from Athletics Northern Ireland The Irish women’s World Championships bound 4×100m squad had their first training session, of a planned seven together this year, on Saturday March 26th at The Morton Stadium, Santry.
Under the watchful eye of relay coach Terri Cahill, the six athletes in the squad enjoyed baton changing exercises and drills in a relaxed but professional manner on a cold but dry Santry track.
The four athletes who broke the national 4×100m record last July at the European Championships with 43:93 were there, namely Amy Foster (UUJ), Niamh Whelan (Ferrybank AC), Claire Brady (Celbridge AC) and Ailis McSweeney (Leevale AC), with ‘super—sub’ Derval O’Rourke (Leevale AC).
UUJ’s Amy Foster is the NI 100m champion where she was timed in a phenomenal 11.32 secs last June-the second fastest ever by a NI sprinter. Amy also competed at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.
There was also a young new addition to the squad in Joan Healy (Bandon AC), who finished a commendable fourth in the National Indoor Championships over 60m last month with 7.63 seconds.
At those European Championships last summer, the Irish team finished only one place out of the automatic qualification spots for the women’s 4×100m Final, and now are even more determined to progress through the rounds of the World Championships in Korea next August to the final.
The overall goal for the talented and highly ambitious squad is to achieve the qualification time of 43.50 for the London Olympics next year.
The team have been invited to a number of high-profile athletics meetings this summer in Belgium and Switzerland, where their intention will be to reach that standard and then drive on for the World Championships at the end of August and make the final.
Coach Cahill: “All the girls get on really well together and want to make maximise the potential of the group. We will be working on reducing the de-acceleration time in the three changeover zones to an absolute minimum over our training sessions together. The ultimate aim and intention of the squad is to qualify for London and compete with the best.”
The Irish 4×100m team have their first competitive outing planned for May 28th in Brussels, and then have 4 more relay races pencilled in for the rest of the season, including the big one – the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, Korea in late August.