All-Ireland Gold for talented Lily Walsh

MULLINGAR HARRIERS CLUB NOTES

Lily Walsh crowned a hugely successful outdoor T&F season last Saturday on day three of the National Juvenile T&F in Tullamore with a superb victory in the U14 girls 1,500m. Winning the Leinsters with a new Championship Record saw Lily line up as a solid pre-race favourite, but always with an eye on the indoor 800m Champion, Nellie Bateman (Belgooly AC), who was certain to feature strongly, and that’s exactly how it turned out.

Right from the gun, Lily went to the front and holding the inside line she controlled the race, setting a fast pace. Maintaining her place at the front for all but a short period, Lily continued to control the race and was ideally placed when the final push for home came with 200m to go.

Rounding the final bend and into the home straight, Lily and Nellie were locked together as both sprinted furiously for the finish. It was neck and neck all the way but Lily just had the edge at the finish, dipping at the line to win in a photo finish, just three hundredths of a second ahead, and was absolutely delighted to win gold and her first outdoor National track title.

Grace Byrne kept herself in contention for honours in the u/19 girls 1,500m but just couldn’t quite reproduce the finish that won her bronze in the 3,000m the week before and despite a great effort over the final lap had to settle for fourth place, just out of the medals.

In the u/19 boys 1,500m, Pablo Lozano went out hard from the gun and was right up with the leaders when disaster struck after 500m, as he suddenly stopped and pulled off the track. He was feeling some discomfort in his Achilles, so wisely stopped rather than risk further injury.

Hopefully it’s not too serious and we wish Pablo a speedy recovery. Meanwhile, Conor Sherwin had settled nicely into his race and looked strong and smooth in the early laps. However, as the race approached the business end so to speak, Conor was unable to stay with the pace and was disappointed to finish down the field out of the medal places.

Earlier in the day, Finn Roddy competed in the heats of the u/17 boys 200m but despite running faster than in the Leinsters it wasn’t quite enough to qualify from the very competitive heats, and he narrowly missing out on a place in the final, but top marks for effort.

Lily Walsh’s gold medal adds to the bronze she won over 800m two weeks before and brings the total number of medals won by Mullingar athletes over three days of individual championships and one day of relays to six, four gold and two bronze, which are very good results for Mullingar.

Apart from those that still have Regional and National Community Games T&F Finals, the outdoor T&F season is over for most of our juvenile members and they can now take a welcome break before returning to training in a few weeks to get ready for the cross country season that starts in late September [GD].

Westmeath Road Championships

The annual Westmeath Road Championships were held in sunshine and most pleasant conditions last Sunday morning. Starting and finishing by the lake shore at Ladestown, the resplendent setting provided the ideal backdrop for the race, which took in an 8k looped circuit.

Well stewarded and with great support from the Gardaí, the event went off smoothly and there were plenty of refreshments, including some home-made treats provided by Club members, at the finish beside the lake.

Oisín Lane took a break from his race walking exploits and led from the gun to come home in 26:31, well clear of second place Dan Morris (26:46), with Ross Killalea third (27:11). Ann Hall was first woman in 31:55, with Aine O’Reilly second (32:07) getting the better of Mary Stuart (32:44) in third. There were category wins for Bashir Hussein, Darren Carroll, Aeilish McGovern, Criona Reid, Nollaig McEntegart, Vera McCool and Andy Quinn.

The Club would like to thank sponsors ORS and CL Plant & Tool Hire for their support of the event as well as the Gardai who provided valuable support to our stewards through the course. The general feedback from those taking part was that the course was testing without being overly challenging, but fair. Mullingar Harriers will now review this feedback and consider the possibility of making this course and venue a permanent home for the annual Westmeath Road Championships. Full results are available on the website [MO’S].

British Masters

Aidan O’Donoghue competed in a number of events at the British Masters T&F in the Moorways Stadium in Derby last Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday he competed in the 100m hurdles where he finished just of the medals in fourth place but ran a new personal best of 21.16 seconds.

He followed this up with the high jump where he cleared 1.35m to place fifth. On Sunday he ran in the 200m, which was extremely competitive and was delighted to finish in 28.64 seconds, a new personal best. He finished the day with another personal best when he launched the javelin out to over 38m, improving his previous best by a huge 3m, which was good enough to win the silver medal. Over the course of a great weekend, Aidan recorded 3 new personal bests, which will give him great confidence for the National Masters T&F in Tullamore this Sunday [GD].

Check the club website mullingarharriers.com or Facebook page for more news.