Mullingar athletes shine once more in Leinster tests

Wow! We thought the Club did brilliantly at Avondale two weeks ago, with a huge medal haul and 50 qualifiers for the All-Ireland Finals in Tramore in two weeks time, but our juvenile athletes excelled themselves yet again in Abbelyleix last Sunday and with seven individual gold medals and 19 other top 12 finish places, five Club team gold, one Club silver, two Club bronze, four County gold and one County bronze.This means that 66 athletes have qualified for the All-Ireland Finals in Cavan in December. The juvenile section of the Club is like a runaway train with no brakes! Our Intermediate women even got in the medals, with a Club bronze.Conditions at Heywood School, Ballinakill, Abbeyleix for the second round of the Leinster cross country championships were probably the worst seen at a cross country for many years. The track was so badly cut up throughout the entire course that running conditions were near treacherous in places. However, good athletes always cope with conditions, no matter how bad, and Mullingar has plenty of good athletes.Mullingar had the distinction of being the only Club with athletes in every race, from under 11 up to Intermediate men and women. Eight of the ten juvenile teams won medals, as did the Intermediate women, making this probably the best performance by the Club ever.Things got off to the best possible start when Laura Whitelaw was the runaway winner of the under 11 girls 800m, followed by Claire Fagan (3rd), Niamh Quinn (9th) and Emma Glynn as the vital fourth scorer to win gold for first Club. Newcomer Meabh McNulty was next in after a great run with another newcomer, young Ellen Cronin hot on her heels to win gold for first County. Running well in support on this marvellous team was Rachel Glennon, Jennifer Coughlan, Sophie Whyte, newcomers Rebecca Yorke and Roisin Fagan, and Shelly Riggs. With 220 athletes entered for this race, it was the largest number of competitors in a Leinster cross country ever, proving how popular athletics and cross country running is in Leinster.With nearly 200 athletes in the under 11 boys 800m, getting a good start was critical and that"s exactly what Cormac Dalton did as he led out the huge field with his Club mates in close pursuit. Winning well, Cormac led the team home for the perfect 1-2-3-4 finish, ahead of Patrick Shaw (2nd), Kevin Giles (3rd) and Michael Moran (4th) for Club gold. Shane Hughes was next (6th), with Joseph Moran the sixth scorer to win County gold too. Also running really well was David Mimnagh, Gareth Carr, Ciaran Nolan and Tom Molloy, all playing their part on this marvellous team.Winning Club and County gold was proving infectious and Linda Conroy was a very clear winner of the under 13 girls 1,000m and with Lauren Casey running absolutely brilliantly to finish 2nd, followed by Caoimhe Shaw (5th) and Ann Marie Kennedy finishing fast, Club gold was easily won. Ann Marie was just ahead of Edel Glennon and Lorna Moody and they provided the vital scores to win gold for first County. Playing their part on the team was Aisling Bracken, newcomer Aisling Moody, Faye Walsh (who if she hadn"t fallen at the start would certainly have finished much further up), Eleanor Waldron, Stacey Darby and Jessica McCormack.By now, anyone not from Mullingar must have been tired of seeing us grabbing all the gold medals, but that didn"t stop Padraig Moran doing what he does best as he won the under 13 boys 1,200m with Liam O"Reilly just behind him (2nd), Glen Gaffney (10th) and Oisin Quinn (11th) to win Club gold. Good to see Brendan Keaveny back in action and with James O"Leannachain having a terrific race, we duly won County gold too. Jack Stuart and Iarlaith Daly also ran well in support.The gold rush continued in the under 15 girls 1,500m as Ciara Hewson and Elizabeth Carr battled all the way to the finish where Ciara just had the edge and won. With Lorraine Daly having a great run to finish 5th, followed by Donna Kiernan (11th), the girls won Club gold. Next in were Jane Leydon and Eadaoin Daly but were unlucky to finish out of the County medals. Aine O"Reilly was unlucky to lose a shoe early on and was forced to drop out, as it was impossible to run without full grip.Shane Fitzsimons and Thomas Lynn made it a 1-2 finish for Mullingar in the under 15 boys 2,000m to give the Club its sixth individual gold from 6 races. Supported by Kaman Halford, Aaron Glynn and Odhran Daly the boys took bronze medals for third Club and so the unbroken gold rush came to a temporary halt, probably to the relief of other Clubs. Certainly, Joe Ryan was wondering if we should have come in an armoured car, such was the amount of gold we had won up to then and had to take back to Mullingar!Running up a year, Amie Giles ran a well judged race in the under 17 girls 2,000m and finished well in 8th place. Followed by Arlene Coughlan, a fast improving Cliodhna Daly, newcomer Rachel Yorke who ran very well, and Lisa Darby, the girls deserved their Club bronze medals.Vincent Connolly was absolutely fantastic in the under 17 boys 4,000m as he finished 6th, which is an excellent result for a young man only running a short while. Vincent is surely a star of the future.With Thomas Fagan (12th), Warren Walsh and Shane Kelleher providing determined support, the boys took silver medals for second Club. Zack Halford, Adam Daly and Robert Yorke provided the vital scores to win bronze medals for third County.Aoife Hogan was our sole representative in the under 19 girls 3,000m where she just seemed to glide over the appalling mud on the course and finish an excellent 8th place. In case anyone thought we were finished with gold medals, Shane Boggs had other ideas and he always looked comfortably in control in the under 19 boys 6,000m as he negotiated the three tough laps to pull away convincingly near the end and win comfortably to win what turned out to be Mullingar"s final gold medal of the afternoon. Michael Hannon also ran well and didn"t seem to mind the mud either.By the time the Intermediate women went to the line for their 4,000m race the course was in really bad shape. Mary Scully (5th), Riona Murtagh (7th), Eva Ross (9th) and Sarah Mescall battled well and slipped and slid their way to bronze medals for third Club and were well pleased with the result. Ben Vaitkavichius didn"t seem to mind the mud and in fact seemed to relish in it and finished a fantastic 6th place in the Intermediate men"s 10,000m. Also running well over the gruelling 5 lap course was Matt Glennon, Aidan Gorry, Liam McGlynn and John O"Reilly, who even found a terrific sprint finish at the end. Unfortunately, there were no medals to reward the efforts of the Mullingar men.Thanks for the great support provided by parents and others as they cheered Mullingar on yet another highly successful day of cross country running. With medals for eight Club teams, and 26 athletes eligible to represent Leinster too, Mullingar will have a very large team of 66 athletes at the All-Ireland finals in Cavan in December. Everyone must keep up the pressure in training between now and then of course, so they can give their best performances possible on the National stage.Preparations for All-Ireland Finals in TramoreThe arrangements for our overnight stay in Waterford on Saturday, November 22are being finalised, so if you haven"t let Greg know if you wish to travel with the team and stay in the hotel, you better do so as soon as possible.Annual General MeetingThe Club"s Annual General Meeting will be held in the Annebrook Hotel, Mullingar this Wednesday, November 12 at 8.30pm. Everyone interested in how the affairs of the Club are run is very welcome to attend. We hope too see all our adult members in attendance and also the parents of the many under age athletes who receive training, coaching and guidance throughout the year. The meeting will take about an hour and a half and we urge everyone to show your appreciation of the work being done by attending. Please note that there is absolutely no obligation on anyone in attendance to go on the committee. We operate a 'no press gang' policy!TrainingThis Sunday, we"ll be in Belvedere as usual, but on the trails and not on the cross country course. Meet at the reception at 11am and no spikes are needed, just flat running shoes.Fixtures23rd November. AAI National Cross Country (even ages, Inter-County), Tramore Race Course, Co. Waterford7th December. AAI National Cross Country (uneven ages, novice), Ballyhaise (Teagasc) College, Co. CavanTraining continues each Tuesday and Thursday from the Clubhouse in Grange at 7pm and at Belvedere on Sunday mornings at 11am. Check the Club"s website <>at www.mullingarharriers.com for results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures.