Irish middle-distance athletes heading for the European Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland at the weekend made the final touches to their preparations at the European Indoor tour final in Madrid on Wednesday (February 24).

In the women’s 800m, Nadia Power of Dublin City Harriers finished thirrd after making a determined effort to re-capture the Irish record broken by Síofra Cléirigh Buttner a few days earlier.

She attacked from the start, going through 400m in 58 seconds, but faded in the final 50m and finished third in 2:01.55 – the second fastest time of her career. Finishing fourth in 2:05.63 was Louise Shanahan of Leevale AC, who was unlucky to miss out on selection for Toruń.

In the 1500m, Andrew Coscoran of Star of the Sea AC ran a steady race to finish fifth in 3 mins 39.61 secs.

Meanwhile in a USA, a number of Irish athletes were running at an indoor meet in Kingston, Rhode Island. Alex O’Neill won the women’s 800m in 2:13.38, while in the 3000m, Laura Mooney recorded a personal best time of 9mins 41.39 secs.

Photo: Athletics Ireland / Sportsfile

Looking ahead Torun

Ireland is sending a a team of 24 to Toruń, including Mark English and Ciara Mageean who both took bronze medals in 2019.
In his only indoor race this season, English broke the Irish 800m record with a time of 1:46.10.

Mageean had shown mixed form this year, but set an Irish 800m record of 1:59.69 last July, becoming the first Irish woman to break two minutes for the distance. Unfortunately Mageean has withdrawn from the team.

Six women had 800m qualifying times for Toruń, with three the maximum allowed per event. Leading the Irish trio is Síofra Cléirigh Buttner of Dundrum South Dublin AC, currently ranked fourth in Europe for her Irish record-breaking time of 2 mins 00.58 secs last week.

Not far behind is Nadia Power, ranked seventh for her time of 2:00.98, while ranked eleventh is newly-minted Irish citizen Georgie Hartigan with a time of 2:01.48. All three should make it past the first round at least. The only other top-ten ranked Irish woman is Phil Healy whose time of 51.99 secs puts her fifth for the 400m.

Best ranked of the Irish men is Andrew Coscoran ranked 11th for his time of 3:37.20. Ranked 12th for the 3000m is Sean Tobin of Clonmel AC with a time of 7:48.01.

Included on the Irish squad are a number of up-and-coming stars, led by Darragh McElhinney 3000m and Cian McPhillips 800m, both with personal best times this season.

The post Finishing touches for Euro Indoors – Irish round-up appeared first on Fast Running.

Mark English of UCD won the 800m in sensational style at the Birmingham Diamond League meeting on Sunday (August 18).

Only last Wednesday, English had dropped out of the 800m at the Cork City Sports and his chances of qualifying for next month’s World Championships were starting to look shaky.

But English came back with a bang in Birmingham going from eighth to first in the final 100m of the race and clocking a season’s best time of 1:45.94. That puts him 39th on the current rankings and with 48 places on offer for the World Championships, that should see him through safely. Second in the race was the Kenyan Alfred Kipketer in 1:46.10.

[Editor – If you have the time it’s well worth watching English’s finish on Youtube. Miles from contention until the last 100m and it’s almost like he just decides he’ll go win it. The looks of disbelief on Webb & Kipketer’s faces are brilliant and English commandingly takes the victory. A real joy to watch.]

Next up for English is the Morton Games in Santry on Wednesday evening (August 21). Also competing in Santry is Ciara Mageean, who has already qualified for Doha.

In the 400m hurdles, Thomas Barr of Ferrybank AC finished fourth in 50.16 secs, while in the Millicent Fawcett Mile, Sarah Healy of Blackrock AC, making her Diamond League debut, clocked 4:40.72 for 12th place. Three Diamond League meets remain.

Elsewhere on the track

A night earlier, at the Flanders Cup meet in Belgium, Nadia Power, who is soon to transfer to Dublin City Harriers AC, won the women’s 800m in a personal best time of 2 mins 2.39 secs. In the 200m series, Leon Reid of Menapians AC finished second in his heat in 20.93 secs, while in the 400m hurdles, Jason Harvey of Crusaders AC was third in 52.09 secs.

Phil Healy of Bantry AC finished fourth in the women’s 100m at the 58th Cork City Sports held at the CIT track on Wednesday (August 14) with an encouraging time of 11.49 secs.The race was won by the American Candace Hill in 11.37; Healy later finished fourth in the 200, also behind Hill, with their times 23.07 and 23.40 respectively. In the men’s 200m, Leon Reid of Menapians AC, was third in 20.89 secs.

In the women’s 800m, Nadia Power of Templeogue AC finished fifth in 2:03.19 in the women’s 800m. Luvo Manyonga, the current world champion, won the long jump with a stadium record of 8.20; his lifetime best is 8.65 m. Pippa Rogan finished fourth and Sommer Lecky fifth in the high jump both getting over 1.80.

Photo: Lindie Naughton

Masters Athletics

Tommy Hughes of Termoneeny in Co Derry, who has transferred to Dublin club Rathfarnham WSAF AC, was the winner of the men’s over 50 5000m race at the National Masters Track and Field Championships in rain-sodden Tullamore on Sunday (August 18). Hughes, who turns 60 next January, headed the race from the start and finished ahead of Tommy Payne of Tinryland AC and Ian O’Leary of Leevale AC.

Moving down from his favoured 800m distance was many times world champion Joe Gough of West Waterford AC, who won the M65 200m in 29.23 secs.

There should be more results available on the Athletics Ireland website.

Road running

Clonliffe’s Ian Guiden proved the class of the field at the Fr Mulligan 5km in Dundalk on Saturday (August 18) winning in 15 mins 5 secs. A distant second in 17:54 was Shane Larkin of Drogheda and District. First woman was Josephine Killeen in 21:24.

At the Rathkenny 5km in Co Meath on Friday evening (August 16) , Ben Brunton of St Brigid’s AC was the winner in 16 minutes exactly with Shauna Moran of Dunshaughlin AN first woman in 19 mins 47 secs. Star of the Sea AC was first of the women’s club teams, with Dunshaughlin AC best of the men.

Hiko Tonosa of Dundrum South Dublin AC was the clear winner of the Castlepollard 5km on Wednesday (August 16) in a time of 14 mins 49 secs. Second and first M35 was Brian O’Kelly of Crusaders AC in 15:06 while third was Ronan Maguire of OMG AC in 15:27.

First woman as Leevale’s Sinead O’Connor in 16:50. Siobhan O’Doherty of Borrisokane AC was second in 17:11 and Mary Mulhare of Portlaoise AC third in 17:21. The race was the eighth round of the KIA Series, with only the Lakes 10km in Blessington on September 7 to come.

Overall rankings

With the five best results counting, Mary Mulhare currently tops the women’s rankings with three wins , a second and a third for eight points. Also on eight points with two wins and three seconds is Sinead O’Connor.

With five wins from six races, Tonosa is uncatchable in the men’s competition; as indeed he was last year when the fact that he didn’t have a driver’s license meant he could not take on the 12-month lease of a car that went to the overall winner.

Winners at the Musgrave S& BHAA 5km in Cork on Tuesday (August 13) were Alan O’Shea of Mercy Hospital and Carol Finn of Finn Physiotherapy.

O’Shea finished in 15 mins 10 secs, with Alan O’Brien of McCarthy Insurance Group four seconds behind for second and Joe Cunningham of Eli Lilly third and first M45 in 15:18. Finn clocked 18 mins 1 sec; Clare O’Brien of Department of Education was second in 18:30 and with Niamh Roe third in 18.49.

Department of Education was first team in women’s grade A, with HSE best in B and Musgrave in C. UCC was first team in men’s grade A ahead of Eli Lilly; Stryker were clear winners of B while PM Group won C. A total of 478 completed the race. Next Cork BHAA race is the Cork to Cobh 15 mile on Sunday October 9 for which online registration is opening soon.

parkrun

Kirsti Foster and Tom Aldred ran the fastest parkrun times in Ireland this weekend. Full rankings here.

If you would like to run faster at parkrun, top tips to help runners of all abilities can be found here.

RELATED: 7 ways to run faster at parkrun

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patron. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

Lindie Naughton is a journalist and writer based in Dublin who joined the athletics club at her college many many years ago and has never quite escaped. You’ll normally find her jogging around some orienteering course somewhere – or down at the Irishtown track coaching kiddies!

The post Mark English gives an 800m masterclass – Irish round-up appeared first on Fast Running.

Mark English and Ciara Mageean won bronze medals at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow on Sunday (March 3).

English clocked 1:47.39 in the men’s 800m final, while Mageean ran 4:09.43 in the women’s 1500m final.

English had to get through to the final on an appeal after being impeded in the semi-final but there was no doubting his metal in the final.

The UCD athlete was at the head of the field from the get go after pre-race adivce from his coach Steve Magness.

“Steve told me to get out from the start and expend some energy so I’ve to thank him for that,” said English. “It was really good to get a medal and it shows the young athletes out there to keep sticking at it.”

This was the Donegal man’s third European medal over 800m – he won bronze outdoors in Zurich and silver indoors in Prague.

Mageean has endured some difficult moments the last couple of years but this was a brilliant response and added to her European outdoor bronze in 2016.

“It can’t always be up, up, up,” all the time said Mageean afterwards. “I run to wear the green, white and gold. It’s brilliant to be back on the podium. I went out there to run my best race.”

Irish marathon champion Mick Clohisey of Raheny Shamrock AC led home almost 700 finishers at the Lusk 4 Mile road race in north Co Dublin on Sunday.

Clohisey finished in 19:16, with Clonliffe’s Ian Guiden second in 19:32 and Padraig Moran of Mullingar Harriers third in 19:52.

Catherina McKiernan of Annalee AC was tenth overall and first woman in 22:49. Ailish Murtagh of Raheny Shamrock was second in 24:48 and Harriette Robinson of Dundrum South Dublin AC a close third in 24:33.

Host club Lusk took the men’s team prize ahead of Raheny Shamrock. Raheny proved best of the women’s teams with Portmarnock second.

At the Kearney and McBride Cup 5km in Co Louth, also on Sunday, Peter Arthur of Liffey Valley AC was the runaway winner.

Arthur’s time of 15:06 put him over a minute clear of Stephen Kelly of Drogheda and District AC who finished in 16:23. Catherine O’Connor of East Down AC was first woman in 18:04 with Sile Carroll of Liffey Valley AC second in 19:14. Liffey Valley won both men and women’s team titles.

A number of the women making up teams in Lusk had already taken part in the third and final Meet and Train women’s two-mile cross country at Abbotstown earlier in the day. This was the first time a club race had taken place at the National Cross Country venue.

Making it a hat trick of victories was Claire Ni Fhaircheallaigh of Dunboyne AC. Crusaders AC pair Fiona Shine and Grainne Regan were second and third, with Sinead Tighe of Bros Pearse AC fourth.

Phil Kilgannon of Sportsworld AC and Aisling O’Connor of Edenderry AC were winners of the Adamstown Community 10km held on Sunday. Their times were 36:21 and 38:01.

Irish junior international athlete Emma O’Brien, representing DCU, won the women’s 5km race at the Irish Universities Cross Country Championships at St Mary’s Galway on Saturday (March 2).

With a time of 19:05, O’Brien finished comfortably clear of her DCU team mates Avril Deegan and Nadia Power. DCU were comprehensive winners of the team trophy ahead of Trinity College and UCD.

Making in a DCU double in the men’s 8km was Paul Robinson, who had a tough battle with Damien Landers of NUIG and out-sprinted him for victory. Robinson’s winning time was 26:40 with Landers on 26:41.

Finishing a distant third in 27:01 was Paul O’Donnell of UCD. DCU was first team, with UCD second and NUIG third. DCU also finished best overall college ahead of UCD and TCD.

Clonliffe’s David Flynn set a new course record of 52:15 on his way to an untroubled victory in the Walled City Derry 10 Mile road race on Saturday.

Second was Gary Slevin in 53:43. First woman was Ciara Toner of Springwell RC in 61 minutes exactly. Catherine Whoriskey of City of Derry Spartans was second in 63:09.

Indoors

Dean Adams of Ballymena and Antrim AC had a narrow victory in the 60m at the Leinster Indoor Championships held in Abbotstown on Saturday.

Adams time of 6.85 secs put him just one-hundredth of a second ahead of Leo Morgan of Clonliffe Harriers who was second in 6.86 secs.

Winning the women’s 60m title in 7.77 secs was Kate Doherty of Dundrum South Dublin, the recently crowned Irish 60m hurdles champion. Sive O’Toole of St LOT AC won the junior women’s race in 7.56 secs.

Israel Olatunde of Dundealgan AC won the junior men’s 60m in 6.96 secs and also took the 200m title in 22.44.

Carla Sweeney of Rathfarnham WSAF AC won the senior women’s 800m in 2:17.14. Winning the senior men’s title was Philip Marron of Ratoath AC in 1:55.68 with Colin Smith of Mullingar Harriers a close second in 1:55.68.

Abbie Taylor of Dundrum South Dublin was a clear winner of the junior women’s 3000m in 10:07.34 with Holly Brennan of Cilles AC second in 10:30.63.

Clonliffe master Snezana Bechtina won the senior women’s 400m in 59.9 secs. Keith Marks, also Clonliffe, won the senior men’s long jump with a 7.30m effort, while Saragh Buggy of St Abban’s jumped 13.09m for victory in the women’s triple jump.

Winning the junior men’s pole vault with 4.40m was 18-year-old Matthew Callinan Keenan of St LOT AC. Taking the senior men’s combined events title with 5151 points was Shane Aston of Trim AC. His best points came in the 60m hurdles and the high jump.

parkrun

Martin Cox ran 15:52 at the MUSA Cookstown parkrun to record the fastest men’s time across Ireland on Saturday, while Rachel Gibson was the quickest woman after running 17:20 at the Belfast Victoria event.

The 10 fastest times at Irish parkruns can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patron. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Mark English and Ciara Mageean win European indoor bronze medals appeared first on Fast Running.

Athletics Ireland has named a team of 16 athletes for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow from March 1-3.

Ciara Mageean, Mark English, Thomas Barr, Phil Healy and Sean Tobin are among the team that has a strong blend of experience and championship debuts.

Healy is ranked fourth in the women’s 400m with Mageean and English (1500m and 800m) both ranked fifth on the European Indoor lists.

English, who won European indoor silver four years ago in Prague, has been in excellent form winning his sixth national indoor title at the weekend.

Mageean has also showed her class in recent weeks and won the women’s national 3000m title on Saturday after setting an Irish indoor mile record last week.

Photo: Athletics Ireland / Sportsfile

Olympian Barr and Cillin Greene have been selected for the 400m, while Tobin, who features in the Fast 10: class of 2019, will race in the 3000m alongside Irish champion John Travers.

There are senior debuts on the women’s side for Molly Scott and Lauren Roy in the 60m, Sophie Becker in the 400m and world U20 silver medallist Sommer Lecky in the high jump.

It’s a good step up for the U20 athletes with three members of the women’s world 4x100m silver medal-winning team running in the 60m with Ciara Neville also an individual qualifier.

Joseph Ojewumi in the 60m and Conall Kirk in the 800m make track debuts, while Siofra Cleirigh Buttner has been selected for the women’s 800m.

“This is a strong Irish team that is primed to put in a performance at this championship,” said High Performance Director Paul McNamara. “Our more high profile athletes have had stellar seasons to date with Ciara, Phil, Mark, Siofra and Thomas very well placed on the European ranking lists.

“This event will provide an excellent transitioning opportunity for our talented crop of 2018 U20s such as Molly, Ciara, Lauren and Sommer while emerging athletes like Joseph Ojewumi, Cillin Greene and Sophie Becker have shown exciting form this season to earn their spots. This will be a good championships for Irish athletics.”

RELATED: Ciara Mageean and Phil Healy among winners at Irish indoors

Women’s selection

60m: Molly Scott (SLOT), Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn), Ciara Neville (Emerald)
400m: Phil Healy (Bandon), Sophie Becker (St Joseph’s)
800m: Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (DSD)
1500m: Ciara Mageean (UCD)
High jump: Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley)

Men’s selection

60m: Joseph Ojewumi (Tallaght)
400m: Thomas Barr (Ferrybank), Cillin Greene (Galway City Harriers)
800m: Mark English (UCD), Zak Curran (DSD), Conall Kirk (Annadale Striders)
3000m: John Travers (Donore Harriers), Sean Tobin (Clonmel)

Meanwhile, the British team of 48 athletes for Glasgow was also named and can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Ireland name team for Glasgow European Indoor Championships appeared first on Fast Running.

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.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patron. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

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.

In the final track event of the night in Athlone, John Travers became the first Irishman to run a sub four-minute mile indoors in Ireland.

The 26-year-old crossed the line in 3:59.40 to finish third in the mile race won by Australia’s Ryan Gregson in 3:57.86, with Poland’s Grzegorz Kalinowski second in a personal best 3:59.19.

It has been a busy seven days for the Donore Harrier, who last Thursday ran a 5k road personal best 14:16 at the Armagh 5k, before successfully retaining his Irish 3000m indoor title on Sunday.

Travers has run quicker before indoors with a 3:58.10 best and outdoor best 3:55.44 from 2014.

Earlier in the night, Olympian hurdler Thomas Barr won the 400m flat race in 46.94.

The 25-year-old showed he had the kick to overcome Portugal’s Victor-Ricardo Dos Santos down the home straight, who had to settle for second, with British athlete Seb Rodger finishing third.

Barr, who competed over 200m at the Irish Indoor Championships on Sunday, will now turn his focus to the outdoors with the European Championships his goal this summer.

Mark English had an impressive run in the 800m, finishing second in 1:47.48 just behind Spaniard Kevin Lopez with 1.47:43.

In the women’s 1500m, recently crowned Irish 1500m champion Emma Mitchell recorded an indoor personal best. Mitchell finished fourth in 4:14.54 with the race won by Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui in 4:10.63.

The post John Travers becomes first Irishman to run indoor sub-4 mile in Ireland appeared first on Fast Running.

The race was won by Kenya’s Helen Obiri in 4:16.56, with Britain’s Laura Muir finishing second in 4:18.03, missing  out on breaking Zola Budd’s 32-year-old British record by half a second.

Mageean’s time of 4:22.40 is a new personal best, bettering her previous best time by six seconds.

Her new PB is a Northern Ireland record, and places her second on the Irish all-time list for the women’s mile.

Irish great Sonia O’Sullivan holds the current Irish mile record of 4:17.25.

After running her second fastest 1500m last month in Rome, Mageean, will now look to carry her good form into next month’s World Championships in London.

In the men’s 800m Mark English finished 11th in 1:47.04. The race was won impressively by Nijel Amos of Botswana in 1:43.18.

The post Ciara Mageean sets mile PB in London appeared first on Fast Running.