from A.A.I website Day 1 of the Woodie’s DIY Irish indoor championships at the Odyssey in Belfast have got off to the best possible start with a new Irish record and another equalled. And, as ever, a very big entry once again shows just how popular these championships are with athletes. Zoe Brown put in a good performance at Santry last weekend in a low key meet, but her performances there cannot be ratified because the requisite number of events were not on the programme. This evening there were no such problems and she again showed that she is rounding into top form at the right time. Her first time clearance at 4.00m is a new Irish indoor record and she followed up with three close attempts at 4.10m, but unfortunately saw the bar fall on each occasion.
The long jump saw another of our top athletes put in a super performance. Kelly Proper jumped 6.27m twice before a jump of 6.31m in the last round equalled her own Irish record. The event was won by Brianna Glenn from the US with a jumpof 6.53m.
Glenn was the fastest of the three heats of the 60m with a time of 7.44, while Ailis McSweeney clocked 7.52, the same as Kelly Proper in what was a new PB for her.
Robert Heffernan easily retained his Irish indoor title with another display of top class walking, lapping the whole field in the process. On this occasion his own Irish record eluded him, but he put that down to a period of missed training in December.
His girlfriend Marian Andrews set the fastest time in the heats of the 400m – 54.52, while Brona Furlong’s 55.45 was next best. The semi finals and final should be a great race.
Laura Reynolds was a clear winner of the women’s walk in a time of 13:52.3, a new PB for her.
Junior Claire Fitzgerald was another to win with ease, and her throw of 13.11m saw her well clear of her rivals.
Deirdre Byrne has just smashed her PB for 3,000m. She ran a great race to win in 9:04.74, some nine seconds inside her previous best, and more importantly, inside the qualifying standard for the European indoors in Milan next month.