Ciara Mageean breaks her own 1500m indoor national record

Irish international Ciara Mageean has just broken her own national indoor 1500m record at the AIT International Grand Prix indoor meet in Athlone on Wed 13th Feb 2019.

Her latest time of 4m 06.78s was almost two seconds ahead of her old record which she set back in 2016. Not only is she the fastest Irish woman over the distance but she is the only one to break 4m10s!

Usually records on the track are broken by fractions of a second but to take almost two seconds off her old time just shows what great shape she is in.

New record...
1 4.06.78 NR Ciara Mageean AIT Int GP Athlone 13 Feb 2019

Previous table before today...
1 4:08.66 NR Ciara Mageean 168/56 Karlsruhe 6 Feb 2016
2 4:11.06+ NR Sinéad Evans NBG    New York NY 8 Jan 2000
3 4:11.07 Rose-Anne Galligan AIT GP Athlone 17 Feb 2016
4 4:11.27 Sonia O'Sullivan WC Lisboa 10 Mar 2001
5 4:11.31+ Roísín McGettigan Reebok Boston MA 7 Feb 2009
6 4:12.50 Geraldine Hendricken NC Belfast 16 Feb 2003
7 4:13.16 Claire Tarplee XL-Galan Stockholm 21 Feb 2013
8 4:13.96 Fionnuala McCormack NC Athlone 17 Feb 2013
9 4:14.2a Mary Purcell EC Sindelfingen 2 Mar 1980
10 4:14.54 Emma Mitchell Athlone 21 Feb 2018
11 4:14.63 Kelly Neely NC Belfast 7 Feb 2010
11 4:14.63 Kerry O'Flaherty Athlone 15 Feb 2017

Video below...

Highlights of the Athlone IT International Athletics Grand Prix...

One of the best success stories in Irish Athletics in the last year has been the opening of a state of the art indoor track in Athlone. On the 26th of February 2014, there was an international athletics grand prix held there and attracted some big names including Ashton Eaton, the Olympic decathlon champion and world record holder.

Commenting on the success of the night, AIT president, Ciarán Ó Catháin said...“There was a fantastic atmosphere in the arena this evening, with people really looking forward to some wonderful competition, which is exactly what they experienced. This grand prix is part of a three year development plan for the AIT International Arena and we are confident that in 2015 and 2016, it will become an eagerly anticipated fixture in the international athletics calendar.”

The results can be seen HERE

The following highlights were broadcast on Setanta Sport with commentary from Will Downing and Jessie Barr.

New indoor track in Athlone now finished...

The new indoor track has now been completed in Athlone IT and it looks fantastic...

Built at a cost of some 10 million Euro, this international class facility located in the centre of the country will give a great boost to Irish athletics.

Some background info with travel times can be found in this old post. More construction photos HERE.

This is a report from RTE television about the new facility...