21st
June 08 Jason runs 10.53 inTallinn
City of Derry Spartans are celebrating having
two athletes on European Cup duty for Ireland at the weekend.
Róisín Smyth, Bobby Farren and
Damian Crawford are just three Spartans who have represented
Ireland in the European Cup in the past.
Paralympic World Champion led off the Irish
4x100 metres relay team which finished second in the Second
League Group A match in Tallinn, Estonia.
The quartet clocked 40.90 seconds, the fastest
mark by an Irish quartet in several years.
The Eglinton sprinter had gone into the relay
with his confidence sky-high after taking almost a tenth of
a second off his 100 metres personal best earlier in the afternoon.
Smyth had scorched to 10.53 seconds for a clear
victory in the 100m Extras race organised for those athletes
not running in the match event.
“It was cold and he was running into a slight
headwind,” related his coach Stephen Maguire. “Nevertheless,
he was smooth out of the blocks and good value for his time.”
City’s other representative Tom Carey had received
a call-up to the then vacant 400m Hurdles berth after clocking
a personal best timing of 52.60 seconds at the Southern Counties
Championships in England.
Running in a very competitive race, Carey performed
well to take fifth in 53.69 seconds to add a valuable three
points to the Irish tally.
Ireland’s men lie in third place overnight
after taking just two victories on the opening day. Paul Hession
was a comfortable winner of the 100m, running 10.30 with the
aid of a tailwind just above the permissible limit.
Paul McKee, deputising for European Indoor
champion David Gillick, was close to his seasonal best in winning
the 400 with a 46.68 seconds clocking.
There were also second place finishes from
Ciarán O’Lionaird (5000m/14:24.35) and the 4 x 100m relay
squad (40.90) to add valuable points.
City of Derry sprinter Jason Smyth was the
winner of the Open 100m in a personal best timing of 10.53 seconds.
In Mannheim, Brian Gregan equalled the Gordon
Kennedy’s National Junior record with a 46.70 mark. Lagan Valley’s
boy wonder Curtis Woods clocked 48.21, an outstanding performance
by a 15-year-old, and 16-year-old Ciara Mageean broke new ground
as well finishing second in the 1500m in 4:22.29.
Malcolm
