For a variety of reasons, Mullingar couldn’t field a team in three of the relay races we had entered teams for, but we still had 24 juveniles in action on 8 teams at day 1 of the Leinster Indoors on Sunday 29th January and by day’s end after some thrilling races, they came away with 2 sets of silver medals and plenty of very near misses. Also competing in Nenagh were some of our Junior and Senior athletes and most of them won medals, making this a promising start to the indoor start season for the Club and based on Sunday’s performances, we expect many of the juveniles will win individual medals on days 2 and 3 in February.

First into action was Paddy Kelly in the senior men 3,000m and he revelled in the atmosphere of Nenagh with the small tight laps and was very pleased to take bronze and put Mullingar on the medal board. Aine O’Reilly was looking to make amends for the National junior 400m the week before and she really ran the junior 400m with real purpose and stormed through the opening lap to put her in a medal position and was very pleased to finish third and take bronze. Aine will now be looking forward to more improvement in the underage 400m on day 2 in February. Edel Glennon found the step up to junior 3,000m race walk a challenge but stuck to her task and finished in fourth, just out of the medals.

On to the relays then, which were run in two blocks, uneven age heats and finals followed by the even age heats and finals and gave some of our athletes the chance to move up an age to make up teams. First into action in the girls 4x100m u/13, Caitriona Kennedy, Daria Fidgeon, Caoimhe Gaffney and Andrea Brady ran a great race and finished 2nd in their heat, but with several heats, qualification for the final was on times and the Mullingar girls just missed a place in the final. Similarly for the 4x200m girls u/15 team of Laura Whitelaw, Rachel Glennon, Dorothy Bane and Claire Fagan who tore around the tight bends and finished 3rd in their heat but just missed a place in the final. First relay medals came in the 4x200m girls u/17 where Victoria Harris, Lisa Cooke, Caoimhe Kelly and Aisling Moody ran an absolutely faultless race to finish 2nd in a photo finish and take silver medals. It was first time indoors for Lisa Cooke and Caoimhe Kelly but they really got the hang of running the tight indoor bends and are sure to feature in the individual 200m in February.

The programme switched to the 60m sprints where Victoria Harris, the youngest in the race, absolutely rocketed from the blocks in the junior women race to take the early lead and made the older opposition work very hard to catch her, which they only managed in the final part of the race and she finished 3rd to take bronze, her first sprint medal out of the juvenile ranks. One just knows this is not her last.

Back to the relays again, this time the even ages where the 4x100m boys u/12 team of John Whitelaw, Enda Gaffney, Eoin Quinn and Colin Smith won their heat in great style but with several heats, qualification to the final was on times and the Mullingar boys missed a place in the final by only a fraction of a second. Agonizingly close but they still thoroughly enjoyed the competition and are looking forward to trying again next year. Ellen Cronin, Alisha Martin, Niamh Quinn and Adeola Ojoma-Amaka were terribly unlucky not to qualify from the extremely competitive heats of the 4x200m girls u/14, despite running really well and finishing 2nd in their heat.

In the 4x200m girls u/16, Lisa Cooke, Caoimhe Kelly, Aisling Moody and Faye Walsh were delighted to reach the final courtesy of an excellent team performance to finish 2nd in the heat. In the final, jubilation at finishing 3rd and thinking they had won bronze medals was short-lived as they were deemed to have committed a lane violation during the race and were disqualified. A bitter blow but we’ll see these girls win medals in future competitions.

Our 4x200m boys u/16 also made the final after Mervyn Harris, Glen Gaffney, Dean Murphy and Declan Brady ran their hearts out in the heat to finish 3rd and their time was good enough to put them in the final. The final was an exciting affair and the boys combined really well but had to settle for 4th, just outside the medals but top marks for effort.

The final relay with a Mullingar interest was the 4x200m girls u/18 where Victoria Harris, Elizabeth Carr, Lorraine Claffey and Lorraine Daly qualified comfortably from the heat with a 2nd place finish. The final had us all on our feet as the girls battled hard and really pulled out all the stops with one last effort and were rewarded with 2nd place and silver medals to round off the relay programme in style.

Adam Daly unselfishly took on the job of pacemaker in the junior men 800m, with the purpose of helping Shane Fitzsimons and Robert Yorke to a fast time. Going off at a very hard pace for the opening lap, Adam maintained the pressure and led through 400m spot on the predetermined time, with Shane and Robert on his heels. Shane took the lead on the third lap and urged on by everyone went on to win in a new personal best time of 1:54.14 with Robert a close second place behind him. This was team running at its best and great credit is due to Adam for perfect early pacing.

It proved a very long day in Nenagh but a successful one for the Club, and it was great to see so many parents make the long trip too to provide valuable support and encouragement. Our Juvenile athletes will return to Nenagh in three weeks time for two days of individual competition, all hoping to qualify for the All-Ireland finals in late March. Judging by Sunday’s performances, we’re confident many will realize their goal of making the National finals.