The Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor championships at the Odyssey attracted big entries in most events, with ten heats necessary in the men’s 60m, while five heats were necessary in the men’s 800m. Day 2 of the championships promises to be one of the best in years.

The women’s 60m required three heats and is shaping up to a great final tomorrow. Claire Brady from Celbridge AC is having a tremendous season, with her times improving with every outing. Today continued that trend with a fluent display of sprinting that saw her reduce her best time to 7.43, bettering the 7.48 achieved in London last weekend.
Ailis McSweeney from Leevale won the first heat in 7.58, with Niamh Whelan from Ferrybank AC winning the second heat in 7.61.

Robert Heffernan from Togher AC confirmed his standing as the leading track walker in the country with another superb win in the 5k walk to show his well being. Fellow Olympians Colin Griffin from Ballinamore AC and Jamie Costin from West Waterford AC filled the minor places.

The women’s 3,000m walk saw Zuzana Malikova from West Waterford AC lead from the gun for an impressive win. The Slovak international was just two seconds outside the Slovak record for the distance. Laura Reynolds from Mohill AC came through strongly for second, with Irish junior record holder Kate Veale from West Waterford AC third.

Deirdre Byrne from Sli Cualann AC took the lead from the gun in the women’s 3,000m and was never headed as she produced an impressive gun to tape victory. Hazel Murphy from DSD put in a strong performance to finish second with Kerry Harty from Newcastle third. Byrne and Murphy will be in action again next weekend at the AAA championships.
Kelly Proper from Ferrybank AC duly won another national long jump title with a best effort of 6.35m.

The men’s 800m final tomorrow is set to be a cracker after David McCarthy from Le Cheile and James McIlroy from Balmena & Antrim AC recorded impressive wins in their respective heats of the 800m. Indeed, McIlroy broke the stadium record with his winning time of 1:48.64.

Nick Hogan from DSD AC recorded the fastest time of 48.57 in winning his heat of the 400m, while Paul Hession from Athenry AC was fastest of the qualifiers in the men’s 60m with 6.88, with Dean Adams from Ballymena & Antrim also under 7 seconds with 6.92.

Alan O’Brien from Crusaders showed a tremendous turn of foot in the closing stages of the men’s 3,000m to win impressively. He has no immediate indoor plans, explaining that he is concentrating on base work with a view to next year’s European T&F championships. He will line up in the Woodie’s DIY inter club cross country championships next month and should be a strong contender.

Claire Wilkinson from Ballymena & Antrim won the pole vault with a clearance of 3.90m, a new national U23 record, while David Donegan from Clonliffe Harriers won the men’s pole vault with 4.85m.

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