High drama as Ireland claim historic relay bronze

FROM the crumbs of a rather bare table came medals of joy for the Irish at the concluding session of the IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships in Budapest yesterday when the 4x400 metres relay team took bronze after a drama which would have been difficult to script.

Having finished fourth in the rough house final, the Irish quartet of Robert Daly, Gary Ryan, David Gillick and David McCarthy were promoted to third when the Americans were disqualified for an illegal change-over.

Jamaica raced to the gold medals ahead of Russia to win in 3:05.21. Then came the Americans in 3:06.23 with Ireland crossing the line fourth in 3:10.44, some two seconds short of the national record of 3:08.83 they had set earlier in the day to reach the final in the first place.

Within 10 minutes of crossing the line the news came through in the changing area that the USA had been disqualified and that Ireland had been promoted to third and immediately the quartet celebrated.

A Scottish journalist, Doug Gillon, was one of the first people to spot the infringement and came to the Irish officials to point out the illegal change-over.

This is a historic occasion as it marks the first time that an Irish relay team won medals at any prestigious event not to mention a World Championship stage. It was a magical sight to later see the Irish receive their medals on the victory rostrum while the powerful Americans licked their wounds.

"It's unbelievable the way it has worked out for us" said a joyous McCarthy.

"Our tactics paid off brilliantly in that we decided to run to our strength and go for fourth place and not to go chasing after the top teams," said the powerfully built red-haired athlete from Celbridge.

For Ryan, the oldest man on the team at 31, it was a day he could never have envisaged after having travelled from Australia to compete.

"I had a knee problem and did not want to come but was told that in a relay anything can happen and it did.

"It's just a fantastic feeling to get a medal after so many years in this sport," said the gallant Ryan.

Gillick ran a storming third "leg" to protect his fourth place. "This was a real fighting Irish performance," said the 20-year-old Dubliner. "Our tactics worked to perfection. A moment to savour for all of us."

Daly had put the Irish into a challenging position with a rock solid opening 400m coming in with fourth place with 46.44 contribution.

"I gave it everything because no one has yet died on the track for the lack of oxygen," said Daly.

At these championships, Ireland also won a bronze in the 400m when Paul McKee tied for third, our first medal in six years.

Meanwhile, Maria McCambridge finished 9th in the women's 3,000m final, with the early pace painfully slow, the first lap run at a pedestrian 80.37 and the second even slow and the third another 80 before it eventually boiled up.

"It was a pity it was so slow and it was a pure burn up in the end and no real test of stamina," said McCambridge, who will now get back on the Sports Grants after this effort in such a top class field.

"It would have been nice to make the top six but the slow pace made that more difficult and the finishing pace was something like I've never experienced before."

The final 200m was run in a blistering pace with the pre-race favourite, Berhane Adere, being outgunned by her Ethiopian team mate, Meseret Defar, the narrow winner in 9:11.22 with McCambridge sprinting all out over the last lap to finish with 9:14.72.

The women's 4 x 400m relay team finished fifth of the six teams in their heat with Karen Shinkins, Ciara Sheehy, Michelle Carey and Joanne Cuddihy clocking 3:34.61 for a new national record in what was Ireland's first participation in a relay at this level.

The quartet hovered between fifth and sixth with Cuddihy passing the Swede in the last lap and then holding on grimly by a tenth of a second.

Kilkenny high jumper, Adrian O'Dwyer, showed he has the potential to win major medals in the future after finishing eighth in the final, missing the bronze by a fraction of an inch.

That was the margin which denied him clearing a 2.29m Irish record on his third attempt which would have given him the bronze medal after a performance which showed rich promise.

James Nolan was beside himself with disappointment after he trailed home in his heat of the 1,500 metres and came off the track exhausted to the point of hardly being able to speak.