Christie’s bid for success scales heights

MARK CHRISTIE is looking for a big performance at this year’s European cross-country championships in Tilburg, Holland, and has taken his preparations to a new level by travelling to Kenya to train at altitude.

A few weeks ago he became the 40th Irishman to break four minutes for the mile at a meet in Britain. It was a spectacular finish to the track season and his foray into the shorter distance.

Up to that point cross-country had been his forte. He was three times national junior champion and made the top six at the European junior championships on two occasions. Last season he ran the national senior inter-club championships to explore the distance but came through for a place in the top six with a storming finish.

His visit to Kenya was organised by fellow DCU student, Ian Chaney, who is friendly with Brother Colm O’Connell, the Corkman who has inspired so many Kenyans to Olympic and world championship success.

“I was not surprised when he ran 3:58 for the mile,” insisted former international Enda Fitzpatrick, Coach to the DCU squad. “He had run 3:41 for 1,500m early in the season and he was close to four minutes at the Dublin International.”

That evening nobody broke four minutes due to a slow third lap but Christie impressed when they blazed a 55-second final lap.

The DCU squad will have a lot of new faces this year, among them Danny Darcy, silver medallist behind Colin Costello in the 1,500m at this year’s European junior championships.

Darcy was at DCU yesterday and was able to see the facilities first hand. He would have to be impressed with both the programme and the facilities which include an elite gym. But it is the scientific back-up which includes a full blood count machine that makes the programme a class apart.

Among the athletes joining the group this year will be Ailish McSweeney, the Leevale athlete who won a silver medal at the recent World University Championships, and Claire McSweeney, a niece of the legendary Fanahan McSweeney. The sprinters will be coached by Jim Kilty.

Cathal Dennehy, the young Limerick man whose career has been punctuated by injury, also joins but there is a lot of excitement about the girls.

The distance runners in the women’s squad are particularly exciting and could be claiming the limelight before the end of the year.

“I think we have potential European medallists in Azmera Gebrezgi, Roseanne Galligan, Linda Byrne and Breffni Twohig,” Enda Fitzpatrick predicted. “We have a cracking group of girls coming in.”

The programme is geared to produce stars. Professor Niall Moyna, who has a passion for athletics and Gaelic Games, is the driving force while College Secretary Martin Conry from Roscommon is also a sports fanatic.

Meanwhile the Athletics Association of Ireland is to move its headquarters soon. It has been at Prospect Road since that premises was purchased with profits from the world cross-country championships in Limerick in 1979 but what is really a dwelling house is no longer suitable for the administration of Irish athletics. It is understood a premises is already earmarked.