The 57th Cork City Sports, sponsored by Spar and FDC Financial Services, provided another exciting afternoon of top class international competition. Some of the leading athletes in the country were competing and all will have been impressed by the professional organisation of the event and the great support from the spectators in the UCC Grounds at the Mardyke. A couple of showers early on gave way to beautiful sunshine and wind readings were all on the athlete’s side. The crowd’s biggest cheer of the day was reserved for Derval O’Rourke who was again the star attraction in the 100m hurdles. But, in spite of a great run on her part, she again had to settle for second place. In a blanket finish it was Andrea Bliss from Jamaica who got ahead on the line with Derval second and Aurelia Trywianska from Poland third. The result shows the Leevale woman is heading in the right direction and looks to be spot on in her preparations for Beijing. Derval may have got the biggest cheer of the day, but Paul Hession also received a great welcome to the Mardyke. And he responded in the best possible way to the crowd’s encouragement by winning both the 100m and 200m. His 10.21 was another world class performance and he is another who is on the right track for Beijing. Another Beijing bound athlete Alistair Cragg finished second in the 1,500m behind Bernard Kiptum from Kenya, with American Rob Myers a fraction behind in third. Alistair later lined up in the 3,000m, but again found one too good for him in Mike Kigen from Kenya who slipped the field well before the finish to win impressively. In form Mark Hanrahan again smashed his PB with a time of 8:01.50 for 6th. American Greg Nixon was a clear-cut winner of the 400m in 45.59, while Aliann Pompey from Guyana was equally impressive in winning the women’s 400m in 51.52. The women’s 3,000m field stayed bunched together until Sinimole Paulose from India injected some past with two laps to go. Georgie Clarke from Australia gave chase but found the winner too strong fro her. Denise Hinrichs from Germany celebrated with a Beijing qualification when winning the shot put, while Andrea Ispan from Romania won the high jump with 1.90m. Kelly Proper closed to just 1cm on Terri Horgan’s under 23 long jump record with 6.38m, but her 6.46m effort had a following wind of 2.27. There was another American winner in the long jump where James Nieto thrilled the crowd with a 2.30m clearance. Maris Urtans from Latvia won the shot put with an effort of 20.04m, just 1cm ahead of American Steve Manz. Australian Fabrice Lapierre won the long jump with 7.95. Cork City Sports Field EventsCork City Sports Track Events