Mageean aims for indoor glory

CIARA MAGEEAN will maintain her amazing momentum when she embarks on a busy indoor schedule that includes the Woodies DIY Irish senior championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on February 19-29.

Athletics Northern Ireland and Athletics Ireland announced the Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor Senior Championships will take place at the Odyssey Arena on February 19-20. The competition acts as Trials for places on the Irish team for the European Indoor Championships in Paris.

The past year has been an exciting one for the Portaferry teenager who runs with City of Lisburn AC. While she smashed all records available to her, the highlight was her silver medal in the 1,500 at the world junior championships in Canada where she set the fastest time of the year by a European junior.

She went on to represent Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where she made the final of the women’s 1,500m, finishing seventh in a star-studded field, and she rounded off 2010 by finishing seventh in the European cross-country championships in Albufiera.

She gets her indoor season off to an early start and will be one of the attractions among a galaxy of stars at the Millrose Games in Madison Square Gardens next month — an event synonymous with stars of Irish athletics such as Eamonn Coghlan, Marcus O’Sullivan and Frank O’Mara.

She then returns to the Odyssey Arena where she made her first major breakthrough as a 15-year-old to defend her 1,500m title and join the other Irish athletes hoping for places on the team for the European indoor championships in Paris in early March. This is the eighth Irish Indoors meeting in the North made possible by the generous assistance of title sponsor Woodie’s DIY and funding partners Belfast City Council. Once again upwards of 1000 athletes will be participating at the landmark Odyssey Arena which hosts Ireland’s only indoor hydraulic 200-metre running track.

Some members of the NI Commonwealth Games athletics team were present to launch the 2011 event, including Tom Reynolds (North Down) and Joanna Mills (Ballymena & Antrim). Also present was Mark Patterson (North Down), who has been preparing for the indoor season from his base in Loughborough. Patterson made the 800m semi-finals at the World Junior Championships in Canada last year.

Tom Reynolds ended the Commonwealth Games decathlon in Delhi in 9th with 7210 points, his second best score, setting a new 100m PB, a season best at 400m and in the pole vault (4.60m).

400m runner Joanna Mills was part of the youthful 4x400m relay team which competed in the Games and is looking forward to the upcoming Indoor season.