by Perri Williams
Another fantastic week at the office for our athletes engaging in competition. The week started out with that National Record by Mark English. For the third time this year he has recorded a sub 1.44 800m. Reducing his time to 1:43.47 in Budapest, the Finn Valley AC athlete is creating positive vibes in advance of next months World Championships. At the same meeting Darragh McIlhenny set a new personal best over 3000m of 7:35.16 moving him to number 5 on the all-time list. It is a waiting game to see if the Bantry athlete still remains within the quota for the World Championships in Tokyo.
Sarah Lavin was forced to wait over an hour for the running of the 100m hurdles at the CITIUS meet in Bern, Switzerland, where torrential rain marred the scheduling. It was 4th for Lavin in a time she would have hoped would be a lot better. Lavin will race again before the World Championships in Tokyo.
Sarah Healy placed ninth in the women’s 1500m at the Silesia Diamond League in a time of 3:57.95. This is the third time she has run 3:57, demonstrating consistency in her performances this year. Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay won with 3:50.62, after initially setting out at World Record pace before fading.
In Belgium at the World Athletics Continental Challenger, it was a season’s best for Nick Griggs. However, the CNDR athlete may not have done enough to qualify for Tokyo. Although considering how late his season opened, he can be happy with his performances. A great run for Callum Morgan (CNDR) and the ever-improving Phillip Marron (DCH) who both recorded personal best. Morgan clocked a rapid 3:39.21 with Marron not far behind in 3:40.60. Emma Moore (Galway City Harriers) equalled her personal best of 2:03.54 over 800m.
Sunday saw another race series hosted by the Stratford Speed Development group. The highlight of which included a new personal best of 10.20 for Bori Akinola (UCD) in the 100m. This moves Akinola to 3rd on the all-time list just moving past Jason Smyth. National 100m champion Ciara Neville is edging closer to her personal best of 11.33 that she set six years ago. 11.44 in the 100m was a season’s best for the Emerald AC athlete. Michelle Duggan (UCD) has been in flying form, improving her personal bests in the 200m and 400m to 23.82 and 53.67 respectively. Club mate Kate Doherty also improved her 400m personal best to 54.18. Sarah Leahy (Killarney Valley) closed down her 200m personal best to 23.73 while equalling her season’s best in the 100m. Marcus Lawler (Clonliffe) produced two season’s bests as he continues to show good form over both the 100m and 200m. Fellow county man Adam Murphy (Tinryland) recorded a personal best over 200m.
RESULTS
