Christie hits new heights with 3,000 metre junior record

MARK CHRISTIE got his track season off to a sensational start at Morton Stadium, Santry, on Wednesday night when he smashed the national junior 3,000m record with a sizzling 8:04.48.

It was the first serious run by the Mullingar man and student at DCU since the world cross-country championships the final event of his memorable cross-country season that saw him finish sixth in the European championships.

It was after the world's in Brussels, however, that he set his sights on the track and the junior records for 3,000m and 5,000m and he achieved the first of those objectives in the Dublin inter-club meet organised weekly by Jim Davis.

His time betters the old national junior mark, 8:06.3, set by the outstanding junior, Brian O'Keeffe.

O'Keeffe set that time in Santry back in 1981, around the time he went to Villanova University along with Marcus O'Sullivan. In fact, O'Keeffe's only loss as a junior was to O'Sullivan in the 5,000m at the national junior championships.

On Wednesday night Mark Christie finished second to the European Under-23 bronze medallist, Rob Connolly, a senior international cross-country runner who won in 8:03. Two other senior internationals, Dermot Donnelly and Mark Kenneally, finished third and fourth.

The race produced 12 personal best performances from amongst the 16 finishers.

Having disposed of O'Keeffe's '81 3,000m mark, Christie is now chasing an even older record time. The existing junior 5,000m record, of 14:04.6, was set by John Treacy at Kirkby in the late '70's, while the 10,000m record stretches back to 1970 when Frank Greally ran 30:17.0 at Santry.

Last year Mark Christie opted for a sports scholarship at DCU, where the athletics programme is directed by former international Enda Fitzpatrick, and he has gone from strength to strength.

Highlight of the year was his sixth place in the European junior cross-country championships in Edinburgh and he will be one of the medal favourites for that event next December when he will still be eligible. The scholarship programme at DCU is yielding results sooner than expected and has proven that athletes no longer have to re-locate to the US to realise their potential.