Ciaran Doherty of Letterkenny AC proved the star of the Irish team when he won a thrilling M35 3000m at the World Masters Indoors in Finland.
Doherty crossed the line in 8 mins 37:45 secs – just holding off the fast-finishing Fabrice Thiery from France.
After setting out fast, Doherty was never out of the top six. With a kilometre to go, he moved up a gear, passing a number of runners over the closing stages.
“I’m so happy that my training has paid off and that I got things right tactically. I really couldn’t be happier,” said Ciaran.
 |
| Sheila – Champion! |
The Donegal fisherman is now double world champion after winning the world outdoors steeplechase title in Sacramento, USA last summer.
In total, the Irish brought home 11 medals three of them gold, underlining the strength of masters athletics here.
Twins Dorothy McLennan and Sheila Champion of Sportworld, mainstays of the team for the past two decades, are our other two world champions. Dorothy won the over 75 pole vault, while Sheila, who moved into the throws after a couple of strokes a few years ago, won the W75 javelin.
Sean McMullin of Mullingar Harriers finished second in the M65 3,000m track walk on Thursday in a time of 16:20.73. He followed this up two days later with another silver in the 10km road walk, clocking 56:41.
Cross-country forms part of this competition and Eugene Moynihan took silver in the M55 8km race held in bitterly cold conditions.
Geraldine Finnegan of Dunleer added to her large collection of medals when she finished second in the W45 pentathlon with an impressive total of 3764 points. She also finished second in both 400m and triple jump and set an Irish W45 record in the hurdles.
A popular bronze medal winner was Donore’s Anne Gormley who has been working hard at the walk for some years. Her time of 65 mins 32 secs in the W45 10km road was a personal best Also taking bronze in the M50 road walk was Castleisland’s Pat Murphy in 50.28.
Setting a new Irish W50 hammer record and throwing over 30m was Lucy Moore-Fox of DSD, who also set a new Irish best in the weight throw. Making M40 finals were Thomas Griffin 200m, John Corr 60m, David Grange 800m, and Ian O’Leary 3000m.
Heroes all of them!
Heading for Sunday’s Rotterdam Marathon with the Olympic A standard of 2 hrs 15 mins on his mind is Tallaght’s Sean Connolly who ran 2:17.23 on this fast, flat course last year. He will be joined by Tom Frazer of St Malachy’s and Galway’s Gary Thornton. Sportsworld’s Caitriona Jennings goes in the women’s race, along with Lizzie Lee of Leevale who is making her marathon debut. The women aim to break 2 hrs 37 mins and join the trio of Eva Hutchinson, Linda Byrne and Marie McCambridge who already have A standard times to their credit.
Kilcoole’s Fionnuala Britton ran a personal best time of 15 mins 28.22 secs for 5000m at the Stanford Invitational in California – just eight seconds off the A standard for London 2012.
In the men’s 1500m, Alistair Cragg, who has his sights set on the European Championships in Helsinki, finished sixth in 3:42.00. He then clocked 13:32.76 for fourth place in the 5000m – a nice little session!
In Alabama, Mullingar’s Mark Christie won the 3000m at the Tiger Track Classic, in 8:00.41.
Sean Connolly from Tallaght warmed up for next Sunday’s Rotterdam Marathon when he won the Good Friday 5-mile in Killarney in a time of 24 mins 41 secs. With Linda Byrne of DSD finishing fourth overall in 27.05, this proved to be the quality race of a packed Easter weekend on the roads.
Mark Kenneally of Clonliffe and DSD’s Linda Byrne lead the entry for Sunday’s Woodie’s DIY National 10km Championship taking place as part of the Spar Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park (1pm). Both Kenneally and Byrne have marathon A standards times for the forthcoming Olympic Games.
Many times former world champion Kenenisa Bekele leads the entry for the Spar Great Run.
Derval O’Rourke, Ailis Sweeney, Kelly Proper and Marian Heffernan will test their early season fitness at Saturday’s warm-up track and field meet hosted by Leevale at the CIT. Hopes are high that Ciara Mageean of UCD will run the 1500m, while both men and women’s 3000m races are shaping up nicely. Entry for everyone is €5 at the gate – athletes can then take part in any or indeed all of the events on offer. Juveniles will have their turn on Sunday.
* In Dublin the opening Juvenile League round takes place in Tallaght on Saturday (12 noon).
No comments yet.