Glennon returns to studies after solid showing in World Race Walking Team Championships

Held every second year, for the first time ever the World Race Walking Team Championships moved to the Southern Hemisphere and to the city of Brasilia. Brasilia is the planned modern city specially designed as the relatively new political capital of the vast South American country that is Brazil.

Being a long way inland it required three flights to get there. So, on Easter Monday, John Glennon began the arduous long haul flight journeys which took up the best part of two days in order to arrive at the Irish team hotel in downtown Brasilia. Arriving five days in advance was essential in order to overcome the fatigue of jet lag and to allow him acclimatise to the local conditions and in particular the 1,100m altitude.

John followed the carefully laid out adjustment plan prepared for the team and by the 7.15am race time for the U20 men 10,000m race walk last Sunday week (12 April), he was ready to race with the best young racewalkers from all over the world. The powerful European teams are normally more to the fore in this event but in this different environment, it became obvious that the Chinese, Japanese, Australian and Central and South Americans were dominating.

That did not stop John from walking a solid pre-planned pace and holding his own on the extra-long 2k laps. John kept walking very solidly along with a team mate and reached the half way point in close to 22:30 and on schedule. That was excellent, as John was in the middle of the pack, holding rhythm and safe racewalking technique in front of the highest world level International racewalking judges.

John held his rhythm and pace until well past the 7k mark but then his two recent hard 10k international races began to take their toll on his tiring legs, but with true Irish and Mullingar Harriers grit, he fought for all his worth and, with amazing determinatio,n he refused to yield to that tiredness and fought tooth and nail for every place right to the finish line.

John finished in 25th, just one place behind his fellow Irish competitor. With that battling spirit, the Irish team finished 8th team overall and 3rd European team. Well done John.

After the arduous two-day trip home, John can now recuperate and focus on his upcoming Leaving Certificate examinations, content in the knowledge that he can compete with the best in the world, anywhere in the world [ML].

National Star Award for Jamie Wallace

Last Saturday at a star studded Gala Lunch in the Mullingar Park Hotel, Jamie Wallace was honoured by Athletics Ireland when he was presented with the 2025 National Juvenile Star Award for Westmeath. This award comes on the back of an outstanding year for Jamie in 2025, when he won the National 3,000m U19, won silver in the National 1,500m U19, silver in the National U19 cross country, and bronze in the 3,000m U20. He also recorded personal bests for 1,500m, 800m, and 3,000m in 2025 to crown a memorable year. Athletics Leinster also won the McGuinness Cup for best Region in T&F and Jamie played a big part in securing valuable points to help Leinster win the trophy. Congratulations to Jamie from everyone at Mullingar Harriers on receiving this award [GD].

Juvenile Spring T&F Meet deemed a great success

The weather couldn’t have been nicer last Sunday when we held the sixth edition of the Mullingar Harriers Juvenile Spring T&F Meeting. In glorious sunshine and calm conditions, our younger members age 9 to 15 years had an ideal opportunity to compete in a sprint, middle distance, long jump, and turbo javelin or javelin, and we also had an U16 girls mile and U16 boys mile, with trophies to be won, which should give our younger members something to aspire to competing for in the years ahead.

A very big number of youngsters competed in over 40 events and it was very busy from the start, but thanks to great assistance from a big team of coaches and parents, everything went to plan and everyone got to compete in the events they wished to. This was a great opportunity for our younger members to take part in track and field competition and introduce newcomers in particular to the ins and outs of competition, including assembly and check in at the start line, waiting in lane or in line at the finish for results to be recorded, and even attending a medal ceremony when called.

We hope they gained from the experience and also learned that the officials at any competition, not just this one, are there to help the athletes to take part and enjoy the event and there is nothing to fear in taking part.

Whether they won medals or not, everyone had fun and will have learned a lot about T&F competitions, which we hope will encourage them to compete over the coming season. Thanks to those that brought buns, cakes and other goodies and of course to the volunteers who manned the refreshment table and looked after the catering needs of the thirsty and hungry athletes, coaches, officials and parents.

A big thank you to the parents for taking the time to bring their children to the event and staying to provide great vocal support and encouragement, to all the children for taking part, but a very special thanks to Colm Walsh who put in many hours of preparation in the days leading up to the event to make it a success [GD].

Westport Running Festival

Westport played host to a running festival last Saturday, with a marathon, half marathon and 10k attracting over 2,500 runners across the 3 events. Mullingar Harriers was well represented in the 10k with 5 athletes and in the half marathon with 17 athletes.

First up for the Mullingar contingent was the 10k. It proved to be a great return to competitive action for Niamh McEnteggart as she led the women home in a field of nearly 1,400 runners, finishing fourteenth overall and winning the women’s race in a time of 39:05. Next home for Mullingar Harriers was Darren Carroll recording 40:22 and earning third in his master category.

Nuala Moran was thrilled to win her master category as she came home in a time of 54:42, with Terri Greene taking second spot in the same category with 55:37, and Pauline Troy completed the Mullingar contingent for the 10k and recorded a finishing time of 60.04.

In the half marathon, Conor Corcoran was first home in 1:29:44, followed by Tommy Byrne in 1:31:47, with Orla Gillespie next, covering the distance in 1:35:50. Following them in was Niamh Doherty (1:40:27), Joe Curley (1:41:11), John Long (1:41:18), Mark Dunne (1:43.23), Paul Ginnell (1:43:41) and Shaun Mills (1:46:30). Caroline Mullen was third in her master category with a time of 1:47:57, with Philip Burke next in 1:49:50, followed home by Matt Creagh (1:51:00), Aisling Corcoran (1:53:55). Kelly Dunne (1:56:19), Mark Geoghegan (1:58:20), Tom Byrne (1:59:36) and Martin Mullen (2:05:39). The group spent a relaxing evening in Westport to round off a great weekend in the West [MO’S].

Connemara Marathon and Ultra Marathon

The annual Connemara Marathon and Ultra Marathon took place last Sunday morning, on tough courses around the mountain wilderness of Connemara. Given the terrain, the marathon is regarded as one of the toughest in Ireland but Ciaran Mulkerrins dug deep and was delighted to finish well up in 21st place in 3 hours 13 minutes 51 seconds, completing his first official marathon.

The Ultra Marathon was 64k on a course that meandered past bogs, hills, lakes, and the Twelve Pin mountains rising up over Killary Lough, through Leenane village, around the Maam Turk Mountains and all the way back up to Maam Cross, certainly not a course for the faint hearted, but at least the weather was beautiful. Brendan Rice were up for the challenge and battled through to finish in 7 hours 53 minutes 42 seconds, and while he was understandably exhausted after, he was pleased with his run [GD].

Rhode 5k

The third of the Healthy Offaly 5k series, the Rhode 5k took place last Sunday morning. Weather conditions were ideal, with bright sunshine and little or no breeze. The course took a reverse figure of 9 out of the village towards Daingean, crossing the Grand Canal before turning right and running parallel with the canal, it then turned back at 3k, and back along the greenway beside the canal before emerging 800m from the village and back to the finish.

Mullingar Harriers had 14 runners taking part in a field of 380 athletes. Mark Darby had a great run, challenging at the front all the way, just pipped at the end but delighted with second place in a time of 15:53. Next home was Conor Walsh, winning the U20 men race in 16:43, then Mark Ronan in tenth place overall with a time of 17:04, and Eddie Newman won his master category in 18:30. Mark Duffy, Conor, Mark Ronan and Eddie combined to place third team.

Joe Doherty was next in for Mullingar Harriers in 18:41. Orlaith Flanagan was involved in a great race for the women’s title, just missing out to two others to finish third but pleased with her time of 18:52. Jason McKevitt ran 19:42, followed by Conleth Mullen (20:31), Leona Behan (23:12), and Claire Lennon Gavin was very pleased with her first 5k of the season, running 23:20. Michael O’Sullivan returned a time of 23:42, followed by Brigid McCabe who had a very steady run and her time of 25:34 earned her victory in her master category, and Nicky McCabe (26:23) and Catherine Walsh (30:15) completed the Mullingar group [MO’S].

Roscommon Harriers 5k series – Race 3.

Last Friday evening, Mark Darby was an impressive winner of the third race in the Roscommon Harriers 5k series, completing the course in 16:47 ahead of just over 130 finishers. Maura Dervin ran 22:04. Brigid McCabe ran 25:13, and Nicky McCabe ran 26:39 [MO’S].

Westmeath T&F entries

This coming Sunday the Westmeath T&F Championships will take place in TUS Athlone. Just like the corresponding indoor competition back in January, this event will be run in conjunction with Roscommon (and Longford this time too) but there will be separate medals for athletes from each county, with Mullingar pitted against Athlone in the Westmeath Championships. There is a good range of events available to choose from, including sprint, hurdles, middle distance, long jump, high jump, shot put and turbo javelin, depending on age. Entries are made online by the athletes themselves, using the jot form on the Heja groups, with a maximum of three events for U10 and U11, but no limit for older ages. Despite the title, this is actually quite a low key event and is ideal for our new members in particular to compete in track and field and is great preparation for the Leinster T&F late May and early June.

Leinster Novice and Masters Road Championships

The Leinster Novice and Masters Road Championships will take place on Saturday 2 May in Gowran, Co. Kilkenny. Entries close this coming Friday, and in a change to previous years, this year everyone enters themselves as individuals using the Entry 4 Sport entry system and when entered they’ll be automatically assigned to their Club team (and County team if sufficient numbers). There’s an entry link on the adult Heja group. As always, if anyone has any difficulty navigating the entry system, please don’t hesitate to contact Greg.

Linda O’Driscoll RIP

Last Thursday morning we said farewell to one of our own, Linda O’Driscoll. Linda was a regular at events up and down the country, whether wearing the Harriers singlet or the colours of Midland Tri Club. She lived life to the full and loved the chat and coffee after training. Linda bravely faced her illness and was a wonderful example to us all. She will be dearly missed by all that had the pleasure of knowing her. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.