Mullingar impresses on the National Indoor stage

Mullingar Harriers notes

Days one and two of the National Juvenile Indoors were held in the TUS Athlone indoor arena last Saturday and Sunday. Finn Roddy was first into action on Saturday morning in the heats of the u/9 boys 200m, which as expected were extremely competitive. Despite a great effort, Finn finished outside the qualification places for the final.

Rather than the traditional heats and finals, the 800m events were decided on the fastest times over two timed races in each age group. Chloe Bell was in race one of the u/15 girls 800m and knowing the finishing time was critical she pushed the pace from the gun, winning in a new personal best of 2:20.43. Race two had all the Provincial Champions and it ultimately resulted in a faster winning time, but when all the finishers were recorded, Chloe’s time put her in a fantastic fifth place overall.

Moving to the u/15 boys 800m, better known as a race walker, Gareth Glennon was in race one which went off very fast, too fast for Gareth’s liking and though he rallied in the closing stages finishing close to his personal best, he finished out of the top places. Running in race two was John McManus where he stuck with the pace in the initial stage but unfortunately got dropped by the leaders, ultimately also finishing out of the medal places.

Oisin Clarke went with the pace in race two of the u/16 boys 800m, taking on the challenge. The eventual winner ran a new Championship Record, which meant the pace took its toll on a lot of contenders, including Oisin, who was fifth in his race, but an impressive seventh overall on time.

Day one ended with the very technical sprint hurdles where Morgan Isdell ran in the u/17 boys 60m hurdles. Morgan is still new to this event and lot of his competition have a few years advantage on him. While he finished sixth in his heat, out of the qualification places for the final, he ran quicker than in the Leinster indoors showing that the hard work in training paid off.

Returning to Athlone for day two, Scott Cogan lined up in the u/17 boys 400m. With just six places in the final, and four heats, it was going to be very tight to make it through to the final, so tight that not even his second place finish was sufficient. A great outing by Scott, who has only recently focused on sprinting, showing signs of potentially far better days ahead.

The first of the boys walks on the track was the combined u/14 and u/15 boys 1,000m walk. Once the starter's gun went, the u/15 boys very quickly left the younger u/14 lads in their wake and within the u/15 group Gareth Glennon quickly built up a respectable lead. While most of the field fell back, Gareth's main rival kept tracking him hard and gradually pulled him in. At the bell for the last lap they were neck and neck in a terrific battle but his rival surged hard to pull a small gap on Gareth and so it stayed to the finish. Both walkers gave a magnificent display of competitive racewalking and Gareth finishing second in a great new personal best time of 4:28.23.

It was a combined race too for the u/18 and u/19 boys 1,500m walk. When the gun went, the u/19 Champion laid down the gauntlet with a very fast start. Only u/18 Daniel Glennon had the speed and ability to chase him and fairly quickly caught him up and then had the confidence to power on ahead. Soon Daniel showed his talent and class and, conscious of the close scrutiny of the judges, steadied his pace but still kept extending his lead all the way to the finish line. Another medal for the Glennon brothers, as Daniel obviously won own u/18 age group.

We finished day two with the short sprints where Finn Roddy lined up for u/19 boys 60m. Powering from the blocks he raced to a close fourth place in his heat, very close to his personal best, but missing out on qualification for the final by just one place, a mere five hundredths of a second. His time would have seen him qualify comfortably from another heat and Finn deserved more from his race but it wasn’t to be this time.

Well done to all who represented the club on the National stage, a great achievement in itself. Day three is scheduled for after the Easter break when Mullingar will have a number competing in the 1,500m [CW/ML/GD].

World Standard for John Glennon

What a weekend for Mullingar Harriers John Glennon. Having seen a major personal best and World class achievement taken from his grasp by the judges on the last lap of a World Tour Gold event in Slovakia two weeks before, he very quickly bounced back into action at the Austrian Open Race Walking Championship last Sunday week (22 Mar). With two weeks of intense technical work while still studying for his Leaving Certificate exams, John showed more of his family’s bravery and determination by going straight back into top flight European competition and another 10,000m racewalk. With the knowledge that he can walk as fast as the best he stuck to his task lap after lap until he completed the gruelling race and crossed the finish line in 43:41, a big new personal best.

However, the satisfaction of a personal best paled in comparison to the realisation that he was just over a minute inside the qualification standard for the World Racewalking Team Championships to be held in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil on 12 April. Upon arriving back into Ireland, John was delighted to receive confirmation of his selection the very next day. In Brazil, he joins Ireland’s strongest ever u/20 team, which includes a European medallist and all of whom have set national underage records. Everyone at the Club congratulates John on his excellent achievement and wishes him well on his selection [ML].

European Masters Gold for Sean McMullin

Most people can only dream of standing for their anthem with a medal around their neck. No stranger to this honour is Sean McMullin who dominated the 3,000m race walk in his age category with a polished display last Friday at the European Masters Indoors in Torun, Poland, finishing just over a lap ahead of second place to win, his eighth European masters gold medal in a glittering career [EC/GD].

Athletics Leinster Outstanding Contribution Award

At the recent Athletics Leinster Star Awards for 2025, presented in Carlow, the outstanding contribution award went to Greg Duggan of Mullingar Harriers. The award was presented by fellow club colleague, Catriona Duffy, the Chair of Athletics Leinster. The citation at the awards set out the contribution that Greg has made and continues to do for athletics.

The citation reads: “Athletics has been a major part of Greg’s life since his underage days with Dundrum South Dublin AC. He was an outstanding young sprinter and later a valued member of a very successful UCD squad. But it was with Mullingar Harriers that he made his mark on the Irish athletic scene. His arrival in Mullingar over 30 years ago was the start of his total dedication to the fortunes of the club. First as a coach and then as an administrator, during that time he has held almost every position on the club committee. His position as club PRO is legendary, never failing to have all club notes and events recorded. He was one of the people who masterminded the laying of the all-weather tartan track and was responsible for the installation of the new modern gym. Greg gained international selection for the European Masters track championships and in recent years has become very much part of Athletics Leinster and also part of Athletics Ireland administration. A quiet and unassuming man, no job is too big or too complicated or too difficult, he just gets on with it. His input to the development and success of Mullingar Harriers has been monumental, a man who certainly deserves the “Outstanding Contribution Award” from Athletics Leinster.”

Fit 4 Life programme comes to an end

The latest club Fit 4 Life programme came to a successful end on Monday evening (23 March). For the past 10 weeks beginners and people returning to running after a long absence have, with the support of our trained coaches, progressed to completing a timed 5k on our all-weather track.

A total of 64 participants completed the 10 week programme. The coaches now take a break for the summer. We will have a further programme commencing in late September with details to be confirmed in the early part of that month.

April Committee Meeting

The April meeting of the committee will be held on Tuesday (7 April) in the Clubhouse at 8.20pm after training. There’s a full agenda and a full attendance is requested.

Check the Club’s website at www.mullingarharriers.com or its Facebook page for all the latest news.