Irish plans for the Olympic Games in Rio have been ongoing since early this year, according to the Irish Sports Council’s performance director Finbarr Kirwan.

Joanna Mills put the ongoing controversy over the make-up of the Irish Olympic women’s 4x400m relay squad behind her yesterday by returning to the track in impressive fashion.

Twins featured strongly at yesterday’s Woodie’s DIY National Junior & Under 23 Track & Field Championships in Tullamore, with the Monaghans and Nevilles sharing four medals between them.

The Aviva All-Ireland schools championships could produce one of the most exciting 800m races in the history of the event at Tullamore today.

Sarah O’Shea (Beara Community School) quit athletics at 12 years of age to concentrate on football.

Colin Griffin has boosted the Irish track and field team for the Olympic Games to 18 after sailing past the Olympic A standard to qualify for the 50k race walking at London 2012.

Colin Griffin achieved the 50k standard for the Olympic Games at the IAAF World Cup of Race Walking in Saransk, Russia over the weekend.

The Irish Olympic team has a new member with Maria McCambridge securing qualification for the London Games at the Rome Marathon yesterday.

Maria McCambridge has become the 15th athlete to qualify for the Irish Track and Field team for this year’s Olympic Games in London.

FIONNUALA BRITTON beat a quality field to notch up another victory in Saturday’s IAAF Grand Challenge Cross Country International over a rain-sodden course in Greenmount, Antrim.

FIONNUALA BRITTON beat a quality field to notch up another victory in Saturday’s IAAF Grand Challenge Cross Country International over a rain sodden course in Greenmount, Antrim.

WHILE the English take turns flagellating and excusing themselves for failing to select a single woman in their top ten sporting “personalities” of the year, at least we have gone one better. Just the one though.

EUROPE’S top cross-country runner, Fionnuala Britton will be one of the favourites for the gold medal when she leads the Irish women’s team into next month’s European cross-country championships in Slovenia.

JOE SWEENEY strengthened his stranglehold on the domestic cross-country scene when he produced another powerful front-running display to retain his Woodies DIY inter-counties title at Sligo Racecourse yesterday.

WORLD youth racewalking champion Kate Veale (West Waterford), finished third in the junior women’s race at the prestigious McCain UK Cross Challenge in Bristol over the weekend.

DEIRDRE RYAN (Dundrum South Dublin) was named Athlete of the Year at the National Athletics Awards in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry on Saturday night.

WORLD youth race walking champion Kate Veale has been named on the Irish junior cross-country team for the McCain UK Cross Challenge in Bristol on Sunday.

DERVAL O’ROURKE (Leevale) bounced back from a disastrous run in Crystal Palace the previous day to win her ninth title at the Woodies DIY National Senior Championships at Morton Stadium yesterday.

Paul Hession ran his fastest time of the year at today's Woodie's DIY National Senior Track & Field Championships, and in doing so secured his place at the 2012 Olympics.

CIARÁN Ó LIONÁIRD (Leevale), fresh from his sensational 1,500m run in Oordegem, Belgium, will contest the 800m at this weekend’s Woodies DIY national senior championships at Morton Stadium, Santry.

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.

BRIAN GREGAN took his career to anew level with asilver medal in the men’s 400m at the European U23 championships with a new personal best time of 46.12 secs in Ostrava on Saturday.

KATE VEALE (West Waterford) set a world best time of 21 mins 45.59 secs to win Ireland’s first ever gold medal in the 5k walk at the World Youths Athletics Championships in Lille 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.

LAST year Robert Heffernan had to watch from the stands as his Irish international team-mate, Jamie Costin (West Waterford), claimed the title and the national 3,000m record at Cork City Sports so it is hardly surprising that the Togher man wants to return and reclaim the limelight at the CIT Track on July 2.

THERE was a larger than usual attendance for the early morning start of the AVIVA Irish Schools Track and Field Championships at Tullamore on Saturday when star racewalker, Kate Veale (St. Augustine’s, Dungarvan), made her first appearance on home soil since winning the bronze medal in the junior walk at the European Cup in the Algarve.

KATE VEALE (West Waterford) won bronze in the junior 10k at theEuropean Racewalking Cup in Olhao, Portugal, on Saturday.

WORLD SILVER medallist, Olive Loughnane, faces her first big assignment of the year when she lines up for the European Cup Race Walking in Olhão on the Algarve on Saturday.

AILIS McSWEENEY (Leevale AC) stormed to a new personal best performance with a sensational 7.32 sec victory in the women’s 60m — just two hundredths of a second off the national record — at the Woodies DIY Irish Indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena yesterday.

The 2011 Woodie's DIY Irish Indoor Championships got underway at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast today. The highlight was the women's 3,000 metres walk which was won by Laura Reynolds from Mohill AC.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN got 2011 off to a record breaking start on his home turf when he smashed the national 30k walk record with a sizzling 2:07.48 in the Woodies DIY national walk championships around the Monahan Road/Centre Park Road circuit in Cork yesterday.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN entered a new realm at the European Championships last year when he followed up his fourth place in the 20k walk with fourth in the 50k walk, putting himself amongst the medal favourites for next year’s Olympic Games in the process.

CATHERINE WAYLAND was the toast of the Irish team at the Paralympic Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand after taking a silver medal in the club throw in the F51 category.

DEFENDING champion, Patrick Maher (Leevale AC) will be among the stars in action at the Woodies DIY AAI national junior indoor championships in Nenagh tomorrow.

DERVAL O’ROURKE bounced back from a disappointing disqualification in Barcelona on Friday night to claim her eighth 100m hurdles title and equal Susan Smith’s record at the Woodies DIY National senior championships at Morton Stadium yesterday.

Tori Pena made a winning debut at the Woodie's DIY National Senior Track & Field Championships today, breaking the women's pole vault record by clearing 4.15 metres.

PAUL HESSION underscored his European championship credentials in a fighting finish with arch rival, Brendan Christian (Antigua & Barbuda), in the men’s 200m that ended in a dead heat at Cork City Sports on Saturday.

DERVAL O’ROURKE diverted to Dublin en route from Thessalonika on Thursday night for an early morning check-up with Mark McCabe in advance of her appearance today at the Cork City Sports.

A BRILLIANT day of athletics was illuminated by electrifying performances from two of Ireland’s brightest young talents, Ciara Mageean (Assumption, Ballinahinch) and Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (Coláiste Iosagain), at the Woodies DIY Irish Schools Championships in Tullamore on Saturday.

LAST year, Ciara Mageean (Assumption, Ballinahinch) took her career to a new level when she broke Sonia O’Sullivan’s long standing national junior 800m record at the Irish schools track and field championships.

PATRICK MAHER (Davis College, Mallow), who has the national junior 400m hurdles record and qualification for the world junior championships under his belt, will bid for a double in the 400m hurdles and 400m flat at the Munster Schools Championships at the CIT Track in Bishopstown on Saturday.

CLAIRE BRADY (Celbridge) will be back in action on Irish soil on Sunday when she lines up for the 100m at the Woodies DIY AAI Games, which return to Castleisland after a 10-year absence. The Games will include senior relays as well as Paralympic events and a Masters 3km team event.