Mixed Bag For Irish Competitors
News from Edmonton
9th - 11th August 2001

special to Irish Runner.com by David Mervyn

Wednesday saw Peter Coghlan thrust into the action at 20:55 local time. Running in heat one of the semi-finals of the 110m hurdles, after an impressive first round time of 13.57, the Dubliner fell foul of race officials and lost all concentration in a bizarre incident.

"I just can't put words on what has happened to me. Paul and I are shocked," said Coghlan immediately after the race. Having been guilty of the first of two false starts in the race, he was rumoured to be considering an appeal after it was revealed that his reaction time of 0.131 was a marked distance outside that of the break regulation of 0.100.

Spotting the readings after a second race false start, the Irish recorder holder knew he was in trouble. "I couldn't concentrate, trying to get back into the blocks and focus was not going to happen. I was scared of being thrown out for another false start so I had to sit tight. After all the work I have put in, it just sours the whole experience for me." Coghlan can, however take heart from the season's best he set in round one.


Having come through the heats of the 200 in National record time, Birchfield's Sarah Reilly was delighted to make the semi-finals of the worlds. "I'm really pleased with the record. 23.02 brings it down 0.1 on last year's time. It helped also to have Marion beside me as she set a target", said the 28-year-old. Having posted a time of 25.2 at fifteen at the English Schools Championships, but then missing three years due to a foot injury and then the year of 1998 with chronic fatigue, it was heartening to see Reilly take on the best in the world.

At 19:03 on Thursday evening, she lined up in lane 1 for semi-final heat 3. To her right, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi (Nigeria), Kelli White and Inger Miller (USA) and Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas set down in their blocks. Second last out of her blocks and unfortunate to lose the athlete beside her in lane 2, German Gaby Rockmeier due to injury, Reilly ran a respectable 23.24 to finish sixth. Ferguson set a SB of 22.39 to beat championship newcomer Kelli White (22.54 PB) into second. Miller was ousted into fourth.

Sarah Reilly

Sarah Reilly

Cork woman Breeda Dennehy-Willis, one of three Irish hopefuls contesting the 5000m heats on Friday, was 11 seconds behind Russia's EPO export Olga Yegorova in heat 1, which also contained Una English (18th, 16:26.15). The race was eventually won by Spain's Martinez with Yegorova, Tomashova and Szabo coming in behind her. Britain's Kathy Butler missed out on a fastest qualifier spot by four seconds to Ethiopian Ayelech Worku.

Dennehy-Willis, 32, must be a bit disappointed - her personal best of 15:12.83 (set in Belgium last year) would have comfortably qualified her for the final. Staging a last lap comeback, she moved up from twelfth to tenth, but couldn't make any further headway. English had a disaster back in second last, hitting the finish line in a time over a minute slower than her PB. Maria McCambridge battled hard in heat 2 but failed to make an impression, fading badly to 16:04.49 and 17th place, nearly a minute behind front two, Yanmei Dong of China's Ma Junren's Army and Britain's Jo Pavey, who set a season's best of 15:10.62. Dong looked strong and would hope to recapture the form which led her to break the World record and 14:30.

Breeda Dennehy Willis

Breeda Dennehy Willis

Out in the field, Terry McHugh attempted to qualify for the javelin finals at Commonwealth Stadium. Throwing out of Group B alongside Czech star Jan Zelezny, who astonishingly set a Championship record of 90.76 with his first throw, German Boris Henry and Britain's Mick Hill. The winner of eighteen national titles struggled with his form and could only muster a 75.49 on his second throw to trouble the officials. His 81.20 at the Swiss Championships in 2000 would not have qualified him, as standards were high in both pools. Steve Backley (81.50) missed on in Pool A and crowd favourite, Canadian Scott Russell, who threw a National record of 81.66, missed out on a place in the final by 0.16. Reaching the heights in 1991, McHugh ranked 15th in the world, he would be disappointed at this effort considering it is possibly his farewell on the world stage. Watching him, it was frustrating in parts, thinking back to this time last year, when at the London Grand Prix on August 5, his javelin sailed out to a national record of 82.75.

Someone who will be happy RTE was not on site for the Championships, will be Creggan's James Nolan. The 1500m man came in a distant tenth, jogging over the last few strides of a run, which left his coach, lost for words. Looking a different athlete to the one, which took silver in Gent at last year's Euro Indoors, Nolan was struggling to come to terms with his tactics post race. "I just don't know. Taking the lead after half a lap meant I was a sitting duck, but I just didn't think the pace was right. It felt like we were going nowhere. And I needed a fast pace as I wasn't sure if I could nick a qualifying spot against a field of this quality."


With Sydney 2000 in the back of his mind, no doubt, Nolan was decidedly frustrated. "I have more speed than a lot of these guys over 800, so that would disappoint me too." World record holder Hicham El Guerrouj overtook the Irishman with over a lap to go and sped away at the bell. The Moroccan finished in 3:36.97, 0.67 off Nolan's PB. The UCD student consolidated his position until fading down the back straight and he was overtaken by the pack at the bend.

Coming into the most difficult heat, Nolan was ranked ninth quickest, going on personal bests. On 2001 form, he was eighth. This was not an ideal way to round off the championships for Irish distance running. Mark Carroll and James Nolan, in surprisingly similar ways, have bowed out in the first round of their respective events with very little use of the talent that we know they possess.

James Nolan

James Nolan

A positive performance to comment on was the thirteenth position of Ireland's emerging walking talent Olive Loughnane in the 20K. Having only made her competitive debut at the Irish University Championships back in 1994, the Galway walker can take great delight in this gutsy performance. In a time of 1:35.44, just outside her PB of 1:35.06, the 26-year-old, who is coached by Michael Lane, finished 0.6 seconds behind Bulgarian Nevena Mineva. Russia's Olimpiada Ivanova won in Championship record time, 1:27.48.

Minish woman Gillian O'Sullivan, who had high hopes of a top ten finish, was disqualified for the first time in her Championship career, just coming up to the halfway mark. The conditions were poor for the Kerry athlete and as she pushed herself to the limit, the third red flag came as a disaster. Well renowned for her strong second half, O'Sullivan will be annoyed at herself. If she had walked a PB, she would have slotted into eighth position. But certainly the performances of our walkers are encouraging. And with four walkers with major championship experience, aged between 23 and 25, it augurs well for Athens 2004.

Olive Loughnane

Olive Loughnane

Saturday morning saw the 50k men's race. Waterford's Jamie Costin walked for Ireland and produced a considerable performance in finishing 28th in far from ideal conditions. Having suffered from heat exhaustion on a previous training trip to Australia, Jamie was never going to be suited to the good temperatures Edmonton received this morning. Coached by Pierce O'Callaghan, Costin's PB, set last year in Berlin at 3:59.01, would have broke him into the top twenty but this experience will stand him in good stead for future championships as he is the event's youngest competitor. Poland's Robert Korzeniowski set the World's fastest time in winning the grueling event. Travelling at an average speed of seven miles an hour, the Pole crossed the finishing line in 3:42.08.

Patrice Dockery finished seventh of eight in the 800m-wheelchair event won by Australian superstar Louise Sauvage. The Irishwoman crossed the line six seconds off the lead in a time of 2:02.67.

Jamie Costin

Jamie Costin

 

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