Vinny is king in Kilcock

MULLINGAR HARRIERS CLUB NOTES

Billed as the ‘10 from 10’ because it’s 10 weeks out from the Dublin Marathon in late October, the St Coca’s AC 10 mile in Kilcock last Sunday morning gave many a chance to test themselves and gauge how their marathon training was progressing.

It was a well organised event that attracted more than 350 athletes, including four from Mullingar Harriers. The course was mainly flat and conditions were good for running, into a light breeze over the last two miles along the canal back to Kilcock for the finish and some welcome refreshments at the clubhouse after.

Vinny Connolly lost no time settling into his race rhythm and quickly built a lead that couldn’t be closed, coming home a minute clear to win in 53:13. Finishing well up behind him was Eddie Newman, winning his master category with 60:03, followed by Joan Flynn (68:42), just missing a prize with a fourth place finish in her master category, and completing the quartet was Paul Ginnell finishing in 74:43 [PG/GD].

Great World Masters race walk debut by Colm Walsh

Colm Walsh competed for the first time at World level in race walk when he lined up for the 10k road walk at the World Masters T&F in Gothenburg, Sweden on Saturday evening. The venue for the 10k walk was Slottsskogen City Park, the main park in Gothenburg, a short distance from Bjorlanda Stadium, the venue for the majority of the T&F events.

The course was 10 laps of a 1k out-and-back course and as it was evening, the weather was kinder and dropped to 20C when the race started, so Colm felt pretty fresh for the entire race.

Colm was the only Irish man in the race and gave a great account, finishing an excellent sixth place in his age category in 54:24, his quickest time in three years. There wasn’t much time for rest though, as Colm had to compete again just two days later on Monday morning in the 5,000m race walk on the track at Bjorlanda Stadium.

We’ll report next week on how Colm gets on in the 5,000m race walk, and also how Sean McMullin gets on in his 5,000m race walk on Tuesday morning (20 Aug) and 20k road walk on Sunday (25 Aug) [CW/GD].

Castlepollard 5k

Don’t forget to support the Castlepollard 5k on Wednesday evening. Hosted by our neighbours North Westmeath AC, this has always been an extremely well organised event with an excellent prize fund and we’re encouraging everyone to take part in support.

Check the club website at mullingarharriers.com and Facebook page for further updates.