as an excellent role model and his win in Gowran will inspire many of our younger members to double down in their efforts and try to emulate Cormac in the years to come.

Cormac led a very strong Mullingar team that had realistic ambitions of winning the Club title but unfortunately it wasn’t to be, despite the terrific efforts of Jamie Battle, Jack O’Leary (who was seriously hampered when he lost a spiked shoe and had to run the last 4k with only one shoe in the slippery mud that was ankle deep in places), Vinny Connolly (providing the vital fourth Club team score), Jack Moran, Kevin Moore, Andrew Nevin, Ray Hynes, James Keegan, Andy Boyhan and Alan Crowley as they battled hard for every place all the way to the finish only to see them lose out on team medals as they finished fourth Club and a very creditable fifth County.

We had a great warm up for the senior men race as Claire Fagan and Susan Glennon contested the Senior and U23 Women 9,000m. Right from the gun, Claire made her intentions known and kept right in the thick of the action, working hard as the laps unfolded. However, she found the underfoot conditions extremely tough and they eventually took their toll and she lost ground on the leading group with two laps to go but she continued to work very hard and with a late rally secured her position and came over the line in an excellent fifth place overall, but fourth senior woman, so has high hopes of selection on the Irish women team for the European cross country. Meanwhile, Susan was also working hard in the tough conditions and was rewarded with an excellent top ten finish in the U23 women race.

All this came after a long underage programme where Mullingar had teams in every age group except one. The organisation that went into hosting the event was enormous and Gowran AC has to be applauded for having everything ready on the day despite the challenges of very heavy rain in the weeks and days leading up to the event. The day itself was cool and thankfully stayed dry but the persistent rain had saturated the ground and it quickly broke up during the underage races, which hampered some more than others, but there’s no doubt it was proper cross country.

The first race with a Mullingar interest was the U12 boys 2,000m. We had a full squad led home by Daniel Cummins, followed in by Conor Gavin, Adam O’Donoghue, Cian Gavin, Harry Flanagan, Aaron Robinson, Cillian Gavin and Fintan Harte. They all ran very well but such was the level of competition, there were no team medals won, but this is a very young team and many of them are only under 11, so this was great experience for them ahead of the U11 race in Navan in December.

Lily Walsh led the Mullingar team home in the U14 girls 3,000m where she finished very strongly, and despite good support from Shaynah Mitchell, Lucy Kilmurray, Lucy Hickey, Aoibhe Martyn and Clodagh Doran, the team finished out of the medals but there was some consolation for Lily as she won a silver medal with the Leinster team in the Inte-Provincial race, so she was delighted to take a National medal home with her. By now the ground was starting to break up badly, especially in the second field, but Scott Cogan dug deep to finish strong in the U14 boys 3,000m, winning a silver medal with the Leinster team, but despite the efforts of Antonio Bertolo, Cormac McGrath, Daniel Horohoe, Oisin Clarke and Louis Kiernan, there were no team medals for the Mullingar boys.

The medal drought continued in the U16 girls 4,000m where Tianna O’Leary, Eleanor Kiernan, Isabel Tynan Daly, Lydia McDonnell, Blathnaid Peters and Emma Lagan left nothing behind but didn’t finish in the team medals either. Seeing Matthew Molloy finish well up in the U16 boys 4,000m and with great support and team packing from Conor Walsh, Luke Greene, Oisin Kehoe, Conor Geoghegan, Daniel Glennon, Daniel Hickey and Txema Lozano gave us hopes for medals but it wasn’t to be, though a sixth Club place is an excellent finish in a National final. A consolation for Matthew was winning a silver medal with the Leinster team.

The U18 and U20 girls 5,000m was a combined race, where the U18 girls could win medals in both the U18 race and as members of U18 and U20 teams. Putting in a terrific effort in tough underfoot conditions, Ailbhe O’Farrell (U18) led the Mullingar girls home, followed by Grace Byrne (U18), Aisling Lane (U20), Caoimhe Donohue (U18) and Alanna Greene (U18) all battling hard to the finish. Unfortunately, the girls didn’t win any team medals but Ailbhe was rewarded for her efforts by winning a silver medal with the Leinster team. It was also a combined race in the U18 and U20 boys 5,000m where we saw Diarmuid Fagan (U20) sprinting hard up the finish straight to finish well up. John Ryan (U20) finished not far behind after a brilliant race, and likewise Ross Killalea (U20), Conor Sherwin (U18), Pablo Lozano (U180, Donagh Carey (U18), Jamie Wallace (U180, Philip McCartan (U18) and Conleth Mullen (U20) were not found wanting for determination and the U18 team was extremely unlucky to finish just out of the medals in fourth place, and the U20 team finished a very creditable sixth Club. Conor Sherwin had some consolation as he won a bronze medal with the Leinster team.

It’s been a long time since Mullingar has failed to win any underage team medals at a National cross country final, but that’s not to take from everyone who ran with great spirit in the sticky muck in Gowran, but only serves to show that nothing can be taken for granted at this level. We know many of our athletes were running out of age in Gowran and will be competing in their own age in two weeks in Navan in the uneven age finals and we’re confident they’ll bounce back and hopefully secure some National silverware.

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