Wind conspires to rob Hession of new 200m Irish record

PAUL HESSION was deprived of a new 200m national record by a wind that gusted to 4.7 metres per second as he beat a star-studded field in 20.43 secs, while Joanne Cuddihy ran her best race of the season to win the women’s 400m in 52.26 secs at Cork City Sports on Saturday.

Hession, who broke the national 100m record twice this season, had Paul Brizell’s 200m record (20.54 secs) as his target. Had the athletes got away first time he might have achieved it as the wind was almost flat calm. But a false start and then a faulty start delayed proceedings and it had blown up to double the legal limit when they eventually got away.

Hession and Clement Campbell (Jamaica) came off the bend shoulder to shoulder and battled it out all the way to the line where they were both timed at 20.43 secs in a photo finish.