Ryan looks to fast track Athens hopes

GARY RYAN has always found The Mardyke something of a happy hunting ground for fast times but he will be looking for something extra today in his Olympic qualifying standard quest at the BUPA Cork City Sports.

“I am going to have to run faster than I ever have,” he said as he looked forward to this afternoon’s 200m which could be one of the meet’s highlights. “It is such a good meet, it gets the butterflies going and the crowd is always great.”

He comes to Cork on the back of a 20.73 run in Italy midweek but admits it has been a funny old season for him that was, as usual, punctuated by illness and injury - bad cold and damaged rib that wrote off June.