‘Six-in-a-row” cross country success for Mullingar

One has to wonder sometimes how Mullingar Harriers continues to find new underage cross country talent year after year. Our underage athletes have a well earned reputation as being the best in cross country running, so heading off to Meath last Sunday for the annual Star of the Sea AC open cross country fixture, hopes were high of retaining the trophy for best overall juvenile Club for a sixth year in a row.Teams of three were required to win points towards the trophy for best overall Club. By day’s end, our underage teams had won 11 team prizes and placed second team in 4 races, which of course means they easily retained the Star of the Sea AC Shield for Best Juvenile Club. That makes it a record six-in-a-row. Thomas Lynn was delighted to bring another trophy back to Mullingar when he was presented with the Seán Higgins Perpetual Cup for winning the boys under 17 race, making it five years in a row that Mullingar has won this trophy.Things got off to a great start with the 500m for girls under 9 where Rachel Darby finished 4th and led the team of Síofra NíLéannacháin 8th, Jennifer Fidgeon 10th, Alison Bane and Sadhbh Ní Léannacháin to victory and maximum point for Mullingar. Young Eoghan Quinn ran a blinder in the 500m boys u/9 to win well, and with great team support from Paul McCool, Thomas Kennedy and Gary Farrell, the boys were delighted with their medals for second team.There was a great race in the girls 500m u/10 where Aoife Darby just got the edge and won, with Maolíosa Ní Léannacháin close on her heels in 2nd and Elysia Greene 3rd and newcomer Elaine Gallagher also running well and making up the team to earn maximum points for Mullingar. In the 500m boys u/10, John Whitelaw was in third place and running very strongly for the finish when disaster struck and he took a heavy fall and was very disappointed not to finish and be part of the winning team. Andrew Daly ran a spirited race to finish 4th, and with Charlie Drumm 7th, Enda Gaffney 10th and Ronan McHugh running really well, the boys finished joint first team.The longer distance proved no problem for Daria Fidgeon in the girls 1,000m u/11 as she led the team home in 4th place, followed by newcomer Alisha Martin 5th, Caoimhe Gaffney 9th and Caitriona Kennedy packing well to place 2nd team. In the boys 1,000m u/11, Jack Moran was only narrowly beaten into 2nd place but with Conor McHugh 3rd, James Drumm 5th and Peter Bane running brilliantly, the boys easily scooped the medals for first team.Méabh McNulty was first home for Mullingar in the girls 1,500m u/12 with a 2nd place finish, ahead of Niamh Quinn 3rd and Katie Daly in 11th providing the vital third score to win the medals for first team. Great to see Claire Fagan back in action in the girls 1,500m u/13 where she finished very strongly in 4th, with Laura Whitelaw 7th, Hilary Harris 8th and Dorothy Bane 10th providing great team support to finish first team. Cormac Dalton ran with his customary strong front-running style and was the clear winner of the boys 1,800m u/13. Patrick Shaw finished very strongly to finish 3rd, just ahead of Kevin Giles 6th, Declan Brady 7th and with Eoghan Gallagher and Niall Brady also finishing well up, the boys won medals for first and second team.We didn’t have a team in the girls 2,000m u/14 but Aisling Moody made an excellent sole representative for the Club and earned her podium place with a fine 2nd place finish. Glen Gaffney and Oisin Quinn are the best of friends but a race is a race and they fought a terrific battle over the last 300m of the boys 2,200m u/14 with Glen just getting the edge this time to win ahead of Oisin, and with Mervyn Harris powering to 4th, the medals for first team were easily secured.Linda Conroy made it look very easy in the girls 2,200m u/15 with a very smooth piece of front-running to win comfortably, and with Caoimhe Shaw 4th and Victoria Harris 7th also running extremely well, the girls finished first team. The boys 2,500m u/15 was a great race with Mullingar packing well as Padraig Moran finished 2nd, Liam O’Reilly on his heels in 3rd and Jack Reid in 5th to secure the team gold medals. This is a team to watch in the Leinsters.Moving up a year to the girls 3,000m u/17 didn’t faze Lorraine Daly as she effortlessly covered the distance to win well clear of her nearest rival and with Lorna Moody 5th and Anna Ryan 11th providing great support, led the girls to team gold medals.All eyes were on the 6 Mullingar athletes in the boys 4,500m u/17 where we were looking to retain the title for a fifth year. Thomas Lynn and Stephen Nea took up the early running, with Ryan Blundell, Jonathan Daly, Philip Giles and Eoin Lynam making up the full squad. With a little over 1,000m to go Stephen Nea made his move to the front, showing how he has matured in the last year and not afraid to take on the challenge, but Thomas Lynn kept in touch and on the last hill it was Thomas in front and Stephen relegated to third but looking very strong. The final downhill stretch to the finish was where Stephen made his second move, accelerating into second place and chasing after Thomas, but Thomas had too great a lead by then and crossed the line first to win the Seán Higgins Memorial Perpetual Cup. With great support from Stephen Nea in 2nd, Ryan Blundell 6th, Jonathan Daly 7th, Philip Giles making a welcome return to athletics and Eoin Lynam, no surprise the boys took medals for first and second teams to round off the juvenile programme.With so many team wins, there was no real surprise when it was announced that Mullingar Harriers had won the Star of the Sea AC Shield for Best Juvenile Club again.With the juvenile programme concluded, attention turned to the women and men races. The women competed over 4,000m and this was a combined junior, senior and master race. First to finish for the Club in 5th place overall was Michelle O’Halloran enjoying her best race in a long time to win her master category, followed by Vera McCool, Rachel Yorke (2nd junior) and Terri Greene providing the vital third score to secure first team prize in the senior/master combined category. The final event of the day was a thrilling 6,000m for junior, senior and master men where Robert Yorke showed real class with a spirited determined run to finish 11th overall and 1st junior, just ahead of the fast finishing Thomas Fagan 2nd junior, and Adam Daly taking the 3rd junior prize and securing the second prize for the combined senior/junior category.Martin Fagan wins Rathfarnham 5km in new course recordLast Sunday morning (26th Sept), Martin Fagan took full advantage of the dry calm sunny weather and ran to victory in the Rathfarnham 5km road race with a very impressive 13:54, which was a new course record and proves that this is one of the fastest courses in Ireland. Martin ran the first mile in 4:03; it’s downhill, but still!!For the record, second home was Joe Sweeney (DSD) in 14:05, with John Travers (Donore Harriers) third in 14:18, a new Junior record for the course and perhaps putting down an early marker of his form for the Ireland junior men team to compete at the European Cross Country in Portugal in December?Also competing was Kieran Nolan and he was pleased with his performance and finish time of 18:51.Liz McDonnellMemorial 5km Road RaceCongratulations to Ciara Hewson on her performance at the Liz McDonnell Memorial 5km road race in Celbridge, Co. Kildare Sunday (26th Sept) where she finished 6th overall in a terrific time of 18:20, easily winning the prize for first junior lady.Midland Mini Marathon 10km Road RaceStarting and finishing at the Annebrook House Hotel last Sunday afternoon (26th Sept), the Midland mini marathon 10km road race in aid of the Niall Mellon Trust drew a good attendance from near and far in support of this very worthwhile charity. Flying the flag for Mullingar Harriers and first home was Paddy Kelly, followed by Mark Carroll in second and JP O’Brien in fourth. Also competing and running well were John Bannon, Christy Creagh and Keith Gorry. Well done to them all.Westmeath Cross Country ChampionshipsEveryone who took part in the Schools cross country is very welcome to compete this coming Sunday (3rd Oct) in the first round of the Westmeath Cross Country Championships for boys and girls under 10 years to 18 years, which takes place in Belvedere at 11am. The second round will be the following Sunday (10th Oct) also at 11am and will be for boys and girls under 9 years to 19 years, and for men and women junior, senior and master. Juvenile Club and County teams for the Leinster Championships will be picked after both rounds. The Leinster Championships take place over two Sundays (24th Oct and 7th Nov), so with two weeks between each, juvenile athletes run in their own age-group and can also move up an age-group to make up teams. We expect all juveniles will compete in both rounds or they might not be selected for teams.October Committee MeetingThe October meeting of the committee will be held next Tuesday, October 5 in the Club house at 8.30pm after training and a full attendance is expected.Fixtures29th Westmeath Schools Cross Country, Belvedere3rd Oct. Westmeath AAI Cross Country (even ages) Belvedere 11am