Mageean 5th in race won by World 1500m Champion

Ciara Mageean

A frustrated and disappointed Ciara Mageean had to settle for 5th place in last night's International 1500 metres race in Tangier, Morocco.

The Lisburn AC athlete finished behind newly crowned World champion Jennifer Simpson of the US who won a slow tactical race in 4 mins 10 secs.

Mageean clocked 4:16.48. Coach Eamonn Christie said he had been led to believe by the organisers that a pacemaker would be supplied for the race which in Ciara's case would have helped her towards the Olympic "A" standard time which she is so close to achieving.

In the event there was no paced assistance with the inevitable result that a slow run race was determined by a virtual sprint over the last 300 metres. However, the Portaferry woman took consolation from the fact that she defeated several athletes in the race with considerably faster PB 's.

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Mageean will now take a well earned rest before embarking on a fairly low key cross country season prior to the key track season build up to London 2012. Meanwhile in the Tyneside Great North Run North Belfast's Breege Connolly had an outstanding run when she sliced 1min 49 secs off her PB to finish a commendable 15th in 77 mins 29 secs. This augurs well for the 33 year old in her build up to the Dublin Marathon next month.

St Malachy's Joe McAllister also ran well to finish in 21st place in 66 mns 36 secs which was 10 secs faster than his 19th place from last year. City of Derry's Greg Roberts was 62nd in 75 mins 18 secs. In the Dublin Half Marathon former GB international James McIlroy of Ballymena ran a PB to finsh 8th in 72 mins 11 secs.

Weekend Results

Just three clubs participated in the European Champion Clubs Cup / Track & Field Junior Group C in Leiria Portugal yesterday, with Leevale AC finishing second in the men's section and Ballymena & Antrim AC second in the women's section.

A career-best seventh-place finish for sophomore Eimear Black (Glengormley, Ireland) paced the Bryant University cross country team's at the 17th annual Monmouth Invitational Saturday.

After setting personal-bests in time and finish last week in the Bryant Invitational, Black ran one of the best races of her collegiate career against a field of 157 runners. Her seventh-place finish tops the 13th place finish from the first race this year, and her time of 18:44 left her just three seconds shy of a top-five finish.

The 11th World Masters Mountain Running Championships were held in Paluzza in Northern Italy on an up and down course. All five Irish teams won medals which is their most successful results ever. Anne Sandford (Newcastle) 14th and Patricia Blackburn (Bilboa) 36th combined with Helen White for bronze W45 medals.