Tullamore Harriers Report – 2nd February 2026
Tullamore Harriers report – February 2nd, 2026
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 31st of January and 1st 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.
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) 3rd 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 27th 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 1st. 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, 30th 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 30th 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 29th 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.