Action Packed Belfast International Athletics Meet
There was an impressive turnout at last night’s Belfast International Athletics Meet at the Mary Peters Track organised by Athletics Northern Ireland with support from Belfast City Council, Ramada Plaza Belfast and Under Armour. Spectators seized the opportunity to see many Team NI athletes in action before the team departs for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this month.
Zoe Brown (Raheny AC) continued her record-breaking season in style with another pole vault record at last night's international athletics meeting at Mary Peters Track. In a brilliant solo display against a tricky cross wind she set a Northern Ireland All-Comers record of 4.31 metres. This heralded the start of a successful evening for a number of NI athletes bound for this month's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Thirty year-old Zoe who is currently ranked second in the Commonwealth expressed satisfaction with her performance. She said:
"I am happy with that especially in Belfast as you can never rely on good wind conditions. I cleared 4.31 metres easily and had two good attempts at 4.41 metres. I am in the form of my life and will next be competing in the Cork City Sports in a few days’ time."
Team NI sprinters followed Zoe's lead with impressive victories in the 100 metres. Ireland's No1, Amy Foster (City of Lisburn AC) was a clear winner in 11.69 seconds ahead of Wigan's Hayley Jones (11.80 seconds). Amy commented;
"It was nice to get a win on my home ground although my start wasn't great. The time was a bit slow but then I didn't run full out at the end. I am now aiming for the Irish Championships in Dublin."
Birchfield's Leon Reid whose mother hails from Belfast was a similarly convincing winner in the Men's 100 metres where he recorded 10.63 seconds ahead of Craig Lynch (Shercock AC) (10.70 seconds).
There was a battle for victory in the Women's 400 metre hurdles where Christine McMahon (Ballymena & Antrim AC) took on Ireland’s Jessie Barr (Ferrybank AC) and England’s Aisha Naibe- Wey. Christine pushed to stay with the leaders but ultimately finished in third place in 58.85 seconds behind winner Aisha Naibe-Wey of Herne Hill who won in 58.54 seconds and Ferrybank's Jessie Barr who was also given 58.85 seconds.
In the 1500 metres event, which was a definite highlight of the evening, top Irish miler and European Team Champion Paul Robinson (St Coca's AC) fought grimly in the home straight to secure a narrow victory in an impressive 3.40.39. This was only marginally ahead of Australian record-holder Ryan Gregson (3.40.60) and Villanova's Sam McEntee (3.41.33). Robinson commented that he had now acquired a lot of confidence to cope with very fast final laps as was the case in his tactical race in Tallinn where he was easily the fastest athlete in the final 200 metres.
The standout performance of the night came in the Men's 400 metres where Letterkenny's Mark English (UCD AC) defeated European Team Champion Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers AC). English's time of 46.56 seconds was a personal best by over half a second and sets him up for his bigger challenge over 800 metres in the European Championships. Glasgow Games bound Jason Harvey finished fifth in 48.01 seconds.
In the Men's High Hurdles event Commonwealth Games bound Ben Reynolds (North Down AC) claimed victory in the relatively modest winning time of 13.81 seconds ahead of Birchfield's Julian Ortiz (14.25 seconds).
In the Women's 800 metres unfortunately QUB's Katie Kirk withdrew from the race. First place went to Hannah Tarver of Edinburgh who had a close victory in 2.02.72 over Australia's Selma Kagen (2.02.98) with Irish number one Laura Crowe (An Ríocht AC) in third (2.03.23).
Victory in the Men's 800 metres went to Kenya's Reuben Bett in 1.47.64 while world relay bronze medallist Shana Cox took the 400 metres title in 53.97 seconds. There was also an impressive victory in the Men's 5,000 metres by Australia's Ben St Lawrence who won in 13 minutes 27 seconds.