Leinster Novice Road Title for Matthew Glennon

A decision taken after last year’s Leinster Novice and Masters Road Championships to target the event this year saw Mullingar nearly double the number competing, and a squad of 39 descended on Gowran, County Kilkenny last Saturday afternoon. After four excellent, competitive races, Mullingar amassed five individual master medals, four sets of club team medals and four sets of county team medals.

The icing on the cake came in the final race of the afternoon, when Matthew Glennon won the novice men title, with James Keegan on his heels in second place.

A great feature of the day was the way the Mullingar squad gathered in a large group near the finish area to cheer their club mates on in every race.

The course in Gowran comprises 1,500m laps, with a downhill start followed by a gradual long climb, an excellent course for a championship. Gowran AC again proved excellent hosts for the event with every facility provided, including a large hall for registration, bag drop and medal presentation, toilets, public address, lead car, lots of race marshals and stewards, and plenty of refreshments after.

First race was the master women 3,000m, covering two laps. Finishing well up overall to lead the Mullingar women home was Aine O’Reilly (third in her category), followed in by Mary Stuart (first in her category), Criona Reid (just missing a medal, with fourth place in her category), Claire Ross, Caroline Mullen, Linda Cunningham, Emer O’Hanlon (fourth in her category), Michelle O’Halloran, Brigid McCabe (first in her category), Terri Greene and Pauline Troy (second in her category).

The over 35 team finished a respectable sixth club and sixth county, but top marks to the over 50 team of Mary, Criona and Caroline, with great support from Emer, Michelle, Brigid and Pauline, who finished first club and first county.

Nearly 100 men lined up for the largest race of the afternoon, the master men 6,000m. With four laps of the course, everyone got plenty of encouragement as they passed the finish area. Having the honour of leading the big Mullingar squad of 17 men home was Alan Crowley in a terrific 14th place overall (fourth in his category, and unlucky to miss an individual medal by a mere two seconds). Following Alan in were Eoin Clarke, Eddie Newman (first in his category), Gerard Gavin, Evan McCormack, Steven Underwood, Ollie Geoghegan, James Cribbin, Tom McGrath, Darren Carroll, Jason McKevitt, Mark Geoghegan, Liam McGlynn, Paul Ginnell, Brendan Rice, Aidan O’Donoghue and Martin Mullen.

The over 35 team placed fourth club, unlucky to miss team bronze by just six points, and a creditable sixth county, but no trouble for the over 50 team of Eddie, Gerard and James, with great support from Tom, Mark, Liam, Paul, Aidan and Martin, who finished first club by a distance and also took team bronze medals for third county.

We knew we had a strong team in the novice women 3,000m race and were quietly confident of team success. Mullingar runners were in touch with the leading group throughout the two-lap race and it seemed to fly by quickly till Niamh McEntegart stormed to an terrific fifth place finish, with Susan Glennon on her heels in sixth. Attention then turned to Jacintha Reilly and Aisling Farrell to complete the team. Cheered excitedly to the line, Jacintha finished strong and with Aisling providing the vital fourth score, the team were second club, an agonising one point behind the gold medal winners. The Mullingar team also finished second county to add to the medal haul.

The final race of the afternoon as the novice men 6,000m, where Mullingar was to the fore throughout the four-lap race. The lead group gradually reduced to six men, four of them from Mullingar. Matthew Glennon timed his final push to perfection, pulling clear in the final sprint to win the novice title, but pushed all the way by James Keegan in second place. Seeing Ian McCormack in fourth and John Whitelaw sixth, it was no surprise that the Mullingar men finished first club by a huge margin. With great team support and packing from Stephen Campbell, Kedagh Geoghegan and Robert Yorke, the men finished second county, only four points away from gold, nicely capping off the considerable medal haul for Mullingar, and leaving everyone in high spirits for the journey home.

West of Ireland Women’s Mini Marathon 10k

Ballina hosted the West of Ireland Women’s Mini Marathon 10k for the second year running last Sunday and the sun shone down on the 1,500 runners taking part in this annual 10km road race. The course started and finished in the town centre, and athletes enjoyed spectacular views of the beautiful River Moy and Belleek Woods along the race route.

Mullingar Harriers were well represented by Mayo and Ballina native, Sinéad Whitelaw, who ran a good race to finish strongly in second place, clocking 38 minutes 47 seconds. The race was won by Ellen Moran representing Galway City Harriers, and Serena Tuffy of Dundrum South Dublin was third. Sophie Whitelaw also ran in the children’s ‘Mini Mini-Marathon’, a lovely run for national school children over a 2k distance through the town streets.

Great Limerick Run Marathon

In warm conditions, the Great Limerick Run Marathon wound its way through the streets of Limerick city last Sunday morning. Joan Flynn kept well up with the early pace and her dedicated training programme proved invaluable with some rolling hills to encounter in the mid-section of the race. Joan came home second woman in a time of 3 hours 3 minutes 22 seconds, and that also saw her finish 60th overall in a field of just over 800 runners.

Amy Mahony in Toronto Marathon

The Toronto Marathon is one of the premier spring marathons in Ontario, Canada, attracting runners from all over the world to a fast, mostly downhill course with a winding tour of some the city’s best sights. For Amy Mahony, who is currently residing in Canada, it proved to be a great outing last Sunday morning, as she came home in an excellent 3 hours 16 minutes 41 seconds.

Pat Finnerty 5k League commences this week

The Pat Finnerty Memorial 5k League starts this week (Wednesday) in Belvedere and continues for the next two weeks. The best two of three times count for the league, so you only have to run two of three rounds, though we’d encourage everyone to run all three. Entry is €30 for three or two nights, but if you can only run the final night, the entry fee reduces to €20 for the single race.

All proceeds will go to Tanzanian Heavenly Homes, a Mullingar-based non-profit organisation founded by John McCauley, so we’re asking everyone to sign up and support a worthy cause. The funds will go to help the poorest people to have some basic items of life. We’ll also take donations on the night for anyone that wants to give more. There will be prizes for the top three men and women in the league, and lots of spot prizes too. The Pat Finnerty Perpetual Trophy will be presented to the first man and the first woman in the League.

Club’s youngest athletes to compete in Tullamore

The Midland Inter-County Juvenile T&F Match between Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath takes place in the Tullamore Harriers Stadium on Friday 17 May at 6pm. This is an ideal competition for younger members to take part in and boys and girls from U9 (born 2016) to U14 (born 2011) can compete. Despite the title, it is a low key, friendly competition and a chance for everyone to try several events, choosing any three from sprint, middle distance, long jump, turbo javelin and shot. The boys and girls from Mullingar Harriers will compete alongside athletes from other Westmeath clubs, against athletes from Laois, Longford and Offaly. If you ran in the recent Mullingar Harriers Juvenile Spring T&F Meet, you’re in for a treat in Tullamore as it will be just as much fun.

You have to register for the event and we’ll use the Heja groups to find out who wants to take part and in what events and how much you have to pay. This is an ideal competition for our younger athletes and newcomers and we expect to see all our younger club members take part. It’s an Inter-County competition, so wear your club vest, so everyone knows you’re from Westmeath. Finally, just like our own new all-weather track, 5mm spikes or runners only on the track in Tullamore.

Closing dates for entries to Leinster Outdoor T&F

Entries for the Leinster U20, Senior and Masters T&F to take place in SETU Carlow in late May close on 19 May. Entries for the Leinster U9, 10 and 11 (Children’s Games) and U12 and U13 T&F to take place in Tullamore in early June close on 24 May. Don’t leave it too late to submit your entry in case you have problems with the online entry system. As always, if anyone has any difficulty submitting their entries, please don’t hesitate to contact Greg.

Check the club website at mullingarharriers.com or Facebook page for updates.