15 October 2007
McALISTER
COMPLETES HAT-TRICK AT ARMAGH
Joe
McAlister wound up his autumn road racing programme with a comfortable win
in the Armagh 10 Miles.
It was the
third victory for the St. Malachy’s athlete in the past six weeks after
successes in the Waterside Half Marathon and the Bangor Classic 10Kms.
McAlister
was in a group of four at the halfway point reached in 25 minutes 20
seconds before pulling away on the hills of the sixth and seventh miles
for an emphatic victory in 51:40.
“I took it
out at a decent pace but after I got away I knew that I wasn’t going to
beat my course record (50:36) so I was able to take it fairly comfortable
over the final three miles,” was McAlister’s summary of the race.
“Besides I
had a very good weeks training since running the AAA championship in
England last weekend, 97 or 98 miles, and that probably took the edge off
me a wee bit too.”
“I’m
pleased the way the autumn has gone so far with three wins in four races.
I’m going to concentrate on my training now for four weeks before running
a cross-country race in Tilburg,” added McAlister.
Omagh
Harrier Stephen Duncan (51:55) won the contest for second ahead of Irish
triathlon champion Brian Campbell (51:57) with Paul Rowan (52:05) in
fourth.
Race
organiser Dermot Kerr, now 49, ran an exceptional 55:04 to finish seventh
overall.
Irish
Olympian Maria McCambridge added a touch of class to a quality woman’s
field crossing the mine in a fast 57:46. Former winner Mary-Margaret
Meade (61:45) was second lady home with Gladys Ganiel (62:37) taking the
bronze award.
Details: 1 J McAlister (St Malachy’s) 51:40, 2 S Duncan (Omagh Harriers)
51:55, 3 B Campbell (Willowfield) 51:57, 4 P Rowan (Willowfield) (M40)
52:05, 5 G Crossan (Letterkenny) (M35) 52:26, 6 R Turkington (Armagh)
54:05, 7 D Kerr (Armagh) (M45) 55:04, 8 D Pimentel (Sperrin) (M40) 55:12,
9 T Donnelly (Abbey), 55:31, 10 S Taylor (Abbey) 55:52;
Ladies: 1 M McCambridge (DSD) (F35) 57:46, 2 M-M Meade (North Belfast Hrs)
61:45, 3 G Ganiel (Abbey) 62:37;
Wheelchair: P Hanin 50:24.
McCARTHY
OPENS IN STYLE
City
of Derry’s Declan McCarthy made an impressive opening to the new
cross-country season when he finished second in the Donegal Masters’
Championships in Milford.
McCarthy
who has just moved into the M45 age group franked his chances of gaining
international selection for the next month’s International Masters’
Cross-Country International at Stormont with a well-judged performance.
After a
cautious start, the Kilfennan accountant moved impressively through to
field to finish third, just seconds behind former European 10,000 metres
silver-medallist Dominic Bonner.
McCarthy
will now head to Dundonald next weekend for the veterans’ trial race full
of confidence of gaining selection for the Northern Ireland team.
Other City
athletes also performed well. Oran McBride just recently moved into M40
category took 9th while 62-year-old Christy McMonagle was an
excellent 15th of the 23 finishers.
Winner of
the race was Finn Valley’s Kieran Carlin.
On the
international scene Zersenay Tadesse successfully defended his title in
the 2nd IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine. Italy.
The
Eritrean emerged from a group of four to snatch the gold medal in 58
minutes 59 seconds for the half-marathon distance.
Patrick
Makau Musyoki (59:02) took second ahead of compatriot Evans Cheruiyot
(59:05) to lay the foundations for a Kenyan team victory.
Holland’s
Lornah Kiplagat set a new world record of 66:25 in claiming the women’s
title from the Kenyan duo of Mary Jepkoskei Keitany (66:48) and Pamela
Chepchumba (68:06).
There was
no Irish representation at the meeting.
However, two of Ireland’s top juniors were in action at the NCAA
Pre-Nationals cross country in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Ciaran O’Lionaird reversed the placings of two weeks previous to finish
58th of the 273 finishers in 24:10, with David McCarthy 76th in 24:18.
Another man with a claim to a place on Ireland’s Junior team for the
Europeans in December, North Belfast Harrier Stephen Scullion, finished 13th
in the Great American Cross-Country in Hoover, Alabama.
McGETTIGAN CARRIES DONEGAL HOPES AT BEIJING OLYMPICS
Northwest athletics
followers may have a special reason to pay attention to the women’s
steeplechase at next year’s Olympics.
The US college system has nurtured some of Ireland’s
greatest athletes for more than 50 years.
From
Ronny Delany in
the 1950s right through to the modern day, Irish athletes has been cut
their teeth on the tough competitive North American circuit.
Roisin McGettigan is the latest to emerge after a
breakthrough year which saw break her own national record for the
steeplechase and make the final of the event at the World Championships in
Japan.
However, the Wicklow girl whose grandparents came from
Letterkenny saved the best wine for last when she finished second in the
World Athletics Final in Stuttgart last month.
The $20,000 runners-up cheque represented the biggest ever
payday for the athlete from the Slí Chualainn club.
After the taste of success at global level McGettigan is
hungry for more and has set her sights on doing even better at next year’s
Olympics in Beijing.
“I want nothing more than to go to Beijing, qualify for the
final, and run an Irish record in the final,” McGettigan said.
“I loved the buzz in Japan (at the 2007 World
Championships) and I can only imagine that Beijing will be even better. I
can’t wait.”
To prepare for China, McGettigan has returned to Rhode
Island where she has been based for the past eight years after taking up a
scholarship at Providence College.
After her tenth
place in Osaka and with the help of her $20,000, she is already preparing
for next year’s Olympics.
“I might buy a
couple of pairs of jeans, and some nice Christmas presents for the family
but I’ll use the rest money to support myself in preparing for Beijing,”
concluded McGettigan.
8
October 2007
GOOD FORM
OF WATERSIDE WINNER CONTINUES IN ENGLAND
Waterside
Half-Marathon winner Joe McAlister was the leading Irish finisher in the
Chichester 10K which incorporated both British and AAA Championships at
the distance.
The St.
Malachy’s athlete finished 13th in 30 minutes 10 seconds after
moving through strongly in the second half of the race.
Gary
Thornton who had beaten the Glengormley man in this year’s national 10K
championship had led early on but was overhauled as McAlister ran the
second five kilometres in 15 minutes even.
“I’m
definitely very happy with that,” said McAlister. “Another five or six
weeks I would have been challenging for a medal because I’ve done no
speedwork yet.”
In Donegal
Diarmuid Fullerton was the winner of the county novice cross-country
championship. The Finn Valley man was followed home by clubmate Enda
Doherty with Killybegs’ David Conwell claiming the bronze medal ahead of
former Irish middle-weight champion Danny Ryan.
There was
some consolation for Ryan when he led his Letterkenny squad to a narrow
team victory over Tír Chonnaill.
The
Letterkenny club also had cause to celebrate when Elaine Morrow won the
women’s title ahead of Inishowen’s Bridget Moohan.
Sharon
Meehan, in third, led Tír Connaill to success in the team competition.
Earlier some 800
youngsters from throughout Donegal travelled to Stranorlar for the annual
Primary Schools’ cross –country.
Schools from as far
apart as Carndonagh in the north to Kilcar in the south were represented
with the kind weather adding to an enjoyable occasion.
Schools battling it out in the large school section included Woodlands,
Iosagain and Toobin while Annagry and KIlmacrenan were to the fore in the
medium section. Desertgney and Buncrana were prominent in the small
category
Individuals to impress were Abby Stokes (Iosagain), Denver Kelly (Toobin),
Amber Barrett (Rathmullan), Tara Harley (Ramelton), Niall O’Donnell (Colmcille)
and Chris Murray (Milford).
Donegal
Novice CC: Men- 1 D Fullerton (Finn Valley), 2 E Doherty (Finn V), 3 D
Conwell (Killybegs), 4 D Ryan (Letterkenny), 5 R McCarthy (Tír Chonnaill),
6 M Monaghan (L’kenny); Teams- 1 Letterkenny 29, 2 Tír Chonnaill 31;
Ladies- 1 E
Morrow (Letterkenny), 2 B Moohan (Inishowen), 3 S Meehan (Tír Chonnaill);
Team – Tír Chonnaill 14.
City of
Lisburn Road Relays: Senior Men- 1 Abbey AC 40:00, 2 North Belfast Hrs
40:53, 3 Newcastle AC42:57;
Senior
Women- 1 City of Lisburn 22:56, 2 Abbey 23:02, 3 Lagan Valley 44:35;
Masters- 1
Newcastle 46:00, 2 North Belfast 47:32, 3 Dromore 51:13.
MARATHON
POSSIBLE IN UNDER TWO HOURS - GEBRSELASSIE
The news
that the
first marathon in under two hours "is only a question of time" will be
demoralizing for all those local runners preparing for Dublin later this
month.
At least that is the
view of the new world record holder Haile Gebrselassie who won in Berlin
with a time of two hours four minutes 26 seconds.
"I am sure that it will
be run in two hours but when? In 20 years? In forty? Nobody knows. The
technology is evolving and all the time athletes are running faster.... I
believe one day it will happen," said Gebrselassie who averaged
approximately 4:43 per mile in Berlin and covered the last five in 23:12.
Incredibly the
Ethiopian, a former Olympic and world champion at 10,000 metres, believes
he is capable of improving his record to two hours three minutes.
Gebrsellassie's 29
second improvement of Paul Tergat's time in the same race four years ago
means that the world record for the distance has now come down over two
and a half minutes in 20 years.
During that time the
Irish best has remained 2:09:15 set by John Treacy when he finished third
in Boston in 1988, four years after his Olympic silver medal in Los
Angeles.
In fact Mark Carroll is
the only new face to enter the Irish top ten all-time performances in the
last decade. Carroll's who is second fastest Irish man ever over the
distance recorded 2:10:54 when he finished sixth in New York five years
ago.
Despite record
participation levels the position in Northern Ireland is even bleaker with
the national record dating back to 1979 when Greg Hannon ran 2:13:06 to
win the AAA Marathon title in Coventry.
Hannon also shares the
Ulster record with Donegal man Danny McDaid who appeared in two Olympics
and registered the time in winning the Irish title in Limerick in 1976.
Meanwhile the women's
world record holder Paula Radcliffe confirmed this week that she will be
running New York on 4 November. It will be her first race at the distance
since winning the world title in 2005.
Radcliffe recently made a return to competition after 21 months when she
finished second to Kara Goucher of the United States in the Great North
Run Half Marathon.
The
Bedford athlete also revealed she wished to have a second child in the gap
years between next year's Olympics in Beijing and those in London.
Athletics followers world wide were saddened earlier this week by the news
of the death of Discus thrower Al Oerter who was the first man to take
gold medals in an event in four consecutive Olympics.
The American died of
heart failure just two weeks after his 71st birthday.
3 October 2007
McALISTER CRUISES TO BANGOR
10K VICTORY
Joe McAlister never had to
get out of third gear to bring his winnings for the month to almost a
£1000 with a victory in the Bangor Classic 10K.
The St. Malachy’s athlete
broke away from the field of over 300 early in the race along with club
mate Kevin Seaward and Willowfield’s Paul Rowan.
The trio went through the
halfway mark together in 15:36 before the Malachy’s men moved away around
the eight kilometres marker.
Another almost imperceptible
acceleration from McAlister a kilometre later was enough to put daylight
between him and his training partner.
The Glengormley man broke the
tape in 30 minutes 58 seconds with Seaward arriving eight seconds later.
Rowan clocked 31:11 for third
and led his Willowfield club to victory in the team competition.
Foyle Valley’s Declan Reed in
22nd with a 34:33 timing was the leading northwest finished
while Sammy McAnaney (35:42) was the second across the line in the M50
category.
Tullamore athlete Pauline
Curley completed her second successive raid north in a month with a
comprehensive victory in the women’s race.
After scoring three weeks
earlier in Derry’s Waterside Half Marathon, 38-year-old Curley had almost
a minute to spare over Newcastle’s Kerry Harty at the tape.
Meanwhile Pauric McKinney was
the winner of the Donegal
Creameries Mooathon Half
marathon. Over 300 runners lined up for the race which started in
Kilmacrennan.
The 42-year-old
schoolteacher crossed the line over six minutes ahead of the field in 75
minutes 21 seconds for the undulating 13.1 miles distance.
Letterkenny club mate Marty
Gormley (81:39) took second ahead of Ian Allen (82:41) from Dublin.
Another athlete based in the
capital, Josephine Killeen, took the ladies’ prize after finishing 15th
overall in 90:41.
Pauric McKinney
DEATH OF ATHLETICS OFFICIAL
HAS CONSEQUENCES FOR NORTHWEST
The death
of athletics agent Andy Norman will have repercussions even here in the
Northwest according to top coach Stephen Maguire.
Once regarded as the most
powerful man in UK athletics the former policeman played a key role in
bringing top athletes to Belfast at a time when the city was almost a
no-go area for international sport.
Norman was present at the
Northern Ireland Championships in Antrim during the summer and earlier in
the year put together the fields for the Irish Indoors at the Odyssey.
The former Promotions
Officer with the British Athletics Federation died after arriving back in
London from working at the World Athletics Finals in Stuttgart last
weekend.
Norman had been working
at the final European Grand Prix of the season as advertising commissioner
for the International Association of Athletics Federations.
He was married to the
former javelin world record holder and world champion Fatima Whitbread
until the couple split almost three years ago.
Norman, 64, acted as
agent for two of Maguire’s athletes, Paralympic world champion Jason Smyth
and Northern Ireland 100 metres record holder Anna Boyle.
Maguire
has known Norman for a number of yerars.
“Andy has always been a
friend of Northern Ireland since the days of Les Jones and was
instrumental in bringing people here like Ed Moses, Zola Budd and Steve
Ovett,” said the Strabane man.
“He has
been crucial to the development of both the carrers of Jason and Anna in
that he has always got them races at the right level and at the right
time.
“I know I speak for all
involved in the sport here when I send our condolences to his son Ryan and
all the family.”
