It’s fair to say I’m a regular at the Cork City Sports at this stage. This year was my 8th year competing and I’ve always done pretty well down there. The change to the CIT has meant headwinds for the sprinters but I knew that I was still guaranteed a good quality race when I signed up for it. The organisers never fail in attracting some big names every year, which is a big credit to them.
I had come out on top over the 200m 5 times in a row (if you include 2010 as a dead heat) but this year was going to be my sternest test of all. I was racing against Alonso Edward, who won the silver behind Usain Bolt at the last World Championships, and Rondel Sorrillo, who had beaten me easily in my first race of the season in Rome. I decided to go for the 100m/200m double this year. Sometimes I do the 100m, sometimes not. It all depends with how it fits in with my overall programme for the season. The 200m always gets priority. This time it made sense to do it.
I was going to use the 100m as a warm-up to get a feel for the racing before tackling my main event. Most of the guys that were going to be in the 200m were in the 100m too. I ran ok – 10.57 into a -1.3 headwind. Unfortunately I was just pipped for 1st place by Luke Fagan from Britain. I got a very poor start and was clawing back the whole way. Just ran out of track. I was satisfied though and felt like I had gotten the wake-up call I needed. Alonso Edward had withdrawn from the 100m but was going to be on the line for the 200m so this was the stronger field. I came off the bend just on his shoulder, but he pulled away in the first part of the straight to beat me by over a metre. The time was a bit slow (21.05) but there was a ferocious headwind that didn’t help (-2.7). I knew this was likely when I came to CIT – today was not about the times! In the end I was a long way clear of Fagan and Sorrillo. Overall, I was happy enough. I never run great into big headwinds and I was close enough to a World medallist to give me confidence going forward. Since this race Edward has won against a world-class field in France running 20.28 into a headwind so he is in decent shape. I can’t be overly disappointed I lost on the day. My winning streak is gone though…I will have to wait till next year to put that right!
Since Cork, I’ve been putting in some training in Scotland. On Tuesday I had a nice work-out. Was good to work hard after doing some speed sessions the last couple of weeks. This weekend I’m off to Belgium. I’m going to do 2 small meets, on Saturday and Sunday. I only found out this morning about the Saturday race but I decided to go for it too. It might give me a good preparation for rounds and show up any weaknesses with running two days in a row that might need to be addressed. Both of the meets are small races but it’s been hard to get good quality 200s so I have to take what I can get! Hopefully no big winds in Belgium this weekend.
I had come out on top over the 200m 5 times in a row (if you include 2010 as a dead heat) but this year was going to be my sternest test of all. I was racing against Alonso Edward, who won the silver behind Usain Bolt at the last World Championships, and Rondel Sorrillo, who had beaten me easily in my first race of the season in Rome. I decided to go for the 100m/200m double this year. Sometimes I do the 100m, sometimes not. It all depends with how it fits in with my overall programme for the season. The 200m always gets priority. This time it made sense to do it.
I was going to use the 100m as a warm-up to get a feel for the racing before tackling my main event. Most of the guys that were going to be in the 200m were in the 100m too. I ran ok – 10.57 into a -1.3 headwind. Unfortunately I was just pipped for 1st place by Luke Fagan from Britain. I got a very poor start and was clawing back the whole way. Just ran out of track. I was satisfied though and felt like I had gotten the wake-up call I needed. Alonso Edward had withdrawn from the 100m but was going to be on the line for the 200m so this was the stronger field. I came off the bend just on his shoulder, but he pulled away in the first part of the straight to beat me by over a metre. The time was a bit slow (21.05) but there was a ferocious headwind that didn’t help (-2.7). I knew this was likely when I came to CIT – today was not about the times! In the end I was a long way clear of Fagan and Sorrillo. Overall, I was happy enough. I never run great into big headwinds and I was close enough to a World medallist to give me confidence going forward. Since this race Edward has won against a world-class field in France running 20.28 into a headwind so he is in decent shape. I can’t be overly disappointed I lost on the day. My winning streak is gone though…I will have to wait till next year to put that right!
Since Cork, I’ve been putting in some training in Scotland. On Tuesday I had a nice work-out. Was good to work hard after doing some speed sessions the last couple of weeks. This weekend I’m off to Belgium. I’m going to do 2 small meets, on Saturday and Sunday. I only found out this morning about the Saturday race but I decided to go for it too. It might give me a good preparation for rounds and show up any weaknesses with running two days in a row that might need to be addressed. Both of the meets are small races but it’s been hard to get good quality 200s so I have to take what I can get! Hopefully no big winds in Belgium this weekend.
