TEAM IRELAND SEND 18 STRONG TEAM TO ‘DYNAMIC NEW ATHLETICS’ MEET

Saturday February 5th is set to be an afternoon of exciting athletics as DNA Glasgow gets under way at the Emirates Arena. 

Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) is an innovative, team-based competition concept for athletics created by European Athletics to complement the classic athletics format.  

Team Ireland will be taking on teams from Scotland, England, Wales, Spain and Portugal across 11 track and fields to gather points to decide their position going into the decider event “The Hunt”.  

The Irish team has a blend of youth and experience, and won’t lack for speed in the sprint events with recent record breakers Israel Olatunde (UCD AC) and Molly Scott (St. Laurence O’Toole) set to spearhead the Irish challenge.

Galway City Harriers pair of Cillín Greene and Robert McDonnell will be looking to use their Olympic momentum to put a strong looking mixed 4x400m team which includes Catherine McManus (Dublin City Harriers AC) and Rachel McCann (North Down AC), into the shakeup.

Timetable and Results: Click HERE

Live Stream: Click HERE

European Athletics Event Preview: Click HERE

Team Ireland Event Preview:

Mixed 4x400m Relay (13.04pm)

The action starts with a bang with the 4x400m mixed relays. Olympic relay finalist, Cillín Greene, will look to use all of his big race experience as he bids to help the mixed relay team get some early points on the board for team Ireland. 

Women’s 800m (13.27pm): 

Team Ireland has a number of Olympians in this competition, such as Louise Shanahan in the Women’s 800m.  Shanahan is in good company at this race with Team Scotland Olympian Laura Muir and Team Spain Olympian Natalia Romero on the start line.  Laura Muir with a personal best inside the 2-minute mark will be a keen one to watch, Louise and Natalia are just seconds between each other in the PB stakes and will make for a great battle to watch on Saturday. 

Men’s Shot Put  (13.32pm):

The Men’s Shot Put will make for an interesting competition, with both established competitors such as Team England’s Olympian Scott Lincoln and Team Portugal’s Olympian Francisco Belo competing alongside emerging talents such as our own James Kelly, who has had a fantastic year in 2021 with golds coming home from both the Irish and UK Competition Circuits. 

Mixed 2 x 2 x 200m (13.42pm)

The Mixed 2 x 2 x 200m is another unique event to take place on Saturday and it will fall to the ever consistent Sarah McCarthy (Mid Sutton AC) and Mark Smyth (Raheny Shamrock AC) to battle it out for top pints for Team Ireland.

Men’s High Jump (13.47pm): 

The interesting aspect of DNA is particularly seen in the field events. The Long Jump competition is a prime example, to gather points, athletes must be focused on clearing their jumps more so than the height of their jumps, this makes for quite an interesting competition where the focus moves away from height and straight into the athletes’ abilities, tactics and strategy. Ciaran Connolly will be up against athletes such as Team Scotland’s William Grimsey who has a PB of 2.25m, an impressive height but strong tactics and focus on technique is essential to Ciaran’s success. 

Women’s 60m (14.05pm):  

After an incredible performance at the IUAA Competition in the TUS International Arena, the new 60m Record holder Molly Scott will be one to watch in this event. She will be up against Desiree Henry from Team England who has a personal best time just .01 seconds faster than Molly and Maria Isabel Perez of Team Spain who has a PB of 7.21. 

Men’s 60m (14.19pm):

TUS International Arena was also home to Israel’s record-breaking performance, he set the National U23 60m record time of 6.64 in mid-January and will be looking to build on his performance at the DNA competition. He will be surrounded some of Europe’s emerging track talent such as team England’s Andy Robertson, Portugal’s Diogo Antunes and Team Wales Azu Jeremiah.  

Women’s Long Jump (14.23pm): 

20-year-old Ruby Millet has put in a series of strong performances at U20 and U23 European and National competition, this competition offers strong opportunity for Ruby to establish herself within senior competition. On Saturday she will be competing against Olympian Abigail Irozuru from Team England Olympian Evelise Veiga from Team Portugal. 

Men’s 60m Hurdles (14.41pm): 

Gerard O’Donnell making a return to the DNA competition, will be looking to make a big impact on Irelands position going into The Hunt. Competing in the hurdles alongside him will be England’s Cameron Fillery and Portugal’s João Vitor de Oliveira, all will be pushing for strong top three finishes in this event. 

Women’s 60m Hurdles (14.55pm): 

Kate Doherty will be competing against quality female hurdlers on Saturday, such as Team England’s Alicia Barrett and Team Scotland’s Heather Paton. This is sure to be a competition for Kate to develop and harness her craft ahead of the National Senior Indoor Competition later on in February.  Spain’s Olympian Teresa Errandonea will be the one to watch in this race.

The Hunt – 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m (15:02pm): 

The last event (the Hunt) will decide the winning team, based off a staggered start on the points collected in the previous 10 events.

A battle for points by the rest of Team Ireland will see Alanna Lally, Roland Surlis, Roisin Harrison and Eanna Madden battle it out over their respective relay distance to secure a final overall finishing position. 

Team: