The final day of the AAI National Juvenile u/12-19 Track & Field Championships were held on Sunday 19th July at a warm and sometimes sunny Tullamore and the good weather seemed to help bring out the best in the Mullingar athletes.

Looking to revenge her defeat in the 800m the previous week-end, Linda Conroy made no mistakes in the 1,500m u/14 where she took control of the race from the very start and led all the way to win comfortably with a fine sprint finish and take another well deserved National title. In the corresponding boy’s event, Liam O’Reilly was running well and nicely positioned in 3rd place up to the bell and a medal looked likely, when he suddenly stepped off the track clearly troubled by something and appearing in some difficulty but fortunately he responded quickly to first aid and made a full recovery. He made the correct decision to stop when he did and someone of Liam’s ability will have plenty of opportunity in the future to race and win medals in National finals.

Ciara Hewson and Lorraine Daly lined up for the 1,500m u/15 full of anticipation but on the day it was Ciara who had the better race. Ignoring the extremely quick opening lap, Ciara ran her own carefully controlled race and as the laps passed she moved her way steadily through the field picking off the opposition to eventually work her way into 2nd place with a lap to go from where there was no looking back and she found a great burst of pace over the last 200m to make sure of her silver medal. Meanwhile, Lorraine ran well but the fast early pace had taken its toll. However she can be well satisfied with a great season overall and can look forward to the cross country season ahead.

Another athlete looking to avenge a surprise defeat over 800m the previous week-end was Shane Fitzsimons, who together with Thomas Lynn, lined up for the 1,500m u/15 full of determination. Shane dominated the race and made it look terribly easy and won comfortably to once again take his favourite top position on the medal podium, while Thomas ran extremely well though finished out of the medals but ran significantly quicker than in the Leinster Championships, further proof of his continuing return to full fitness and he can also look forward to the cross country season with some anticipation.

Good to see another pair of Mullingar athletes in the 1,500m u/17 where Robert Yorke and Thomas Fagan lined up. As seen the previous week-end, Robert really has found form of late and ran a determined aggressive race, staying with the pace and keeping himself in medal contention for as long as possible but unfortunately was pushed into 4th in the closing stages but can still hold his head high for giving full effort and as said of him last week, his first All-Ireland medal is not far away. For Thomas Fagan, the distance proved a little too short for his liking and though he ran well also finished out of the medals, a few places behind Robert.

Also in action at Tullamore was Vincent Connolly in the 1,500m u/18 and Aoife Hogan in the 1,500m u/19 where they ran brave races but finished outside the medals on this occasion. For Vincent, it was an end to a good track season during which he has shown good steady progress. For Aoife, it was her last underage track final and next year she’ll be making the transition to the Junior and Senior ranks.

After the 1,500m races it was the turn of the race-walkers where Mullingar had a sole competitor, Edel Glennon, in the 2,000m u/14. This is a difficult technical event and she competed well but finished out of the medals but we’ll see more of her talent in the coming years.

Combining the performances over the two week-ends of the National finals, Mullingar athletes won a total of two gold, three silver and two bronze medals, and recorded two fourth place finishes, in addition to many other very good performances, which reflects well on the hard work put in by the athletes and the depth of underage talent in the Club at present.
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By the way, there was success for Westmeath in the field events where Paul Collins of North Westmeath AC won the u/16 shot putt and discus with large winning margins in both events. Congratulations to Paul on his double gold medal performances.