Tullamore Harriers Show Up Well At Juvenile Indoor Championships

Here's all the action involving the club over the last week.

Stueven and Ryan at All Ireland Indoors

Ruby Stueven and Andrea Ryan both competed in 1500m races at Day 1 of the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships in the TUS International Arena in Athlone on Saturday March 19th.

The championships return after a two-year absence and there was no shortage of talent on show as the future Irish athletics stars took to national competition.

Andrea was first up in the U16 Girls 1500m and was competitive right from the starters gun. She was among a group of five that broke away and when the sprints started with 400m to go Andrea really dug in. Despite her great run Andrea missed out on a medal as she finished fourth in a seasons best on 4.51.70. Still to be in the top 4 in Ireland is a good return on the great commitment to training that Andrea shows each week.

Ruby lined out in the U19 race and was at the front from the gun. Recently she has led most of her races but in the All Ireland Ruby decided it was best to sit in. Over the last four hundred meters Ruby found herself in third chasing the leader Hannah Kehoe. She closed on her all the way to the finish and although she finished second she should be well pleased with a time of 4.42.14 off a relatively easy early pace. Having raced and won gold in the National Juniors last week, this is Ruby’s second All Ireland medal in less than a week.

Silver Lining for Stueven in Athlone

Ruby Stueven and Andrea Ryan were joined by Niamh Garvey for the 800m races at Day 2 of the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Indoor Championships on Sunday in Athlone.

All three progressed with ease to their finals and after a long day really performed well on a national stage. Niamh Garvey was first up in the U15 800m. She raced smartly and after the first two laps was sitting at the back of the pack in sixth place. She then started to move up and reached fourth place with a lap to go. She closed in on the medallist’s all the way to the finish line and should be delighted with her fourth place finish and a PB of 2.20.24, six seconds faster than her previous best.

In a tactical race Andrea Ryan also acquitted herself well. She was among the leaders from the start and when the sprints started on the last two laps she was flat out as she gave chase to the leaders. Her efforts saw her finish in fifth in a very good time of 2.22.52 considering the early pace.

Ruby Stueven followed up her silver medal in the 1500m in Day 1 with another second place finish in the 800m. Cork’s Maeve O’Neill led the race out and the fast pace she set saw a new Championship record set so it was great to see Ruby able to run strongly in second. Her time of 2.13.19 an improvement of over 1.5 seconds over her previous best.

Two of our athletes from the Sprint group - Katie Deverell and Eimear Cotter made their debut at the National Indoor championships this weekend.

Katie Deverell competing in the U16 girls high jump, comfortably cleared her first three heights of 135cm, 140cm and 145cm and barely grazing the bar in her first two jumps at 150cm. Katie felt the pressure in such a competitive environment and was very unlucky again on her third attempt grazing the bar with her calf. Katie finished in 8th place an outstanding result for her debut at the indoor nationals and no doubt a big learning curve for her. On Sunday Eimear Cotter qualified for the U16 girls 60m hurdles. Drawn in a tough heat, Eimear ran 9:54 secs, just one hundred of a second off her PB and finished in 5th place. Unfortunately her 9:54 wasn’t good enough to make the final losing out by a mere nine thousandths of a second for that eight spot thus finishing 9th overall. In sprint hurdles the key is getting that first hurdle correct setting up the rest of the race. Eimear nailed it many times in training the week building up to the Nationals and also in the warm up, but didn’t execute to her potential in her heat so it was a battle the whole way to the finish line. A huge learning curve for both of these girls and no doubt it will pay off in the coming season. Well done to Eimear, Katie, Ruby, Andrea and Niamh on a successful indoor season. Well done to all the club coaches who have worked with these great athletes and help achieve such high standards.

Mullingar AON Half Marathon.

A popular local race, the Mullingar Half Marathon usually attracts a good number from the club and this year we had 15 competing. Just over 1,178 completed the Half Marathon and the inaugural 5k had 248 finishers. The course is a generally flat course on one loop but the headwind for the last 5k along the canal bank into the finish is always a tester.

Stephen Conroy (1:10:38) and Elizabeth Carr (1:19:56) were 1st man and woman in the half marathon and Mathew Glennon (16:59) and Laura Buckley (19;11) were winners of the 5k.

Jonathan Dunne (16th overall) lead the Tullamore Harriers contingent with a time of 1:18:26 followed by:

Enda Black 1:28:04, Dermot Smith 1:37:20, Alan Mitchell 1:40:23, Sean Spollen 1:46:12, Sean Reynolds 1:48:13, Eugene O’Dea 1:48:52, Paul Shaw 1:51:21, Martina Lydon 1:54:46, Mags Grennan 1:59:10, Helena Buckley 1:59:10, Ann Marie Kelleher 2:02:46, Noreen Hunt 2:03:50, Patricia Shaw 2:04:04, Anne Daly 2:06:01, Joe White 2:13:02.

In the 5k we had two athletes towing the line: Nita McLoughlinn who was 9th overall and 5th lady finisher in 20:45 and Jim Langan with another inspirational run of 27mins.

Well done to Richel Murtagh and Liz Ryan who raced last weekend at the Bohermeen Half Marathon. Richel posted 2:07:55 and Liz 2:08:04.

Couch to 5K Race

The finale of the Tullamore Harriers C25k was inspirational - seeing our 2022 5k athletes cross that finish line and collect that well deserved finishers medal.

Our C25K members started their running programme on the 24th of January and despite very harsh weather conditions for most of those Monday and Wednesday nights, they stuck to the plan and put in huge efforts. Last Wednesday was the result of all that hard work with some very impressive times posted.

Congratulations to each and every one who signed up, attended and lined out for the finale. Some of our C25k’ers were unfortunate to miss the race tonight due to injury or illness but be proud of your journey and achievement.

A huge thank you also to all the club members who have supported this group for the past 8 weeks and for encouraging them.

First across the line tonight was Emily Burke in a super time of 26.46. 2nd finisher was Patrick Daly and 3rd Martin McGettrick.

Full results:

Place Name Time

1 Emily Burke 26.46

2 Patrick Daly 28.07

3 Martin McGettrick 28.11

4 Amy O Sullivan 28.22

5 Brian Conway 28.29

6 Sarah Fitzgerald 28.34

7 Catherine Lyons 28.58

8 Michael Kinsella 29.18

9 Deirdre Rigney 29.33

10 Michaael Mulleny 29.36

11 Lorraine Healy 29.45

12 Miriam O Brien 30.11

13 Janet McHugh 31.05

14 Geraldine Meyler 31.13

15 Andrea Peilow 32.20

16 Mary Hensey 32.21

17 Rhona Dillon 32.34

18 Catherine Lally 32.34

19 Serena Cahill 32.41

20 Kiela O Toole 32.45

21 Georgie O Toole 32.46

22 Marian Whelan 32.48

23 Enda Finlay 33.37

24 Sara O Malley 33.54

25 Andrew Flood 34.21

26 Joan Casey 34.24

27 Madeline Minnock 35.32

28 Amanda Hogan 36.43

29 Dympna Flynn 37.00

30 Siobhan Galvin 37.25

31 Danielle Devine 37.31

32 Claire Charles 37.38

33 Janice Duffy 37.38

34 Marian Fleming 38.33

35 Moya O Brien 39.35

36 Mairead Guinan 41.00

37 Laura Cusack 42.29

O’Connor Runs 2.10 for 800m

After ending an impressive indoor season a week ago, Ava O’Connor was back on track at the Dr. Dan Caprioglio Early Bird meet in Pueblo, Colorado to kick off her outdoor season. Ava raced the 800m and had a stellar race as she won with a time of 2:10.82. This is a PB for Ava and with Pueblo being at an altitude of 4700 feet the time for NCAA ranking purposes is adjusted to 2.10.12.

Portlaoise 5k

We had 2 runners in the Portlaoise 5k on St Patrick’s Day. This race was the opening race for the Kia Race Series and attracted a very high class field of athletes with the first 100 finishers under 18 minutes. 1st man was Sean Tobin (Clonmel Ac) in a fast time of 14:13 and 1st lady was Aoife Cooke (Eagle Ac) in 15:54

Barry Mooney had a great run posting 16:49 (58th place overall) and Melissa Hogan had a pb with a time of 41:29

Well done to you both.

Mallow 10 Mile

Well done to Sandra Busteed who raced the Mallow 10 miler last weekend. Sandra posted 1:35:27.

Tullamore Harriers Half Marathon 2022.

We are back!!! Entry is now open for the 2022 Tullamore Harriers Half Marathon. Sign up for a top class race now and you won’t be disappointed. Entries are expected to sell out really quickly so don’t leave it too late to Include the Tullamore Half Marathon in your goals for 2022. As a result from the very high standards set and improved on by Tullamore Harriers, this event is classed as one of the best Half Marathons in the country. It offers so much for runners of every standard from 1st timers to the highly competitive athlete.

The Tullamore Half Marathon hosts the Offaly and Leinster Half Marathon Championships so there are plenty of individual and team medals up for grabs. The prestigious Quinlan Cup will be awarded to the winning mens team and the Phyllis Delaney Cup to the winning ladies team

The race as always will be on closed roads to ensure safety for our athletes and allow nothing to get in their way!!

Condolences

Tullamore Harriers would like to offer our condolences to the Graham family on the passing of Bridget Graham

Fixtures

Sat 26th Mar Leinster Senior, Masters & Junior Indoors Athlone

Sun 27th Mar Leinster CE Athlone

Sat 2nd Apr AAI Juv Indoors Day 3 Athlone

Sun 10th Apr AAI National 10K TBC

Mon 18th Apr Leinster 10 mile Raheny

Sun 24th Apr AAI Road Relays TBC

Sun 24th Apr Offaly 5K Road Race Series Banagher

Sat 30th Apr Leinster Novice & Masters Road Championships Gowran