Woodies DIY are sponsoring the National Track and Field Championships this weekend. At the launch, Ray Colman CEO of Woodies stated that he is looking forward to a great weekend of athletics and he is delighted to provide the support to make the championships a memorable day for competitors, spectators and officials 
There are 39 athletes qualified for the European Championships in Goteberg in August and they will all be competing over the weekend. In a number of events they will be competing against each other for bragging rights to be considered the number one. The mens races will feature some good clashes. In the 200m Paul Hession is favourite to hold off Paul Brizzel and Gary Ryan. The 400m will be a battle between David Gillick, Tomas Coman, David Mc Carthy, Paul Mc Kee and Rob Daly. The 800m could be the race of the day on Sunday. The new kids on the block, David Campell and Thomas Chamney will hope to hold off seasoned campaigner and championship record holder, James Nolan. Alistair Cragg is dropping down to 1500m for some speed work and he may pull Mark Christie to a European qualifying standard and David Mc Carthy to a World Junior standard. High jumper Adrian Dwyer makes a return after a year of injury. In the womens events all the talk surrounds the 400m. Karen Shinkins is going for her 10th title but a defeat to Joanne Cuddihy in Cork recently has set up a much anticpated rematch. The womens 1500m will also be hotly contested. Roisin Mc Gettigan, Sinead Delahunty and Aoife Byrne have all qualified for the Europeans so Sunday will decide who has the temperament for the big day. The main attraction for most will be Derval O Rourke. She has been breaking the Irish record each time she runs so she is coming in to form at the right time. Other athletes who could revise records are young Waterford long jumper Kelly Proper and hammer thrower Eileen O Keefe
There are 39 athletes qualified for the European Championships in Goteberg in August and they will all be competing over the weekend. In a number of events they will be competing against each other for bragging rights to be considered the number one. The mens races will feature some good clashes. In the 200m Paul Hession is favourite to hold off Paul Brizzel and Gary Ryan. The 400m will be a battle between David Gillick, Tomas Coman, David Mc Carthy, Paul Mc Kee and Rob Daly. The 800m could be the race of the day on Sunday. The new kids on the block, David Campell and Thomas Chamney will hope to hold off seasoned campaigner and championship record holder, James Nolan. Alistair Cragg is dropping down to 1500m for some speed work and he may pull Mark Christie to a European qualifying standard and David Mc Carthy to a World Junior standard. High jumper Adrian Dwyer makes a return after a year of injury. In the womens events all the talk surrounds the 400m. Karen Shinkins is going for her 10th title but a defeat to Joanne Cuddihy in Cork recently has set up a much anticpated rematch. The womens 1500m will also be hotly contested. Roisin Mc Gettigan, Sinead Delahunty and Aoife Byrne have all qualified for the Europeans so Sunday will decide who has the temperament for the big day. The main attraction for most will be Derval O Rourke. She has been breaking the Irish record each time she runs so she is coming in to form at the right time. Other athletes who could revise records are young Waterford long jumper Kelly Proper and hammer thrower Eileen O Keefe 
