Fun filled Mullingar Juvenile Spring T&F

MULLINGAR HARRIERS CLUB NOTES

The second edition of the Mullingar Harriers Juvenile Spring T&F Meeting took place on Sunday and gave our younger members, aged 8 to 15 years, an opportunity to compete in a sprint, middle distance, long jump, standing jump, shot put and javelin, covering the essential run-jump-throw skills needed by developing athletes. The 8, 9 and 10-year-olds finished with a novel obstacle relay, an entertaining spectacle and a hit with them all. We also had an U16 girls mile and U16 boys mile, with trophies to be won, which should give younger members something to aspire to competing for in the years ahead.

Nearly 120 youngsters competed. From the 6pm groups alone, nearly two thirds of them took part, well up on last year, which is a positive improvement. With nearly 60 events on the programme, it was a big undertaking but we were delighted that a big team of coaches and parents assisted on the day to make it all happen. Medals won or not, the juvenile members had fun and will have learned a lot about T&F competitions, which we hope will encourage them to compete over the coming season.

Sincere thanks to those that brought buns, cakes and other goodies and of course those that worked at the tables to distribute tea, coffee, hot chocolate and goodies, and apart from satisfying the hunger of parents, the athletes were delighted to be able to take some snacks and refuel in between their events.

Claire Fagan wins Great Ireland Run

The Great Ireland Run took place in cold, dry and windy conditions last Sunday morning in the Phoenix Park. For the first time in many years, the event didn’t include the National 10k, but that didn’t detract from the big entry of quality athletes, and just over 2,000 completed the race. Clare Fagan went out hard from the gun and stayed up close to the front with the men. After an excellent run, she finished first woman, eighth place overall in 34 minutes 44 seconds, and had more than three and a half minutes to spare over the second placed woman. Joan Hickson also competed and was happy to finish in 47:38, recording a fine fifth place finish in her master category.

Westport Half Marathon

Two Mullingar Harriers made the long journey west last Saturday morning to take part in the Westport Half Marathon. There were plenty of rolling hills and a strong swirling wind to add to the challenge for the nearly 1,200 finishers. Andrew Nevin kept right in the mix with the chasing pack on the early two leaders and was delighted to drive on and finish third in a close finish in 1 hour 12 minutes 53 seconds, an excellent result given the tough course and tough conditions. Kieran Dodrill was competing under the Mullingar Harriers name for the first time and was happy with his overall race and finished strongly in 1:38:33.

Grace and Louise take to the hills

As a result of their top finishes at the All-Ireland Schools Cross Country in March, Grace Byrne and Louise O’Callaghan received an invite from the Irish Mountain Running Association to participate in the ‘Seefin Challenge’ last Sunday morning, which was used as the trials for the European Off Road Trail Running Championships to be held in France in June. Seefin Mountain is in south east Limerick, near the Cork border, and the Seefin Challenge takes the runners on a 7.5k loop up and down the mountain, with a total uphill climb of 370m, so it was definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Before that, Louise competed in the shorter ‘Seefin Uphill Race’ on Friday morning, which was a 4k uphill race and a 370m climb. Louise finished an excellent eighth overall, fifth U20 athlete. On Sunday morning, Louise joined Grace for the 7.5k Seefin Challenge. It was a tough race but both girls gave excellent accounts, Grace finishing seventh overall, fourth U20, and Louise was 11th overall, seventh U20 (with results to be confirmed). Both girls found it tough but enjoyable and have gained huge experience.

Great showing by Ian McCormack in Athy Half

Even though Storm Kathleen had hit Ireland the day before and the worst of the winds were passed, the winds were still strong last Sunday week (7 April) in Athy and made conditions extremely tough for the 260 runners that toed the line for the Athy Half Marathon. Ian McCormack was the sole representative from Mullingar Harriers but despite the conditions, which he described as the worst he has ever experienced, he turned in a great performance to finish third in an excellent time of 1 hour 14 minutes 37 seconds. That performance will give him huge confidence ahead of his next race.

Roscommon Harriers 5k

Taking part on the four Friday evenings in April, the Roscommon Harriers 5k Series started last Friday week (5 April), fortunately just getting ahead of Storm Kathleen, which hit the next day. Among the more than 130 finishers for round 1 was Colm Garvey, finishing well up in 22 minutes 49 seconds. Round 2 last Friday saw numbers taking park increase to over 150, with Colm again having a strong run, improving his time by over a half a minute to 22 minutes 17 seconds.

Clongowes Run

The Clongowes Run in the College grounds last Saturday morning was a fundraiser for Crumlin Children’s Hospital. Running over a variety of surfaces including tarmac, forest track and grass, keeping right up with the leading group ahead of nearly 180 runners in the 5k run was a number of Mullingar athletes, led home by Philip McCartan in third place in 18 minutes 32 seconds, ahead of Luke Greene fourth (18:38), Luke O’Leary fifth (19:35) and Padraig Beglin seventh (20:54). Also competing was Michael O’Leary, placing second in his master category, and Nuala Moran and Terri Greene. The longer 10k run attracted nearly 60 runners and Olivia Cooney was pleased to finish well up in 53:02, second place in her master category.

Congratulations

Finally, congratulations to Kris Foster on his marriage last Thursday to Michelle Duffy. Everyone at the club wishes them the very best for a long and happy future together.

Check the club website at mullingarharriers.com or Facebook page for all the latest news.