(Updated 28 Oct)
novice men 2nd Club, 3rd County; correction to novice women Club team place
(Updated 26 Oct)
u/16 boys 2nd County, u/18 boys 1st County

Adamstown, Co. Wexford was the venue on Sunday 25th October for the first round of the Leinster Cross Country Championships with competition for boys and girls under 12, 14, 16 and 18 and for novice and master men and women. Apart from honours to be won on the day, at stake was a chance to compete in the All-Ireland Finals in front of a home crowd at Kilbeggan Race Course in November. Adamstown was a new venue for a Leinster Cross Country and it turned out to be an excellent course, well laid out and good firm dry ground, which was just as well given the awful weather the day before; not many course would have held up as well.

Despite missing a number of key athletes due to illness, such is the depth of talent in the Club at the moment that Mullingar still emerged as the dominant Club by a very long way, with our underage athletes winning:

6 Club titles (girls u/12, u/14, u/16; boys u/12, u/14, u/16)
1 Club 2nd place (boys u/18)
3 County titles (girls u/12; boys u/14, u/18)
2 County 2nd places (girls u/14; boys u/16)
1 County 3rd place (boys u/12)

5 individual titles (Cormac Dalton, Linda Conroy, Ciara Hewson, Shane Fitzsimons, Jake Byrne)
12 other individual top twelve places (Meabh McNulty, Laura Whitelaw, Michael Moran, Kevin Giles, Edel Glennon, Caoimhe Shaw, Padraig Moran, Glen Gaffney, Jack Reid, Lorraine Daly, Thomas Lynn, Thomas Fagan)

Our crop of newcomers showed great talent and it looks like we'll remain very strong for years yet. With team medals for the Novice men and women, and a number of master men and women age-group medals, Mullingar was clearly the Club of the day. A great feature of the day was the performances of so many of our newcomers, with many showing great talent and a bright future in athletics.

Under 12 girls 1,000m
Meabh McNulty provided a great start to the day with an impressive 6th place finish to lead the under 12 girls team of Laura Whitelaw (12th), Claire Fagan, Niamh Quinn, Ellen Cronin, Rachel Glennon, Adeola Ojomo-Amaka, Lucy McCartan, Dorothy Bane, Emma Derham, Ciara O’Looney, Hilary Harris, Emma Glynn and Katie Daly to 1st Club and 1st County titles. For some of these young girls this was their first taste of Championship racing and many of them are also giving away a year, so it will be very interesting to see them in action in the u/11 race in Tullamore in two weeks time when they should feature strongly among the medal places.

Under 12 boys 1,000m
In the boys u/12, Cormac Dalton ran a brilliant race and went clear of the very large field of athletes at the half way point to win by a wide margin in very convincing style, and with strong support from Michael Moran (4th), Kevin Giles (11th), David Mimnagh, Declan Brady, Jack Moran, Jonah Kelly, Tom Molloy, Eoghan Gallagher and Craig Clinton led the team to 1st Club and 3rd County. Like the girls u/12 team, many of the boys u/12 are giving away a year and will be in action in the u/11 race in Tullamore.

Under 14 girls 1,200m
Linda Conroy had to see off a late challenge in the girls u/14 but such is her talent and experience that she dug deep and crossed the finish line in 1st place, with great support from Edel Glennon (9th), Caoimhe Shaw (10th), Aisling Moody, Lorna Moody, Lauren Casey, Aisling Bracken, Victoria Harris and Faye Walsh to finish 1st Club and 2nd County.

Under 14 boys 1,500m
Padraig Moran had to settle for 2nd place in the boys u/14 after a thrilling race that came right down to a sprint finish to the line. Following in and packing well behind him was Glen Gaffney (9th), Jack Reid (11th), Oisin Quinn, Mervyn Harris, Eoghan Moore, Philip Doherty and Ian Martin to finish 1st Club and 1st County and continue Mullingar’s winning streak of Club titles. Liam O’Reilly exemplified the kind of team spirit that marks Mullingar out. Despite being quite unwell he didn’t want to let his team mates down and prepared for the race as usual. However, he really was unwell and Club officials withdrew him at the start line but he can earn his chance in training to compete in Kilbeggan.

Under 16 girls 2,000m
The girls u/16 saw Mullingar win 1st Club again, courtesy of Ciara Hewson with an exhibition run of strong front running to win comfortably, supported by Lorraine Daly (4th), Elizabeth Carr making a good return to fitness, Donna Kiernan with a welcome return to action again after a recent lay-off, Anna Ryan and Aine O’Reilly.

Under 16 boys 3,000m
Shane Fitzsimons made winning the boys u/16 look decidedly easy and led the team to 1st Club and 2nd County thanks to great team racing by Thomas Lynn (4th), Stephen Nea with a spectacular sliding finish, Ryan Blundell, Ian McCormack, Jonathan Daly, David Small, Joshua Kelly, Eoghan Lynam and Philip Giles.

Under 18 girls 3,000m
We had no team in the girls u/18 but Rachel Yorke and Amie Giles still gave their best in a very competitive race but finished out of the individual medals.

Under 18 boys 5,000m
We had a full team in the last underage race of the day, the boys u/18 where Jake Byrne showed why he is regarded as a real emerging force in middle distance running with a fine display of controlled running that took him to victory with plenty to spare. Thomas Fagan (8th), David Mahon, Shane Kelleher, Warren Walsh and Adam Daly with a terrific sprint battle to the line provided great support to finish 2nd Club. and 1st County. Another man not wanting to let his team mates down was Robert Yorke and he took to the line despite being barely over recent illness, but it had taken its toll and Club officials advised him to stop on the last lap to avoid serious injury.

Novice Women 3,000m
Moving to the Novice women, Mary Scully was the runaway winner, and with Riona Murtagh (9th) running a fantastic race, followed by Alwyn Kinane (10th), Sinead Roche, Sarah Mescall and Aine Devaney back in the Club colours after too long a break all running their hearts out, this fantastic team were popular winners of 2nd Club and 2nd County.

Novice Men 6,000m
In the corresponding Novice men’s race, first to finish for Mullingar was Tomas Navickas, closely followed in by Paddy Kelly, Liam McGlynn, Andrew Kinane, Paddy Daly, Aidan Gorry and Colm Walsh all packing well to win team medals for 2nd Club and 3rd County, giving Paddy Kelly his “birthday wish” of a Leinster medal!

Master Women 3,000m
As with all masters races, the women masters race was an intriguing affair, with lots of age categories in action together, so spectators are never fully sure how individual are faring against their competitors in the same age category. First in for Mullingar was Vera McCool (3rd in category), followed by Brigid McCabe (2nd in category), Breda Daly, Nuala Moran, Terri Greene, Breda McDonnell (2nd in category) and Geraldine Walsh (1st in category). No team medals but all were nonetheless pleased with their performances.

Master Men 6,000m
The final race of the afternoon was for master men where Ben Vaitkavichius was very pleased with his 2nd place finish in his age category, as was Christy Creagh with his 1st place in his category. Also competing was Greg Duggan, better known as a sprinter, who despite the best efforts of the very vocal Mullingar support, finished well outside any medal places and was just glad to finish the race at all, safe in the knowledge that his cross country season is over now and the next time he dons the Mullingar vest it will be for a sprint race.

These were exemplary performances from every one of the very large Mullingar squad, from the very youngest to the most senior master. The underage teams once again showed almost merciless dominance at Leinster cross country, as has been the case for many years now, but it was particularly good to see strong adult teams in action and making their marks too. Now that so many underage Club and County teams have qualified for the All-Ireland Finals in Kilbeggan in a month’s time, competition for places on the teams will be fierce, so all our underage athletes need to keep training hard over the next few weeks to earn their places.

With nearly 90 athletes from the Club competing last Sunday, the logistics involved in arranging transport was considerable and sincere thanks to all those who made their own travel arrangements and to those who travelled on the team bus and provided supervision. The Club is extremely fortunate to have so many members and supporters who never hesitate to give a much needed helping hand when required. The fruits of their support were evident in the first round.