On a great day for the Irish team, both Joe Gough of West Waterford and City of Lisburn’s Kelly Neely won gold in the 800m finals at the World Masters T-F Lyon today. Since he turned 60, Gough has won European outdoor gold, and world indoor indoor gold and set a world indoor record for 800m, but a world outdoor gold had eluded him.
His championships started on Thursday when he won his heat comfortably in a time of 2:19.06. Friday’s semi-finals, held in 38 degrees heat, were not so straightforward. After a slow start, Gough was badly spiked as the tempo quickened and slipped back to third with 200m to go. He reclaimed the lead with 50m to go and won in 2:20.
So it was on to Sunday’s final in the La Duchere Balmont, where Gough led for the first 600m against a field that included former Olympians and world champions. With 200m to go, Oleksandr Lysenko from Ukraine surged passed him but Gough regained the lead with 100m left. Now the finish line was in sight, and both Omar Clok from Uruguay and the defending champion Carlos Humberto Loiza Londona from Colombia gave it one last effort, before a big kick from Gough saw him cross the line for victory. His time was 2:15.9; second was Clok 2:16.89 and third Londana in 2:17.18.
In the W35 race, Neely was an emphatic winner in a fantastic time of 2:10.04 and was followed home by Denise Toner of Clones in an Irish one-two. Brilliant – and you can see it on a YouTube clip accessible via the Irish Masters Facebook. In other results, Drogheda’s Mark O’Shea took bronze in the M40 race, while Ken Archbold of St LOT was 5th M45.
In the 200m heats, Shane Sheridan of DSD set an Irish M55 record of 25.56 secs; Clonmel’s Hazel Galloway also qualified for the W55 semi-finals. Here’s what we have:
Sunday August 9
800m finals – W35 – 1 Kelly Neely (City of Lisburn) 2:10.04, 2 Denise Toner (Clones) 2:14.59, 3 Nina Howarka (Slo) 2:18.55. W40: 7 Niamh Fitzgerald (Lucan Hrs) 2:22.63. M40: 3 Mark O’Shea(Drogheda & Dist) 1:57.19. M45: 5 Ken Archbold (StLOT) 2:04.73. M60: 1 Joe Gough (W Waterford) 2:15.09, 2 Omar Clok (Uru) 2:16.89, 3 Carloes Humbero Loiza Londano (Col) 2:17.18.
200 Heats – : M40: 69 Paudie Barron (St Joseph’s) 26.75. M55: 13 Shane Sheridan (DSD) 24.26 (IR; q). W55: 15 Hazel Galloway (Clonmel) 32.29(q)
* Thanks to Kevin McGlone for the correct results link.
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