Ciara Mageean continued her flying form to win the women’s 3000m crown at the National Indoor Championships in Abbotstown over the weekend (February 16-17), while Thomas Barr was sensationally bumped out of the 400m.

On Saturday, in the women’s 3000m final, Mageean nailed down a European Indoors qualifying mark with a time of 9:02.57.

Mageean was in flying form after setting a new Irish indoor 1500m record in Athlone three days earlier. The Irish indoor record of 8:43.74 for 3000m was set by Mary Cullen in 2009.

There was drama in the men’s 400m final on the second day of the Indoor Championships. Just after the ‘break’, Barr and two other athletes, who were just behind the race leaders, attempted to get through the same small opening.

Raheny’s Brandon Arrey held on to his position on the inside, but Barr found himself shooting out to lane six and dropped out of the race. You can watch the men’s 400m final below.

Men’s 400m final at the @irishlifehealth National seniors

Cillin Greene, Galway City Harriers A.C. 47.19
Andrew Mellon Crusaders A.C.48.02
Brandon Arrey Raheny Shamrock A.C. 48.15 pic.twitter.com/11gOI8NBh9

— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) February 17, 2019

“That’s indoor running for you,” said Barr afterwards. “I didn’t get a good start and that left me in a messy position at the break. Outdoors you don’t have a break, so I’m not used to it.”

Barr, who already has a 400m qualification mark for the European Indoors in Glasgow next month, added: “I don’t think I’ll be winning any medals [in Glasgow] so I’ll just go out and enjoy it.”

Winning the 400m was Cillin Green of Galway City Harriers in 47.19. Andrew Mellon of Crusaders AC, who survived the mid-race bumping, held on for second in 48.02, with Arrey third in 48.15.

In the women’s 400m, Phil Healy’s time of 52.81 secs broke her own championships record of 53.10 set last year. The Bandon AC athlete is aiming for a place in the final at the European Championships having missed out by the narrowest of margins at the World Indoors last year.

“I’m hoping to make the final, but you also need a bit of luck when it comes to championship racing,” said Healy.

Winning his first national senior title and also heading for Glasgow is Tallaght athlete Joseph Ojewumi. He won the 60m in 6.78 secs, edging out Marcus Lawler of St L O’Toole. AC.

“I’m hoping for a good time in Glasgow – the heats, semi-finals and final are all on the same day so it’s going to be tough,” said Ojewumi.

Molly Scott of St LOT AC won the women’s 60m title in 7.32 secs, beating Ciara Neville of Emerald AC and Patience Jumbo-Gula of St Gerard’s AC. Scott later finished second in the 60m hurdles behind Kate Doherty of Dundrum South Dundrum AC.

Over the longer distances, John Travers of Donore Harriers won the men’s 3000m in 8:07.89.

“I’m just happy to have won the race,” said Travers. “At one point, I was in third place and thought I’d blown it.”

Photo: Lindie Naughton

Next up for Travers is the European Indoors, and he added: “I’m hoping maybe to make the final. For that, I’d need to run around 7.50. My best is 7:55 and so I’ll be aiming for a fast time in the heats.”

Cruising to victory in the men’s 800m was Mark English of UCD AC. English bided his time until the bell and then took off, with Zak Curran of Dundrum South Dublin AC chasing hard.

English did enough for victory finishing in 1:51.77 with Curran second in 1:51.91.

Photo: Lindie Naughton

Winning the women’s 800m in 2:04.15 was Siofra Cleirigh Buttner of Dundrum South Dublin AC, who is back in Dublin after her four-year stint at Villanova University ended last summer. She’s another athlete who will compete in Glasgow.

“It’s been a tough eight months for me I’ve been back and forth a lot from the USA looking for a better training set-up,” commented Cleirigh Buttner afterwards. ” Still, I ran 2:03.02 in my first race this year which wasn’t bad and it can be good to be under the radar.”

Second in the race was Claire Mooney of UCD AC. Mooney had hoped to run the Glasgow qualification mark of 2:04 in Athlone the previous Wednesday, but a timing malfunction robbed her of her chance. She ran 2:04.67 in Abbotstown.

A surprise winner of the 1500m was England-based Eoin Pierce of Clonliffe Harriers who out-sprinted Eoin Everard of Kilkenny City Harriers and Kieran Kelly of Raheny Shamrock for victory in 3:55.54.

The youngest winner of the day was 16-year-old Rhasidat Adeleke of Tallaght AC who took the women’s 200m title with a time of 24.13.

Photo: Lindie Naughton

In the men’s race, Leon Reid of Menapians AC was winning his fifth indoor title after finishing fourth in the 60m earlier in the afternoon – a race he had won for the previous two years.

“I’ve had a few little niggles and didn’t have the explosive speed I normally rely on,” said Reid. “But I’m happy to have won.”

Next up for Reid is a two-week training camp in Malta with a group including Phil Healy and coach Shane McCormack supervising.

He added: “My target is qualifying for the World Championships – but before that, the World Relays, where we hope to qualify an Irish team for the Olympics.”

Winning the men’s 60m hurdles for a second year was Matthew Behan of Crusaders AC in 7.96 secs.

Highlight of the field events was victory for the veteran Sean Breathnach of Galway City Harriers in the shot with 16.22.

On the opening day of the competition., Sommer Lecky of Finn Valley retained the high jump title for a third year. In an absorbing contest with Phillipa Rogan of Sli Cualann AC, the bar was set at 1.89 before both women went out.

By that stage in the competition, Lecky had succeeded at 1.86, while with one one failure at 1.86, Rogan, who had 1.83 to her credit, put the bar higher. When that height proved a step too far for both women, victory went to Lecky, who took silver at the World U20 Championships last summer with a leap of 1.90 – an Irish junior record.

Retaining the women’s shot title for a third year was Michaela Walsh of Swinford AC. Since her move to Dublin last autumn, Walsh has had well-publicised difficulties finding suitable training facilities but a 14.44m effort was enough to give her the title.

Winning the walks titles for a third year were Kate Veale of West Waterford and Alex Wright of Leevale AC. Star of the day was Ruby Millett of St Abban’s who set a new Irish junior record of 6.20m when winning the women’s long jump title.

Road racing

Danny Mooney and Nakita Burke, both Letterkenny AC, led home 1,172 finishers at the Dash for Diddler 5km in Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal on Saturday (February 16).

Mooney was a clear winner of the race in 16 mins 14 secs, followed by his clubmate Eoin Hughes in 16:35 and MattMcLough of Foyle Valley in 16.37. Burke finished in 18:25.

England-based Matt Bergin of Dundrum South Dublin AC clocked 19:59 to finish twelfth in the men’s 5km at the Armagh International Road Races on Thursday (February 14).

The race was won by won by Topi Raitanen in a sprint from Adam Craig of Inverclyde AC. Times were 13.43 and 13:45.

Kevin Dooney of Raheny Shamrock was 16th in 14:08, David Flynn and Colm Rooney, both Clonliffe Harriers, were given the same time of 14:23 for 30th and 31st position. Elsewhere, Shane Healy clocked 15:20 in Armagh to set a new Irish over-50 record.

Clonliffe Harriers was second of the club teams behind Leeds City AC with all four team members breaking 15 minutes. England proved best of the seven international teams entered, with Scotland second and Finland third. Ireland was fourth and Northern Ireland/Ulster sixth.

Emma Mitchell was best of the Irish in the women’s 3km in Armagh, where English athlete Steph Twell equalled the course record of 8:59.

In a race dominated by British visitors, Mitchell of Team Nike finished eighth in 9:25.

Fionnuala Ross of Armagh AC was 15th in 9:29, Letterkenny’s Nakita Burke 20th in 9:33. Emma O’Brien of Inbhear Dee AC 21st in 9:35, and Breege Connolly of City of Derry Spartans 38th and first W40 in 9:45.

Scotland was the winning team ahead of England, Ireland and Northern Ireland/Ulster.

A full report from Armagh can be found here.

Cross Country

Hiko Tonosa of Dundrum South Dublin AC finished second behind American athlete Matt McClintock in the men’s 6000m at the 50th Rás na hEireann, held in Oldbridge, near Drogheda, Co Louth, on Sunday.

McClintock won the race in 17:52 with Tonosa six seconds adrift for second and Yared Deresa of Carrick Aces AC third in 18:09.

Winning club team was North East Runners followed by Dunboyne AC and Glenmore AC.

In an American double, Joanna Thompson won the women’s 4000m in 13 minutes exactly. Nessa Reilly of Dunleer AC just beat Holly Brennan of Cilles AC for second place with the pair, both juniors, timed at 13:39 and 13:50.

Dunleer AC was first of the teams followed by Dundrum South Dublin AC and Drogheda and District AC.

parkrun

Laura Graham and Colin Griffin ran the quickest times at parkrun events across Ireland on Saturday.

Graham ran 17:28 at the Castlewellan event, while Griffin posted the fastest men’s time after running 16:19 at the St Anne’s parkrun in Dublin.

The Irish parkrun top 10 can be found here.

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The post Ciara Mageean and Phil Healy among winners at Irish indoors appeared first on Fast Running.

Ciara Mageean, Mark English, Phil Healy and Thomas Barr are among the top Irish athletes set to compete at the Irish Life Health National Senior Indoor Championships this weekend (February 16/17).

Mageean is the outstanding distance runner on the women’s side this season having rewritten her own national indoor 1500m and mile records with 4:06.76 and 4:28.31 respectively. She is set to compete over 3000m and will prove difficult to stop.

Raheny Shamrock’s Kieran Kelly will bid for his third national indoor title in-a-row as he bids to defend the 1500m title he won last year.

Kilkenny City Harriers’ Eoin Everard looks like one of his chief competitors should he run the metric mile at Sport Ireland’s National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown.

Mark English is back on song having won the 800m at the Athlone International Grand Prix in 1:46.94 and will be a tough nut to crack.

Photo: Kieran Carlin

DSD’s Zak Curran and Annadale Striders’ Conal Kirk both secured European indoor standards behind him in Athlone and will be there to pounce if there is a slip-up.

There is a big entry for the men’s 3000m with Donore Harriers’ John Travers looking to continue his good form fresh from his sub four-minute mile clocking in Athlone.

Siofra Cleirigh Buttner looks like the favourite in the women’s 800m heading the entries on 2:03.30 with UCD’s Claire Mooney and Templeogue’s Nadia Power also in contention for medals.

Sarah Healy is entered for both the 1500m and 3000m, however it is unclear what event the Blackrock youngster will tackle on the weekend. St Coca’s Claire Tarplee and Emerald’s Amy O’Donoghue will be among the contenders.

In the race walks, Kate Veale (West Waterford AC) will be favourite to retain her senior women’s 3,000m title with Alex Wright (Leevale A.C.) also the hot favourite in the men’s 5,000m walk.

Healy and Barr to feature in 400m races with exciting sprints in store

Phil Healy continues her ascent in the women’s 400m leading the rankings with 52.31 but St Joseph’s Sophie Becker has made significant progress and also holds a European Indoor qualifying time with 53.66.

The men’s 400m sees Thomas Barr continue his indoor campaign where he hopes to compete in his first major indoor championships in Glasgow. Barr will target a sub 47-second clocking.

Tallaght’s Joseph Ojewumi and Galway City Harriers’ Cillin Greene head the men’s 60m and 200m rankings (6.77 and 21.47) respectively, but will face stiff competition from last year’s double winner Leon Reid of Menapians and St Laurence O’Toole’s Marcus Lawler.

Ojewumi will look to win his first national senior title along with copper-fastening his place to the European Indoors – his first major championship.

Molly Scott has had an excellent indoor season and heads the rankings in the women’s 60m with 7.36 seconds. City of Lisburn’s Lauren Roy is another who has impressed with 7.39 – both times are under the European indoor standard of 7.40.

Leevale’s Joan Healy, Emerald’s Ciara Neville and Patience Jumbo-Gula of St Gerard’s Dundalk will be among those looking to compete.

St Joseph’s Sophie Becker heads the 200m rankings with 24.07 followed by Sharlene Mawdsley on 24.21. With Becker likely to focus on the 400m it will be an interesting event with Rhasidat Adeleke of Tallaght also on the entry list.

Molly Scott (SLOT) and Kate Doherty (DSD) could have an exciting duel in the women’s 60m hurdles with only one-hundredth of a second separating them on the season’s times – 8.34 to 8.35.

Matthew Behan (Crusaders) will be aiming for gold in the men’s 60m hurdles – the only man to run under 8 seconds this season.

Jumping and throwing for podium positions

Ruby Millet and Shane Howard lead the long jump entries, while Saragh Buggy and Mark Burton are the leading triple jumpers.

Sommer Lecky and Pippa Rogan look set to have a close battle in the women’s high jump having both cleared 1.84m. The men’s high jump is open this year with Shane Aston, Ciaran Connolly and Ryan Carthy Walshe among the contenders.

Clodagh Walsh and Matthew Callinan Keenan are the leading entries in the men’s pole vault, while Michaela Walsh and Sean Breathnach will look to impress once more in their respective shot put competitions.

The action will be streamed live on Athletics Ireland’s Facebook page and the full timetable can be found here.

Athletes with European Indoor qualifiers

Women

60m: Molly Scott (SLOT), Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn)
400m: Phil Healy (Bandon), Sophie Becker (St Joseph’s)
800m: Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (DSD)
1500m: Ciara Mageean (UCD)
Men
60m: Joseph Ojewumi (Tallaght)
400m: Thomas Barr (Ferrybank)
800m: Mark English (UCD), Zak Curran (DSD), Conall Kirk (Annadale Striders)
1500m: John Travers (Donore Harriers)
3000m: John Travers (Donore Harriers), Sean Tobin (Clonmel)

*does not guarantee selection

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The post Irish athletes ready for national indoors appeared first on Fast Running.

Healy’s time of 9:10.43 in the 3000m took over 18 seconds off Rose Ann Galligan’s Irish junior record set in 2005 and is the fastest time run by an Irish woman this season so far.

Second to the Blackrock athlete was Olympic steeplechaser Kerry O’Flaherty of Newcastle AC in 9:20.03, with Meghan Ryan of DSD third in 9:43.35.

At the start of the February, the European Youth Olympic champion clocked 4:16.04 over 1500m to break Ciara Mageean’s Youth and U20 indoor records.

Safely making it through to the women’s 1500m final tomorrow were Emma Mitchell of QUB, UCD’s Ellie Hartnett, Amy O’Donoghue of Emerald AC, Fiona Kehoe of Kilamore and Newcastle’s Kerry O’Flaherty.

Leading the qualifiers for the men’s 1500m are Eoin Peirce of Clonliffe, and Raheny pair Kieran Kelly and Brian Fay.

Mark English of UCD made his first appearance on the track this season with a comfortable win the 800m heats. His time was 1:58.20.

Sprints and field events

In the men’s 60m heats, defending champion Leon Reid of Menapians ran 6.83 secs in the fastest heat of the day. Second behind him in 6.87 secs was Jeremy Phillips of Clonliffe Harriers. Winning his heat in 6.88 was Marcus Lawler of St LOT.

Later Reid returned to the track to win his 200m heat in 22.33 secs. Fastest time across the five heats of 21.63 secs was recorded by Olympic 400m hurdler Thomas Barr of Ferrybank. Craig Newell of Ballymena and Antrim ran 21.75 and Stephen Gaffney of Rathfarnham WSAF 21.79.

Phil Healy of Bandon AC was a comfortable winner of her women’s 400m heat in 54.65 secs. The fastest qualifier was Catherine McManus of DCH with 54.00; second in that heat was Sinead Denny of DSD with 54.57.

A total of six heats were held for the men’s 400m with Northern Irish athlete Andrew Mellon’s time of 48.25 secs the quickest. Brandon Array of Blarney Iniscarra ran 48.53 secs and Cathal Locke of Dooneen AC 48.70.

In the women’s high jump, Sommer Lecky, another 17-year-old, was taking her third consecutive high jump title. Lecky, of the Finn Valley club, was the class of the field with her winning leap of 1.84 just one centimetre off the Irish junior record set set last month.

No surprises in the women’s shot, won by 19-year-old Michaela Walsh of Swinford AC with a best of 15.36m. In a competitive women’s long jump, a 5.90m leap gave Sarah McCarthy of Mid-Sutton victory.

Full results can be found here and tomorrow’s competition starts with the 60m hurdles at 11.55; full programme here.

The post Sarah Healy breaks Irish youth & junior 3000m indoor records appeared first on Fast Running.

Emma Mitchell, who clocked a 3k road PB in Armagh last night, will be among the top Irish distance runners vying for titles at the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown.

Mitchell and Kerry O’Flaherty both ran at the Armagh Road Races and the pair are entered to race over both 1500m and 3000m this weekend.

Last year’s 3000m saw QUB AC’s Mitchell finish fourth to Ciara Mageean, Michelle Finn and Fionnuala McCormack, and with the three Olympians not in action this weekend the 5000m and 1500m national outdoor champion will start as favourite.

However, O’Flaherty, if she competes in both the 3000m and 15000m, will have a say, while the young talent of Sarah Healy cannot be discounted.

At this month’s AAI Games the European Youth Olympics champion smashed her 1500m previous best with a time of 4:16.04 to break Ciara Mageean’s Youth and U20 indoor records.

Newcastle AC’s O’Flaherty was the runaway winner in the 1500m last year with a five-second win over UCD’s Ellie Hartnett.

The duo lineup again in the 1500m with Mitchell also expected to double up, while Amy O Donoghue (Emerald A.C), Nadia Power (Templeogue A.C.) and fourth place last year Rachel Gibson (North Down AC) will also be in the mix.

Defending champion Eoin Everard should start as favourite in the men’s 3000m but will face second-placed in 2017 William Maunsell (Clonmel) amongst his challengers.

Elsewhere John Travers who ran a 14:16 5k road personal best in Armagh on Thursday will be expected to be challenging at the front, while Damien Landers (Ennis Track) and Scott Rankin (Folye Valley AC) are also on the start list.

Kilkenny City Harrier Everard is also expected to compete in the 1500m and will face Kieran Kelly, the fastest 1500m runner on Irish rankings this season.

If defending men’s 800m champion Kelly were to win the 1500m he would bid to become one of the first athletes to win national medals over 400m, 800m and 1500m.

While Danny Mooney (Letterkenny AC), a 14:43 runner in Armagh last night, is expected to challenge as will Garry Campbell (Dunleer).

Kelly is down to defend his 800m title, but if Mark English competes he will be a strong favourite, while Alanna Lally (UCD) is the leading contender in the women’s 800m.

In the race walks, Kate Veale, Alex Wright and Cian McManamon will all be in action.

Sprints and field events

Elsewhere Olympic 400m hurdler Thomas Barr will drop down to 200m and could face Craig Newell (Ballymena & Antrim AC) and Marcus Lawler.

Phil Healy who won the January European athlete of the month award has been in fantastic form this indoor season with a 52.08 400m in Vienna.

The Bandon athlete will start as favourite in that event with Claire Mooney also among the entrants, while Andrew Mellon and Brandon Arrey are among the leading men over two laps.

With Amy Foster (City of Lisburn), Joan Healy (Bandon), Ciara Neville (Emerald) and Molly Scott (SLOT) among the women’s 60m entrants, picking a winner is anyone’s guess and should make for exciting viewing.

Marcus Lawler (St. L. O’Toole A.C.), Leon Reid (Menapians AC) and Jeremy Phillips (Clonliffe Harriers AC) face off in the men’s 60m race.

Niamh Whelan (Ferrybank A.C.) will be favoured in the women’s 200m with Catherine McManus (Dublin City Harriers A.C.) Sinead Denny (Dundrum South Dublin A.C.) also on the top list this season.

With an 8.29 this year Sarah Lavin (UCD) leads the 60m hurdles entrants, while Ben Reynolds (North Down AC) heads the men’s men’s field with 7.87.

In the field events, the impressive 17-year-old multi-eventer Kate O’Connor competes in the long jump and Adam McMullen and Sommer Lecky also compete in their respected events.

A full timetable of events can be found here while the provisional entry list can be found here.

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