Euro Team Championships: Ireland 7th in Tallin. O’Rourke Retires

Brian Gregan

A tremendous effort by the men’s 4 x 400m quartet in the final race of the day pulled the Irish team past Portugal for seventh place overall at a drama-filled European Team Championships League 1 in Tallin Estonia.

Craig Lynch led off for the Irish, followed by Brian Murphy before Thomas Barr took over and moved the team into second place. It was then left to Brian Gregan to bring the team home in 3 mins 5.40 secs – less than a second behind Belgium and well clear of third placed Belarus.

Ireland’s only winner on the day was Mark English who comfortably won the 800m from Tamas Kazi of Hungary.

In the women’s 5000m, Fionnuala Britton was outsprinted by old rival Ana Dulce Felix of Portugal.  A clear second in the women’s 1500m was Laura Crowe. Kelly Proper finished fourth in the 200m but struggled in the long jump fouling her first two jumps.  In the high hurdles, Sarah Lavin was fourth in the  women’s race, while Ben Reynolds went one better, finished third of the men.

Picking up solid points in the men’s steeplechase was Thomas Cotter who finished fourth, while also fourth was David McCarthy in the 3000m. At one point, Ireland had moved up to sixth place, with almost all members of the track team scoring well.

At the end of day 1, just 10 points had separated the top  five teams and in the end, it was Belarus who came out of top. They overtook  Finland who had led after the opening day and dropped to third, with Norway moving from fifth to second place. By finishing in seventh place, Ireland repeat their performance of last year in Santry and hold on to their place in the 1st league.

HURDLER Derval O’Rourke has announced her retirement. Her distinguished career included the indoor world 60m hurdles title in 2006,  European outdoor silver in 2006 and 2010, European indoor bronze in 2009 and 2013, three Olympic Games,  a fourth in the 100m hurdles at the World Championships of 2009 and numerous Irish titles and records. Also moving on is sprinter Paul Hession of Athenry who qualified as a doctor recently, and 400m runner David Gillick.

Day 2 –

Women – 200m: 1 Maria Belibasaki (Gre) 23.12…4 Kelly Proper 23.74. 1500m: 1 Ingwill Makestad Bovim (Nor) 4:11.07, 2 Laura Crowe 4:13.84, 3 Liina Tserov (Est) 4:14.20. 5000m: 1 Ana Dulce Felix (Por) 15:21.32, 2 Fionnuala Britton 15:23.37, 3 Volha Mazuronalk (Blr) 15:35.44. 100m H: 1 Isabelle Pederson (Nor) 13.18…4 Sarah Lavin 13.48. HJ: 1 Anna Iljustsenko (Est) 1.84….11 Caitriona Farrell 1.70. LJ: 1 Alina Roruru (Rom) 6.63…11 Kelly Proper 5.72. SP: 1 Yulia Leantsiuk (BLR) 18.48….9 Clare Fitzgerald 14.01. HT: 1 Bianca Perie (Rom) 71.93….10 Aoife Hickey 55.97. 4x400m: 1 Romania 3:32.83…. 8 Ireland (Denny, Barr, McCallion, McMahon) 3:39.40.

Men – 200m: 1 Jaysuma Saidy Ndure (Nor) 20.70…7 Marcus Lawler 21.58. 800m: 1 Mark English 1:47.63, 2 Tamas Kazi (Hun) 1:48.42, 3 Zan Rudolf (Slo) 1:48.64. 3000m: 1 Henrik Ingebritsen (Nor) 8:16.00…4 David McCarthy 8:18.02.  110m H: 1 Balazs Baji (Hun) 13.51, 2 Konstadinos Douvalidis (Gre) 13.56, 3 Ben Reynolds 13.82. 3000m SC: 1 Justina Berzanskis (Lth) 8:48.49…4 Thomas Cotter 8:49.38. TJ: 1 Marian Opera (Rom) 16.68….11 Denis Finnegan 14.86. PV: 1 Arno Art (Bel) 5.42…11 Ian Rogers 4.40.  Discus: 1 Andrius Gudzius (Lth) 61.92…11 Marco Pons 47.77. Javelin: 1 Antti Ruuskanen (Fin) 79.62…12 Matthew Martin 60.86. 4x400m: 1 Belgium 3:04.93, 2 Ireland (Lynch, Murphy, Barr, Gregan) 3:05.40, 3 Belarus 3:09.00.

Overall – 1 Belarus 302.4, 2 Norway 300, 3 Finland 290.5, 4 Romania 281.5, 5 Greece 276.5, 6 Estonia 275.5, 7 Ireland 253.5, 8 Portugal 251.5, 9 Belgium 251, 10 Lithuania 227, 11 Slovenia 209.5, 12 Hungary 191.

 Day 1 –

Women -100m (+2.5): 1 Ezinne Okbaraebo (Nor) 11.41…5 Amy Foster 11.59. 400m: Agne Serksniene (Lth) 52.94….10 Sinead Denny 55.06 (5^th Ht 1). 800m: 1 Maryna Arzamasava (Blr) 2:00.95, 2 Ingvill Makestad Bovim (Nor) 2:02.57…5 Rose-Anne Galligan 2:05.97. 3000m: 1 Sara Moreira (Por) 9:07.14…4 Anne Marie McGlynn 9:21.19. 400m H:1 Angela Morosanu (Rom) 56.70….6 Christine McMahon 59.24. 3000m SC: 1 Sandra Eriksoon (Fin) 9:40.36… 4 Kerry O’Flaherty 9:53.18. TJ: 1 Patricia Mamona (Por) 14.26…10 Caoimhe King 12.81. PV: 1 Ekaterini Stefanidi (Gre) 4.55…4 Tori Pena 3.95. DT: 1 Zinaida Sendriute (Lth) 65.83…11 Claire Fitzgerald 48.12. JT: 1 Tatsiana Khaladovich (Blr) 58.33…..11 Anita Fitzgibbon 47.74. 4x100m: 1 Greece 44.38, 2 Belgium 44.74, 3 Estonia 44.75, 4 Finland 44.85, 5 Ireland 45.02 (3^rd Ht1)

Men – 100m: 1 Jaysuma Saidy Ndure (Nor) 10.12….9 David Hynes 10.56. 400m: 1 Brian Gregan 46.54, 2 Julien Watrin (Bel) 46.57. 1500m: 1 Paul Robinson 3:51.05, 2 Christian Vorovenci (Rom) 3:51.58. 5000m: 1 Tiidreak Nurne (Est) 14:14.92, 2 Keon Naert (Bel) 14:16.51, 3 Kevin Batt  14:17.35. 400m H: 1 Thomas Barr 49.30, 2 Rasmus Magi (Est) 49.48, 3 Tim Rummens (Bel) 51.04. HJ: 1 Mihai Donisan (Rom) 2.26…12 David Cussen 2.05. LJ: 1 Louis Tsatoumas (Gre) 8.25….10 Adam McMullen 7.39. HT: 1 Krisztian Pars (Hun) 75.26, 2 Primoz Kozmus (Slo) 73.02….8 Dempsey McGuigan 62.71. Shot: 1 Pavel Lyzhen (Blr) 19.74 ….12 Sean Breathnach 15.59. 4x100m: 1 Portugal 39.60….7 Ireland 40.18 (3^rd Ht1)

Totals – 1 Finland 161, 2 Belarus 156.5, 3 Romania 155.5, 4 Greece 151.5, 5 Norway 151.0, 6 Lithuania 145.0, 7 Portugal 140.5, 8 Ireland 133.5, 9 Estonia 131.5, 10 Belgium 120.5, 11 Slovenia 101.5, 12 Hungary 85.0