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 Kelly Reid looks certain to be given the seventh spot on the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games squad following the failure of Gareth Turnbull and Paul Tohill to gain consideration marks last weekend.

The NI Commonwealth Games Council sits on November 9 to ratify the nominations from the NIAF for the seven places allocated to athletics.  Selection of the six competitors who have met the standards for their event seems a formality with Reid likely to be given the final berth.  The Lisburn athlete’s 1500 metres performance is considered on a percentage basis to be closer to the mark than any of the others in contention including established internationals Anna Boyle, Paul Brizzel, Paul McKee, Paul Tohill and Gareth Turnbull .

Last Sunday Turnbull turned out at the Mary Peters afternoon for his second race in less than 72 hours needing to run three minutes 41.6 seconds to edge Reid out of seventh spot.  He had been well off target in Canterbury the previous Thursday night and despite assistance from Thomas Frazer, Dominic McAllister and Joe McAllister, Turnbull again managed only 3:45.

Similarly, Paul Tohill fell short of the required 7300 points in the decathlon at the same venue.  Not performing well enough in his specialist events, high jump and sprint hurdles, the Magherafelt ended up with a 6962 total.

With most of the seven untried at international championship level James McIlroy is the province’s only genuine medal prospect. The Larne man has enjoyed probably his best ever year setting a new NI record of 1:44.65 which currently ranks him 14th in the World.  He is also in the Commonwealth top six and his standing should be enhanced by the fact that the leading Kenyans are unlikely to be in Australia.

His best competitive performance was undoubtedly in the green vest of Ireland when he took fourth place in the 800 metres at the European Championships in Budapest in 1998.  Following his switch to Britain a few years ago he duplicated that place in the European Indoors last Spring.  At 29 years of age Melbourne could represent his last opportunity for him to take a medal at a major championships.   

NI Commonwealth Games Athletics Team (to be announced 9 November 2005)

* Unofficial

28 August 2005

Some of Northern Ireland’s top athletics stars face a race against time to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next Spring.  Although the deadline for achieving consideration marks is not until 18 September this weekend may be the last opportunity for meaningful competition as the track and field season rapidly draws to a close.

The situation as not been helped by qualification marks based on what many consider a short-sighted and inflexible system drawn up by the NI Athletics High Performance Director in charge at the time of the last Games.

In order to ensure that Northern Ireland got as many finalists as possible Simon Nathan used the performance of the eighth placer in Manchester as the standard for 2006.  Fair enough you might think but he did not take into account that many events such as, for instance, the women’s javelin may have only had nine entries with the standard tapering off markedly after the first six.  In fact, the mark achieved by the eighth-placer in many of the technical events was by world standards not even mediocre.

Fast forward to the present and only one spot remains to be filled of the seven allocated to athletics by the NI Commonwealth Games Council.  The six athletes who have met the standard based on Nathan’s calculations are Ben Houghton (javelin), Michael Allen (javelin), James McIlroy (800m), Brendan McConville (decathlon), Zoe Brown (pole vault) and Eva Massey (shot).    

With the exception of McIlroy not exactly household names and exponents of technical events in a Commonwealth made up to a great degree by Third World countries which rely on natural sprinting speed or innate endurance for distance-running.  It’s difficult to recall any Kenyan discus throwers or Ugandan hammer throwers winning medals on the international stage.

Now consider the quality of the athletes who are scurrying all over Europe this weekend in order to make the plane to Australia.  Paul Brizzel (100m/200m), Paul McKee (400m), Gareth Turnbull (1500m) and Anna Boyle (100m/200m).  All have represented Ireland in major championships in the past two years. 

However, they are disadvantaged under the selection standards because they compete in events where a Commonwealth title is extremely difficult to win and still retain some credibility on the global athletics scene. 

All four are in action this weekend.  Brizzel who represented Ireland in the Olympics as recently as twelve months ago chases a 20.80 mark in two separate meetings Slovakia over the weekend.  Paul McKee has been improving gradually all season after being sidelined through injury and illness for over a year after taking a World Indoor bronze in 2003.  The Beechmount man ran 46.63 seconds in Switzerland last Sunday but needs a 46.00 clocking in Cardiff on Monday to be guaranteed his ticket to the Antipodes.

Another man who has more than his fair share of injuries is Gareth Turnbull who ran reportedly ran around three minutes 43 seconds for 1500 metres in Watford on Wednesday night but will be making another stab at the  3:40:00 standard in Manchester on Tuesday.

Finally, Anna Boyle is good enough to have set an Irish 100 metres record on this season, finished fifth in the European U23 Championships and took a relay bronze medal at World Student Games  Yet could well be watching the Commonwealths from her Dunloy home unless she manages 11.45 seconds for the short sprint in Fribourg, Switzerland tomorrow.

What was it Oliver Hardy used to say - another fine mess?