Fionnuala Britton qualifies for 5,000m in Olympics...

Having already qualified for the 3,000m steeplechase and 10,000m in the Olympics in London, Fionnuala Britton has now qualified for the 5,000m. In a race in Rabat, Morocco last Sunday (27th May 2012), the current European Cross Country Champion ran 15:15.69 to finish in 6th place.

5000 Metres - Women  (Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme, Rabat, 27/05/2012)          
1 Alaoui Selsouli , Mariem         MAR   14:45.91
2 Kisa , Janeth                    KEN   14:57.68
3 Cherono , Priscah Jepleting      KEN   14:59.53
4 Godfay , Afera                   ETH   15:01.20
5 Gebru , Azemra                   ETH   15:11.91
6 Britton , Fionnuala              IRL   15:15.69 
7 Noujani , Nadia                  MAR   15:16.50
8 Moukim , Rkia                    MAR   15:21.88
9 Masai , Magdalene                KEN   15:28.48
10 Belete , Almenesh                ETH   15:32.68
11 Ghézielle , Bouchra              FRA   15:32.89
12 Mekasha , Waganesh               ETH   15:36.64
13 Mwangi , Joyce                   KEN   15:37.09
14 Mohammed , Alia Saeed            UAE   15:40.81
15 Bleasdale , Julia                GBR   16:00.75

This time which I presume was set in very warm conditions was well inside her previous best of 15:21.45 achieved in a mixed race last year. The qualifying Olympic 'A' standard is 15:20.

At the same meet, 20 year old Ciara Mageean ran 4:13.10 to finish 8th in the womens 1,500m. While this was much better than the 4:21.61 that she ran at the Leevale Track Meet in Cork in April, it is still well behind the 4:07.45 that she ran back in August 2011.

She is currently trying to achieve the Olympic 'A' standard of 4:06.00.

Alistair Cragg Sets Irish and European 5k road race record

Alistair Cragg of Clonliffe Harriers AC set a new Irish and European road 5k record with a time of 13:26 in the Carlsbad 5000m in California. Cragg was with the leaders until the 4k mark, at this point eventual winner Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel launched an all out attack and no one in the 25 man elite field could respond. Cragg kept to his task and finished strongly to break the European road race record and finish in 6th place overall.

Commenting about his plans for the rest of the season Cragg mentioned “The European Championships are a big target of mine, where I will hope to double; it is a big focus for me. Other targets include achieving the A-Standard for the Olympics in the 10k.” Next up for Cragg is this weekend’s Stanford Invite where he will attempt a 1500m and 5k double.

Alistair Cragg's is also the holder of the Irish outdoor track record for 5,000m when he ran 13:03.53 in Brussels last September.

Fastest Irish women over 5000 Metres

While I was looking some records for Joanne Cuddihy's best times over 400 metres, I came across a chart for the best times for Irish women over 5,000 metres. Needless to say, all of the middle distance records are dominated by Sonia O'Sullivan who was in a league of her own when it comes to Irish records. Her record in the 5000 metres came during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney when she won the silver medal in a time of 14:41.02.

Maria McCambridge and Rosemary Ryan at the 2012 Ballycotton '10' race....photo by Gearoid O'Laoi

Also included on the list are two athletes who were took part in the Ballycotton '10' last Sunday. The winner of the race Maria McCambridge of Letterkenny AC is the third fastest Irish woman over 5,000 metres having run 15:05.86 in Belgium back in 2004. In third place last Sunday, Rosemary Ryan of Bilboa AC is the sixth fastest Irish woman with a time of 15:17.57 set back in 2000.

The 27 women who have run under 16 minutes for 5,000 metres are shown below...
# Time       Athlete                 Pos   Location    Date
1 14.41.02 Sonia O'Sullivan  2 Sydney AUS 25.09.00
2 14.49.40 Catherina McKiernan  7 Cologne GER 16.08.96
3 15.05.86 Maria McCambridge  3 Huesden BEL 31.07.04
4 15.09.07 Marie McMahon-Davenport  4 Waltam USA 29.05.04
5 15.12.83 Breda Denehy-Willis  5 Huesden BEL 05.08.00
6 15.17.57 Rosemary Ryan  7 Huesden BEL 05.08.00
7 15.18.34i Mary Cullen  3 Boston USA 07.02.09
8 15.19.12 Una English  8 Huesden BEL 14.07.01
9 15.27.5 Monica Joyce  1 San Diego USA 20.05.83
10 15.28.28 Kathy McCandless  8 Oslo NOR 05.07.96
11 15.31.26 Fionnuala Britton  11 Hengelo NED 29.05.11
12 15.33.34 Sinead Delahunty  11 Hechtal BEL 22.07.95
13 15.35.60 Regina Joyce  6 Oslo NOR 26.06.82
14 15.36.71 Valerie Vaughan  2 Walnut USA 18.04.98
15 15.45.72 Valerie McGovern  1 Durham USA 02.06.90
16 15.46.47i Stephanie Reilly  1 New York USA 05.03.11
17 15.46.64 Hazel Murphy  12 Palo Alto USA 01.05.10
18 15.47.73 Ann  Keenan-Buckley  3 Dublin IRL 14.07.02
19 15.51.28 Deirdre Byrne  2 Stanford USA 02.05.09
20 15.53.47 Teresa Duffy  Paris FRA 03.06.96
21 15.54.29 Linda  Byrne  2 Watford GBR 13.06.09
22 15.56.01 Jolene Byrne  3 Izmir TUR 19.08.05
23 15.56.30 Caroline Mullen  4 Baton Rouge USA 06.06.87
24 15.57.15 Monica O'Reilly  23.04.92
25 15.58.64 Roisin McGettigan  6 Stanford USA 04.05.08
26 15.58.67 Kerry Harty  8 Manchester GBR 28.05.11
27 15.58.93 Ava Hutchinson 16 Mt. Sac USA 17.04.09

Alistair Cragg sets new 5000 metre record...

Alistair Cragg of Clonliffe Harriers set a new Irish 5000 metre record last Friday evening in Brussels by running 13:03.53, an improvement of 0.4 seconds on Mark Carroll’s 13 year old record of 13:03.93 which was set in Berlin in 1998.
Cragg finished in 5th place in a world class field in what was the last Diamond League meet of the year. The race was won by Imane Merga of Ethiopia in 12.58.32. Cragg’s time is almost a four second improvement on his previous personal best of 13.07.10 which dates back to 2007, also set in Belgium. It is also the 10th fastest time ever by a European.

A video of the full race can be seen at this LINK