Irish middle distance running received a great boost yesterday when Colin Costello won the 1500 at the European Junior Championships in Kaunus with Danny Darcy taking the silver medal. Darcy took the field along through the early laps reaching 400 in 60.47 and reaching 800 in 2:01.12. He moved slightly faster on the next lap and passed 1200 in 3:01.44. Costello moved ahead around the final turn sprinted down the straight for a great Irish medal haul. Colin recorded a personal best of 3.45.25 with Danny just 2 seconds outside his best clocking 3.46.07. Both are home based athletes and coached by local coaches with Colin being guided by Robert Denmead and Danny benefiting from the expertise of National Endurance Coach Jim Davis. Linda Byrne’s fine run in the 3000 Metres Steeplechase was perhaps overshadowed by the 1500 men but her 4th place in a new national record of 10.21.00 was another ten seconds faster than the time recorded in the heat two days previously. Ireland’s last winner in these championships was Mark Carroll who won the 5000 metres in 1991 and hopefully these athletes can be the vanguard of the next generation of Irish middle distance runners.