Irish Athletics News from the past week or so...

Just some athletics news from the last week or so....

Back on the 31st of May, Ciarán Ó Lionáird from Cork broke the 4 minute barrier for the mile again when he ran 3:57.99 at the Men's International Mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon in the US. This was a seasons best for Ciarán and shows the progress he is making as he regains his fitness after an operation on his Achilles last Autumn. A post race interview can be seen on Ciarán's website.

Also on the 31st of May, Thomas Barr from Ferrybank AC in Waterford set a new Irish record in the 400m hurdles when finished in 49.61 seconds at the IFAM International Flanders Meet in Oordegem Belgium. The previous record of 49.73 was set by Tom McGuirk. The time that Thomas set was also inside the qualification time of 50.15 for the European Track and Field Championships that take place in Zurich in August.

On the 8th of June, Mark English from Donegal ran a seasons best of 1.46.22 in the 800m race at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands.This was inside the qualification time of 1.46.45 for the European Track and Field Championships.

On Thursday the 5th of June, Paul Robinson (St Coca’s AC) ran a season’s best of 3.36.45 to place 12th in the 1500m in a high class field at the IAAF Diamond League in Rome. This is the second time this season that he has dipped inside the European qualification standard of 3.39.30.

On Sunday the 8th of June, Luke Hickey of Leevale AC finished 3rd in the mens 20k at the Grand Prix of Race Walking meet in York, England. This race incorporated the Irish 20k championships so Luke also took the Irish national 20k title. His time was 1.28.10. Just behind him was Brendan Boyce from Donegal in 1:28:25. Both Luke and Brendan are part of Rob Heffernan's training group based in Cork.

20 km Men
1 Dane Bird-Smith 1992 U23 Australia 01:24:03
2 Quentin Rew 1984 Men New Zealand 01:27:54
3 Luke Hickey 1994 U23 Ireland 01:28:13
4 Brendan Boyce 1986 Men Ireland 01:28:25
5 Thomas Bosworth 1990 Men England 01:29:10
6 James Treanor 1993 U23 Ireland 01:30:32
7 Anders Hansson 1992 U23 Sweden 01:32:36
8 Joakim Saelen 1993 U23 Norway 01:37:11
9 Ian Richards 1948 M65 Steyning AC 01:49:27
10 Jonathon Hobbs 1993 U23 Ashford AC 01:53:17
11 Richard Wild 1970 M40 Manx Harriers 01:54:53
12 Steve Uttley 1957 M55 Ilford AC 01:57:57

On Monday the 9th of June, Rose-Anne Galligan finished 5th in the 800m race at the Memorial Josefa Odlozila in Prague. Her time time was 2m 03.95s. The qualifying standard for the European Championships is 2:01.3

5    Galligan Rose-Anne    IRL     2:03.95