Powerful Sweeney retains title

JOE SWEENEY strengthened his stranglehold on the domestic cross-country scene when he produced another powerful front-running display to retain his Woodies DIY inter-counties title at Sligo Racecourse yesterday.

The 6’4” Dubliner, who has put a long period of frustrating injury behind him, took control of the race from the gun. He led a leading group that also included former winner Andrew Ledwith (Meath) and the Laois brothers Dan and Michael Mulhare, clear of the field on the first lap. After that, only Ledwith, could offer any resistance when Sweeney turned the screw at the halfway point and even he wilted as he continued to apply the pressure.

Sweeney covered the 10k course in 32:07, 44 seconds ahead of Ledwith, with Paul Pollock from Annadale Striders third.

Sweeney, however, insisted it was a means to an end as his focus is firmly on next month’s European cross-country championships in Slovenia where he is targeting a place in the top 10.

“I was pleased with the run today,” he said. “It was more difficult than last year when we were running over compacted snow — today it was sticky mud all the way. But I got stronger as the race went on. I figured out a way to cope with the mud and it worked.”

He is coached by one of the great Irish Olympians, Jerry Kiernan.

Sara Louise Treacy has been hovering around the podium throughout her career but yesterday the 22 year old Meath athlete, whose mother Siobhán is also a former international, captured two gold medals in one fell swoop as she stormed clear of the field to win both the women’s senior and U23 titles.

She was part of an early leading group that included Dubliner Aoife Culhane (nee Byrne), Claire McCarthy from Cork, Kerry Harty and another Cork athlete, Lizzie Lee. But this group disintegrated as she swept into an eight second lead and whatever chance Culhane had of challenging evaporated when she fell a kilometre from the finish. Treacy covered the tough 8k in 31:10.

This year also she ran a pb 2:08.65 for 800m in Stretford and 4:16.32 for 1,500m at the European U23 championships in Ostrava.

“Things are going well for me now,” she said. “Conditions were difficult today but I was getting stronger with each lap. I have been training hard and it is paying off now. I am looking forward to the Europeans.”

Claire McCarthy finished best of all the rest to take second in 31:27 and claim her first international vest, an ambition she held since watching her older brother, Stephen Gibbons, represent Ireland in the world cross-country championships back in 1987. She would later follow him to Western Kentucky.

Mullingar athlete Jake Byrne, who represented Iona in last Monday’s NCAA championships, returned to add the junior men’s title to his CV. An Irish schools champion in both track and cross-country, he was drafted into the Iona team for the collegiates at the last minute.

The junior women’s race was won by Siofra Cléirigh-Buttner from her DSD clubmate Claire McCarthy, who overtook world youth race walking champion Kate Veale (Waterford) on the run-in to snatch silver.