08 May 2010

GV Ryan/Louis Vandereis Meet - Results

8th May Irishtown Stadium

A sunny, cold and blustery evening ensured that PBs were kept to a minimum and turned those watching into a light shade of blue. Nonetheless we witnessed some very competitive and entertaining races.

Race of the night was undoubtedly the women’s 800m which saw Siobahn Eviston excitingly edge out Amy O’Donoghue and Niamh Kearney with all three finishing within 0.90 seconds of each other. This battle greatly impressed the watching Caroline O’Shea. Caroline, for those too young to remember (!!), is still the second fastest Irish female over 800m and fought her way to the Olympic 800m final in LA 1984. When will that happen again and WHEN will an Irish female break 2 minutes??

Back from warm memories of LA ‘84 to the chillier ones of the 8th May 2010 and the men’s 800 A which was won in most impressive style by Mark Patterson in 1.52 with Noel Collins and Danny Mooney grabbing 2nd and 3rd from Fergal Ennis.

The B 800 had a clear winner in Cathal Daly with the main competition for 2nd and 3rd positions coming from Jordan Stokes (2nd), Darragh Lynch (3rd) and Stephen Harkness.

The Men’s C race ( including two women Aoife Byrne and Fiona Kehoe) was set up to accommodate athletes seeking to break the two minutes barrier although Andrew Brennan was the only one to do so.

Largest field of the night of 22 runners was the 3k A and B races which we combined. Joe Sweeney back from a long lay off continues his comeback with a tasty 8.08 whilst Aidan Bailey had a BIG PB of 8.17 edging out Mark Hanrahan and Sean Connolly in an exciting finish. The B was won by Andrew Agnew with Lee Van Haeften from the growing band of promising athletes under the tutelage of John Downes, second.

The 1500m also attracted a good field of 14 with six breaking the four minutes. In an exciting battle for honours Patrick Brennan edged out James O’Hare and Niall Robinson.

The IMC series next stop will be at the Schools on 5th June in Tullamore. This is the biggest time slot allocated to us yet and if you have never raced here before then be prepared to perform in front of a massive crowd. DETAILS SOON ON THE IMC SITE

Click here to download the results from last nights meet in Irishtown (PDF)
Watch action from the Mens 800m A race here