Fifth Place For Ireland After Day 1 Of Euro Team Champs
The Irish track and field team are in fifth place on 143 points at the halfway stage of the European Athletics Team Championships (1st League) which is taking place in Crete from the 20th-21st of June. There was no individual wins for Ireland on day one of the competition however there was an abundance of top three placings which yielded the impressive tally.
Thomas Barr Places Second
Irish 400m Hurdles record holder Thomas Barr (Ferrybank AC) placed second in that event after a titanic tussle with Rasmus Magi of Estonia. Magi got the better of Barr on this occasion winning the race in a time of 49.59 with Barr just behind in second in a time of 49.66 seconds. The Waterford athlete secured 11 points for Ireland which was the most by any Irish athlete on day one of the competition. Amy Foster (City of Lisburn AC) continued the strong Irish performances on the track by placing third in the 100m in a time of 11.60 seconds.
There were some strong performances produced in the middle distance events with Michelle Finn (Leevale AC) – 3,000m steeplechase and Sara Treacy (Dunboyne AC) – 3,000m placing third in times of 9.52.67 and 9.10.18 respectively. Ciara Everard (UCD AC) battled all the way to line to place fourth in the 800m while her brother Eoin Everard showed similar grit to place sixth in the 1500m (3.43.09)
Fine Performance by Dempsey McGuigan
Dempsey McGuigan (Finn Valley AC) was the first Irish athlete in action at the championships as he produced an impressive throw of 64.95m to place fifth and earn eight points for Ireland. Claire Fitzgerald (Tralee AC) threw a best of 48.94m for a seventh place finish in the discus event. Adam McMullen (Crusaders AC) leapt out to 7.52m to place fourth in the long jump which earned him nine points.
Fourth for Kevin Batt
Kevin Batt (Dundrum South Dublin AC) demonstrated smart racing tactics as he finished fourth in a slow run 5,000m race in a time of 15.21.08. There was also a fourth place finish by Brian Gregan (Dundrum South Dublin AC) as he recorded a time of 46.87 seconds in the 400m.
Relay Teams
The Irish women’s 4x100m relay team clocked a time of 45.16 to place sixth overall with the men’s team running a time of 40.18 for third place in their heat, the time for the men's team was a new Irish U23 record.
After a long day of competition the Irish team sit fifth on the table with a score of 143 points, only ten points behind Portugal in third on 153 points. Day two of the event continues tomorrow with the Irish team aiming to consolidate their strong performances from today, action gets underway at 2pm (IRL) time with the women’s hammer event.