TrackNewsNI

The Championships are over, the the final line ups for the Young Athletes League and All Ireland League have been decided, the Inter Provincials have been selected - and it is not even July yet! For many it is back to trainng again for next season and about time. Those competitions are only a distraction from the real biz of looking good in the ”Squad 15 x 120 with 6 mins recovery”. But perhaps I am too harsh? Or am I? Is Geraldine Finnegan really lying second in the Team Trophy? Did Lagan Valley really Silver 4×100m medals with an 800m runner, a 400 metre runner one recognised sprinter and a schoolboy who had never run before in open competition? The answer is YES!

Hey! All is not doom and gloom. There have been some performances which have rattled the record books and stirred open up a little cjhink of light at the end of the tunnel. The lure of a trip to the sub continent of India where they will put their cricket bats away for a week to welcome the Commonwealth Youth Games has seen such a scramble for places that the selectors will have to select leaving some some worthy performers with two years to get another go when the Senior CG’’s take place in the same country.

Curtis Woods must clearly be one of the contenders for the Green Blazer (whoops sorry only Managers get blazers) I meant track suit. The 15 year Lagan Valley youngster was easily the outstanding performer of what was in itself a pretty classy Irish School’’s Championships. The site of Curtis atop the 200m Senior lists and the sound of his breathing down his neck clearly spurrred our Number One 400m man Paul McKee to an exceptional 300m NI Record of 33.33 to relieve Simon Baird of a title he has held for over two decades. And speaking of older athletes what about the performance of Mark Kirk in the Senior Championships 800m. Next to last in the results and generally ignored but a new NI Over 45 record of 2mins - way to go Mark!

My response to the news that Maeve Kyle has finally been awarded an OBE for Services to Athletics. In the middle of a bunch of ‘celebrities’ who get recognition for bum flashing or scoring the odd try for a losing rugby team there is a glimmer of hope when someone who has given a long lifetime of service to sport achieves their just deserts - personally I think she deserves a Damehood or whatever the term is. I mean three Olympics , a host of International hockey caps, a British Record, a pile of World Masters Records not to mentional all the athletes she has coached, the organisations she has run, the committees she has sat on, the events she has officiated at ……….the list is endless. And still she keeps going as she approaches yet another Big O birthday. When I phoned to congratulate her, her response was ‘Sean should have got it’ - quite right Maeve, but not instead of you but as a joint honour.

The Odyssey, apart from being an epic poem about Odysseus or Ulysses as he was sometimes known, is also the venue for the 2008 Irish Indoor Championships and Northern Ireland and Ulster Age Groups. All agree that it is a fantastic venue for athletes and that it is a disgrace that it is only available once a year. And don’t take even that for granted because unless the athletic fraternity can get bums on seats then you can be sure as eggs is eggs that the money will dry up and we will be back to the cow shed in Nenagh. I have a few ideas.
Surely the athletes could conjure some violence. A quick dig in the ribs as you round the bend will send your opposition into the centre of the arena and then he could be waiting for you on the next lap with a relay baton to smack you on the head. Or what about one of you field event people dropping a shot on someones toe? Or perhaps an irate long jumper could stamp on one of the judges with their spikes on. All this of course to loud music and the judges trying, but not too hard to pull the combatants apart.
Alternatively we could form all the athletes into two teams preferably with a sectarian split of some kind and have the respective supporters on either side of the arena chanting at one another.
Failing any of these suggestions we could I suppose just try to encourage all our friends, relatives, husbands, wives, etc etc. to come along and see some top class mano e mano contests where skill, strength, speed, stamina etc are displayed and good sportmanship abounds. OK I know it is a hard sell but at the prices that are being asked for tickets it is a steal. And if your mates are not into sport then play the ’sexual attraction’ card. I am told by those better qualifed than me that the men last year, led by Roman Sebrle, were hot, hot, hot and those of my own gender not in the happy state of matrimony were not short changed by some of the lovely ladies on show.

The current Northern Ireland Ranking lists show 78 female and 57 male 800 metre performances yet the British Milers Club 800 metre races on 16th August attracted a mere 26 competitors for what was the last chance of an 800 metres race this season. What is the problem? Where have all the runners disappeared to? How many of the 135 listed times are actually done by committed athletes? Take away the non club members who only do the schools championships and the ‘club’ runners who are only roped in for the Young Athletes League and what are you left with? Surely more than 26! So what are the reasons for not running?
OK so some of the Upper Sixth were out celebrating A Level results and a few were still on late holidays but some of the excuses I have heard through the grapevine are hard to believe expecially the ones which suggest that athletes are taking a break before starting their winter trainer. For goodness sake it is Mid August!!! The major winter competitions are at least six months away. Northern Ireland track and field seems to be awash with athletes for whom training is more important that racing - training for what?

Just in case you think I had given up what one athlete has refered to as a rant ….I am back. Exam setting, marking, report writing etc meant I only had time to post ranking lists but “School’s out for Summer!” so apart from the odd few weeks lying on a beach somewhere I should be able to make the odd comment.
June was the usual mad ‘lets get everything stuffed in before the schools break up” scenario with competition of some sort at least thee times a week. The Championships were reasonably well attended with a few exciting events esp. the womens 800m but there were precious few local athletes competiting and even less winning titles. Many take the attitude of “whats the point when I will only get beaten by some random peripetitic blow in from Slovenia or Slovakia or Australia or indeed Tipperary which is a long way away. perhaps it is time to take a leaf out of the Scots book and have a closed Championship and then an International Open meet on the lines of Cork City Sports.
The Multi Events were the usual disaster with a lot of youngsters trying out some events they have not tried before but without any real Multi-eventers per se.
The best meeting of the season so far (schools excluded) was the Team Trophy. An excellent turn out and some great competition with a few hardly officials struggling to keep things going. There was even a good sprinkling of spectators many of whom I am sure would enjoy themselves a lot more by getting involved in officiating. Given the average age of our present crop of very dedicated and hard working ‘white shirts’ the sport probably has about a decade to go before grinding to a halt - we need more people like Gary Keenan who seems to combine being a very active starter at track events with a very successful raod running career.
The All Ireland League saw seven northern clubs travel to Navan to compete against themselves and the odd outfit from leinster. As usual controversy plagued the meet in relation to team eligibility. Surely it is time we had an All Ireland ‘club’ competition open to ‘bone fide’ club members - no guests - no mixed teams - no counties - just club against club.

All records are made to be broken but some take longer than others. On the 1st June 1966 at Paisley Park on the West Circular Road in Belfast Mary Peters threw the Shot 16 metres 31 cms. Little did she know that it would take over 40 years before that performance would be broken by another Northern Irish athlete. At Loughborough on 19th May 2007 Eva Massey became the 8th best British Shot Putter of All Time when she threw a prodigious 16.60 metres. This after several years when she has been plagued with injury. Things looked good a few weeks ago at the apporpriately named Mary peters track when she opened her season with a throw close to 16 metres. She is now the current British No 1 and set to join the 17 metres club.

For some reason which I have never been able to fathom there is a marked reluctance when it comes to entering the Northern ireland Senior Championships either Track and Field or Cross Country. The entries for the T&F on 16th june close this weekend 30th May and in my opinion it is a must meet for any athlete in Northern Ireland who is eligible to compete. This means if you are old enough you are good enough. You will not be turned away if you can’t break 14 seconds for the 100 metres or 4 metres in the Long Jump and who knows the added impetus of competitng against the best may bring out the best in you. This is especially true in the Middle Distance races where you are quaranted the opportunity to get dragged round in a fast time, even if it is only in a heat. In many countries the demand to get the opportunity to compete in a National Championship is such that there are standards required. In Northern Ireland you just pay your money and take your chances. You would be surprised at some of the performances that have won medals in previous years.

The first BMC / NIAF Middle Distance Event Specific meeting was held in wall to wall sunshine at the Mary Peters’ Track on May Day evening. A total of 66 athletes (double the 2006 turnout) took the opportunity to run in time graded races designed to produce fast times. The success of this can be guaged from the fact that 26 personal best performances were registered from eight closely fought out races. Best times were produced by Ciaran O’Connell and Kelly Reid (Senior) Rachel Gibson and Stephen Rooney (Under17) Lorna Fitzpatrick and Adam ingram (Under 15) Rachel Henderson and Rory hampton (Under13).

The Annual Londonderry Trophy cocntest between Queen’s University and Ulster University provided a platform for two of the best local 3000 metres races held in the Province for many a year. The women’ race in particular provided the unique spectacle of a large bunch of runners battling it out over the entire race with the five potential winners at the bell.

In the men’s (plus two Lisburn ladies) race there was both qualtity (24 finishers) and quality with the first 7 runners breaking 9 minutes. Not earth shattering but very encouraging in April.

There were also a couple of exciting 600 metres races but where oh where are the sprinters and field exponents? There are hordes of these athletes training every night the week but when its come to racing they are nowhere to be seen!!

The contest between the two seats of learning was very close but call me a grumpy old man (and many do) but what is wrong with the idea of a full competition covering all the recognised events?