Good weekend for NI athletes in Santry
Northern Ireland performances at the Woodie's DIY Irish Championships in Santry
City of Lisburn's Amy Foster proved yet again that she is the queen of Irish sprinting when she destroyed the opposition yesterday at the Woodies Irish Senior Championships at a rainy Santry in Dublin.
The 23 year old Bangor woman was never headed in her race and crossed the line for an emphatic victory in 11.60 secs ahead of Ferrybank's Kelly Proper who recorded 11.84 secs.
Amy said she was happy with her race in which she had started well and stayed relaxed. She is trying to peak again to reach the 11.50 secs level which she achieved earlier in the season in Florida. As she is not involved in the Olympics she is planning a series of European races later in the summer.
City of Derry's Jason Smyth did not let his failure to make the Olympics affect his 100 metres race. He showed no signs of tiredness from his previous night's races in Loughborough and blasted out of the blocks to establish a clear lead over Olympics bound Paul Hession and U23 record holder Steven Colvert of Crusaders.
Unfortunately he then appeared to tie up and was caught on the line by Hession who was timed in a respectable 10.37 secs. Paralympic champion Smyth was a mere .01 secs behind with Colvert 3rd in 10.59 secs.
Smyth said; "I started well and pushed hard but my technique went towards the end when I was caught by Hession . However this is a big improvement on my disaster in the Europeans" .
Mid Ulster's Adam McMullen enjoyed a highly successful defence of his long jump title with a leap of 7.47 metres which is his 2nd best ever behind his PB of 7.61 metres from 2011 .
34 year old Paul McKee of Beechmount turned back the clock with a battling 2nd place in the 400 metres with a time close to his season's best of 47.67 secs. The Championship record holder from 2002 said he was delighted to be still competitive at his age.
In the Womens 400 metres the furore surrounding the potential Olympic de-selection of Catriona Cuddihy had a clear affect on the Kilkenny woman where she finished in 5th place in 55.27 secs just ahead of Lagan Valley's Katie Kirk (55.40).
Crusaders 400 metres hurdler Jason Harvey from Belfast seems to reserve his best for Santry. Last year the 20 year old recorded a PB of 50.65 secs for second behind Ferrybank's Thomas Barr. Barr retained his title again in 50.87 secs but Havey fought all the way and was rewarded with an impressive time of 51.43 secs-his second fastest ever.
There was a Northern clean sweep in the Javelin where North Down's Matthew Martin took gold in 61.37 metres ahead of Strabane's Aaron Crawford who was second in 56.58 metres.
City of Lisburn's Kelly Neely was 3rd in the Women's 1500 metres behind UCC's Orla Drumm.
Northern athletes took two of the rostrum places in the Women's pole vault. Raheny's Zoe Brown took silver with 3.95 metres behind Olympian Tori Pena who cleared 4.35 metres. Balymena's Clare Wilkinson was 3rd with 3.55 metres.
To round off a great day of competition Crusaders AC won the 4X400m relay in a time of 3:10.59, a new Irish club record. The team included Jason Harvey.
Savo Games Finland
Ciara Mageean's hopes of securing an Olympic Games spot look over after she missed out on the 1500m qualifying standard in her final race before the qualification deadline.
Chasing the London A standard of 4:06.00, the Portaferry runner clocked 4:14.91 to finish third at the Savo Games in Finland.
Mageean set her personal best of 4:07.45 last season. She has not been at her best this year but did run 4:10.74 on Thursday night. Ethiopia's Meskerem Assefa won the race in 4:09.51 ahead of India's Sinimol Paulose [4:10.72].
BMC Grand Prix
Annadale Striders athlete Eddie McGinley finished third in Stretford in the 5000m A BMC Grand Prix on Saturday night in 14.19.62.
