John Travers among Irish winners this weekend

The Donore Harriers runner leads four men under 15 minutes in Sligo, while Irish athletes impress at the Celtic International.

John Travers led home 357 finishers at the Streets of Sligo 5km on Saturday (August 4) with the top four men all breaking 15 minutes.

Travers was a clear winner in 14 mins 08 secs, followed by Damien Landers 14:24, JP Carty of Sligo AC 14.51 and Jake O’Regan of St John’s 14:55. The first woman was Anna Reddin of Crusaders AC in 17:20; Sara Doohan of South Sligo AC was a close second in 17:25 and Heather Foley of North Sligo third in 17:46.

John Black of North Belfast Harriers and Sinead Sweeney of QUB AC) were the winners at the GymCo Feile 10km in Belfast on Sunday (August 5).

Black held off the challenge of Conall McClean from St Malachy’s AC and Philip Goss of North Belfast Harriers to win in 32:50. McClean was second in 33:09 and Goss third in 33:22.

Sweeney was not only first woman but also seventh overall in the race with a time of 37:17; Orangegrove’s Lyndsey Tyro and Geraldine McCotter of GymCo Finaghy were second and third.

Track

Irish athletes shone in the technical events at the annual Celtic International in Grangemouth on Saturday (August 4) where the host nation Scotland swept the boards at both under 18 and under 16 level.

In the U18 girls competition, Miriam Daly of Carrick-on-Suir AC was the class of the field in the girls’ 400m hurdles winning in 61.66 secs. Jack Ryan of Moycarkey Coolcroo AC won the U18 shot with a personal best 16.65m while Sean Maher won the boys U18 hammer with 60.23m.

Coming out on top in the U18 high jump was Emily Corcoran of Celtic DCH with a height of 1.71m, while a 3.22 vault was enough to give Orla Coffey of Carraig na bhFear AC victory in the U18 pole vault. Winning the girls’ U18 discus with 37.90m was Lystus Ebosele of DMP, who was also second in the shot with 13.51m. In the U18 boys javelin, Conor Cusack of Lake District was the winner with a 58.19m effort.

Winning a closely fought U18 3000m was Shay McEvoy of Kilkenny City Harriers who out-sprinted Larry Ryan of Wales for victory in 8:51.40. Cian McPhillips of Longford AC proved best in the 1500m with a time of 4:21.34, while a close second in the 800m was Donore’s Louis O’Loughlin.

Dundealgan’s Israel Olutunde won the U18 boys 200m in 22.13 secs and teamed up with Raheny pair Sean L’Estrange and Michael Farrelly and Leevale’s Colin Doyle to win the U18 boys 4 x 100m in 42.11 secs. Narrowly beaten in the girls’ U18 4 x 100m was the quartet of Sive O’Toole of SLOT, Longford’s Adeyemi Talabi, Awa Fane of Mullingar Harriers and Anna McCauley from City of Lisburn. Wales were the winners in 47.83; Ireland clocked 47.87. In the girls’ U18 4 x 400m, Caoimhe Cronin from Le Cheile, Finn Valley’s Danielle Jansen, Ella Duane of Naas AC and Miriam Daly were clear winners in 3:55.03.

At under 16 level, Laura Frawley of St Mary’s Limerick AC proved best in the U16 long jump with a leap of 5.49m. Setting a new Celtic Games record of 14.26m when winning the U16 shot (3kg) was Aoibhin McMahon of Blackrock-Louth AC, who also won the javelin (500g) with a 41.58m effort. Aimee Hayde AC of Newport finished second in a competitive U16 800m.

Ireland finished second in both U18 boys and girls and U16 girls and so second overall behind Scotland, with Wales third.

Irish 110m hurdles champion Ger O’Donnell of Carrick-on-Shannon AC clocked 11.17 secs for 100m at the final Dublin Graded Track and Field meet of the year at Santry on Wednesday (Aug 1).

Sarah Murray of Fingallians AC was the class of the field in the women’s 100m with a time of 12.59 secs. In the women’s mile Cliona Murphy of DCH clocked a time of 5:07.58, while in the 400m, Catherine McManus of DCH proved fastest with a time of 55.43.

Eric Favors of Raheny Shamrock threw 16.68m in the men’s senior shot. Favors, who is American-born and a former gridiron footballer, has a season’s best of 18.73m, which he threw in March. He finished second in the shot at the recent Irish Championships with 16.45m and was third in the discus with 50.26. He’s coached by many times Irish hammer champion Paddy McGrath, a longtime member of Raheny Shamrock, who lives in the USA. Through his Irish grandmother, Favours has acquired an Irish passport.

Foyle Valley’s Scott Rankin and Marina Murphy of Derry Track Club both retained their NI and Ulster 10,000m titles on Sunday (August 5). Rankin clocked a time of 31:42.51; Murphy ran a time of 39:33.34. The race was held in conjunction with the Team Trophy Meet at the Meadowbank Arena in Magherafelt. Rankin had run a time of 30:59 at the National Track and Field Championships at Santry Stadium in Dublin a week earlier.

At the England Athletics U17 and U15 Combined Events Championships in Manchester on Saturday and Sunday (August 4/5), North Down’s Troy McConville notched up a total of 5,574 points to finish fifth in the U17 boy’s decathlon.

Ethan Williamson of Foyle Valley AC was 13^th with 5,043 points. In the girls’ U17 pentathlon, Annalee’s Niamh McCorry finished 10^th with a total of 3,926 points.

In the senior women’s heptathlon, Sarah Connolly of North Down finished fifth with a score of 4,702, while Naomi Morgan of City of Derry AC was eighth with 4,268 points.

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