Rain doesn’t dampen Masters’ competitive spirit

No raining on the Masters parade

Dark skies and constant rain couldn't dampen the spirits and the competitive edge at the GloHealth National Masters Track and Field Championships in Tullamore yesterday. 

An action-packed day saw the regular protagonists shine along with some new arrivals to the Masters scene that look set to dominate. Joe Gough (West Waterford) was supreme in winning the M60 800m in 2:18.14 while Sean Breathnach (Galway City Harriers) won quadruple gold in the throws in the M35 section. 

Speed Queens

Mary Devlin (City of Derry) was the fastest woman on the day in the 100m clocking 13.17 seconds in the W35 category while the closest finish of the day was in the W45 between Katherine Markey (Fingallians) and Paula Reilly (Celbridge). Markey just edged Reilly in 13.88 to 13.89. Reilly was able to turn the tables in the 200m winning in 29.53 to Markey’s 29.88. Mary Barry (Grange Fermoy) won the W70 in 21.44. 

Slattery on the treble

Clonliffe Harriers’ Matt Slattery (main picture) won M60 gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m running 13.77, 28.55 and 64.77 respectively.   

Middle distance maestros

Kelly Neely (City of Lisburn) continued her fine form dominating the W35 800m in 2:20.28. Neely improved her O35 record at the Morton Games on Friday night running 2:09.61. Joe Gough as previously mentioned dominated the M60 800m while Philip O'Doherty M55 and Pat Timmons M65 completed 800m and 1500m doubles in their respective age categories. O'Doherty recorded times of 2:17.41 and 4:48.74 while Timmons ran  2:34.13 and 5:42.64. Geraldine Reilly (Clonliffe Harriers) completed a 400m/800m double in the W50 section running 66.10 and 2:29.82. 

Sean Breathnach dominates game of throws

Sean Breathnach put on a masterclass in the throws winning quadruple gold in the discus (45.72m), shot put (16.99m) javelin (44.27m) and weight for distance (8.43m) in the M35 category. The Galway City Harrier will be a contender in the shot and discus at the upcoming National senior championships on the 8th/9th of August.  Gabriella Sztojalovszky won double gold in the W35 javelin and discus with best throws of 21.02m and 23.53m respectively. Geraldine Finegan won a horde of medals with one of the highlights being W45 gold in the javelin with a best of 28.15m. 

Evergreen Gallagher 

Pride of place for the day must go to Milford's Hugh Gallagher who won M90 gold in the javelin (11.87m), shot put (5.67m) long jump (1.60m) and discus (12.75m). You can get full results of the day here or on a word document here