4th January 2010- Results and Fixtures

Fra Mollen Wins Midnight run Shield

The 52nd running of the Round the Houses road race for the Midnight Shield took place at 12 noon on New Years Eve. Thankfully the roads were not too slippy from frost and sixteen runners lined up for the race which is run over a distance of 4700 metres on a sealed handicap basis.

Catch Grennan led the race from start to finish and recorded a time of 15.26, with Eddie Garry next in 16.26 followed by Johnny Feery in 16.56.

After the handicapper adjusted the times, Fra Mollen was declared the winner and he had just one second to spare over Vinny Conlon with Liz Cuskelly taking third place, a further second behind.This was a good win for Mollen who is coming back to form and in winning, he emulated his father Pat who won this race twice, in 1980 and 1987.

Full Results :
1 Fra Mollen 14.47 ; 2 Vinny Conlon 14.48 ; 3 Liz Cuskelly 14.48 ; 4 Tony McCormack 14.58 ; 5 Brigita Gowran 15.00 ; 5 Sean Gowran 15.00.

Before handicap adjustment :
1 Catch Grennan 15.26 ; 2 Eddie Garry 16.26 ; 3 Johnny Feery 16.56 ; 4 Liz Cuskelly 17.19 ; 5 Eanna Gowran 17.21 ; 6 Vinny Conlon 17.48 ; 7 Pat Conlon 17.52 ; 8 Fra Mollen 18.47 ; 9 Mary Daly 18.57 ; 10 James Mahon 19.37 ; 11 Tony McCormack 19.58 ; 12 Sean Gowran 20.30 ; 13 Martina Conlon 20.44 ; 14 Martin Cooney 21.26 ; 15 Mary Walsh 22.17 ; 16 Brigita Gowran 23.00.

Race Roundup.
On St Stephens Day four of our athletes travelled to Longford to run in the Newtownforbes 5k road race. Catch Grennan finished in 5th place overall in a good time of 16.02. Pauline Curley finished second woman behind international runner Linda Byrne in 17.48. Liz Cuskelly finished in 17th place and 4th woman with a 18.16 clocking while Tony McCormack also ran well and finished in a time of 20.58.

On the Sunday before Christmas Jim Langan competed in the Newmarket to Kanturk 5 mile road race in Cork. Jim came home the winner of the over 65 section in an impressive time of 35.11.

Offaly County Board Awards.
The Offaly county board awards take place this coming Friday night, January 8th in the Days Hotel in Tullamore at 8pm. Among those who are receiving awards on the night are the Offaly athletes who have represented Ireland in 2009. The athletes who earned senior international selection are Catch Grennan, Mary Walsh, Pauline Curley, Johnny Feery and Liz Cuskelly. The juveniles who represented their country are Fearghus Hannon, Darragh Hanlon and Stephen Kelly.

Sympathies
It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of our former member Steve McDermott.Tullamore Harriers extends it deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Steve McDermott at this sad time.

Fixtures
January 10th : Leinster Senior Cross Country, Kilmacow, Co.Kilkenny.
January 17th : AAI Games in Nenagh.
January 24th : Indoor Games, Nenagh.
January 31st : Leinster Senior and Masters Indoors, Nenagh.

Training: Tuesday and Thursday at 6.30pm, Sunday morning at 8.30am Except on a race day. New members always welcome.

With the dark evenings now here it is important to be seen on the roads so reflective gear must be worn while training on the roads

Membership is now due. Forms available in clubhouse.