Deadly Derval continues record run
In fact, it was the female athletes making all the headlines as Anna Boyle (Ballymena & Antrim) set a national record over 60 metres and Waterford teenager, Kelly Proper (Ferrybank), set a new national long jump record at 6.19m.
Also, Emily Maher posted the qualifying standard for next month’s world indoor championships in Moscow - finishing third in the 60m in a new PB of 7.36 seconds - and her Kilkenny City Harriers club-mate, Joanne Cuddihy, made a welcome return to competitive athletics to claim the 400m title in 54.13 seconds after surgery on both knees last year.
O’Rourke, however, outshone the stars with a performance that was close to perfection. A week earlier she became the first Irish woman to run under eight seconds for 60m hurdles, but even that faded as she stormed to what was nothing short of a spectacular victory.
Putting her problems with the first hurdle behind her, she was foot perfect from there on as she led all the way, clipping 8/100 sec off her record in an event where one struggles for minute fractions.
“I’m thrilled but I would not say it was perfect,” she insisted. “When I ran 7.98 seconds last week Sean Cahill was still not happy with my first hurdle but I think today it was almost perfect and I know that when I finally get it right I will break 7.90 seconds.”
Her coach, Jim Kilty, brought in the former national champion to help solve the problem with the first hurdle which began to manifest itself as her sprint times improved.
A graduate of UCD, she now works at DCU where she does her strength training along with her training partners, Leevale clubmate Ailish McSweeney and DCH sprinter, Ciara Sheehy.
“It is great to get up at 6.30 each morning and find them both in the gym when I arrive,” she said.
“It is great to have company like that.
“But as my strength improved so too did my sprinting and that became a problem with a faster run-up to the first hurdle. Sean has been able to help me with that and we are getting close. At one session recently I tried 15 times but I could not get it right. Today it felt good.”
She was followed across the line yesterday by Delloreen Ennis London (Jamaica) in 8.06 seconds, and her old sparring partner, Sarah Claxton (Woodford Green) in 8.15 seconds.
Anna Boyle (Ballymena & Antrim) was also very impressive in the final of the 60m as she, too, claimed a big scalp in Amandine Aliou Affoue (Ivory Coast) when she set a new national record at 7.32 seconds to give herself a boost in the lead up to next month’s Commonwealth Games.
Fractions of a second separated the top three as Emily Maher took third place in 7.36 seconds to claim her place in the team for Moscow. She will be joined by Ailish McSweeney (Leevale), who has the qualifying standard from last year and underlined her wellbeing with a 7.45 run for fourth place yesterday after 7.41 in the semis.
Kelly Proper, a 17 year old sensation from Waterford, has been hammering all of Terri Horgan’s old long jump records in recent times and yesterday set a new national indoor record at 6.19 seconds for second place behind Jana Veldakova (Slovakia), who jumped 6.44 seconds.
That was after she had finished third in the 200m in 25.19 seconds, behind Amy Foster (North Down 24.90 seconds and Fiona Friel (Dublin Striders) 24.95 seconds.
James Nolan confirmed his participation in next month’s world indoors when he reclaimed the 1,500m title in a championship best time of 3:44.12 - but his performance told just part of the story.
Nolan, who already had his qualifying standard for Moscow, elected to help two younger athletes in the field, David McCarthy (West Waterford) and Ciaran Ó Lionaird (Leevale) in their quest for the qualifying standard for this year’s world junior championships.
And his steady run at the front pulled them to within fractions of the 3:48.00 as McCarthy came from 15m down going into the final bent to snatch victory from the Corkman on the line.
David Gillick, the European indoor 400m champion, claimed the 200m title and could go chasing a qualifying standard for Moscow over the coming weeks.
Ciaran McDonagh laid claim to his place on the team for Moscow with a winning long jump of 7.93m but he must achieve the IAAF qualifying standard (8.10m) which is 10 centimetres beyond the new Irish record he set at Virginia Tech early last month. He is confident he will achieve the standard at Saturday’s indoor Grand Prix in Athens.
Colin Griffin (Ballinamore AC) added the national senior 5,000m walk title to his collection with an emphatic victory in an event that marked the return of Jamie Costin (West Waterford) to championship walking. Costin, who was taken back to Ireland by air ambulance after an horrific traffic accident on the eve of the Athens Olympics, finished second in 21:51.25.
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