On Sunday
14th February the Club travelled in force both in terms of athletes and supporters to Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny for the
Leinster Junior and Senior Cross Country and the Juvenile Cross Country Relays where we
won five gold, one silver and two bronze in the relays and the Junior men won gold for first County showing that when it comes
to cross country in particular, Mullingar Harriers is the premier Club in Ireland.
Girls u/12
A
great team effort by Ellen Cronin, Niamh Quinn,
Adeola Ojomo-Amaka and Meabh McNulty
saw the girls just shaded for gold in the 4x250m for girls under 12 but they were still delighted with their
silver medals. We had more than one team and also competing were Laura Whitelaw,
Lucy McCartan, Hilary Harris,
Emma Glynn, Alannah Bate and Maolíosa NíLéannacháin and though each ran well, they were unlucky
to finish out of the medals but not for lack of effort and team spirit.
Boys u/12
First win
of the day came courtesy of Kevin Giles, Cormac
Dalton, Conor McHugh and Eoghan
Gallagher as they dominated from the start and led from gun to tape in the 4x250m for boys under 12.
Following them home were Craig Clinton, Rian Kelleher
and young John Whitelaw and Eoin Quinn
in 4th place, just outside the medals, but they ran extremely well for a young team.
Girls
u/14
Moving on to the 4x500m for girls u/14 we had Victoria Harris,
Linda Conroy, Aisling Bracken
and Caoimhe Shaw in fine form to win gold, and full credit
to Caoimhe Shaw who really had to dig deep to hold off a late challenge to cross the line first. We had more than winning
to cheer about though as Lorna Moody, Faye Walsh,
Aisling Moody and Niamh Quinn
worked extremely hard to stay in contention and were rewarded with bronze medals.
Boys u/14
In the 4x500m for boys u/14, Liam O’Reilly, Oisin Quinn, Jack Reid and Glen
Gaffney didn’t put a foot wrong and absolutely ran away with the race to win gold,
but top marks to Philip Doherty, Mervyn Harris,
James O’Leannachain and Eoghan Sheridan
for competing hard all the way to finish and even though they won no medals, can be very proud of their efforts.
Girls
u/16
With a squad like Donna Kiernan, Lorraine
Daly, Ciara Hewson, Elizabeth
Carr and Anna Ryan to choose from, it’s no wonder that
Mullingar took gold in style with a large winning margin in the 4x500m for girls under 16.
Boys u/16
We had two teams in the final relay of the day, the 4x500m for boys under 16
and after a storming opening leg by Aaron Glynn, it was up to Stephen Nea, Shane Fitzsimons and Ryan Blundell to hold the lead, which they duly did and Ryan crossed the line with a big smile
on his face to win the Club’s fifth relay gold of the day, followed home by the team of Ian McCormack, Patrick Fagan, Glen Gaffney and Jack Reid in third
place to finish a brilliant series of relay races for Mullingar.
Junior Men 6,000m
Rounding
off the day we had a full team in the Junior men 6,000m and it was good to see Jake
Byrne showing that he is getting back to full fitness with a good solid performance to take 2nd
place, and with terrific support from Vincent Connolly finishing very strongly
(9th), followed by Adam Daly, Stephen
Nea, Shane Kelleher and Ian McCormack
the team finished 4th, just out of the Club medals but they were delighted to finish 1st County and win Leinster
gold medals. Unfortunately, Robert Yorke was forced to drop out before the final
lap with a painful stitch but stayed near the course to cheer his team-mates on to the end.
Well done to St. Senan’s
AC in Kilmacow for organising last Sunday’s fixture. Kilmacow was the perfect venue with excellent underfoot conditions
for the athletes and favourable weather and a good course layout to suit the many parents and others who travelled in good
number to give encouragement and support and were well rewarded with excellent performances from all the Club’s athletes
that were in action.
