Tullamore athletes in action at Leinster U20, Senior, Master, Juvenile Relay Indoor Track and Field Championships

Our athletes made the short trip to Athlone for the Day 1 & 2 of the Leinster Indoor Track and Field championships on the 31^st of January and 1^st of February, with a strong series of performances across sprint, middle-distance, jumps and throws and podium finishes across multiple age groups.

It was a season opener for some and a targeted race for others

First up were the Under 20 women’s 60m heats, with Eimear Cotter, Lucy Champ and Katie Deverell opening their indoor seasons early in the morning.

Unfortunately, Eimear's starting blocks caused her problems, and she didn't get out as well as she could. Her race didn't go to plan, finishing in 8.30 seconds, Lucy had a better run with 8.09 seconds and Katie better again with 7.98 seconds.

While Katie and Lucy made the final, Eimear missed out by mere three hundredths of a second. Less than an hour later in the final, Katie produced another solid performance, running 8.00 seconds to claim a well-earned silver medal while Lucy produced the exact same time as her heat to come home in 6th position. These runs would set them up nicely for the remainder of the day.

Following on from the ladies the Tullamore senior men had a good representation in the 60m sprint with Emmanuel Ilori, Aaron Keane and Dolapo Kush.

Aaron and Emmanuel produced solid runs with 7.03 and 7.19 seconds respectively, both qualifying for the final, but unfortunately Kush had a little hamstring twinge and didn't run his best on the day.

In the final Aaron couldn't get into the race from lane two but still managed to run a little quicker with 7.00 seconds to finish in 4th place.

In the Masters men M40 category a sharp looking Rory Deverell produced a blistering run to take gold with a new personal best time of 7.88 seconds while Olive Mannion competing in the W60 category took the bronze medal in 11.15.

Following on from their 60m runs earlier in the morning, Katie Deverell and Eimear Cotter competed in the U20 ladies’ long jump.

Katie was still in form from her 60m sprint producing and excellent jump of 5.20m to take gold while Eimear, determined to make up for her earlier disappointment, jumped a solid 5.08m to take home a Leinster Silver medal.

Later in the day, both Teagan Delaney and Lucy Champ lined up in the Under 20 women’s 200m heats. Teagan enjoyed a fine season opener, producing a strong run in a time of 27.80 seconds, which unfortunately saw her miss out on a place in the final by just one hundredth of a second.

Lucy, who had already raced earlier in the day in the 60m, looked sharp once again, winning her heat in a time of 26.11 seconds to record a new indoor 200m personal best. Just two hours later, Lucy returned to the track for the 200m final. While Eileen Daly of Kilkenny made a strong start, Lucy responded well, steadily closing the gap and producing a superb finish to claim a silver medal in a new lifetime best for the 200m of 25.84 seconds.

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Following the U20 women, Rory Deverell lined up in the M40 200m. Rory ran strongly through the opening 140 metres but stumbled slightly coming off the bend, briefly losing momentum, but he recovered well to cross the line in 26.00 seconds and secure the gold medal.

Mary Walsh competing in the veteran W75 group took gold in the 200m in (43.94)

Moving on to the longer distances, in the 800m there were 3 Leinster medals won - Aurelia Crotty U20 - 2nd place (2:21.93), Jim Langan M80 - 1st place (6:10.46) and Olive Mannion W60 - 1st place (3:50.72).

Jim doubled up on gold taking the win in the 1500m also (9:21.18).

In the Throwing events we had a medal haul also.

Weight for Distance (56lbs)- Joseph Mulligan M35 - 1st place (4.52)

Weight for Distance (20lbs) -Olive Mannion W60- 1st place (5.22)

Weight for Distance (35lbs) – Adrian Brennan M60) 3^rd place (5.50).

Shot Put (7.26kg) -Joseph Mulligan - 1st place (8.77)

Shot Put (5kg) - Adrian Brennan - 3rd place - (8.76).

Shot Put (3kg) -Olive Mannion - 3rd place (6.38).

On day 2, the Tullamore U17 Girls delivered a superb team performance to take bronze at the 4 x 200m, clocking an impressive time of 1:54 - a massive three-second improvement on last year’s personal best.
The girls who now progress to the National Championships. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Maddie Deverell, who was unfortunately injured two weeks ago.

Juveniles

Our Track and Field Juvenile athletes enjoyed a great day of racing with many making their debut at the 4x200m event in a very competitive field. Some athletes ran up an age group to make up teams with every athlete giving it their all. This valuable experience will stand to them going forward.

Teams and athletes on day.

U12 Girls - 3rd in heat

Eve O'Reilly

Maeve O'Halloran

Eva Dunne

Laoise Kelly

Sub: Fayah Shaughnessy

U13 Girls (Blue team) - 2nd in heat

Elsie Kilmartin

Grace Cosgrove

Maebh Geoghegan

Mollie Coughlan

Sub: Maeve O'Halloran

U13 Girls (White team) - 5th in heat

Iona Geoghegan

Ella Maher

Eve O'Reilly

Laoise Kelly

Subs: Fayah Shaugnessy, Eva Dunne

U13 Boys - 3rd in heat

Thomas Bourke

Niall Martin

Ben Matthews

Sean Mitchell

Sub: Eli Stokes

U14 Girls - 4th in heat

Lily Bourke

Mary Macken

Kate McLaughlin

Mollie Coughlan

Subs: Grace Cosgrove and Elsie Kilmartin

U15 Girls - 3rd in heat

Emily Cosgrove

Maebh Jones

Lily Bourke

Mary Macken

Sub: Kate McLaughlin

U16 Boys - 5th in final

Seamus Boland

Diarmaid Eager

Noah Fitzpatrick

Rian Leamy

Well done to all competitors.

Club mile record for James Dunne in Boston.

James Dunne excelled last weekend in his debut as a professional athlete at the John Thomas Terrier Classic, at the Boston University Track & Tennis Centre representing New Balance.

Dunne’s previous PB for the mile was set at the same venue in February 2024. This weekend Dunne was out fast after the starters pistol and covered the first kilometre in 2:27. In the closing laps he was able to continue to push hard going through each lap in 29 seconds. With tough competition he was delighted to finish seventh with a new club record of 3:55.28. This brings James to 14th in the Irish all-time list for Indoor Miles. He also surpasses the previous best by an Offaly athlete, bettering James Nolan time of 3:56.50 set in Stockholm in 2001.

Spring League Round 1

Storm Chandra didn’t stop the 60 club athletes who got the Club Spring League off to a great start on Tuesday 27^th of January. Round 1 featured the 1-mile race, and despite the threat of torrential wind and rain, everyone managed to get home before the weather turned.

Captains Niamh McEnhill (Team A), Paschal Naughton (Team B), Naomi Galvin (Team C) and Shane McGuinness (Team D) rallied their squads, and due to numbers, we ran two separate races - Team A and Team D in the first race, followed by Team B and Team C in the second.

Fastest man overall was Kevin Minnock, while Sarah Flanagan took the honours as fastest woman.

NAME TIME

Kevin Minnock 4.55

Barry Mooney 5.10

Gary Whittle 5.27

Nick McGowan 5.28

Darragh Carroll 5.28

Nigel Cunningham 5.33

Daniel Molloy 5.39

Shane McGuinness 5.43

David Hollywood 5.45

Sarah Flanagan 5.50

Gearoid McHugh 5.51

Liam Byrne 5.55

Alan Mitchell 5.56

Ollie Neary 6.02

Seamus Hoey 6.03

Jonathan Dunne 6.04

Pauline Curley 6.08

James Fleming 6.08

Alan Heffernan 6.10

Diarmuid Herlihy 6.11

Darragh Rigney 6.12

Niamh McEnhill 6.14

Evelyn Herlihy 6.15

Jason McDermott 6.19

Rachel Henry 6.20

Lorcan Scally 6.29

Bryce Fraser 6.32

Sean Spollen 6.40

Sean Reynolds 6.46

Francis Mollen 6.53

Michelle Mullaney 6.54

Rita Daly Ravenhill 6.55

Maeve Larkin 6.58

Elysia McCormack 6.59

John Carroll 7.00

Enda Golden 7.06

Adrian Curley 7.11

Finian McDermott 7.11

Simon Byrne 7.14

Annmarie McNamara 7.14

Mary Galvin 7.19

Ruairi Daly 7.25

Emer Rigney 7.32

Mary Daly 7.38

Paul Hensey 7.38

Shane McLaughlin 7.46

Naomi Galvin 7.47

Paschal Naughton 7.52

Hilary Duncan 7.54

Denis Flynn 7.57

Sara McLaughlin 8.01

Olive Mannion 8.07

Sharon Daly 8.11

Michael Kinsella 8.19

John O'Connell 8.22

Sandra Busteed 8.29

Triona Muldoon 8.47

Anne Marie Larkin 8.55

Aine Treacy 9.04

Martina Conlon 9.17

Schools Cross Country

Tilly Cusack and Ally Duffy have led the way for Tullamore Harriers squad at recent schools’ cross country district events. Their victories along with podium finishes for Sarah Whitaker, Elise Cusack and Danny Rigney as well as a plethora of other fantastic individual and team runs hopefully points the way for more success at the provincial level in the weeks ahead.

South Connacht Cross Country

Junior Girls

15- Sophie Duffy

Intermediate Girls

1- Ally Duffy

South Leinster Cross Country

Minor Girls

Killina 1st

1- Matilda Cusack

3- Sarah Whittaker

13- Nia Kelly

20- Muireann Kelly

21- Thea Rose

Minor Boys

Killina

22- Daire Garvey

Coláiste Choilm

72- Ben Kirwan

Tullamore College 12th

44- Ruben Kamalandua

57- Mason O Meara

94- Billy Mann

95- Adam Young

Junior Girls

Tullamore College 9th

25- Grace Connolly

34- Lily Coughlan

45- Grace Halloran

46- Aine Ryan

74- Penny

Killina 10th

35- Emily Morris

38- Olivia Paczkowska

41- Katie

Junior Boys

49- Niall Whitaker

Intermediate Girls

Killina

3- Elise Cusack

Sacred Heart Secondary School

5- Maeve Duffy

Tullamore College

22- Adelyn Walsh

37- Lily Foy

Intermediate Boys

Coláiste Naomh Cormac

2-Danny Rigney

Senior Girls

Sacred Heart Secondary School

9- Éabhadh Multaney Kelly

Senior Boys

Coláiste Choilm

6- Patrick Duffy

Trim 10 Mile

Four Tullamore Harriers’ took part in the annual Trim 10 Mile Road Race on Sunday, February 1^st. Hosted by Trim AC, there were just over 1,800 finishers and marking the start of the road racing season for many. This ever-popular race is particularly appealing to spring marathon runners.

The winners were Oisín Martyn in a time of 48:47 and Hannah Gilliland of Annadale Striders in 56:43.

First home for Tullamore Harriers in this highly competitive race was Ciaran Reynolds with an excellent time of 1:01:40. He was followed by Sarah Flanagan (1:07:53), John O’Connell (1:27:17), and Martina Lydon (1:35:20).

John Thomas Terrier Classic, Boston

Tullamore Harriers had two athletes competing at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston on Saturday, 30^th of January. Madison Mooney, a former University of Wisconsin athlete now based in Oregon, lined out in the mile and clocked a time of 4:45. While not her fastest performance, Maddison was pleased to gain valuable race experience ahead of her trip to Ireland, where she will compete in the National Senior Indoor Championships in February.

Danielle Donegan, who recently returned from a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona with the National Endurance Group, competed in the 5000m invitational event. Following her altitude stint, Danielle produced a strong run to place 10th in a time of 16:06.12.

O’Connor races in Albuquerque

Ava O’Connor kicked off her 2026 Indoor season competing for Adams State University at the Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Invitational at the Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday the 30^th of January. She competed in a stacked mile and having led for long periods in the race was rewarded with a third-place finish in a time of 4:42.51. As the athletes are competing at an altitude of 5300 feet the result was adjusted to 4:36.36 for Ava’s NCAA ranking. An impressive season-opening performance from the Tullamore Harriers young middle-distance phenom.

BnM Tullamore Harriers Half Marathon

The annual BnM Tullamore Harriers Half Marathon is now open for registration. The 2026 race, on the 29^th of August, will host the Leinster and Offaly Half Marathon Championships and is Round 4 of the Offaly Endurance Series. The race has sold out very quickly in recent years so prompt registration is advised. Entry is via Myrunresults.ie.

AGM

The Annual General Meeting of Tullamore Harriers AC will take place on Monday evening 9th February 2026 at 7.00pm upstairs in the Clubhouse. We encourage as many adult members as possible to attend. This is your Club and your contribution is of value and importance to us. We encourage all members to consider serving on the Committee. Should you be interested in seeking a position on the Committee it would be preferable if you could hand in or email your nomination signed by both a Nominator and Seconder to either Adrian Curley (Chairperson) - adriancurley@hotmail.com or Sharon Daly (Secretary) - sharondalyth@gmail.com by Sunday 1st February 2026. Nominations also taken on the night. Anyone seeking office, nominating or seconding must be a registered Club Member for 2026. Any motions to the AGM must include both the name of the Proposer and the Seconder and must be submitted to the Club Secretary by email to sharondalyth@gmail.com or by post to Tullamore Harriers AC, Spollanstown, Tullamore by Sunday 1st February 2026. Anyone proposing or seconding a motion must be a registered Club Member for 2026.

Tullamore Harriers 5K

Tullamore Harriers AC will host its annual 5K Road Race on Sunday, 8th March. This popular event is the opening race of the 2026 Healthy Offaly 5K Road Race Series and is one not to be missed.

The race will start outside the Tullamore Harriers club grounds on the Charleville Road, follow a looped course, and finish on the tartan track in the stadium. The course is flat and fast, run on fully closed roads for added safety, and consistently attracts runners of all abilities looking to kick-start the road race season.

Entry is now open via PopUpRaces.ie.

Fixtures

February

9^th February – Tullamore Harriers AGM, Club House @ 7pm

10th February – Third leg of Spring League – 1 mile on track

14th February – Leinster Juvenile Indoor T&F Championships Day 3 - TUS Athlone

15th February - Leinster Juvenile Indoor T&F Championships Day 4 - TUS Athlone

15th February - National Intermediate & Master & Juvenile B Cross Country Championship, Abbottstown.

March

8th March – Tullamore Harriers 5k – first race of the Offaly 5k Road Race Series.

15th March – McNamara 5 miles (Sealed Handicap)

22^nd March – Banagher 5K

Senior Training

Training Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6.40pm to 8.30pm.

For any enquiries contact club captains Glen 0868275228 or Rita 0868386687