Athletics Ireland plans elite 'micro-meet' in Abbotstown

Phil Healy has not raced since last summer, having chosen not to race abroad this indoor season. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

For Ireland’s elite athletes, the choice in recent weeks has been a tough one: run the risk of foreign travel to find a race or wait it out at home, potentially jeopardising Olympic qualification?

Nadia Power, Ciara Neville, and Sarah Lavin were among those who chose the former, all three setting personal bests in Vienna last weekend. This week, some Irish athletes will be in the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava while others will compete in Metz, France.

With a month until the European Indoor Championships in Poland and less than five months until Olympic qualification closes, it’s inevitable that many are competing abroad given racing outlets here have been non-existent for months. But there’s renewed hope this week that that’s about to change.

While Athletics Ireland cancelled its national indoor championships, due to be staged on February 20-21, plans have been drafted to stage an elite-only event in Abbotstown that same weekend. The proposal has been forwarded to Sport Ireland and its expert review group will make a decision in the coming days. If approved, around 60 athletes would compete across two days, with only a handful in the arena at any one time.

“It will be a micro-meet with a select number of athletes,” says Paul McNamara, Athletics Ireland’s High Performance Director. “It’s there for the benefit of athletes to gain qualification standards and points towards (Olympic qualification) in the first instance with European indoor qualification in the second instance. Participation will be dependent on showing you’re tracking towards qualification for one of those two meets.”

Under current guidelines elite athletes can travel abroad to compete, with virus tests required upon their return and after a five-day period. Staging an indoor event here would require an exemption to level-5 restrictions, but those in athletics see it as a sensible solution to would allow athletes stay on track for Tokyo without travel abroad.

Phil Healy, within the Olympic qualification cut-off based on world rankings, chose not to race abroad this indoor season, but her coach Shane McCormack understands why many did.

“They’re forced into a position where they need to put themselves out there to get points or to run themselves into form. So we’re putting them into a situation which is not necessarily the right thing for them or for the country, healthwise.” 

Healy has not raced since last summer and if plans for the elite-only event are rejected, her first race will be at next month’s European Indoors. But with lane seeding based on season bests, her chances would be boosted by posting a time before then.

In recent weeks she has trained with Irish 400m champion Sophie Becker, one of dozens of athletes with the calibre to compete at the European Indoors but who have been unable to post a qualifying time. 

McCormack believes the elite-only event would be of huge value for such athletes. “For people like that who are on the verge and in good nick, it’s worth its weight in gold.”