Michael Bowler (Kilkenny City Harriers AC), Shane Aston (Trim AC) and Kourosh Foroughi (Star of the Sea) along with team manager Kieron Stout travelled to Madeira, Portugal for the European Combined Event Cup on the 5th/6th of July. All three athletes scored personal bests in the team Decathlon event with Bowler best of the Irish athletes finishing in third place overall.
Michael Bowler
Bowler began the championship with a solid 11.48 second run in the 100m and followed this up with a 6.93m jump in the Long Jump. His most impressive performance on day one came in the High Jump when he cleared 2.04m which yielded 840 points.
On day two Bowler continued his progress with a 15.88 second run in the 110m hurdles and a 53.37m throw in the Javelin. At the end of the ten events Bowler amassed a total point’s score of 6,997 which was a new personal best and a third place finish overall.
Shane Aston
Aston made a very impressive start in his debut at senior level competition to finish in eight position amassing a score of 6,449 points. Of his day one results his 400m (51.56) – 744 and his high jump (1.89m) – 705 secured him the most points of the first five events, a confident start to the competition for the first year senior.
Aston made the perfect start to-day two of the event by setting a new personal best (PB) of 15.91 in the 110m hurdles. Another eye catching result came in the Javelin when he threw another PB of 57.68m which was the second biggest throw of the competition. Overall Aston amassed a new personal best point’s total of 6,449 which improved on his previous senior score of 5,899.
Kourosh Foroughi
Foroughi continued the PB trend of the weekend by scoring 6,395 points to finish in ninth place. Foroughi better known for his High Jump acquitted himself very well on his debut in the ten event discipline. As expected he scored big points in the High Jump clearing 2.10m to bank 896 points. He also performed very well in the Long Jump (6.67m) bagging himself another 736 points.
On the second day of competition Foroughi recorded a fast 15.64 in the 110m hurdles and produced a solid throw in the Javelin of 53.72m. Once the scores were combined Foroughi amassed a total of 6,395 points for a ninth place finish.
National Combined Event Co-ordinator Kieron Stout said “Credit to all three athletes for coming through the ten events and recording personal bests. Michael was very close to breaking the 7,000 points barrier with his 6,997 score, a significant result. Shane proved himself as a first year senior with a big breakthrough score of 6,449 points. It was a very encouraging performance by Koroush on his debut in the decathlon; he is a very exciting prospect for the future.”
