|
Reigning Olympic 5,000m silver medallist Sonia O'Sullivan
and reigning World Championship 20km Walk silver medallist
Gillian O'Sullivan are the star names in action at the 132nd
Woody's DIY National T&F Championships at the Morton Stadium,
in Santry this weekend.
Although still to confirm which event she will actually
run, it seems likely that Sonia will run the 1500m in an attempt
to improve her speed before Athens as well as win her 6th
title over the distance she last won in 2000. Her only 1500m
run this season was a 4.15.59 in Gateshead at the end of June
and she is currently ranked 5th on the seasons lists so will
face strong opposition from Freda Davoren (4.09.07), Sinead
Delahunty (4.11.22), Athens bound Marie McMahon-Davenport
(4.12.92) and reigning Champion Roisin McGettigan who has
run 4.14.08.
For Gillian O'Sullivan, things have not gone as she would
have wished so far this season, as she has struggled to overcome
a lower back injury, but after 3 weeks spent training at high
altitude in Font Romeau in France she will be hoping for a
satisfying performance over 5,000m along with her fellow Olympic
bound walker Olive Loughnane.
Elsewhere there are a number of mouth watering contests to
decide who will be crowned National Champion.
In the mens sprints 21 year old Paul Hession will be looking
to win his first senior title over 200m in the wake of one
of the greatest performances ever seen by an Irish sprinter
when he emerged victorious in the IAAF Grand Prix event in
Thessaloniki on Monday night. The Athenry man, who moved to
second on the Irish All Time lists with 20.61 into a headwind
missed the Olympic A standard by just 2/100th of a second
and will be very eager to consolidate this performance on
home soil.
Against him will be stern opposition from 4 time Champion
Gary Ryan and reigning Champion and Athens bound Paul Brizzel,
who has yet to break 21 seconds this season.
In the shorter sprint Gary Ryan will be favourite to win
his 5th 100m title and his third in sucession and this season
has already equalled the national record of 10.35 held jointly
with Brizzel.
The Mens 400m title will be one of the most keenly fougnt
of the Championships with 4 irish athletes currently boasting
seasons bests of under 47 seconds. Dundrum's World Indoor
relay medallist Rob Daly leads the rankings with 46.19 but
he can expect to be made fight every bit of the way from David
McCarthy (46.41), David Gillick (46.57) and Gordon Kennedy
(46.89)
The middle distance events will be no less eagerly anticipated
as it looks like Athens bound 1500m star James Nolan will
run the 800m in search of his third title while Alistair Cragg
will look to add his name to the illustrious list of champions
over 1500m when he runs his first ever race in Ireland against
reigning Champion Gareth Turnbull.
Leevale club mates Mark Carroll and Cathal Lombard look set
for an epic dual over 5000m while Peter Coghlan will be seeking
the 7/100th of a second he needs to make the A standard in
the 110mH while also searching for his 8th title.
Toghers Robert Heffernan will start as favourite to regain
his title in the 10,000m Walk ahead of fellow Athens bound
and reigning Champion Jamie Costin while all eyes in the field
will be on newly crowned National record Holder Adrian O'Dwyer
in the High Jump, Terry McHugh looking for an unprecedented
21st successive title in the Javelin and Nick Sweeney looking
for his 11th title in the Discus.
In the womens sprints Ciara Sheehy will be hoping to win
her third sucessive 100m / 200m double while Karen Shinkins
will start the 400m as the hot favourite to win her 8th sucessive
title.
In the 800m Dundrum's Aoife Byrne will be favourite to win
the title she last won in 2001 while Derval O'Rourke has yet
to confirm her fitness after being admitted to a 3 day hospital
stay in Greece after Monday nights Grand Prix meeting. The
timetable is available on the AAI website.
Link to: National Championship Roll of Honour
http://www.athleticsireland.ie/statistics/natchampions_out.htm
www.athleticsireland.ie
Source athleticsireland.ie
|
Time-to-Run Ireland
