O'Sullivans to Star at 132nd Woodies DIY National T&F Championships

22 July 2004

Reigning Olympic 5,000m silver medallist Sonia O'Sullivan and reigning
World Championship 20km Walk silver medallist Gillian O'Sullivan are the
star names in action at the 132nd Woodies DIY National T&F Championships at
the Morton Stadium, in Santry this weekend.

Although still to confirm which event she will run, it seems likely that Sonia will opt for the 1500m in an attempt to improve her speed before Athens as well as win her 6th title over the distance she last won in 2000. Her only 1500m run  this season was a 4:15.59 in Gateshead at the end of June, leaving her currently ranked 5th on the 2004 Irish season's lists and facing strong opposition from Freda Davoren (4:09.07), Sinead Evans (4:11.22),
Athens-bound Marie McMahon-Davenport (4:12.92), and reigning Champion Roisin McGettigan who has run 4:14.08.

For Gillian O'Sullivan, things have not gone as she would have wished so
far this season, as she has struggled to overcome a lower back injury, but
after 3 weeks spent training at high altitude in Font Romeau in France she
will be hoping for a satisfying performance over 5,000m along with her
fellow Olympic-bound walker Olive Loughnane.

Elsewhere there are a number of mouth watering contests to decide who will
be crowned National Champion.

In the men's sprints, 21 year old Paul Hession will be looking to win his
first senior title over 200m in the wake of one of the greatest
performances ever seen by an Irish sprinter when he emerged victorious in
the IAAF Grand Prix event in Thessaloniki on Monday night. The Athenry man,
who moved to second on the Irish All Time 200m lists with 20.61 into a headwind, missed the Olympic A standard by just 2/100th of a second and will be very eager to consolidate this performance on home soil.

Against him will be stern opposition from 4-time Champion Gary Ryan and
reigning Champion and Athens-bound Paul Brizzel, who has yet to break 21
seconds this season.

In the shorter sprint Gary Ryan will be favourite to win his 5th 100m title
and his third in sucession, and this season has already equalled the
national record of 10.35 held jointly with Brizzel.

The men's 400m title will be one of the most keenly fought of the
Championships with 4 Irish athletes currently boasting season's bests of
under 47 seconds. Dundrum's World Indoor relay medallist Rob Daly leads the
rankings with 46.19 but he can expect to be made fight every bit of the way
from David McCarthy (46.41), David Gillick (46.57) and Gordon Kennedy
(46.89).

The middle distance events will be no less eagerly anticipated as it looks
like Athens-bound 1500m star James Nolan will run the 800m in search of his
third title while Alistair Cragg will look to add his name to the
illustrious list of champions over 1500m when he runs his first ever race
in Ireland against reigning Champion Gareth Turnbull.

Leevale clubmates Mark Carroll and Cathal Lombard look set for an epic
dual over 5000m while Peter Coghlan will be seeking the 8/100ths of a second
he needs to make the A standard in the 110mH while also searching for his
8th title.

Togher's Robert Heffernan will start as favourite to regain his title in the
10,000m Walk ahead of fellow Athens-bound competitor and reigning Champion Jamie Costin, while all eyes in the field will be on newly crowned National record Holder Adrian O'Dwyer in the High Jump, Terry McHugh looking for an unprecedented 21st successive title in the Javelin and Nick Sweeney seeking his 11th title in the Discus.

In the women's sprints Ciara Sheehy will be hoping to win her third
successive 100m/200m double while Karen Shinkins will start the 400m as
the hot favourite to win her 8th successive title.

In the 800m Dundrum's Aoife Byrne will be favourite to win the title she
last won in 2001, while Derval O'Rourke has yet to confirm her fitness after
being admitted for a 3-day hospital stay in Greece after Monday night's Grand
Prix meeting.