Derval out to build on Athens run
“It certainly gave me something to build on and a run like that gives you a bit of a boost,” she said. “I must admit that, after what I have been through in recent weeks, I was feeling a bit apprehensive going into the race.
“But look, I ran 8.24 secs in my first indoor race in 2006 and then 8.02 secs in my second so it is not bad at all. In fact I am delighted with it.”
She was reflecting on 2006 when she went on to record a stunning victory in the 60m hurdles final at the world indoor championships in Moscow.
On Wednesday night she was having her first race since the world outdoor championships in Osaka last year when she went to the line for a belated seasonal debut.
She had planned to open up with the Woodies DIY Irish indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena but those plans were dashed when she suffered a bruised bone in one of her feet during a hurdles session in the days leading up to the event.
“I could not run a step for four weeks,” she said. “And the girls I was running against on Wednesday night each had six and some of them had seven races behind them.
“I did not have the best of starts and they got a bit of a lead which I could not pull back yet I ran a pretty respectable time.”
Her coach, Sean Cahill, was delighted with the performance. “It was all we could have hoped for and a little bit more,” he said. “The fact that it was her first race of the season meant that she was always going to be a little bit rusty coming out of the blocks but that is something that we can deal with.
“Athens was her first race — in fact she had not run in 24 days apart from three running sessions the week — so it was amazing that she performed as well as she did. Her hurdling was quite good under the circumstances.”
Wednesday night’s race was won by the teak tough American, Damu Cherry who ran a pb of 7.94 secs. She was sixth behind Derval O’Rourke in the final at the world championships in Moscow two years ago.
Second place went to Lucena Goldin-Clarke of Jamaica in 7.78 secs with another American, Kelli Wells, third in 8.06 secs, just holding off Derval O’Rourke.
Leipzig will also be an important meeting for O’Rourke’s Leevale clubmate, Ailish McSweeney. The Dublin-based Cork solicitor missed out on her qualifying standard for the world championships by just one hundredth of a second at the AAA championships last weekend.
“We have made some changes and she has not quite come to terms with the start yet,” Cahill added. “But we are pretty close to it and the way she finished at the weekend was very impressive.
“I know that once she gets her start right she will knock tenths of a second off her time and not just hundredths and I will be very surprised if she does not do it in Leipzig.”
And there was more good news for Irish team manager, Patsy McGonagle, during the week when Alistair Cragg confirmed that he will compete in a 5,000m race at the indoor meet in Arkansas this weekend.
“If that goes well for him then he will come to Europe to run the 3,000m at the world indoor championships in Valencia,” McGonagle said. “He is very positive at the moment.”
Cragg has already indicated that he will compete in the national cross-country championships in Belfast on March 1.
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