Sarah Lavin claims 13th national title as Rhasidat Adeleke allays injury fears

Lavin blasted to victory with another crisp, commanding display of sprint hurdling, winning her 13th national title – five indoors, eight outdoors

13 UP: Sarah Lavin of Emerald AC, Limerick, crosses the line to win women's 100m hurdles during day one of the 123.ie National Senior Outdoor Championships at Morton Stadium in Dublin. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Sarah Lavin has long been the superstitious type, and the Limerick hurdler said in the build-up to Saturday’s National Championships in Santry that there was just something about that number 13. Not just because she was going for her 13th Irish senior title, but given Derval O’Rourke’s national record of 12.65 has now been sitting out there, untouched, for 13 years.

Lavin was born on the same day as O’Rourke, 13 years later, and this summer she’s been getting closer than ever to the Corkwoman’s illustrious mark, lowering her PB to 12.73 in dire conditions in Stockholm recently. In Santry on Saturday she hoped to take another crack, but a howling, surging 5.1m/s headwind meant that was always going to be impossible. She blasted to victory with another crisp, commanding display of sprint hurdling, winning her 13th national title – five indoors, eight outdoors.