Brian Fay moves to second in Irish all-time list for 10,000m

The Dublin athlete clocked 27:43.45 at The Ten in California on Saturday night.

Brian Fay of Ireland who was in action at The Ten in California on Saturday night. File pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Brian Fay moved to second on the Irish all-time list for 10,000m when clocking 27:43.45 at The Ten in California on Saturday night, which brought him home 22nd in a race won by USA’s Grant Fisher in 26:52.04.

Fay went into the race with eyes on Alistair Cragg’s Irish record of 27:39.55, having broken Cragg’s record over 5000m last summer by clocking 13:01.40. The Dubliner hit halfway on course in 13:44 and began to fall off the required pace in the eighth kilometre. Nonetheless, it was a 38-second PB for Fay and a qualifying standard for the European Championships in June.

Peter Lynch was in action in the B-section at the same meeting and the Kilkenny City Harrier produced a PB to finish fifth in 27:49.30, moving him fifth on the Irish all-time list, with fellow Irishman Efrem Gidey just behind with 27:53.14, putting him eighth on the Irish all-time list. Barry Keane clocked 28:27.83 while in a different section, Keelan Kilrehill clocked 29:25.70.

Elsewhere, rising star Nick Griggs clocked an impressive 13:39 for 5km in poor conditions at the Podium Festival in Leicester on Saturday night, which brought him home fourth in a race won by Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet in 13:19.

In Denmark, Niamh Fogarty continued her fine form with another PB in the discus of 56.01m, edging her closer to Patricia Walsh’s Irish record of 57.60m, a mark which has stood since 1984.