Leon Reid laid down a marker for the National Indoors – and the Commonwealth Games next April – winning both elite 60m races at the AAI Indoor Games in Abbotstown on Sunday (February 4).

Reid of Menapians AC who had helped set a 4x200m club record in Abbotstown a day earlier clocked a time of 6.81 secs in his first 60m race.

In second place was Marcus Lawler in 6.87 secs, while third was Stephen Gaffney of Rathfarnham WSAF in 6.91. An hour or so later, Reid improved his time to 6.79 secs. Reid’s best time for the distance is 6.74 secs from last year’s National Indoors at Abbotstown, where he was the winner.

Despite having those two races in his legs, Reid then lined out in the 400m and just lost out to Brandon Arrey of Blarney Inniscarra with just one-hundredth of a second in it. Arrey won in 48.87 secs with Reid given 48.48 secs. Fastest 400m time of the day came from Andrew Mellon of Crusaders AC who won his heat in 47.98 secs.

An impressive winner of the women’s 1500m was European Youth Olympics champion Sarah Healy of Blackrock AC, still only 16. She smashed her previous best with a time of 4:16.04 to break Ciara Mageean’s Youth and U20 indoor records.

John Travers of Donore Harriers warmed up for a defence of his 1500m title at the National Indoors by winning the men’s 3000m in 8:10.87. Finishing second was Darragh McElhinney of Bantry AC in 8:13.80.

Joan Healy of Bandon managed to run identical times of 7.38 secs in both her 60m races, while Niamh Whelan of Ferrybank improved from 7.60 secs in her first race to 7.47 in the second. Whelan also won her 200m heat in 24.20 secs. The second fastest time of the day came from Sinead Denny of DSD with 24.57. Winning the men’s 200m was Craig Newell of Ballymena and Antrim in 21.68 secs.

In the women’s 60m hurdles, British junior international Megan Marrs from City of Lisburn ran a personal best 8.19 secs in the second of two races. She beat UCD ‘s Sarah Lavin in both races. Fastest of the men was Matt Behan of Crusaders AC with 7.98 secs.

 

A clear winner of the women’s 800m was Claire Mooney of UCD in 2:04.75, which was just off the personal best 2:4.33 she ran last week in Boston. For second place, Alanna Lally, also UCD, edged out Jenna Brommell from Emerald AC in Limerick.

The men’s 800m produced a battle between Karl Griffin of UCD and rising star John Fitzsimons of Kildare AC, a bronze medal winner at the European U20 Championships last summer. Griffin took the win in 1:50.31; Fitzsimons was second in 1:50.47

Pick of the field events was the men’s shot won by many times Irish champion Sean Breathnach of Galway City Harriers with a first round effort of 17.28m. In the women’s triple jump, Saragh Buggy of St Abban’s crept ever closer to the Irish record of 13.28m with a personal best 13.23m.

Wrapping up the day’s racing was an exhibition indoor 400m hurdles between Thomas Barr of Ferrybank and his training partners Paul Byrne of St Abban’s and Ben Kiely of Ferrybank. Barr came out on top with a time of 50 mins 50 secs.

European Clubs Cross Country

Both Lizzie Lee of Leevale and Raheny’s Kevin Dooney came 17th in their races at the European Clubs Cross-Country Championships in Mira, Portugal, while Abbi Taylor of Dundrum South Dublin finished fourth in a blanket finish to the junior women’s race.

Lee clocked a time of 21 mins 4 secs for the 6.26km senior women’s course, less than a minute behind the winner Katarzyna Rutkowska from Poland.

With Michele Finn 22nd, Sinead O’Connor 31st, Claire McCarthy 38th, Michelle Kenny 51st and Carol Finn 56th, the team finished 7th – just three points behind Aldershot Farnham and District, led by Louise Small 14th.

In the men’s 10.3km race, Dooney finished in 31 mins 1 sec, with Mick Clohisey 26th in 31: 20. Dominating the race was Davis Kiplangat of Sporting Clube de Lisbon. Of the other Raheny athletes, Mark Kirwan was 59th, Cillian O’Leary 68th, Eoin Strutt 76th and John Dunne 93rd. The team finished ninth, with 22 teams entered. Sporting Clube de Portugal won both men and women’s senior races.

Abbi Taylor, who finished just four seconds behind the winner Anna Mark Helwigh of Denmark, was unlucky not to take a medal in the junior women’s race. With Niamh Carey 16th and Grace Dervan 24th, DSD finished fifth behind Fenerbahce of Turkey.

Galway City Harriers finished ninth in the junior men’s race with Thomas McStay 28th, Eanna Folan 29th, Aaron Brennan 42nd and Gary Martyn 59th. Playas de Castellon from Spain were the winners.

Roads

Kevin Maunsell of Clonmel AC won a competitive men’s race at the John Treacy Dungarvan 10-mile.

Maunsell finished in 49 mins 27 secs with David Flynn of Clonliffe Harriers a close second in 49:47 and Emmett Dunleavy of Sligo AC third in 50:04 First woman was Laura O’Shaughnessy of DSD in 56.47. The previous winner Siobhan O’Doherty of Borrisokane AC was second in 57.59.

Peter Mooney was the winner of the Trim 10-Mile in Co Meath in a time of 53 mins 47 secs. The first woman was Maria McCambridge of DSD in 57:46.

Saturday

A full recap on Saturday’s running including Phil Healy and Kate O’Connor performances can be found here, while a recap on Ciara Mageean and Sean Tobin’s indoor season openers in New York can be found here.