Athletics by the All Rounder

Wednesday, 9th March 2011

European Championships

In Paris last week end the European Indoor Championships were held with a small number of Irish athletes competing including Kelly Proper Ferrybank. In the Long Jump Kelly was eliminated at the qualifying stage but did have her best jump of the season of 6.45 Metres with her third and final attempt in the qualifiers her other two jumps were 6.27 and 6.29, her best ever jump which she did in 2010 was 6.62 metres. Eight athletes went through to the final and the eight placed athlete jumped 6.58 Metres and the first placed qualifier jumped 6.74 Metres, the final was won with 6.80 Metres. Kelly finished 13th of the twenty competitors in the competition. In 2009 in Italy she was a finalist in the same event. She will now focus on the outdoor season and having seen the performances of her rivals in Paris she will know what she has to do to try and close the gap between herself and the top Europeans. Once again Derval O'Rourke as predicted last week made it to a major final in Paris and in the 60 Metres Hurdles final she had her best time of the season in finishing fourth and this was an excellent performance when you consider she lost some weeks training leading up to the Championships due to injury, she certainly is an athlete for the big occasion. Mary Cullen's late withdrawal from the 3000 metres due to a stomach bug was a big disappointment as she was also mentioned last week and would have been Ireland's second best hope and the third athlete we mentioned last week 19 years old Darren McBrearty impressed in making it to the 800 Metres semi final where he finished 5th in heat one the fastest of the two heats his time was faster than the three that qualified from heat two while Tori Pena set a new Irish record of 4.35 Metres in the Pole Vault again a good show.

Scottish Under Age Indoor titles won

On Saturday and Sunday last over fifty athletes from Ferrybank AC competed at the Scottish Under Age Indoor Championships in Glasgow and there were lots of medal winners. On Saturday Ciara Giles Doran was the only winner as she took the u 17 200 Metres title in 25.13 seconds, In the under 20 grade silver medals were won by Megan Kiely and Thomas Barr both in the 400 metres and Sorcha Murphy in the High Jump, Megan's time was 58.74 seconds and Barr's time was 51.3, Sorcha cleared 1.65 Metres in the High Jump and Bronze medal winners were Sean Archer, Triple Jump with 12.87 Metres and Ben Kiely in the 400 metres with 51.46 behind Thomas Barr. On Sunday there were two individual winners and two relay victories, Aisling Quinn won the 1500 Metres under15 and Orlaith O'Brien the u13 High jump and the girls under 20 won both the 4 /200 and 4 /400 Relays. Silver medals went to Anne Corcoran u 13 Hurdles and High Jump, Orla Queally u15 1500 Metres,Tadg Brennan u15 1500 metres,Niamh Giles Doran u 15 200 metres,Frankie Dolphin u 13 hurdles, Neasa Murphy u15 High jump, Orlaith O' Brien u13 Shot Putt, Mens u20 Relay team 4 400 M, bronze medal winners were as follows;Frankie Dolphin u13 Long Jump, Kellie Meade u15 Hurdles, Aoife Harrison u 15 Long Jump, Sean Whittle u15 High jump, Anne Corcoran u13 Shot Putt, Niamh Casey u15 1500 Metres, Eoin Browne u 15 1500 Metres. A number of other Irish clubs competed and were among the winners, Darren Prout Carrick on Suir won the u 15 Triple jump and was second in the under 20, Emily Walsh was second in the u 15 Triple Jump and Aoife Bartley had a third in the u20 Triple Jump.

WIT Road Race a great success

Over 170 competed in the Inaugural WIT 6km Road Race held at the WIT Campus Carriganore on Saturday last in excellent weather. Organised in association with Waterford AC the event attracted an entry of over 172. The race up front turned out to be a thriller between Jason Fahy WIT and Sandis Bralitis West Waterford as they ran shoulder to shoulder until the last 200 Metres or so when Fahy eventually broke away to record a fine win in 17minute 56 seconds just three seconds in front of Bralitis who was timed at 17.59 and Brian Mc Ginley WIT was third in 18.48. The Ladies race also was very exciting with Jacqui Carthy Kilmore Co Wexford emerging as the winner in a time of 22 Minutes 21 seconds, Niamh Murphy Kilkenny City Hrs was second in 22.37 and Maria Murphy Griffin St Joseph's was third in 22.47. The event was superbly organised and there were lots of spot prizes in addition to the main prizes and lots of refreshments served after the event The official starter on the day was former Waterford Athletic great Gerry Deegan. Full details as follows; Men 1st Jason Fahy WIT 17.56, 2nd Sandis Bralitis West Waterford 17.59, 3rd Brian McGinley WIT 18.48 o 40 Ted Flannelly United Striders, o45 Jack Duggan St Joseph's, o50 Ger Moloney St Pauls, o55 Joe Gough West Waterford, Junior Gary Cantwell WIT. Team Waterford AC. Women 1st Jacqui Carthy Kilmore Co Wexford 22.21, 2nd Niamh Murphy Kilkenny City Hrs, 22.37, .3rd Maria Murphy-Griffin St Joseph's, 22.47. o35 Caitriona Gough Waterford, O 40 Christine O Neill, o50 Ann Fitzgerald Waterford, Junior Megan Morrissey Thomastown, Team Waterford AC, 172 competed.

All Ireland Schools and Munster Road Fixture

The week end ahead will see two fixtures with lots of Waterford interest, On Saturday at the ALSAA Centre near Dublin Airport the All Ireland Secondary Schools and also the All Ireland Inter Varsity Cross Country Championships will be staged. In the schools competition on Saturday Shane Quinn is back in action in the senior grade and will start a firm favourite to take the title. On Sunday there will be quite a few athletes from Waterford competing at the Munster Senior and Novice Road Championships for men and women in Beaufort Co Kerry.The first race is off at 1pm and the distances are 4 Miles for the Senior and Novice men and 2 Miles for the Senior and Novice Women.

Well said Eamon

Eamon Coghlan has slammed the over-coaching of Irish athletes claiming that the new funding scheme announced by the Irish Sports Council is a way of solving this problem.

The chairman of the ISC's high performance unit said "I really feel the modern day sportsman and woman gets bogged down in too much of the peripheral stuff - the sports psychologists, the strength and conditioning coaches, the nutritionists. Its good to get advice, but some athletes forget the main aim, which is training your a*** off to win. Depending on the athlete - that expertise can be either a help or a hindrance, but my experience is that the best training for running is running and that applies to all sports". Under the new ISC scheme athletes previously categorised as world class will be re-categorised as podium-level,and Coghlan admits the subtle change is a worthwhile move. "Those people in the podium category expect to be podium-level athletes. By changing the name we are showing the athletes that we, representing the taxpayer and the government,share in that expectation. We expect them to deliver at the end of the day and are investing in that."

Very many will agree with the comments of Eamon and with regard to coaching etc the athletes themselves must be the top priority and not the other way round as can happen but which should not be allowed to happen. At the end of the day its the athlete who has to perform and the coach is just an instrument in helping them achieve that goal and ideally to do it from a reasonable distance and with the minimum of pressure and not to become totally immersed with the athlete.

Fixtures in March

Saturday 12th All Ireland Schools and Universities Cross Country Championships ALSAA Dublin. Sunday 13th Munster Senior & Novice Roads Championships, Beaufort, Co. Kerry.

Saturday and Sunday 19th and 20th All Ireland Juvenile Indoor Championships Magharafelt. Wed March 16th to Sunday 20th European Masters Gent, Belgium. Sunday 20th World Cross Country Championships Spain. Saturday 26th Schools International Cross Country Antrim Forum. Sunday 27th Munster Masters Roads Championships, Dundrum, Co. Tipperary.

Tramore Run

The annual Splashworld 10k is on Sunday March 27th. in Tramore. at 12.30 pm. It's the third year of this event and profits go to Tramore Order of Malta. Entries now open at Splashworld. More details at www.balance.ie.

Olympic Qualification

Despite the fact that the 2012 Olympics are in London it may well see a very small Irish athletic team competing. The Olympic Council of Ireland have stated that only those reaching the (A) Standard in their event will be chosen. Athletes can achieve their standard between May 1st 2011 and July 8th 2012. Standards for all the 2011 major events can be found on Athletic Ireland Website.

County Track and Field Championships

Sunday May 8th and Sunday May 15th are the the day's set aside for this years County Championships at the RSC at 11 am both days, The programme is more or less the same as last year with just a few minor changes and also minor changes to the order of events.

All clubs will have an opportunity to get the programme at a meeting of the Co Board in St Augustine's College Abbeyside on Monday April 11 th at 8 pm.