Amended 2 Nov - Andrew Daly, 6th score boys u/12
Sunday 30th October marked another incredible chapter in the annals of Mullingar Harriers when its underage teams made a clean sweep of the Club team titles at the first round of the Leinster Cross Country Championships in Belvedere. Competition was for boys and girls under 12, 14, 16 and 18 years of age and for Novice and Master men and women. As well as winning all the underage Club team titles, our underage teams won 6 County team titles and a County silver, they had 4 individual wins and another 18 top-12 finish places. However, not to be outdone our senior and master athletes also showed their class as the Novice women finished 2nd County, the Master women 3rd County, the Novice men 1st Club and 3rd County, and the Master men finished off the day’s competition with bronze medals for 3rd Club. These fantastic results marked out Mullingar as the outstanding Club on the day by a long way.

Any concerns about underfoot conditions because of the terrible rain the previous week-end, followed by the rain during the week, proved unfounded as Belvedere once again proved itself to be more than a match for the worst that the weather can throw at it. True, there were a few places on the course that got slippery as the day progressed and there were a few fallers in some races, but it would be hard to find another venue that wouldn’t have become a complete mud bath, given the recent weather and the pounding of so many races. On the day, the rain held off and we were treated to fine dry conditions, admittedly windy at times but that only aided drying.

Before the Championships proper began, there were non-Championship races over 1,000m for boys and girls under 10 years of age, and athletes as young as 7, 8 and 9 years of age from across the Province competed with great enthusiasm, chasing a top 12 finish place to get a medal. No surprise that many young Mullingar athletes got among the medals.

Finishing in 7th place and winning an individual medal in the 1,000m for girls u/10 race Shelly Smith was first of the Mullingar team to finish, followed closely by Síofra Ní Léannacháin in 9th, then Ciara Smith, Jennifer Fidgeon, Bea Drummond, Francesca Walsh, Alison Bane, Caoimhe Brady, Caoimhe Monaghan and Rachel Darby, all competing and running extremely well. Many of these young girls will be competing under 11 in Wexford in two weeks time and last Sunday’s race was an ideal taste of competition. In the 1,000m for boys u/10 race, Eoin Quinn was best of the Mullingar boys in 4th place, followed Ciaran Luby in 7th, Colin Smith in 11th, Sean Cronin in 12th, then Rian Hogan, Mikey Moffett, Brian Farrell, Tumelo Tlou, Brian Gaffney, Paddy Rafferty, Oisin Murray, Paul McCool and Thomas Kennedy. This was great experience for these young boys and gives us great hope of team success at under 11 in two weeks in Wexford.

On to the main programme then, starting with the 2,000m for girls under 12, where Aoife Darby had a great run and finished in 8th to lead the Mullingar team of Andrea Brady (10th), Daria Fidgeon and Alisha Martin overcoming a bad stitch in the closing stages to gold medals for 1st Club. With Susan Glennon next in and Megan McNamee finishing strongly to provide the vital sixth score, and with great support from, Maolíosa Ní Léannacháin Elysia Greene, Sarah Moloney, Caoimhe Gaffney, Amy Maxwell, Sarah Glennon, Caitriona Kennedy, Victoria Carr and Laura Gaffney, the girls finished 1st County. By finishing in the top-twelve, Aoife and Andrea will also compete on the Leinster team in the All-Ireland Finals in Sligo.

Conor McHugh ran side by side with the eventual winner in the 2,000m for boys u/12 and was only narrowly beaten into 2nd place after a terrific race and sprint finish to earn a place on the Leinster team, where he’ll be joined by Jack Moran who finished 5th, and with great support from James Drumm and John Whitelaw, the team finished 1st Club. Close behind was running strongly in support was Enda Gaffney and with Andrew Daly providing the vital sixth score, Westmeath finished 1st County. Also providing great team support was Charlie Drumm, Joseph Cronin and Peter Bane. This is a very promising team, many of whom will be running under 11 in two weeks time.

The gold medals continue to come in the 3,000m for girls u/14 where Claire Fagan (6th), Alanna Bate (7th) and Laura Whitelaw (8th) secured their places on the Leinster team in the National Finals and Ellen Cronin made sure of the Club team gold, followed by Niamh Quinn, Rachel Glennon, Lucy Langley, Meabh McNulty and Katie Daly to easily win 1st County.

We had yet another Club and County gold double came in the 3,000m for boys u/14 where Mullingar had a great 1-2-3 as Cormac Dalton won our first individual title of the day, just having the edge on Patrick Shaw (2nd) and Shane Hughes not long back in training finishing a brilliant 3rd. Michael Moran really had to dig deep to overcome illness in the closing stages and battled to the finish to secure the gold medals for 1st Club. Next in was Declan Brady, followed by Senan Lynam, Eoghan Gallagher, Adam Loughrey and Darragh Monaghan to take gold for 1st County. This talented team will be difficult to beat in the National finals.

Linda Conroy took the pace out hard from the gun in the 4,000m for girls u/16 and really showed her class as she cruised to victory in convincing style. With Aisling Moody (3rd), Caoimhe Shaw (10th) and Lorna Moody running very strong, there was no doubt where the gold medals for 1st Club would go, and with magnificent team running from Edel Glennon and Faye Walsh, the girls just missed out on County gold but were still delighted with their silver medals for 2nd County.

Taking a leaf out of Linda’s book, in the 4,000m for boys u/16, Padraig Moran took up a commanding lead from early on and never looked troubled as he made winning a Leinster title positively easy! Jack Reid showed his class with a spirited run to finish 5th, just ahead of Glen Gaffney in 6th and with Liam O’Reilly, Oisin Quinn and Eoin O’Brien packing well, and with great support from Jack Galvin, Mervyn Harris and Dean Murphy, the gold medals for 1st Club and 1st County were secured easily.

It was great to see Elizabeth Carr make a spectacular return to form and earn a place on the Leinster team in the National finals with a marvellous 7th place finish in the 4,000m for girls u/18, where she’ll be joined by Lorraine Claffey who finished very strongly in 9th, and with great team support from Lorraine Daly who had been very ill during the week and from Anna Ryan, it was gold yet again for Mullingar for 1st Club.

Hopes were high of another Mullingar individual victory in the 6,000m for boys u/18 and Shane Fitzsimons didn’t disappoint the home crowd as he turned in another fine performance to show what a truly outstanding athlete he is and ran to victory. Thomas Lynn looked equally impressive as he ran his finest race this year to finish 2nd, and with Patrick Fagan really impressing everyone with a magnificent race to finish 5th and Ryan Blundell earning his place on the Leinster team with a 12th place finish, Mullingar easily took gold for 1st Club. Also running extremely well and finishing strongly, Jonathan Daly, Gavin Doran, Eoin Lynam, Stephen Nea and Philip Giles secured the gold medals for 1st County to round off a thrilling juvenile programme where Mullingar won all the Club team titles on offer. Also competing on the team was newcomer Wayne Murphy but unfortunately he was unable to finish the course on this occasion.

On to the senior programme then where the novice women 4,000m was a keenly fought contest, as always. Best of the Mullingar team was Michelle O’Halloran, closely followed home by Ciara Dillon, Eva Ross, Miriam Walsh and Lorraine Brady. Despite fine team running Mullingar didn’t feature in the team medals, but with Olivia Ní Shuilleabháin of Athlone IT finishing just behind Ciara, the Westmeath team took silver for 2nd County and 4th Club.

We had a very strong team in the novice men 6,000m where Vinny Connolly led for most of the race, but on the final lap he developed a very painful stitch and had to ease back. Vinny was passed by Paddy Kelly in the last kilometre and it Paddy finishing a marvellous 9th that led the Mullingar team of Vinny (12th), Martin Lyons, Michael Gibson-Brabazon, Andrew Kinane and JP O’Brien who all ran extremely fine races to 1st Club and 3rd County. Thomas Fagan also competed in the novice team race and even though he ran a promising opening lap, developed a problem and was forced to slow down and was eventually unable to finish. The novice men race is one of the most competitive races on the cross country fixture list and the Mullingar team was clearly delighted to take Club gold.

The master women competed over 4,000m and there was no surprise that first home for Mullingar was Maura Dervin, and she was followed by Paula Murray, Vera McCool, Patricia Broderick, Breda McDonnell (1st in category) and Geraldine Walsh (2nd in category) to take bronze for 3rd County, and the team finished 5th Club.

Last race of the day was the master men 6,000m where David Fagan turned in a sterling performance to lead the Mullingar team of Paddy Daly, Ben Vaitkevichius, Pat Muldoon (our latest International athlete!), Liam McGlynn, Enda Finnerty, Seamus Moran and Sean McMullin (2nd in category) to 3rd Club (and 4th County) and rounded off a memorable day for Mullingar Harriers. All the team can be proud of their performances.

No doubt, but the Club’s underage athletes truly excelled themselves last Sunday and further reinforced the Club’s reputation as the best underage cross country Club in Leinster. With so many Club and County medals won by underage teams, and so many finishing in the top-12 and therefore qualifying to represent Leinster in the National Finals too, this surely ranks as the best performance by Mullingar in a Leinster Championships and the Club will be very well represented in the National Finals in Sligo on 27th November.

Hosting a Leinster cross country is a big undertaking for any Club but Mullingar is very fortunate to have so many dedicated members and supporters and friends that responded so well to the appeal for help last Sunday in particular, but also in the weeks leading up to the event getting the course ready and attending to all the other "back room" tasks that make for a successful event. Sincere thanks to Westmeath County Council and in particular to Bartle Darcy, the General Manager of Belvedere, and his staff for their assistance in hosting the event. The first class facilities in Belvedere came in for much praise from athletes and parents and coaches.

Special thanks also to Brian Gillen and his dedicated volunteers in the Westmeath Civil Defence for providing essential first aid cover. Their presence was much appreciated last Sunday and it very reassuring to know that any request for first aid was responded to with great care and professionalism. Thanks also to the very many stewards who helped on the day with parking, marshalling, assisting at the start and finish areas, and all the other largely unseen but critical tasks required for the smooth running of an event like this, and to the very many parents for turning out in great number to support our hugely successful teams.

Finally, special thanks to Elizabeth Carr and Victoria Harris for singing Amhrán na bhFiann at the beginning of the day. They got everyone’s attention and you could have heard a pin drop throughout the course! Well done girls on a great job.