European Masters gold, silver and bronze for Sean McMullin
The European Masters Indoors took place in Torun, Poland over seven days last week, starting on St Patrick’s Day. It’s the European Masters Indoors but cross country events and some outdoor throws such as javelin are held too.
On Monday lunchtime, 21 men toed the line for the 3,000m race walk, including in four master categories, among them Sean McMullin. Everyone battled for places in the early laps and as the race settled down, the pre-race favourite, the fast Ian Richards (GB), opened an early lead, but Sean was locked in a great battle with Boguslaw Seidel from Poland for second, positioned nicely in third place, clear of the chasing pack. Continuing to maintain a steady pace over the closing laps, Sean kept up the pressure but was unable to close on the silver medal, though was still happy to win the bronze.
On Tuesday morning, Aidan O’Donoghue competed in the javelin. He threw close to his best in the first round but in the second round, he launched the javelin to 34.25m, adding a massive 2m to his personal best and earning him a great 10th place overall.
Also on Tuesday morning, the 6k cross country race took place in a pine forest adjacent to the indoor arena. The ground was firm and many chose to race in runners rather than spikes. Team places were calculated on combined times rather than places, and despite it being only a day after taking bronze in the indoor 3,000m race walk, Sean McMullin was back in action and ran a great race to finish ninth, the third score for a strong Ireland team who included Martin McEvilly (Galway City Harriers AC) and Richard Mullins (St Abban’s AC), to take team gold for Ireland.
Aidan O’Donoghue returned to competition on Wednesday for the Indoor Pentathlon, where his goal was to improve on his personal best score of 2,464 points. That he achieved with personal bests in both the 60m hurdles and long jump, and with good results in the shot put, high jump and 1,000m run, he accumulated 2,535 points, a new personal best, to finish 11th overall.
Sean rounded off his championships with individual silver and team gold in the 5k road walk last Friday morning. With an excellent fault-free effort in a highly technical event, he finished second in his master age group to take individual silver. The excitement didn’t end there though, as Sean dropped down an age group to make up a team with Michael O’Connor (Farranfore Maine Valley AC) and David Kissane (St Brendan’s AC Kerry). Sean was the second finisher on the Ireland team, who had a great battle with a strong German team for the gold medals, beating them by only 29 seconds in an exciting race.
As always, the championships finished with the relays. Aidan O’Donoghue ran the lead leg for Ireland in the 4x200m in his age group. There were two heats, and medals were decided on the fastest times over the those. Ireland was drawn in heat one and Aidan had a great start from the blocks, powering around the tight indoor bends with a fast split time to set the team up nicely, but unfortunately the team were disqualified for a lane infringement, always a risk with indoor sprints. Aidan was still pleased with his performance and it rounded off a memorable European Masters Indoors for him.
National Juvenile Indoors
Donnacha Doyle was Mullingar’s sole representative on day one of the National Juvenile Indoors in Athlone last Saturday, where he competed in the U13 high jump. With 17 boys in action, there were long gaps between jumps, but Donnacha kept his focus between jumps, and as the bar went up, more and more were eliminated, while Donnacha kept jumping brilliantly to stay in the competition. Eventually he had to bow out but finished an excellent 10th, out of the medals but a great result in an All-Ireland final.
National 10k Championship
Dunboyne AC hosted the National 10k Championship in association with its annual Dunboyne 10k for the first time last Sunday and it proved a great success. A well organised and competitive road race took place in splendid weather conditions. The race started on a narrow section of road, which made for some jostling on the line and for the first kilometre, but it soon settled down and athletes enjoyed a mixed route through the village and rolling country roads before finishing on the club track.
Mullingar Harriers were represented by 16 athletes among the nearly 1,300 finishers, some of whom achieved age group results. Vinny Connolly led the Mullingar athletes home in an excellent 21st in a time of 31 minutes 35 seconds, followed by James Keegan (32:53), Kedagh Geoghegan (34:33) and Alan Crowley (35:40). Eddie Newman was first in his master category in 36:27. Sinéad Whitelaw was first of the Mullingar women home, in 37 minutes 19 seconds, an excellent 25th woman overall and second place in her master category to win National silver, just one second off first place.
Joan Flynn and Ann Hall finished in 39:15 and 40:14 respectively, to complete the Mullingar master women team who claimed National silver team medals. Mary Stuart ran a strong race to win her master category in 41:35. Other Mullingar finishers included Pauric Brady (38:40), Liam McGlynn (41:42), Padraig Beglin (42:03), Paul Ginnell (44:21), Gemma Kelly (45:44), Anna Broderick (46:02) and Linda Cunningham (46:21).
April Committee Meeting
The April meeting of the committee is Tuesday 2 April in the clubhouse at 8.20pm, after training. There’s a full agenda, including planning for the Pat Finnerty Memorial 5k League in May, so a full attendance is requested.
Check the club website at mullingarharriers.com or Facebook page for more news.