Most of the Mullingar Harriers group that raced the Great Ireland Run – (back) Emer O’Hanlon, Aine O’Reilly, Michelle Bohan, Liam McGlynn, John Bannon, Eddie Newman, Stephen Naughton (front) Amy Mahony, Aisling Corcoran, Sinead Whitelaw, Elizabeth Carr.

Mullingar Harriers women to the fore at Great Ireland Run

Published: Tue 12 Apr 2022, 11:14 AM

Last updated: Tue 12 Apr 2022, 11:36 AM

The Great Ireland Run made a very welcome return to the Phoenix Park last Saturday on a great morning for racing with crisp calm conditions and clear blue skies. The race incorporated the AAI National 10k Road Championships, adding a bit more spice to the race.

Clubs from all over the country attended, on the hunt for National honours, including sixteen members of Mullingar Harriers among the more than 1,300 entered, though the day belonged to the Mullingar women.

Team results were four to score for men in the open race and three for women. However, the AAI Championship teams were scored differently leading to a possible difference in the team results in comparison to the open team results.

AAI teams were based on the top four men and three women across the line, just like the open race teams, but because of master teams, which could be declared in advance, once three athletes were declared for a master age category, they could not move down and score on a senior team or have another athlete fill their place.

It all sounds very confusing, but when the numbers were crunched after the race, the Mullingar senior women came out on top to retain the title they won the last time the race was held.

Great news for our master women as they were victorious too, making it double National success for the Mullingar women. Several Mullingar athletes also won individual medals, adding to the success of the day.

National 10k contestants were in the first wave of runners and the Mullingar athletes were among the big number in this first group. In the women’s race, leading a strong Mullingar team and having a terrific race to finish seventh woman was Elizabeth Carr in 36:53, and with Sinead Whitelaw (37:45) twelfth woman (third in her master category) and Aine O’Reilly (38:35) fourteenth woman (first in her master category), the team finished first Club to the delight of all.

Following close behind was Michelle Bohan in 39:42, a personal best time, Amy Mahony making an excellent return to racing following injury by recording a new personal best of 40:27, Aisling Corcoran (42:32), Maura Dervin (42:36), third in her master category, Emer O’Hanlon with a strong performance (45:49) and Ciara Dillon (48:42) all racing hard to the finish. The team of Michelle Bohan, Aisling Corcoran and Maura Dervin combined to finish first Club in the master women category.

A great day for Mullingar women with two National team titles, three masters individual medals and a number of personal bests.

Always prominent throughout and having a great run in the men’s race to come home well up overall and third in his master category was Eddie Newman in an excellent 36:01, followed home by Tony Doran (37:44), Stephen Shanahan (38:04), Pauric Brady (38:23), Stephen Naughton (39:19), Liam McGlynn (42:05) and John Bannon (45:30), all satisfied with their efforts. Eddie Newman, Stephen Naughton and Liam McGlynn combined to finish fourth Club in the master men category, just missing medals.

Irish Universities T&F

A number of Mullingar Harriers athletes competed at the Irish Universities T&F Championships in IT Carlow last Friday and Saturday where, as expected, the standard was very high and the competition was fierce. The format of the two day competition was most heats were held on Friday afternoon and the finals on Saturday.

On a busy Friday, Charles Okafor (DCU) finished third in his 100m heat to advance to the semi-final, where he finished fourth to advance to Saturday’s final. He rounded off Friday evening by helping the DCU 4x100m relay team to victory in their heat and a place in Saturday’s final.

Better known as a sprinter, Odhran Cully (TCD) took on the challenge of the long jump where he finished a very creditable eighth place in an unfamiliar event.

Colin Smith (DCU) won his heat of the 1,500m with ease to advance to Saturday’s final. Shauna Leydon (UCD) qualified comfortably from her heat of the 800m to book her place in Saturday’s final.

On Saturday, Charles battled hard in the 100m final but finished out of the medals. He struck gold later in the day when he helped DCU to comfortably win the 4x100m final and earn an Inter-Varsity gold medal. In a very competitive 1,500m final, Colin kept in contention throughout to place third in a very close finish.

Unfortunately, Shauna was unwell in the 800m final and was unable to finish. However she recovered sufficiently in time for the 4x400m final late in the day where she helped UCD to third place.

Oisín Lane (UL) put in a polished performance in the 3,000m race walk to finish in second place and win an Inter-varsity silver medal and in the same race, Euan Lagan (DCU) finished fifth to earn valuable points for DCU.

Sarah Glennon (DCU) was just too strong in the 1,500m race walk, winning easily to take the Inter-Varsity title. The final race of the day with a Mullingar interest was the 5,000m where Jamie Battle (DCU) put in a very strong performance and has to be pleased with his third place finish.

By the end of the competition, the fruits of the Mullingar athletes’ labours were seen in the team scores with DCU first and UCD third in the women’s competition, and UL first and DCU second in the men’s, and overall DCU was first, UL was second and UCD third, great team results aided by the performances of the Mullingar athletes.

Juvenile T&F meeting

The club is organising a Juvenile T&F meeting at the Club grounds the week after Easter Sunday, on Sunday morning, April 24. There is no charge and the event is open to all current members aged eight years to 14 years of age.

There will be a sprint, middle distance, long jump and javelin for each age. All are welcome to compete and parents/guardians are very welcome to attend and support their children.

Leinster 10-Mile

For the adults, the Leinster 10-Mile takes place on Easter Monday in conjunction with the ‘Battle of Clontarf’ 10-mile, in St Anne’s Park, Raheny. All club members that enter will be automatically included on club teams, with three to score.