Star of the Sea AC Cross Country 2009

Amended 4 October

The underage athletes of Mullingar Harriers have quite a reputation in cross country running, so heading off to Meath on Sunday 27th September 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 an amazing fifth year in a row and justifying the Club’s hard earned reputation. This was the first time for some of our newcomers to compete in the Club colours, and they proved once again that the Club just keeps finding new talent year on year and they got into the swing of competition with ease. Teams of three were required to win points towards the trophy for best overall Club. By day’s end, our underage teams had won 8 team prizes and placed second team in 4 more races, which of course means they easily retained the Star of the Sea AC Shield for Best Juvenile Club. That makes it a record five-in-a-row. Another trophy to make its way back to Mullingar again (or to Mount Temple, to be absolutely correct!) was the Sean Higgins Memorial Perpetual Cup, presented to the winner of the boys under 17 race, which was won by Thomas Fagan for the second year, so he retains the trophy and it’s now four years in a row that Mullingar has won this trophy.

Being on high ground in south east Meath, with a good slope to the land, underfoot conditions were ideal for running. The ground conditions and the good weather combined to make this an enjoyable experience for the many newcomers and gave them an appetite for further competition. The great results all around give us great confidence that Mullingar athletes will feature strongly in the upcoming Leinster Championships.

First race of the day was the 500m for girls under 9 and the Club got off to the best possible start with Maolíosa NíLéannacháin winning, Aoife Darby 2nd, Elysia Greene 3rd and young Jennifer Fidgeon 11th to earn maximum points for Mullingar.
Liam Moran finished very strongly in the 500m boys u/9 to place 6th, with John Whitelaw 8th and newcomer Ronan McHugh providing the vital third score in 10th to earn points for 2nd team. Also part of this team and running very well were newcomers Rory Caffrey and Anthony Moran.
Newcomer Daria Fidgeon led the team home in 6th place in the 500m girls u/10, followed by Megan O’Leary 8th, Caoimhe Gaffney 10th and Sarah Sheridan packing well to place 2nd team.
We had no team in the 500m boys u/10, but Jack Moran won an individual prize by finishing 4th, followed closely by newcomers Conor McHugh 7th and Sam McCartan 10th, finishing very strongly.
Likewise no team in the 800m girls u/11 but individual prizes for Méabh McNulty 2nd and Niamh Quinn 5th who ran brilliantly and fought all the way to the line.
Simon Carr took no prisoners in the 800m boys u/11 where he pulled clear of any trouble early on to win convincingly and lead the team of Joseph Moran 3rd, Ciaran Nolan 10th, and newcomers Craig Clinton and Gregory O’Reilly to victory.
In the 1,000m girls u/12, good to see Claire Fagan 5th and Laura Whitelaw 6th back in form again, and with good support from newcomer Lucy McCartan 9th, Hilary Harris 10th, Niamh Nolan and newcomer Róisín Foley, the girls' "A" team finished 2nd and the "B" team 4th.
Cormac Dalton and Patrick Shaw battled in the 1,000m boys u/12 where Cormac just had the edge to win from a very strongly finishing Patrick in 2nd and with Kevin Giles providing the important third score in 8th place, took maximum points for 1st team.
Aisling Moody was a revelation in the closing stages of the 1,000m girls u/13 and thoroughly deserved her individual 4th place prize, with Kelly Molloy also running well in 10th, but a pity that we hadn’t a third girl to make up a team.
No shortages of Mullingar colours in the 1,200m boys u/13, with 8 boys in action. Led home by Oisin Quinn in 1st place, Glen Gaffney 2nd and Mervyn Harris 5th, team "A" won. James O’Léannacháin in 6th led team "B" to 2nd place with support from newcomer Philip Doherty 12th and Jack Kennedy 13th. Providing great support to both teams were Jack O’Leary and Eoghan Sheridan.
The 1,200m girls u/14 saw Linda Conroy give an exhibition of front running to win well and with great running in support from Caoimhe Shaw 2nd, Lorna Moody 4th and Lauren Casey 8th, the girls easily finished 1st team.
It was a similar story in the 1,500m boys u/14 where Padraig Moran ran to victory, leading the team of Liam O’Reilly 2nd and Eoghan Moore 9th to victory.
Ciara Hewson made no mistakes in the 1,500m girls u/15 and ran strongly from the front to win, holding off a late challenge from a fast finishing Lorraine Daly in 2nd and Elizabeth Carr in 4th to win the team race.
Thomas Lynn was unlucky to be beaten into 2nd place after a furious sprint finish in the 2,000m boys u/15 and with Leigh Walsh running well in 12th place, a pity we hadn’t another boy to make up a team.
Moving up to the older juveniles, Anna Ryan ran steadily at the back of the pack for most of the 2,000m girls u/17 race but with 400m to go she let loose with a ferocious sprint finish to race into 4th place, with Áine O’Reilly running well in 12th and only for injury to Amie Giles that forced her out in the early stages, team prizes would have been assured.
Thomas Fagan was looking to win the 4,000m boys u/17 race for the second year, but was still completing his warm-up when the race started, so he had to dig deep and work hard to make up the sizeable gap that opened at the start. Thomas is a strong and very experienced runner and he used all that experience to work his way steadily back to the pack and eventually took the lead and pulled away to win well and retain the Seán Higgins Memorial Perpetual Cup. With great support from Robert Yorke 2nd and Stephen Nea with a phenomenal sprint finish over the last 300m to finish 3rd, team victory was ensured. Providing great team support was Adam Daly 6th, followed in by Shane Kelleher making a good come-back to athletics to finish 8th.

With the conclusion of the juvenile races, it was no surprise when it was announced that Mullingar Harriers had won the Star of the Sea AC Shield for Best Juvenile Club for the fifth year in a row.

With the juvenile programme concluded, Rachel Yorke was our sole participant in the junior women 3,000m where she ran a very good race over the tough hilly course and thoroughly deserved her prize for 2nd place.

The final event of the day was the 6,000m for junior, senior and master men. Jake Byrne ran the perfect race, covering a break at the half-way mark and on the final lap pushed the pace up the last hill to pull away and win by a large margin. Vincent Connolly also ran extremely well in support to finish 3rd junior and with Warren Walsh providing the vital third score, Mullingar finished 3rd mens team. Greg Duggan meanwhile was battling gamely with the tough four lap hilly course, and cheered on all through by the Mullingar supporters, was pleased with his 3rd place finish in his master age-category to round off the day’s activities.

Overall, some great individual performances but also some great spirited team running, which is essential for cross country success and gives us great confidence ahead of the upcoming Leinster Championships. It was particularly good to see many of the newcomers winning medals.

Finally, many thanks to the many parents who traveled to support and encourage all the athletes, from the very young to the not so young, as it does make a difference to the athletes to be cheered on.