Cormac Dalton first Irish man home at Euro Cross Country

Cormac Dalton competed in his fifth consecutive European cross country last Sunday morning when he lined up with the Irish team for the senior men 7,500m in Antalya, Turkey. With some tight corners, low obstacles to jump, stretches of soft sand, some sticky mucky stretches, generally flat but with some artificial hills thrown in for good measure, it was quite a technical course overall that constantly disrupted the flow of the runners.

In his post-race interview, Cormac said that as it was only 7,500m, it was quicker than expected for a Euro cross country, making it very tough to stay relaxed and keep his form. Cormac ran the race with determination from the start and stuck to his task as best as he could for much of the race, and though he had to ease back a bit in the closing stages, he was rewarded with a fine twenty first place finish, the first Irish man to finish and leading the team to an eighth place finish. Coming on the back of his eighth place individual finish in Brussels last year, this obviously wasn’t the result Cormac was looking for, but he hasn’t had the easiest year in terms of consistency and injury, so reflecting on the race he knows that he’s on the right road and not far off his best again, so can take a positive outlook forward to the year ahead.

Jingle Bells 5k

It was an early start for the Mullingar Harriers who were running the Jingle Bells 5k last Saturday morning in the Phoenix Park. The race organisers, Donore Harriers AC , carried out an early morning inspection to ensure it was safe to proceed after the full force of Storm Darragh was felt overnight. After getting the all clear at 6.30am, a huge crowd of nearly 1,700 runners made their way to the Park to compete in what is traditionally one of the fastest 5k races in the country. However, with the remainder of the storm still being felt with very strong winds, times were never going to be that fast but that didn’t take from the quality of the race. Competing for Mullingar Harriers in the men section of the race, Vinny Connolly was always in contention for honours and he led the way home in fourth place overall in 15:15 in a very tight finish, followed by Conor Sherwin (15:40), John Ryan (15:48), Stephen Nea (18:10) and James Cribbin (19:32) racing hard to the finish. The men team placed an excellent fourth Club. Orlaith Flanagan was the sole woman from Mullingar to compete and she was more very happy with her time of 20:05. Congratulations to Donore Harriers on a well organised race under difficult weather conditions.

Christmas holiday arrangements

This Thursday (12th), the boys and girls that train in the 6pm groups will finish up for a well-earned Christmas break. We’ll be holding an open day at the Club on 25th January when membership for 8, 9, 10 and 11 year old boys and girls for 2025 will be taken and they’ll return to training in early February. Membership for these young boys and girls will be taken on a first come first served basis and when the groups are filled, we’ll take no more. An important rule introduced in 2023 was that everyone had to take part in certain Club organised events or they will not be allowed to register again for the next year. We’ll be enforcing this rule again this year.

With the conclusion of the long cross country season, many of our older juvenile members will now take a short break and will return after Christmas to prepare for the indoor season in the New Year. Of course, many of our adult members won’t get much break at all and will continue to train through Christmas to prepare for competitions early in the New Year. Check with your coaches to confirm training arrangements over the Christmas period.

Sympathy

Finally, the Executive and members of Mullingar Harriers wish to extend sincere sympathy to Catriona Duffy and the Fidgeon family, on the recent death of her father-in-law, Anselm Fidgeon RIP.

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

PRO