Individual and Club honours at Star Awards

Athletics Leinster recently announced the Star Award winners for 2010, which will be presented at a Gala Function in the Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow this coming Saturday, January 8. The awards are based on results in Leinster Championships in 2010 and the very worthy recipients for Westmeath will be Mary Scully (senior), Ciara Hewson (juvenile girl) and Robert Yorke (juvenile boy). Mary, Ciara and Robert had an exceptional year of competition in 2010 and fully justified these awards from Athletics Leinster and these awards should inspire them to even greater things in 2011.It isn't just individual honours though, and congratulations to all our Juvenile cross country athletes as Mullingar will yet again be presented with the Jimmy Morrissey Memorial Cup for the best Juvenile cross country Club in Leinster. This will mark 10-in-a-row for Mullingar as we've won this Cup every year since it was first presented in 2001.To be honest it's no surprise that the Club will receive the Morrissey Cup again, given the superb team performances in Belvedere and Adamstown but Westmeath will also receive the Rosemary Foley Memorial Cup for the best County in Leinster in Juvenile cross country, making this 3-in-a-row. As only Mullingar Harriers athletes competed on Westmeath teams in 2010, we can regard this as a double award for the Club.Receiving the Morrissey and Foley Cups is a magnificent achievement for the Club's Juvenile cross country athletes and reflects all their hard work put in at training and the great team spirit they exhibit in competition. Another award to be presented to Mullingar is the Quinn Cup for track and field under 12 to 15 years, which the Club will retain. Well done to our young track and field athletes.With the current crop of athletes in the Club and the talent in depth, we expect 2011 to be another good year and it will be interesting to see if we retain these Cups and maybe win some more. Congratulations to Mary Scully, Ciara Fogarty and Robert Yorke on their Awards and to all our juvenile athletes on helping Mullingar to win three Cups at the Leinster Star Awards for 2010. Let's keep up the hard work in training and see what 2011 brings.Welcome return to competitionNow that the severe cold weather looks to be behind us, it's back to business as normal at the Club and we're seeing the crowds returning to training once again. There was a good attendance at the Club last week and in Belvedere last Sunday, which is excellent because we're right back into competition at various venues over the coming weeks.This Sunday, January 9 we hope to have full men and women teams in the Leinster junior cross country and also in the Leinster juvenile relays where we'll have two teams in each age group. The venue is Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny, which is quite a distance to travel, so with the first race at 12 noon, transport will leave O'Brien's Topaz filling station on the Lynn Road, Mullingar at 8am sharp. As usual, have the correct length of spikes, club vest, pins for race number, a snack and drink, and a change of clothing. Also, keep an eye on the weather forecast and dress appropriately.For many this will be a run-out in advance of the AAI National Novice and uneven juvenile ages cross country championships the following Sunday (January 16) in Charleville Estate, Tullamore, which had to be re-scheduled from before Christmas due to the weather.No rest for some and one week later, the Antrim International Cross Country meeting, which incorporates the Celtic International Cross Country Championship takes place and based on performances in the AAI National cross country in Derry we expect several of the Club's underage athletes to be selected by AAI to represent Ireland in the underage races.The current focus is still on cross country but the indoor season is just around the corner. For most the indoor season kicks off on 30th January with day 1 of the Leinster Indoors, which is for juvenile sprint relays and junior, senior and masters track and field. Before then, the National junior indoors is on 15th January and the National masters indoors on 23rd January.State-of-the-art indoor track for Athlone ITMention of indoors prompts us to note that this could be the last year we'll compete in Nenagh as Athlone IT has been granted planning approval for an indoor sporting arena, which will include an outdoor 500 seat stand at the existing track, a multi-sport arena, and most importantly an IAAF-standard 6-lane 200m banked indoor athletics track with 1,500 spectator seats and elevated athlete warm-up area with an 80m sprint track.Construction is planned to commence this March so could be ready for use for the 2012 indoor season. This will be a very significant development and will give athletics in Ireland a massive boost and huge credit is due to Athlone IT President, Ciaran O'Catháin for delivering this long-overdue top-class athletics facility. The Athlone location will make it very accessible for training for Mullingar athletes and we expect to make regular use of the new track for training when it opens in 2012.Annual General MeetingThe Club's Annual General Meeting will be held in the Annebrook Hotel, Mullingar on Friday, January 14 at 8pm. We hope too see all our adult members in attendance and also the parents of the very 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 at the Club by attending the AGM.Subscriptions for 2011Members are reminded that if you have not already done so, to please renew your subscription as soon as you can. All entries from now on must include the 2011 AAI registration number so it is vital that athletes have paid their subscription otherwise they cannot be entered in competition. Anyone wishing to compete in the indoors in January that has forgotten to pay their subscription is reminded to pay it soon.Fixtures8th January: Leinster Star Awards, Seven Oaks Hotel, Carlow 9th January: Leinster Junior & Senior Cross Country and Juvenile Cross Country Relays, Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny14th January: Annual General MeetingTrainingTraining continues each Tuesday and Thursday from the Clubhouse in Grange at 7pm and Belvedere at 11am on Sundays. For the latest results, news and details of all upcoming fixtures check the Club's website at www.mullingarharriers.com.