McCormack runs Rio 10,000m standard as Masters shine in Italy

McCormack hits Rio mark as Masters shine

Fionnuala McCormack (Kilcoole) posted an Olympic qualifying standard at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, California finishing fourth over 10,000m in 32:05.08

McCormack now holds qualifying times for the marathon and the 10,000m and will compete at the SPAR Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park next Sunday.

North Sligo's Mary Cullen also competed in the Stanford Invitational and was agonisingly outside the 5,000m standard finishing an excellent second in 15:26.53 - just outside 15:24.00.

"I'm happy enough but obviously disappointed to be so close," said Cullen afterwards. "The race got too slow at points and 77's (400s) thrown in there. Fingers crossed for next time."

Sara Treacy (Dunboyne), who holds the 3,000m steeplechase qualifying time, won on home soil in the Eirgrid Dunboyne 4 mile in a swift 21 minutes flat. West Waterford's David McCarthy led home a top men's field in 18:39.

Meanwhile the Irish Masters athletes have been excelling at the European Masters Indoors in Ancona, Italy. Irish athletes bagged 12 gold medals to finish 10th of the 34 competing nations.

Kelly Neely (City of Lisburn) and Joe Gough (West Waterford) were amongst the top performers. Nelly hammered the W35 800m field running 2:09.04.

Joe Gough (West Waterford) continued his rich vein of form with gold in the M60 800m in 2:16.76. He went on to finish fourth in the M60 1500m final, a race won by his Irish teammate Brian Lynch in 4:42.18.

Donore’s Ann Woodlock took gold in the W75 1500m in 7:31.28. Mary Bennett from Loughrea also took gold in the W55 shot put with a best effort of 11.18m. Denise Toner was another Irish winner in the W35 1500m, running 4:45.15. 

The sprinters also performed well with John Corr from Leevale making the m45 60 meter final having ran 7.34 seconds in the semi-final. The 4x200m relay team also bagged medals.

For all the results of the championships click HERE