Tough test for Ratoath athlete at AAI Micro Meet

Ratoath AC athlete Conor Duncan was in 800-metre action at the Athletics Ireland Indoor (AAI) Micro Meet for invited high performance athletes in the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena earlier today.

Five athletes lined up with Kevin Woods (Crusaders AC) as pacemaker for two of the four laps.

The 2019 European Indoor bronze medal winner Mark English (Finn Valley) was first home breaking his own national record of 1:46.82 in a stunning finish with Cian McPhillips (Longford).

English crossed the line in 1:46:10 with McPhillips clocking 1:46.13 to claim a PB, as well as the u-20 and u-23 indoor records in the process.

The AAI meet facilitated a Covid-19 compliant event for European Indoor Championships qualification purposes and for the attainment of Category E World Ranking points for athletes working towards Tokyo qualification.

The European Indoor Championships will take place from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th March in Poland with the Irish team details anticipated for Monday or Tuesday.

Meath athlete Andrew Coscoran will be waiting to see if he is selected for after a series of good times in recent months satisfied the criteria for inclusion.

Result: 800m - 1 - Mark English (Finn Valley) 1:46.10; 2, Cian McPhillips (Longford) 1:46.13; 3, John Fitzsimons (Kildare AC) 1:47.80; 4, Conor Duncan (Ratoath) 1:53.15; DNF, Kevin Woods (Crusaders).