Blow for Irish relay qualification hopes

HOPES of having an Irish men’s 4x400m relay team at this year’s Olympics suffered a blow yesterday with the cancellation of the relay events at tomorrow’s meet in Salamanca, Spain.

The team were due to compete in what would have been their last opportunity to set a time to qualify them for this summer’s Olympics in Beijing.

The team, which consisted of Paul McKee, Brian Doyle, Gordon Kennedy and David Gillick, were on track to get close to a qualifying time in Spain. Paul McKee had been in excellent form, winning the 400m at the recent European Cup, while Gillick smashed his own Irish 400m record last weekend in Lille.