Thomas Barr of Ferrybank ran a brilliant 49.61 secs to break the Irish 400m hurdles record at the IFAM meet in Ordegem, Belgium.
His time was also inside the Euro A qualifying mark. A large Irish squad had travelled to the meet which resembles a giant international graded meet, with a plethora of races in both a pre-programme and the main programme itself.
In the 400m hurdles, for instance, held as part of the main programme, there were six races. Barr competed in the opening heat, won by Britain’s Niall Flannery in 48.96, with another British athlete Sebastian Rodger second in 49.51. Barr was a close third, followed by Jason Harvey sixth in 51.13 secs. In the third heat, Timmy Crowe ran 51.82 for third place, with Paul Byrne fifth with 52.07. Three other Irish hurdlers were in action: Barry Upton ran 53.2, Daniel Colbert 54.14 and Damian Walsh 61.34.
Mark English (UCD)
Mark English of UCD was running in the flagship 800m race (third of three races) and duly won in 1:46.39; Karl Griffin ran 1:9.67 in the opening race. In other notable results, Sarah Lavin ran 13.45 for fourth place in the 100m hurdles (third heat; into a -1.8 wind), while Kelly Proper was third in the second 200m heat in 23.67 – the leading Irish time this season so far.
In the women’s steeplechase, Kerry O’Flaherty’s time of 9:52.94 is a new personal best, a Northern Ireland record – and qualifies her for the Commonwealth Games. Just one place behind was Sarah Treacy (who has recently moved to Dunboyne AC) running only her second race over the barriers in 10:05.67.
Still confused? See below for a full list of the Irish results.
CIARAIN O LIONAIRD finished 11th in the mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, with a time of 3:57.99.
AILEEN REID finished a fighting eighth at the World Triathlon Cup spring event in Hyde Park, London.
AT THE EUROPEAN YOUTH OLYMPICS in Baku, Pierre Murchan finished 6th in the 3000m in a personal best 8:32.59. Elizabeth Morland hit the sixth hurdle but held on to finish 10th overall in the 100m hurdles in 13.94. Andrew Barley threw 50.84 for 16th in the discus, while Adam King threw a brilliant 70.59 in qualifying for the hammer final, where he finished 11th.
Highlights from day 3 included a 6th in the discus for Eoin Sheridan of North Westmeath with a personal best throw of 58.44m in the qualifying round, and a 5th in the 800m for Leevale’s Louise Shanahan with a time of 2:11.70. In the shot, Michaela Walsh of Swinford qualified for the final with a personal best 15.33m and then improved that to 15.44m in the final, where she finished 10th.
In the high jump, Donagh McMahon of Gowran finished 7th with 2.07 and Keith Marks of Cushinstown 10th with 2.03m. Rosanne McGuckian of City of Lisburn finished 7th in the 200m in 24.66, while in the 1500m, North Sligo’s William Crowe was 13th in 4:22.03.
IFAM International Flanders Meet, Oordegem, Belgium
Irish results:
Pre-programme –
Women: 100m (8 hts)– Ht 1: 3 Phil Healy 11.81, 5 Catherina McManus 12.11, 6 Clare Brady 12.15. Ht 2: 4 Leah Moore 12.35. 200m (6 hts) – Ht 1: 6 Leah Moore 24.88. Ht2: 4 Ciara McCallion 25.27. Ht 3: 8 Orla Furney 26.54. 400m (8 hts) – Ht 2: 1 Ciara McCallion 55.72. Ht 4: 7 Eimear Lynch 61.75.
Men: 100m (10 hts) – Ht 1: 3 Craig Lynch 10.71. Ht2: 1 Keith Pike 11.01, 8 Jamie Davis 11.26. Ht4: 2 Curtis Woods 11.19, 3 Tony Stafford 11.20, 7 Conor Wilson 11.47. Ht 7: 2 Shaun Donohue 11.68, 3 Michael Deady 11.76. 200m (12 hts) – Ht 1: 1 Craig Lynch 21.44. Ht 3: 2 Jamie Davis 22.18. Ht 5: 4 Tony Stafford 22.60. Ht 7: 5 Shaun 4 Donohue 23.17. Ht 9: 4 Michael Deady 24.08. 400m (10 hts) – Ht 1 6 Curtis Woods 48.61. Ht 3: 6 Thomas O’Sullivan 50.23. Ht 7: 3 Conor Wilson 50.25.
Main programme –
Women: 100m (2 hts) – Ht 1: 3 Niamh Whelan 12.07, 5 Louise Kiernan 12.09, 6 Claire Brady 12.20. Ht 2: 4 Phil Healy 11.76, 6 Catherine McManus 11.91. 200m (2 hts) – Ht 1 7 Louise Kiernan 24.94. Ht 2: 3 Kelly Proper 23.67, 7 Niamh Whelan 24.28. 400m ( 2 hts) – Ht 1: 7 Ciara McCallion 56.37. 800m (2 hts) – Ht 2: 11 Ciara Everard 2:07.13. 100m H (3 hts)- Ht 3 (-1.8w/s): Sarah Lavin 13.45. 3000m SC: 5 Kerry O’Flaherty 9:52.94, 6 Sarah Treacy 10:05.67. 4x100m: 2 Ireland 44.67.
Men: 100m (3 hts) ; 1 Craig Lynch 10.82. Ht 2: 2 David Hynes 10.69. Ht 3: 4 Steven Colvert 10.58, 5 Jason Smyth 10.58. 200m (2 hts); Ht 1 – 2 David Hynes 21.40. Ht 2: 1 Steven Colvert 90.95. 400m (2 hts) – Ht 2: 4 Brian Murphy 47.56. 800m ( 3 hts) – Ht 1 7 Karl Griffin 1:49.67; Barry Upton, dnf. Ht 2, Curtis Woods dnf. Ht 3: 1 Mark English 1:46.39. 1500m (4 hts) – Ht 2: 7 Michael Dowling 3:47.46. Ht 3: 11 Eoin Eevrard 3:46.19. 5000m: 29 John Travers 14:19.03. 400m H (6 hts)Ht 1: 1 Niall Flannery (GBR) 48.96, 2 Sebastian Rodger (GBR) 49.51, 3 Thomas Barr (IRL) 46.61 (IR), 6 Jason Harvey 51.13. Ht 3: 3 Timmy Crowe 51.82, 5 Paul Byrne 52.07. Ht 4: 5 Barry Upton 53.32. Ht 5: 2 Daniel Colbert 54.14. Ht 6: 7 Damian Walsh 61.34. 3000m SC: 11 Rory Chesser 8:47.31. Long jump: 2 Adam McMullen 7.47. 4x100m: 1 Ireland 40.62, 2 Belgium 41.97, 3 Netherlands Junior 42.11.
After programme -Men: 1500m (7 hts) – Ht 3 5 William Hughes 3:56.83.
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