Round 1 – 4th May 2011

Terrific start to the Mullingar Road League

The first Round of the “Pat Finnerty Memorial” Road League was held over a new 5km course through the wonderful trails and roads of Belvedere House and Gardens on Wednesday evening 4th May. Unfortunately, the fine spell of fine weather gave way to damp and overcast conditions but that did not deter the almost five hundred competitors from all over the Country and from abroad, from enjoying a much faster and more athlete-friendly traffic-free course that was met with unanimous approval. In fact, the race was a real thriller, when with 400m to go any one of six athletes would have fancied themselves to win it. At the line, Ger Heery of St. Brigid’s AC, the holder, had just one second to spare over Martin Lyons and Paddy Kelly, with Vinny Connolly a few seconds behind, and Gavin Doran and Declan Fahey (Tullamore Harriers) right on his heels.

In the ladies race, Shauna Moore of Dunshaughlin AC held off the determined challenge of Michelle O’Halloran, with Imelda Clark in third. A feature of the race was the huge improvement in the overall standard of fitness, particularly among the large “Fit 4 Life” contingent that has been training at our grounds for the past six months. Round 2 on Wednesday 11th should see another huge crowd, when it is expected that almost 600 will be on the start line. Again, we would appeal for participants to come early, especially those who will be registering for the first time. The nominated charity for this year’s event is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to which a donation will be made on the final night at the presentation of prizes.

Many thanks to everyone who gave up their free time and helped out on the first night taking entries, organizing car parking, helping as stewards on the course, recording the finish etc, and we appeal to everyone who can spare a couple of hours to help out again this week. Finally, thanks to the Westmeath Civil Defence for providing first aid and ambulance cover.

Round 2 – 11th May 2011

Mullingar Road League continues to grow week on week

There were a record number of 535 finishers for the second Round of the “Pat Finnerty Memorial” Road League in Belvedere on Wednesday evening 11th May. Coming on the back of the hugely successful “Run 5k with Ray” in April, for which the Club was the local organizer, and of course the very many Regional and National cross country fixtures that the Club has organized over many years, last Wednesday reinforced the Club’s reputation in staging very well organized races. That’s what comes from having so many members and supporters of the Club that are willing to put in the work when asked. Given the popularity of the series, we fully expect the record set in Round 2 to be beaten in Round 3 on 18th May.

Back to Round 2 when with 100m to go it looked like Paddy Kelly was going to win but Ger Heery (St. Brigid’s AC) put in a very determined final sprint to just take the lead with only yards to go and win for the second week in a row, with Paddy right on his heels in second, followed by Martin Lyons also finishing very strongly in third. In the ladies race, Shauna Moore (Dunshaughlin AC) also made it two out of two, ahead of Michelle O’Halloran and Ciara Dillon. Thankfully the rain we had on the first night was absent for Round 2 and although the evening was quite cool, most participants ran quicker than on the first evening and will be looking to improve their times again on the last two evenings. Round 3 promises to be another great race.

Many thanks to everyone who gave up their free time and helped last week taking entries, organizing car parking, being stewards on the course, recording the finish etc, and we appeal to everyone who can spare a couple of hours to help out again this week. Thanks also to the Westmeath Civil Defence for providing first aid and ambulance cover, which was required shortly after the race when one participant took ill and had to be taken to hospital as a precaution. Thanks too to Dr. Liam Dalton for providing his professional assistance with the casualty and making sure she was well looked after.

As on the previous two evenings, we would appeal for participants to come early, especially those who will be registering for the first time. The nominated charity for this year’s event is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to which a donation will be made on the final night, 25th May, at the presentation of prizes.

Round 3 – 18th May 2011

Mullingar Road League finishes this week

With three weeks of the Mullingar Road League over, an amazing 648 people have registered, making this year’s the most successful series yet by a long way, and there’s still one more week to go. No doubt the late Pat Finnerty, whom the League commemorates, would have been very proud. Feed-back from the participants has been extremely positive for the terrific traffic-free course through the grounds of Belvedere, starting near the entrance to Belvedere and finishing beside Lough Ennell. Even the weather is behaving itself and the rain held off nicely last week.

The result of the men’s race was more clear-cut on Wednesday 18th compared to the first two Rounds when Ger Heery (St. Brigid’s AC) took the lead with 300m to go and pulled clear of Paddy Kelly and despite Paddy’s best effort he was unable to close the gap at the finish, with Vinny Connolly finishing very strongly in third place, just ahead of Martin Lyons. That makes it three out of three for Ger Heery and he is the favourite to win the series outright and retain the Pat Finnerty Memorial Trophy. Shauna Moore (Dunshaughlin AC) also made it three out of three by winning last week, though Michelle O’Halloran finishing in second was very close on her heels, with Imelda Clarke (Na Fianna) in third. The ladies race will be very interesting on the final night as Shauna will be looking to win the series and take the Pat Finnerty Memorial Trophy for the first time but faces a stiff battle from Michelle.

The final night is Wednesday 25th and it promises to be a real thriller with plenty of prizes to be won in the various junior and master categories, as well as many spot prizes, which will be presented afterwards in the Reception Centre in Belvedere.

Round 4 – 25th May 2011

Terrific finish to the Mullingar Road League

We still had newcomers registering last week for the final Round of the Mullingar Road League and over the four weeks nearly 700 registered to take part, a record number and totally eclipsing the number that took part last year, proving the increasing popularity of road races, and this one in particular. The success of the League was due to the army of volunteers who gave up their free time to make it the success it was. These are the people who take registrations, record the finishers, compile the results, steward the course, organize prizes, and all the other tasks required to run a race series successfully.

Schools T&F commitments prevented Jake Byrne from taking part in the earlier Rounds, but he certainly saved the best to last and for the final week showed why he is regarded as one of the top juniors in the Country as he set off at a blistering pace and took the early lead, which he increased steadily over the 5km course to cross the finish line first in a new course record of 15:19. This is going to be a tough record to break. The Club’s other top-class junior, Vinny Connolly also had a fantastic race and finished second, just ahead of Ger Heery (St. Brigid’s AC), followed by Declan Fahy (Tullamore Harriers), Thomas Lynn (Mullingar Harriers) and Michael Gibson Brabezon filling the top six places in the men’s race. First to finish in the women’s race was Olivia Ní Shuilleabháin (AIT), followed by Lorraine Daly (Mullingar Harriers), Sinead Nolan (Annalee), Zofia Zieba, Breda Daly (Mullingar Harriers) and Caoimhe Moore (Dunshaughlin) to fill the top six places.

With prizes decided on the total of the three best times over the four races, this meant there were battles taking place throughout the entire field for prizes in the various categories. After the race, there were refreshments for everyone in the Courtyard Café at Belvedere and the prizes were presented to the various category winners by Susan Finnerty, wife of the late Pat whom the League commemorates. While Ger Heery finished third on the night, he was the clear overall winner of the senior men’s category for the third year in a row, and in the senior women’s category, Shauna Moore (Dunshaughlin AC) had all the work done with victories in the first three Rounds and was a worthy overall winner and both were presented with the Pat Finnerty Memorial Trophies for first man and woman.

The other men’s prizes were awarded to Paddy Kelly 2nd (Mullingar Harriers), Martin Lyons 3rd (Mullingar Harriers), Peter Mooney 4th (Meath), Declan Fahy 5th (Tullamore Harriers) and Michael Gibson-Brabazon. Women’s prizes were presented to Michelle O’Halloran 2nd (Mullingar Harriers), Olivia Ní Shuilleabháin 3rd (AIT), Sinead Nolan 4th (Annalee AC), Zofia Zieba 5th and Anna Greenworth 6th. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was the nominated charity for the Road League and instead of giving participants a T-shirt or similar when they registered, part of the entry fee was set aside and representatives of SVP were presented with a cheque, which will be put to very good use helping those most in need in Mullingar.

The Road League succeeded in introducing hundreds of men and women to the benefits of running and fitness and hopefully many of them will continue in the sport and take part in the various low-key races throughout the Midlands in the months ahead. Keep an eye on the Club’s fixture list for details of plenty of other road races and fun runs.

Finally, many thanks to the Management and Staff of Belvedere House, the Westmeath Civil Defence for providing first aid cover, but especially to all those who took part.