Olympic Champion David Rudisha opens 2016 Season with 1:44.78 800m in Australia

The 800m Olympic Champion and World record holder David Rudisha began his 2016 season with a victory at the IAAF World Challenge in Melbourne, Australia. His time was 1:44.78 and his fifth win in Melbourne.

IAAF WORLD CHALLENGE - MELBOURNE
Event 34 Men 800 Metre Open
1 Rudisha, David Ken 1:44.78
2 Mathews, Luke Aus 1:45.16Q
3 Gurr, James Aus 1:46.09

500 plus runners take part in Emer Casey races in Melbourne, Australia

On the 18th of May, the Emer Casey Memorial 10k race in Youghal attracted a large field of 570 runners. In addition to this race, there are other Emer Casey events organised in London and in Australia to raise funds for cancer research.

Last weekend, the Emer Casey 5k and 10k  races were held in Melbourne, Australia and attracted a field of over 500 runners. In the 10k race, Sonia O'Sullivan (#571) was the winner while Sonia's daughter Sophie took the title in the 5k event.

MENS 5K... 1 Beau Lang 16:44.9  //  2  Steven  Griffin 17:49.8  //  3  Bradley Serry 18:03.3
WOMENS 5K...1  Sophie O'Sullivan  19:15.0  //  2  Jane Hemmings 19:43.5  //  3  Amy Cornell 21:13.9
MENS 10 K... 1  Luke Burns    35:56.6 M //  2  Steven Bonfadini 36:21.8  //  3  Jacob Nolan    37:09.8
WOMENS 10K...1   Stacy Bolger  38:27.4  //  2   Sonia O'Sullivan 39:43.1 // 3   Lesley Turnbull 40:46.9 

Report from Sonia O'Sullivan.....We had the Emer Casey Melbourne twin event on last Sunday in lovely sunning conditions at the Monash University Campus. This is the 7th annual Emer Casey fun run in Melbourne and we have grown from 17 runners in the first year to a record 500 plus runners yesterday (Run4Ec.com.au) with the race broken down into 5km and 10km events.

It is an amazing turnout with big representation from the growing Irish community in Melbourne. We had chip timing for the first time, sponsorship from the Melbourne Rose of Tralee and Emerald Travel so we were able to have t-shirts to early bird entries and focus on raising more funds and awareness of Ovarian Cancer and the Emer Casey foundation around the world.

The course itself is not a typical road race, there are 2 x 5km laps on a section of the Monash  university campus that cross playing fields, and weave around some skinny paths and back around even more fields so multi-terrain, not the fastest course but we believe this is a fun run and we want everyone to enjoy the day out, bring their families and get everyone to join in the fun. Here for a good time, not a fast time.

Best Wishes...Sonia

The full results can be seen on the race website.

Irish results from the IAAF World Challenge in Melbourne, Australia...Sat 22nd Mar 2014

Both Mark Hanrahan of Leevale AC and Laura Crowe of An Ríocht AC were both in action in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday in the IAAF World Challenge.

In the mens 5000m, Mark broke the 14 minute barrier to set a new personal best time of 13:58.03.

Womens 1500m
    POS    ATHLETE    COUNTRY    MARK   
1    Mercy CHERONO    KENKEN     4:08.57   
2    Zoe BUCKMAN    AUSAUS     4:09.59   
3    Bridey DELANEY    AUSAUS     4:10.35   
4    Melissa DUNCAN    AUSAUS     4:13.73   
5    Jenny BLUNDELL    AUSAUS     4:13.89   
6    Nikki HAMBLIN    NZLNZL     4:14.19   
7    Kaila MCKNIGHT    AUSAUS     4:14.63   
8    Heidi GREGSON    AUSAUS     4:14.75   
9    Laura CROWE    IRLIRL     4:18.87   
10    Camille BUSCOMB    NZLNZL     4:18.88   
11    Lucy VAN DALEN    NZLNZL     4:20.18   
12    Anna LAMAN    AUSAUS     4:23.30

Mens 5000m
    POS    ATHLETE    COUNTRY    MARK   
1    Isiah Kiplangat KOECH    KENKEN     13:29.05   
2    Ben ST.LAWRENCE    AUSAUS     13:46.17   
3    Malcolm HICKS    NZLNZL     13:47.21   
4    Brenton ROWE    AUTAUT     13:51.46   
5    Liam ADAMS    AUSAUS     13:56.50   
6    Mark HANRAHAN    IRLIRL     13:58.03   
7    Mitchel BROWN    AUSAUS     13:59.10   
8    Christopher HAMER    AUSAUS     14:01.95   
9    Brandon HARGREAVES    AUSAUS     14:10.16   
10    Brady THRELFALL    AUSAUS     14:29.05   
11    Matthew COX    AUSAUS     14:29.54

RTE Radio interview with Ronnie Delaney and Maeve Kyle

As part of their Olympic coverage, RTE radio had a programme recently looking back at the 1956 games in Melbourne. In it, Miriam O'Callaghan spoke to Ronnie Delaney who won Gold in the 1500m. She also speaks to Maeve Kyle who was the first Irish woman ever to compete on the track.

The interview can be heard HERE

Joanne Cuddihy from Ireland wins 400m race in Australia

The Irish 400m record holder Joanne Cuddihy from Kilkenny was in action at the weekend in Melbourne, Australia, She won a 400m race at the Melbourne Track Classic in a time of 52.37.
(Her PB is 50.73 set back in 2007)

AAF WC & Olympic Trials 1. Joanne Cuddihy Ireland 52.37, 2. Tamsyn Manou 52.77, 3. Caitlin Pincott 53.65, 4. Caitlin Sargent 53.75, 5. Pirrenee Steinert 53.98, 6. Lyndsay Pekin 54.33, 7. Sheena Steinert 54.39, 8. Jaimee-Lee Starr,

How to build a 400 metre track...in 2 mins

Here's an interesting video clip......the construction of the new track at Albert Park's Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.

This is how you construct a world class IAAF standard track in just over 2 minutes...