Hession happy with dead-heat
Hession, who was going for his fifth consecutive win at the Cork showpiece, appeared to have lost the fight when Christian edged clear in the home straight. The Athenry sprinter, however, fought back and appeared to have reclaimed the lead on the line but the camera could not separate them on an equal time of 21.07 secs into an astonishing headwind of -6.1, with the 100m winner, Jared Connaughton (Canada) third and the former world champion and Olympic finalist in Beijing, Kim Collins (St. Kitts & Nevis), down the field.
“I always struggle into the big wind because I’m quite light and I have a short stride,” Hession said. “The most important thing about today is that I came off the bend ahead which shows that my speed is there.
“My whole plan going into the race was to be ahead off the bend and I did it so easily that maybe I lost a bit of concentration.
“I have a big race in Lausanne on Thursday against Usain Bolt and whoever else. That’s the main run of the year in the build-up. Hopefully I’ll get a decent lane draw because Lausanne is one of the biggest of the year for 200s.”
In the absence of Robert Heffernan, Jamie Costin gave his European championship ambitions a massive boost when he knocked almost two seconds off the Corkman’s record in the 3,000m walk which was won by the Australian, Luke Adams – a double world championship silver medallist – in 10:49.04.
The West Waterford athlete finished second in 11:12.02 which bettered the 11:14.10 w Robert Heffernan recorded at Cork City Sports last year.
“This is the first time in a long time that I have been preparing specifically for 20k,” he said. “I did a pb for 5k on Wednesday just directly down from altitude in France and doing 11:12 there today is a big step up from that again. I am just delighted to have got such a quality time out of my legs this close to the (European) championships.”
Never before have two athletes from the same club set national records in the same event but it happened on Saturday when Kate Veale, also from West Waterford and coached by Jamie Costin, broke her own national junior record when finishing second behind world championship silver medallist, Olive Loughnane, in 12:58.60. She goes to the world youth Olympics in Singapore later in the year as a big medal prospect. Olive Loughnane will go to the European championships later this month as one of the favourites on the back of a big performance in the Race Walking Challenge in La Coruna where she finished second to Beatriz Pascual (Spain) in 88:36 which was her fastest time since the Beijing Olympics and had the likes of Vera Santos, Ines Hwnriques and Hong Liu behind her.
“Things are going well, I’m healthy and lean and I really got going in La Coruna,” she said. “I’m in the same sort of shape as I was in this time last year but there is no accounting for everybody else. I still have a few key sessions to go and I’m keeping my fingers crossed but I’m strong.”
Rose-Ann Galligan was having her final 1,500m race before the European championships where she will compete in the 800m when she finished a close second to Erin Donohue (USA) in 4:14.69. She will defend her 800m title at the National Championships next weekend.
And Ailis McSweeney will go to the line in defence of her 100m title full of confidence after her third big performance of the week.
She had Amy Foster and Claire Brady behind her twice in Belgium during the week and Brady was down the field with such notables as Gloria Asumnu (USA) and defending champion, Ivet Lalova (Bulgaria), on Saturday when she finished second to Sheri-Ann Brooks (Jamaica) in 11.84 secs into a headwind of -3.6.
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