Proper jumps to new level to retain national crown

FOR the second year in a row Kelly Proper (Ferrybank) set a new national long jump record at the Woodies DIY Indoor Championships of Ireland at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast where she retained her title with a best jump of 6.28 metres.

In what was an excellent competition for the Waterford athlete, she had just one foul, registering marks of 6.18 and 6.19 each side her new national record.

“So far in 2008 I have jumped 6.20 and 6.25 in Nenagh — all were better than the 6.19 record I set here last year — and now this weekend in jumped 6.28 so if I can keep improving like this in all my competitions I will be very happy,” she said

“I knew I had a lot more after Nenagh. Even here I did a pb and that was great but I still got 6.28m and it wasn’t a perfect jump by any means. I think I still have a lot more here.”

She does not set herself target but she admits that Terri Horgan’s national outdoor record is in her sights. “I am just looking to improve in every competition,” she said. “It is great when you get a pb and even if I just put a few centimetres on to it I will be very happy.

“Terri’s outdoor record still stands at 6.48 — one of the only records to withstand the test of time — and I would like eventually to get that. Maybe some day I’ll get a legal wind outdoors and I will do it.

“I’m happy with my form after all it is still only January. This is probably the earliest the seniors have been held so when I heard in December they were in January I set my sights on them.

“Nenagh was only a low-key competition to see how I was going. When I got the personal best there I knew I had a chance of extending the record. I was happy with my 6.28m but I feel I could have done better.

“Bríd (Golden) had me working hard all winter. I have been doing a lot of weights — lot of speed work, running sessions and all that kind of stuff — working on my speed for the run-up to just get faster and stronger.

“I noticed from my 60 and 200 in Nenagh that I have got faster because I got two pb’s in them. I think that is why my long jump is improving as well. I have got faster on the run-up and now we are working on the technical things.”

Cork sprinter Ailish McSweeney was hoping to equal her personal best in the 60m yesterday because it would have got her on the flight to Valencia for the world indoor championships but she was somewhat unnerved by a lengthy delay on the line which resulted in a dodgy start and, while her pick-up was superb, she could not make up for lost time even though she reclaimed the national title she won in 2005 in 7.46 seconds which was just outside the 7.41 she ran in Luxembourg last week.

“It was disappointing out there because in the semi-final I felt really easy. I felt that this was the way I should be running. The time is much what it was last week but it was OK. I know it would have been nice to get the qualifying standard for the world championships here but I may get it next week. I got to Bratislava and Budapest so I would hope to get it there. I am building on this and I am confident things are going to go well for me.”

Peter Coghlan, nine times national senior champion outdoors, made a dramatic return to championships running with a championship best performance in the 60m hurdles which he won in 7.80m.

It was his first-ever appearance in the Irish indoor championships as, in former years he would have been competing in the US where he graduated from Yale with a degree in Economics.

He has been living in Dublin for the past year and a half and is now coached by his friend and former national champion, Sean Cahill.

“He has been my friend for years but, as my coach, he is just amazing,” he said. “He is so positive and he is a great technician. went back to Atlanta to train for 12 weeks with Robbie Hughes, who is here, and of course, Paul Doyle so I am pretty serious about this comeback.

“I have been working really hard so this is a serious onslaught,” the 32-year-old Dubliner insisted. “I have a race in Gothenburg on Tuesday night and we will take it from there and see where we go.”