from A.A.I Kelly Proper of Ferrybank AC will be aiming for her fifth National Title at the Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena Belfast on 6th of February. 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. This record was set at the European Indoor Championships in Turin in March last year. The jump is also over the qualifying standard of 6.60m for the IAAF World Indoor Championships.
The championships which will be held in Doha, Qatar in mid March. The preliminary Irish team for these championships will be selected on the 7th of February with final selection on the 28th February.
Also competing in the Long Jump will be Mary McLoone of Tír Chonaill AC who produced a lifetime best of 6.16m at the championships in 2009 to finish second to Proper. McLoone will also defend her Triple Jump title at the event but she will face tough competition from Irish Junior Record Holder, Caoimhe King of Westport AC.
Deirdre Ryan of Dundrum South Dublin AC will compete in the Women’s High Jump. Ryan will be looking to show form in advance of the World Indoor Championships. The Dublin athlete achieved the World standard when setting an Irish record of 1.93m in Leverkusen, Germany in January last year.
In the Men’s High, Kourosh Foroughi (Star of the Sea) will be favourite after setting an Indoor Personal Best of 2.15m at the AAI Games on the 17th of January. Foroughi had a terrific season in 2009, finishing fifth at the European Junior Championships in Serbia in July. 2009 Medallists, Barry Pender, St. Abbans A.C.and Christopher Crowley, Belgooly A.C. will also compete.
With Irish Record Holder Zoe Brown not competing, Claire Wilkinson (Ballymena & Antrim AC) will be looking to take the Women’s Pole Vault title. Wilkinson is targeting Erin Kinnears National U23 Indoor record of 3.73m. In 2009, Wilkinson jumped 3.85m outdoors, setting a new U23 Irish Outdoor Record.
Wilkinson will face tough opposition from Sarah Semeraro (University of Ulster AC) a former Italian National champion who has a personal best of 3.90m. In the Men’s Pole Vault reigning champion David Donegan of Clonliffe Harriers AC should have it all his own way.
RTÉ 2 will be showing highlights of the Championships on a OB Sports special on Monday 8th of February at 19:00 – 20:00.
This is the seventh Irish Indoors meeting in the North which has been made possible by the generous assistance of title sponsor Woodie’s DIY and funding partners Belfast City Council. Once again upwards of 1000 athletes will be participating, representing a mixture of local and international competitors.
A welcome return to the Irish Indoor sponsor list is hotel partner, the Premier Inn Belfast who have two great hotels offering excellent accommodation within close walking distance of the Odyssey Arena and a friendly Belfast welcome. To avail of the special rates exclusive to this event log on to www.indoorathletics.net/accommodation.
The dedicated Indoors website provides all competitors and spectators information on the event including the schedule, accommodation, athlete profiles, photo gallery and of course the facility to enter online. Visit www.indoorathletics.net . Tickets are available for the event at the Odyssey Box Office or Ticketmaster.