Commonwealth Games athlete David Mullarkey has maintained his outstanding form in the United States this autumn during the cross-country season.
Now representing Northern Arizona University, David began the cross-country season with an eighth place finish in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational meeting in Notre Dame, Indiana, and followed that up with 21st place at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals in Madison.
Moving into November, David achieved a brilliant victory in the Big Sky Conference Cross-Country Championships in Pocatello, Idaho.
Last weekend he finished in fifth place in the NCAA Division I Mountain Region Cross-Country Championships in Reno, Nevada.
David Excels
At the weekend, he placed 18th in the NCAA DI Championships, held at Madison where he raced last month.
The team performance is a huge part of the focus of American Collegiate athletics, and he helped his team to fifth place out of 31 teams – confirming why he was such an eagerly sought-after athlete at the time of his transfer from Florida State.
He was the leading North Arizona finisher. Although times don’t mean all that much in cross-country, 29:11.9 for 10 kilometres is mightily impressive.
David has achieved outstanding success over recent years with his running, progressing from being a good athlete in the junior age groups to being an exceptional senior.
Manx Runner
He learned his trade as a cross-country runner on the Isle of Man, running in the league fixtures on courses such as Crossags, QE2 School and Ballannette.
His first major success was winning the gold medal in the Island Games 1500 metres in Gibraltar in 2019 in a thrilling sprint finish, with four athletes almost in a line down the home straight.
After several years at University in Leeds where he was an integral part of the excellent endurance running setup in the city, he has settled seamlessly into life across the Atlantic where he met his girlfriend Agnes McTighe who is also a high-class distance runner.
Whether we will ever see him back on Manx shores is doubtful as he no longer has family living here, but the rewards that his dedication and hard work have brought should be an inspiration to all ambitious athletes.
Recognition
I was left in no doubt about David’s profile in the athletics world whilst at the Liverpool Cross Challenge event at Sefton Park.
Chatting to Leeds-based Great Britain Olympian Laura Weightman, who is now heavily involved with coaching, the first thing she said to me was how well David is doing.
Having known him during his time at Leeds, Laura knows all about him and follows his progress on a regular basis.
She rates him highly and admires his approach to his running, which is praise indeed.
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