O’Rourke pleased with solid second
O’Rourke equalled her national record of 12.96 seconds in a fast-finishing second to UK champion Sara Claxton, who won in a season’s best time of 12.93 secs.
Claxton, with five races behind her, used her sharpness to gain a metre on her rivals before the first hurdle and hung on for a narrow victory.
But O’Rourke, who has been in full training for just two weeks after a worrying pelvic injury, was happy with her performance.
Said O’Rourke: “Sarah has had five races while I was not quite as sharp and fresh. I know I’ll be able to go faster next time we meet. But there were so many positives today.
“I was due to start racing on May 29 so this is so late for me. I am a month behind on races so I just cannot afford to lose the plot mentally. I just kept thinking it will all come together and now I know it will.
“I’ll just be about ready for the European championships and that is where I want to be. Today I was so strong in the second half of the race but I was so far back after the first hurdle — I had a metre I was trying to claw back for the whole race — but I ran her down and, in the end, I just ran out of track.”
There were two Irish winners in the main international events, sprinter Paul Hession from Athenry claiming some big scalps in a dramatic men’s 200m.
He won in 20.78 secs from the young Czech, Jiri Vojtik, 20.80 secs, and the 100m winner, John Woods (USA), 20.92 secs. Former world indoor 400m champion, Tyree Washington, stumbled and failed to finish.
“There were some big scalps for the taking today and that is really the best thing about the race — even more important to me than the time. “There were really good athletes there so it is nice to be top of the pile,” Hession said.
He continues his build-up to the European championships when he races in Germany on Friday night.
The other Irish victory was claimed by high jumper Deirdre Ryan, who has battled her way back from surgery for two significant wins, one in the European Cup, where she jumped 1.89 off five strides and then on Saturday, when she cleared 1.88 to beat Anika Smit of South Africa and France’s Gaelle Niare.
Aoife Byrne (DSD) produced a battling performance (4:12.47) to finish second in the women’s 1,500m, storming down the finishing straight to separate Mestawol Tadesse of Ethiopia, who won in 4:11.42 and Russian Olesia Tyurina in third.
Joanne Cuddihy (KCH) also impressed, finishing third in the women’s 400m in 52.20 seconds and claiming some notable scalps. Tatiana Veshkurova of Russia won in 51.32 seconds from Croatian Danijela Grgic 51.91
Liam Reale, who recently joined the list of qualifiers for the European championships, was to have lined up for the men’s 1,500m but opted instead for the IMC Development 800m to claim victory in 1:49.39 with Tim Bayle (Iona University) second in 1:49.42 and Kilkenny’s Eoin Everard third in 1:49.84.
New meet records were set in the men’s 400m, where Brandon Simpson (USA) won in 45.32 to better the 45.72 record set by Sanjah Ayre of Jamaica in 2002; in the shot put where Tomasz Majewski (Poland) threw 20.14m to better the mark of 19.79m set by Sergei Nikilaev from Russia in 1992 and the women’s 200m where Cydone Mothersill (Cayman Islands) won in 22.70 on her way to a sprint double, bettering Kathy Freeman’s record set at 22.76 secs 10 years ago.
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