from A.A.I For the eighth year in a row, Ireland’s leading home improvements retailer, Woodie’s DIY are sponsoring the Senior Indoor Track and Field Championships of Ireland. The meet will provide an action packed weekend of competition, in the Odyssey Arena on the 6th and 7th of February with athletes from across Ireland battling it out for National titles.
The championships will also provide athletes with an opportunity to show form and achieve qualification standards for the IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships which take place in Doha in March. Included in the star line-up for the championships are Derval O’Rourke and Paul Hession.
World Silver Medalist, Olive Loughnane of Loughrea AC who was due to compete in the 3km Walk will not now be competing due to a slight injury. Walkers, Robert Heffernan (Togher AC), Colin Griffin (Balinamore AC) and Jamie Costin (West Waterford AC) will compete in the Men’s 5km Walk.
Derval O’Rourke will have her indoor season opener over the 60m Hurdles. The Leevale AC athlete produced an exhilarating performance at the World Championships in Berlin last year, placing fourth in the 100m hurdles. O’Rourke’s focus is now firmly on making the podium in the up and coming, IAAF World Indoor Championships. O’Rourke’s club-mate and training partner, Ailis McSweeney will compete in a highly competitive Women’s 60m, alongside in form Niamh Whelan (Ferrybank AC), and Clare Brady (Celbridge AC) and Irish 60m Record Holder, Anna Boyle of Ballymena & Antrim. Amy Foster who has been in fantastic form running 7.49 seconds this season, will not now compete due to a hamstring injury.
In the Men’s 60m Paul Hession of Athenry AC will defend title. Hession competed in the IAAF indoor meet in Karlsruhe Germany at the weekend and finished fourth in 6.78 seconds.
The Men’s 400m is likely to produce an exciting race with all of Ireland’s top athletes in action with the exception of David Gillick (DSD). National Outdoor 400m champion Brian Gregan of Clonliffe Harriers AC will be favourite for the event. In the London Open Games at the weekend Gregan, vastly improved his 400m personal best from 48.58 (set in 2008) to 47.67 seconds to win the 400m. He will face opposition from Billy Ryan, (Ferrybank A.C), Brian Murphy (UCD AC) and Nick Hogan (Dundrum South Dublin A.C). All of these athletes are vying to produce 48 seconds performances or better in order to book a place for a Men’s 4×400m team for the World Indoor Championships.
Kelly Proper of Ferrybank AC will be aiming for her fifth National Title at the championships.The Waterford woman broke her own Irish Record at the Vienna Indoor Gala on 23rd of January. Proper’s jump of 6.62m was 3cm further than her previous record of 6.59m.
Deirdre Byrne of Sli Cualann AC will compete in the 3000m. Byrne finished 11th in the 3000m at the European Championships in Turin in
2009 in 9.08.89, having qualified for the final as a fastest loser with a Personal Best of 9.00.67. This time is within the qualification standard for the World Indoor Championships.
With Ciara Mageean of City of Lisburn AC competing in the 800m, the Junior Indoor Record of 2.08.74 set by Arlene Smith in 1991 will be under threat. Mageean has an exceptional season in 2009 winning gold in the 1500m in 4.15.46 at the European Youth Olympics. She also took the Silver medal in the 800m at the World Youth Championships in Sudtirol, Italy running 2.03.07, a new Junior Irish record.
David McCarthy of Le Cheile AC will line up in the Men’s 800m.
McCarthy continued his fine start to the season with another new personal indoor best at the Indoor Classic in Vienna on Tuesday night.
His time of 1:48.29 sees him comfortably inside the 1:48.50 qualifying standard for the World Indoor championships in Doha, Qatar next month.
RTÉ 2 will be showing highlights of the Championships on an OB Sports special on Monday 8th of February at 19:00 – 20:00.
Liam Hennessey, President of Athletics Ireland said that: ” This is the seventh Irish Indoors meeting to be held in the Odyssey Arena which has been made possible by the generous assistance of title sponsor Woodie’s DIY and funding partners Belfast City Council. These championships provide an opportunity for quality competition for over 1,000 of our senior athletes and are the highlight of our domestic Indoor season.”
Ray Colman, Chief Executive of Woodie’s DIY said: “Woodie’s DIY is delighted to sponsor the 2010 Senior Indoor Championships as part of our year long partnership with the AAI which includes supporting grass-root events though-out the country, junior championships and Senior Championship events. As an Irish company we hope our support will help give young up-and-coming athletes as well as the country’s professional stars access to the resources and support they need to make the most of their talents.”