UK Athletics has found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mo Farah in the initial findings of its investigation into allegations of doping against his coach Alberto Salazar.

Fionnuala Britton produced the best road race of her career to finish second at today’s Spar Great Ireland run.

There was double joy for Robert Heffernan (Togher AC) at the 50km race walk in Dudince, Slovakia on Saturday where he finished fourth in 3:48:44 to qualify for the World Championships in Beijing this summer and a record fifth Olympic Games.

Athletics: Athletics

Athletics: Fionnuala Britton was first woman across the line in the Autumn Cross-Country open 8km race at the Phoenix Park yesterday.

By Will Downing

Olympic team manager, Patsy McGonagle, predicts Ireland could have 24 athletes at the London Olympics.

Ciara Everard and Laura Crowe combined to produce the most exciting race of the domestic indoor season when they clashed in the 800m at the recent Universities Championships in Nenagh, breaking the U23 record set by Sonia O’Sullivan all of 22 years ago.

CIARA MAGEEAN (City of Lisburn) kept Irish athletics in the headlines after winning silver in the 1,500m at the European junior track and field championships in Tallinn yesterday.

RUAIRÍ FINNEGAN (Letterkenny AC) has qualified for Sunday’s 1500m final at the World Youth Track and Field Championships in Lille.

MEGAN KIELY (Ferrybank AC) qualified for the semi-finals of the women’s 400m hurdles when she finished fifth in her first-round heat at the World Youth Championships in Lille yesterday.

SOME of Ireland top young talents secured qualification for international events at the Woodie’s DIY AAI Games at windswept Santry yesterday.

MARTIN FAGAN is ready to take on all comers when he defends his title in tomorrow’s Spar Great Ireland Run.

CIARA MAGEEAN has secured the most lucrative sponsorship deal in the history of Irish junior athletics after signing a six-figure deal with sportswear giants New Balance.

WHEN David McCarthy finished third in the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day, medal hopes for Ireland’s U23 men’s team at Sunday’s European cross-country championships in Albufeira shot through the roof.

THE icy weather conditions failed to deter some of Ireland’s top athletes from competing at the Woodie’s DIY cross country championships at Gransha Park in Derry yesterday.

ROBERT Heffernan put weeks of frustration behind him when he retained his 10,000m walk title at the Woodies DIY National track and field championships at Morton Stadium yesterday where he beat his Olympic team mate, Jamie Costin, who claimed his 3,000m record in Cork a week earlier and, to cap it all, picked up the Athlete of the Meet Award and the €1,000 that went with it.

PAUL HESSION will open what he has described as his “big year” in an unusual setting for a sprinter when he lines up for the 100m at the Great City Games on a specially laid track on the streets of Manchester’s Deansgate on Sunday week.

OVER 3,000 runners will go to the starting line for tomorrow’s “Ballycotton 10”, Ireland’s most enduring and successful road race.

MARY CULLEN underscored her medal potential, while Andrew Led with signalled his intentions for next month’s SPAR European Cross-Country Championships with sweeping victories in the Woodies DIY National Inter-Counties cross-country championships held over Kilbeggan Racecourse yesterday.

MARK CARROLL, who held national records from 3,000m to 10,000m and represented Ireland on the track at every level up to and including two Olympic Games, will make a belated European cross-country championship debut in Brussels next month.

MARTIN FAGAN and Mary Cullen are named in the Irish senior teams for the European cross-country championships in Toro, near Madrid, on Sunday week.

Athletics Ireland today announced a 36-strong team for the European Cross Country Championships which take place on December 9 in Toro, Spain.

Athletics Ireland have announced their team for the upcoming European Under-23 Championships in Hungary.

DERVAL O’ROURKE runs in the Grand Prix meeting in Budapest tonight — lining up against a strong field for the 100m hurdles in better conditions than she experienced at The Mardyke last weekend.

Athletics Ireland has announced the Irish team to compete in the Spar European Cross Country Championships on December 10 in Legnano, Italy.

THREE Irish athletes produced superlative performances in Mannheim over the weekend to qualify for next month’s world junior championships in Beijing.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN will present the awards when the Irish Milers Club stages 1,500m races for men and women in conjunction with the Kit Kat Irish Schools Track and Field Championships in Tullamore tomorrow.

MULLINGAR clubmates Martin Fagan and Mark Christie could be reunited on the Irish cross-country team for the first time since 2001 when the squad for next month’s SPAR European Cross-Country Championships in Tilburg is announced.

THE fall-out from the BUPA Cork City Sports was evident at the national junior and under-23 championships staged at the CIT Track in Bishopstown yesterday, where the sprinters grabbed much of the limelight.

EIGHT sportspeople have been named in the Athletics Ireland’s World Class Panel, a key component of the Association’s new Performance Plan.

GARY MURRAY (St. Malachy’s) claimed the national inter-clubs cross-country title at Santry on Saturday after an exciting duel with Mark Kenneally (Clonliffe Harriers) as the young guns finally wrestled control of the championship from the old guard.

CATHERINA McKIERNAN yesterday heralded her return to form when capturing the national inter-club cross-country title which she last won 11 years ago.

MARTIN FAGAN of Mullingar Harriers cruised to a comfortable victory in yesterday’s New Year’s Day Resolution Five Kilometre Road Race in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.