Christie sets his sights on the track and 1,500m

THE cross-country season may be just getting into full swing but Mark Christie, who led Ireland’s junior team to the silver medals at the European cross-country championships on Sunday, is already thinking of summer and the track season.

He has his sights set on returning to Germany for the European U-23 championships in Erfurt in mid-July and the world student games exactly a month later in Izmir, Turkey. But, while his best performances to date have been over the longer distances, he said yesterday he will be concentrating on the 1,500m next season.

He ran a career best of 3:46:08 for 1,500m last season and had back-to-back 4:04 and 4:03 runs for the mile at the Milers’ Club event in Tullamore in early June and the Morton Mile in Santry.