The Irish Indoor Championships are underway at The Odyssey Arena in Belfast. And what better way to get these championships under way than to have a very competitive race where two athletes smash their best times and a new Irish record is achieved by one.
The first event on the programme, the women’s 3,000m walk was a cracker, with Laura Reynolds (Mohill AC) having to wait until the last lap to shake off the persistent challenge of Kate Veale (West Waterford AC). Reynolds won in a time of 12:47.55, well inside her previous best of 13:09.99, with Veale once again smashing her own Irish junior record with a time of 12:49.21 to take a huge slice off her previous best of 13:10.86.
Tori Pena (Finn Valley AC) won her first Irish indoor pole vault title with a jump of 4.10m, with Claire Wilkinson (Ballymena & Antrim second after clearing 3.85m.
The men’s 5,000m walk saw Robert Heffernan (Togher AC) move away from his rivals from the gun and he then went on to lap everone to win his second Irish title in a matter of weeks – he won the 30km road title at the end of January. The effort on that occasion probably put paid to any hopes he had tonight for another record, but his winning time of 19:09.56 was still a world class performance.
Kelly Proper (Ferrybank AC) added another long jump title with a 6.22m effort, while Kerry Harty (Newcastle & District AC) won the 3,000m in 9:31.81.
Four heats were needed in the men’s 800m and the four winners looked classy – Niall Tuohy (Ferrybank AC) in 1:52.62, Mark English (Letterkenny AC) in 1:53.65, Darren McBrearty (Letterkenny AC) in 1:52.94, and Mark Patterson (North Down AC) in 1:51.81. Tomorrow’s final could well be the race of the meet and no one wil dare predict the outcome.
A big entry for the men’s 3,000m meant there were two heats needed, resulting in two impressive winners – Dan Mulhare North Laois AC) in 8:04.26, and Mark Hanrahan (Leevale AC) in 8:08.53.
There was little between the three 60m heat winners in the women’s 60m – Claire Brady (Celbridge AC) 7.55, Amy Foster (University of Ulster AC) 7.54, and Ailis McSweeney (Leevale AC) 7.54.
Dean Adams (Ballymena & Antrim AC) was the fastest 60m heat winner with a time of 6.85.
Results Saturday (Provisional)