from RTE athletics news Mark English is taking some decent form into the upcoming European Championships after winning the 800-metre race at the Irish National Indoor Championships in Athlone.
The European bronze medallist enjoyed victory in a tactical race to come home in 1min 51.34secs just ahead of Declan Murray, who also qualified for the upcoming Prague championships, which take place on. Dara Kervick is another who booked his place at the European event after running a fine 46.53secs in the 400 metres, which moves the Clonliffe Harrier to fifth on the Irish all-time list.
Speaking after the race, Kervick said: “It felt so easy I didn’t think I was going that fast.”
Training partner of Kervick, Paul Murphy (Ferrybank AC) and Harry Purcell (Trim AC) both 19 were second and third with 47.62 and 48.33 respectively.
Long-jumper Adam McMullen from Belfast also qualifies for the Czech championships after leaping to the exact qualifying standard of 7.80m, which was a 19cm improvement on his previous best.
McMullen said: “I knew coming in to the competition I was in good shape and all I needed to do was execute what I have been doing in practice.”
Paul Pollock also impressed, taking victory in the 3000m in a time of 8:09.81 to secure his place on the Ireland team for the Europeans, while John Travers will also travel after taking the 1500m in a time of 3:49.93.
Travers put in a smooth and impressive performance at the Athlone arena in what his is second event, as he prefers the 3000m.
Carrick-on-Shannon’s Gerard O’Donnell took gold in the 60m hurdles in 8.32secs to book his place at the Europeans, while Ciara Everard won the women’s 800m in 2:06.64 and will be confident of making the final of the Europeans, as she did in Gothenburg two years ago.
Kelly Proper (Ferrybank AC) completed a hat-trick of national titles winning the 60m, 200m and Long Jump bringing her total indoor titles to a record 19. Proper set a new stadium record of 23.27secs in the 200m just off the needed standard of 23.20 for the World Championships in Beijing and brings her to number one in European Ranking list over the distance.
Proper was also agonisingly close to the 60m European Indoor standard of 7.36secs when winning in 7.38secs.
Sixteen-year-old Ciara Neville (Emerald AC) finished second in 7.46secs having set a new Irish Youth Record in the heat of 7.45secs. Catherine McManus took the bronze in 7.50 equalling her personal best. Proper had won the Long Jump yesterday with a leap of 6.22m.
Alex Wright (Leevale AC) retained his national title in the Men’s 5000m Walk winning in 19:52.36 from Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny AC) with Luke Hickey (Leevale AC) in third.
The women’s 3000m Walk was won by Veronica Burke (Ballinasloe & District AC) in a time of 14.40.89.
Sean Breathnach (Galway City Harriers AC) set a new stadium record in the Shot Putt with a throw of 17.42m to take his fifth national title in a row. This added nearly 30 centimetres to his own record which he set on 1 February
Dara Kervick and Mark English have both hit the qualification standard for next month’s European Indoor Championships in Prague next month in competitions.
Kervick (Clonliffe Harriers) won his 400m heat at the Irish Senior Indoor Athletics Championships in Athlone in 46.80 seconds, comfortably inside the 47.20 qualification standard.
English, meanwhile, secured the 800m qualification time at the Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham, running 1min 47.17secs for sixth place, inside the 1.48.50 standard.
Kenya’s Jeremiah Kipkorir Mutai won in 1.45.93.
Long jumper Kelly Proper (Ferrybank) won her 17th national indoor title with a leap of 6.22m in Athlone. However, the distance fell short of the 6.45m European qualification mark.
The women’s 3000m title went to Maria McCambridge (DSD AC) in 9:26.77. McCambridge, who has accumulated 17 national titles outdoors, including marathon wins, had not won an indoor title since 2004.
Alex Wright (Leevale) retained his national title in the men’s 5000m Walk winning in 19:52.36 from Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny), with Luke Hickey (Leevale) third.
Veronica Burke (Ballinasloe & District) won the women’s 3000m Walk in 14.40.89.
Ciara Mageean (UCD AC), who has achieved the European Indoor 3000m standard, had to withdraw from the women’s 1500m heats due to a niggle, which will be monitored over the coming days.
Full results on the AAI website :
https://www.athleticsirelandenterprises.com/results_22022015/schedule.html
