Medals hard earned at Leinster Indoors
MULLINGAR HARRIERS NOTES
The Leinster Juvenile Indoors were held in Athlone last weekend, when despite the strong juvenile membership at the moment, Mullingar had a smaller squad than we’d expect and certainly what we were used to in the past. A smaller squad inevitably led to fewer medals but that didn’t take from the determination and effort. Of the 40 that had entered, 36 competed over the two days, some in 2 or 3 events, and won five medals; two more finished in fourth place, and many more reached their finals. To put that in perspective, in 2019, Mullingar had a squad of 67 who won 31 medals.
We nearly take it for granted that our race walkers will excel but it comes on the back of great coaching by Michael Lane and a lot of hard work at training. With technically excellent performances on Saturday morning, it was little surprise when our race walkers again emerged victorious. Daniel Glennon won the U16 boys 1,500m race walk in 6 minutes 59.57 seconds, a new championship record, bettering the one set in 2002. His older brother, John Glennon, made it look easy in the U18 boys 1,500m race walk to also take gold.
Kyle Faherty qualified comfortably from his heat of the U18 boys 400m in the morning and lined up for the final in the afternoon as a hot medal favourite. He didn’t disappoint, running quicker than in the heat to take third place and adding a bronze medal to the Mullingar medal haul.
Moving to the middle distance events, Jamie Wallace put in a good effort in the U18 boys 1,500m as he continues his return to full fitness, but had to settle for a place out of the medals. In a close race with less than a second separating the top five, Philip McCartan ran an excellent race to finish fifth in the U19 boys 1,500m, narrowly missing the fourth automatic qualification place to the All-Ireland finals.
The U12 boys 60m had such a big entry that it needed five heats. Cillian Galvin placed third in his heat and just missed qualifying for the semi-finals but well done for a great effort. The U13 girls 60m needed eight heats, where Clodagh Keane cruised to second place in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals but wasn’t to be joined by Lily McDonald or Liadan Gavin, though Liadan came close, missing out in her heat by hundredths of a second.
Clodagh ran even quicker in the semi-final but such was the standard of competition, she didn’t advance to the final. There were five heats of the U13 boys 60m, where Harry Flanagan raced to a fine third place in his heat, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to advance to the semi-finals. Aoibhe Martyn blasted to third place in her heat, one of five heats of the U14 girls 60m, to advance to the semi-finals, where she battled well but didn’t advance to the final.
The sprint programme continued with the U15 girls 60m, where Hui Fen Bartley contested the competitive heats but didn’t advance to the semi-finals. Likewise, Aaron Conroy and Andrew Lillis ran well in the U16 boys 60m, but didn’t advance from the heats. Finn Roddy was drawn in the quickest heat of the U17 boys 60m. He finished third in a time that would have won any of the other two heats, but quick enough to advance to the final, where he blasted from the blocks and crossed the line in fifth place in a close finish, where you could have thrown a blanket over second to fifth. Finn missed a medal by just two hundredths of a second.
As a measure of the competitiveness of the race, the bronze medal was decided by one thousandth of a second. Quyen Bartley was drawn in a fast heat of the U18 girls 60m, where she battled well but didn’t advance to the final. Parnad Bose competed well in the extremely competitive heats of the U19 boys 60m but didn’t advance to the final, though a new personal best time by over half a second is some consolation.
Field events
It wasn’t all track action and over in the field events, Chloe Bell (U13 girls long jump), Donnacha Doyle (U13 boys long jump), Hui Fen Bartley (U15 girls long jump) and Finn Jacob (U14 boys shot put) competed well and enjoyed the competition despite winning no medals.
Returning early to Athlone on Sunday morning, Finn Roddy ran brilliantly in the U17 boys 200m to finish second in his heat, but with only the winner of the four heats guaranteed to advance along with the next two fastest times, Finn missed out on a place in the final by a close margin, but top marks for effort and a determined run.
There were four heats of the U12 girls 600m, with only the top three in each heat guaranteed a place in the final. Aoife Dunne ran well in her heat but didn’t advance to the final and Katie Bohan raced hard to finish fourth in her heat, narrowly missing qualification for the final. There were three heats of the U12 boys 600m, where Conor Gavin finished fast in third place in his heat to qualify automatically for the final but despite a great effort, he finished out of the medals.
With four heats of the U13 girls 600m, qualification was tough but rising to the challenge, Chloe Bell finished second in her heat and Amelie Kelly fourth in hers to advance to the final, but unfortunately despite running well, Liadan Gavin and Clodagh Keane didn’t advance from their heats. The final was run at a fierce pace and despite their best efforts, Chloe and Amelie finished out of the medal places. Harry Flanagan and Gareth Glennon cruised comfortably through their heats of the U13 boys 600m to qualify for the final. Gareth stepped it up, running much quicker than the heat to finish an excellent fifth place, not far off the medals, with Harry finishing strongly behind him.
Moving up to the 800m, with five heats of the U14 girls 800m, only the winner was guaranteed to advance to the final, but there were also places for the next seven fastest times. Lily Walsh finished second in her heat with a quick time, and advanced easily to the final. Unfortunately, no such luck for Aoibhe Martyn and Muirin Dunne, though they competed well in their heats. In the final, Lily put in a terrific effort and running quicker than in the heat was unlucky to finish just out of the medals in fourth, a half second away from bronze.
Antonio Bertolo and Cillian Galvin safely won their heats of the U14 boys 800m to qualify for the final but weren’t to be joined by Oisin Clarke despite a good effort in his heat. Unfortunately, Antonio was unable to run in the final, but in a terrific race, Cillian came out on top with a superbly measured run to win in a close finish.
Running well in their heats but not advancing to the finals were Lisa O’Brien (U15 girls 800m), Daniel Horohoe and Evan Nohilly (U15 boys 800m), Daniel Glennon and Conor Walsh (U16 boys 800m), Conor coming extremely close in his heat but just missing out. Conor Liston finished third in his heat of the U18 boys 800m to qualify automatically for the final but Jamie Wallace finished fifth in his heat and just missed out on a place in the final.
Picking the perfect time to break two minutes for the first time, Conor stormed to second place in a great finish to win what turned out to be the final medal of the day for Mullingar, crossing the line in 1 minute 58.15 seconds, a new personal best by 3 seconds and the first time he has run sub-two for 800m. The U19 boys 800m was a straight final where Philip McCartan put in a great effort and deserved something out of it but after a fast, competitive race, he had to settle for a place out the medals.
Iin the field events, Donnacha Doyle leaped to a fine fourth place in the U13 boys high jump, just 3cm off a medal. Also competing with great enthusiasm in the field events but finishing out of the medals were Conor Gavin and Cillian Gavin (U12 boys long jump), Oisin Clarke (U14 boys long jump) and Aaron Conroy (U16 long jump).
Cillian Gavin rounded off his day in the U12 boys 60m hurdles, where he raced well over the barriers in his heat but just missed a place in the final. Clodagh Keane was extremely unlucky not to qualify from her heat of the U13 girls 60m hurdles, missing a place in the final by just three thousandths of a second, almost impossible to judge only for the photo finish camera.
Liadan Gavin and Amelie Kelly made great efforts in their heats but didn’t advance either. In the heats of the U13 boys 60m hurdles, Harry Flanagan was unlucky to miss out by one place, but Donnacha Doyle qualified from his heat, though elected not to run in the later final. Aoibhe Martyn was also unlucky to narrowly miss out in her heat of the U14 girls 60m hurdles, finishing just one place off qualification for the final. The U15 boys 60m hurdles was a straight final, where Daniel Horohoe raced to a fine fifth place finish – no medal but delighted with his effort. The U16 boys 60m hurdles was also a straight final and featured Aaron Conroy, who ran well but finished out of the medals. Also competing well over the 60m hurdles but not advancing to the final was Isabella Condon (U15 girls 60m hurdles).
Medals won or not, championship records and personal bests aside, well done to everyone that competed for Mullingar Harriers, giving their best over the two days.
On the road
The sea port village of Kinvara in Galway last Saturday morning was the venue for the annual half marathon around the picturesque village and out and back on a looped course. Starting and finishing at the quay in Kinvara, the 660 runners completed a lap of the village before they crossed the N67 and headed into the countryside. The early miles were a series of gentle uphill sections leading to the most scenic part of the course, with views of Galway Bay, as the runners turned back towards the village.
With rolling hills to encounter in the final two miles, in a cold but dry morning, the Mullingar Harriers duo of Mairtin Savage and Emer Savage were pleased with their first competitive event of the season. Mairtin finished in a time of 1 hour 48 minutes 7 seconds, and Emer in 1 hour 56 minutes 39seconds.
Brendan’s Running Club again combined with Naas GAA to host the Naas 10 mile last Sunday morning, taking in some scenic but difficult rolling hills as the course traversed the Royal Canal and parts of the Millennium Business Park. Among the 519 participants were Mary Stuart, who won her masters category in 1 hour 9 minutes 33 seconds and Joan Hickson, second in her masters category in 1 hour 18 minutes 25 seconds.
We missed it at the time, but on the last Sunday in February (25 Feb), Patrick Muldoon made the long trip to Cork to compete in the Kinsale 10 Mile. The event has become increasingly popular in recent years, filling a gap in the race calendar after the Ballycotton 10 ceased a number of years ago. This year’s race was a sell-out and on the day 927 athletes braved relentless winds and heavy rain for much of the race. Patrick was happy to finish well up in a time of 1 hour 6 minutes 58 seconds.
All-Ireland Schools Cross Country
The All-Ireland Schools Cross Country takes place this Saturday in Tymon Park, Tallaght and a number of Mullingar Harriers athletes will be competing for their schools and colleges against some of the best distance runners in Ireland.
Among those taking part will be the St Finian’s College team of Matthew Molloy, Oisin Kehoe, Donagh Carey and John Glennon in the Intermediate Boys race, the Loreto College team of Grace Byrne, Louise Callaghan, Jessica Cunningham, Shauna Callaghan and Siofra O’Halloran in the Senior Girls race, and the Coláiste Mhuire team of Conor Sherwin, John Ryan, Ross Killalea, Pablo Lozano and Luke Greene in the Senior Boys race, who all qualified from the Leinster Schools.
They will be joined by Eleanor Kiernan (Ursuline Convent) who qualified in the Junior Girls race at the recent Munster Schools Cross Country. We wish them all the best of luck.