O’Rourke makes waves in 100m

THE battle of the women sprinters took on a new dimension at the Woodies DIY National Senior Championships in Morton Stadium yesterday when hurdler Derval O’Rourke entered the fray and almost pulled off what would have been a sensational double.

It all began on Saturday when Emily Maher (KCH), once the darling of sprint fans, rolled back the years to claim the 200m title, out-sprinting defending champion Ciara Sheehy with her fastest time in five years, 23.39 secs, with Leevale’s Ailish McSweeney third.

That performance left an air of expectation surrounding yesterday’s 100m but nobody had reckoned on the impact O’Rourke was going to have on proceedings.

Minutes earlier the Cork woman had blazed to a championship best time of 12.95 secs to retain her 100m hurdles title, streets ahead of her nearest rival Catherine Crawford (Edinburgh Harriers).

Had it not been wind-assisted, that time would have equalled O’Rourke’s national senior record, but it was not enough and when she lined up for the 100m final it took a new Northern Ireland record of 11.53 secs from 100m specialist Anna Boyle (Ballymena & Antrim) to deny her what would have been an unique double.

The Cork girl, who competes in the 100m hurdles at both the world championships and this week’s world student games, was second in 11.54 secs with newly-crowned 200m champion Maher third in 11.57 and McSweeney fourth in 11.57 secs in a spectacular blanket finish.

“I knew I was in a pretty good position so I pushed myself all the way to the line,” a delighted O’Rourke said.

“I knew I was running well over the hurdles but I had not run a 100m in three years so I did not really know what to expect in that race.

“Naturally I am delighted. It tells me a lot about myself. I know I have been hurdling well since the start of the season and I felt good today. It is always good to run under 13 seconds on home soil.

“I always felt I could run 12.8 seconds and I think 11.54 secs for 100m only proves that. My previous best was 11.81 secs and that was a long time ago.”

Another athlete destined for the world championships, Eileen O’Keeffe, broke the Irish women’s hammer record for a second time in seven days with another exciting visit to the hammer circle in search of a fifth successive title.

The 24-year-old Kilkenny woman threw 67.76 in the national league at Tullamore the previous Sunday, but on Saturday she had a superb throw of 68.14 metres on her third visit to the circle in far from ideal conditions.

All the indications are that she will leave for the world championships in Helsinki in the right frame of mind to secure a place in the final there.

Olive Loughnane (Loughrea AC) also has her sights on another world championships and she returned from warm-weather training in Spain on Thursday to reclaim the 5,000m walk title, adding another national title to the 20k she won when victorious in the Dublin Grand Prix earlier in the season.

She won comfortably in 21:52.56 and declared herself ready for Helsinki.

“I think championship walking always brings out the best in me,” she said. “I think in the past I have trained too hard and this year my approach has been different.”

Karen Shinkins (DCH) returned from the US to win a ninth successive 400m title in 52.49 secs to declare herself ready for Helsinki as well.

Running what was her third fastest national championship time, she was never troubled by the challenge of Joanne Cuddihy (KCH) who was second in 54.09 secs. Aoife Byrne (Dundrum South Dublin) won an enthralling contest with Kelly Reid (Lisburn) to retain the 800m title.

Seventeen-year-old Laura Crowe (An Riocht) won another exciting contest for bronze in 2:10.37.