A squad of Ireland’s top class athletes set off on Sunday 1st of May for a two week warm weather camp in Monte Gordo, Portugal. The camp which has been organised by Athletics Ireland’s High Performance unit and will provide athletes with an opportunity to fine-tune their form pre-season. There will be a full top class support system in place, including physiotherapist and sports masseuse.
The camp will be overseen by Senior Team Manager, Patsy McGonagle. The newly appointed Director of High Performance, Kevin Ankrom will also join the squad. Ankrom commented: “I am looking forward to meeting with the athletes and their coaches and discussing their future plans. It will also be a great opportunity to talk about how we can improve our current systems to better meet their requirements“
A number of our world class race walkers including Olive Loughnane (Loughrea AC) and Colin Griffin (Ballinamore AC) are part of the squad. Up and coming race walker, Laura Reynolds (Mohill AC) will no doubt benefit from training alongside World Silver Medalist, Loughnane.
Derval O’Rourke (Leevale AC) will continue her preparations in a quest to make the podium at the World Track and Field Championships in Daegu South Korea, overseen by her coach Sean Cahill.
Irish 200m Record Holder, Paul Hession (Athenry AC) will work alongside his personal coach Stuart Hogg. Promising short sprinters Steven Colvert (Crusaders AC) and Chris Russell (Ferrybank AC) are also part of the squad alongside Junior 400m record holder Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers AC).
Irish 100m Record Holder Ailis McSweeney (Leevale AC) will train alongside follow 4×100m squad members, Niamh Whelan (Ferrybank AC), Amy Foster (North Down AC) and Derval O’Rourke. Terrie Cahill, Women’s Relay Coach will oversee these sessions. While members of the Women’s 4×400m squad Marian Andrews (Togher AC), Claire Bergin (DSD AC) and Brona Furlong will train together.
High Jumpers, Deirdre Ryan (DSD AC), Barry Pender (St. Abban’s AC) and Kourosh Foroughi (Star of the Sea AC) are also part of the squad. While Thomas Chamney and Mark Patterson, are the middle distance representatives.
