It's a little strange for me sitting at home with the TV as my umbilical cord to the World Championships. Edmonton's the first Majors I have missed since 1996 and to be honest, it is not a terribly enjoyable experience. But the performances produced by the Irish athletes have given me great heart.
Rob Heffernan was superb, in finishing fourteenth in the 20k walk, and he is only a baby in race walking terms. Danny Caulfield gave it all he had, in narrowly missing out on qualification. And while he will be disappointed, I hope he is really proud of himself too. This is a difficult time for all the athletes but in my experience, if a few athletes on the team can produce some good early performances it lifts the mood and everyone wants to get in on the act. Each one fighting not to be outdone.
Tomas Coman, the first Irish athlete in action again proved he is the man for the big occasion. He deserves enormous credit for running a seasonal best and his second fastest time at the World Championships. To say the least, he was very unlucky with his heat draw (drawn against five quicker men) and in the end was 23rd fastest overall. He was also the second youngest competitor in the 400m at twenty-one and showed all the qualities you need to succeed by taking the race to his better known opponents. Forcing them to run fast. For Tom, it's certainly a case of - Roll on the Europeans.
Karen Shinkins showed that she has learnt well from her Sydney experience.
At the 2000 Games, she got herself a little too fired up, went off way too fast and paid for it in the home straight. But yesterday she showed great maturity and coolness, letting Breur go, running her own race and coming through in the last 100. If she can dip under her Irish record, then even the final is a possibility and she has all the fighting qualities you need to do that.
The Edmonton Championships have been slightly overshadowed by the EPO controversy, regarding the Russian Yegorova. I hope those who have said they will refuse to run the 5000m if she toes the line, do so. It would be a great day for athletics, a turning point, which might save the sport. While many of those who protest so loudly about drugs are just a little hypocritical, it does give the clean athletes a chance to send a clear message to those who run the sport that things have got to change now.
There also seems to have been a problem with the new Adidas Z spike. In the past, I have had my spikes confiscated mainly because the officials were unfamiliar with doing the job. In Seville I had a rope I had for stretching taken in the call room. Were they afraid I would use it to strangle an opponent? Surely all these things should be checked before the games. Adidas after all, are an official IAAF sponsor.
Unfortunately, back in Ireland we have had to rely on the BBC and EuroSport for TV coverage of the Championships. Our national broadcaster deems it unworthy of their cameras once Sonia or Cathriona aren't running. They assume no one would be interested. How wrong they are.
Interest in programming is something you create. Take English soccer for example. Sky got hold of it and turned players who couldn't kick a ball straight into household names and created the conditions where David Beckham is better known the Prime Minister. If RTE took a positive approach to the coverage of Irish athletes instead of having three blokes in a studio whose only comments about the majority of Irish athletes are either apathetic or negative then they could educate, entertain and engage the viewing public. However, that seems like a lot of effort. We, in athletics, need to do something similar.
Those sitting over their pints discussing Dublin-Kerry should be just as informed when chatting about how great it was that Rob Heffernan finished in the top 15, how Shinkins cruised through her heat and arguing the chances of James Nolan making the 1500 final. Therein lies a challenge for us all and those we hand our license money to.
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