Schools Cross Country day 1 / Juvenile training night / Schools Cross Country day 2
School Cross Country 1
What a miserable day for a run but our members stuck at it in the mud on Wednesday. The course was heavy and slippy as athletes navigated the course in Ferns in the pouring rain.
It was more a Battle of Attrition than an sthletics meet as the vourse drained the energy out of everyone's legs.
In the Intermediate boys race Fiachra Mehigan ran for Wexford CBS with a highly commendable 8th place. Elijah Page Redmond ran for St Peters College and Zac Dee ran for Good Counsel both digging deep finishing strongly on an absolutely miserable day.
Well done to the three of you, representing your school and your club.
Juvenile members training - Enniscorthy
There were challenging conditions at the Enniscorthy Sportshub last night which did not hold back our young Menapians who took part in a fun event organised by our friends in Enniscorthy AC. Jarlath Foley, Jasper Foley, Chloe Carroll, Danny Fortune and Louis Lau all impressed in their running events and all ran impressively in the relays. Thanks to club coaches Siobhán, Liam, Padraig and Eamonn who helped out and a big thank you also to all who helped out and organised this evenings event.
Schools Cross Country 2
Fiachra Mehigan was representing his school CBS Wexford at the South Leinster Schools Cross Country. Fennagh in Co Carlow was the venue as all the school colours were on display.
This was his first year at Intermediate level and he held his own finishing in 27th overall in 17:46, a super run.
Fair play Fiachra, a tough day out.
Menapians host Fit4Life Launch
There was a huge turnout for the Athletics Ireland Fit4Life Roadshow, sponsored by McCabes Pharmacy. The event took place in mild and rain-free, despite the less than optimistic forecast, at the regular Tuesday evening training grounds at Wexford County Council, Carriglawn. The super-large turnout was split into different groups with coaches putting those in their charge through their paces. The Fit4Life crew waited in the wings to the vital signs of all-comers.
The aim of Fit4Life is to encourage more people to exercise and, in the process, to achieve improved levels of fitness and wellness, all in a relaxed and sociable environment. Participants, grouped by ability, are overseen by qualified Fit4Life leaders.
Here’s hoping that all those who turned up last night will keep it going and that they will see, and feel, the benefits in the weeks and months ahead.
Click the carousel below to see all images from the evening.
Tri-club Children’s Challenge
Enniscorthy AC has invited Menapians and United Striders to join them at Enniscorthy Sports Hub for a fun juvenile meet this Friday, June 23 (7pm). The plan is to have a series of 1km time trials / relays for U10, U12, U15 and 15+. As far as we can discern, the idea is that the relay legs are 1km in length with times added together for a club’s top 5 in each age group. The winning club gets to take home the Club challenge annual trophy.
Masters Cross Country 2026
On January 11th the 2026 Mr Oil Masters Cross Country took place just a few weeks after the 2025 version. The same course was used so athletes knew what to expect. Even the weather took a turn for the worse to remind athletes what Decembers run was like and adding to the cross country experience.
As is customary the womens race was first off which included the mens O65 race as both were over 4k. Our women set about their task and were delighted to win Team Bronze medals with Sharon Martin, Catherine O'Connor and Jen Kehoe taking the honours. They were well supported by Ilze Bedrite and Helen Sinnott.
In the age cat section Sharon Martin won silver in F35, Helen Sinnott won gold in F50 and Catherine O'Connor won gold in F60, congratulations ladies.
Conor MacAogain ran the O65 mens over 4k and he won a silver medal, congratulations Conor.
Then the mens race started with 4 of our members involved in a race distance of 6k and they were the 4th placed team on the day. Good running on a tough day from Fran Rea, Pat Gallagher, Conor Casey and John Dier.
In the age cat section Fran Rea won a bronze in M55, congratulations Fran.
Well done to all members who took on the event today, not an easy Sunday morning by any means.
Preparations for the Mr Oil road race series now starts which normally begin around March.
Well done to the the hard working County Board and Kilmore AC who ran another seamless event.
Womens results :
Sharon Martin 20.31Silver F35
Catherine O'Connor 22.23 Gold F60
Jen Kehoe 22.55
Ilze Bedrite 23.00
Helen Sinnott 25.00 Gold F50
Women’s Team bronze
Mens results :
Fran Rea 30.08 bronze M55
Pat Gallagher 30.30
Conor Casey 32.01
John Dier 35.47
Men O65
Conor MacAogain 20.36 Silver
Fit4Life Roadshow
Menapians AC is delighted to welcome the Athletics Ireland Fit4Life Roadshow, sponsored by McCabes Pharmacy, to Wexford. Originally scheduled for last December the event was postponed due to inclement weather. It will now take place on Tuesday Jan 20th (6.15pm) at Wexford County Council carpark, Carriglawn, Wexford.
All club members of ALL abilities - walkers, joggers, runners - are welcome to attend. The aim of Fit4Life is to help you achieve improved levels of fitness and wellness in a relaxed and sociable environment. Participants, grouped by ability, have the benefit of qualified Fit4Life leaders. All going well, over time one will see a progression from walking to jogging to running. And you will make loads of new friends in the process.
The launch event on January 20th will be a fun affair with music, freebies and lots of advice. It is also the first official event - one per month - celebrating the club’s 25th birthday.. See you there!
Ferrycarrig 5 Mile
What a cold morning for athletes to kick start their year as a big crowd gathered in Wexford FC grounds for the Ferrycarrig 5 Mile. Tough decisions on what to wear as the hardy souls stuck with vests while others wrapped up.
A day when a warm up is probably the most important part of everyone's race prep. The sun was shining giving a false sense of a warm day as the athletes waited for the starters gun. A new route this year as the organisers stuck to the quieter back roads and the feedback from everyone was good.
Well done to all our members who raced and congratulations to the organisers on a seamless event.
Results:
Donal Grant 32:19
Ryan Midwinter 33:04
Brian Smyth 33:07
John Hyland 34:18
Ryan Ellard 34:57
Helen Wallace 36:39
Dave Midwinter 36:40
Paul Harpur 39:53
Jesse Kielthy 43:03
Ilze Bedrite 44:50
Gareth Lloyd 45:04
Sarah Bermingham 47:55
Marion Galvin 48:28
Helen Burrell 54:22
Sam Donegan 55:54
Marie Casey Breen 1:01:51 (3rd F70)
Sharron Dier 1:03:37
Bridie McGuire 1:12:43
Club Jingle Bells run
21st December 2025
A super morning as our members met up for a pre Christmas jingle run around town.
And afterwards they quenched their thirst at Wexford Coffee Roasters coffee shop in Selskar enjoying the chats while chilling in the outdoor seating area.
Thanks for hosting our crew Wexford Coffee Roasters and well done Senan on a great idea.
Big year ahead for Menapians
2025 for Menapian's Athletic Club was a busy and rewarding year as the club had members competing at various events including track & field, cross country and road races. As we enter 2026 and look forward to a whole new year of competition it's also important to look back and celebrate the club's achievements and successes.
On the track Fiachra Mehigan kicked off the year with a Leinster bronze in the U16 pentathlon. At Leinster Indoors Martin Kelly took 3 golds 800m/1500m/3000m and Siobhan Doyle taking bronze in 60m sprint race. Then at the National Masters Indoors Martin took home another 2 golds in 1500m/3000m.
Our throwing athletes were busy as Josh Nolan won 2 golds and Fiachra Mehigan a bronze at the Mr Oil County event. The Mr Oil Juvenile Track & Field saw Estee Lonergan, Fiachra Mehigan, Rory Henderson. Josh Nolan, Maebh McCormack, Daragh Mehigan, Orla Dolan and Lucas Page Redmond all claiming county medals in club colours including the U17 mixed relay team winning an impressive gold. Next up was the school's event and Josh Nolan, Elijah Page Redmond, Orla Dolan, Alex Lonergan, Lucas Page Redmond bringing medals back to their schools. Back to Leinster and Elijah Page Redmond won silver in U20 javelin joined by coach Catherine O'Connor who won gold in 3000m and silver in 1500m in her age category. The u12-19 Leinster Juvenile saw Lucas Page Redmond won silver in 100m and gold in long jump, Elijah Page Redmond won gold javelin, Josh Nolan silver javelin, Alex Lonergan gold hammer, all qualifying for national competition. Elijah was then selected to throw javelin at the Tailteann Games where he won silver and then being selected to compete on the Irish team at the SIAB Games in UK. In the Nationals Elijah took bronze and Josh 5th in a tough javelin competition.
Our masters athletes showed their versatility by competing at the County Track & Field where they got their hands on numerous medals most notably the men's 4x400m gold, women's 4x400m bronze and men's 4x100m silver medals.
Fiachra Mehigan won silver at the National Combined events. At the National Outdoor Masters Martin Kelly won another 2 golds in 400m & 800m M70.
In cross country events at the Leinster Intermediate Martin Kelly won gold M70. At the County Novice we had 4 athletes, 6 ran in the Intermediate with the ladies winning team silver, 2 at the Senior and finishing the year with 7 at the Masters with the women winning team bronze.
Our road athletes are a dedicated bunch who travel far and wide to race. Catherine O'Connor claimed a F60 gold and Martin Kelly a M70 gold at the Leinster Masters Road Race in Kilkenny. At the Mr Oil County Race series we had 19 competing at Masters, 5 at the Senior, 11 at the Novice where the women's team won team bronze, 11 at the Intermediate with the women winning team silver.
The National Marathon in Dublin saw 4 members running and every race in the county had a Menapian's member entered as members supported the counties club races and the many other races held. The half marathon distance is becoming more popular with our members running in 14 different events both locally, nationally and internationally.
Anthony Dowd pulled on an Irish vest and competed at the European Masters winning a team bronze medal in the M50 half marathon.
Our members also represented in a variety of events including IMRA, adventure races, trail runs, parkrun, ultramarathons, marathons, half marathons, triathlons and ironman using their club training to great effect.
The committee would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. We look forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary with renewed vigour. Keep an eye on social media for updates. And remember to renew your membership!
Club’s busy year end programme
The Christmas break is a time we like to break from the normal routine and to spice up the programme a tad. We have already had our Jingle Bells run, the Goal Mile and a couple of festive parkruns and there is more to come, including a run on The Burrow at Kilmore Quay and a fun fartlek around Wilf’s Field. The more adventurous among us have been sea swimming and exploring the county’s backroads by bike. Normal service resumes January 8th.
Master athletes endure wind and rain at Lingstown
While Ireland's top cross country runners, including United Striders bronze medal-winning star Emma Hickey, were performing heroically at the European Cross Country Champs in Portugal last Sunday, Wexford master athletes were, in their way, no less heroic as they met to do battle on the point-to-point course in Lingstown. The occasion was the rescheduled (from last January) Mr Oil Wexford Master Cross Country. With the year almost over and the 2026 edition of the event just a month away, further postponement was out of the question. This was one of those days when everyone deserved a medal just for turning up.
Master athletics starts with the 35+ category and works its way up through the ages. As in senior, novice and intermediate, there are, for each category, both individual and team medals.
The club had three athletes in the women’s 4km race: Ilze Bedrite was 1st F45, Catherine O’Connor was 1st F60, Siobhán Doyle was 1st F65 and Helen Sinnott was 15th overall. The team won bronze. First home for the club in the men’s race was Tony Harpur in 18th (2nd M45) with Paul Harpur 21st and John Dier 22nd (3rd M60). Overall, our seven athletes took home 5 individual age cat medals along with the Women's team bronze.
A big thank you to host club Kilmore AC and everyone involved in organising the event, not an easy task in such horrible conditions.
Results:
Women: 11th Catherine O'Connor 22.54 (1st F60); 13th Ilze Bedrite 23.42 (1st F45); 15th Helen Sinnott 25.42; 17th Siobhan Doyle 31.35 (1st F65). Team Menapians: Bronze.
Men: 18th Tony Harpur 28.50 (2nd M45); 21st Paul Harpur 34.22; 22nd John Dier 37.26 (3rd M60).
Photos by Wexford Athletics
