Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba breaks second world record in 5 days...

Just five days after breaking the world indoor 1500m record, Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba smashed the world indoor 3000m record at Stockholm’s XL Galan, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting, with a stunning 8:16.60 run on Thursday (6th Feb). This was more than 7 seconds faster than the 8:23.72 mark set by Meseret Defar in 2007.

Irish athletics round up from the weekend...Sat 18th & Sun 19th Jan 2014

Sun 19th...At the Reykjavik International Games in Iceland, Rose-Anne Galligan of Ireland finished in second place in the womens indoor 800m in a time of 2:03:69. This was just outside the 2:03:00 needed to qualify for the World Indoor Track and Field Championships which takes place in Sopot Poland in March.

Rose-Anne has a personal best of 2:00.58 for 800m outdoors which she set in London last July.

800 m   
Athletes    Nationality    Date    Time   
1    Aníta Hinriksdóttir    ISL    13 Jan 96    2:01.81
2    Rose-Anne Galligan    IRL    9 Dec 87    2:03.69
3    Aline Krebs    GER    5 Sep 88    2:06.24

Video of the race HERE

Sun 19th...At the Munster Indoor Athletic Championships in Nenagh, Co.Tipperary, Sinead O'Connor of Leevale AC won the womens 3000m in a time of 10:18.10. James Grufferty of Leevale AC won the mens 3000m title in a time of 9:04.93.

The track results are HERE and the field results are HERE

Sat 18th Jan...At the Hunter Track Classic in Glendale, Australia, several Irish athletes were in action.

In the mens 3,000m, Paul Robinson of St.Coca's AC finished second while Mark Hanrahan of Leevale AC finished fourth.

Hunter Track Classic 2014 - 18/01/2014. Athletics Australia National Series. Hunter Sports Centre, Glendale                    
Men 3000 Metre Run
  1 Batt, Kevin               23 Nsw                    7:57.11       
  2 Robinson, Paul            23 Ireland                7:58.56       
  3 Wright, Joshua            23 Nswis                  8:05.13       
  4 Hanrahan, Mark            29 Ireland                8:05.73       
  5 Saunders, Philo           38 Act                    8:09.40       
  6 Hansen, James             21 Nsw                    8:11.38       
  7 Fawthorpe, Tom            24 Vic                    8:17.78       
  8 McDonald, Morgan          18 Nsw                    8:20.21       
  9 Hunter, Charlie           18 Nswis                  8:20.34       
 10 Connor, James             22 Nsw                    8:21.46       
 11 Cox, Matthew              24 Nsw                    8:22.42       
 12 Roeger, Michael           26 Sasi                   8:24.53       
 13 Gebreselassie, Dejen      21 Nsw                    8:39.20       
 14 Walters, Guy              20 Nsw                    8:40.49       
 15 Williams, Hugh            22 Nsw                    8:40.85  

In the womens 1500m, Laura Crowe of An Riocht AC finished in third spot in a time of 4:11.49, an improvement on her previous personal best of 4:12.06 which was set in Italy last September.
Women 1500 Metre Run
  1 McKnight, Kaila     28 Vis                    4:09.87 CGB         
  2 Duncan, Melissa     24 Vic                    4:09.98 CGB         
  3 Crowe, Laura        27 Ireland                4:11.49             
  4 Hetherington, Kell  25 Vis                    4:14.11             
  5 Laman, Anna         19 Nsw                    4:19.55             
  6 Wellings, Eliose    32 Nsw                    4:22.23             
  7 Delaney, Bridey     25 Nsw                    4:22.81             
  8 Powell, Courtney    19 Vic                    4:23.39             
  9 Powell, Laura       15 Vic                    4:24.99             
 10 Davies, Rose        15 Nsw                    4:31.52             
 11 Lord, Arianna       17 Nzl                    4:31.68             
 12 Augustine, Emily    17 Nsw                    4:33.17             
 13 Witchard, Melinda   28 Nsw                    4:36.42

Sat 18th Jan...At the guest mile at the Athlone indoor track, John Travers of Donore Harriers can close to the 4 minute mark.

Place Heat Posn Elite Mile Club Time
1 F 1 John Travers Donore Harriers AC / AIT AC 4:01.47
2 F 2 Danny Mooney Letterkenny AC 4:02.88
3 F 3 Joe Warne Doheny AC / DCU AC 4:04.06
4 F 4 John Coghlan MSB AC / DCU AC 4:10.65
5 F 5 Emmet Dunleavy Sligo AC 4:12.10
6 F 6 Richard Owens Sli Cualainn AC / UCD AC 4:13.97
7 F 7 Kevin Kelly St. Coca’s 4:26.46

Race video...

Sat 18th Jan...At the Scottish Open Athletics indoor meet in Glasgow, Kelly Proper of Ferrybank AC ran 24:01 in the 200m, not far outside her PB of 23:58. In the Long Jump, Kelly jumped 6.26 metres.

200m...2 24.01 Kelly Proper SEN    W Ferrybank/Ireland 23.58

LJ...1 6.26 Kelly Proper     SEN    W Ferrybank/Ireland 6.48

Fionnuala Britton wins bronze in the Euro 3000m indoors...

In a brilliant piece of running, Fionnuala Britton won a bronze medal today in the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenborg, Sweden. With 12 athletes starting the 3000m race on a 6 lane track, Fionnuala stayed at the back of the pack early on to stay out of trouble. When the surge eventually came, she went with the front runners and a group of four opened up a gap on the rest of the field. At the end, Fionnuala put in a blistering final lap to finish ahead of the Russian athlete to take Bronze.

After the race, Fionnuala said....."I’m so happy I didn’t come fourth as it was so close between us and the danger people were all amongst the medals. When you come away with a medal, a medal is a medal and it is not easy to get any of them. You take what you can get and move on I suppose. When you get a medal you love it and you want to come back. It is such a short season that it goes by so fast. It’s a good confidence boost (ahead of the World Cross-Country Championships in Poland later this month) and it’s good preparation.”

Will Downing has a post race interview here....

Ciarán Ó Lionáird wins bronze at the Euro Indoor Championships...

In the final of the mens 3,000m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenborg , Sweden, Ciarán Ó Lionáird finished in a personal best time of 7:50.40 to finish third for the bronze medal.

Ciarán pictured with Ciarán Ó Catháin, president of Athletics Ireland. Photo by Kieran Carlin of Finn Valley AC

For most of the race, Ciarán stayed near the back of the pack out of trouble and picked up the pace with about 400m to go when he followed the eventual winner Ibrahimov. At the bell and 200m to go, it seemed as if it was a two horse race but the Spaniard Juan Higuero surged in the last few metres to take the silver.

Considering all the injury problems that he had in 2012, Ciarán is really beginning to show what a fantastic talent he is.

Post race interview with Will Downing here...


For the other Irish athletes today, it was a mixed bag. Fionnuala Britton in the 3000m went through to the final and Amy Foster went through to the 60m semi-finals.

Ciara Everard in the 800m finished 3rd in the womens 800m and also went through to the final. It was however a photo finish for that last qualifying spot...

As you can see, Ciara is #6. I'm not sure how they separated them but Ciara got the nod.

In the other 800m semi-final, Rose-Anne Galligan went out after finishing 5th but ran a personal best time in the process.

In the mens 400m, there was some drama as Brian Gregan got spiked as the field converged after 150 metres. Just before the 200m mark, the Ukrainian athlete Burakov stood on Gregan's shoe and spiked him in the process....

...an injury that required several stitches. Hopefully, it won't be any more serious than that.

In a post race interview, Brian Gregan said......“My raceplan was to get to the bend, and to get to the break third. My plan was going perfect, with perfect pace, around 21.6-21.7 to the bell. Unfortunately I got spiked. A guy just completely took me out of it, and there was no coming back from it. He actually stood on my ankle and ripped me down my leg. I’ve had nine stitches. It was poor form.”

Full results for today in an earlier post.

David McCarthy of West Waterford AC runs qualifying time for the European indoors

At an indoor 3000m track race in Boston on Thursday evening (14th Feb 13), David McCarthy ran almost a solo race to win in a time of 7:51.24...

2013 Makeup BU Valentine Invitational...Boston University | Boston, Massachusetts
Men 3000 Meter Run
================================================================================
    Name                    Year Team                    Seed     Finals  Points
================================================================================
  1 McCarthy, David              Unattached                      7:51.24 
  2 Sollowin, Stephen            Northeastern         8:10.31    8:11.66 
  3 Paulson, Matt                Boston U.            8:11.00    8:15.47 
  4 Bush, Jeff                   Brown                8:18.00    8:16.61 
  5 Gibson, Robert               Boston U.            8:08.00    8:17.78 
  6 Doyle, Brian                 Northeastern         8:09.23    8:19.48 
  7 Burke, Chris                 Stotan               8:10.00    8:20.95 
  8 King, Curtis                 Dartmouth            8:20.00    8:21.33 
  9 McGurrin, Mark               Brown                8:28.00    8:27.96 
 10 Gorman, Tim                  Dartmouth            8:20.00    8:34.42 
 11 McKeon, John                 Boston U.            8:50.00    8:46.66 
 12 Caputo, Michael              Boston U.            8:43.00    8:47.74 
 13 Gennaro, Paul                Boston U.            8:48.00    8:49.10 
 14 Galasso, BU                  Boston U.                       8:57.93 
 15 Mentas, Chris                Northeastern         8:45.00    9:06.86 

This is almost a full nine seconds inside the 8:00 minutes needed to qualify for the Irish team for the European Indoor Championships in Gothenborg in March.

Fionnuala Britton sets new PB time for 3,000m indoors in Germany

Last Saturday (2nd Feb), the European Cross Country Champion Fionnuala Britton set a new personal best time of 8:55.22 at a 3,000m indoor race in Karlsruhe, Germany. Even though she finished in third place, her time was nearly 5 seconds faster than the 9:00 minutes needed to qualify for selection for the Irish team to go to the European Indoor Track and Field Championships in Gothenbourg, Sweden in March.

The race was won by the Olympic 5,000m Champion Meseret Defar of Ethiopia in a time of 8.35.28.

Results - Women's 3000m
Rank    Athlete    Nation    Result    React.time
1    Defar, Meseret    ETH    WL, MR 8:35:28
2    HARRER, Corinna    GER    EL 8:51:04
3    BRITTON, Fionnuala    IRL    PB 8:55:22
4    ABDULLAYEVA, Layes    AZE      8:57:17
5    DIMA Gete,    ETH      9:02:48
6    GONZALEZ, Paula    ESP      9:06:02
7    BEKELE, Mekdes    ETH      9:06.99
8    URBINA, Teresa    ESP    PB 9:09:50

Prior to this, Fionnuala's best time for the 3,000m indoors was 9:00.7 which was set back in February 2011. Her latest time makes her the third fastest Irish woman for this distance indoors.

3000m...Irish Indoor Records...Sub 9 mins
1 8.43.74 Mary Cullen 82 1 Boston 13.02.09
2 8.44.37  Sonia O'Sullivan 69 7 Lisbon 10.03.01
3 8.55.22  Fionnuala Britton 84 3 Karlsruhe 02.02.13
4 8.56.48  Maria McCambridge 75 1 Belfast 14.02.04
5 8.58.33  Sinead Delahunty 71 2 Atlanta 04.03.95
6 8.58.55  Marie Davenport 75 1 Boston 14.02.04
7 8.58.94 Deirdre Byrne 82 10 Doha 12.03.10

Ciarán Ó Lionáird sets qualifying time for the European Indoor Championships in March

Back in late November of 2012, Athletics Ireland announced the standards required to qualify for the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Gothenbourg in Sweden in March. The standard for men in the 3,000m was 8:00 minutes.

At the New Balance Boston Indoor Games on Saturday, the 2nd of February, Ciarán Ó Lionáird from Cork ran 7:53.69 and is now eligible to be picked for the Irish team.

Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, Boston, MA                          

Event 19  Men 3000 M
============================================
 Name                    Year Team                    Finals                                                   
  1 Hagos Gebrhiwet              ETH                    7:32.87
  2 Galen Rupp                   USA                    7:33.67
  3 Dejen Gebremeskel            ETH                    7:43.32
  4 Garrett Heath                USA                    7:53.37
  5 Ciaran O'Lionaird            IRL                    7:53.69
  6 Donn Cabral                  USA                    7:55.63
  7 Miles Batty                  USA                    7:57.33
  8 Andy Baddeley                GBR                    8:02.70

Post race interview...

Zola Budd and the 1984 Olympics...

The year...1984. Venue...Los Angeles and what was probably the most famous 3,000m race in Olympic history. 17 year old Zola Budd from South Africa was running for Britain in the Games and was a source of some controversy as all South African athletes were banned from international competitions at that time due to the apartheid system in that country. Also in the race was home favourite Mary Decker.

This week, the Guardian had an interesting article on Zola Budd and her role in the Games. Click HERE

David McCarthy wins 3k race in New York in 7:57

Back in late January, I had a post about David McCarthy from Waterford winning a mile race in Boston in an impressive time of 3:55.75

Last Sunday (19th Feb 2012), David was in action at the Armory Indoor track in New York for the Big East meet. He won the 3,000 metre race in a time of 7:57.50

The video clip below is a bit shaky but still ok to watch...(David is in the Black and White singlet)

 Not only did David McCarthy break the 8 minute barrier but he also set a new 3,000 metre record for this particular Big East meet. The previous record was held by Mark Carroll of Leevale AC (8:01.56)

3000m Run
Meet Record: 8:01.56, Mark Carroll, Providence (1995)
Armory Collegiate Record: 7:49.98, Richard Kiplagat, Iona (2006)

Finals
  1  1132 David McCarthy      SR Providence             7:57.50M 10  
  2   924 Andrew Springer     SO Georgetown             7:59.55M  8  
  3  1282 Mathew Mildenhall   SO Villanova              8:04.45   6  
  4  1136 Shane Quinn         FR Providence             8:05.22   5  
  5  1292 Ryan Sheridan       SR Villanova              8:05.79   4 

Looking back...Cork womens mini-marathon in 1986

The Evening Echo Womens mini-marathon is 30 years old this year. This post looks back 25 years ago to the year 1986 when the mini-marathon was just 5 years old. At that time, it was run over a 10k course and was won by Yvonne Murray from Scotland, one of the leading European middle distance runners in the 80's and 90's.
She had just won the bronze in the 3000 metres in the European Championships in August in Stuttgart in what was then West Germany. Just one month later, she took part in the Cork Evening Echo Womens mini-marathon.
She would later go on to take bronze in the 3000m at the 1988 Olympics and win gold at 3000m at the 1990 European Championships and the 1993 World Indoor Championships.
A short race report with the times of the first 40 runners can be seen HERE
How many of those 40 names took part in the 2011 race?.............more info in the comments below.

The talent and brief career of Daniel Komen...

Many of you may be wondering who Daniel Komen is? Growing up in poverty in rural Kenya, he ran everywhere as a child and when he burst upon the athletics world in the late 90's, his training and natural ability saw him produce some remarkable times.

As well as setting several records, he is probably best remembered today for 2 events...

He is the only person ever to have run 2 miles in under 8 minutes. He ran the 1st mile in 3:59.4, exactly the same time that Roger Bannister ran when he broke the first sub 4 minute mile back in 1954. He then however continued and ran the 2nd mile in under 4 minutes as well to set a new record of 7:58.61 for 2 miles.

He also ran a time of 7:20.67 for the 3000 metres in Italy in 1996, beating the previous record by a huge 4.5 seconds. What makes this even more remarkable is that he had run a 5 km race in 13:02 in Berlin just 2 days earlier. That 3000m time still stands to this day.



After the initial flush of success and the wealth that came with it, he eased off on the amount of training believing that natural talent would suffice. Soon however, his times dropped and he faded away from the international athletics scene.

One interesting sidenote is that back in the late 90's, Daniel Komen raced against another noted runner....a certain Haile Gebrselassie. In contrast to Komen, Gebrselassie continued with the arduous training regime year after year to become one of the greatest athletes of all time.

A more comprehensive article on Daniel Komen can be found on this website.