Harriers welcome return to juvenile indoor competition

The last time the Leinster Juvenile Indoors took place was way back in late February 2020, just before the first Covid pandemic lockdown.

It’s been a long time coming, but after a gap of two years that surely felt much longer, our underage athletes finally got to compete indoors again when the Leinster Juvenile Indoors were held in Athlone last Saturday and Sunday. For some it was a welcome return, but for many it was their first time to compete in the magnificent Indoor Arena at the re-branded Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) in front of a near capacity crowd each day.

The packed stand and the very large number of athletes entered on both days created a fantastic atmosphere in the arena and the roar of the crowd shouting on the athletes in the races was fantastic to hear after so long away from indoor competition. Among the very large number of athletes competing was seventy boys and girls from Mullingar Harriers.

Mullingar’s reputation in race walking was reinforced first thing on Saturday morning when young Daniel Glennon took to the track for the U14 boys 1,000m walk and was delighted to finish second and earn his first Leinster medal. His older brother, John Glennon, contested the U16 boys 1,500m and was just too strong and came home the winner and earn a Leinster gold medal.

The action then moved to the 1,500m. Muireann O’Donoghue contested the U16 girls 1,500m but despite a good race, finished out of the medals. The U16 boys 1,500m was run as a time trial, with two races, and the medals decided on the fastest times. Jamie Wallace ran in the first race, which set out at a relatively slow pace but came down to a furious sprint finish with Jamie emerging the winner of the race.

However, the second race was marginally quicker and the winner of that race took the gold, with Jamie finishing in second place overall to win the silver medal. Donagh Carey finished an excellent third place in the second race but overall finished out of the medals, though he enjoyed his first indoor racing experience.

The U17 girls 1,500m was also run as a time trial, with two races, and Mullingar had four girls in the first and faster race. Caoimhe Kilmurray made no mistake and came home the race winner in a close finish to win the Leinster title. Grace Byrne, Caoimhe Donohue and Jessica Cunningham also ran extremely well but had to settle for places outside the medals.

Philip McCartan had a straight final in the U17 boys 1,500m and after a spirited run was unlucky to finish fifth, out of the medal places. We finished with the U19 boys 1,500m where Ross Killalea kept himself in contention throughout but was unlucky to be run out of the medal places on the final lap and finished in fourth place.

Over at the long jump pit, Hui Fen Bartley (U13), Greg McDonnell (U13) and Katie Kilmurray (U15) all jumped well, improving with each attempt but finishing out of the medal places.

It was then on the 60m sprints, where the number of competitors in the younger ages meant there were a lot of heats and the competition was absolutely fierce. There were seven heats of the U12 girls 60m but Aoibhe Martyn, Grace Murphy and Lucy Kilmurray didn’t advance from the extremely competitive heats.

Seven heats too of the U12 boys 60m but Antonio Bertolo and Adam O’Connor qualified from their heats and advanced to the semi-finals but even though they put in great efforts, running quicker than in the heats, they didn’t advance to the final. Mullingar had eight girls in the U13 girls 60m, which needed nine heats to accommodate the massive entry for the event.

Beibhinn O’Reilly, Chloe Duggan, Casey O’Sullivan, Mia Brennan, Hui Fen Bartley, Molly Thornton-Sleator, Aisling Kilmurray and Kate Thornton-Sleator gave their best but none advanced from the hotly contested heats.

Scott Cogan qualified from his heat of the U13 boys 60m, but James O’Connor was unlucky not to. Scott ran faster in the semi-final but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to advance to the final but he has to take a lot of positives from the experience.

It took seven heats to run off the U14 girls 60m. Katie Glennon, Evie Kilmurray, Emma Lagan and Blathnaid Peters were very competitive in their heats but such was the standard of competition, they didn’t advance to the final. It was a similar fate for Aaron Conroy and Cian Hyland in the U14 boys 60m where both ran very well but didn’t qualify from their heats.

Katie Kilmurray finally broke the run of bad luck when she qualified comfortably from her heat of the U15 girls 60m but her involvement ended at the semi-finals, where despite a strong performance, she didn’t reach the final. Quyen Bartley and Fodhla Corroon gave good accounts in the heats of the U16 girls 60m but didn’t qualify for the final.

Kyle Faherty made it look easy in his heat of the U16 boys 60m, advancing to the final with a comfortable second place. Not so fortunate for Barry Walsh who ran well in his heat but didn’t advance to the final to join Kyle. In the final, Kyle powered from the blocks to third place and the Leinster bronze medal, the final medal to be won after a long day of indoor action.

Five medals won on the first day and lots of excellent performances set Mullingar up for an exciting day two on Sunday and first on the track on Sunday morning was Fodhla Corroon in the U16 girls 200m, negotiating the tight indoor bends in her first indoor 200m to finish fourth in her heat, but with six heats of girls, qualification was extremely difficult and she didn’t advance to the final.

There was no problem for Kyle Faherty in the U16 boys 200m, winning his heat with ease to advance to the final where he blasted around the tight bends to finish second and win his second medal of the week-end.

There were six heats of the U12 girls 600m and Mullingar had seven girls in action. Lily Walsh qualified comfortably from her heat but unfortunately wasn’t to be joined by Aoibhe Martyn, Orla O’Connell, Lucy Kilmurray, Emily Collentine, Aaliyah Downes or Lily-Rose Rock who gave spirited performances in their heats but didn’t advance.

The final was run at a fierce pace from the gun but Lily kept right in contention with the leaders. It all came down to a fierce sprint finish and Lily was very unlucky to be run out of the medals in a very close finish, crossing the line in fourth placed.

On to the U12 boys 600m where Antonio Bertolo, Louis Kiernan and Aonghus O’Reilly competed but only Antionio made it out of the tough heats and in the final ran very well but finished out of the medal places.

Róisín Flynn, Lisa O’Brien and Beibhinn O’Reilly competed in the U13 girls 600m and were unlucky not to qualify for the final, especially Beibhinn who finished third in her heat and missed qualifying for the final by a very small margin. Mullingar had four in the U13 boys 600m but Aaron Wallace, Scott Cogan and Greg McDonnell were unlucky not to advance from the heats and join Darren Corcoran who finished third in his heat to qualify for the final. In the final, Darren ran a very strong race and has to be satisfied with his sixth place finish in a very competitive race.

Tianna O’Leary ran an excellent race in her heat of the U14 girls 800m to advance to the final, but Eleanor Kiernan was very unlucky with her third place in her heat and just missed a place in the final by a small margin. Sadhbh Carey, Emma Lagan and Blathnaid Peters gave good performances in their heats but didn’t advance to the final. Unfortunately Tianna took ill during the final and was unable to finish; thankfully nothing too serious and she recovered well afterwards.

Conor Walsh made it safely through his heat of the U14 boys 800m, but Jake Bell, Fionn Carey and Conor Geoghegan weren’t as fortunate and didn’t make it out of their heats. Conor ran a very strong race in the final but finished out of the medals on this occasion, but will have learned a lot from the experience for the future.

Lydia McDonnell, Siofra O’Reilly and Muireann Reihill were unlucky not to advance from the heats of the U15 girls 800m but top marks for effort. Mullingar had five boys competing in the U15 boys 800m, where Cian Corcoran, Matthew Molloy, Luke Greene and Niall Brady made it through the heats, but unfortunately we couldn’t make it five in the final despite the best efforts of Txema Lozano in his heat.

Best of the four in the final was Cian who stormed through with a very late rush to finish just out of the medals in fourth place, with Matthew, Luke and Niall filling the minor places behind him.

Newcomer Ailbhe O’Farrell missed a place in the final of the U16 girls 800m by just one place so didn’t join Muireann Donohue who qualified from her heat and in the final put in a great effort but finished out of the medals. It was great to see Conor Liston advance to the final of the U16 boys 800m and running much quicker in the final, kept right with the action for most of the way but was run out of the medal places in a furious sprint over the final lap, but a sixth place finish was still a very good result.

Grace Byrne and Caoimhe Donohue could keep a bit in reserve when qualifying for the final of the U17 girls 800m and were joined by Caoimhe Kilmurray from her heat, but unfortunately Shauna Traynor missed a place in the final to join her three team mates. The final was a faster affair, which suited the Mullingar girls who kept in touch throughout but as the pace increased in the closing stages, Caoimhe Donohue was forced to drop back but Grace and Caoimhe Kilmurray pushed on to finish second and third in a very close finish.

Callum Costello and Pablo Lozano competed in the U17 boys 800m but the tight bends and the fast pace of indoor racing didn’t suit Callum on this occasion and he didn’t advance to the final to join Pablo who negotiated his heat safely and in the final competed with determination but finished out of the medal places.

Over at the long jump, Emily Collentine (U12) and Aaron Conroy (U14) enjoyed their competitions but didn’t get in the medals. Antonio Bertolo made his best jump in the third round of the U12 long jump to make it to the final and three more jumps but was very unlucky to miss a medal by only a few centimetres and finished a very creditable fifth place in an exciting competition.

It must be a bonus of the new all-weather track, but it was great to see so many 60m sprint hurdlers from Mullingar Harriers compete in Athlone. Lucy Kilmurray, Aoibhe Martyn and Aaliyah Downes (U12), and Chloe Duggan and Hui Fen Bartley (U13) had no trouble negotiating the barriers and despite not reaching their finals, they still thoroughly enjoyed their races.

Quyen Bartley (U16) was unlucky to miss a place in her final by just one spot but also enjoyed competing over the short sprint hurdle distance. Adam O’Connor (U12) stormed through his heat to make the final where he put in another terrific performance to finish fifth, a great result in his first 60m hurdles competition.

Aaron Wallace and Greg McDonnell (U13) made it safely through the heats and placed fourth and sixth respectively in the final, which are excellent results in a Leinster final.

Overall, it was a great two days of competition and finals reached or medals won or not, it was great to see the enjoyment of the Mullingar boys and girls that competed with such enthusiasm. The medal winners now qualify for the All-Ireland finals in Athlone in March.

Leinster silver for Aidan O’Donoghue

Taking place in conjunction with the juvenile programme in Athlone last Saturday was the Leinster Indoor Combined Events and Aidan O’Donoghue was the sole representative from Mullingar Harriers. Aidan competed in the master men pentathlon and started the day with the 60m hurdles where he placed third to get his points tally off to a good start.

A fourth place finish in the long jump saw him drop back, but he bounced right back with fine wins in the shot putt and high jump, and finished the day with the 1,000m run, where he finished third.

When the points were totalled, Aidan had added over 300 points to his personal best and finished second, only 32 points behind the winner. Congratulations to Aidan on winning the Leinster silver medal after a long day of competition.

National Star Award for Charles Okafor

Normally held at a Gala Function, a large indoor gathering was not possible due to the Covid health regulations in place at the time of planning the event, so the format for the presentation of the National Juvenile Star Awards for 2021 was changed this year and it was decided to present the Awards at the Regional indoors. Therefore, the Award winners for the Counties in Leinster were presented with their Awards at the Leinster Juvenile Indoors in Athlone last Sunday afternoon.

Based on his performances in 2021, the winner for Westmeath was Charles Okafor, his second time to receive the honour, having also won it in 2020. Charles won the All-Ireland 200m outdoor title in 2021 but the real highlight for Charles was competing at the European U20 T&F Championships in Estonia as part of the 4x100m sprint relay team.

A rising star in Irish sprinting, congratulations to Charles on this recognition of his outstanding achievements in 2021.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting has been rescheduled and will now take place in-person in the Annebrook House Hotel on Friday week (February 18) at 8pm.

All club members and friends are encouraged to attend to hear reports on the club’s performance, both in competition and how it is administered, and to have a say on club matters. The meeting will take about an hour and a half and there will be light refreshments served after the meeting.