800m cracker in store

Ciara Everard and Laura Crowe combined to produce the most exciting race of the domestic indoor season when they clashed in the 800m at the recent Universities Championships in Nenagh, breaking the U23 record set by Sonia O’Sullivan all of 22 years ago.

And it appeared for a long time as if the senior record would fall as Crowe, running for An Riocht, peeled off three successive 30-second laps before fading in the finishing straight and eventually being caught on the line by Everard, who put her name to the record time of 2:05.76.

They will line up again this weekend at the Woodies DIY Senior Championships in the Odyssey in Belfast, where a repeat of that duel could produce the most exciting event of a programme that has some notable absentees.