Big chance in the Big Apple for Portaferry prodigy

CIARA MAGEEAN reaches a new level tonight in the New Balance Games at the Armory Track and Field Centre in New York.

The 18-year-old Portaferry starlet, a silver medallist at last year’s world junior track and field championships in Canada, has a lucrative sponsorship deal with New Balance so tonight’s meet, which sees a handful of invitational events sandwiched on a High School programme, is significant.

Jen Simpson, the American steeplechase record holder, also makes her Armory debut and will line up alongside Mageean in the featured women’s mile.

Newlywed Simpson represented the USA in the steeplechase at the Beijing Olympics and has also run well over the mile, 3,000m and 5,000m.

Two of Marcus O’Sullivan’s former Villanova graduates, Carmen Douma-Hussar (Canada), who won the event in 2005, and Frances Koons (USA), now training in New Jersey with legendary coach Frank “Gags” Gagliano, are also included.

But, from an Irish point of view, the spotlight will be on Mageean who followed up on her world junior championship adventure with a 12th place in the Commonwealth Games.

While she will still be a junior come London 2012, she is a likely qualifier but, in the meantime, she is concentrating on qualification for the European indoor championships in Paris the first weekend in March.

She has decided to skip next weekend’s Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in favour of the National Indoor Championships in the Odyssey Arena three weeks later when she’ll be defending her 1,500m title.

Another Kenyan onslaught is anticipated at the Antrim IAAF Cross-Country International at Greenmount today when a strong African challenge will be led by Mike Kigen who won the race last year to from Great Britain’s Andy Vernon.

But Kigen faces his 20-year-old compatriot, Titus Mbishei, a silver medallist from the World Junior Cross Country two years ago.

Spain’s Abdelaziz Merzougei, who won the European Junior cross-country title in Albuferia last month, is also in the line-up and joins another young Kenyan, Dennis Masai, who won the 10,000m title at the world junior championships in Canada last summer.

The fourth Kenyan is 3,000m specialist Jacob Chesari, ranked in the World 2010 top 10 list.

The Northern Ireland team is led by Paddy Hamilton and Eddie McGinley while the Irish team is comprised of Brian Farrell, Sean Hehir and Mark Kirwan.

The Irish women’s team is Byrony Treston, Becky Woods, Ciara Durkan, Orla O’Mahony and Aoife Talty with the big interest centred on 19 year-old Charlotte Perdue (Aldershot), who followed up her runaway victory in the junior women’s race at the European cross-country championships with an easy win in last Saturday’s McCain Cross Challenge in Cardiff.

A packed programme of competitive indoor athletics action is set for the Nenagh Indoor Stadium this weekend with the Woodie’s DIY AAI Games & Combined Events Championships today and the Woodie’s DIY Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships of Ireland tomorrow.