(Updated 12 Nov)

The perceived wisdom leading up to last Sunday for the second round of the Leinster Cross Country Championships in Charleville Castle, Tullamore with competition for boys and girls under 11 years to under 19 years, and Intermediate men and women was that the Mullingar uneven age teams weren’t as strong as the even age teams that dominated in Wexford two weeks previously. However, no one told our underage teams and they confounded us all with some thrilling races and by scooping Club and County prizes at under 11, 13 and 15 and booking their places on teams for the All-Ireland finals in Coleraine in December.

4,000m Intermediate Women
However, the race of the day had to be the Intermediate women 4,000m where Mary Scully ran a truly brilliant race, always keep in contention by covering every surge and break. With 800m to go it was down to a straight one-on-one battle and the pace picked up for the final push for the finish, but with 400m to go, cheered on enthusiastically by the strong Mullingar support, Mary took the lead and turning the final bend into the home straight found another burst of speed to make sure of victory and win her first Leinster Intermediate cross country title. Eva Ross gave good support, as did Breda Daly and Nuala Moran, but finished out of the team medal places. A pity the full Novice women team that ran so well in Wexford didn’t run, because they would have surely challenged for team honours.

10,000m Intermediate Men
The Intermediate men’s race over 10,000m was a long battle over 5 laps of the challenging course. Ben Vaitkavichius was best of the Mullingar men and finished 11th, leading the team home, followed closely by Paddy Kelly in 12th and Tomas Navickas in 13th, with Paddy just getting the better of Tomas in the last 200m. With Liam McGlynn finishing strongly, and support from Aidan Gorry, Matt Glennon and Enda Mimnagh, the men won medals for 2nd Club and 3rd County. The medals were particularly appreciated and will be cherished by Paddy Kelly as he ran the race in memory of his first cousin, Ann-Marie Kelly RIP, who died last week aged only 19 years of age. It explains the real edge in Paddy’s race and the utter determination to perform at his very best.

Before the titanic battles of the Intermediate races, the juvenile programme saw Mullingar teams win 5 Club gold, 1 Club silver, 3 County gold and 3 County silver medals. With 2 individual winners and 16 other top twelve finishers, Mullingar will be very well represented at the All-Ireland Finals in December.

800m Girls u/11 (corrected 12 nov)
Meabh McNulty was in great form in the 800m for girls under 11 and finished a very close 2nd place, and with terrific support from Niamh Quinn 5th, Adeola Ojomo-Amaka 9th and Ellen Cronin 12th, Club gold by a wide margin was assured. Strongly supported by the rest of the very large team of Aoife Darby, Maolíosa NíLéannacháin, Allanah Bate, Elysia Greene, Daria Fidgeon, Ciara O’Looney, Gemma Swords, Nicole Gorry, Emma Derham, Megan O’Leary, Katie Daly and Niamh Moore, it was no surprise that the girls also won County gold.

800m Boys u/11
Another very close 2nd place came from Simon Carr in the 800m for boys under 11 and with Jonah Kelly 6th, Joseph Moran 9th and Jack Moran 13th packing well, Club gold was easily won. Conor McHugh, Donal Coughlan, Sam McCartan, Mark McCann, Craig Clinton, Eoghan Bracken, Cathal Faulkner, Ciaran Nolan and Niall Derham provided great support also and ensured the team finished 2nd County, only a few points off gold.

1,000m Girls u/13
Aisling Bracken was unlucky to finish in 13th in the 1,000m girls under 13, just one place off an individual medal but with the team of Rachel Glennon, Aisling Moody, Faye Walsh, Claire Fagan, Laura Whitelaw, Lucy McCartan, Emma Glynn, Kelly Molloy, Hilary Harris and Eilis Harkin providing such great support running, was very happy to have led the girls to 2nd Club and 2nd County.

1,200m Boys u/13
In the 1,200m for boys under 13, Glen Gaffney fought all the way to the line in a packed finish to take 3rd, just ahead of Oisin Quinn 5th and Cormac Dalton 6th, and with the welcome return of Patrick Shaw after recent illness Mullingar was the runaway winner of the Club gold. With Mervyn Harris and Kevin Giles following closely behind, together with great support from James O’Léannacháin, Philip Doherty, Declan Brady, Ciaran Bracken, David Mimnagh, Jack O'Leary, Tom Molloy, Jack Kennedy, Eoghan Gallagher, Eoghan Sheridan, the team finished 2nd County.

1,500m Girls u/15
No surprise that the first individual title of the day came courtesy of Ciara Hewson in the 1,500m girls under 15 with a convincing win, and with Linda Conroy 2nd, Lorraine Daly 4th and Edel Glennon 9th, the team won Club gold by a ridiculous margin! Elizabeth Carr continues to make great progress on her return to fitness after injury and finished strongly, with Caoimhe Shaw and Donna Kiernan close behind, followed by Lauren Casey, Victoria Harris and Lorna Moody providing the vital scores to win County gold too.

2,000m Boys u/15
Shane Fitzsimons did what he does best and tore straight to the front in the 2,000m for boys under 15, and with no-one willing to take on the challenge and try to stay with him, there was no surprise he won by a very big margin. Great to see Thomas Lynn running so well though and take a well deserved 2nd place, followed by Padraig Moran 5th and Ryan Blundell to win another Club gold for Mullingar. With Jack Reid, Joshua Kelly and Eoghan Moore providing terrific support, the team also won County gold. Unfortunately, Liam O’Reilly was forced to drop out of the race due to illness and we hope he gets better soon and we look forward to seeing him in action at the All-Ireland Finals.

2,000m Girls u/17
We didn’t have a team in the 2,000m for girls under 17, but Amie Giles, Anna Ryan and Aine O’Reilly all ran well and but for one more girl would have finished 3rd Club.

4,000m Boys u/17
Thomas Fagan just lost out in a sprint finish in the 4,000m for boys under 17 and finished 5th, to lead the team of Shane Kelleher, Stephen Nea running an outstanding last 1,000m, Adam Daly, Robert Yorke finishing bravely despite illness, David Small and Aaron O’Brien to 4th Club and 5th County, only missing Club medals by a few points.

3,000m Girls u/19 
Rachel Yorke and Aoife Hogan were our sole representatives in the 3,000m for girls under 19, finishing 13th and 14th respectively, unfortunately just outside individual medal places.

6,000m Boys u/19
We all looked to Jake Byrne for another individual title in the 6,000m for under 19 boys but a painful hip problem forced him to drop out, leaving David Mahon and Warren Walsh to carry on and they finished well but with no team, they had nothing to show for their valiant efforts.

As Tullamore was so close, everyone drove there, so there was great support from very many parents and they were entertained with another day of cross country running success for Mullingar. The weather was particularly kind and even though part of the course got quite broken up, we all know it would have been a whole lot worse if it had rained like it had all week leading up to the event.

With medals for six Club teams, six County teams and 18 athletes eligible to represent Leinster too, Mullingar will have a large team of athletes at the All-Ireland finals in Coleraine in December. Everyone must keep up the pressure in training between now and then, so they can give their best possible performances on the National stage. Of course, before then we’ll be in action in Kilbeggan on 22nd November for the National Inter-County Cross Country and Juvenile Even Ages.